It has been kind of busy lately at Casa Hannah and the Coalbear. I’ve been meeting people for chicken hand-offs every few days. I built a new coffee table, worked some in the yard, and then there is the heat. Ugh. The heat. We’ve been trapped in a heat dome for days, breaking records day after day, and the cats and I are all suffering a little with it. It is harder to breath in hot air, but my joints are curiously okay with all of this. I stay outside until noon each day letting my joints bask in the heat, but predictably, the cats abandon the deck/catio long before then. I find them stretched out on the cool tile of the kitchen when I come in, waiting for their tuna. The cats are absolutely over this heat!
Before I talk about the yard and the heat, let’s talk about the chickens! I’ve been meeting up with people for a chicken handoff all week, and these chickens have all flown away to their new coops. Here are the chickens that left this week:
That’s right. Five emotional support chickens flew out of here, and tomorrow I hand off another teal chicken knitted to match the one in the picture. My favorite ESC in the whole bunch went to my son: it is made with handspun yarns from sheep that he and I met when we worked a shearing day for the Rocky Sheep Company years ago.
Yesterday I cleaned up and sorted out all of the yarns again, and I’m ready to launch into more chicken knitting just as soon as I finish the chemo hat for a scleroderma patient participant in a CAR T-cell therapy clinical trial in Seattle: that needs to go out the door this week. Whew. Lots and lots to knit. I feel pretty motived because a thank you note was emailed to Frayed Knots by a cancer patient thanking me for the “wrist warmers” that she received. I think that she must have been given two PICC line covers, but that note made me realize that I need to be even more productive. As if to nail home the lesson, a couple of the people that I met up with this last week mention how much they struggled with cold and painful hands. Yeah. I need to get cracking on wrist warmers.
Okay, I bought a big knitting machine that will make hats too. I need to have some way to use up all of this yarn that I have stashed away, and now that I am knitting chickens like crazy, I feel bad that I’m not producing hats and stuff for Frayed Knots like I was. Hopefully, these machines will let me step up my game some.
Okay Hannah: back to the heat. For some reason the potted flowers on the deck are doing exceptionally well in the heat, and the yard is full of life. I’ve been making an effort to keep the water trays full, and the bird feeders have become quite popular. Look at what the flowers have been up to:
The single flowering spear in the middle is the Spanish Lavender finally starting to bloom. I’d almost given up on it, but both plants have suddenly sprouted those buds. All of the potted roses are covered with blooms, and the other lavenders have all started a second blooming. There is so much life out in the yard I replaced a window screen so Hannah can spend the early evenings watching for bunnies. (Why did it have to be replaced? One word: Mateo)
In the mornings the cats and I hang out on the catio watching the wildlife. Here’s the view from behind the chicken wire:
I especially like the blue jays that are hanging out in the yard, but there is a constant line-up for the hanging feeders. So fun. Cheap cat entertainment while I’m drinking my morning latte out on the deck/catio.
As Hannah has pointed out, the heat breaks today, and it will be closer to normal temperatures for the rest of the week with rain possible each day. I’m hoping that this is the Colorado Monsoon arriving at last, certainly my lawn is hoping that there will be rain on the way.
Bye everyone. It’s time to fill the bird feeders again.
Note: Who’s getting these ESCs? My family, of course. Several have gone to systemic sclerosis patients. One went to person who retired earlier than she had hoped to, and another went to a person coping with a serious genetic disease. Two people are struggling with anxiety. One to a cancer survivor whose chemotherapy triggered scleroderma. I still haven’t gotten any chickens knitted for the infusion center…
Must knit faster!!
Yarn, Books & Roses 
I love the stripes on your chickens. Great locations. I also love the wooden disks you got identifying them as emotional support chickens. The chicks look great with their “jewelry”.
I found a shop on Etsy that made the little wooden tags for me. So fun to add them.
Marilyn !!! – if you knit faster you’ll give yourself wrist ache or the like. You know it. You’re already doing as much or more than a normal knitter can do ! Take it easy, hon – you have the time, seeing as how you ain’t my age (turned 81 last week – erk !).
The garden’s gorgeous. Hannah is gorgeous. You are gorgeous.
Be sensible, woman !!!
The knitting machines will save me! I just have to turn the little crank, or even better, there is an attachment that lets you turn the machine with a power screwdriver. The handle for the crank is big and just fits into my hand so it is easy to use without hurting my wrist. Woohoo!!
I don’t dwell on it much, but the 3-year survival rate for people with my diagnosed complications is not good. I’m two years in, and right now I feel like I’m doing pretty well, but in cases like these, it is best to use up all the yarn with reckless abandon!!
