52 hike challenge #26 (and household updates)

Quick weekend update!

We spent lots of time with the kits, who are now nearly as big as their mom:

I also FINALLY organized the under stairs storage that Mike built for me many, many moons ago:

Wine, beer, white claw, and ginger beer :)

Mike and I also re-installed the solar panels next door, now that the pole is secured in the new concrete we poured:

It looks crooked, but it is 100% upright from every angle!

All of our exterior doors have silver knobs, but for some reason the interior knobs are all gold. Blech. So I bought a can of spray paint and attempted to update/upgrade them on the cheap:

So much better!!!

Rose and I went on a hike together before the rain started. Just my little out and back.

Even Bart came with us!

But the MOST exciting part of the whole weekend was that we installed my new loft doors!!!!! It was incredibly hard work and I think Mike was ready to throw them out the greenhouse window at a few points, but they are incredibly beautiful and I absolutely adore them!!!

I will post more updates on they are painted, and the drywall is up, and the bookshelves are in... But for now I am just so appreciative of Mike's hard work (and my parents' generosity) because I am loving the direction my loft is headed!!

52 hike challenge 2020
1. 1/1/20 - 2 mi - out and back
2. 1/5/20 - 4.25 mi - neighborhood loop
3. 1/11/20 - 2 mi - out and back
4. 1/19/20 - 4.25 mi - neighborhood loop
5. 1/26/20 - 4.25 mi - neighborhood loop
6. 2/1/20 - 4.25 mi neighborhood loop
7. 2/2/20 - 2 mi - out and back
8. 2/9/20 - 2 mi? - sledding, and to/from the neighbors
9. 2/15/20 - 4.25 mi neighborhood loop
10. 2/22/20 - 1 mi? -  Lincoln Sculpture in the Wild
(there were at least a few more in here that I, alas, forgot to record)
11. 4/5/20 - 2 mi? - up to the highest peak in our neighborhood
12.  4/10/20 - 2 mi? - down a new drainage next door and back around by the gardens
13. 4/12/20 - 2.5 mi - out and back 

14. 4/18/20 - 1 mi? - down an old creek bed and back up
15. 4/22/20 - 1 mi? - down to the parking lot to pick up my car
16. 4/26/20 - 2 mi? - over to "Pride rock" 

17. 5/1/20 - 2 mi? - over to "Pride rock"

18. 5/2/20 - 4.25 mi - neighborhood loop

19. 5/3/20 - 1.5 mi - to the neighbors' horse pen and back

20. 5/10/20 - 2 mi? - Tower Rock State Park

21. 5/16/20 - 3 mi - Mount Helena (prairie trail up, powerline trail down)

22. 5/30/20 -  1 mi? - down an old creek bed and back up

23. 6/7/20 - 2 mi - out and back

24. 6/13/20 - 2 mi - out and back

25. 6/14/20 - 2 mi - out and back 

26. 6/28/20 - 2 mi - out and back

Father's Day weekend

I asked Mike multiple times what he wanted to do for Father's Day weekend, and multiple times he said "stay home and get some work done." So stay home and get some work done is exactly what we did!

Saturday I spray painted the bathroom curtain rod so it would match the newly spray painted light fixture (which is still off center and still drives me crazy). 

We also spent some time helping Scuffles the hamster acclimate to his new home!

Finally, I revived my old sourdough starter (it had been sitting in the fridge, unfed, for WAY too long) so I could do some baking on Sunday.

Sunday morning I woke bright and early to get my baking done so I could then help Mike with his major project of the day...

The airbnb's solar panel for the well had blown over in a recent storm, so we needed to pour some more concrete. Since we had just poured concrete for our new solar post last weekend, we were hopeful that the two of us could tackle the project ourselves.

You certainly couldn't ask for a more scenic setting to work in!

After discovering the FALSE ADVERTISING, we quickly fell into a groove where Mike lifted the bags and poured them in the mixer, I ran the hose, then he wheelbarrowed the wet concrete 100 steps away (yes, I counted) and I helped smooth it into the hole.

