Finnie- Finally A Journal

[canesisters]

WOW!!! Great job!!
It's so hard to overcome that inertia and get started. Once started though seeing the results can sometimes be enough motivation to keep going.

 

[Finnie]

We got to the empty boxes this weekend. I was ruthless! I think DH was expecting me to have a hard time letting go of any. I kept one medium sized box full with about 6 small decorative boxes inside it, but other than that, my criteria was: only keep boxes I can sell chickens, chicks and full grown geese in. Everything else got chucked!

We didn’t have any that will fit full grown geese, but I did keep a lot that can fit full grown chickens, and a lot that baby chicks can go to homes in. But even that stack got trimmed back and I didn’t keep all of them. I think what’s left fits in about 25% of the space it used to take up.

I sorted through the boxes and made a discard stack, and DH used a box cutter to flat stack all the cardboard. I kept him busy!

We saved a little of the best packing papers and bubble wrap, but everything else including styrofoam inserts all got bagged and hauled out to the trash. The stack of cardboard itself filled up half of one toter. I usually eyeball all cardboard for it’s usefulness as weed block or other projects that need cardboard. Stacked against a wall in the garage behind a storage shelf I have quite a collection of big flat cardboard pieces. I only requested to save one particularly large basement cardboard piece, and I didn’t get any flak. I think because this big piece wasn’t fitting in the dumpster very well, so he didn’t mind me taking that one to the spot behind the shelf.

He does have to admit from time to time that that supply of large cardboard pieces comes in handy. He often uses a piece for something and he has added to it as well, so I’m not the only one who likes to save cardboard. And, he has seen me use it down to almost nothing left when I do my weed blocking projects. (One year I ran out, and I was covetously eyeing the neighbor’s burn pile. They seem to get a lot of furniture and appliance sized boxes, which they just toss out to burn. Once I got lucky and the wind blew a big one over that I snagged for a chick brooder. )

So anyway, there’s more bare space showing on the basement floor now. Next up, I need to list my empty fish tank on Craigslist and get what remaining bird breeding cages I have ready for sale. I already sold most of them, but I have a couple 5 foot wide ones that need to be cleaned and photographed for listing and I have a lot of miscellaneous bird cage supplies to organize and sell.

 

[Baymule]

WOW! You are seriously cleaning up!

 

[canesisters]

Get'um Girl!!!!!!
Great job!!!

 

[Finnie]

Ha ha! Thanks guys!

 

[Finnie]

Didn’t mean to go so long between updates. We made some steady progress in the basement for a few weeks, and then we had a weekend trip and progress ground to a halt. That was two weeks ago. We were going to get back at it this weekend, but we got an impromptu visit from youngest DS. He’s going to go home this afternoon (Sunday) so we’ll see if we manage to work on it after he leaves. So happy to have him here! We’ve really missed him since he moved out last June.

Chick hatching season is here!

 

[Finnie]

We have continued to work on the basement. Most of what’s left is some bird cages and equipment from my caged bird breeding days. DH encouraged me to sign up for a vendor table at the next bird fair and try to unload all of it. I think whatever I have left towards the end of the day, I will give away for free. It costs $50 for a table and I think I should sell enough to make that back plus some extra. That will be May 5.

So I usually try to work on my crochet projects during the winter. Some years it just sits untouched in a corner of the living room, other years I get on a roll and make a lot of progress. The past 2 winters I’ve been working on cute scarves for my 4 grandchildren. They are getting close to being done. I think in time for next fall or Christmas. This year when I realized winter was ending and I had limited time to crochet before hot weather sets in, I decided to ramp up the crochet time. (I can’t stand to crochet in the heat.) Then my sister texted me a photo of an “emotional support chicken” and of course, I needed to look up some patterns and start making some of those. This is where it ties into the bird fair.

I got the idea to take some crochet chickens to sell. So I started buying more yarns that I thought would make pretty chickens. In doing that, I saw colors that would make nice parrots and caged birds. And I looked up some patterns for those. Before I knew it, I had invested in quite a few colors of yarn for birds! So now I have a month to try to crochet enough little birdies to sell at the fair and hopefully recoup some of my yarn money. It’s been kind of fun dedicating an hour or two every morning to crocheting. But, it means I’m falling behind on all my other chores and commitments. Not to mention that it’s full on chick hatching season!

Which reminds me why I came on BYH in the first place this evening. Today I took a bunch of chick photos for my Craigslist ads, so I thought I would post some of them here. I have hatched over 130 so far this year! I think 100 of those are still in my basement!

 

[Baymule]

You take beautiful pictures of your chicks!

 

[Mini Horses]

They are lovely birdies!. With that many, can they go to bird fair? Or are chickens not offered, just caged birds? If last is the case, I'd sure make flyers for that affair -- promote!!

And of course we want crochet chicken picks.

How about crocheting by the AC?

 

[SageHill]

Love baby chick pix!
And I second - some
Pics of the crochet chicks