Today I put the final touches (except for painting the exterior) on the goat shed-turned-hen-house.
I like the results:
Natural branches for their perches, to keep their feet happy…
Their interior nest boxes…
Close up of the floor bedding and treat “shish-kabob”…
View from ther front door into the hen yard…
View of front of hen house from the hen yard under the tarps…
View of part of their hen run/pasure with new netting to keep them in…
This is where they choose (ATM) to lay their eggs…
I moved it from the old hen yard, so they’re familiar with it.
Here’s what’s “under the hood” of the above photo…
A view of 3/4 of the hen yard…
They have lots of natural space to forage, dust bathe, and be happy hens!
I feel accomplished!
The bonus to tackling this task is that it kept me from fidgeting about the upcoming move to CostaRica. I have completed all the steps for ordering my apostiled documents, plus three other post-arrival docs except for address and phone number; the remaining five must be completed when I get down there, as I am required to visit the US Embassy and immigration office to do them, and I need a CR phone number and address (direccion) to do them, so I’m dead in the water moving-task wise (except for several garage sales and a trip to Consumer Cellular to get my phone unblocked so I can insert a SIM card down into it shortly after arrival) until I get down there. Plus I have to schedule the flight and get Charli’s required exam and paperwork scheduled and done within ten days of to the flight date… which I can’t do until I get assurance from the remaining agency (Social Security) that my apostilled document will arrive before Sept. I will visit the local SS office this coming week if I don’t get a letter from them by Tuesday. I wrote them a letter explaining what I need about three weeks ago. They’re usually good about responding within three weeks. (Good luck getting them on the phone these days to schedule an appointment or get a request underway. The wait time exceeds two hours!!!)
The Logistics of Moving are Dicey
Getting every item on the checklist timed just right and finding out how many boxes I can fly down with on the plane are the remaining hurdles. But I’m NOT stressed about it. I’m excited. As mentoned in a previous post, several people are keeping their eyes and ears open for rentals and I have received some great precautionary advice from my immigration coach about renting so I don’t shoot myself in the foot by assuming the places that I’ve chosen (Grecia or San Ramon) will actually end up being my final destination after I’ve lived there for a while. There are cooler places (temperature-wise), although 68 to 80 degrees sound fine to me. But with the much higher humidity, those temps can feel significantly higher, I’m told, so she cautions me to rent for only three to six months on a temporary basis before I sign a longer lease. And to negotiate in US dollars since the laws down there are more strict about raising rental prices slower when the deals are done with dollars rather than colones. (Go figure!)
My immigration coach Margaret Aliff is a wellspring of knowlege. I recommend her highly if you ever decide to move to Costa Rica! You’ll save a ton of money by following her instructions rather than paying an attorney to jump through the hoops for you (most of which you have to jump through yourself anyway).