It's that time of year again...

January was a whirlwind of events. I must have logged 1,000 miles going back and forth to Mom and Dad's house in Northern VA, helping them finish out their basement. On one of the trips I spotted a trailer for sale in the Home Depot parking lot and thought to check it out, just to satisfy my curiosity. I've been looking at trailers since we bought Old Betsy and figured this one, a 16' dual-axle beast -much bigger and pricier than I needed- would be rock bottom at a grand. Long story short, 300 bones, that's right.

A couple days after pulling the trailer home behind Old Betsy last week (in a 2am snowstorm on I-81) I headed out to Fitzgerald Log & Lumber right here in Buena Vista to pick up a few tons of freshly cut lumber. I had Brinn document the occasion with a few pictures. My hope was to capture the start to finish process of making a chicken coop, but maybe we'll get some good ones on the next try. Anyway, I have a few action shots and several of the coop out at the end of the driveway.

We have a few chickens, two turkeys and two ducks, so that makes us a farm... right?

Look at Betsy go.

I guess I bought the wood Monday afternoon. It was dark by the time Georgie and I finished unloading the second haul. I didn't start building until sometime Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday was pretty much rained out, the rest of the week went a little smoother, except for the numbing, hard-driving wind the blasted across the hay fields all day, battering my face as well as our house. In any case, this is the finished product:

I think it's a pretty handsome little building.

 I drew on some inspiration from the Frontier Culture Museum where I work. The coolest features, in my opinion, are the wooden slide latches. I totally copied the idea from the old barns and sheds at work. Mine are made from some Walnut that got mixed in with the rest of the lumber I just bought.

The stick slides back and forth, get it?

I bought some more appropriate strap hinges yesterday for the next coop. I'm starting this morning and hopefully won't have too many interruptions, hopefully Brinn can get some progress pictures along the way.