It must be spring. There are calves and baby bunnies; buds on the trees and daffodils. Although I have to admit that the daffodil bulbs I planted in the fall did not surface, so this is a picture of full grown plants that I bought at the store. Maybe they will come back next year.
The iris and day lilies that went into the ground last year are coming up. There is hope.
And chalk. It was nice out and the box of chalks was calling…
The coop now has trim around the roof and door frames. We are getting closer to having it dried in. Still need the doors and roof. Exciting!
If all goes well, we are a little over a month until the arrival of the chicks. I’ve been collecting bits an bobs here and there. Once the coop is dried in, I can start setting up inside.
The American Kestrel is the smallest member of the falcon family, and the most adorable tiny killing machine. On a recent walk, I spotted this one flying up to the top of the light post with a prize. Luckily I had my good camera with me (because two days prior I didn’t, and saw the older buck. Sigh.)
And since he was glaring at me, it seemed appropriate to make him into a meme. It is a stretch, I know, but I couldn’t come up with a decent pun using “Kestrel”.
Here is a happy thing to find when you are turning over your garden!
Worms are good for the soil, aerating and fertilizing. I was glad to see a few of these little critters as I took advantage of the nice weather the other day to turn over the garden area. (Turning over a garden with a shovel is also a good workout, but I have to admit I did the digging after a day of rain, so the ground was pretty easy to dig.) I also put down some compost, sand, and a layer of garden soil from the hardware store. Then I covered the whole thing with black plastic until I’m ready to plant (we could still have a freeze or two).
So I’ve been madly making plastic bottle string with my cutter. As it piled up on the kitchen counter, I started to wonder the best way to keep it neat, because all that curly string loves to tangle. I did have a left-over ribbon spool, which works OK, but doesn’t hold much.
I had another idea to use a brad to attach two paper bowls. This one holds a bunch of string and is very inexpensive.
My best idea, though, was to use the bottle tops that were left over from making the string and melt the rims together to make spools! The plastic melts together over a candle and sticks together really well. Plus, more of the plastic bottle gets used! Yay! (I’m sure I can figure out some uses of the neat little cup that was the bottom of the bottle too. It just has to percolate for awhile in my brain.)
So here is a short video on how to make the spools from plastic bottles. Happy Day!
Critters and Craft 