Lights out

A few days ago the usually afternoon shower came by. It's hurricane season which means we get a lot of storms. I love it. The rain is soothing. Hubby and I had even dreamed of moving somewhere more precipitous. Like Ireland or Oregon.

It was dinnertime and the pasta just came off the stove in time for the power to go out. Flickering lights are a given but this time it stayed off for almost an hour. I'm glad I made the soy candles a few months ago. I placed them around the kitchen creating pockets of warm yellow glow. The kids loved it.

But rain deluges don't get me out of homestead chores. The only outside animals are the rabbits. Dinner, for them, still needed to be served. I don't mind the rain but it does put a little note in my mind that when we move I'm sorely unprepared for trekking across marshy meadows. Flipflops on my handmade deck are what works for now. It will come though. Needs will be met as they come.

Which is how I'm trying to take everything. Excitement can make me over-eager to get things before we're ready. It will happen. We'll get on our land where need for true muck boots will be a necessity, not just a vision of things to come. Slowing down and appreciating how things are and how they will be settles my restless heart.

Having the lights out for a short time helped me to see.



A New Spin

This is the start of a bobbin of Merino (sheep) wool and some gray/white Angora (rabbit) wool yarn. It's a bit overspun, adding in the loose Angora while spinning the Merino roving has a high learning curve. I'm not even sure if that's how you're supposed to do it. But I really like the results and this is only a single ply.

I've been spinning for almost a month. I think I'm fairly decent at it for a beginner. Since our land is only 5 acres and part of that will be needed to help sustain us, we need a product we can sell to cover those things we can't do ourselves. Enter in: Fiber.

Last December we started with one Angora. Now, we have three. We're hoping the farm will be able to support a small flock of sheep, herd of goats and a dairy cow. This Merino I'm spinning is so nice. Having a few of these sheep would be magnificent.

I'm hoping to take a class at the local knitting store to teach me -finally- how to knit properly. I already have a cozy, cream colored hat in my imagination made from my first spinnings.

My only issue now is not wanting to part with anything.

The fibers, the yarn; I love it all.

Me and Failure? We're tight like this.

I'm thinking of writing a book called Crystal's Homestead Disaster Manual. What do you think?

In a long line of Things That Have Gone Wrong, including failing my semester exam yesterday, another rabbit died this morning. Or sometime last night. Hard to tell with rigor set in and voided bowels strewn around the cage.

I am trying very, very, very, very hard not to get depressed or cry over this. But the long running streak of failure has my head full of doubt over whether this is the right path for me. I'm questioning everything.

"I failed one small section of my exam which I can retake tomorrow" turns into "maybe I'm not a smart enough person to be college educated. Why do I need a degree anyway I'm a stay at home mom?" 

"My little rabbit that never really seemed to grow like the other doe I got at the same time, just unexpectedly died." morphs to "Rabbits hate me. If I can't keep a rabbit alive more than a few weeks maybe I should just scrap the whole homesteading thing and sell off the remaining three to homes where people have a harder time killing things."

The small fig tree covered in ripening fruit I bought yesterday after my FAILURE notice in a bout of I-need-instant-gratification-to-make-me-feel-like-less-of-a-loser is now a mocking reminder of my own fig I bought two years ago that has yet to produce anything.

I can go on and tell you all the crappy things that are going around right now like how we're all getting sick, how my car now is having problems, how my new spinning wheel is crooked and either defective or I've somehow bent it and I can't really use it...but I really don't want to get even more depressive than I already am.

I'm trying, truly, to see the good that's around me but it's so very hard. I try and focus on something to help lift me up and I just get more frustrated and more overwhelmed. I'm locked in my confused head with a sore heart and am struggling to pull myself up out of this ditch I've dug. If anyone has words of wisdom or sage advice, I'd love to hear it. Even just a "wow, that is shitty." or a virtual pat on the back would be so very much appreciated.

A Good Day.

I'm pretty sure yesterday is going to go down in my mental record book as a milestone. I landmark memory that I'll keep forever. One of those days I'll look back at when my hair is snowy white, hands crimped with arthritis, back huntched from a lifetime of toil, and gather my grandkids around me to tell them "a story".

The story of the very first day I spun my very first yarn.

It's not perfect, uniform or particularly long. I'm not even sure I'd get a hat for me out of it. But it's mine and that makes it good.

