100% Recycled Chicken Coop!

As I sit here typing this I am hearing "Cockle-doodle-doo!" for the first time in almost 20 years and I couldn't be happier! Did you know in Germany their roosters say Ceekle-dee-dee (or something like that)? My German exchange sister taught us that many years ago, and I laugh whenever I think of it. I have always wondered how roosters know the proper language, but I guess they do somehow-Ha!

Tom and I have taken our recycling and repurposing to the extreme with this chicken coop. I know that not everyone has an old ranch with a few old junk piles dying to be repurposed, but everyone has friends that have some junk that they need to get rid of. Some of our lumber came from a neighbor, who was happy to get rid of some of his "trash".

Our tack shed for the llamas is an old six seater outhouse that was used in a different location for a conservation camp. It is very well built (Aah, the good old days!) and has really withstood the test of time and animals! We started our hen house by using recycled plywood and built a box attached to the side of the old outhouse and put a lid with hinges on it. This will make it easy to keep clean and allow for extra hours of sunshine for the chickens in the cold winter months. The roof of the house will work by a pulley system that Tom has laying around, but we ran out of steam, so a strong board to hold it open will work for this week. We then used old shelves taken out of a laundry room and turned them into nests by cutting them to size and simply screwing them together (simple for Tom anyway).

The yard is built with 2x4's and 2x6's that we already had (and borrowed from our great neighbor, Dan) and the posts are all 4x4's, again recycled. Tom is great at posts; he digs the hole and then wedges rocks in to keep the post upright and then buries it. His posts have also stood the test of time!!! We had chicken wire on hand because we had to wrap the pine trees in the llama pen so they would not kill them. The top of our tack shed was a great way to attach the wire and bring it down to the posts and then lower, to the ground. We left a couple of feet of chicken wire that we then buried, the number one defense against predators. We even went so far as to use the wire that held the chicken wire bundle together to "tie" all of the large pieces of chicken wire together every 8 inches or so, number two defense against predators, especially the flying ones!

While Tom built the door, I painted the hen house; red and white of course, to match the ranch house. The door is a frame of 2x4's with cross braces and chicken wire. We used a jigsaw to cut the door of the hen house out after I painted it so it would match the rest when we put a hinge on it to lock the chickens in at night.

As usual, we had the poor chicken before his house was done because he just had to find a new place to live! Working under pressure really gets a lot accomplished though. After a long day in a large dog crate, PW (Phillip William) was released into his new estate.

The pictures show the progression of our work, and the arrival of our rooster; we are hoping to get his girlfriends this week. That is Tom hard at work, and also my kids Nathan and Isabella (the blonde) with her friend Danielle. I'm wondering how Two Eagles worked his way into this photo shoot!!!

My Burning Question Answered

Thanks to some help from my wonderful Dad, I have gotten my question answered. My parents travel much of the year in an Eagle Bus (that's a big bus) that my Dad has built. They visit various bus rallies and both of them do seminars; my Mom does Stampin' Up! and my Dad has engineered an ingenious fire suppression system for the buses that most of these people call home and spend sometimes 100's of thousands of dollars on.

In his travels my Dad has made friends with a lot of really nice people that are extremely proud of the way that they live, many of them being "green" even as they roll along in a diesel guzzling bus. Dad put me in touch with one of his friends that is very environmentally conscious and has written some very informative articles about life on the road and living green at http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/04/happy-earth-day.html . Thanks, Sean!

I must say that both of these guys are experts in their fields and have very analytical minds, they have done a wonderful job of keeping it down to earth so regular people like myself can understand.

Here is what Dad had to say:

We need to put radios and cell phone chargers into context with other power users in a car. By far, the biggest power consumer in a car is the headlight. I guess the exception would be the huge stereo systems that some kids put in their cars.

Each headlight is between 50 and 100 watts, or about 5 to 8 amps, so the power draw could be 10 to 16 amps for two headlights. That does not include the parking and taillights which don't draw much current.

I have the old Sportster Sirius receiver which is a power hog. The manual says the it should have a 3 amp fuse in the line, which would suggest it takes about 2 amps. I did not look at some of the more modern receivers, but I would guess they would be about half that amount.I could not find a lot on cell phone chargers, but what I did find was they would be less than 1 amp draw.

Now, lets look at how much power it takes for the engine to provide that power. One horsepower is 746 watts or about 62 amps. If you overcompensate for all the efficiency losses, you could say that one horsepower from the engine would produce 30 amps. Thus for your two units, you would be using about one tenth of a horsepower. You could not begin to measure the impact on fuel usage as it would be minuscule.

And this is what his friend Sean Welsh had to say on the subject:

With regard to cigar-lighter style DC chargers, a great deal of energy
is wasted in the form of heat, and, as you have already noted, the
charger continues to generate heat (and thus use electrical power) even
when the device it is supposed to be charging is disconnected. So it is
best to always disconnect the charger from the power outlet as well.

Again, thanks to my Dad, Jim Shepherd and Sean Welsh for keeping it real! Today's picture is of my parents part time home! He's got a great website at http://www.rvsafetysystems.com/.

