Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

monday it is then

 

[pinkfox]

my dad gave me a great ida to fix my "melting wall" issue...
so ive got to price up spanding spray foam today too lol. would have to patch a few little holes, but would save me a fortune over having to re-sheet rock the entire wall...

grocery shopping day today then going with A to pick up her new foster puppy, that should be interesting, they havent had a dog in 25 years and theyve got 2 cats that have never been around a dog LOL!

hope everyone has an easy uneventfull day

 

[Wannabefree]

Cat people getting a dog.....that should be interesting. We need video!!

 

[pinkfox]

well they LOVE dogs its just not been feesable for them to have one for sucha long time.
shes a realy cute puppy, the rescue they are fostering with has her down as a lab mix, but i see Chessie not lab (similar but some personalities) and i think theres a little pitty in there too, and mabe some aussie.
shes going to be well loved but mabe a little...sheltered...for a while while everyone gets into the swing. theyve got her for about 3 weeks then the lab rescue will be transporting her up to New England, but we figure 3 weeks should give them some idea if this is something they seriously want to do, either temporarily by fostering or by getting a dog of their own...

in other news, grocery shopping whent well, with my flyer and coupon shopping i saved over $75 only 2 stores, and still have enough to buy milk for the rest of the month...but not much wiggle room for much else..but thats because i splurged on greek yogurt...and some stuff to top up the freezer that i wouldnt usually buy.

tomorrow is serious kitchen (and house) clean up day, it looks like a war zone in there since christmas and being sick...
and if i get that done and the weather co-operates i may even try and clean my car out too... which also looks like a war zone lol.

and the sad part is, i still need to go back to henderson to pick up my scripts and some last little bits and bobs...so il probably do that tomorrow too...

 

[Wannabefree]

Well if they decide to stop adopting and start owning I have a dog for them

 

[pinkfox]

well their first foster experience isnt going too great, puppy whent downhill fast lastnight off to the vet this moring and shes parvo positive...thankfully they caught the "somethigns not right" andinformed the foster co-ordinator who contacted the rescue who said "get her to the vet" theyve got over 90 aplications for her in less than 12 hours and were more thn willing to cover any test/treatment...
so i was picked up along the wy as she doesnt hear very well and needed me to com along and translate/hearing aid for her...
she did est positive, the rescue gave the go ahead so now their foster pup is in for iv fluids and observation...we should know somehting this weekend as to what the next step/how shes doing but i think given she doesnt have "parvo smell" (the very distinct odor that says theres a serious issue) and she wasnt dehydrated or running a fever this morning, shes definatly got a good chance of getting through this.
theyll take her back when she gets the all clear and foster her untill the rescue can get transport sorted so its not put them off yet lol.
just sucks that this had to be thir first experience.

in other news...its raining again...i cant win right now its either a mud westling pit or an ice rink, yet come summer we'll all be complainign about the lack of rain agin so...
i just wish i had gutters and rain barrels in place least i could be saving it all!

was thinking last night on garden projects...and i think im going to try and build a pvc hoop house to use as a greenhouse since ive no seed starting room in the house.
the nice thign with PVC is i can build however large then later build onto it by just adding connectors and greenhouse plastic.
so im going to spend some time this afternoon figuring out what id need and what size id want to start out with so i could get some costs written down...
eventually any green/hoop houses will also be for raising fish, im hoping to raise tilapia and do a hydrophonics type system using trays and floating trays for starting seeds in, the water would be pumped form the fish "barrels" underneath run through the bed and back into the barrels, the fish water acting as a fetilizer and the plants acting as filtation
since builing my raised beds is also goingto be rather expensive, ive decided this year to do some straw bale gardening...i can get bales of wheet for fairly cheap and they will deliver, i figure i can do most of my beds straw bale and build a wooden bed at a time and fil it up...as i go...ill get as many beds as i can done this year that way without having to worry as much, and i can always build the beds around the bales so at the end of the season i can hack the bale apart afterharvesting and let it start to compost down as a base layer...cant go wrong with free composting materials...
the bigget issue with the strawbales is going to be keeping them watered so im also going to be on the look out for free 55 gallon drums that i can attatch drip hoses too over in the veggie garden. eventually ill have at least 2 metal buildings in that area and i coul easily attatch gutter for rainwater collection to 2 barrels per shed (one on each side)
would certinly be easier to drag a hose out and fill 1 big barrel a few times a week than drag a hose out a few times per day lol.

and yeah...thats my thoughts for right now...
and i realy need to get some clening done in this house.

ive also got to get the money of the parentals they offered me for christmas and get my fruit trees ordered...everythign may be a soggy mess right now but its a good time to plant before the wether starts warming/getting too dry.

 

[Wannabefree]

I'm collecting rain now too. Last year was WAY too dry after a wet soggy winter. I was hoping this year it would even out a bit, but it aint lookin like it :/ So, I'm saving rain. I am thinking of trying the straw bales for potatoes this year. I'll keep my eyeballs peeled for any barrels for ya sis, as I am looking for myself as well.

