Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Blue Skies, Sunshine & English Lops!

 We always say we've got rain and August here in SW Washington, but it's still July and it's been pretty dry for the last few weeks.  Today it's almost 90* in the shade and it feels hot & muggy.

DEFINITION:  Muggy - [Probably from Middle English mugen, to drizzle; akin to Old Norse mugga, a drizzle.]First used in the early 1700's.
 We can't grow grapes here on our place.  Once every 4 or 12 years we get a few - once we even had enough to dehydrate a few raisins out of the Interlaken ones and another year we had a few to make a couple quarts of grape juice.  This is what the purple ones look like right now.
 This picture is NOT a mistake.  This is a very rare and wonderful thing where I live.  It is called Clear Blue Sky and this phenomenon only occurs a couple months out of the year.
 These are Jonagold apples.  It will be a modest apple year this year and a poor pear year.  Last year there were gazillions and kaboodles of pears so I guess the trees are resting up this year.
 My English Lop babies are growing like weeds now.  They are totally in love with people and always head for the front of the cage when the door is opened so they can be loved on.

Today it is just over 90* in their barn and they are conserving energy by laying flat all over the cages!  They have two electric fans to keep them cool, but it's still pretty warm today!
 This is a new litter of English Lop babies born just 3 or 4 days ago to mama Armazindy.

You can't see the white one as he was too warm and crawled away a bit, but these are a broken Chinchilla and two broken Magpie colored English Lops (or E-Lops).  Their mama is a silly goose, so their nest box does not stay in her cage.  I put them in her cage every morning just long enough for her to feed them and then back to a separate cage they go.  Some E-Lop moms will spend all their time sitting comfortably on the babies.....who then perish by being suffocated & squashed!

I found this FABULOUS old screen door for just.....(drum roll please.....)........$7.50!!!!!   I LOVE it!  It was just weathered wood colored but I wanted it to be RED, so I painted it.

It's going on my bunny house!
 When we built our place, we had this hand pump installed in case of emergencies (power outages, etc.)  That was 17 or 18 years ago and it is now rusted in place.  We should probably think about having the water well people come out and get it back in working order.
No doubt I will think of this again.....when the power is out and we have neglected to have it serviced.....
 Does your laundry room and back door look like this?  These are the chore coats & hats.  We call this 'The Boot Room' - always have.   I love baseball hats.  They keep the rain off my glasses and the sun out of my eyes.  Necessary chore apparel.
 I have this dresser in my craft room.  I didn't want it to look like a bedroom dresser, so I changed it by painting Clark's ONT Cotton captions on it and now I LOVE IT!   Wish I'd get back to it and paint that bottom drawer, too!
Well, enough computer time for me, now.  I'm trying to make a whole bunch of primitives to put on Ebay, so I gave myself a sewing day today.  I was making really good progress, but then I digressed by slipping over to the computer and here I still am!
Must get back to it now as tomorrow we have designated for harvesting the cauliflower and freezing it, harvesting a bunch of cabbage and starting our sauerkraut.

I'll try to remember to take pictures of the kraut making and post them next time!

TTFN!

2 comments:

  1. Ahhhh! The babies are so cute! Your apples look great and so sorry to hear your pears are resting this year. That is one of my favorite fruits.
    I look forward to your kraut making! Learning from you, I may finally be successful.

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  2. Too bad about the grapes and the pears, but you still certainly have enough to keep you busy.

    When I was very, very young (that is, before the end of World War II), my mother worked in the Coats & Clark factory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, while my Dad was in the Navy. A couple of times my babysitter took me to wave to my mother through the window (she worked on the basement level) and we could bend down and look in) and I can still remember the sound of the machines and the smell of the manufacturing world.

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