Flowers & Chicken Coops!

Mother's Day was such a lovely day! The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to go outside without a coat! You only needed a light jacket in the morning but by afternoon you were free of even that. We started out early and drove 40 minutes to our favorite fork of Long Island, the North Fork. The other fork is the SOuth fork and that has the Hamptons. Not interesting to me. I am surely a North Fork gal who likes the farms and farm stands! I have posted about my love for this area many times. We drove through our favorite towns on two lane 25A and had breakfast in Greenport at the Coronet which is a luncheonette that's been there since the OLD days! Yummy! I had a "florentine" omelet, bacon & coffee! Bill had a "denver" omelette of ham, peppers, onions & swiss and my son had a "ranchero" omelet. That was an interesting one with ham, sour cream, & nacho cheese while Miss Caitlin had Reeses Pieces pancakes! We were very full after this breakfast I can assure you! We then backtracked cause Greenport is the very tip of Long Island! and drove a few miles to Jamesport to my favorite nursery while passing through the lovely towns of Cutchogue, Southold and Mattituck. The flower selection was great! We got hanging baskets and a few plants to start. We will be back there many times over the next few weeks for sure!

When we got home and unloaded all our flowers, Bill and Billy went to work in our yard. My husband has wanted to rebuild our jungle gym for the kids and add a playhouse/deck for Caitlin on top of it. He has saved material from all his job sites. He even has an amazing large window for it so Caitlin can look out over the yard from her new little playhouse. It's gonna be adorable. Caitlin and I went about our planting

Underneath the playhouse is a big boxed area that I thought Bill was going to enclose and make it a storage area for more outdoor toys or even a new sandbox. He had other ideas! A chicken coop!

You may not know this, but for several years we were the proud owners of a bantam rooster. He was a miniature. My husband found him in an abandoned building in Brooklyn. He was supposed to tear the building down and went through the property room by room to make sure it was completely empty. In a crate he found this little rooster. The previous owner must have owned roosters for the horrible blood sport of cockfighting. He left this little guy behind or whatever but my husband brought him home, and he became the most wonderful, loveable pet you could imagine. We named him Little Jerry. He was affectionate and smart. He knew his name, he recognized people and he loved to follow us around outside. He enjoyed people's visits and when we would sit on the front porch, Little Jerry would come from 'round the yard to join us!

Sadly, he passed away in September after 5 years. Things just haven't been the same. When we did our Fall cleanup outside, it was so odd not having my little buddy out there. He would let me pick him up and hug him and he would fall asleep in my arms. I know some people would think I'm nuts, but I believe that every living thing wants and needs love and affection, and he returned it ten times over!

So now we've been cleaning up after this harsh Winter and again, we are feeling his loss. My husband thought this would be a great place to make a nice and secure coop. Jerry's coop was an above ground one on four legs but we thought we do this one as an actual "open the door and enter" one. I am so excited. Once it's done, we can get some chickens. Although I know I may not have a brood with Jerry's personality, I'm not worried. I think they will be warm and affectionate and mingle with our family just as Little Jerry did.

Bill and Billy put in the posts for the base and poured concrete around them. Bill even thought of securing around the base of the coop so the raccoons can't dig their way in! I love the raccoons too. I feed them as well in another part of my yard along with the possums but I don't want them feasting on my chickens! We must co-exist peacefully!

All I can say is I sure am blessed to have a husband who makes all my dreams come true. He built me my dream house and now he's making it possible for me to keep chickens! He is something else. I love my Bill.

Back to the planting~~I hope you all read Cat Nap Inn Primitives --click on her blog on my sidebar. That's Gina and I love her dearly. She had a great picture posted of an old kitchen sink in a garden filled with white flowers and dishes. The dishes looked like they were soaking in the suds! I loved it. She has an incredible yard too. You must click and see. Now I know sinks are pretty easy to come by at scrap yards, but I decided to cop the idea but do it a little differently. I took an old coal skuttle and filled it with alyssum and put my antique water pump over it and put little dishes and a tea cup popping out! I think it looks adorable and shows off my little black water pump! When the flowers grow, it'll look even better. Just some dishes soaking away in the sun!

I have more to show you tomorrow, but I've got to run for now! Have a great afternoon!