Bucking the Funk

I have been in a serious funk this winter. Perhaps you've noticed, as the blog entries have gotten simpler and farther apart.

Doug has been doing all these wonderful projects, for example...unclogging the sink. I know this is silly, but after months of waiting...and waiting...and waiting...for this dumb sink to drain, I had to film a video of the sink clearing right after the water is turned off.

 

Moving a cabinet door so that it swings the right way (this is the last of these, finally):

Adding on the bottom of the oven, left off by the last owner, just tucked into a cupboard for us:

Screwing in this strange screw, making the kitchen a bit safer:

Before...and I did try to screw it in myself with no luck...

After. Doug made it look easy.

Moving rocks in the backyard to loop around our maple tree:

And other projects, such as cleaning out the garage and working on his mill.

Meanwhile, I have been doing very little on the house front. I've been dealing with kids, reading books, and planning our family vacation this year. I'll have to blog about that, too - it's been quite a process (a fun process).      

Building the Foundation

The first year we were here, our focus was trees. We needed to get trees in so that they could grow, since it takes quite a few years for that to happen. The orchard was the result: a whopping 12 trees, only one of which came with the house. There are now also three maple trees, an eastern redbud, a magnolia, three crabapples, and the original honey locust and blue spruce. Oh, and five arborvitae.

We rocked our goal that year. Woot!

Last year, the goal was for shrubs. While doing trees, we had added a few bushes: a weigela, four boxwoods, a few ferns (only one survived), two spireas, and five eunonymous. Eunonymous-es? Anyway. So we had a pretty darn good start on our "foundation" planting.

Now, how many shrubs do you think I put in last year? Not that many, let me tell you - and I waited until the very end of the planting season. I snagged nine rose bushes during fall clearance and put those in.

Very pathetic. So this year, we're working on shrubs. Again.

To give myself some momentum, I ordered a few shrubs while it was still snowy. That way, I would have to put them in the ground when they arrived. Ordering shrubs from catalogs hasn't worked in the past, but I am nothing if not an optimist. So I went for it, using SpringHill Nursery, since they have sent me lovely seeds in the past.

The plants arrived last week in fabulous condition, looking like I picked them up locally. Four lilacs and four goatsbeards. The lilacs are fun varieties, one with pink and white flowers, the other with red flowers edged with white. The goatsbeards look a little like ferns, but they bloom white all along these long white stems. Amazingly enough, seven of them are already in the ground.

Looking a little worse for wear after a few snowstorms...one of the pink lilacs.

A baby goatsbeard. Isn't it cute?

And there's still snow around another lilac. Melt already!

You can hardly see them, but seven of the plants are along this wall.
Eventually, they will shade the side of the house during summer.

So wish me luck...hopefully I won't get sidetracked with just perennials this year. And of course, I will keep you updated (especially when those rose bushes bloom!).

Letting in the Light

Doug has been busy (even if I have not)...he decided to put a "found" window to good use. The chicken coop is as dark at 12 noon as it is at 8 pm. Yup, never any light in there. We added a light during the winter, because chickens won't produce eggs in the dark. They won't produce as many eggs anyway, because it is so cold, but the dark really slows things down for them.

So Doug went in and added the light to the back of the coop.

The chickens are probably much happier, although they won't give any sign of it until probably next winter. Right now, they are enjoying digging up the yard. As soon as Doug fenced the backyard, he let those little suckers loose. They have already destroyed one of my sage bushes and are trying to get the garlic out of the ground.

So we may be missing a chicken or two if I ever catch them at it. Then we'll never know if they like their new window. Priorities! Garden over eggs? Eggs over garden? Which would you pick?

Actually, I'd just like an additional fence...to keep them out of my garden. I'd ask Doug to do it this weekend, but it has started snowing again (sigh). Hope the weather is spring-ier in your neighborhood than it is here!