Summer Break (Somewhat Literally) Is Over!

So, we decided to take the summer off from working on the house, mostly because, without air conditioning, it was simply to hot inside to function.  Instead, we focused on maintaining the yard and hanging out on the sailboat.  I'd say we were sailing, but the wind did not cooperate this year.  Oh, well.

In other news, when we ready to start working on the house again, the hubs broke his back.  The ladder on which he was standing (13' above the ground) broke, and he fell.  By the grace of God, his breaks (L1, L2, L3, and L4) did not require surgery and did not cause him permanent injury.  He was in quite a bit of pain for several weeks, and was out of work for several days (yes, only days - can you believe it?), but he is otherwise unscathed.  These are photos he took of, as he calls it, "the scene of the crime."

A few weeks after his fall, I slipped on the back steps to the deck and broke my ... pride.  I still have a large goose egg on my posterior (3 1/2 weeks post fall) and bruising, but most of the color has left.  Also, I am far more comfortable than I have been.  As long as no one touches it, I'm okay.  I'll spare you any photos. (;

And so, now that we're both mostly healed, we've begun home projects again.  The first involved the hubs crawling into the rear crawl space under the house to connect pipes.  He installed our temporary kitchen sink!  One of the base cabinets is standing next to it, and we have a propane camp stove (with oven!) to prepare meals.  Our first non-microwaved meal cooked indoors?  Grilled cheese sammiches!  Oh, how I've missed the simpler things!

 

 

 

I even did a few dishes!

Hey, Dawg! Did You See the Size of Them Chickens?

A coworker of mine noticed foxes along her property line with hungry kits, so she asked if I would take the flock off her hands to prevent them from becoming fox feed.  I told her I would, and we began planning.

We decided to use the shed left behind by the previous residents as a chicken coop.  We also decided to repurpose the dog fencing they left to make a yard around the shed.  First we put some of the fencing on the ground and set the shed on top of it.  This will prevent larger critters from digging underneath and getting at the chickens in the night.  Smaller ones can still do so, but we figure the chickens can handle them. 

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We then transferred the 4x4 poles to where we wanted them and stapled the fencing to it.  It didn't turn out half bad.

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Next, we went and picked up the chickens.  Of course, it started to rain as we were getting ready to leave, so by the time we got home, the hubs had to move soggy, chicken filled cardboard boxes from the truck bed into the shed while I held a light for him to see the path.  Still, we managed without losing anyone.

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The chickens all seemed to get along with each other pretty well, but they were skittish where we were concerned.  Still, they seemed content with their new surroundings.

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However, we weren't too keen on having to pick up their eggs from divots in the ground.  So, inspired by a post I'd seen on Facebook, we build nesting boxes for them.  We screwed milk crates onto a 2x4 frame, and then we used zip ties to put metal paint trays inside them.

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We then used longer zip ties to put a board across the bottom part of the paint trays.  This serves two functions.  It gives the chickens a secure spot to land when they fly up to nest, and it keeps them from accidentally harming the eggs.  The eggs roll down under the board once they're laid.

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Not content with that, we added young blood to our brood.  We purchased a Gold-Laced Wyandotte, 3 Silver-Laced Wyandottes, and a Guinea Hen.  They tend to flock together, but they're becoming less and less afraid of the larger gals.  This is the five of them enjoying some cracked corn the others missed.

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We're getting more eggs than we can use, so we're giving them away to friends right now.  We are thinking we may start selling them, though.  We shall see. (=

First, a celebratory bit ... We got a platform bed frame!  For free!  No more getting up off the mattress from the floor!  We will eventually be building a platform frame from plans I found online, but in the meantime, this is heavenly!

Today, while the hubs worked outside, rearranging the garage, and reorganizing other things, I did likewise indoors.  This is what the front rooms looked like this morning.

This is how they looked after phase 1.