Hi Again! I got an e-mail from my Dad that I thought was an important update to add:

Judy, you mention our "diesel guzzling bus". That statement is basically true, but needs to be put into context. We only get about 7.7 miles per gallon (I think Sean gets a bit less, because of his type of engine). I sometimes rationalize that it is not as bad as some folks would think. For one thing, while we are "out" for a month or two, we are not pounding the road all day every day. Secondly, we are not driving our cars like we would do when we are home. For the most part, we only make very short, infrequent, trips in the truck. We often stay overnight in Wal Mart, so we don't have to drive to the store {grin}. We still use more fuel that we probably should, but we try to be careful. In Sean and Louise's case, they have very fuel efficient scooters in the bay of their bus. Also, they frequently take public transportation when it works out.Unlike Sean, our impact on the environment is greater since we maintain a house and that takes energy. However, we make sure the heat is turned as low as possible and we are not using much electricity.One of the most frustrating things about our travel is the lack of ability to recycle. It is hard enough to do that at the house, since we don't have good access to recycle facilities. However, it is virtually impossible to do anything on the road. For the most part, we have given up drinking soda, so we do not have to worry about the cans. Paper is our biggest issue.

Thanks again Dad, for the input! It brings up an issue I plan to cover on a future blog, reccycling and the difficulties of doing so in remote areas.

Search for an Illustrator

The search for an Illustrator is on! I have finished my children's book, Llucky Llama, and am searching for an artist to put my words into the images I am envisioning. I am extraordinarily proud of the story that I have written, and can't wait to get it in print.

Marcel (of course), tells funny stories about us and the Royal Ranch since his arrival almost a decade ago. There are wonderful characters, Lloony Llady (guess who?), Mischievous Man (Tom), Dedicated Dog and Cuddly Cat. This is a humorous story that shows wonderful relationships between these animals and how their own backgrounds, shady or not, have brought this ranch so much joy.

Rescuing animals has been some of my most self-fulfilling work and is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. This is a story that has to be told, and I am so excited to get this project going!

Today's pic is Mischievous Man and Lloony Llady all dressed up for my 20 year reunion last month!

Unanswered Question

Recently I upgraded my cell phone to a new one. Of course I kept the phone and recycled it to a local charity. The day I got it, it needed to be charged, I used the car charger and accidentally left the cord plugged in in the car. My phone beeped and amazingly it was a message that I had left my charger plugged in. I also have a Sirius satellite radio in my truck which has a little screen on it to display songs and artists names. The screen is quite bright and glows at night.

So, obviously these things are using power, but what is their effect on the environment? To be honest with you I still don't know, even after hours of research. On the Internet you can find all sorts of ways to save energy, how to improve the world around us with simple steps, and even carbon imprint calculators (these are way cool). No where could I find out how battery operated car chargers are bad for the environment, which obviously they have some impact.

When using electricity in our homes, we are causing the power plants to work harder. This is where our natural resources are being used up. Things like light bulbs and paint can put dangerous emissions into our ozone. So is it a combination of both? Maybe my Dad knows, and if he does I'll share his opinions with you. I would also really love to hear from some of you if you have anything to say about this.

I was hoping to answer my own burning question on this post, but since I am unable to do so, and hope to do so soon, I am going to give you just a couple of the thousands of facts about electricity use and its impact on the world I found:

• If each home in America would change one bulb to a compact fluorescent bulb it would equal enough power to light 3 million homes for 1 year. It would also save $600 million in annual energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equal to the emissions of 800,00 cars.
• Only 5% of actual power used by chargers (phone, computer, etc) is to charge the device, the other 95% of its power consumption is just being plugged in.
• There are "greener" battery chargers, for instance solar (still no explanation as to exactly what traditional chargers do to the environment) available on the market today.
• Leaving your computer screen on all the time costs you about $18 per month, let alone its annual impact on good old mother earth.

Like I said, these are just a few quick facts, the bottom line is that it is always best to unplug the device when not in use. If it even has a little glowing light or clock, it is using power and shutting it down will help the environment and help you reduce costs.

Have a miracle of a day!

Spit Happens

As I mentioned in Llama Llesson 09, it is rare for a healthy llama to spit at humans. In this sense, a "healthy" llama is one that has been in a herd of llamas and knows that humans are dominant over them and will not challenge, or spit at people. The Royal Ranch always has an exception to the rule!

We were above timberline on in the spectacular Lost Park area. Tom and I had just dropped of a group and we were scheduled to pick them up in a week. This is the really fun part of llama packing, when you have helped them accomplish their work, and have a beautiful hike down the mountain. Tom had Carbondale and Jasper and I was following up (as usual) with Hunter and Marcel, my lead llama. As I went to "piggy back" the llamas I accidentally tied Hunter's wool into the rope. He immediately started rapid fire spitting at me!!! I started yelping and madly trying to undo the offending knot. As you have probably heard, llama spit REALLY stinks! I'm yelling for Tom, and all I can hear is hysterical laughter. I don't think if he was covered in stinky high altitude tundra he would have thought it was so funny.