I set off early yesterday morning leaving hubby and the kids behind. I knew I'd be gone most of the day and that alone lifted me up a bit. A day just for me. The weather didn't want to cooperate though and the deluge that poured down made for slow moving towards my destination. I stopped at the Feed Store and picked up a 30x36 cage for two new baby does I was planning on getting from A Fuzzy Farm, where I was also getting my lesson. They had to order the cage for me but after Conner's more-expensive-worse-made cage fiasco that I'm still dealing with, I wanted to get a Pet Lodge cage again. Duncan has one and we got Conner a new cage of the same brand. Stick with what works, that's the lesson I learned there.

The back of the van had a large cat carrier all set up to bring the girls home. With their new cage stowed on the seats, I was ready to welcome more rabbits to the farm. I'm still skittish but I'm not letting it stop me from persuing my dream.

About five miles out the sky miraculous cleared up. The bright blue smiling down on me as if there never had been a storm cloud around, as if telling me it would hold up while I had my day. I wound my way down scenic back streets to Lorie's house giddy as a school girl with a new crush. I just couldn't keep the grin off my face.

Lorie's house is a fiber arts wonderland. Spinning wheels, drop spindles, bags and bags of fiber. She even has a gorgeous loom. I was a kid in a candy store, my eyes couldn't focus for a minute, as they glided over all the treats. She was a wonderful host and we chatted while she instructed me on the treadles. I think it helped that on the drive to the land Saturday I read The Whole Craft of Spinning: From the Raw Material to the Finished Yarn from cover to cover. The initial intimidation at a wheel was diluted by my newly aquired knowledge.

We visited her alpaca boys, the chickens and Angoras in the back. I think an Alpaca or five might be on the farm wish-list. She even cooked me a delicious lunch. That in itself was magic. Food I didn't have to shop for, plan out, cook, serve or clean up after. I love feeding others but those special times when others feed me goes down bonus points in my book.

Before I knew it, my yarn had been plied and strung out on the niddy noddy, ready to be washed and set. It's just regular non-descript off-white sheeps wool but to me it might as well be made of gold. So precious it is.

There is just something really special, something just bone-deep right about the entire fiber process. To care for an animal, have that animal share part of itself with you, create a product from that which can either pay the bills or keep you warm. I like that co-dependency. A lot.

The wheel I used came home with me after the many hours of class time learning on it. I loaded the two girls in the back of the van and headed back home. The sky opened back up telling me the day was over, that it wouldn't hold back for me any longer. It was the perfect end to a very, very good day.

A true story

Conner has been getting really dirty. Like all orangy and just down right filthy. We couldn't figure out why. We bathed him and groomed him. Yet, still, the snow white bunny was this funky color. I looked at everything around, in and on the cage and noticed something; there were orangy urine drops on Duncan's side of the urine guard.

Quick search on the internet came up with males who like to spray others. Yes, Duncan had been spraying Conner. Poor guy, getting pissed on regularly had to suck. So, we put a wooden board between the two and the immediate issue was solved.

Fast forward to a few days later. Conner is still dirty.WTH?* Maybe he's sick? So, I pull the little guy out to check him over. Nose is clear, ears look clean. Mouth and teeth, a-okay. I flip him over and

OH MY GOD!!!!!!! WHAT IS ON MY BUNNY'S BELLY??!!!!!!

These two huge red growths are protruding from his lower abdomen. What is this? They're angry looking and swollen. Dear lord, Conner has a tumor! Some terrible flesh eating worm has burrowed into his gut and is eating him from the inside! My heart is racing, I'm trying not to panic. I can't loose another bunny, I just can't. I gently put him back into his cage and then a little bulb clicks on above my head. It's about the size of a Christmas Tree light and really very dim. Perhaps, I should check Duncan...

OH MY GOD!!!! DUNCAN HAS THEM TOO!!!!!

Wait a minute. Slow down and think. Duncan has them and he's fine...he didn't start spraying Conner until a few weeks ago...Conner didn't have these growths before when he was a baby...they're both bucks...

Many of you have already connected the dots that took me awhile to even find the dots to connect...I was looking at Conner's decended testicles. I never really looked at Duncan that closely, his hair covers much of his boy parts. Looking up "rabbit sex organs" on the internet comes up with things either very kinky or how to sex a baby rabbit...which isn't mature. 

Thank God I didn't call the breeder I got them from. My freaking out was contained in the privacy of my back yard. I share because sometimes it's good to laugh at yourself. To see the humor in overreacting and ignorance. And I owe Conner a public apology for poking him -repeatedly- in the nuts.