I moved all of the kitchen cabinets into the front corner.  The bathroom wall cabinets are in the corner to the far left.  The area in what will eventually be our TV room was emptied to make room for this stuff:

Since the refrigerator is already in this space, I decided we should make this our makeshift kitchen.  The sink will still be in the actual kitchen space (once it gets connected, that is), but the microwave table and the pantry goods will be in here.

For what it's worth, I got all of the stuff out of the fridge room and sorted into categorical stacks in the front corner of the front room.  I just neglected getting photos.  It was ridiculously hot, and we got showers and went into town for air conditioned eats and an air conditioned movie.  I'll post an update later.  Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

Date Night

Sometimes you need a break.  Today was one of those days.  When I got home from work, the hubs was waiting in the driveway to whisk me away.  It was fabulous.  We had a yummy meal (barbeque, mmm), we window shopped, and we went for a walk.  ::: contented sigh :::

Loving the purple pepper Fiesta Ware!

Isn't this desk dreamy?

This handle ... drool!

Love this man!

The Buzz on the Bee Sting

So, it turns out that being stung in the forehead isn't pleasant.  There's nowhere for the swelling to go, so if you're prone to swelling, your face takes the brunt of it.  This is from the next day (2018-05-06):

If it "may" cause drowsiness, I'm done.

Thanks, babe!

After a six-hour over-the-counter drug-induced nap, a second dose of the stuff, and several more hours in my recliner with a cold rag on my face, I woke up looking like this:

I told the hubs that, though I felt fine and was having no issues with breathing or anything else, if I didn't look better in the morning, I wanted him to take me to the hospital.  The next morning (2018-05-07), I looked like this:

For what it's worth, I am using every bit of eyelid strength available to me in that photo.  That is as far as they would open.  So, I knew driving was out of the question.  The hospital beckoned.  The siren call of its effective medication and amazingly soothing ice packs was too strong to resist.

 

Later that day, after being released to go home, I could open my eyes again.  In fact, that ability increased throughout the day.  The hubs even took me to dinner to celebrate.

 

I was so much better that I went back to work the next day (2018-05-08), even though that morning I looked like I could be tapped to make a remake of "Mask."

By Wednesday (2018-05-09), I almost looked normal again, though you can still clearly see where I was stung.

But here we are a couple of days later, and the swelling is all but gone.  Whew!

In answer of the question I know you're all asking (or most of you anyway), yes, we're still going to keep bees.  However, the hubs is going to be a more active participant in the process, and he's bought me a netted hat. (;

Swelling's all gone!  Back to buzz-iness! (=

Bee Boxes

For as long as I can remember, until the day he passed away, my grandfather kept bees.  When I went for visits, he let me help him with honey collection.  It was fascinating.  Now that I have a large enough piece of property, we've decided we're going to do the same.  The plan is to put the boxes along the property line at the back part of the yard.  Since the back portion of the property is surrounded by farmland, there's no one to bother, and the bees will help with pollination.  So, today, we went and got bee boxes, enough for two hives.

We then went to the home of a master beekeeper to ask him questions and to find out about procuring some bees.  It was marvelous.  He showed us around, letting us peek into some of his boxes, and even letting us sample some fresh honey right from the comb.  Mmmmmm ...

We then walked over to a section of the property away from the bee boxes to get out of the sun and talk some more about what we would need to get started.  That's when it happened.  A lone bee on a mission flew right into my forehead - BAM! - and then either thought she got tangled in a few strands of my hair or actually did, so she stung me.  Owwie!  We don't even have our own bees yet!

It smarted like the dickens for a few minutes, but it subsided.  Once we got home, I took this picture and then splashed some cold water on my face.  Glad that's out of the way!

Unpacking & Decorating

I took today off from work to spend some time getting things a little more settled.  I put some magnets on the refrigerator.

 I had a friend over to visit and crochet in the TV room for a while.

 

And I unpacked some of my books and put them in the bookcase from my daddy's house.  And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you; the Death Star is floating.