11/13

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A warm cloudy night in the 50's. Windy. Winds today should hit 30 mph. Our chimney support brackets haven't arrived yet but I think the chimney will be okay as long as there are no gusts.

We have a couple days of rain starting on Tuesday. We'll get two more rain barrels tomorrow to set up beside the others at the front of the house. Till we put in downspouts I'll just bucket the rain from the full barrels to the empty so each rain brings us 220 gallons.

We also need to get a smoke alarm and carbon monoxide tester. We've felt a little sleepy with the stove going all day and windows shut and we need to make sure it's not carbon monoxide.

Yesterday was a long day of mowing. I mowed around the lower blueberries and the lush hillside which will soon become the pasture for the Jersey cow. I got over 10 wheelbarrows of mulch. I finished heavily mulching the garden, and piled up the rest in front of the compost bin for cover material. I also fenced around the juneberry beside the bin with chicken wire, and heavily mulched it with grass clippings. It should produce well next year.

Only 1 egg yesterday, Rosy laid. Something must have startled the birds in the coop because they stayed out in the run and refused to go in and roost for bed. Only the banty Little Bit was up on the roost. Rachel was able to call in the other chickens with corn - Rosy and Claudia. But we could not get either the ducks or guineas to go in even with banging on the run with crutches and long branches. Rachel tried crawling into the run to shoo them inside, and the guineas just went berserk - 'popcorning' everywhere [when they try to fly and bounce of the chicken wire ceiling we call it 'popcorning']. Rachel kneeled down and held her head concerned they'd fly into her face. We had to give up and let the ducks and guineas spend the night in the run with the run door open. Sometimes it feels like we have the dumbest birds . . .

I tried to dig up a couple of grounding rods that stuck up in the yard as one caught the mower. But they're in too deep - I had to cut them low with the reciprocating saw.

I put up the pool and tarp beneath it into the barn. The pad under the pool is like concrete from all the compression of 4,500 gallons of water.

We're starting to get low on wood so today we'll cut and split a bunch more from the front of the property. There are huge piles of seasoned trees and branches laying in a maze that will make good firewood.

Rachel made banana pancakes yesterday with sprouted wheat berries on the stove - very good. We finished off the potato soup for dinner, and played 'Guesstures' with the kids [a type of charades].

The compost bin is slowly falling apart from all the weight and moisture. Next time a chamber's empty it will have to be rebuilt on the inside with some durable nontoxic material. Synthetic decking would be ideal, but it's $20 a board.
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