Power tools – Music to my ears

It was  a beautiful day to work outside yesterday and we were busy all day. Bill worked all day putting siding on the west side of the enclosed back porch. I had to stay close by to help measure, cut and hold pieces of lumber so I was limited on what I could actually do. We made good progress but still have a lot to finish.

I had a few side projects that I was working on so the air was filled with the sound of power tools. One of my many items on my “to – do ” list for this month was to repair and upgrade the old chicken pens and coop. I originally had all four chickens in a small red coop which was marketed to hold up to 6 chickens. That was not the case and soon I was forced to buy an extension. The extension was not really that big and cost way too much and they soon outgrow that as well. I didn’t want to sent a lot of money for another small addition so I build my own and the problem was solved — for awhile. Then they started picking on Shimmer and I ended up separating her by closing off the new addition and keeping her on that side. That led to more problems since the three were again forced into tight quarters. Th solution was the chicken park – but the old coop was too big to fit though the established door and I did not want to take down any of the fence just to move  a coop into the area.  I brought a second coop and moved half the flock (can you call 4 chickens a flock??) into the park and left the two “bully’s” in the old coop.  I have not decided if I will try to move them into the park or leave them in the red coop but I am leaning towards the separate coops just so they have more room at night and letting them together during the day.

However the old coop and pen needed to be repaired and painted as chickens are hard on things. I needed to unscrew and pull the homemade extension from the rest of the structure first. That was a messy job since the area was all muddy from the past rain.

Once removed I used the hose to wash it down well so I could see what needed to be fixed. I finally had the supplies I needed and the wood was now dry so I started working on turning the extension into a chicken tractor. A chicken tractor is a separate  portable enclosed pen that allows the chickens to “free range” without getting into trouble. As they wear an area down by scratching everything up  you simply move the tractor to a better location. The chickens are released in the evenings to go into their regular coops.

I had to add a door and another side to the original extension plus repair some of the old boards before I could paint the whole thing a bright apple red.

I even gave them a roost to sit on. The pen will house that small doghouse that is behind it when I place it in the back yard and I have a plastic top that fits over one section. This will give them a place to lay eggs and to get out of the weather in case  of sudden weather changes.

I also has to water the greenhouse and the sun garden and harvest some green beans.

Rain = Mud=Dirty Eggs

All this rain has turned the chicken park into a muddy mess which results in muddy eggs.  I know that muddy eggs can be cleaned and used but I prefer not to put dirty eggs in my refrigerator. I do not want to clean the eggs until I am ready to use them because removing the natural bloom reduced the life of the egg.  Therefore , a lot of eggs are getting tossed or broken when the hens slip trying to get into the nesting boxes. I needed to come up with a solution.

I would love to cover the whole park with river sand and pine mulch with  a gravel path to the coop or pavers but that takes money, time and drier conditions. It is impossible to dig up a path when it is this wet! So I have not been able to continue with my planned gravel path put did place a few pavers down in the park to help me keep clean and not fall.

In the meantime I have added some straw to the enclosed run below the coop and a rubber mat in front of the area they use to enter the pen which helps dry their feet on the way to the nest.

I still needed to deal with the dirty nesting boxes. I have been using plain straw in the boxes but the hens were sleeping in boxes at night and I have found a lot of broken eggs. I had two problems to solve. 1. Keep the hens out of the boxes when not laying. 2. Keep them from breaking the eggs.

I needed  more than one solution. The straw below helped reduce the muddy eggs but I still needed an easier way to clean up from the broken eggs and the poop from them sleeping in the boxes.

First I had to give the area a good cleaning. I really had to scrub to get the nesting area clean!

I was going to order some nesting pads but the ones I wanted were out of stock and I needed something as soon as possible. I am one that likes to experiment and I found a rubber door mat with “fingers” that met my goal. I just had to cut it down to fit my boxes. You can use many things to line the boxes: plastic turf liners,  excelsior pads,  washed river sand, shredded newspapers, cardboard,  outdoor carpet, cut up yoga mats, etc.

