After a Week of Rain

Current Count: 31 eggs

I was finally able to let the girls come out today. They've been penned up all week because of the rain, the early sunset, and the fact that T. and I are both working until it's dark now. I think there's something about getting to walk around that encourages egg laying. During the week we started get an egg from each of them every other day rather than every day. I also had a lot harder time updating this week because I got home late and it was cold and wet outside. Feeding and watering the chickens was no problem but collecting the eggs is a little bit of a hassle. I have to climb up on a step ladder, lift a hinged 2' x 4' piece of plywood and hold it while I lean over to the furthest corner in the coop. Once I have eggs in my hand, I then have to pull myself back while I continue holding the plywood up. It's a PITA even on dry days, but when you make the step ladder slippery and add rain coming down, what could possibly go wrong?

I found this to be an enjoyable scene when I walked into the bedroom this morning:


I don't think the cat realizes that the chickens could probably whoop up on him if he actually got out there.

In other news, NorCal got some rain this week. God knows we need it, but it sure does make life at an elementary school a lot more complicated. The kids and the staff are cooped up all day, and everybody gets cabin fever. There was a brief period this week where we had about 550 kids in the gym as we transitioned between our two lunches. There's not enough Excedrin in the world to stave off the headache that brings on....God Bless our folks who work as Noon Duty Supervisors.