Vern's friends

We finally built the chickens a coop. For all of you non-chicken lovers out there: a coop is a place where the chickens can run around, and a coop encloses the hen house, of which I have talked on and on about ;) For now, the coop is just a fenced-in, non-used area of our yard where the chickens can run around pecking bugs (seriously, I saw Miss Penny eat a roach last week- yuck!) and pooping and hello, hopefully someday laying eggs!!

Well, Vern has been living with the chickens in the yard with him up until we finished the coop this weekend. He never acted like he cared much, just lounging around, wishing he was still an inside dog mostly. We-he-ellll, he CARED! As soon as the chickens were gone, he would go drop his ball in their coop and hope that somehow his chicken buddies would retrieve it for him or at least come to the fence for a chat... No such luck. I don't think they like him that much?

Yesterday, I heard Vern barking, so I went out to check. Somehow he had jumped into the chicken coop, WITH his ball, I might add, and tried to fraternize with his old buddies who just aren't that fond of him. Unfortunately, out of sheer terror, the chickens immediately jumped out of the coop and cowered behind a tree- clucking and watching him, and I think laughing a little. Who knows with these ladies?

And I guess Vern forgot how to get back out of the pen. I think he only had that one jump in him with those four year old hips, that he just whined and barked until Dan had to go get him out. Poor guy.

This has created a new problem though. The chickens now know how to jump out of their coop- NOT good. Our mulch and flowers are suffering volumes because of them. I guess they just need a place to roost because they go immediately for our bench, after some mulch-rousing and flower-eating and lay out for the afternoon. They are pretty smart- a little smarter than us (and Vern) at the moment.

See King Tutu and Esmerelda chatting over there and Madame Cluck always separating herself and leading the flock in the middle, and good ole' Miss Penny just sweetly sitting there waiting to see me. She's the only one who likes me...

Project this weekend: higher fence for the coop!

Outside

I mentioned our new found love for outside lately, and it has been really nice. The weather has not been too hot and June has been loving outside. Sometimes I forget to watch her and she does a few things she shouldn't, like drinking out of Meuf Te's dog bowl with Meuf Te' - oops!

But most of the time, she is great- chasing the chickens

or drinking out of the hose after watching her daddy.

The chickens are another issue that needs addressing. The other day, they ate all my petunias, which made me SO mad! Usually, we just let them roam around the yard, but we are going to have to fence them in- little rascals...

We will be sad for the cooler days to end, but that is one great thing about Lubbock- always cool mornings and evenings. SO nice after a long, hot day!

Lots going on around here...

There has been sooo much going on around here. I don't know what exactly, but I know we've been busy. Dan ran a half marathon in Oklahoma City in 40 degree weather pouring down rain the entire time!

June stayed with my parents and had a wonderful time being girly and trying on jewelry.

I had my last day of bible study and Dan kept June all morning and when I came back, somehow she had put on an 80's punk rocker look and wasn't too happy. But Dan was pretty pleased with himself!

We have been playing outside a lot with the nice weather and June's hair can finally fit in pigtails - pretty much her daily hairstyle now!

And most importantly, we found out: we are having another girl! In just 20 more weeks- crazy that it is not too far away. Dan will be majorly outnumbered when Sayed leaves at the end of June (the month), but he is getting used to the idea...