I finished the bench seat insert yesterday, planned to steam it today, but was too busy to get it done. The time I had to work on it was taken up by rioting and rebellious chickens.

My youngest batch of baby chicks is old enough and big enough to join the rest of the flock in the chicken pen, so I decided today was a good day to introduce them to the great outdoors. I carried their bin outside, where they instantly froze in place and became silent as they heard the loud calls and singing of the wild birds. There were two baking cooling racks on top of the bin, serving as a cage top since the chicks are still light weight enough to fly (even without a mama to teach them how). While I was inside, something happened and the cooling racks fell down into the bin and the chicks flew out to become wild birds. Luckily, they didn't fly far - they were all within a few feet of the bin when I went out to check on them. An hour later, I had corralled five of them, but the sixth was really alusive. A little dish of food and another of water might have drawn her out if I hadn't popped out of the house every few minutes to look for her. Another two hours went by, with me on the ground looking under everything to find her, when she finally flew out into the open and I snagged her. The chicken bin had to return inside, just ahead of a thunder storm - maybe these babies will join the big flock tomorrow.