I was so terribly sorry for hurting one of my wondrous boys, but as soon as I got him out of his predicament he was fine, I, on the other hand had a three hour hike to endure smelling like cud! Today's pic is one of our hikes, you can see how much they enjoy that tundra! (Judy, Marcel, Hunter, Carbondale and Jasper)

Dangerous Deet

Yesterday I had to shear my Great Pyrenees, yes, I know that dogs get groomed and not shorn, but when you use llama equipment, I think you can get away with calling it shearing! This is a rather large job, and I was not really looking forward to it, as a matter of fact I had been dreading it, but for all of the wrong reasons.

The shear job was going quite well, but I was getting eaten alive by flies. I had my daughter run and grab the bug spray, we put it on myself, Tia (the dog) and my daughter. Thankfully as young girls do, Isabella lost interest in cutting the dogs hair and ran off to play. I really don't know what I was thinking, obviously I wasn't, because I continued to spray myself whenever the flies got to the point where I could no longer stand them. Probably four times in the 1 1/2 hours it took me to complete this monumental job.

Living in the mountains we are very blessed as far as bug population goes, so I don't deal with bug spray often. I'm embarrassed to say I have mostly used it on my kids-without even thinking! Anyway, I started not feeling good as I was cleaning up the yard. Lightheaded, headache and nausea, I assumed I hadn't eaten enough that day and headed in to make some lunch. Within an hour I had a severe headache and felt like I couldn't pull my sentences together. I was in bed by 6:oo and must not have looked too good, as my adorable family checked on me at least 10 times, not too restful, but adorable!

So, needless to say this caused me to do a little research on bug spray this morning, and I have to tell you it really caused me some alarm. According to Extension Toxicology Network, Deet is far more dangerous than a lot of people believe. Extoxnet is "A Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension Offices of Cornell University, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and University of California at Davis. Major support and funding was provided by the USDA/Extension Service/National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program. " As I read the very scientific and sometimes difficult to read report my stomach kept sinking. Following are a few parts of that report that I have copied and pasted:

Products containing N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide and isomers (Deet) are beneficial as insect repellents, but have also been associated with dermal and neurological reactions in humans (3).

Several cases of toxic encephalopathy associated with the use of Deet in children have been reported in the medical literature.

Generalized seizures have also been temporally associated with the use of Deet-containing insect repellent on skin (Oransky et al 1989).

Deet is absorbed promptly from the skin and distributed to all organs including the brain and the fetus. The compound is excreted in the milk but primarily in the urine (1, 15, 16).

There was quite a bit more information on the horrors that they have inflicted on lab animals to test Deet that also showed reproductive issues and severe skin reactions. Reactions were noticeably higher in kids. Okay then, I'm never getting near the stuff again!

On the lighter side of things, I also found some wonderful alternatives. There are many organic bug sprays made up of essential oils that are shown to be pretty effective. I also learned that if you put original flavor Listerine in a spray bottle you can spray it around the perimeter of your working and playing areas. Bugs do not like the strong minty smell and it provides a bug free zone for you and your family. I can't wait to try these methods and will keep you informed of any "results" I may come up with.

Today's picture should be called "And you thought you were having a bad hair day?"! This is the results of the very unsophisticated haircut that I gave Tia. Her name is Valentia, Spanish for bravery; she's not looking to brave this morning-Ha!

Royal Laundry 101

Well, here it is Monday morning, and like many of you, I am staring at a mountain of laundry. I thought I'd share some of my laundry tips with you, Royal Ranch style of course! We are on a private well, which is very cold water and use propane to heat our water, so you may or may not deal with some of the same issues as we have in the mountains. I hope that you can use some of my tips no matter where you live, they are green ideas that will save you a little money while you're at it!

• I start by reusing a milk jug, I cut off the top just large enough to dump your powdered detergent into it; as we know most eco-friendly detergents are powders,plus you get more loads per container,saving on packaging.


• Instead of using too much hot water to dissolve the powder, let the water run into your washer (this way you are not wasting water down the drain) until it is hot, and add enough to dissolve soap while shaking the jug. You can switch back to your preferred temperature setting and dump your "liquid" detergent in and proceed loading your clothes.


• Another great tip is to use vinegar. It is wonderful at removing smells and even works as a fabric softener, it may take up to a cup to achieve the softness results that you are looking for.


• When the load is done with it's cycle, before you toss those soaking clothes into the dryer, run them through the spin cycle again. This saves dramatically on dry time, which in turn saves money on your bills and wear and tear (and rust) on your dryer!


• If you use dryer sheets, tear them in half (Thanks for this one, Mom). You will still get the desired effect for half the price and half the packaging.


• Try to fold clothes directly out of dryer, but if not and they get wrinkled, toss in a clean damp cloth and run for about 10-15 minutes and clothes should be wrinkle free!

Today's pic has nothing to do with laundry, but gives you something pretty to look at while you fold! Have a miracle of a day!