It rained like… a lot… today and my garden is going to look so happy tomorrow!!
I thoroughly enjoyed this update. I’m impressed with the rate at which you are churning out ESC. Having a large yarn stash to pull out and put to work must be nice.
I adore your kitties’ antics and am so impressed with the catio. It’s a nice space for all of you to enjoy the local wildlife without risking the birds becoming a cat snack.
It’s cooling down here too, and I must say, I’m grateful. Your garden looks happy.
The most wonderful thing about the chickens is that they allow endless inventiveness in the use yarn from the stash, and people are so happy to get them! It is a huge win-win. I have to say, I meet people in Starbucks, and so far, I’m hauling in a lot of free drinks from the chicken recipients as I hand them over. Free drink, conversation, an outing, and the beginning of a network with other people who share my health concerns: priceless. So glad that I started knitting these guys. The pictures and thanks from other chicken recipients more than make up for the knitting effort on my part.
The catio is kind of a ghetto operation with a combination of chicken wire, window screen, and a retractable shade. It really does the job, but now that I’m feeling better I’m thinking of how to make a more permanent structure for me and the cats.
So much going on at your place!!! So many chickens. I was about to comment on how particularly handsome the black one is, then I scrolled down and read that he is indeed very special. Pace yourself in this heat, although it appears to have finally broken today.
Today we really got dumped on with rain… so happy!!! the house is much, much cooler and the cats are chasing each other around. So glad that the heat has moved on.
My son has a motorcycle, and I joked that we need to put a motorcycle patch onto his chicken…
I am pleased you have the energy for such a creative time, both inside and out.
Me too!! Those iron supplements are just amazing!
I love logging on and seeing the colorful array of chickens you’ve completed. What a job! Truly a labor of love.
I have to say that I’m happy your birds aren’t capable of contracting avian flu. It seems that Colorado is becoming a nexus for that virus. At least the people whom I’ve read about who have it aren’t very ill.
Thanks for sharing such a colorful collection of pictures of your garden and the view from the catio. It always makes me smile to see all the growing things you’ve nurtured and the feathered or furry visitors that happen by.
May the horrible heat of the past couple of weeks and last night’s and today’s high winds here diminish if they pass east toward Colorado in a few days. I woke up this morning to find heavy gusts had blown the south-facing window unit a/c’s foam insulation clear across the room. I had to replace it with adhesive-backed foam, but who knows if that will work if we get more wind. At least we have electricity, unlike many in the rest of the county.
When you start depressing yourself over “average” stats, please remember that you may never have been, may never be, considered as such if your life, as you portray it, is anything to go by.
The heat broke this week!!! Yesterday I met someone to hand off a chicken and while we were chatting and enjoying a Starbucks it started absolutely pouring rain!!! It had been so long it was a little jarring to see so much water coming down at once. 🙂
I refuse to worry about the survival rates. I have to go by what is happening right now, and I’m trying to be as sensible as I can. It does seem like it is time to knit out the stash the best that I can; I do have a lot of yarn!!! I’m looking forward to using the knitting machines as they may help me put a lot of yarn to good use without too much effort.
Once again, you kind of made me get a little teary eyed. Thank you so much for your kind words. Everyone hopes to leave a few footprints behind. Me, I’m leaving chickens and a lot of good memories of fun in the classroom.
Yes to your heat breaking and the rain making a sudden appearance! There’s nothing like a Starbucks drink while listening to the sound of rain. I wish we could be as lucky.
I’n thinking of all your chicken tracks making their ways across a map of Colorado and farther afield. They’ll probably blot out the interstate map lines, causing Siri and AI programs to be discombobulated when asked for directions.
You cook up the best images!! One of my chickens has been traveling like crazy. From Colorado to Oregon, then from Oregon to San Diego, and then back to Oregon, and finally, she made her way to the gates of Yellowstone National Park.
You have sent out some beautiful chickens!! Glad your heat wave is moving on now. It was pretty hot here too for the last couple days, but is beautiful out today. Enjoy your patio/catio time!
I started a new ball of Noro yarn tonight and it is going to make some really cool chickens. So much fun!! I am enjoying the break in the heat that we got this week, and there are afternoon showers, too. Mateo is not a fan, but I’m grateful to get free water from the sky.
Can’t wait to see your Noro ES chickens! Yes to the showers. Sorry for Mateo, but it’s definitely a good thing for the plants and outdoor critters!
I am knitting with Noro Ito yarn,, and it is much softer than other wool Noro yarns that I have used, and is really bouncy. This is going to be a couple of great looking chickens!!
I bet! All your chickens have been just lovely. Can’t wait to see them 🙂