Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The move back outside
Well I'm not waiting around for this guy to return. He was supposed to come back next week on Monday. I waited till Tuesday and had to get them back out there. My house was smelling so bad. I could open the window in that room and that helped, but the heat was on at night and was working over time to make up for the blasting cold coming in. I figure the rest of the work won't be as loud, so all should be fine, whenever that guy decides to return. My guess is in three weeks on a Monday. "I didn't say which Monday." is what he's thinking.
So all is quiet for now. The rabbits are happy. I got them Timothy hay and new plastic mats to sit on. They love them both.
So all is quiet for now. The rabbits are happy. I got them Timothy hay and new plastic mats to sit on. They love them both.
Then, the move back inside
So after I got the table built and I could step back and see my wonderful work, I moved the rabbits out to their new new home. They were held up in the spare room, not where I would want to keep them permanently, their pee is quite potent, but it worked for a few days while I put the finishing touches on their new home. Not but two days after moving them out there, the neighbor had the idea to put a window in their cinder block building, right below where the rabbits sit on my porch. Only three feet away, the jack hammer used to make the hole for the window, nearly sent Vernon to his early grave. Poor thing. Marybell wasn't happy either, but in her demure manner, didn't protest as much as Vernon. He would freak out and run around his cage every time the jackhammer rattled against the cinder block. I don't blame them for being scared. That sound was irritating. So, back inside till they were finished.
Well, "finished" is not in a contractors vocabulary. If I had a dollar for every story and personal expedience I have had where a contractor or handy man has started a job and not completely finished, I would be rich. The job began with me walking out one morning to find the said window placed in my strawberry bed, thereby crushing half the beautiful plants that had sprung up in this early spring. I reacted like a mother who's child was stuck under a car; I summoned freakish strength and heaved the large window, casing and all, off my strawberry patch. Next the contractor proceeded to drop the broken concrete block on my strawberry patch. Everyday there were words exchanged, and I tried my best to cover and protect them. The last straw, what I thought was the last straw, was when I saw him applying new concrete mix to seal in the new window. He didn't cover the strawberries before starting, so wet concrete was dropping all over the plants. I started picking wet cement out of my bed and throwing it on the neighbors property. He retorted with, "stop that, or I'll rip the bed out completely." I called the cops and what was supposed to be the last straw was over till it rained, hard, for two days. Indirectly, his last laugh on me is the drain pipe he had to remove to install the new window. It used to run along the side of the building and empty into a drainage on their property. Well the contractor removed the last part of it right before the strawberry bed, so when it rained the first night the water run off ran right into the bed. The next day I saw a big hole in the soil of that bed and wondered what happened. Sometimes squirrels bury nuts in the raised beds and come back to dig them up. I first thought it was that till it started to rain again and I saw the water running right in. It was late afternoon when I put a bucket under the drain spout and late night, last dog pee walk, when it was full and I had to change it out for another bucket. All I have to say is, I'm glad I had so many buckets. I always wondered how rain barrels fill up with enough water to make it worth having, but now I think I'm going to get one.
Well, "finished" is not in a contractors vocabulary. If I had a dollar for every story and personal expedience I have had where a contractor or handy man has started a job and not completely finished, I would be rich. The job began with me walking out one morning to find the said window placed in my strawberry bed, thereby crushing half the beautiful plants that had sprung up in this early spring. I reacted like a mother who's child was stuck under a car; I summoned freakish strength and heaved the large window, casing and all, off my strawberry patch. Next the contractor proceeded to drop the broken concrete block on my strawberry patch. Everyday there were words exchanged, and I tried my best to cover and protect them. The last straw, what I thought was the last straw, was when I saw him applying new concrete mix to seal in the new window. He didn't cover the strawberries before starting, so wet concrete was dropping all over the plants. I started picking wet cement out of my bed and throwing it on the neighbors property. He retorted with, "stop that, or I'll rip the bed out completely." I called the cops and what was supposed to be the last straw was over till it rained, hard, for two days. Indirectly, his last laugh on me is the drain pipe he had to remove to install the new window. It used to run along the side of the building and empty into a drainage on their property. Well the contractor removed the last part of it right before the strawberry bed, so when it rained the first night the water run off ran right into the bed. The next day I saw a big hole in the soil of that bed and wondered what happened. Sometimes squirrels bury nuts in the raised beds and come back to dig them up. I first thought it was that till it started to rain again and I saw the water running right in. It was late afternoon when I put a bucket under the drain spout and late night, last dog pee walk, when it was full and I had to change it out for another bucket. All I have to say is, I'm glad I had so many buckets. I always wondered how rain barrels fill up with enough water to make it worth having, but now I think I'm going to get one.