NOT actually "easy to handle" IMHO

We were supervised throughout by Bart. 

We repeated the process about 12 times until we ran out of concrete. Good thing the hole was basically filled by the end!

After the work was all done, Rose came bounding out of her bedroom (where she had been playing legos) in order to decorate the new concrete.

Our lovely artist in residence!

After resting for a bit, the afternoon project was to inspect our hives. It had seemed like 2 of the 3 had made it through the winter, but it had been about 3-4 weeks since we had seen any bee activity whatsoever. So we suited up (just in case) and inspected. Sadly the bees had all died (we have no idea why) so we're going to do lots of reading for the next ~8 months and then regroup next spring :(

There were PILES of dead bees at the bottom,

but at least the honeycomb still looked good

(to my inexpert eyes). 

It was around dinnertime that we realized we hadn't seen the kits ALL DAY. Mike and Rose kept talking about all the different predators that probably ate them, and I just lost it. Too much death in one day!!!!! I didn't realize how strongly attached I had become to little Ivy and Jay.

After crying for about 2 hours straight (and totally ruining Mike's Father's Day dinner in the process, I'm sure), I was trying to read in bed and then I heard Mike yell "they're back!!!!"

We have no idea where they were, but they seem safe and sound.

What an emotional rollercoaster!

Today (Monday) I've been home on PTO. Originally we were supposed to have guests this weekend, but they had to cancel their trip because of the coronavirus. So I kept the day off anyway, just to get a little extra relaxing in. Little did I know that Mike wanted help working on his irrigation line to the gardens! This morning we dug a trench to run the fancy hose under the road.

closely supervised by Doug

Mike did all the really hard labor with the pickax, then I cleaned out the rubble with my little mini pickax.

 

Uffdah that was hard work! Hopefully it works and it makes it easier for him to water the gardens every day.

Happy Father's Day weekend, everyone!!

exterior home project ideas

I love summertime when I get all sorts of ideas for projects at home, and I also generally have the energy to work on them! I decided my next project is going to be be improving the exterior. It took me a long time to figure out why the windows look so small on our house, because inside they seem like a "normal" size. Then finally I realized it's because they have absolutely no trim whatsoever!! Which is especially funny because the inside of our house has trim decorating trim decorating trim, so it's hilarious to me that the previous owners/builders didn't do ANY trim outside. 

Anyhoo, here are the current exterior photos:

South (left) and East (right) sides

West (left) and South (right) sides

North side

North (left) and East (right) sides

So, a few thoughts off the top of my head:

1. I never in a hundred years would have chosen green for the steel roof, but since the roof is great and we're not planning to replace it, I'm deciding to just embrace it. Green will thus remain our exterior accent color.

2.  For some reason the previous owners bought green windows for the main (second) floor, but white windows for the "basement." We also aren't planning to replace the windows, so I'm thinking we'll add exterior trim to the second floor (and maybe the loft?) but not to the basement. More on this trim idea in a bit...

3. We're eventually going to replace the green deck (there are so many structural problems to it), at which point we'll replace it with a nice "natural" wood deck, like we have at the rental. This won't happen for several years, but it's on the docket eventually.

4. If I wouldn't have chosen a green roof in a hundred years, I wouldn't have chosen an ugly brown paint in at least a millennium. Once we eventually need to repaint (hopefully not for awhile, but it's good to have a plan ready), we'll finally have a nice clean-looking white house to go with that green roof. (examples here) 

5. As you can see, there's no shade on the South side of the house. In the summer, the sun just beats down and cooks our house, even with solar curtains inside. When we redid the greenhouse and extended it several feet it actually helped a fair amount, because you can see in photos 1 and 2 that it lends a small amount of shade to the south-eastern window in the afternoon. That made me think that awnings might be a good idea, but I had only ever seen cloth awnings and those would NEVER stand up  in the winds we get up here. But then I saw an idea on pinterest for DIY steel awnings and my mind start whirling...

