March 17, 2015

Finishing The Window Seat

When we first planned the seat for the bay window,

Bay window interior last month.

I envisioned adding just a seat and leaving the wall as is. The problem was that the tearing down and rebuilding of the front porch, plus adding the bay window, had caused other problems: The cement board wall under the window had cracked.

Our living room and dining room walls are cement board.

If it had been drywall it would have been easy to fix. Cement board was another matter. After discussing options, we decided to add a front to the window seat, like this -



We actually considered two options, either to stop at the top of the baseboard as pictured above, or tearing out and cutting the baseboard and taking the front all the way to the floor. That also would have involved re-doing the electrical socket. We had too many other irons in the fire, so we stayed with the simpler first option.

The problem was that it looked unfinished. I wanted it to look more like furniture, but how? Not too long ago we spent some time wandering around Lowes looking for ideas. In the table leg section we found this -

Bun replacement furniture foot 

We bought one plus a 2 x 4. With those, Dan did this -

A small decorative moulding finishes the seat edge and "bench" bottom.

He ripped the 2-by and the foot, and made pseudo legs.


I couldn't be happier. On our next indoor work day he'll finish the rest of the window trims, and that will take care of that.

Continued here.

March 15, 2015

Little Goats' First Outing

We had a streak of rainy days after Helen kidded, so it wasn't until yesterday that her kids finally got to go outdoors for the first time.

The gate is open!

Meeting Auntie Daphne for the first time

She looks like mom, but she isn't mom

Little Girl and Daphne

Little Boy #3

Snack attack!

Little Boys #2 & 1 with Helen

A chicken!

Little Boy #2

Little Boy #1

They mostly stayed under the overhang, where the ground is dry and protected from rain. I'm so thankful for it because it meant there wasn't a sea of mud outside the goat door.

Both Daphne and Bunny were pretty good with the little ones. Of course they saw Daphne's teats immediately (they're at eye level, after all) and couldn't understand why she said no. So far they seem to be getting enough to eat from Helen alone, although I'll continue to monitor weight gain to make sure that continues to remain the case. For now, every one is happy, hoppy, and doing well.

March 13, 2015

Moving Day For Pigs

The completion of our hedgerow fencing project was timely because it was time to move the pigs. Their home of the past winter had been nicely pig plowed (or at least as much as the two of them were likely to do), so it was time to get it ready for planting. The first step was moving the pigs to the next paddock we want them to work on, on the other side of the property.

Click to enlarge a bit

But how? Pigs can't be led nor driven, but they'll follow food anywhere! We used the Hansel and Gretel method; I led the way with a trail of corn, while Dan opened and closed the gates.






Dinner awaited them when they arrived.

Waldo and Polly seem very happy in their new area. We left all the spilled hay and straw in the goat shelter for them. They love burrowing into it at night. During the day they've been busy rooting and eating.

Once the ground dries out a bit in the old pig pasture we can finish preparing the soil to plant. I'm looking forward to that.