*Sometimes my mind actually thinks in internet acronyms. I have no comment on this.

Skittish

I've come to the realization that I can't learn to do anything right without first doing it every possible way wrong. Or surmounting every concievable obstacle and problem surrounding whatever task or project I want to undertake. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not.

It was like that with the garden. Blight, mildew, various bugs, drought, flooding, no fertilization, no sprouts, and disease. And that was just in my first year. This year has been better. I can at least say that.

Yesterday, I had gathered up my camera and variety of rabbit care tools in the hopes of capturing me grooming one of the boys.  So I could show everyone that even a novice with no mentor, no farm past and no farm present can have a tiny slice of the life we Barnheart'ers crave.

It went well...at first. I relieved Duncan of another mass of soft-as-air fluff. I trimmed off a hidden mat on his hind leg. All the while he was perfectly fine. Oh, there was the one moment when I was sitting in my anirondack chair softly cooing to the gentle beast while gathering his white gold when he got a bit spooked and jumped off my lap. I let him go, grabbing for him could hurt him more than the short jump from my knees to the wood pallet deck. He stopped after he landed and I scooped him back up and proceeded with the trimming.

He seemed fine. Until I put him back in his cage, his face smeared with blood. When things like this happen my heart jumps into my throat and otherwise stops altogether. Breath catches in my lungs, I have to tamp down the panic. I checked him over and found one nail hanging in the fur of his front paw. Somewhere during the trim -I'm thinking when he lept- it ripped off. The entire nail. Black claw and white bed. The blood flowed hard and red, he favored the other leg. Duncan washed perfusely which only aided in smearing the fresh red blood all over his stark white fur, leaving him looking like a derranged psychotic carnivore. The contrast was startling.

I left him to tend himself unsure what the proper course of action was. They don't cover these things in Rabbits for Dummies. I hopped on the Rabbit Talk board and frantically posted a question about what to do.

Thankfully, it seems this will take care of itself. It needs to stay clean and Duncan needs to stay calm so he doesn't rip it open while it heals. As long as infection doesn't set it, he'll be fine. This morning I went out and he greeted me at the door, his face white again and weight seemed equally distributed between front paws. Breath I didn't know I held was released in an audible sigh. I'm not going to finish his trim for at least a week while he heals. No out-of-cage exploring for him either.

I could have posted how wonderful the event went yesterday and omitted the part when my rabbit profusely bled all over and scared the hell out of me. I could have made my homesteading experience a vision of a slowly fulfilling dream-life but that's not how I function. The good comes with the bad. My learning seems to thrive on haywire and the unplanned. Yes, I'm skittish like a rabbit in an open meadow with hawks circling above when it comes to expanding my homesteading endeavors. The loss of Flora still has me nervous about those two new does I'm considering. But even with all the problems chalked up to learning, all the bitching and all the heartache my life really is a slowly fulfilling dream.

Goings On

I have been carless since last Monday. Rob made it home from Army drill Sunday night with assistance from a tow truck. Since he has to go to work every day, he's been taking my car. He worked hard Saturday and Sunday to get it fixed but there's still a few more things that need to be done. Which means I'm housebound again this week and kinda going nuts.

I did get out on Saturday with only three kids in tow and made it over to the grocery store and farmers market before the skys opened up. We have a seven day a week farmers market over here that I've been going to for years. It's where I get my local Amish made onion cheese which is to. die. for. This past weekened they had a sale on bing cherries. $1.49 a pound. I bought about six dollars worth.

Sunday, that got turned into this.

Yesterday, after watching numerous YouTube videos, I decided Conner needed a haircut. I only very poorly trimmed him once. In these 100 degree- 100 percent humid Florida days, I have to be vigilant in the care of the Angoras. It's one of the reasons we have so few breeders in the state. I hadn't realize how long his coat had gotten until I got the shears in there and started cutting it away. His coat was at least 2.5" long. Three is the recommended length for trimming but I can't wait for that.

He was such a good boy, sitting still in my lap while I slowly clipped away his winter jacket. He's been having a rough time of it. Duncan has been marking him (which means he's been getting pissed on). Being first time rabbit owners and not having this problem until about a week ago, had no idea why Conner was getting so dirty! We thought maybe he was too young to know how to care for himself or maybe he was sick. But upon closer inspection and research I realized Duncan was the culprit. We put a board between the cages and the problem has been solved. Now to clean up the bunny.

