Dear hubby toke a weeks worth of vacation. He is up on the roof building a new roof section onto the kitchen, bathroom and back porch part of the house. The original area was a back porch and sometime say the 50's it was turned into a kitchen and indoor bathroom and a 4x6 back porch added on out the back door. They didn't bother to put a new roof on so all that was above our heads was drywall board, porch roof plywood and then shingles. Always got the coldest in the winter and hottest in the summer. This should help immensely.
Of course this is the hottest weather we have had all spring and summer. Supposed to be 90 or more today and we never even got to the 90's the last three summers.
The rest of the roof will be re-shingled sometime later this month. There were three layers of shingles on the kitchen/bath area to take off.
Last Saturday one of our older boys was here,lol boys he is 35 :) ans his son A was here and helped reattach the deck to the house and get it jacked back up where it belonged first.
They also helped haul the gazebo frame down into the yard and hubby and I got it covered Monday night.
Large or small gardens.
I hope lots of you are trying to at least grow something in pots and buckets if you have no room for very much else. I know people who are growing things like cucumbers in pots and children's swimming pools for squash, potatoes and other things. Lettuce and spinach can be grown in almost anything.
Yes it rained during the night and is still raining this morning and we're happy to get it and so is the garden.
Our poultry are all doing well and the turkeys love their outdoor area. We have to close them in at night also to make sure they don't become dinner for some of the local wild life.
It has been 60's and 70's temperature wise this week but back to 80 plus next week. So hard to get used to what it's like outside when it flip flops so much. But this cool front brought rain so I'll take it :).
Our wild roses are blooming like crazy and the bees are having a hay day. I think I scared a few bees off trying to take their pictures.
Our son DJ was here for a couple of days. Grand daughter MJ joined him and even babysat for 2 or 3 hours last Saturday while we went into town to buy caulk to do the rest of windows that were being put in. We now have all the main floor windows in :). Out goes the old.
DJ help put the chicken netting on top of the meat bird yard. Now they can be out without fearing them being taken off with by Hawks and eagles. Even dh can walk under this.
Tomorrow we're supposed to fix up the area for the turkey's so they can be outside also.
I"m still trying to get over this stupid cold, it keeps hanging on.
We had several days of 40's and 50's and now we're back to 70's. With around 80 by Monday. So hard to get used to anything temperature wise.
I have had a very bad cold this week. It came on, on Saturday afternoon. Kaylee passed it on as she was really ill last week.
Dh has put in 2 of the windows that needed replaced badly. The bathroom window that would only go up about 6 inches and the kitchen window which slid on wooden pegs and had 3 layers to it and was a bear to get it open any at all. I always had to climb on the counter to get enough leverage to get it open.
New window :)
Storm window below already removed so he could measure the kitchen window right.
New Kitchen window.
Our lilacs bloomed this week.
Our new layers
I guess full spring is here with us. We haven't had a freeze in almost 2 weeks and it looks like the lilacs will bloom in a few days. Even the Washington Hawthorn is going to bloom this week which usually doesn't until in June.
The poultry are all growing well and next weekend the meat birds will be moved to their new house and yard. The layer chicks will have the board taken down that keeps them in a smaller area in the coop as they are starting to fly to the top of their waterers and etc. Don't want one to fly out and not be able to get back in to the warmer area.
The garden area is all tilled and waiting for plants and seeds. We were hoping to have planted already but sometimes that just doesn't work out as we want. The last few weeks it has been way to wet and so its till now and we need a evening free to plant.
We did pick up some tomato plants this week to get a head start on those.
I cut rhubarb and made some rhubarb and rhubarb strawberry sweet stew/sauce that I canned up. (Frozen strawberries).
The spinach we let go to seed last fall is doing great in its area and I have been eating spinach for almost 2 weeks now and asparagus from the garden. We have blossoms on our fruit trees and may even get some this year :).
We didn't want to go to the expense but things that have to be done; just have to be. And that's stripping the roof fixing the slope in it on the west side and putting new shingles on it. Along with replacing the rotten fascia board, putting fascia board where none has ever been or at least gone for 50 or more years. So one very BIG project this summer. We needed all this done for at least 5 years now and it can't be put off any longer if we want a good roof for the coming winter.
It decided to snow on us May 10th. But I also see that Colorado got dumped on big time. Very normal for there also. We lived for quite a few years not far from Denver and it was not unusual to get snows in May at all. We just got a dusting which is less then some years at this time.
That is also the day dear hubby needed to change the breaks on our small Nissan truck. Had to be done as they were down to the nubbins. So he got snowed on, hailed on, rained on and snowed on again.
Daughter T and my mom came up yesterday and brought a plague with the Birthdays of all the kids, grand kids and the 1 great grand hanging from it :). We found out our youngest sons K and his wife A are having a girl and naming her Eleanor after her mom who passed away many years ago from cancer.
Most of our new chicks are here, hubby will be picking up 36 Leghorns tonight. The Cornish X-rocks and the turkeys are in the chick pen in the barn and doing great.
I discovered the first tick of the season on me last night after we (hubby grand girl and I) took a walk in the woods. No one else had picked one up.
This morning the cat got a new flea/tick collar and the two dogs got tick guard squirted down their backs.
Note to self put more tick products for the animals back in storage. (These were the last)
Products for us: For tick and other insect problems make sure it has deet in it. Also look up and make do it yourself products for this problem if you can't stand chemicals on you like deet and etc.
Here are a few links.
http://www.skin-care-recipes-and-remedies.com/homemade-insect-repellent.html
http://tipnut.com/homemade-mosquito-repellent/
This one tells what repels ticks also.
http://chemistry.about.com/od/healthbeautyprojects/a/naturalinsectrepellent.htm
Today the new chicks are supposed to be in. The area in the chicken coop is ready for the white Leghorns and the barn area is ready for the Cornish Xrocks and the turkeys.
The new meat bird coop and pen is almost finished. All we need is a door, a gate and to put a wire cover over it to keep the hawks and eagles from flying down and snatching one when there old enough to put here. Well and to get the tools out of the coop and put down saw dust.
We have quite a bit of rain this week but that's better then snow like the week before. Not much to yell about but up here one never knows just how much you will end up with.
K decided to collect worms and caterpillars while we were working on the pen last Saturday. She said she needed pets.
All of you out there have a good week.
They also helped haul the gazebo frame down into the yard and hubby and I got it covered Monday night.
Large or small gardens.