6. The doors are such a stark white! The trim around them obviously needs to be green as well, and then we need to choose an accent color for the doors themselves. Green roof + green windows + white house + natural wood deck = I'm thinking maybe a bright sunny yellow for the doors?? (like this) Or maybe even a dark navy? The good part about painting doors is that it's relatively easy to redo if I don't like it, so I'm not intimidated by this step at all. 

7. When we redo the deck, we also need to rethink the stairs to the door. Right now it's a little unclear where to enter our house. We actually use the back door (on the South side, "basement" level, under the greenhouse - see photo 1 above) the most, and the side door (on the East side, main/second level) only when we're going out to the deck. This is mainly because our coat hooks and shoe shelves are all right inside that basement door. But the problem is that when people drive up our front (crappy) driveway, they can only see that second-level door because the main door is actually hidden behind the quonset. And if people come up the back driveway (see picture #4), it looks like the pantry door is the main door but there's no way to get up to the deck there. So clearly we need a way to signal which is the MAIN door, which will involve reconfiguring the deck stairs, and possibly building a bigger portico and/or changing the landscaping a bit. So the deck and the entry ways will probably be the last exterior improvement in this whole process. 

Okay, so with all those thoughts swirling around in my head, I think a good place to start is to add some trim - definitely to the South and East sides to start - and them to add some awnings. (I am very welcome to feedback at this stage! Please let me know if you have any better ideas!)  I actually got up on a ladder to measure those main floor windows on the South and East today, and they are all 35.5x35.5. Next up is to buy some 1x4s and some fresh green paint so I can do something like this:

And when that's done, then I need some 2x4s (along with the leftover metal sheeting that Mike used to make the chicken coop) to make some awnings likes this:

I don't know for sure that my skills are up to it, but I can measure, paint, use a screwgun, and operate a chop saw, so I'm hoping this works!

Please share your feedback and ideas with me, and I'll share the finished product whenever it's done :)

Kittens: birth to 6 weeks

Remember on Mother's Day weekend when Stalker became a mom?

May 10

Well, she actually ended up having TWO kits!

May 11

Rose and I have been absolutely enthralled and have been visiting them multiple times per day. It's been so fun to watch them grow. Rose has even started setting her alarm clock so she can visit them with me in the morning before I leave for work.

Here are some of the highlights so far:

May 14 - their eyes are closed and they don't move much

May 16 - 1 week old and all they do is eat :)

May 22 - almost two weeks old and their eyes are open!

May 22 - we are starting to feel comfortable holding them

May 22 - when Stalker isn't around, Bart (adopted dad) watches after the kits

I love that their ears were folded for the first few weeks.

May 24 - Ivy at age 2 weeks

May 24 - Jay at age 2 weeks

May 25

May 25 - the whole family likes to relax together

Click this link to see a cute video of the kittens trying to walk!!

Blogger got an "update" and now I can't figure out how to embed videos any more!  :( 

But the kittens are so cute that I highly recommend watching the little youtube video I made :)

June 2 - Ivy at 3.5 weeks (ears are now unfolded)

June 2 - me and Jay at 3.5 weeks

June 5 - Jay at about 4 weeks old

On June 4 Stalker started bringing her kits the dead birds she had killed. We haven't seen the kits really do anything with the dead animals yet, but it's amazing to me that Stalker has the instinct to start teaching her kits how to eat solids at this time. I'm looking forward to watching her teach them to hunt!

By the middle of June, the kittens started exploring just outside the quonset! They don't go far, but they are starting to peak out. Doug the dog has been very gentle with them.

June 14 - 5 weeks old

Now every time we go in the quonset they are exploring a new area. Rose says they are "explosive" in regards to their curiosity and playfulness.

June 15

They are also pretty affectionate. Or, at least, they put up with the affections we bestow upon them!

June 16

June 17

June 20

The kits are six weeks old now and I just can't get over how much fun it's been to watch them grow! They are both starting to eat a little wet food, and they have gotten so much bigger and more independent. They are almost as big as (tiny) Stalker now!

Happy six weeks old to Ivy and Jay!