I didn't get quite all of him done yesterday. Today will start round two of his haircut. I still need to do his neck, shoulders and cheeks where a lot of mats form, around his sides and tops of his feet and trim off a bit on his belly. The belly and bottom of feet hair have to stay to guard against the cage wire but it needs to be cleaned up.

It's gotta feel so much better out there.

I ended up with almost a full ounce of hair that I've put in a plastic bag to save for spinning. I also found a breeder up near our land that has a good bit of does ready. We're going up to the land on the 4th weekend and could pick them up on the way back home. I still have a little trepidation in my heart after Flora but I need to move on if this is what I really want in life. And it is.

Last night, while Rob and Alex were at puppy class with Leeloo and the other kids were already tucked in bed, I decided to pull out the knitting. Most of the sewing projects are either completed or at a stage where I can pause. It's nice to mix it up a bit. I started a gnome.

Sometimes, I look around and think my life would be so much easier without all the constant projects. I can't go anywhere without something new piquing my interest, something I want to try. My to-do list is miles long as it is. But in all honesty, the life of a homesteader is chock full of things to be done everyday, as is the life of a mother and homeschooler.

To be self-sufficient means doing things yourself. It's not a life for everyone but it is the life for me.  

Relief

 Duncan and Conner enjoying frozen water bottles in the breeze from the fan.

The Boys.

Duncan.

Duncan and Conner.

There has been a death

Desperate tears cloud my vision as I write to you today. Two hours ago, Flora, one of the new baby Angora bunnies was put to sleep. I don't understand how things went so wrong so fast. And went so terribly wrong they couldn't be rectified except in death.

So much died with her today. So much more than that tiny pound of fluff we called Flora. So many of my hopes and dreams went with her. She was It. My first doe. The one that I would breed and who would kindle and who's kits would become the official start of our rabbitry. The rabbitry that would help us pay for the bunnies and perhaps put a little money into the farm. The one I was planning to make business cards for, advertising wool and kit sales.

But she was sick. We (the vet and I) don't know what happened or why. They wouldn't do an autopsy, there was no reason to do more tests, she wasn't pulling through. Her heart rate was down terribly low, she had some nasal discharge and a distended belly, the x-ray showed her backed up from her esophogas to her intestines, her temp was low and she wasn't eating, drinking or going to the bathroom. It was time to let her go.

I spent a few minutes saying good bye. I plucked a little of her fur as a rememberance. Maybe someday I'll spin it into a special something. They treated her with respect and compassion and took her away.
I take what I can from her passage. I learned a little more about how rabbits tick so maybe next time I can identify a problem before it becomes fatal. It will take time for me to grieve and get the nerve up to buy another young rabbit. Right now, I'm skittish, checking obsessively on my two bucks with a skeptical, morbid eye. I'm afraid and sad.


It was hard, even knowing her so little a time. I feel the agonizing weight of failure and regret pushing me down with the heartache of her loss. But part of farm life is farm death.

We're not a farm yet, I know. But we will be someday. Animals will get sick or hurt, they will die in birth and of old age. Some will even be chosen to die by our own hands. It's not easy. It's not meant to be. A part of me wants to grow thicker skin, be better able to handle the death of our animals, be professional and sever my feelings cleanly. Having an enlightened sense of the circle of life and our places in the universe.
 
The rest of me hopes I never do. That I greet each death with my sorrow and tears, giving my offering of grief to the life that is no more. That the sanctity of that life remains close to my heart and felt with each raggedy breath I take as I cry.
 
Only time will tell which I will become. I don't think one is better than the other, they both just are. As life is. As death will always be.

Around the House

We're busy today. Lots of things going on, getting prepped and finished up. I like days like this. I like it when things actually come to a close and I can look back and say "I did that", "it worked" or "thank God its done!"

I introduced the new babies to Duncan this morning.

Who are these people, mom?

He was good and curious. The two babies just jumped around thankful, I think, for the additional space. Conner doesn't care as long as there is food.

The garden is coming in full swing. Things are sprouting, tomatoes are ripening, growth is happening every second of every day. The ladybugs helped me pass the storm of aphids and it looks like everyone came out unscathed. There are blossoms on just about everything but blossoms don't mean as much to me as they did this time last year. I've grown a bit jaded I suppose, knowing that a bloom doesn't mean fruit. Ants carry away the pollen, other bugs eat them outright, the blazing sun wilts them before polinization. Though they're pretty enough.

