Sunday, May 30, 2010

Morning Coffee Spot


I am the only one awake. I love starting my day like this.

fox

Hubby and I were woken at o'dark-thirty by fox calls. They are very strange sounding - I had never realized they made noise before. The girls woke up crying, scared by the strange new sound. (although once the windows were closed, their fan turned on, and tucked in together they went back to sleep) Mesha and I have both seen one of them, beautiful really. He (we think) is bold and wanders confidently through the street and yards, but shies away from anything that moves. But we have seen no raccoons or possums and our (red) squirrel population is much smaller than our (gray) squirrel population in Minneapolis.

But we better make sure our outdoor rabbit hutch is secure.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Grand Plans

Planning is may favorite part of any project.

Sitting by the fire with a warm beverage in January with a pile of seed catalogs and a pad of graph paper.

Using Ikea kitchen software for a remodel I will never do.

Putting together a wardrobe via catalogs of clothes. I do end up buying a single outfit, but rarely does it go farther. My hubby still owns more shoes than I do.

Amidst unpacking our life - Wishing we could have fit the couch and the tumbling compost bins - we are planning.

Craigslist has failed to offer up a rabbit hutch in our price range so we are designing one to be built w/ free materials offered instead.

It will go here:
It is the flagstone side yard with a narrow gate to the front, the kitchen door (on the other side of the tumble of ivy) and a closet sized potting shed. Roses and Clematis are climbing the fence and the tree is an unknown flowering variety. Just in front of the ivy are steps to the covered back deck.
The clothesline will go here: Next to "Wheel Forge" in the lower yard - same level as the community laundry room. It doesn't get as much sun as the upper yard, but it doesn't have kids running through it as much either.

The hen house, and enclosed yard (fox, hawks and coyotes oh my) will be here on the edge of the upper yard in the uncultivated area by the lilacs. But not until next year I think. The hens I want are out of stock at my pet chicken (black copper maran, gold laced polish or wyandotte, a standard frizzel or silkie plus an Araucana for those who want to know)











Now where to put the bee hive??

Saturday, May 22, 2010

square foot gardening


I have had the book for nearly 2 decades. Now finally put to use.

In this 3 1/2x3 1/2 raised bed are 2 chocolate cherry tomatoes, 1 Mr. Stripey tomato, 1 roma tomato, 9 purple basil, 5 large leaf basil, 4 marigolds (seeds planted by Mesha in school for mother's day, carefully moved here) 27 white onions and 120 carrots.

Of course I will have to cover it tonight - it has been dropping below 50 degrees.


And in this corner - Mesha's (everbearing) strawberry and peppermint stick zinnia garden.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

And by the afternoon . . .

At breakfast


Welcome to Colorado


This is the front yard at 12:15 this morning.

It is melting already, the blossoms bouncing back.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

New Digs


We rented the house for the yard.

We don't move in until Tuesday, when our POD is delivered, but I mowed the lawn yesterday.

The cats are ensconced in the house, not allowed out yet. Cadbury is waiting patiently for an outdoor hutch to replace his medium sized pet carrier and occasional leash time outside. (He has to be watched tho - he slipped his harness and hid under the back deck for a couple panicked hours yesterday)

The shed has been okayed to be Hubby's shop.

There is a lot of yard work. All the roses, honeysuckle, etc are overgrown. The vinca, boston ivy and unwanted grasses need to be pulled up or tamed. But we keep finding new flowers - poppies, rembrant tulips, irises . . .

Someone put a lot of love and work into this property once.

The other bonus is it is 2 miles from work and the Denver area seems to be riddled with bike trails. The option to commute via bicycle was a major feature we were looking for.

Oh and having 4 hens (the most allowed in city limits) is in the lease. WOO HOO!

There are more stairs than we would like, but the house itself in a single level. The girls are running around the backyard happily - and isn't that the most important feature of any home?