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?

Just a Little Update

the pet home was semi-constructed and then de-constructed and is now under reconstruction!

thanks to some good advice from my brother-in-law who came down to our home for the weekend, we decided to change the floor.

so hopefully sometime this week, we will have a completed rabbit hutch!

Building a Pet Home

 our family has never had a pet before.

this week has found us building a home for a pet. can you guess what kind?

we don't have the animal yet. i've made it clear that we need a home for the animal first. i think all the children are excited for a pet, but particularly our oldest. she has wanted this pet for a long, long time.

{everyone wants a turn building this little home. picture taken by aryn.}

we have no exact buidling plans for the home. mostly, making it up as we go. i really think a lot of this one though from knoxgardner.com. and the book Barnyard in your Backyard has proven very helpful.

we're moving slowly. (more slowly than i would like.) but it's been very good for me to think about how things go together, to get input from others, and how i'd like them to end up.