It doesn't give me the same excited zing shooting through my blood as these do.

I've been a sewing fool lately. Spurred on by I know not what. Yesterday, I agreed to make Cordelia a rainbow twirly skirt like this one I made almost two years ago for Olivia:

It's a painstakingly annoying skirt but the results are worth if it they don't drive you mad. It made me remember why I only made one.  I decided that cutting just the 81 needed for the skirt wasn't time effective, so I just went on and cut about 400 more to be used as various projects in the upcoming months.

Today, I'll finish the skirt, clean the house, homeschool the kids, work on some reusable zippy bags for a friend and get the kids ready to go out to dinner to celebrate Rob's National Guard promotion to Captain. I can't wait to go to Kobe and get my hands on their white sauce.

So, here is to good days around the house. Enjoy today.

Oh. My. God. (ever see a baby bunny tongue?)

I got a lot of feedback that you guys love the bunnies. So, here are a ton of shamlessly cute photos. You have to click to enlarge.

Oh. My. God. baby bunny tongue.

Oh, my. teeny feets.

Oh fuzzy baby!

Eeek!

Oh m'god. Baby nom nom nom's.

If anyone ever questioned why I love rabbits in the homestead, I think I just answered you.

Crappy, Busy, Rainy Day

My day started at 12:15am when Max finally went to sleep for the night. I grabbed a couple hours between getting up with a kid to pee, making Max another bottle and having a bad dream. Then all the kids got  me up by 6:45. Ugh. Such limited and terrible sleep lends to a cranky mommy.

I got up and made my coffee just to find myself pouring chunks of milk into it. Nice. Let's try that again. The kids were in rare form, yelling and picking at each other. Nothing was good enough and everyone needed everything this exact second or they'd start whining. With the kids sat down in front of the TV with food, I headed to my laptop to find the internet conked out. It's raining, something I usually like, but not when it keeps flicking off the power making me constantly resetting the wireless hardware and listening to the kids groan when the DVR has to reboot.

I actually did get in the shower. Amazing, that.

We were scheduled to go pick up a new bunny -which multiplied into two - but with my internet down I couldn't get on to get her address/phone or anything else. So I took my Ipod Touch over to Starbucks. On the way I needed gas and wouldn't you know the first one I stopped at was broken. Back in the car to find another pump. At Starbucks I'm supposed to get 2 hrs free WiFi being a gold card member but for some reason it wouldn't let me do it. $3.99 later I find out my Safari app on the Touch is kinked and wont' work. Oh, and Rob stole my GPS for the weekend so the saved address I needed wasn't in the car. Thankfully, the mail app did work and I got her number and called her for directions.

Now, we're thirty minutes late and it's practically a monsoon on the highway. At least I had my coffee and music. But the kids were raring to go, yelling, laughing, picking at each other and complaining driving me up a wall.

Ten minutes before we arrive I hear the dreaded  "I really have to go potty." from the backseat. For those of you that think flooring it to our destination would have worked, I'm not sure you realize what that means when it comes out of a five year old. "I really have to go potty." translates into "I should have told you fifteen minutes ago that I was squirming in my seat but I continued to drink my vanilla milk and now my bladder is exploding."

After a pitstop on the side of the road, we made it and picked up a new set of bunnies.

EEEK! They're so stinkin' cute. They do make my day just a bit better :) I also was able to finish up two quilt tops today.

I've been trying to get projects done by taking it piece by piece. I'll cut everything out working with just one fabric at a time so I don't loose my place if I get interrupted. Then piece them all. Sew at once. Iron at once. Sew again. Etc. until the thing is done. It's amazing how much you can get done and how quickly when you set small goals for yourself. I have to top stitch these to the batting and gather the materials for the backs and binding and I'll be ready to schedule that binding class.

The kids are still driving me nuts, they just won't leave the bunnies alone! But I'm glad they're excited about it. I'm thinking tonight will be an easy dinner and maybe cupcakes are going to get made. I'm not sure I want the mess but a cupcake will do me good after the kids go to bed and I can relax with an ibuprofen and my current read.

My shoddy Rabbit shaving job

It was time. I had put it off long enough. Made excuses as to why I couldn't get to it but honestly, with the eighty degree temps we've been consistently having, there was need. Duncan got a shave. If there was ever a testament as to how green a homesteader I am, it is the terribly sad looking bunny in my backyard hutch.