I measured the boxes and cut the mat to size. They fit nicely.

But they smell horribly and the chicken refused to go into the coop. I ended up introducing them one at a time. I started with the box that they actually used. I have no ideal why but they all seem to use the same box every day. Since they were used to straw  I covered the mat with a thin layer of straw which I will eliminate as soon as they get used to the mats. Chicken hate change as much if not more than most people dislike it!  The other mats were placed on top of the coop to air out and by the third day they were all  inside the coop.   Cleaning the nesting box now is a matter of lifting the mat and taking it to the washing area to rinse off. The “fingers”  cushion the egg which helps reduce breakage.

Success! Well at least with the dirty egg problem I still have an egg eater that prefers the blue eggs.

The mats also took care of the cleaning problem but I still need to address the fact that the hens are using the boxes  to sleep in and that  egg eater. I did some research and a possible solution is to put up curtains. The curtains are suppose to discourage roosting in the box at night and  reduce egg eating by keeping the laid egg out of slight.  Looks like I will be making little curtains in the near future.

What to do when it’s too wet to garden

I have packets of flower seeds that I wanted to plant and the watermelons need to be planted but with all this rains and flooding it is impossible to work outside, I also have a garden bed that needs the spent peas pulled and sweet corn planted and the planting window is quickly closing.

I made the decision to tun on the heating mat and growing lights and start some seeds indoors. The greenhouse is full so this was my only option . Most of the flowers  seeds are perennials so I really did not want to wait another year or later in the season to start them. They should germinate within 10 to 20 days  so hopefully by then the rain will have stopped!

It was raining again this afternoon so I want around the house looking for things that needed to be repaired and painted. I found a few – the main project was this old “bird feeder” that I picked up in Myrtle Beach years ago. It had never had bird seed in it and sits on the balcony but age has done a number on it and it needed some TLC.

It still needs a finally clear top coat to protect it from the weather before I put it back on the balcony but I was able to save it.

I had a Mailman wind chime that I started painting the other day and I finished painting it. It will go in the enclosed porch area once we get it finished. This little guy looks so much like one of my old coworker!

 

Enclosing the back porch breezeway

When we  built the extension back in 1981 we decided to leave the area under the connection open and enclose the second story. The top area was used as the boy’s bedroom until the main house was constructed and the bottom was an open porch.

Later we added the main house and the upper story was used as a long hallway and the lower area became an open breezeway. For years neither of the areas were used much except to walk.  Things changed when I inherited my mother’s wicker furniture  and the room became a nice sun room and the boy’s used the area as a play room for their video games and I enjoyed reading in this room.

Once  we retired I began using the back porch for doing crafts and noticed a few major problems: the carpenter bees were drilling holes into the boards and the picnic table, the mosquitoes attacked during the summer,  the rain blew in and made working on crafts impossible, the wild animals and the cats destroyed anything left  unprotected,  and it became a wind tunnel which was especially bad in the winter.

 

We decided it was time to do something to correct those problems!  I have been trying to come up with ideals  over the years and nothing had worked. I tried stapling screens to the opening but the cats broke though, I added curtains/tarps but the wind blew them down and the only solution that half way worked was a swinging door that I made for one side. I only made the one because I didn’t like the way it swing out onto the patio. Then one evening we were sitting on the patio and a raccoon walked by us and onto the back porch as if it lived there. We knew then that we had to find a solution.   We decided to remove our beloved arches and add sliding doors and windows.  This has not been an easy job but Bill has done a remarkable job.

First the porch needed to be cleared off  so everything was moved to the side porch and the porch was power washed. Next Bill had to remove the siding and those arches.

Next  we had to go shopping for doors and windows and then it was time to do the frame work before they were delivered.

The doors got here first and they were heavy but we managed to get them installed.

