I have a thing for birds.  All types of birds.  My fascination with these creatures was inspired by the beautiful lake I grew up on in SE Alaska — Auke Lake.  A black abyss surrounded by trees and mountains, the perfect setting for water fowl and birds of prey.  Living in a culd-a-sac on the outskirts of town provided my with little to do when it came to entertainment, the lake became my playground and the wildlife my friends (feel free to insert an imgae of Snow White where she flutters through the forest singing to squirrels and birds.  It was sort of like this).

Before I was 8 years old I could “call” just about any type of duck to land on the lake.  I swore to my parents that I could “understand” what these birds had to say.  Rather then commit me to an institution my dad decided I would be the perfect hunting partner, but that’s another story.

One night, over a case of beer dad and Mr. Belflower found an advertisement in Field and Stream for ‘one hundred exotic chickens from around the world.’  Too enticing was that add, because soon after a crate arrived carrying multi-colored fuzz balls.  The perfect Christmas present for a bird-whisper-child.

Fast forward to visuals of a lanky kid being followed by a mass or birds, worm hunts, picnic parties in which we sat on a blanket with a loaf of bread and bike rides in which my favorite girls sat in my basket for a short mile to Dehart’s Store for popsicles.

Now that I am all grown up with children of my own, I feel it is my duty to make sure O and L have a coop of their own.   We built our coop this Fall using recycled materials bought from The Rebuilding Center and Western Wire Works Inc.  We get fresh eggs very morning. Cluck, cluck, cluck!

Feel free to contact me with chicken coop questions…  Winter is a time to ponder spring projects — let this be one of yours!

Tracy Dau

971-275-0387

tdau@livingroomrealtors.com

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