Summer and fall are gone, winter has arrived!

It's been much too long since my last post, so let me catch you up!!

The garden this year was pretty much a bust.  We got a few nights of green beans and one huge zucchini but that was it.  I think it's the raised beds that is the problem.  I read up this fall on straw bale gardening so we're giving that a try in the spring.  Every year I put out straw bales with my 'fall dolls' for decoration.  I usually add some pumpkins and mums and some silk fall looking leaves and such.  I was lazy this year.  Dolls and hay bales!

Each of the bigger dolls is for each of our children.  If you look close you can see the smaller dolls next to them which are for the grandkids.  Corny?  Yeh, sure, but when you give people directions to your house and tell them about your 'Fall Doll' family by the driveway, trust me, no one misses the house!

The Doll family is now tucked safely away in the barn.  The straw bales are sitting out in the front yard continuing to break down in preparation for this coming spring.  We'll move them out back this weekend.  I think I'll put one in each of the raised beds.  I'll grab another five or so and we'll dig out some level areas where the raised beds are and put them all in there.  From what I've read, seems like the straw bale gardening is VERY simple to do if you just prepped the bales properly and then keep them plenty wet for the first couple weeks.  Heck, even I can't mess that up!

Our chickens have grown big and strong.  At the height of summer we were getting over a dozen eggs a day.  I wound up with about eight dozen in the fridge at one point and was begging everyone we knew to take some.  I was half temped to do a knock and run, leaving a dozen on door steps as I made my way through the neighborhood.  Cooler weather rolled in though, and as we were warned the laying did back off.  A lot.  As in, we'd get maybe two or three a day.  Yikes.  

Then we decided to go walk the property looking for Chatty Cathy, hubby's favorite hen.  She sits with him every day when he feeds them and will just chatter like crazy.  As we got to the side of the house I wondered if she was in the garage.  I always hear them on that side of the house so I checked.  And found this:

Seriously?  Oh my.  We got quite the chuckle out of it.  Ok, explains why the egg laying is down!!!  So we go around the corner and start poking in bushes looking for little Cathy and we find this:

Oh come on now!  We just built them a nice big nesting box and they're picking the garage and bushes?  That's kind of rude!  We continue our search and sadly find what's left or poor Cathy.  For whatever reason, she decided to make a nest on the far side of the old tortoise pen in the wood line and a predator got her.  Hubby is just beside himself.  So sorry sweet little Cathy.  I know it's part of living in the country, but it's still tough.

Today we decided to go check around the yard for eggs again.  We're still only getting a few a day so we knew they'd been laying someone else again.  And here's what we found:

Another 49 eggs.  So this week alone we brought in an extra +/-120 eggs!  I guess I need to start doing that knock and run on the neighbor's doors!  In the meantime we're going to try covered kitty litter boxes mounted to a table for the girls to see if that enticed them to lay inside.  Someone said it worked for theirs.  I had no idea hens could be so picky!  We'll also be finishing off the roof of their room with two layers of plywood with some insulation between to seal out any breezes that might be getting in there.  Once it's all settled we had someone suggest we clip their wings and lock them back in the room for a week so they re-domesticate themselves.  Ugh.  I hate locking them up.  They love running around the pasture and chasing bugs.  But if this ultimately will keep them laying at home and closer to the house where they're safe I guess we need to.  

Most work inside the house has come to a near standstill.  The upstairs bedrooms have been emptied and the old carpet removed.  I'll repaint and in the spring we'll have new carpet put in.  Built in dressers will go in and the front bedroom will get a new wall and door.  We're kicking around adding a third bathroom upstairs with a small living space.  Will have a walk through with the realtor before we make any decisions though.  Would certainly be a nice improvement, but so would raising the ceiling and adding front and back porches, having the entire basement excavated and a foundation and walls poured so we can move the stairs to the basement level from the back deck to by the front door.  SO much potential in this house!!  My brain just works all day long thinking of great ideas and projects we could do!!  

Once the paint and carpet are done upstairs the master bedroom sleeping area will get new carpet and then the walls will be replaced in the sleeping, dressing, bathroom and both walk in closets.  At some point in the process I'll tackle the last few kitchen cabinets so we can get the countertops all replaced and finally fix that horrible kitchen floorplan in there!  I think I'm more excited about a truly functional kitchen than anything else.  A set of wide drawers, an L shaped plan with a separate baking center with storage and shelves??  And a bar for snacking and built in desk?  It's just going to be so amazing.  I'm kicking around the idea of  moving the sink and dishwasher over to the bar area too so when you have company and they're all hanging out in the great room watching TV after dinner, you can at least still converse and don't have to feel left out as you load the dishwasher.  It also would give a HUGE prep space for cooking.  I love to cook and bake so I keep thinking of how I would need a kitchen to work for me.  And I think that would make a huge difference.  Will get in touch with the plumber for an estimate for that!

I'm hoping by last spring / early summer we can have the floor guy come in and refinish the hardwood floors.  That's going to be a challenge.  The master suite has to be completely finished so we can block off this side of the house.  No one will be able to walk on those floors for quite a while.  Last thing I want is to have them scratched up before they're properly dry!

For now however, I'm going to enjoy the wonderful winter that I've looked forward to all year.  It's my favorite time!  Happy winter all!  See you in the spring!