The Latest: Animals, Construction, Fun, and Family...
We had a pretty productive and exciting weekend on the ol' homestead! With tons of pics to go with it, here's the low-down...
Flora & Fauna
The truly warm weather seems to have left us for good now, though the rains have yet to come. The mornings and evenings are brisk, and the days aren't warm enough to keep the garden going much longer. But we had a pretty good run of it this year -the tomatoes were almost a complete bust, with the exception of the Sungold Cherry, which is still producing some tasty morsels for Ian's lunches...
I have ONE remaining pumpkin (the chickens ate the ones they could reach) and two Butternut squash that are almost ripe. The pumpkins were intended for the chickens and goats, but it would've been nice if they could've waited for me to give it to them! :P The squash did well on the hog-panel trellis, I think I'm going to do that again next year.
Here's one of the Cuckoos foraging in the garden. Her molt is about 99% complete and it's amazing how "fresh" the new feathers look...
Compare her with the other Cuckoo, who is only beginning her molt -look how yellowed and sun-faded her ragged year-old feathers are!
And here are the Three Amigos (who are also growing in their winter coats); Pancho, Cisco, and Frito in the background...
Here are Mr. and Ms. P, in a corner of their yard (with Pancho's ear in the extreme foreground, and the turkey's ghetto -but functional!- pen in the background)...
And here are the two toms. Their looks kind of grow on you, but yeah, they are kind of odd. :B
The last bit of flora is my favorite new pot of herbs! It's a thrifted "copper" bundt cake pan that I drilled some drainage holes in, added a couple washers and a threaded rod to, and planted some compact oregano and thyme in. I want a dozen more of these!
Quirky and rustic. Awesome. :D
Projects Ahoy!
For the entire eight years we've lived here, we've lived with the previous (non-family) tenant's erratic repairs and "improvements" to the house. I've been wanting to fix the siding on the bathroom wall for a long, LONG time, so finally we got all the materials collected, made a detailed plan of attack, and BEGAN!
Here's how it looked at the start (with some of the scaffolding pieces propped against it). Why he tore (literally) the bottom two feet of siding off the house remains a mystery. We do know, however, that the odd hole in the exterior bathroom wall was his way of removing the existing (perfectly good cast-iron) tub and replacing it with an ill-fitting one-piece fiberglass shower/tub unit. Don't try to find any rhyme or reason to his methods, you'll just lose sleep over it. ANYWAY. He did a shoddy job of removing the original siding and a half-ass job of residing -it all had to go in order to be done correctly.
Next we built the scaffolding in place and cut back the original siding to the nearest stud. What we like to call, doing it the RIGHT way. Ian, for scale, is 5'11" -the scaffolding platform is 8'. Our house is TALL.
From there a lot of work was done and there wasn't much time for picture-taking. We removed the window, the old 1/4" replacement plywood (quarter-inch, are you kidding me?!), and all the old tarpaper and rat nests we came across. Have I mentioned that the exterior bathroom wall is a major rodent thoroughfare? Well it is. We were afraid that they were chewing through the tub fiberglass (because that's sure what it sounded like), but it turns out they were just scratching out all the insulation around it. Anyway, once that was all cleaned up we put up new tarpaper, overlapping it correctly and tucking it under the top edge. Oh, the feed bags are trash bags -gotta use them for something! :P
Then it was time for the new siding (courtesy of Grandpa's material stash) which went up like a dream. I did all the drilling, screwing, and caulking as Ian is more of the muscle and less detail oriented -but I'll make a craftsman of him yet! The only photographic evidence that I was on the scaffold:
Installed the siding down to the point where we need to decide how to join it with the rest of the needed siding (the next project on our list) and then reinstalled the window (trim is yet to come). Then we cleaned up all the garbage and tools (and ourselves) and had a fabulous soak in our neighbor's hot-tub -the perfect end to a productive weekend!
Before we started our exterior adventure, I finished up a little project I started earlier last week. I've grown really tired of my white kitchen (BLAH) and am really craving some color -like, CRAZY color. I've picked up a few thrifted items that have totally inspired my kitchen outlook, and am pondering paint chips in my sleep, LOL. Anyway, the main theme is kitsch -but clever and tastefully restrained and/or useful kitsch. So I asked Grandma if she would be interested in parting with the hideous plastic cuckoo clock a well-intentioned friend had given her years ago, and she took it off the wall before I could even finish my sentence, saying, "Take it!" XD So I took it home and disassembled it in preparation for it's new life...
Seriously. Ew.
A few generous applications of awesomeness...
And huzzah! XD
I'm still debating on painting the numbers white -it doesn't really need it, but they're a funky font. The little cuckoo bird will be painted yellow with some blue and red accents. Once I have the wall prepped the way I want, it'll be hanging above the stove where it can tick away the moments while I stir to the beat. :B
Family, Etc.
- I've officially lost 30 pounds since April 1st! I can really feel it -not just in my too-loose clothes, but my lower back which hardly hurts anymore and my hips and knees. Gotta step it up though through the winter months to keep the average of a pound a week! Hup-hup!
- I'm going to be an aunt in May! :O *shock* That's hitting close to home, lol. Ian's sister just announced that she and her husband are now expecting their first child, which is crazy and exciting all rolled into one! Their under-construction house is scheduled to be completed in January, and now they have a good reason to hold the builder to it! My nephew/niece is roughly 11 weeks old, which means he/she has completed most of the critical development and only has to grow from here on out; also he/she would fit in the palm of my hand. Amazing.
