Today I got to prime and paint the background color on two 4×4 pieces of plywood for the barn 
quilts. We thought it would be fun to make a quilt square for each of our outdoor buildings. One 4×4′ for our small barn, one 4×4′ for over the stalls, one 2×2′ for the gardening shed, and one smaller for the chicken coop. I chose a pattern from the many pictures of barn quilts on the internet. (That is a fun search. There are some beautiful photos of barns. I’m partial to barns! Especially red ones.) I chose partly for the names, and partly for the shapes. The Eastern Star (to the right, on someone else’s barn) is simple, and I like it. I’ll probably go a little brown in blue and reds, with a yellow background.
This disign to the left is called the Summer Star. We’ll keep the background yellow, and use the same blue and red as the barn’s quilt. The green and the center? I don’t know yet! This one is going over the stalls and we will see it out our front window.
I am thinking of combining the hen from this one.
With the border of this one for the front of the chicken coop.
The little chicks are doing very well. Still in the reddish glow of the heat lamp. When I open the door, with all the light, it seems to spur on a pecking-at-tail-feathers spree. Maybe they’re doing it with the door closed too! But they’re not bleeding, so not too much is happening! They’re very cute. Scratching in the shavings like mature hens, challanging each other to fights. Pecking at the black marks on the walls, running around like crazy. They are so active! I really enjoy their sounds, especially the quiet trill that signals they are warm and happy.
And as far as goal #6, I am learning. A lot. Mostly I’m understanding how little I listen to what my body needs and wants to eat. I do a lot of non-hunger eating. So the current goal is to use that hunger scale, and pay attention to what kind of ‘hunger’ I am responding to. Did I say that before? I think this step in the process will take a long time! 996 days left to get it!