Saturday, April 10, 2010 "YOU ARE A FARM GIRL"

This was going to be the big weekend. The girls were 5 weeks old, and way too big to be in their little tub we had made for them. The house smelled like a coop, they "flew the coop" every time we lifted their screen cover and the dust was like a crematorium had exploded. It was gross. They finally had their feathers, (mostly), and we decided we were going to do whatever it took to get them to the barn this weekend.
We got up really early on Saturday, around 7am, and headed to the local rental place to pick up scaffolding. Dixie's running lights still don't work, (it's not the bulbs), so we had to wait till the sun was up to leave the house so we wouldn't be pulled over again.
About an hour later we were down at the barn, setting up the scaffolding. It was a little bit windy, but at least it wasn't raining. We got the scaffolding up...surprisingly it wasn't too difficult. We then finished stapling up the tyvek wrap and started putting up the top row of T1-11. By the time we hit the second piece, we knew something wasn't right. P was getting pissed, swearing it was the flashing we had put up. The bottom right corner would fit, but to make it level the bottom left corner had to be lifted about a quarter inch. We knew the bottom row was completely level, so we began to wonder if it was possibly the sheets of T1-11 that weren't cut straight. We decided to move on, lining up the grooves and keeping the sheets level, and gradually the problem got worse. By the time we put the second to the last piece up, the bottom right corner fit tight, but the bottom left corner was raised almost an inch. We decided that we could cover the seam with a 2x6 when it was done, and make it look like "trim". "Trim" solves many problems.
At this point we were only 5 feet up. The contraption was huge, and we were both stalling on putting the second level up to reach the peak of the barn which is 17feet.
We decided the best way to finish the day was to finish the inside of the coop so we could get the girls in there Sunday morning.
Patty got to work cutting out the vent hole in the wall, and I started the platform for their waterer to go on. Both jobs went fairly quick and once again we were very impressed with our skills. All that was left in the coop was to wash the walls with vinegar water, (I read somewhere it was safer for the chicks than using bleach, but just as effective,) and to recaulk some of the seams in the walls and ceiling of the coop. Well, after searching for about 45 minutes, high and low, we realized our caulking gun was missing. Damn it...guess we have to go to Ace.
So we jumped in my Tahoe, and on the way to town, decided to get chai's and run by the feed store for some more pine shavings for the girl's coop. While walking around the feed store, I went to scratch my belly...(oh come on! who doesn't do that?!) and I felt what felt like a scab or like a drop of sap or something about an inch below my belly button. So without thinking I began to pick at it...only half wondering how I could have gotten sap on my stomach, because it was really stuck there. I came around the corner behind Patty when I managed to pull it off. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! (sorry if that offended anyone) it was a %&#$!#^ tick!!! And it was alive! I dropped it and the room began to swim. I somehow communicated to Patty (not sure if it was grunts or sign language) that I just pulled the tick out of my stomach and probably more out of reflex, she stomped on it as the little mother %^#$*@ tried to make a quick get away. I felt my saliva glands began to overwork, and my eyes filled with tears. "I'm going to be sick, I think I'm going to throw up." I told her. She must have believed me by the look on my face because she pointed her finger at me and said, "YOU ARE A FARM GIRL! YOU STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" I was applying pressure to my stomach where the tick came out, because it hurt so bad, and I followed her to the counter to pay. By the time I got there a new wave of nausea overcame me when I began to think about if the head was still in my stomach. I grabbed her by the arm. "If the head is still in there you have to pull it out for me." I said. "Oh my God I'm going to be sick..." and I told her I would meet her out at the car. I went to the Tahoe and opened the door to shield me from any on lookers that may pass by, and I lifted my sweatshirt and looked down at my stomach half expecting to see another one waving at me or flipping me the bird. All I saw was a red spot of blood...ok ok it was tiny...but it was still blood and it hurt like hell. No little tick head to mount in my barn as a trophy. P came out with our purchases and asked me if I was alright. "No head" was what I managed to get out. We headed to Ace and I know we were both thinkin the same thing. You know how when you hear someone has head lice and just hearing it makes your head itch?? Well just knowing there was a tick that somehow found its way to behind the button of my jeans made my skin crawl...gave us both the downright heeby jeebys.
In Ace my stomach began to cramp pretty bad. I was nauseous and tried to do some deep breathing exercises moving down the aisle. I started thinking I should have captured the tick. What if I had to go to the doctor? What if it had lime disease? Or rabies for cryin out loud? Stupid tick. I thought about the time Bubba had the tick for over a year, (we thought it was a mole.) When we realized his mole had little legs and pulled it out did his stomach cramp too?
I was determined to move on with the day...refusing to let the now dead tick ruin our mojo. Patty came across a roll of linoleum and had the great idea to put it down on the concrete in the bottom of the coop. The existing concrete was stained with something that looked like oil and we were worried about the babies having access to it and getting sick. Plus, the thought of just being able to pull the linoleum out and spraying it down and putting it back was a plus. So we got the roll of linoleum, a caulking gun and some other goodies and headed home.
When we got back to the barn, we got the bucket of vinegar water, and began scrubbing the walls. After what seemed like forever, Patty used the caulking gun and filled the seams and small gaps in the walls and ceiling.
We checked the time. It had been ten hours since we left the house to get the scaffolding!! We headed up to the house, undressed and checked each other for ticks.
Fortunately, there were no more, and my stomach cramping was gone by morning.