Poulialler

"Poulailler" (poo-lie-ye) is French for "chicken coop"
It's only fitting that our chicken coop have a fancy name. It does, after all, have a stained glass window in it. A stained glass chicken. Ahh..After the thought came to me that I could put a simple stained glass chicken window in the coop, I just couldn't shake it. I knew, and know, that it is pretentious and extravagant (what regular house has a stained glass window?!) but there was just this blank spot, and something had to go there...and surely it couldn't hurt to indulge a bit in my newfound skill! So I drew up a plan...and then tossed it because it was way too complicated...and then drew up a much simpler plan with under 20 pieces.

Bekah and Marianne hung out with me in the shed and we cranked that happy chicken out in a morning, and a little of the afternoon. I was polishing the glass as I walked to the garage and then Rus helped me install it behind a vibrant red frame. Rus took a break from doing the wiring for a heat lamp and switch for the coop, and as we installed the window we both had a good laugh at the kind of chicken coop that an artist and an engineer could create.

Rus actually made the coop while I was out of town with Bekah and Beau. We were in Arizona watching my niece Sarah rock climb her way to sixth place at divisionals (qualifying her for a bigger competition in Wisconsin next month!). We also watched my other niece Emma climb and do a fantastic job - she is not as old or as experienced as Sarah, but she has the determination and strength to do just as well given a little more time and practice!

 Here is Sarah on one of her climbs...they call them "problems."

 Beau snagged a picture with both of his grandmas, right as he asked them, "which one of you is older?"

Jacob helped Rus build the coop. They spent a whole Saturday on it (what did Marianne do? Rus says she just played by herself most of the day), and when we were back in town we helped them paint it brown for our family night. I added the blue and red accents to "cute it up," but really the majority of credit goes to Rus on this one.

We ordered our chicks last week and they should be here the end of this week! Yay! I'm excited for the learning experience this will be for our family!