Flora & Fauna
The truly warm weather seems to have left us for good now, though the rains have yet to come. The mornings and evenings are brisk, and the days aren't warm enough to keep the garden going much longer. But we had a pretty good run of it this year -the tomatoes were almost a complete bust, with the exception of the Sungold Cherry, which is still producing some tasty morsels for Ian's lunches...
I have ONE remaining pumpkin (the chickens ate the ones they could reach) and two Butternut squash that are almost ripe. The pumpkins were intended for the chickens and goats, but it would've been nice if they could've waited for me to give it to them! :P The squash did well on the hog-panel trellis, I think I'm going to do that again next year.
Here's one of the Cuckoos foraging in the garden. Her molt is about 99% complete and it's amazing how "fresh" the new feathers look...
Compare her with the other Cuckoo, who is only beginning her molt -look how yellowed and sun-faded her ragged year-old feathers are!
And here are the Three Amigos (who are also growing in their winter coats); Pancho, Cisco, and Frito in the background...
Here are Mr. and Ms. P, in a corner of their yard (with Pancho's ear in the extreme foreground, and the turkey's ghetto -but functional!- pen in the background)...
And here are the two toms. Their looks kind of grow on you, but yeah, they are kind of odd. :B
The last bit of flora is my favorite new pot of herbs! It's a thrifted "copper" bundt cake pan that I drilled some drainage holes in, added a couple washers and a threaded rod to, and planted some compact oregano and thyme in. I want a dozen more of these!
Quirky and rustic. Awesome. :D
Projects Ahoy!
For the entire eight years we've lived here, we've lived with the previous (non-family) tenant's erratic repairs and "improvements" to the house. I've been wanting to fix the siding on the bathroom wall for a long, LONG time, so finally we got all the materials collected, made a detailed plan of attack, and BEGAN!
Here's how it looked at the start (with some of the scaffolding pieces propped against it). Why he tore (literally) the bottom two feet of siding off the house remains a mystery. We do know, however, that the odd hole in the exterior bathroom wall was his way of removing the existing (perfectly good cast-iron) tub and replacing it with an ill-fitting one-piece fiberglass shower/tub unit. Don't try to find any rhyme or reason to his methods, you'll just lose sleep over it. ANYWAY. He did a shoddy job of removing the original siding and a half-ass job of residing -it all had to go in order to be done correctly.
Next we built the scaffolding in place and cut back the original siding to the nearest stud. What we like to call, doing it the RIGHT way. Ian, for scale, is 5'11" -the scaffolding platform is 8'. Our house is TALL.
From there a lot of work was done and there wasn't much time for picture-taking. We removed the window, the old 1/4" replacement plywood (quarter-inch, are you kidding me?!), and all the old tarpaper and rat nests we came across. Have I mentioned that the exterior bathroom wall is a major rodent thoroughfare? Well it is. We were afraid that they were chewing through the tub fiberglass (because that's sure what it sounded like), but it turns out they were just scratching out all the insulation around it. Anyway, once that was all cleaned up we put up new tarpaper, overlapping it correctly and tucking it under the top edge. Oh, the feed bags are trash bags -gotta use them for something! :P
Then it was time for the new siding (courtesy of Grandpa's material stash) which went up like a dream. I did all the drilling, screwing, and caulking as Ian is more of the muscle and less detail oriented -but I'll make a craftsman of him yet! The only photographic evidence that I was on the scaffold:
Installed the siding down to the point where we need to decide how to join it with the rest of the needed siding (the next project on our list) and then reinstalled the window (trim is yet to come). Then we cleaned up all the garbage and tools (and ourselves) and had a fabulous soak in our neighbor's hot-tub -the perfect end to a productive weekend!
Before we started our exterior adventure, I finished up a little project I started earlier last week. I've grown really tired of my white kitchen (BLAH) and am really craving some color -like, CRAZY color. I've picked up a few thrifted items that have totally inspired my kitchen outlook, and am pondering paint chips in my sleep, LOL. Anyway, the main theme is kitsch -but clever and tastefully restrained and/or useful kitsch. So I asked Grandma if she would be interested in parting with the hideous plastic cuckoo clock a well-intentioned friend had given her years ago, and she took it off the wall before I could even finish my sentence, saying, "Take it!" XD So I took it home and disassembled it in preparation for it's new life...
Seriously. Ew.
A few generous applications of awesomeness...
And huzzah! XD
I'm still debating on painting the numbers white -it doesn't really need it, but they're a funky font. The little cuckoo bird will be painted yellow with some blue and red accents. Once I have the wall prepped the way I want, it'll be hanging above the stove where it can tick away the moments while I stir to the beat. :B
Family, Etc.
- I've officially lost 30 pounds since April 1st! I can really feel it -not just in my too-loose clothes, but my lower back which hardly hurts anymore and my hips and knees. Gotta step it up though through the winter months to keep the average of a pound a week! Hup-hup!
- I'm going to be an aunt in May! :O *shock* That's hitting close to home, lol. Ian's sister just announced that she and her husband are now expecting their first child, which is crazy and exciting all rolled into one! Their under-construction house is scheduled to be completed in January, and now they have a good reason to hold the builder to it! My nephew/niece is roughly 11 weeks old, which means he/she has completed most of the critical development and only has to grow from here on out; also he/she would fit in the palm of my hand. Amazing.