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

[Wannabefree]

Sounds like you're having a good week sis!

 

[pinkfox]

yeah, realy is a fairly good one.

new (to me) stove arrived today, looks SOOO much nicer. planning on eventuallypicking up some appliance paint and painting the refridgerator white too to match (its off white but much to amazing to replace lol) and the white does actually make a surpsing difference.
im realy thinking of even painting the counter tops (if I canfind the epoxy sealant that's recommended) we'll see.
id love a black quartz effect on the counters.

but anyway I get distracted...yeah its white, its pretty and eveyr thing works, including the timer! woot!

so im having some lunch...then off to town for my drs apointment. then home to continue cleaning.

 

[Wannabefree]

Sounds like a fun day planned sis. I just had lunch myself, and about to get back at it again. It seems everyone is sick to death of okra around here so I have two large garden plots of okra to pick today Some will go in my freezer, some in my belly, some to the hogs(the hard stuff), some to the mail lady, and some....well some can just go to ____ because I'm about sick of it myself but hate to waste stuff!!! Neverending cycle of picking here. Need some okra? please say yes...please say yes

 

[pinkfox]

im sure I could takesome more, even if I don't want it, nothing goes to waste around here.
I wilamdit to wanting to plant some okra...not because I want to harvest it but beacause those flowers are soooo pretty!!! lol

not much going on today, I realy should finnish cleaning and spraying the house. yesterday was so crazy I didn't finish.
dogs and cats need flea and heartworm preventative today too
speaking of, talk about wound up lol
tallie and binx are currently playing "race around the house"
its better than the "lets eat mommy" alternative, puppy teeth are SHARP lol

id like to get the quail cages up on posts (the blocks just don't set them high enough off the ground, makes it a little arkward for feeding and water.
oh speaking of, i'm using rabbit water bottles with them and it seems to be working perfectly.
and id like to get the 2x4 cage finished too (al ill need then is a tarp for the top) that's going to be my grow out cage, I figure chicks will go in the in house brooder until 2 weeks old, then move to one of the rabbit hutches that ill set up as a brooder until 4 weeks, then they'll get moved to the grow out cage for the last 2 weeks...this would mean I should be able to have 4 groups goingat altimes, 1 in the incubator, 1 inside, 1 outside under heat, and 1 finishing out.
if that doesn't give me enough quail, nothing will lol.
got to pick up a solar rope lights form harbor freight at some point, they'll go over the top of each cage to give suplimental light in the winter...there in the shade but once the oak drops its leaves there should be eough light to charge the solar lights to add at least a couple hours of light per day that way and no worries about having to run electricity out there.

so the obs for today:
1: flea stuff and heatguard for the house critters. (bonnie wont be getting heres until closer to the end of next week)
2: go work on the quail cages (wont take too long)
3: Dishes.
4: clean and spray kitchen
5: clean and spry livingroom.

ive got to work eating into that too...
so I should probably get started LOL!

 

[pinkfox]

WHEW its hot out there...so much for that to-do list.

got the frontline and heartguard DONE
then a friend messaged me to tell me shes removing her strawberry beds and did I want the plants...of course, strawberries if tended will fruit for 5 years, most of these plants are babies from her older ones...ure il take em...
problem she needs em gone today...so shes gathering them up and will meet me a little later this afternoon...
in the meantime my 4x4 strawberry bedisin an arkward spot..so. dismantled that, rebuilt it in a new spot, filled it with a good lyer of chicken poop covered straw from teh greenhouse (the current banty coop)
then a good thick layer of both dirt form the bed getting moved and some fresh to fill the low spots (its a double layer bed at 12" deep per layer)
once the strawberries go in itll get a good layer of rabbit manure to start it...I figure by the time the roots get to the staw lyer the chicken poop/straw layer should be at least somewhat composted down for them.
itll get heavily mulched with straw once the temps realy start to drop and hopefully I should get some deacent berries next year since all my strawberries made with the DEAD this year.

I do have some windows im hoping to eventually turn into cold frames so I also set them aside.
my poor little greenhouse id going to need new plastic before I can use it for spring...thoug I may just try to patch it with some heavy duty packing tape to give me another spring out of it then replace it fall of next year since I cant afford it this year.

I also moved 2 of the 4x8 beds that I neglected to fill this year and put them in new spots and filled them with some partially rotting straw I have...id lie to build 2-5 more before February...right now with the other 2 I got started but idnt do much with ive got 4 beds, id like 9-12 total.

and id realy like to start building the hoop house this fall to have ready for spring too.

so many plans lol.

so yeah least that beds moved and ready for new residents

 

[pinkfox]

Holy Strawberries Batman.
I planted about 30 crowns in my little bed...a little overcrowded realy but im not too worried as im sure ill loose some at least...
theres at least another 30-50 in thebox, plus shes got another box the same sie full if I want more...

so yeah...
Monday im going to borrow E's Truck, theres a tire place neer her house that told her I can take any none usable for cars tires they've got...so gona start loading them up...
thinking of making a tire wall along the fence that going to be the "raspberry fence" and filling those with strawberries... sooutside of the fence will be raspberries, INside of the fence will be strawberries...

