The Lazy Days of Summer

The first day of summer is upon us. Well, not according to the calendar, but the real indicator (no more days of school) has arrived. So, now it is summer and the rest and relaxation can begin.

The morning started the same way I start every first day of a break with the children: at Denny's. Emmy detests the place, so the girls and I always make it a point to start our first day together engaging in an activity that is special to us.

The girls get to order whatever they want, and invariably, they always order the same thing: #1 gets the alien pancakes with a side order of grapes and #2 gets the macaroni and cheese with a side order of goldfish crackers. Emmy always shakes her head when the girls gleefully recount their breakfast choices.

I ate a "healthy" breakfast: 2 egg whites scrambled, hash browns, biscuit, and oatmeal. I figure that was my caloric intake for the day and avoided all snacks and treats. (Yes, I know I am supposed to be watching what I eat...but I did eat egg whites and I didn't put the cream on my oatmeal...that counts as healthy, right?)

After breakfast we started our errands for the day. We started with a trip to The Title Wave (the Multnomah County Library Used Book Store). It is my goal to have the tv and computer turned off as much as possible (for me and the girls) this summer, so I wanted everyone to have fresh reading material. The girls and I browsed for a bit and we all left with new books to read (sorry Emmy, I tried to resist but they had a collection of early Batman stories that caught my eye).

We took my bike tire in to be repaired and scheduled a tune up for the bike. In addition to the tire going flat, I noticed there was some resistance going in to a couple of gears. I figure it wouldn't hurt to get the bike tuned up now and get it out of the way (add to that the fact that the shop could fit me in on Thursday as opposed to the two-week wait that is the average and I was sold).

Then it was time for the main event: chickens.

As I have mentioned before, we are getting chickens this summer. Saturday to be exact. So, between now and then I have to come up with a chicken containment device (commonly referred to as a coop) as well as an egg factory (also known as a hen house). So the girls and I went to The Rebuilding Center to purchase some used doors to act as walls for the hen house (the coop will be the dog run that our two labs ignore). Two hours, and much hemming and hawing later, seven doors and several 2 X 4's were jutting out the back of Emmy's Outback.

Tomorrow the doors will get screwed together (mind out of the gutter, Hubman), and the general shape and design will come together. From there we will add the nesting boxes (recovered cabinets) some roosting posts, and a ramp. Eventually I need to figure out a roof for the thing. I would kind of like a window somewhere, but that is just getting difficult. For now the project looks like this:
A special "Thank You" to Jennybean for answering my many chicken-related questions. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come!!!

After stripping the doors of as much hardware as possible (I will have to drill out some of the screws tomorrow) it was time to start my first day of training for the triathlon. According to my training guide book, today was a day off. WTF? How can my first day of training involve no exercise whatsoever???

So, I grabbed the girls and plopped them down on their bikes. I ran and they followed. It was fun for all three of us (they never get to go exploring on their bikes) and a great way to get a little exercise. In the end it only ended up being about two miles and a pretty slow pace. But, it was exercise. I got my heart rate up for a while and got to spend time with the girls. Tomorrow I am supposed to run. Looks like the girls will get another bike ride around the neighborhood. By the end of the summer I will not be the only one with strong leg muscles!

After that it was off to Taekwondo and a relaxing evening with Emmy. Not bad for the first day of summer. Did I mention I also made chiropractic appointment and an appointment for a trip to the vet tomorrow? Yep. Tomorrow will be another lazy day of summer. Can't wait!