Project hot tub
By that title, you could be expected to assume that the project was installing a hot tub, but you would be wrong. We are working on getting rid of one. When we bought this house, it came with a large hot tub on the back porch. It is so large, it takes up half of the porch, and becomes the number one place for people to pile stuff outside the back door. I do not like it.
I have finally convinced the rest of the family that we do not need a hot tub, especially one that no one uses, and it turns out, doesn't even work. The very old plastic pipes underneath are very brittle and are cracking. Plus, if we got rid of the hot tub, we would have room for a table and chairs, giving us a lot more outside seating.
But do you want to know the real reason it is going? Chicken poop.
The chickens love the back porch. It is shady when it is hot out. It is covered when it rains. There are interesting things to perch on and peck at, and there is a great big window to look in when you are bored. From their perspective, there is a lot to like about the back porch. From the human perspective, it means that no matter how often you clean and sweep, the porch is still covered in chicken poop. We have grown weary of this, and want to create a chicken-free screen porch. While it will be nice not to deal with bugs while sitting outside, it will be even nicer to not deal with chicken poop. Very, very nice.
Step one, though is removing the hot tub, which is not as easy as it sounds. So far, the sides have been pulled off, some of the insulating foam has been chipped away, and it has been turned upside down.
Eventually they got it turned upside down, which I think is because it is going to be easier to work with. You see, the fun doesn't stop with just removing the hot tub. Oh no... M. has come up with an idea to repurpose the fiberglass hot tub liner into a small, in-ground pond, complete with filter and plants. For the ducks, you know. TM has already started digging the hole for the liner to go in.
Plus, no one really was looking forward to cutting the fiberglass up for the garbage.
I realized something, though, while we were staring at the open hot tub wondering how to get rid of it. Right outside our backdoor, right OUTSIDE our kitchen, we had the absolutely perfect brooder box. It was deep. It was safe. It was large. The cover could open up halfway for light, and it would have been easy to put wire over the top. The heaters would have fit in the bottom quite nicely. And it was not inside my kitchen. It would have been perfect, had we only thought of it in time. For only the merest of seconds did we wonder whether we should keep it for its brooder potential.
I have finally convinced the rest of the family that we do not need a hot tub, especially one that no one uses, and it turns out, doesn't even work. The very old plastic pipes underneath are very brittle and are cracking. Plus, if we got rid of the hot tub, we would have room for a table and chairs, giving us a lot more outside seating.
But do you want to know the real reason it is going? Chicken poop.
The chickens love the back porch. It is shady when it is hot out. It is covered when it rains. There are interesting things to perch on and peck at, and there is a great big window to look in when you are bored. From their perspective, there is a lot to like about the back porch. From the human perspective, it means that no matter how often you clean and sweep, the porch is still covered in chicken poop. We have grown weary of this, and want to create a chicken-free screen porch. While it will be nice not to deal with bugs while sitting outside, it will be even nicer to not deal with chicken poop. Very, very nice.
Step one, though is removing the hot tub, which is not as easy as it sounds. So far, the sides have been pulled off, some of the insulating foam has been chipped away, and it has been turned upside down.
Eventually they got it turned upside down, which I think is because it is going to be easier to work with. You see, the fun doesn't stop with just removing the hot tub. Oh no... M. has come up with an idea to repurpose the fiberglass hot tub liner into a small, in-ground pond, complete with filter and plants. For the ducks, you know. TM has already started digging the hole for the liner to go in.
Plus, no one really was looking forward to cutting the fiberglass up for the garbage.
I realized something, though, while we were staring at the open hot tub wondering how to get rid of it. Right outside our backdoor, right OUTSIDE our kitchen, we had the absolutely perfect brooder box. It was deep. It was safe. It was large. The cover could open up halfway for light, and it would have been easy to put wire over the top. The heaters would have fit in the bottom quite nicely. And it was not inside my kitchen. It would have been perfect, had we only thought of it in time. For only the merest of seconds did we wonder whether we should keep it for its brooder potential.
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