Chicken Improv

Coyote trouble means the Ladies are on lock down until we can get a larger area fenced off for them. They have been less than thrilled so  to make up for it I did put together some chicken treats/entertainment.

Currently - lots going on here at RiverHaven

My rhododendrons have bloomed. Some are quite pretty. I would love to know the varieties. I have counted at least three; this one stayed this color. One of the others started a pretty bright pink, then settled to white. Something to add to the Mystery Plant topic list.

We continue to prepare for puppy, finishing touches to the outdoor kennel and continued work on the fencing. 

 Below is a picture of the run area we built. I still need to attach the cover to the run to protect puppy from the eagles until he's bigger. We need to cross brace the corners for stability because my sailor didn't have time or energy to set it all in concrete before he had to leave. Then there's the access gate to attach between the run and the garden shed. 

I want to put a skirt on the porch so puppy's not encouraged to dig under.  I also need to set up a water station and I want to add solar lights to the pole posts for winter light. A quick finishing touch of string to the gates so we humans don't get locked in.

Introducing Puppy!

AAAAAAH - SO CUTE. AND ALMOST HERE! 

Puppy update: Puppy developed a cough, treated through antibiotics. Cough has turned into a wheeze. Vet says it's not Kennel Cough, but who knows. Long story short - puppy arrival is on hold, perhaps indefinitely.

Snapshot Saturday - Sewing Room Reclamation

Part of my Summer Clean up post National Board and School Year chaos was to reclaim my sewing room. I finally have breathing time and I have sewing projects to finish which makes this project a timely necessity. We had been using it as a secondary office for studying and my Sailors contract work when we was home. 

 I hadn't done anything to the walls after we moved in and it was sorely in need of attention. The previous owners had removed whatever wall paper and painted it a lovely butter yellow. Unfortunately when the sun blazes through the windows it's like the sun is IN the room. I chose a green with blue undertones to mute the glare of the light and I really love how it turned out.

The paint is still drying here. On the wall on the left you can still see the wallpaper glue the previous owners didn't remove but painted over. After the four-day fiasco of doing boy-child's room I can understand why.  I will eventually either have to cover the walls with paper or sheet rock - neither of which do I want to undertake right now. 

I didn't get started painting until 8:30 pm as it took about an hour to empty the room of "office mode". I was working on other projects from my list during the day too. Once I started, it only took about 3 hours. I was surprised how fast it really went.   

Here it is all finished! After I hung the curtains, I remembered I had this lovely garland and decided it was just what the window needed.    I LOVE how it turned out!!!  I still need to find my Ott lamp and put up my flannel board for pieces, but that's a project for another day. 

It was rainy and overcast today, so there isn't a blaze of sunshine. The colors are soft and muted to the eye, but it doesn't read well for my iPad w/ no flash. I will replace  it with a better one when I get the chance. 

Tool Round-up: Garage Edition

Moving and never totally unpacking really puts a dent in the cleanliness factor. So today, we went full UFYH on the garage. Having a garage and a barn, we have tools and projects scattered between them. Today's goal was to get those all in one place. Garden projects? In a garden bin. House maintenance/materials? In a house bin.  Car materials? Fencing swag? You get the picture. The main MAIN goal however is to be able FIND the materials we need to finish up projects whilst dad is away YET STILL be true to dad's organization system enough that when he gets home, HE can find and rearrange as necessary. 

oh. em. gee. Do we have our work cut out for us! 

In true Washington fashion, it was raining most of today! So I threw up our little cabana over my truck bed to help the transition from garage to barn be less moist. Cardboard and rain just don't mix, you know? 

Woo! Part one complete! Our initial focus was "do we need immediate access to this? or can it live in the barn?" and keeping this in mind, we were able to free up space. We compounded computer boxes from 3.5 to 2, took Boy-Child boxes to his room for HIM to deal with, and got rid of the trash. We keep a box of cracked corn for the chickens in the garage as their treat (mostly called "crack" because, well... it is) but there have been some spills which encouraged rodents to roost and defecate. Mum has also been collecting the empty feed bags, they're canvas and so would make great grocery bags. Well, they still had bits and pieces of food left in them- also encouraging rodents. Unhealthy droppings EVERYWHERE: on the floor, on top of boxes, and, in the case of some un-taped boxes, INSIDE. At the stage this photo was taken, Mum was pretty happy with what was left. The pegboard will continue to be scant and disorganized until ALL the tools are rounded up, cleaned, and redistributed accordingly. It is a great idea, just needs tools!

At this point, the back wall looks pretty good but there are two tool stations that still could use some UfYH-ing. Mum focused on the smaller station (right photo) first while I got rid of trash, broke down boxes, and prepped stuff to be hauled to the barn. Dad's tool rack and shelves is pretty sacred ground, but he hasn't had a chance to properly move-in or arrange things to his liking. We tried to keep true to what he DID organize.

