Nate is a good big brother, and he really tries to help his little sister out. He loves her quite a bit, you see. The event sequence that I'm going to show you below was not at all malicious.







She's thinking: Mommy, I don't want to go down!



Nate, "I can give you a hand!"



And what do you think happened next? (No, I don't have a photo of that. That would be cruel.)

Labels: outdoors

Spring has truly arrived, and with it, we've got mushrooms!



I love mushrooms, for some reason.

This weekend was another busy one. On Saturday, my sister came in to town to pick up the rest of her things from our basement. We enlisted her help in getting the last load of concrete block for our raised beds, and Aaron also grabbed another load of compost. We've figured out that we need approximately two more truck loads and we'll be done building the raised beds.



As you can see, there are now two levels of block on the beds. The front three and the back left bed still need more compost, while the back two that are covered with plastic are full of compost and have been planted (seeded?). They are currently covered with some plastic which will be going up on those hoops to create mini-greenhouses. All of the parts are reusable so we can use them next spring, and the one after, and the one after.



The pipe goes into wooden blocks cut to fit into the concrete blocks (go Aaron!) in order to make them more sturdy. The wood was scrap lumber, but the pipes had to be bought new. They will be used again (as I mentioned), so at least it isn't a complete waste. We need to buy some sort of t-fitting and stick some rigid pipe in between the two hoops and then place that plastic over the top.

I'm hoping when I design the rabbit hutch, I will be able to utilize round poles or dowels that will go into those blocks in order to keep the hutch steady. Unfortunately, I think the size difference from bed to bed in the way the holes were cut will make that impossible. I'm still trying to come up with a good flexible system.

Oh, I've companion planting planned all of the beds and the holes around the beds will be host to marigolds, nastartium, herbs, and other great companion plants.

Fortunately, the weekend wasn't all work (although I did lose two pounds just from all the shoveling of that compost).



Aaron and I enjoyed some time in our hammock. Aaron & Jen trivia - I bought Aaron this hammock for father's day last year, and it is where he proposed to me.



Nate also got his first ever bike ride. He was extremely excited and refused to get off. Unfortunately, we don't have training wheels, so it meant that Aaron had to wheel him around for quite a bit of time. They both had a blast!

How was your weekend?

Labels: gardening, outdoors, random

Aaron and I always have a bunch of projects going on. I don't know if it is because he likes to do stuff, or if it's because I'm obsessive and have to do stuff. Honestly, I think it's the latter. After all, Aaron will be the first to say that his favorite thing to do is... nothing.

I've got some serious plans for this window, and it's sister.



My mother-in-law (to-be) and father-in-law just finished replacing some old windows in their kitchen. You got it - this is one of them. I snapped this sucker up as soon as I heard about it, because I've got plans. I want to build a raised bed on the back of the garage the same size as this window (and another for its twin) and then place the window on top to create two cold frames.

Right now I'm looking at this location, as its about the only one I've got.



Imagine stretched across that back two cold frames and a big compost bin. That's the plan, anyway.

Of course, I can't start on it until I finish the raised beds first... Three more truck loads of compost (one mixed with some top soil I think) and two truck loads of cinder block!

Labels: gardening, outdoors

This weekend was a busy one. It was finally nice enough outside to work on projects, with just a lingering bit of carefully hidden ice and snow in corners of the yard. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but when we got started moving that cinder block, I certainly didn't feel the need for my sweater anymore.

Friday

After dinner we borrowed my in-laws (to-be) truck, since they are so incredibly good to us, and drove over to Menards to get 108 cinder blocks and some 1" chicken wire. When we got there, we found out that the cinder block was on sale for $1.19 a block and a 50' roll of the chicken wire cost about $20. The first layer of our raised beds then rang up to around $150. Each block is 8"x8"x16", so we'll need at least two blocks high to get within 12-24" in height.

Only sixty of the blocks would fit in the truck at a time, without overburdening the poor thing, so we got right to it. Hauling those blocks seemed to take forever, but in retrospect it wasn't so long. By the time we got home at nine, I was pooped, and just wanted to go lay down to "na-ne" just like the kids were. Aside - Nate has always called it na-ne because when he was a baby, he couldn't say night-night.

Back on track. Aaron can never just let something lie - oh no, if it needs to be cleaned, picked up, moved, brought indoors, it's done right away. So he'd have nothin' but cleaning out that entire truck of the cinder block.

That was the last thing I remember that night.

Saturday

The first thing I did when I woke up was go outside and look at my beds. I unrolled my chicken wire, grabbed some wire-cutter thingies (hey, I know what they look like, I just don't know their technical name), and my tape measure. Last week I'd made a to-scale blueprint of sorts of our back yard and plotted where I wanted these beds to be. I got to layin' out wire, cutting wire, and hauling cinder blocks into the exact spot I wanted. I was going to get some pictures of this process, but I got lazy. In essence, I rolled out the wire (to keep predators from coming up into my beds and eating my rabbits or my vegetables) and then just plopped the cinder block on top of the wire. I filled in the center of the beds with card board boxes to suppress that damn creeping charlie (hopefully). I got about two beds done before I called Wanda and asked her if she was ready to go pick up a load of compost.

While I was laying out beds and watching children, Aaron had run over to Menards and gotten the rest of the block. He got back before I called Wanda, and I helped unload the cinder block. Wanda and I ran over to the solid waste facility and picked up a load of FREE compost.

I came back home and spread that stuff out into the beds (with Aaron helping and doing most of it, since my sister arrived unexpectedly to pick up her couches and stuff she was storing in our house).



Aaron finished up one of his projects from before winter hit - getting some lattice up on the sides of the firewood holder.



It was a productive weekend.

Sunday

I rested.

Labels: gardening, outdoors

Sammi got to visit her great-great-grandmother on Easter, and she promptly picked up her hat to wear. I think she looks amazingly cute.



Our fence always leaned, but over the winter it seems to have gotten tired, because now it's nearly touching the tree. It seems there is always a project at our house.



Nate and his great-great-grandmother on Easter.

Labels: outdoors, random

...for most posts in a single day.



I took this picture standing outside waiting for the eclipse. I just turned the flash off, set the camera on a tripod, and clicked. I like it. :)



Please feel free to click on the pictures, then click on "see different sizes", and make it larger to see it better.



Pretty cool, huh? Pictures of the total lunar eclipse tonight. :) I am not a photographer, I didn't have a telephoto zoom lens, and I have a $20 tripod (if that). I didn't alter these in any way, and I know they aren't "great."

Shoot me.

I like 'em anyway. ;)

Labels: outdoors