The Birdhouse Barn

Any day now!

 When we ordered ouir new shed for the garden, JoJo was very excited.  He visited all the model barns, and upon arriving home, he began to collect sticks and scrap lumber to build his own (life-size) barn.  Yesterday, after all the equipment moving, he asked Daddy to help him build a barn.

 Since a real barn is going to take some saving and planning, JoJo and Daddy decided to build a "bird house barn."  JoJo said it needed a porch and a chimney, and he spray painted it all by himself.

 JoJo is very excited to see if birds move in this spring.  (I won't mention to him that the birdhouse is a little low and tempting for our bird-sniping cats.)  He already put in a few sticks to help the new birds get started with their home building.

He's so proud!

I love this adventure primarily because, not so long ago, JoJo would have nothing to do with adventures with Daddy, prefering the security of trains and hanging out with Mommy.  We've come a long way!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.
katie z.

No Excuses

I intend to blog more, but more posts are not in my toolkit right now.  Let me update you...

Happy spring!

Our old "garden shed," a hand-me-down from friends, was slowly disassembling itself in the fierce Kansas winds.  We'd reached a stage where it was no longer water-tight, cobbled together with repair pieces more than original, and thoroughly repulsive with mouse feces.  Two weeks ago, the Assistant took it upon herself to begin the tear-down.  I helped her with the roof and finding tools, but she and Spunky removed screw after screw, requiring three different types of bits, and made a fine pile of plastic and metal.

We ordered a new one from Sturdi-Bilt, where the sheds are locally made by Mennonites.  Today, it was delivered.  We all marveled at the little but mighty machine that transported the shed into place.  We intend to paint the floor to aid in cleaning, but the current weather will be too cold and too wet for it to dry properly, so we moved in a few things and will adjust them later when we're ready to paint.

The girls (all three of them) painted the tool bench, which was evicted from our garage due to a space issue.

As part of the preparation for this (enormous) upgrade in a shed, the dead pine tree came down on Saturday, March 17.  The process was a comedy of errors, as the chainsaws didn't cooperate, the two-man saw operated by vastly different sizes of people (our oldest helped) meant the two cuts were very uneven, and James and I didn't do so well either.  It took both my parents as well as James and me to knock it down using large PVC pipe for leverage.  Hilarious.

Today, we burned our burn pile and as much of the pine tree as we could manage.  It's still smoldering now, and we're keeping a sharp watch on it.  We've been waiting for time and weather to coincide, so leaped at the chance this afternoon.

Also on the 17th, we planted this year's onions (red and white), scallions (that look inappropriately like onions), and three rows of potatoes.  Sadly, all the drip hose stored in the old shed had been nibbled by mice, probably for the residual water inside and so were set aside as garbage.  I immediately ordered another roll of drip hose, since we used up the last of the old roll, and will lay hose for the potatoes once it arrives.

We finally had an inch of rain the night of the 18th, so things are looking splendid!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.