 Topmost shelf is exterior lights (a few motion sensor ones and the solar lights for the yard), next shelf down is adhesives and sprays. Everything from WD-40, to super glue, to Rustoleum. It's all in one place. Next shelf down is actually pretty empty- we found a bunch of stray fishing paraphanelia as we were cleaning (both the inside cupboard and the garage) and were able to relocate them to a tacklebox. The three shelves to the right have car supplies (Dad recently did the brakes on two of the vehicles), Door making materials, B&D sander, sandpaper, mum's awesome Dremel, etc. All within easy reach and within sight.

We did a little rehab on dad's poor tool-tower, pulling all the paper to one drawer and electronic/electrical materials to another. Top drawer is for misc nuts, bolts, screws, blades that can be gone through another time. We pulled all of the actual tools, though, and put them in little green army bags for easy moving.

The right hand photo is actually immediately to a person's left as they exit the house from the laundry room. Mum wanted to keep the car supplies (windshield washer fluid, oil refills, and cleaning materials) to their own shelf. Dad's boots have been cleaned and tucked out of the way for his return.

Speaking of tool round up - man that wrench in the center is Clue worthy in heft! 

All these puppies and the bits and pieces of tool boxes have been culled from the house and now the garage, and are ready to move to their second to final stage: the barn. Once there, that will be ALL the tools possible and they can be cleaned, organized, and delegated throughout the property. We'll KNOW what sets are complete, what needs filling, and what just ought to be replaced. 

The next, NEXT project is the barn. Which is now mostly classroom, haha. But will be barn again once mum moves into her new classroom right and proper. Before that, we have a PUPPY COMING as well as guests so the organization and puppy-proofing of the house is a priority. 

So have a picture of our chickens to tide you over :D

Puppy Possibilities!

So - quick news update. We ARE getting a puppy after all!

Isn't he a cutie pie? Well, we're spending the next few days re-puppy proofing the house- having all but given up on puppies until next spring. We put carpets back down and took out gates and stored the toys away... 

First things first- where to put the food? While mum was researching local puppy training programs and terminology, I cleaned out the front closet. We had all the winter coats and boots, not to mention two incredibly messy boxes full of tools and miscellany. I pulled the coats and for now they're in the upstairs closet, but will eventually (once the garage is conquered) go in a winter box in the garage. Having pared down to just the rain coats and guest sweaters, vacuum and mop to one side- we were able to store all of the puppy necessities on the other.

Mum found these great gasket lidded, ant proof food bins- the upright one holding up to 50lbs. The best part is they require thumbs to open, so while the dog food will be in a room near the puppy, the puppy will not be able to access the goodies. Same goes for the smaller pig ear/chew food box. Thinning out the gloves and heavy socks and the tons and tons of extra plastic bags freed up a basket and a few canvas bags for toys, leash, collar, and wee-pads.

Easy to access- for us! but still well out of reach of critters.

But what to do with all the tool miscellany that puppy products replaced?

I don't have any before photos for you, so you'll have to just believe me, but there were two boxes full of tools and odds and ends and three partially completed tool boxes. Having tools spread between the house, the garage, and the barn has been crazy and frustrating - so going through this closet is only the first step on a property wide tool round up. Some of them have been left out in the elements (victims of fence building in the rain) and require some cleaning, sanitizing and others have just wandered so far from their original locations that their purpose is also obscured. 

I pulled everything out of the boxes, one piece at a time, and separated them by type and use. Are they for inside the house projects? Like toilet/shower repair? Like light switch plate replacement covers? Or are they for long term projects, or seasonal ones, where they could be better served living in the garage or barn? 

Here you can see some of the oddities (8 alan wrenches- some pictured here, end of a plunger, squeegie, and ... necklace clasps?) I separated as I went through the boxes. I decided to bag each thing individually by type (nuts, bolts, washers, screws, hanging materials, etc) and label them with a sharpie. Organizing, I was able eliminate one box entirely. All of those things are better suited elsewhere (soldering kit, useful but probably shouldn't live in the kitchen). The top drawer has quick access things like the aforementioned nuts and bolts and screws and nails, as well as masks (safety first!) and tape, white grease, mysterious yellow plastic triangles (they remind me of the cones used in pottery but you know, plastic. I'll have to inquire after the sailor for explanation), and gloves. The idea is to keep all the little bits from getting everywhere so we here at home can fix things while the sailor is sailing and yet, when the sailor comes to shore he can get (and rearrange) at will. 

Voce was overseeing the efficiency of this project.

