Curb Appeal

Andy had a commitment this afternoon but I really was getting tired of looking at our sorry window boxes:

So, despite my misgivings in trying to do any sort of project while in sole charge of the kids, I decided we were going to go for it. Surprisingly, despite the loss of about a cubic foot of potting soil (some was spilled while "helping me", some was deliberately dumped instead of helping me, and at least a handful was eaten by Elias) we managed to get it done. we cleared out the dead plants and old soil, and refilled them with shade loving flowers - mostly varieties of impatients and begonias, and a couple blue flowering vines that supposedly like shade. I ended up with 5 extra 6-packs of impatients, so I planted them around the stairs.


and after:

whole front of the house:

It really does make a huge difference from the street, but looking at these pictures it's not really appearing as a dramatic effect. The pictures aren't really capturing the extent of the improvement, but oh well. It really does look much better now.

In the back of the house, we have the truly awesome Hen Palace, built entirely by Andy and I have to say I am impressed. It's really nice.

Here are some interior shots of where the hens roost at night, for safety. you can also see the nest boxes he built with a separate hinged roof, to make egg collection easier:

The thing is a veritable 5-star hen hotel. It has indoor and outdoor areas. shaded and sunny areas. some grassy area, some dirt for pecking and scratching....and yet. One thing we didn't anticipate is that we would end up with the 5 dumbest hens on the planet. In all the chicken books I read, it just explained what sort of living environment was ideal for hens - some indoor area, some outdoor area, secure from predators, etc. It provided plans for building a luxury chicken coop just like the one we built. But our stupid chickens can't figure out how to get in and out of the coop (where, according to the book, it is their instinct to go in at night and roost, and come out during the day and forage, peck, wander around, whatever.) When the coop was completed, we put them in to the run, where they pecked around. as night started to fall, they showed no interest into going into the coop to roost. So we had to actually enter the coop ourselves, catch them, and put them in for the night. In the morning, we opened the door. surely, they would walk down the ramp into their fenced area to forage around and do what hens do. Nope. By noon, they were still all in the coop. I started to worry about them starving, so I moved their food and water (which is supposed to be out in their run) into the coop and tried to shoo them down the ramp. no such luck. they're STILL in there now, and it's 5pm. The door is open, they just can't or don't want to walk through it. dummies.