The guineas turned eight weeks old yesterday. Since being moved into their larger enclosure, they seem to have doubled in size. They eat about four pounds of food a day, and drink close to a gallon of water. They are also molting again, turning my garage into a toxic waste dump with their dander. I enter to serve them donned in a face mask and safety goggles after having an allergic reaction to all the dust. I can’t wait until they are in their proper coop and I can reclaim—and clean—the garage.

Speaking of coop, last weekend was again spent in construction mode from almost-dawn to nightfall. We got an early start Friday evening when I had the day off work because of a crazy storm/tornado that came through Thursday night and knocked out power to my office as it decimated a huge swath of town. It was again beastly hot and the weekend was peppered with sessions spent panting, lying prone on the ground from heat exhaustion. I also whacked the heck out of my head on some of the framing Saturday, and ended that day with a sick headache and stars in my eyes.

Physical discomfort aside, we managed to locate windows and install the sheet vinyl floor. The we got all four walls framed in:

I cut rafters and we got those up and nailed in. We waited out a quick rainshower Sunday evening—

—Before starting to put up siding late Sunday night.

We got the front of the coop completely sided before it got too dark to continue working, and then we wrapped the whole structure in tarps to guard against rain until we can again tackle the project. The plan is to side the whole thing and then go back and cut out the door and window openings.

Meanwhile, isn’t it interesting that the white keets have blue eyes?

And did you know, I have a three-headed gorgon living in my garage?