The windows arrived but unlike the doors I could not lift them at all so we had to have our neighbor’s help to get them in place.

We still have a lot to do but the porch is now enclosed.  Is it still called a porch or is it now  an outdoor all weather room?

DIY Hidden Jewelry Board

If you are like me you have a drawer and/or a box of costume jewelry  stashed away. I really would like to wear them everyday  but  there is always a reason I don’t.  Sometimes I  can’t find the one I  want, they are in a tangled mess or I simply do not have the time to look for them.

I have a friend that sells jewelry and I really needed a way to store them so that I actually wear them. I mean what is the use to buy them if I just throw them in a drawer!

I did my usual research and found many options but most came with a hefty price tag or just were not what I was looking for.  My first thought was to simply place a bulletin board in the master closet and use push pins to hold the necklaces.  We have a huge closet but I have lots of clothes and a love for hats which I also never wear because I didn’t have them organized.  Once I finished organizing the  closet I didn’t have any room for the board.

But I can now get to my hats and shoes!

I needed to find a way to store the necklaces so I didn’t have this mess every time  I reached for one. Look familiar?

I wanted a way to hang each piece to keep them from getting tangled.  I did not want to look at the necklaces but I still wanted to be able to grab one quickly and see all of them at once to decide which to wear.  Also I did not want to add anything new to the walls of any room. A tall order!

First I counted out my necklaces and noticed how long they were to decide how much space I needed. I also realized that I will be buying more so added that into the calculation. I figured I needed a 2 x 3 foot space so I took a tour around the house until I found the perfect place!

It was time to go shopping! I needed a 2 x 4 foot board about 1/4 inch thick, tacks, push pins, and some screws.

I decided on manufactured board and I had to cut it to size. I used the finest toothed blade in my jigsaw  and then sanded the edges.

Next I looked at my paint supply and painted it the same color of the wall were it would hang.  I wanted it to blend into the wall so it would not be noticed easily.

I added eye screws on the top edge to hang it on the wall.

I took the necklace measurements and spaced out three rows. I nailed in push pins every 1/2 inch across the top line and every inch on the other two lines. This allowed for longer necklaces to lay flatter.

First problem ! The board was too tough to just push the pins in.  I had to hammer them in with nice gentle taps as to not break off the heads. Second problem: The pins went all the way though the board. That meant I needed to do something to protect  the wall in case someone pushed the board towards the wall. My solution to that was to place spacer tacks on the backside of the board.

Now it was time to hang the board with the screws and add the jewelry.

And then to hide everything from the casual viewer.

Perfect!

Saute Turnips with peas

I have no ideal why my parents never grow turnips. If they grew them they never told me I was eating them so I doubt if they were included in their garden’ Thy were missing out on some good eating and I can;t believe it has taken me this long to try them!

My parents grew lots and lots of potatoes  which takes up to 17 weeks to produce a crop whereas you can harvest your turnips within 4 to 8 weeks.  You can only eat the potatoes but you can actually eat the leaves of the turnips.  Why wait all that time to get a few potatoes when you can be eating the turnips greens and finally the turnip itself. The turnip can be used in any recipe calling for a potato plus they are great eaten raw!

I fixed this recipe the other day and loved it.

Saute turnips with peas

8 tablespoons  (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Salt and ground black pepper

1 1/4 pounds turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes ( about 54 cups)

1 teaspoon sugar , if needed

1  16 ounces bags of thawed frozen peas.

 

In a small bowl, mix together 6 tablespoons of bitter and 3 tablespoons of dill to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This can be made up to 2 days ahead if covered and refrigerated.

In a large nonstick skillet, melt the remaining butter over medium- high heat. Add the trumps and saute for about 9 minutes, or until tender and golden. Add sugar if they taste bitter

Add the peas and dill butter and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes or until the peas are heated and the butter melted

Season to  taste garnish with fresh dill