Rabbits Are Happy
We went to Green Bay, well just south, to a town called Denmark. We picked up our Silver Fox rabbits. The boy we named Vernon and the girl is Marybell. I know, you're not supposed to name your food, but these two will be our producers for many years. I thought we were getting an older buck and a new doe, but it's the other way around by a month. Marybell was born January 1 while Vernon was born in February. She will be ready to breed in June. I suppose I can try Vernon with her then, but we'll see if he's ready then. If not, we'll keep trying till it works.
So in the weeks leading up to getting the rabbits, I worked my butt off taking down the old walls on the porch, cutting the new wall boards, installing them, and painting the celling and floor. Every step of the project there were several trips back and forth to the Home Depot. First the paint color was supposed to be a nice dark brown, but when I started to paint the celling, it was way too red. Had to get that fixed. Then the wall material I used was this white plastic stuff that's used in commercial kitchens. I wanted easy cleaning on the walls that the rabbits would be up against. The problems came when I needed to cut the material. I first thought I could cut it with a utility knife, no way. Then my little hand saw, not bad, it cut, but at that rate I was either going to have a huge arm muscle from all that cutting, or my arm was going to fall off from pain. When I woke up the next day, after cutting one 8' cut, with a sore arm, I want back to the Home Depot to get a better cutting tool. After looking at several other hand saws, different blades for my circular saw, the helpful guy in hardware suggested a diamond tip bur for my dremel tool. He offered it would cut like a hot knife threw butter,. Sold. And he wasn't kidding. It did the job, but in it's proficiency, it also made huge clouds of dust. Once again, back to the Home Depot for dust masks. Which even with long sleeves, dust mask, safety goggles, and a shower cap, yes a shower cap on, it got everywhere. A fine, scratchy dust that I'm sure after breathing in will take a few months off my life. But I got those boards cut and installed. Oh yeah, installed. A different, less informed Home Depot employee sold me these nails that would bend after two wacks. I used dry wall screws. Those too were hard to get started on that material, but after screwing my thumb and setting me back a few days while it healed, I got the hang of it. Just before I thought I was finished, I decided to make a table for the rabbits to sit on. This would give me room to store things underneath. A little more sawing and a little more drilling and a table was born.
So in the weeks leading up to getting the rabbits, I worked my butt off taking down the old walls on the porch, cutting the new wall boards, installing them, and painting the celling and floor. Every step of the project there were several trips back and forth to the Home Depot. First the paint color was supposed to be a nice dark brown, but when I started to paint the celling, it was way too red. Had to get that fixed. Then the wall material I used was this white plastic stuff that's used in commercial kitchens. I wanted easy cleaning on the walls that the rabbits would be up against. The problems came when I needed to cut the material. I first thought I could cut it with a utility knife, no way. Then my little hand saw, not bad, it cut, but at that rate I was either going to have a huge arm muscle from all that cutting, or my arm was going to fall off from pain. When I woke up the next day, after cutting one 8' cut, with a sore arm, I want back to the Home Depot to get a better cutting tool. After looking at several other hand saws, different blades for my circular saw, the helpful guy in hardware suggested a diamond tip bur for my dremel tool. He offered it would cut like a hot knife threw butter,. Sold. And he wasn't kidding. It did the job, but in it's proficiency, it also made huge clouds of dust. Once again, back to the Home Depot for dust masks. Which even with long sleeves, dust mask, safety goggles, and a shower cap, yes a shower cap on, it got everywhere. A fine, scratchy dust that I'm sure after breathing in will take a few months off my life. But I got those boards cut and installed. Oh yeah, installed. A different, less informed Home Depot employee sold me these nails that would bend after two wacks. I used dry wall screws. Those too were hard to get started on that material, but after screwing my thumb and setting me back a few days while it healed, I got the hang of it. Just before I thought I was finished, I decided to make a table for the rabbits to sit on. This would give me room to store things underneath. A little more sawing and a little more drilling and a table was born.
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