One Month Plus Two Days

That's how long both of my does went between breeding and kindling. My gray doe, Dandi, kindled today. I don't like to stir them up too much on the first day, but I'm pretty sure I counted seven kits buried under mounds of straw and fur.

This is not the greatest time of year for having baby bunnies. But, there you are. I'll have to take extra precautions about keeping them cool in there. JF & I are looking into solar powered fans for the rabbit shed. Any little thing we can do can only help.

Within the next week or two, I'll have to start butchering the first litter. It won't be long before they are ten weeks old. I got them some calf manna (a food supplement.) But just since they have been in the fryer pen, I can tell they've gotten heavier fast.

Y'all wish me luck. I'm still getting mentally prepared for that.

You Gotta See This

Wow. This is SO gross. And the farther it goes, the grosser it gets. I became obsessed about the mysterious green film in my kitchen sink. My efforts to clean it with normal methods weren't helping much. After I finally took after it with a razor blade, I was glad I don't actually wash my dishes in there. I can only guess what it actually is.




I kept at it, though. I would scrape it in spells throughout the day. Followed by some I-Mean-Serious elbow grease and a powdered cleanser. Here is a reminder of what it looked like right after we put the new faucet in.


And here is what it looks like now.



Geeze. That was disgusting!

I Have Been Enjoying The Rain

Ahhhh. It rained yesterday AND today. I remember saying, about two months ago, that there would come a time when I would be begging for it to rain. Yeah. That was back when it had rained every day for a month and I was sick of it.

Isn't that funny, how we can actually get our undies in a bunch over the weather? As if we can do anything about it.

Little B & I played out in the rain both days. It is much cooler outside (and inside) the rabbits are lively and enjoying the break from the heat. I have spent as much time as possible curled up in my recliner with a cover and a good book!

Aww, don't worry. All the necessities got done. I didn't realize I was getting so overwrought with the high temps. I'm glad we've had a breather. I'm sure they will be back in full force!

Hundred Dollar Projects - Kitchen Sink

I like to call it "Like it or not, Do it yourself." There are so, so many things in the house that need to be repaired or replaced. We do the "big" things rarely and mostly when they reach catastrophic status (like re-plumbing the house recently.) Yeah... good plan, I know. But every once in a while, we do something small. They usually cost in the area of $100, so I call them our Hundred Dollar Projects. This weekend, we replaced the kitchen faucet. The biggest expense was the faucet itself. We wanted to get one that had some pretty specific features and spent around $70 on it.


And, in all honestly, JF mostly did it. I was on call for fetching and picture taking. He'd already started when I got up this morning. This is where I came in.


This is our Old-Ass-1970's-kitchen-faucet (That's the model name.) The years have not been kind to it. It's got one of those lever handles that JF hated. The sprayer was so clogged with mineral deposits that it wouldn't work. And the short spout was impossible to get big pots underneath.


You can see where the copper has leaked through.


And this is the new one installed. JF was really proud! Me, too. :)

It's got two twisty knobs instead of a lever. A tall arch to fit canners and stock pots (and watering cans) under. And a shiny new sprayer that actually works. Not to mention the filter on the end of it. I am still trying to scrub that copper out of the sink. It gets a little better each time I scrub.

Pea Seeds

I was out pulling some more stuff out of the garden this evening. I pulled out half the pea vines (one side of the trellis.) They were brown and crispy. I'd left them there to let the last of the pods dry on the vines. I hope to try planting them next year, early in the spring.



You can see they still have to be sorted and all the bad ones got out. In that pic, all of them look a bit sickly, but it's very dark in the room and the camera flash turns thing funny colors.

I imaging I will pull up the rest of them tomorrow.

I had to go to the mall last evening, too. Man, I hate the mall. It's five miles from my house, but still I only get there once or twice a year. I had to run in GNC and well... it's in the mall. Excuse another picture taken in the dark.



I may get there a few more times more than usual this year. My Little will be headed off to Kindergarten and all the good, moderately priced clothing stores are in the mall. ehhh...

Out With the Old

I finally cleaned out my lettuce rows a day or so ago. I'd been trying to get them tall enough for me to pull up without bending too much. Ha!

They had bolted and gone a little bitter a while back. I've finally cleaned out the rows to make space for something else. I ended up pulling a wheelbarrow load stacked high. The chickens had reason to celebrate for sure.

Taking Advantage

Yesterday I went into my freezer and found it must have been off for a little while. I looked down, and sure enough the light was off. (JF had been moving some furniture in the area, so that would explain the disconnection.) The sides of the chest were a little damp and sheets of ice were falling. Thankfully, all of the food appeared to still be solidly frozen.

I took advantage of the opportunity to inventory the contents of the freezer.


I also cleaned it out, which has been on my to-do list for months. There was a nasty mess on the bottom, including the torn edges of some bags that had been stuck for a while, a few spilled blueberries from 2006 and a bag of green beans from 2007. I imagine the chickens will get those.