We spent the night at The Compound Friday. We had some rain, but did get a chance to mow a section of the yard, and insert a plastic sheet above the Hooligan's roosting area to help keep them dry at night. They decided some time ago, that sleeping in their coop was out of the question, and we've finally gotten around to eliminating the issue of rain while they sleep. The Moose unhooked the green cloth overhead, and inserted a sheet of white plastic and the reattached the green cloth and plastic together on the overhead chicken wire. They were all very curious Friday night, but I'm sure were grateful for the dry feathers come Saturday morning.
We spent Saturday, trying to resolve the sinking of the orange fencing material over the pond. We think birds were landing on it, and caused the twine to stretch and the material to sag. If left alone the birds would have the ability to reach through the holes and continue to fish for Tilapia. So we headed to the hardware store, and bought 3/16" wire cable and stretched it across the pond, under the fencing, and raised it all back up again. Hopefully this'll do the trick! We seem to learn something new each weekend, mostly by trial and error. Finished mowing on Saturday, picked another basket full of veggies, and took care of the Hooligan's all 30 of them! The Class of 2012 are getting restless, but are too small to mix with the older ones.
I took sewing lessons a few months back, part of my Home-Ec goals for the year, and decided to try a larger project. I've made a pillow or two, and this project is my largest to date. I had some left over fabric, from the curtains we used inside the camper. We got the curtains at Ikea at $4.95/pair and they were 96" long. I had to cut them down for the windows in the camper and was left with 6, 48" x 54" pieces of beige fabric. I pinned them together and sewed the sections together, to create one long, 27' piece, and created an opening on each end to hold a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe. This pipe is to help keep the fabric weighted down and in place. Here's what I made;
A shade cover for the deck. It gets awfully hot under the sun this time of year, and we need a place to go for shade, still enjoy the outdoor view and breeze. This should do the trick. I have the fabric held up along each beam with more PVC pipe and hooks. Fabric: free, left over from previous project
PVC - 4 each 10' pieces 1/2" $3.55 total of $14.20
Hooks - $4.46 for a box of 25, needed only 10, or $1.70
Thread - $2.30, used around a 1/4 of it $ .57
Total - $16.47
Knowing you did it yourself; priceless
The bees are doing well, I took a peak through the window and see more capped brood, which is a very good sign. We should see a noticeable increase in the population in the next week or so.
We had a good time, hot and sweaty, but good. Glad to be home, and already starting to think about next weekends project list...
Progress feels so good doesn't it. Nice place and I envy you your chickens and bees. I do enjoy fried Talapia. Shoot the birds....
ReplyDeleteYes, progress feels great! I'd like nothing better than to shoot the birds! Problem is, we are not always there, so we need something anyway for the days we are not around. Thanks for following along.
DeleteLove the shade cloth. We need something like this at our Country House, over the deck. However, the wind is our enemy.
ReplyDeleteI think it will come in very handy. We don't leave it up, because of the wind, rain, and bugs/spiders that would make a home out of it. Thanks for commenting.
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