Another way to hang pumpkins

On November 15, 2020 By CarynIn chickens

I admit, I really just wanted to get the pumpkin out to the chickens without much fuss with the knife. I could have cut it in half and left it at that, but since it takes a few days for the chickens to consume the squash, I like to hang it off the ground so the ants and dirt don’t get in. (Or at least as much dirt. Chickens have dirty beaks when they’ve been pecking away at the ground.) So I used a gimlet (very neat, handy tool for making holes, predates the electric drill by a bit), and put cotton twine through the hole to make a loop.

Pumpkin cut in half and hung with a cotton loop. Gimlet used to make the hole in the rind.

Cat hammock

On November 14, 2020November 11, 2020 By CarynIn Cats

We have a few cat hammocks up in the catio, both inside and outside. Izzy loves the inside nap spots, and recently jumped up to the outside sling, probably just to establish that she can. She only gets free roaming of the back yard under supervision, mainly because she runs up trees and gets stuck. The hammocks are made of a double layer of outdoor fabric, with ties on each corner and a grommet in the center. We learned early that the fabric will hold water, so the grommet lets the rain drain and the bed dry out faster. (Side note, an easy way to sew in the ties is to tuck them inside when sewing the two layers with right sides together, like you would for a pillow with lace or piping. Leave a gap, turn the hammock right side out, then reinforce the edge and ties by stitching around again.)

Happy Spider Plant

On November 13, 2020November 8, 2020 By CarynIn Flora

It has taken three years, but I finally found the right pot, in the right window, for my spider plant to be happy. I’m frankly amazed it made it as long as it did looking as sickly as it did. But now there are flowers! And soon there will be spider plant babies! Hurray! (If you don’t know, spider plants are quite hardy and it says quite a bit about my lack of plant skills that I nearly managed to kill it.)

Empty peanut butter jars

On November 12, 2020November 8, 2020 By CarynIn dog

Well, not completely empty. When you get to the point that you can’t scrape an appreciable amount from the jar, they make great dog entertainment. I had to hold onto my mostly empty jar (plastic, I don’t give the dogs glass jars) until I had two, since we have two dogs. Missy thought these were the best thing ever! Griffin loves them too, but he needed to have protection from the puppy so he could enjoy his treat. Watching the puppy try to get her tongue to the peanut butter at bottom was worth the wait!