2004-05 (MAY, 2004)

Chook Shed Refurbishment - NSW, Australia

This weekend I left the Mrs at home and headed north to spend the weekend with Dave & Jenny at 'Dogwood'. The traditional 'beers of welcome' were migrated inside - away from the chilly night and towards the newly installed fire box. We like Coopers beer - it is good.

On Saturday morning we cooked a slap-up breakfast and formulated our plans for the day. I had brought my Canoe Seat Weaving Project up with me, so my first task was to apply a coat of varnish to the work-in-progress seat frame. With that taken care of we made a start on the real project of the weekend - the Chook Shed Refurbishment Project ("Chook" = "Chicken", for the non-antipodean).

First up was a healthy bout of 'drawing designs on the back of various envelopes', a crucial first step in any DIY mission. Next was a trip to the hardware store to purchase supplies. A key component of our design was a nesting box that would be installed though the shed wall such that the eggs could be collected of a Winter's morning without being forced to enter the chicken-shit-plastered shed. The rest of the afternoon was spent constructing a gem of a nesting box - solid, draft-proof and highly functional. We celebrated with some more beer. And then some more.

Sunday was spent ruining our wonderful nesting box by installing it through the shed wall - angle-grinders and hatchets are not precision tools. The finished product was still functional, but the aesthetics had been slightly tarnished. I hope the chickens like it! Home again on the Taree to Sydney train.