Holy Smoke!...Or Holy Pollen!!!!!

Here I am with our Chocolate Lab,Sasha, on Friday with the beginnings of our chicken coop. I had to hang on to Sasha's collar,because every time Rick tried to take our photo,she would walk away! My pink hat is always on my head when I am working outside,whether I am gardening,building,or doing other yard work. I thought that since working outside would be dirty and sweaty,I wanted something in a pretty color that would be fun to wear.

Our coop is on the southwestern side of the garage. You can see the window facing the northwest. The other window,which you can't see in this photo,is a small frosted one that faces the southeast.

Saturday,I woke up with a horrible headache,and I had no Excedrin Migraine ( damn! I know I forgot something at the grocery store today!!)so I took some ibuprofen. Well, let's just say I took six of them during the course of the day and I didn't get rid of my headache until that night.

I did get my tomatoes planted,and I put out the cantaloupe and the peppers to harden them off. After I watered,I grabbed my "Outlander" book and sat in the screen house and read for the rest of the day,with some breaks.I watched Rick's brother Brian (who had the day off from work) and our neighbor Kelly working on the coop.

Zach wanted to help,so Rick helped him put some screws into the studs while they put up the walls. You can see the frosted glass window in this photo.The human door will be in the front on the left,and you can see the chicken door down by Zach's legs. I am standing in the garden area.

During the day,we kept seeing this fog like cloud that was blowing through the yard. Pollen has been terrible this year.We have never seen so much pollen,it was blowing through the yard in clouds.Everything is yellow.Thank goodness today (Tuesday) we had some rain,so that will keep it down.

Then,yesterday as Zach and I were leaving to march in the Rochester Memorial Day Parade,we noticed that it was really hazy outside,but it wasn't hot enough to be hazy,and it looked different than it does on a hazy day. We smelled something...like something was burning. Of course! The wind currents had brought some of the smoke down from the fires in Quebec. Rick tried to putter around outside and make the door for the coop,but the air quality was poor,so he had to come back inside. The smoke seems to be gone now,and the smell as well.

Tomorrow is a full,full day. We have two Dr appts at the Manchester VA,one at 9:00 AM,then one at 10:00 AM,then one at Dartmouth at 1:00 PM.All are mandatory for surgery. Very busy indeed! But all for a good cause! :)