Hen House Migration

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Twice a year we have a migration of the hen house. The chicken coop goes in the greenhouse in the fall through winter and it comes out spring through summer. It works out well because inside the greenhouse it can be 40 degrees warmer than the ambient air in the winter when we aren’t growing anything in there. If it’s still cold in the day or snow’s on the ground they have a dry spot to peck around in. It still gets cold at night, but with the coop inside the greenhouse with a heat lamp and blanket insulation really our chickens are more spoiled than most.


Britton moving the coop with the help of Kitty (standing looking into the coop), Greenfoot and Football

But then we have to drag it back out (by we I mean Britton of course) in the spring. This is nice because we get our greenhouse back, but it also kind of stinks because that means opening them up in the morning and shutting them in once the sun goes down. We didn’t use to do that but we learned our lesson after the hen house attack last summer.

But all the hassle is ok because like daylight savings, it’s a sign of finally moving out from under winter’s long grip, and I’m all right with that!


Another sign of spring: white crocus

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Kress Cinema Theatre and Lounge in Greeley

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Yesterday we decided to go and hang out. Our roommate had her mom and sister visiting from out of town, so we wanted to make ourselves scarce. So we went to Lake Loveland again and walked around the lake. Then we went to Starbucks with some gift cards we received from a relationship class we took.


Outside with the Kress Marquee

Then last night we decided to go out to see a movie. Instead of going to the big movie megaplex we went to the Indie movie theatre called the Kress Cinema and Lounge here in Greeley. We really like the Kress and it’s a nice place to take friends and family, or go out on a date like we did. They’ve remodeled the building and given it a sort of art deco feel from the 40’s.

We saw a movie called “Barney’s Version”. It was a pretty interesting take on the traditional love story starring Paul Giamatti. At the Kress you can eat and drink (including alcohol) which is very different from other theatres that only offer popcorn, pop, and candy. We shared a “Charlie and the Chocolate Brownie”, a brownie and ice cream dessert. Also something different about Kress is that they have FREE showings of old cult favorites (on Fridays) and classics (Sundays).

Afterward, we hung out and listened to a live jazz band that was playing in the lounge for a little while before taking the Corvette back home. It was a great day all in all.

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Puerto Rico…A Little Closer

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Today we got a little closer to Puerto Rico. (At least figuratively, but perhaps actually since the earth moved a little off its axis after that huge earthquake in Japan.)

We applied for and were approved for two personal loans that will help to cover the difference in buying the place in Rincon. We have also bought our tickets to Aguadilla and back leaving the last week in May and returning early June (2 weeks). And thanks to the kind Kruses, I think we have a place to stay when we first arrive. I am so excited today that I just want to do it now! But I know we must wait, and so I have been keeping myself calm by reading all about the tropical plants we can grow there!


A cool Puerto Rican plant

I picked up one from the library called Growing Tasty Tropical Plants. I am ready to grow, cook with, and eat kumquats, guava, cinnamon, yerba mate, passion fruit, dragon fruit, and miracle berries among many other strange and delectable things. Hurray for gardening in the tropics! And hurray for all these steps that are helping our dream bear fruit as well.

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Colorado Emissions Testing in Greeley=Argh

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This last weekend we had a nice time at Troy and Lori’s reception, but we also spent most of the weekend working on my car to get it ready for emissions testing. Colorado hasn’t had emissions testing for a few years now, so this is the first year it has returned. We received the car registration cards  in the mail and grimaced. My car runs fine overall, but always has the check engine light on.

That darn check engine light. Britton said that just having that light on is an automatic fail in emissions testing regardless of what’s coming out of the tailpipe. Britton is a man of all trades and is equally good under a car hood as in a sql database, so he set about trying to get that stupid light to turn off. He spent probably about 12-18 frustrating hours this weekend trying to get it to turn off. He put in:

Ignition coils

Coil housing

Ignition module

Spark plugs

Knock sensor

He also looked into the air filter to change it. And this is what he found:


Cat food! ….In my engine!

A mouse must have brought Kitty’s food into my air filter!! That was the weirdest thing!

Cleaning all of that out still didn’t help, but the light would stay off for a short while and then turn back on. We thought if we could get it to the emissions place while it was off, we could pass the test. So we drove around trying to find the emissions places listed on the internet. They do not exist. Do not try to find an emissions place in Greeley based on the internet listings. They are super old and out-dated.

Finally, after getting exasperated. We came back to that light. We tried to change the fuel. Since the tank was full, we couldn’t get a new fill-up so Britton poured a bottle of octane boost into my gas. Apparently my old Oldsmobile needs premium fuel because the light finally shut off. Well, sort of. It still comes on sometimes, but instead of it being on 95% of the time, it has stayed off that much. All this work and frustration because of a test that apparently tests the wrong thing: my fuel type.

Now…this next Saturday will be part 2 of the emissions testing saga where we try and find the emissions testing place in Greeley that is, according to legend ,by the Harley Davidson dealership. Let’s hope it passes after all this.

The car registation cost went up $40 and is now $65 instead of $25. The emissions test will cost probably $20-25 and all these parts to my car cost about $300! And now if I have to buy super premium gas for it when gas prices have already jumped, I am about ready to call off driving.

If the goal is to get people to want to drive less, it’s working! And I will ride my bike as much as possible. Unfortunately I have a new position at work where I have to drive to Timbuktu (AKA Julesburg, Sterling, Briggsdale, etc) and back every week. If we can just get through this stupid emissions test we’ll give them our money and I’ll be back on the road again.



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