sun!

It's been warm here, 84 today. It feels so nice! My garden is beginning to grow, my trees are budding. I dried 6 loads of clothes on the line! Dinner was BBQ chicken and baked potatoes. Simple,easy and filling.
We have been pricing counter tops, sinks and faucets. We found a sink we like, now we have to decide on what type of counter top. I like quartz, but hubby didn't see any colors that he liked. We will have to go to some more home improvement stores and compare.
On a better note, for those who are aware, we have a foster kid. The good news is the adoption should be final by the end of this month. We will be glad once this process is done,it is so much paperwork.
We had a birthday party for our FK. I will post pics later.

Projects Projects Projects

My hubby arrived home a few weeks ago from his first year at BYU-I.  Its good to have him home, I'm not too sure who was more excited, the boys or him.  Needless to say, he has been busy here with the boys and the never-ending honey-do-list, as he likes to call it. We decided to put in a raised bed for herbs this week. He and the boys took scrap wood that we had to create it. As you can see, my hens were using it as a bird-dust bath area instead.

Here is the before area. Grass did not grow well there because there used to be a huge fir tree on my neighbors side of the fence. They removed it this fall. So, now I have lots of sun to plant things! ( Such as my dwarf apple trees)

Here are the younger boys digging and planting the trees... My FK is watching, he's never lived any place or with anyone who gardens or does yard work or crazy projects :)

 

Here the kids are, haming it up... BTW- this picture is evident that there is sun in the Seattle area..

 

 

Here is the almost-finished project. I just need to add my dirt, and then I can plant away... My hens were eating all sorts of grubs and bugs, which I am thankful for. I tell my husband they are dual purpose. I use them for eggs and pest control.

My husband was able to expand the garden. Son #3 was kind enough to put the chicken wire up between the fencing to keep my little dogs out.

 I look forward to getting the dirt in there and seeing how much I grow in that space this year. My garden did really well last year, one of my goals for this year is to stagger my seeds. I do have some volunteer lettuce and spinach growing. I am leaving it for now. We can eat it all the same once it is big enough. I am also going to look into how to save seeds once my plants bolt. If I can save some money, why not-right?

Unfortunately for us, the rain is suppose to be moving back in tomorrow. We have really slacked with homeschool this week. One of my goals for tomorrow is to make an itinerary for my son and husband to follow for the week.  We'll see how much I get done tomorrow.

Crazy weather

Started out cold, with snow. Ended the day with sun! Got a lot done outside after work today for a change. The helped pick up the yard and broke down boxes; I cleaned out the chicken coup. When TJ and I went to the feed store, there were so many cute chicks and baby ducks... I had a hard time not getting any.

I did find the perfect birthday gift for TJ. I'm getting him a gas powered RC car.
I can hardly wait 'till I see his reaction.

Now to find a good gift for RJ.....

Productive Saturday!

     Today was  a great day! It was sunny (gasp sun here in Seattle!) The boys worked so hard- they got the pine needles cleaned up out front; picked up some of the limbs,pinecones, and other things in the backyard. TJ put chicken wire up around the bottom of the chicken coup fence. My Lhasa kept digging to get in there ( dont ask me what her fascination is with going in there). The boys weed wacked the yard and got it mowed.
    I dried two loads of clothes out on the line today. I love drying my clothes outside. I love the smell. I dont care if they are kinda scratchy and stiff. I love how good they smell and warm they feel from the sun. It is one of my favorite things about the summer. 
    The garden is turned up, and I will be planting the end of the month. The boys added and mixed the compost into the space.
    As for the cement pad, it is on its way to being demo'd. The boys have broken about 1/3 of it. We took one load to a cement recycling place. I put an add on craigslist- and had a gentleman and his wife stop by to take a truck load. I think the side area will look nice once the cement is gone and we can get the area cleaned up. It will be nice this summer, I am hoping that side wont be so hot because of the cement.
     I looked up the weather, and it looks like we have a pineapple express moving in this week. I dislike rainy- warmish weather. Really. I am ready for sun and warmth.  I hope it will be here soon!

Backyard picutes- The Before

     So, I figured I should go ahead and take and post pictures of our backyard before we begin to tear it up this spring. My boys felt the need to demonstrate their muscles. They took some sledge hammers and began to hit the cement pad which has become the bane of my existance. The picture below is an example of their handiwork.

 

 

The pictures below are from my upper patio. My house is a tri-level. These are from the back door.

 

 

These pics are from the lower yard.

I really love my garden space

 

                                              
                   You can see my strawberry patch on the left hand side of the picture

 

     My goal this spring/summer is to get rid of the cement pad. My husband wants a new shed. The problem is the rats will get under that pad, and they are safe and secure.
     Our goal is to eventually add on to the lower level to give us more room. The room in the lower level is tiny, so our older boys use it as a bedroom. We want to add on and make an "official" family room . It is just one of many projects on the to-do list.

Kitchen-before

This spring, once J returns from school; we plan on finishing the remodel on our kitchen. We have done it in bits and pieces. The next plan is to raise the ceiling and replace the 1970's cabinets.
Here are some lovely before pictures.

 

 

The cabinets are painted white. When we bought the house, the counter tops were a lovely

shade of yellow ( sponge yellow that is) and the cabinets were a dark brown. My kitchen is not very big, so J and I thought we would paint them and replace the hardward- to give them a different look.

The ceilind is dropped, we will be raising it and replacing the light fixtures ( happy dance for me!) I have the new base cabinets. Once we have raised the ceiling, we will get the uppers. I want to make sure we dont have any wasted space!



These are the cabinets J and the older boys built over the summer. See where my phone is?  I want to eventually remove part of that wall and open it up into the dining room. Its not load bearing so with my luck it should not be a problem ( ha ha ha).

 

 

old pics of the garden and back yard

Here are one of my raised beds. This one contains my strawberries. I started out with eight plants. They spread, and now fill the whole area.

This is my bigger raised garden. It is 14 feet x 16 feet. We are going to expand it this spring. The space between our property and the garden is 37 inches. We will remove the back part of the garden fence so I can plant in that area. We will be bringing the garden out another 5 feet. It is in the southwest crner of my lot. It gets sun most of the day. I have had really good luck with vegetables in it.

The picute above is my wash tub- tomatoe planter. That wash tub is old- my dad used to bath in it when he was a kid! Several years ago, we had a freak cold snap. I was using the tub as a water dish from my big dogs. There was only a few inches of water in it. One nite it froze ( i believe the temps were single digits) and the water froze. When it froze ,the ice put holes in the bottom of the tub.
The following spring, I placed gravel in the bottom, a little compost then added dirt. It has been a great planter.
The orange bucket in the back of the picture is another planter I use for tomatoes as well.

This picture is from last spring. It was taken from my upper patio. My big corner garden is in the upper right hand side of the picture.

The chicken coup is located on the North side of my hosue. This picure was taken before we expanded the pen.

Here is a picture, after we expanded the pen. The hens did not have enough room. I will add a couple more hens this sprng, as some of the flock is getting old. With 5 boys ( three teenagers) we really go through the eggs...

Later this spring I will try to take more pictures to get a better lay out of our yard.
Front and back..