Peru.

Today I leave for Peru, so who knows what will become of this chicken blog for the next two weeks. So here are some pics from the last time I was in Peru for last xmas. Be well and for those of you in the Sonoran Desert enjoy the sweet smell of creosote and the feel of the monsoons in the air.

Huaraz.

The Way Inn. View from our room.

Me and the dog, Mumbles, at the Way Inn with some lovely mtns in the background.

Sunset in Chaclacayo.

Xmas with our chullos.

Pollo in the market.

Chickens in the News! #9

Chickens are in! Here is one strutting its stuff on the Sao Paulo fashion show runway.

Lately it's been...

...hotter than the inside of a live chicken!© And for those of you who didn't believe that this fantabulous saying would ever make it's way into the jargon of pop culture, here is verifiable proof that not only has this saying become ever-so-popular, but that it has spread out of the chicken mecca of Tucson, AZ all the way across the state line to California. That's right, if this trend was a crime, it would now be federal. My friend and co-worker from Los Angeles, California sent me this picture just this morning, as she witnessed temperatures in Pasadena at 6pm on Saturday rise exactly two degrees hotter than the inside of a live chicken!© Thanks to all those committed Chicken Diction aficionados out in the world.

First ascent.

Confessional.

Hi, my name is Matthew. And I'm addicted to my climbing wall.

Climbing wall - Part 5.

Sunday was nearly as hot as Saturday. Made even hotter by the fact that we now have all the panels on the bouldering wall, and all we have left is to finish screwing the pieces in fully, fill three small gaps with plywood, and attach some holds. It is far sturdier than I could have hoped for and the Metolius grit paint that I paid too much for turned out to be a worth while expenditure as it adds a level of texture that makes this so much more than a wooden wall.

Let's go climbing.

Prepping to hoist the highest of all panels.

Grrr.

Safe and secure.

Let the race to the finish begin...

. . . . .

Megan and David putting the finishing touches on a panel.

At some point in the day, we announced that David deserved the title of "one who saved the weekend!" Megan and I would have had some trouble getting those panels up all by our lonesome selves. And one or both of us just might have died in the process. So thanks David!

Megan contemplates the distance to the top after we placed the final panel and the light that would envelop her when she reaches the top right corner...

The view from the ground.

Very first tomatoe!

Climbing wall - Part 4.

A lot happened today - way more than can be told here. These are the important highlights:

- We started at 8am.
- There were donuts.
- We ended at 8pm.
- We realized we worked long and hard for 12 hours straight with little rest.
- There were veggie burritos.
- There was a high temperature of 107 degrees in Tucson today.
- That's pretty damn hot.
- The climbing wall is all framed up and ready for the plywood.
- The plywood is all cut, primed, and painted, and ready for the wall.
- Tomorrow it is going to be hotter than today in all likelihood.

Yeah, nothing like toe-nailing screws in. Over and over and over.

And over.

Honestly, this is trick photography. Chris is strong, but not like this picture would lead you to believe.

Jonathan with his famous behind the back drill move.

My friend David showed up at our door last night and we somehow conned him into working long hours in the sun all day today. He says he looks like Popeye here. "I'yam what I'yam!"

A bit of a siesta...

Proud David keep on rolling.

Jonathan dreams of a climbing wall.

Final supports for the wall.

Chris got artsy at some point. Or the sun got to him.

Still artsy. Nice moon.

Yeah, shortly after this the pizza came and we were done for the day.
Oh so done.

Climbing wall - Part 3.

No better way to spend a Friday night than piecing together the supports for a backyard climbing wall. The only thing that might be better was the 10 o'clock showing of the mid-season finale of (warning! geek alert) Battlestar Galactica. Oh yeah. So in honor of the supreme comfort we all feel with our over abundance of love for this scifi drama that rules far too many of our conversations for anyone to think that we are even remotely normal, here are some eery-scifi-esqe-climbing-wall-at-night-pics that help to detail the progress we made last night.

Chickens have a special place in their chicken hearts for common people.

There are really no words that can express how happy I was to have stumbled upon this.

Things chickens should not be used for: Part 1.

Connecticut police find roasting chicken stuffed with pipe bomb on roadside, detonate it

SIMSBURY, Conn. (AP) -- Authorities in Connecticut are wondering who stuffed a raw roasting chicken with a pipe bomb and left it on a roadside.

Simsbury police Capt. Matthew Catania says a motorist noticed the chicken Friday morning. He says the bomb was large enough to harm a person if it went off.

The road was closed while the Hartford Police Department's bomb squad came and blew up the chicken.

Nobody was injured. No arrests had been made Monday night.

Because I'm feeling saucy today...

My public service announcement for the day.

Flight of the Conchords is my new favorite show ever.

I am so not the first person to post this video from Flight of the Conchords, but I can't help it. They're that good...(oh, if any of my cousins are looking at this with their kids, I have a sneaking suspicion that you will want to provide whatever your level of censorship you desire for the rather creative lyrics.)

Riley, the Urban Farmer.

(Photo courtesy our friend Amy.)

Climbing Wall - Part 2.1.

This post is specifically for my dad and my friend Arthur who I am sure have a keen interest in the angles that were needed in order to make this a sturdy, and worthy structure. I now know my way around a framing square more than I ever thought I would, but if you want an explanation for how all of this came about, I will need more time than just this blog to explain it all...

Climbing Wall - Part 2.

Well this weekend was all about the climbing wall. Chris, Megan, and I made some serious progress, and learned (or simply remembered) a few things about geometry in the process. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Somehow we managed to get them all in a line, which was no small task. I can't wait to climb on this!

Chicken fun fact you weren't necessarily thinking about.

It turns out that chickens take issue with road runners. At least my chickens do. So this morning while I was watering my soon-to-be-not-so-green-but- very-tasty-tomatoes all five of the chickens were making some kind of ruckus, and when I looked up there was a road runner not 10 feet from me. It was probably going after the very healthy community of lizards that scuttle around the premises in the early morning sun, as roadrunners are rather carnivorous. Anyways road runners easily make it onto my top ten most favorite list of birds, and it was pretty fantabuloso to see one so close and mostly calm. Chickens naturally are also on my top ten list, even if they do get all finicky and skittish around their more agile and fearless distant cousin. The hens finally quieted down after the road runner had shuffled off with some sort of tasty lizard breakfast burrito.