Before (and add about 2 more months of winter coat growth to that)

What a pretty bunny! So soft and fluffy! Angora coats can get really long and need much attention. So, true to my nature, I had to screw up and let him get matted. My homesteading skills don't just happen overnight, I have to overcome myself before I can learn anything.

AFTER:

 

And he's still not done. He also looks a lot skinnier now too.  And you can see his back feets.

I still have some more to do (obviously). Tomorrow, I'll work on him again and then put him in the baby gate yard thing to play while I clean out his cage. The clippers that I have didn't work really at all other than to freak him out. So, I used my fingers as a guard against his skin and some 2" scissors to clip him. It was quite a process and thirty minutes later we have the very unattractive looking bunny above.

Another thing I've learned through this process...

Bunny wool gets everywhere. (click to enlarge).

It somehow made it to the front yard, the livingroom and I even found a tuft upstairs.

Productivity Reins

Yesterday was quite a busy day. First, we woke up at seven...I mean eight. I haven't caught up to Daylight Savings yet*. Rob put together the bike trailer and hooked it up to my new bike. Did I mention we bought bikes on Saturday? Cordi got a new one for her birthday and we picked up a brand new two seater trailer at Target a few months ago for 90% off. All that was left was getting bikes for the rest of us.

The kids were excitedly donning their helmets as they raced impatiently around the yard. Emmy couldn't stay out of her "carriage". It was nine -no that would be ten- before Max got up. We rode a half mile down back streets over to the local highschool where, once a month, they have a farmers market. The day was gorgeous; blue skys, puffy clouds, a high of 70 and a cool breeze. Perfection. Or as close as we can get in Florida. It's days like this that make me long for more moderate climates where these pitifully few days we have down South stretch weeks long. But then we remeber that it usually snows in those places and how much we really actually do hate the cold.

The small turn out of last month's market left me sorely unprepared for this one. The small lawn of the highschool was packed with people, kids and pets. The number of booths grew, practically spilling into the street with local vendors. It was marvelous.

We got a nice bunch of organic veggies and fruits. A head of cabbage for making the sauerkraut in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook that should be here today. Crisp lettuce and perfectly red plum tomatos for a salad. A huge ripe papaya for Duncan's wool block issue. Heavenly organic oranges and local strawberries. We got fresh squeezed orange juice (that we watched the see-through machine squeeze into our cup, mystifying our techie kids) and real brick fired pizzas that were cooked in a portable handmade oven, mystifying me.

My bike trailer trunk was loaded with goodies as we headed home after loosing Emmy for about 5 minutes, alterting the band to make an announcement and being emotionally reunited with my precious wayward daughter. Loosing a kid for any amount of time is terrifing. My heart thumped in my stomach and nausea soured in my throat. It happens, though. Especially, in highly crowded places. A kid walks around a corner, across an asile in a busy place, or follows a new "friend" (meaning some other kid) away from you when your attention isn't laser beamed on them. They're not really "gone" but try and tell it to a parent's kick-drum beating heart. If it hasn't happened to you yet, it probably will at some point. Thankfully, it worked out positively today.

After getting home and gorging on oranges we set out for the yard. Rob "tilled" the beds I was having trouble clearing, using the motorized edger. I made the fourth, and last, bed frame. Now there are two four by eight foot beds, separated in the middle to make four 4x4' beds. Cordi and I bonded over weed pulling. She's my little garden girl. She loves the work, the dirt and the rewards of the harvest. We weeded and added more dirt to the bed, manure mixture and top soil. We planted two fruited pepper plants, seven sprouted romaine, and one lonely basil.

my garden and my girl

We hung the ladybug house and read the instructions on how to release them, which we'll do later this evening. I added a trellis to the zucchini that are growing quite rapidly. The aphids aren't as plentiful as they once were, I don't know it that was because of the two ladybugs I saw (and possibly more hidden ones) or if they just flew away. I don't really care as long as they leave me the hell alone. The broccoli is indeed flowering and I think the carrots are sprouting.

While I was working on the beds, Rob was putting together a wooden picnic table so we can eat outside more and enjoy the work we're doing in the yard (and bonus, not have to have the kids eating in the house for every meal). Maybe we can all fit on this table too so we can enjoy the same meal at the same time. Wouldn't that just be a thing.

