Sunday Stills: The letter W

I am the white wolf, Fransciso, and I'm working on a new performance art piece I'd like to share with you.

Most of my conceptualizations involve the breaking down of barriers, namely white doors. This is my sixth installation showing my mature style. Once I realized this was a steel door, I began concentrating on the wooden frame. I'm still hopeful I can add making it through metal to my artist statement.

This white door has a lot of character. It used to belong on the back door of my former house. It was my first project when I was still a pup. Momma still remembers being on vacation and getting a call from the pet sitter who told her I was half in the house and half outside! He he. You can still see the old boards he used to cover the hole. She's saved it all these years she likes it so much. (I was kind of hoping she might hang it over the sofa).

The white lavatory used to belong in the bathroom of our current house. It's from about the same period as the door. Mom is so style conscious! Both are being repurposed for use in Chicken Coop Two at the moment. It is almost entirely built out of recycled materials.

Those lucky chickens!

Here's Kryzsztof, the white Buff Lace Poland rooster getting groomed by one of his gals. And neat photos of water on plastic in the garden from last night's rain, and water droplets.

For more images of the letter W, visit Sunday Stills!

Coop Door

We've learned the quickest way to bring rain in an exceptional drought is to be on holiday or begin any sizable project. Or both.

I went out to document the coop door construction and got caught in the shower.

The only dry place to hide was under the saw horse table after we stashed the tools there first. It was a little cramped.


But the fickle sun came back out, and Farmer Rick began constructing the coop door.

The inside of the door is plywood, like the rest of the coop.

But the outside is rough cedar recycled from our neighbor's deck. The painted side was turned under. 'Cuz the chickens said they will like it better that way.

What a nice rustic door! I'm so proud of Farmer Rick's ever-improving carpentry skills.

Just as he got it shimmed--with me on the inside of the coop to help hold the door--the clouds let loose again. Um, there is no roof yet, so there was no alternative than to crawl out the chicken door without messing up the shimming. One problem though, there is no handle yet on the chicken door. By the time FR got around to kick it open, yours truly was drenched.

We ran down the hill into the creek, and I decided to take the steep embankment up, only to slip and slide in the mud, making it less of the shortcut I had hoped it would be. FR got a little wet.

I got a whole lotta wet.

But it was fun. Sorta. It would have been more fun without two dislocated ribs.

The sun came back out.

The door got hung. These are temporary hinges until we find some antique barn hinges.

Here's the door from the inside.

There should be a rainbow above, we are that close to moving the chickens and reclaiming our bathroom. Next step is building the temporary roof.

Well House Door

The original well house door was slowly decaying and finally fell off last year. Since this is the view from the window over my kitchen sink it had become a daily reminder of all that is desperately in need of repair around our homestead.

I'd picked up these great antique hinges about five years ago just for this day. I think they came off a Pennsylvania barn door. My wonderful husband made the new door over the weekend, and I think it looks great!

The well house actually houses our pressure tank. The pump is submersible, and the well is directly behind the building and covered with a large iron door. It was dug approximately forty feet deep through limestone in the late 1800's, probably by the blacksmith that first owned the property.

We are planning to use the storage shelving inside as a root cellar, and hope to expand the building to eventually cover the well. Since we live where the soil is very rocky, most of the pioneers built spring houses over their wells for just this purpose.

Now, we can move on to project #127...