The inside doesn't look terribly organized, but everything is bagged and labeled so a quick rummage will allow anyone to find a project (curtain rods for the sewing room par exemple) with ease. Things in here are quick fixes (under-carpet fabric to keep carpets from slipping/curling etc) or project materials, things we will need access to but not necessarily all the time. 

I think there's enough room for this guy to live in the front closet, but an alternative is finding somewhere in the laundry/mudroom or just outside that door in the garage. The idea is immediate access and knowing where things are- mise en place. 

Next stop tools! We consolidated the three mostly full toolboxes into one, leaving that one, a box cutter, and measuring tape within immediate reach above the rain jackets and vacuum. But the other two are joining the migration to the barn- where they'll be gone through and organized properly. 

This is a quick update- but don't worry, there will be puppy pictures and puppy prep discussions this weekend.

Photo Filler Wednesday

Having survived a whirlwind of finals, last weeks of school, and surprise visits from the Sailor- we've been a little too busy to do any major projects around the homestead. We have plans- oh so many plans! But they'll have to wait until this weekend when we have a little sun and everyone is officially on summer break.

Guest-Author-Girl-Child here advocating that the veggie garden looks AWESOME. I'm really excited, mostly because I've never gotten past the watering-indoor-plants stage. Inevitably, any horticultural feats are eaten by my cats before I can endeavor for something braver. Growing veggies from seed and being successful just blows my mind.

Mesculin in the bottom left, red peppers immediately to their right, onions next to them and radishes taking up the lower right hand corner. Tomatoes line the back wall- caged are store bought but in the top right hand corner you can see the seedlings I started in the green house happily growing along. 

Oh and cucumbers! Those are growing nicely too! We opted to just use the seeds we had and take note of what sprouts and what doesn't- so far everything sowed (sewn?) in the raised garden beds are thriving. 

Those trays in the greenhouse filled with the remainder of our test seeds isn't as productive. So far only this one pot is sprouting anything of interest. One more has hints of green, so I'm just keeping an eye on them for now. 

Local grocery store had a sale on fuchsia trees- this one happily greets us by the front door. 

Mum moved this old wheel barrow from near the chicken coop (between those two trees in the far back of this image) and planted some fun bright flowers. They're still adjusting but as long as the chickens leave them alone they should thrive.

Mum has these fantastic mock wine barrels. This one, we filled the bottom with upside down plastic pots and then covered with fresh soil. Mum liberally sprinkled some of our herb seeds, just to test if they were any good. So far it seems so! Parsley, English thyme, Basil, Dill, and Cilantro to get us started. The plan is still to make one of the out door areas a permanent herb garden, but this will suffice until we can weed and pull tree stumps and get the area prepped. 

I'll see if I can snap any photos of our fast flying visitors- there are at least 2 species of hummingbirds who frequent the hanging baskets. Mum picked up a new feeder and dusted off some of our old ones and now we've constant visitations. The cats go crazy, moving chairs to situate themselves for their new favorite show.

Better photos of our deceased back yard denizen, general consensus is that it's a badger. The front canines aren't as long as some of the other photos I've seen- but the orbital cavity  and the coronoid process seem right. A super helpful website has been the Museum of Osteology and its supplier Skulls Unlimited International.

Rear view- we found it beneath that tree trunk and assume that it fell or was crushed by the tree.

Upside down view haha- but you can get a good look at its jaw and orbital cavity. Definitely an omnivore!

More photos- found most of his bones beneath the ferns, 

Found a bunch of vertebrae! 

Future project time! Mum identified these plants as NOT hydrangeas. Initially mum moved them from the middle of one of the garden beds to the window outside the downstairs studio/office. She thought they were some kind of hydrangeas but they are DEFINITELY NOT. There will be a mystery plant Monday explanation as soon as Mum sits down and types it up. We were quite startled with the discovery that these are NOT hydrangeas. DEFINITELY NOT. 

Future project will involve moving them to another part of the property. 

Hopefully this midweek update will tide you over- until then enjoy the outdoors and keep your fingers crossed that I do well at my interview!

Tech Talk Tuesday

Hey All! Guest Author Girl Child here posting in response to a few emails we've received. Some folks are having some trouble posting comments on the blog, so I've put together a post to walk you through the options available. If you're a tech-guru, here's a picture of a sleeping kitten to tide you over...

Okay, so at the bottom of every post there should be a little blue link which says something about the number of comments. I've highlighted it in the image below with red:

When you click on that link, it will bring up an option bar like this:

You should  be able to see previous comments but also be able to add your own. It's important to click the "comment as:" drop down button as that determines HOW you can leave a comment. If you are already logged into your gmail or google account, it will automatically allow you to publish a comment that way. 

Just click "preview" if you want to see what your comment will look like or "publish" to send it into the series of tubes that is the internets. 

If you don't have a gmail or just plain don't feel like sharing that information (which is totally fine), the drop down menu will provide alternatives. 