Too bad about the pup, I hope it pulls through. Parvo is a bad killer, even when caught early. So sad!

 

[pinkfox]

yup, ive deltwith parvo many times myself and its one reason i dont think i could do foster/rescue work from high kill shelters like this...
it seems to be even more prevalant down here in the south (im assuming a combination of milder weather and a lack of owner care/education)
she was bright eyed and while obviously not a normal puppy she was all wags and kisses so ive got my finger crossed.

if you cn find even 1 extra barrel that woul be AWESOME! i keep looking on craigslist seems to be average price on there is $15-$20 a barrel and theres just no way especially since evntually i want at least 10 barrels! lol.

I dunno what struck me earlier but no sooner did i post o here i got a visitor and no sooner did they leave tht my stomach whent into sudden meltdown moder and drained every ounce of energy...
no clean up today itll wait untill tomorrow (though i will try and scoop the litterboxes tonight so the worst of it can go out with the trash tomorrow) but WOW i when from 60 to -60 in about 5 minutes flat...feeling a tad better now, whent and put everyone to bed but thinking itll be something fairly simple for dinner...

tomorrow morning ive got to go into henderson and pick up my scripts and some bits and bobs...I MIGHT go up to jackon and pick up one peice of shelving (i can get an 8 ft lenght of utility and have them cut it for me there...and some brackets, itll be at least 2 bedroom shelves an that eans i can get some stuff up off the floor in the other bedroom.

still need to price up the greenhouse stuff though thats not a right now project i realy do want to have an idea of how much stuff ill need...i know i want it at least 10ft wide, so ive got plenty of room for benches for putting seed trays on on either side and a 3ft center aisle... and i NEED a minimum of 7ft of headspace so i can move around in there (and dad can if he ever needs to) without bumping my head down the center lol.
so the question is how long...im thinking probably 10x10 since thats what lenght the pvc pipe im looking at comes in.

and to do a 10x10 simple hoop if i use 6mil contractor sheeting (and get enough to replace the plastic for a few years) id be looking at right around $135...
not bad at all for a 10x10 greenhouse with a 7ft ceiling...hmmm...this might be a good plan to add to the "to do list" lol

 

[Wannabefree]

With 10x10 you're not going to have a 3 ft wide center aisle with the curve in the hoops unless you make them pretty tall. Keep that in mind sis. It's really difficult to get in your head the way the sides slope down and how far into that you can actually walk/move around half comfortably.

 

[pinkfox]

the plan i found should give a 7ft center height so the 3ft isle would be 6-7ft on the curve, id definatly have to be carefull about head height over the planter beds though LOL!
gotta find that money first though...strangly enough the money fairies always skip my house! lol.

im just excited to start getting things started

right now ive got to plan in:
Turnips radish, spinach, cabbage, grand rapids and romain lettuce...
those are primarily for the livestock...
bib lettuce and sugar snap peas (me and the livestock)
big boy, rutgers and cherry tomatoe
red bell, jalapeno and bananna peppers.

but i should also have comming:
acorn squash
more tomatoe verieties (all heirloom)
more pepper verieties (all heirloom sweet types)
some red noodle beans and some dryingbeans
red okra (i tried fried okra and liked it, but more so i had NO idea how pretty orka flowers are untill i saw my neighbors) WOW

id like to get my hands on the marksman chioggia type beets, and some butternut and spaghetti squash and some english/garden type shelling peas too...

itll be interesitng to see how i decide how many of what to plant lol. theres only so much room lol.

ive also got to order my fruit trees...right now the plan is...
all true dwarf verieties
2 asian pear
2 europen pear (honeysweet and duchess (they will cross polinte eachother)
4 apple (2 honeycrisp, 2 cortland, they too will cross polinate eachother and the combination of the 2 makes a RELAY nice pie lol)
2 nectarine (garden beauty and surecrop, they too can cross polinate)
this order will also likely include 3 hazelnut "trees"
And if i can afford/find them id like 2 pluots (plum x apricot hybrids) too they are sooo delicious!

then the berry patch (once the buns tart producing the first few bathces of sold kits will be going into the berry fund...
5 kiowa blackberry
5 chickasaw blackberry
3 Black hawk rasberry
3 fall gold rasberry
3 heritidge everbearing red rasberry
3 japanese wineberry
3 Boysenberry
2 mulberry
the blackberries are thorned verieties and i plan on planting them like a little hedgerow.

numerous strawberries lol

pink reliance grape
thompson grape (green)
vanessa grape (red/light purple)
ive not had much luck with grapes in the past, they grow like weeds but have never gotten them to set fruit so ill probably start off with 2-3 of each and add in a few years if im happy

im realy excited about it all
as i finnish clearing out the land ill be adding chestnut trees about the place and as i clear out some of the heavy gangly pine trees ill replace a few with some sugar maples too, but i need to knwo where the trees are being cleard out and what kind of light i have on the new "pasture" before deciding on placement, especially in the chestnuts which get incredibly large (But NOM!!!!) lol.

so...what am i missing? lol