I also want to use them to make a flower planting bed in the shady side garden because the dirt is too hard/rooty to plant irectly into...
so ive got a feeling im going to be spending the next few weeks hauling tires and finding dirt to fill them with thinking about making a "wall" of them along the edge of where y eventual hoop house is going to be, add thermal mass and planting space

im also thinking about using tires to make a retaining wall o the outside of the fence (currently part of the pasture) where the hill is slipping...I figure I could use the tires to plant grapes in and eep the hill from sliding anymore. I can also plant perennial herbs (thinking mints, lavender and chamomile) in any of the tires that don't have grapes in since that area is pretty much FULL sun.

im going to need a lot of tires LOL!
and I need to get to workon sorting out the back yard and such.

first job other than hauling a metric buttload of tires is to dismantle the 4 bank rabbit hutches. going to use the materials for something...not sure yet what though...
once those hutches are down ican put the little chicken yard up for the banties and plan that area out.

after tht will be figuring outthe new duck yard, getting the current ducks moved (ill be ordering more ducks in the spring) and rearanging the orchard/good yard area
I want to move the current goose/duck house (im actually gogint to redesign it a little and move it).
I also want more fruit tres and some blueberry bushes for that rea (right under the pine trees blueberries would LOVE it ) but I don't want to plant anything else in there until I get this whole mess with the septic that's STILL not figured out, sorted. once that's sorted ill order a few more fruit trees for that area and mabe even expand it out a little.

once the goose pen is rearranged illhave a corner of my yard back that's currently where the gooe house is (and right now just apatch of compacted clay), not sure what to do with that spot yet, but im thinking either a little patio set or a hammock. that area will eventually be shielded from prying eyes by a rugosa hedge lol

so much to do...and in the mean time, I still havetn cleaned my livingroom or doe dishes. lol

 

[Wannabefree]

Ummm...if you want tires, I have a bunch you can have too sis. Just come by and get them if you wanna, and you can pick up some okra and tomatoes while you're here!

 

[pinkfox]

if I can borrow E's truck and put enough gas in it il definatly take them, any you got!!!
theres a tire pace just down from her so im going to hit up there first (due to distance) but ill have a ltitle extra gas oney beginning of next month I can probably use to borrow the truck again and pick up any I can fit there too...(and hopefully that armoir lol.)
I need a truck of my own I think lol. a little ford ranger or something!

OOOO and i got my first quail egg this morning, nice size too, from one of the girls i got from you!!!! ill be ready to sart collecting eggs in another week so im hoping they all start up lol.
and yes i will have PLENTY of strawberry starts for you...my frined has enough to fill a tote full, ill try and get it arranged

Well theres a lovely breeze ging on rigt now so i think im going to go try and get some stuff done before it gets too hot!

 

[pinkfox]

work on the quail cages is done.
the floor is in the 4x2 grow out, and both banks are up on t-posts, its only about 1ft more off the ground than the blocks BUT I think its going to make all the difference in temrs of air flow in the "poop bed" underneath.
for little birds they sure poop a lot and at only about a foot off the ground the smel was already starting to build, I think the extra airflow will help emmensly with that issue. (plus there wil be some straw and de going down in the next few days so ill have a small compost pile building through the winter. in the spring itll get shoved out complently into an actual compost bin, and start again , repeat in early fall. obviosuy the bird wast has to age before it can be used on the veggies/garden so that's the plan there.

hung the feeder on the new cage, and turned the feeder on the 4 bank around so it hangs better and at a slight To the cage angle
ive used vinyle gutter hung on the outside of the cage the bar spacing is 1" big enough for the quail to get their heads out but not their shoulders, so they stick their heads through the bars to get to the feed, no scratching, no digging and hopfully little waste (game bird feed isn't cheap)
but because of the size of the quil vs the deptch of the gutter I was finding them unable to reach towards the back of the "feeder" so iturned it around so the hangers were fcing away form the cage and wird it so its at about a 25 degree angle facing ito the cage, this should letgravity pull the feed down towards the birds but still keep it from spilling out ect.
seems to bewoking well s it wa other than having to push the feed to the front before so im hoping this solves that problem

need a lightstrip for the 4bank since thas my breeder cages, and a couple of water bottles and a trp for the grow out cage, though that can wait a while since that cage wont be getting any resident for at least 4 weeks...

so YAY for one thing off the list.

ive got enough wire for one more cage, but I think im going to turn that into a gorw out tractor for rabbits and put it out I the orchard so they can help the geese mow. I can also drag t up into the back yard occasionally so they can help mow the back yard too! as it is right now theres a lot of grass that coud be put to very good use and help cut the feed bill if I raise the youngsters to slughter o gras (pus better for m and the dogs eating them) so that's probably the plan for that, ill just need ot measure up, see exactly how big I can make it and get some wheels and some kind of axel for it. that's a project for next month.

so right now...drink...then lunch...then dishes...I realy need to do dishes.

 

[Britesea]

ah yesss..... drink.... Irish Coffee..... sip, sip