Projects have been getting completed around the house, albeit slowly. I have a time-sensitive item to work on, so, obviously, everything ELSE is also time sensitive and needs to be done before it.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve built out a cat box cabinet to keep the toddler from climbing into the automatic cat box … again. Turned out decently. I used pocket screws to build it. I strongly recommend using all of the clamps you have to get the pocket holes drilled well. Even with that, I still had a lot of twisting going on. So it turned out straighter than I expected, but less straight than I hoped. It does seem to have settled in over the last week or so since it was completed. The decoration on front is a piece of metal art which got supplanted from its spot on the wall by a fantastic shot of the rocket launch we saw last year.

Best of all, it has in fact kept the toddler out, while still allowing me ready access to taking care of the box.

The big growout pen which I had “temporarily” placed between the two sheds is in the process of being dismantled. I never did intend for it to last so long (and I’d hoped to move it up the hill intact, actually). I know it’s bothered the neighbor a few times, and I feel bad for that. Long term, that spot is expected to be lawn tractor storage / parking.

The fox got three of my hens — but they were also the ones which kept insisting on being “clever” and getting out of the run proper. I couldn’t convince them to stay in, so the fox is well fed. :\

The well-feathered chicks in the outside brooder have been moved up the hill, as of this afternoon. They kept jumping out of the doors. Fine, they’re moved now. Funny, after I took the first two out and up, the rest didn’t want to jump out any longer.

I don’t know why, but the latest batch of quail eggs … looks like only one is going to/has hatched. I’ll give the other eggs a couple more days, but this is not promising. The singleton is currently in the brooder, and being quiet.

I have a broody hen, currently hatching out duck eggs. When I last checked, during daylight, she had one yellow duckling hatched, and one black-billed duckling in the process. Hopefully it’s more than two, but I will need to determine how to address the babies very soon. Last year’s hen-hatching-ducklings turned out with the foxes eating all of the ducklings. 🙁

Two of my rabbit does kindled yesterday. One lost three before I found them, and she lost two more today. I don’t know why, but the last two been fostered over to the other doe (whose three babies were nice fat and happy), and she’s been re-bred.

Which comes to yesterday’s and today’s ordeal.

First off: Even if you measure REPEATEDLY, and write down necessary measurements, etc., etc., etc., sometimes things don’t turn out how you thought you’d made them to do so.

So after a year of working on some replacement cages (newborn infant and such did not lend itself to rapid completion), I finally take the 2, 2-hole replacements up for some old and rotting out wire cages.

Only to discover that I can’t fit both of them into the hutch they were made for. About 3″ too big to fit in. Needless to say, I am … frustrated by this turn of affairs. I was able to use a couple of extant single cages to fit into the gap, and I will remeasure AGAIN what the necessary distance is.

I assume that there has been an issue with tape measures, because it’s not the first time I’ve run into the problem.

The second cage WILL fit in a different hutch, and I had eventually intended to replace those cages anyway, so I guess I will be doing that sooner rather than later. But it’s extremely frustrating.

I did eventually get all four holes up and working, at least. I have a stupid amount of scratches all up and down my arms and sides from this process. I wear already damaged work shirts for a reason, whenever I work with wire. But everyone got shifted around in their cages, and I’ll be back up tomorrow to get a few other things settled out.

Then, it’ll be time to work on those replacements and getting a proper water line going for the front line of cages.