Taking a Break

i will be taking a break from the blog. be back soon, i hope.

Keeping RainCloud Cool

this post is written by my daughter, aryn. i thought it would be fun and educational to include her on the blog this summer. this is the third post in her series called:

It is very hot where I live. I have a simple solution so my rabbit can keep nice and cool.
A Frozen Water Bottle!

I think this is a great and easy way to help my rabbit in the Summertime.

I usually put two in each day so she can be cool all day long.

One time I forgot to put one in and I thought she was going to die because of the heat.

But she didn't and ever since then I haven't forgotten.

All-Star Baseball

this week has been filled with baseball games!

a game every day since saturday. (except sunday.)

we have anothern tomorrow. 

p.s.

i know anothern isn't even a word. it should read another one, but that's how some people talk around here. possibly myself. and i want to remember it. i like that kind of stuff.

p.p.s. 

and we are the hurricane tigers. hurricane said with a short u sound like fun. NOT a long a sound.

Family Camping

we went camping over the weekend.
our family, my brothers and sister and their families, all escaped to the nearby mountain.
it was very enjoyable.

there was a stream, some serious family olympics, outdoor fort building...
but no campfires.
a play was even performed. written by zoe, of course.

Apricot Jam

i picked apricots with my dad one morning a week and a half ago.

he picked me up early one morning, and we drove to the stake farm. we picked and chatted a little and filled our boxes, then drove back home. it took a little more than an hour.

i've been bottling and drying and making jam. i'll be giving some to him, of course.

i sure do like my dad.


p.s.
i know there are lots of jam recipes out there. i'm just going to write down a few little notes for myself...
5 cups blended apricots
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 package fruit pectin
6 cups sugar

cook according to the directions in the pectin box.
yields 9 half-pints (filled to the bottom ring line)

Playing with My Rabbit

this post is written by my daughter, aryn. i thought it would be fun and educational to include her on the blog this summer. this is the second post in her series called:

So while I was at girl's camp, my family kind of traumatized my rabbit. Now I can't take her out of her cage. :(

I have to play with her in her cage so she can get used to me. She needs to trust me again before she can get out and play in the yard.

It is really hard to be patient when I really want to have her play in more space.

How can I win her trust?



we read an article on taming and building trust that had helpful information. and by "traumatize" she means we played with her a little too much. rain cloud didn't get hurt, she got scared.

bale of hay



my little town.

a field of alfalfa near my house was cut and baled last week. it looked so picturesque. 

Tomatoes

 i grow tomatoes vertically in my garden.

each plant has it's own square foot. they grow up a vertical support frame with nylon netting. i tuck the tops of the plants through an opening in the netting. it's kind of like weaving the tomato plant as it grows.

in order to grow the tomatoes vertically, i try really hard to follow the single stem method. that means i prune the suckers so that i have one main stem.

this is the sucker. i just pinch it off. i try and do this once a week.

as for watering. this year i haven't been as regular as i'd like with the entire garden.

lately, i have been watering once a day in the morning. the soil seems a little dry by the evening, so i might start watering some more in the evening. i haven't done this yet though.

la petite lapine

this post is written by my oldest daughter, aryn. i thought it would be fun and educational to include her on the blog this summer. she will be writing about her pet bunny in a weekly series called:

Hello. 

I got a new pet!!!!

Her name is Rain Cloud.

I bought her from our neighbor who lives a few houses up from ours. She said that her breed is New Zealand and that she is 6 weeks old.

I like to play with Rain Cloud. It is so cute when she runs around the yard and hides in the bushes.

are there any questions or topics you would like me to cover?

New Bunny

aryn got her new bunny today.

Dried Strawberry Chips

last year i tried drying strawberries in the oven. it turned into a big gushy mess. the recipe called for salt and pepper, but i forgot about the salt. so i tried the pepper again. the pepper gives the strawberries a spicy contrast.

this year, i decided to use the food dehydrator. this is how i dried our strawberries:

1. take freshly washed strawberries and cut off the stems.

2. slice the strawberries into 1/4" pieces. lay them on the dehydrator trays.

3. sprinkle lightly with black pepper.

4. set the temperature at 155 degrees and dry for 3 1/2- 4 hours. (i started checking mine around 3 hours.)
5. when the strawberries are nice and dehydrated, let them cool down. then remove and put into bags or eat!

our oldest, is kind of crazy about the dried strawberry chips. she likes them crispy rather than chewy.

she wasn't too fond of the strawberries i quartered and then dried like the ones below.

Strawberries

last week the three youngest and i went strawberry picking. in my grandpa's garden.

i think they had a good time.
we ate some fresh, we froze some, we smoothied some, and we dried some.
yummy things, those strawberries.



p.s.

after this long, hot, sweaty day, gene wanted to go out to dinner. and me being me, told him i didn't want to go anywhere too special because i didn't want to change my clothes. well, you know what happened? in walks the boy that gave me my first kiss. and of course, i didn't want to talk with him because...well, look at the above picture... t-shirt, cut-offs, messy ponytail (which is my normal). i guess i should probably change my clothes next time! anyway, gene and i had a good laugh on the way home.

La Maison du Lapin: The Rabbit House

the rabbit hutch is done.

well... mostly. (we still need to figure out the roof.)

{front view}

we had a few building bumps along the way. but that's probably to be expected when you don't exactly know what you're doing!

see the locks in the above photo? they were supposed to be next to each other, but the wood at the top of the second door didn't match up. in fact, when we first put on the doors, they didn't match up. they were really crooked. and on the enclosed side, there was a huge gap in the wood, so we covered it up with another board on the outside.

all minor setbacks, with solutions, when we kept in mind that this rabbit hutch didn't have to be perfect.

{side view}

 

{inside view}

we kept the inside paint free. the entire floor is 1/2" x 1" wire. and one side is enclosed.

most of the materials we used to build this hutch were items we already had in the garage. we also recylcled some things off a broken-down hutch my brother gave us.

the idea for the X door came from this chicken coop by Heather Bullard.

i'm thinking about adding some door handles. wouldn't they be a cute little detail?

now, we just need to get that rabbit!

(oh and some food, and a feeder, and some hay, and a water bottle, and...)

Chicken Pox

our littlest girl has the chicken pox.

thursday she had a fever, and the next day i noticed a bunch of red spots all over her legs and diaper area. she has some on her arms and a couple on her face. i called the doctor's office and they told me to keep her away from others for 7-10 days. she's been a little sleepier than usual but other than that has seemed fine.
sweet girl.

any home remedy recommendations?

The Rabbit Hutch Continued

this building project is taking a lot longer than i thought it would. (and longer than i'd like!)

but we are making progress!

the doors are left. and to tell the truth they make more than a little nervous. and then some braces in the front.

and maybe some paint? i keep going back and forth on whether we should paint. i like the rustic look...but i'm leaning toward painting the whole thing. what do you think?