Like the "Google Account" option, if you have an account with any of the listed websites or programs, you CAN log in that way and use that as your comment "log-in," if you will. 

LiveJournal is found here: link

Wordpress is found here: link

TypePad is found here: link

AIM (Aol Instant Messaging) is found here: link

OpenID is found here: link

All of these sites are free, the first three are kinds of blogging platforms similar to blogger. AOL is a chat platform and OpenID seems to be a one-stop-shopping for internet log-ins. You create one OpenID and you can use it to access any number of websites.

The Anonymous option is easy, just enter your comment and it will be submitted with no fuss. You're welcome to sign your name or internet handle in the message box like 

"Comment... - Guest Author Girl Child" 

or just leave it blank! We love feedback either way!

The Name/Url option is another easy way to personalize your comment. 

This box will pop up giving you two type-able fields: name and url. You just enter whatever you would like to be called in the "name" box and if you want to include a link to your personal website or blog, paste the http:// link into the URL box. If you don't want to include a link, you don't have to! Go ahead and leave it blank like I did, and click continue. It will take you back to the comment box, like so...

Once you're happy with you comment- click "publish." 

Because the internet is full of goblins, trolls, and robots, you will get a pop-up like this:

Prove you're not a robot! Sadly, these things are often testy and don't believe you when you swear vehemently to your status as a homo sapien. Don't worry, just respond the best you can. If you're not sure, just click the little circle arrow button at the bottom, that will refresh the word so you can try again. If you prefer (I usually find it easier) click the "sound" button to the left of the ? box. It will play an audio file of a word or some numbers, just enter what you hear. But make sure your sound is on first!

Once you've proved to blogger's satisfaction that you are not a robot, click "publish." 

Because the internet is full of goblins, trolls, robots and mean people we have the comments for the blog moderated. This means that they will not appear immediately after you click "publish." 

Instead, you will receive a message like this:

Rest assured, as long as this yellow box appeared- we have received your comment! The main blogger, namely my mum, will receive an email notification that you have commented. 

That looks like this: 

We can publish your comment directly from email, or log onto the blog and do it from there.

One comment!! YES! 

As co-moderator, I can publish comments too.

Hopefully this helps clarify any comment related questions you may have. Feel free to try it out! 

Click on the comment link below this post and let us know what you think :D

Snapshot Sat-er Monday!

Happy belated Saturday! The weather is fine and our schedules are opening up a bit more, so we'll be back (again) to weekly posting pronto.

Here's a view from the barn up the hill to the pasture. There's no way our walking lawnmower could even dent the mass of foliage up there. Right now, it's waiting for a riding lawnmower but until that happens it looks like something out of a Miyazaki movie!

View from the barn down towards the house. The fenced structure in the bottom left is the new dog kennel. The green house and raised veggie garden are off screen to the right. 

The other side, you can't quite make it out on this image but there's fencing in the woods in the top left. The wood frames in the center are the remains of the previous tenants' grape vines. It's so totally overgrown and rotted that you can't get access to anything. Sounds like a future project to me!

This guy has been lurking around the property, I want to clean and paint him eventually as decoration for my apartment, but I can't decide on a design.  The spiky plant of pain to the right is one of the prolific raspberries that torments- I mean resides on the property. They are everywhere!!

 We have so many ferns in the recesses of our property that some areas seem like it's Jurassic!

Where's Jeff Goldblum when you need him? 

 We currently have mountain strawberries, wild raspberries and wild blackberries blooming around the property. We will even have some blueberries, as the barrels mum planted last year have finally matured!

A better view of the dog kennel (complete with dog house and dog deck!) as well as the garden shed.

I spy with my big hetero-chromatic eyes... a tiny bench and a summer project! The house is set up with little sprinkling systems, but there's a fault in the line somewhere so they just make a mess. Mum plans on fixing them, but wants to do some research first. 

Big bowl o' chives! It needs to be split and r-epotted, but in the meantime it smells divine!

Everything is in bloom now- these rhododendrons are especially volumous outside the game room window

Close up of a blossom- so pretty!

We hired a survey company to reassess the far edge of the property last week. Our neighbor made a bunch of assumptions about the line between our properties and ended up damaging the treehouse in his attempt to "reclaim it." All is well now, but we opened up a dialog and got a legit survey crew out ASAP. We asked them to make really obvious markers of where our property ends and at this point we have to take their word for it, because their hefty 2x4 in cement markers are completely obscured by brush! One is so far down by the water, we couldn't find them even after some exploring. Up in the hinterlands of Jurassic river access, I found some really interesting remains. Completely clean, the head shape is to angular to be feline but much too large to be any rodentia we have seen around. Maybe weasel? Will research and let you know!