Leeloo seems to be a bit better today so her issue might have been the food change. Duncan gobbled up the papaya and is drinking water so maybe his wool block isn't such an issue. Maybe he's just "off feed" because of the climate change.

I made my first bunny poo harvest and generously fed the surviving single tomato and distributing the remainder over the already formed beds. I also drew out some worm tea and gave everyone in the garden a good splash (the plants, not the kids).

We're ate pizza again for dinner, leftovers from our visit to Rob's aunt Saturday night on a new stoneware pizza pan. I've been drooling over switching out our teflon coated ones for the stoneware equivalents but the price is holding me back. What a wonderful woman for giving me a brand new one! We also were gifted her upright full-size freezer (see the big white rectangle on the porch in the photo with Rob and the table?) All that and I still uploaded photos from the visit and got in a few rounds of Mafia Wars. I'm excited with the days' happenings, thankful for the opportunities -and gifts- we've been given and optimistic after a bad day of worry.

*It's stupid and I hate it and it will take me until a week before the time changes again to get used to it...and change all the clocks in my surrounding area to the correct time.  

Another set of "Oh no"

The puppy is sick. Still pooping worms. We came home at ten last night to a diarreah explosion all over the beadboard wall behind her crate. We freaked out she ate grapes and feverously researched that for about half an hour. Rob and I both searching on both our computers at the same time. Its something that can kill her. Then thought maybe it was the little sample of free food we got from Tractor Supply (which we will NOT be feeding her again).

The bunny isn't eating. Two days and he hasn't more than touched his pellets. I've been putting off shaving him. Now I'm worried I really messed up by not. He's got mats in his fur which we've been slowly cutting out but it's been cold. I don't want him to be too cold by taking away too much fur. Now I think he has wool block. Something that can kill him.

The feedstore isn't open today either so I can't go get anything for either of them. I have some worm meds for the pup but she was just dewormed just over 2 weeks ago and then the week before that. I have to see if she can have it already. The bunny is getting slices of banana with the skins which he will eat which is hopeful.

Scared I'll be losing my animals.

Building A Bunny Hutch

Duncan has been sitting on the porch in a 30x30 cage which is all well and fine except his droppings have been getting scattered all over the place even with a pan beneath him. He was also really close to the ground and we have a large feral cat community here. There's possums and raccoons too.

Before we got him we wanted to have a hutch in the very well shaded back yard. He's an angora, remember, so we have to be really careful with his cooling in the summer. We had drawn up plans for lots of impressive wooden/metal hutches based on the models that run in the $200-400 range. Well, those didn't work out so much. They've got a lot of exposed wood which can be pee'd on or chewed. We came up with a design that integrated the 2 30x30 metal frames, would be easy to clean and didn't cost anywhere near $200 to build.

First off you have to get yourself ready. Tools and safety are important, as is being warm while you work. Get an outfit similar to this but beware, it attracts a certain kind of octopus...

Here is the frame for the 2 cages. The roof is slanted and will be covered with corrugated aluminum roofing we had left over from the building of the shed that this is now attached to.

Here's Rob and his foreman Alex. Keep warm me boy!

It's important to have the proper tools for working. Like a screw holder.

Or a ladder.

Here's a photo just cause he's a handsome guy so engrossed in his project he didn't know I was taking photos.

The back and sides are on the hutch. More aluminum lines the inside walls and metal sheathing (I think that's the right term) covers the wood frame. Like a huge urine guard.

The bottom is open so the droppings can easily be harvested. (Yes, I just did say we're harvesting bunny poop). They're about chest high here too which will make it better protection from predators. Bunnies can get scared if they can't get away. They can have heart attacks.

Most of the wood is treated but we gave it a once over with Killz and added a top part to the front roof so cats and whatnots can't hop on top of the cages. It's important to have your "helpers" keep busy with various other projects.

Here's the completed hutch sans Duncan.

I picked up a toddler play yard at Target for 75% off. It was normally $129 and I scored it for $35. I'll use this to house the buns when I have to clean the cages and when I want to let them get some exercise. Duncan can fit through the bars so he has to be supervised in it.

We used a blow torch to clean off the matted urine dried hair that accumulated on the bottom of the cage.

Rob took over this project...I think he just wanted to play with fire.

 

And finally, here's Dunk settled in his cage.

What a weekend project this was. Happy Valentine's Day to me! and Duncan :)