Anne and Sammy decided the barn cats needed a house. So we built one in an evening and we still have enough plywood to make another.
It's actually kind of too big, so if we make another, it might be smaller. Sammy did most of the work, but Anne made suggestions and filmed.
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Our cousin built a bridge for our hut while he was visiting. And here's how it's holding up. The rain has caused the creek to get pretty full and wash out a larger outlet in the bridge/dam. But other than slow erosion and being very muddy, it's looking pretty good and is still usable. The sheep think it's great and they use it all the time.
Kitty Pictures! Is there anything cuter?
The kittens, Sawyer especially (he's the gray one) like to hide in all kinds of places, including, as you can see: buckets, desks, paper bags and boxes. Small, tight spaces are their delight. I (Anne) have always said it would be fun to camp out in our pasture and I've thought about doing it almost every summer. This summer, we finally, ACTUALLY did it.
All of us kids (minus Sammy) slept two nights out in the pasture, right next to our hut. We used our fire pit we had dug. We only had one tent, so our parents went to town and bought another one. Walmart only had huge ones, so we ended up with a 6 person tent. They also bought us a grate to cook on and a sandwich toaster thingy. The first night, we ate supper out at camp. We had toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for supper. We got out there kind of late, so Daniel and I had to set up the big tent in the dark. John started all the fires. Sarah also helped set up. Our parents and Sammy joined us for supper (and Copper) but then we were left on our own. Nobody slept very well the first night. There was some critter shuffling around camp during the night. Around 6:00 am, we woke up. John got a fire going and I boiled water in a little coffeepot. We had oatmeal, hot chocolate, and tea. I used a cast iron skillet to make pancakes and eggs. They were very crispy and buttery. We also had grape juice and we drank all of it. Sammy and our mom came out to eat around 8:00 am. Copper came out too and he stole the butter. Fortunately, we were done cooking. We stayed out until 11:00 am, then came home (we drove the gator). In the evening, we went back out and rearranged the beds (girls' turn for the big tent). We came back to the house to eat dessert, then went out to our camp. We had had supper at home already. We made a little fire and sat around talking. Our parents came out for a little bit. Then.....we went to bed. Copper stayed out with us all night. He was so excited to spend the whole night in the pasture. He did a lot of barking. In the morning, we got up at 6:00 am again and ate almost the exact same breakfast. Except for grape juice. It was pretty fun, especially cooking breakfast in the morning, but now everyone is grumpy from not enough sleep..... This summer, several of us went across the road to a piece of property that we own. On the far border runs a big, wide creek.
Since it hadn't rained for awhile, it was low enough to play safely in. So, we headed down there to check it out. The walk there was hot and we had to go through a cornfield. Once we got to the creek, we encountered a problem. The bank was very steep. We found a almost vertical spot that was clear of weeds. It looked too steep, so we hacked through some tall weeds until we reached the edge of the bank where we thought we could go down. That spot was way too overgrown. So we went back to the clear spot and pretty much just slid down into the water. Finally, we got into the creek! It was fairly shallow and clear where we had gotten in. There are a LOT of clams (actually we just saw clamshells, very few live clams). There are tons of tiny ones and plenty of big ones. We had to head back because Anne had piano lessons. But, a few days later, Anne and Sammy went on a long exploring expedition. Upstream wasn't very interesting, muddy and deep (and not part of our property). So we went downstream. Sometimes the water was too deep and we had to crawl along the bank, which was usually slippery and muddy. Copper was with us. He had a lot of fun. In some places, it was deep enough for him to swim. Once, we went back up on level ground and then we climbed back down using a tree that was sticking out of the bank. Eventually, after about two hours, we decided to go home. We hadn't gone very far actually, but it felt that we had traveled forever because it was difficult. While working our way downstream, we came across a gas pipeline running through the creek. This pig is made from air dry clay and it sits on Daddy's desk. I (Anne) found it on the kitchen floor, one leg missing and full of tooth marks. (Note: the leg was later found, so they did not eat it!)
Need we say any more? Our pond dried up completely this year, so we thought we never get to ice skate on it again. But, before it snowed, it rained, so the pond filled up just enough for us to skate. The ice is very smooth, except for the edges where there's grass. We've skated four times and will probably skate more before it melts.
It snowed, so we had to clear it off with a shovel and a broom. Since it's so low, there's absolutely no danger of drowning, so we don't have to worry about thin ice. We got two kittens from our cousins and brought them home. Normally, they would live outside, but it's the middle of winter, so they have to be inside. It's really fun to have them indoors. They were inside before, so they are used to people and the house; barn kittens on the other hand, are usually more scared.
During the night and when we are gone, they get locked in the basement, but otherwise they get free run of the house. They've discovered that they can get inside the couch, so now we have to be careful when we sit. They also try to get on the table, especially the striped one. He's the naughtiest. They have both fallen into the toilet. They were able to get out by themselves though. If we do something they don't like (such as removing them from the table) they meow and fuss. Choo Choo is pretty miffed, but he's somewhat adjusted to the fact that two adorable kittens have invaded his kingdom. The kittens hissed at him at first, but now they are just curious about him. Choo Choo ignores them and runs away if they get too close. Choo Choo does sort of play with them and he likes to watch them. The kittens hiss at Copper, and Copper really wants to mess with them, but he can't get close enough. We don't let him on the carpet, so the kittens run around and he watches them and whines. We are thinking of naming the gray one Tom Sawyer and the other Huckleberry Finn and calling them Sawyer and Huck. After about two weeks, the rams were moved out and we went to check on the hut. Damage was pretty minor. The sheep had poked holes in the bottom in several places, but other than that, everything was fine. We completed the hut finally, finishing the part that we didn't have time to do. It is now officially done, everything else we have to do is improvements and repairs. After completing it, the holes were repaired and some areas got extra mud. Then we covered it in leaves for insulation and to cover up all the little tiny holes that were too hard to repair with mud. Our next project is to make a door/covering for the entrance. We're having some trouble thinking up a good design. Also in the plans is a stone pathway from the hut to the bridge. The only problem is, we don't have enough stones. A small shelter for keeping wood dry is also being built. Several other projects that we are thinking about are baskets, new hut (next year), wood ash concrete, and bricks. New Fire Pit....
This past Thursday we went out to the pasture in the afternoon and worked on the hut for over three hours. We tried really hard to get it completed, but sadly, we did not. The sheep were moved out into the pasture that evening. Actually, half of them had already escaped from their other pen, so when they were moved into the big pasture pen, we were still down in the woods. We had to evacuate quickly.
It was pretty close to be done, we only had to finish covering a very small section with grass and mud and then put bark over the the parts we had mudded over. Since the sheep are in there (the rams are in with the ewes, that's why we can't go out there) we can't play with our hut or finish it for at least two weeks. It's a good thing that we finished the mud, because it will probably be too cold in two weeks. Hopefully the sheep don't try to walk on the hut or something. They're are probably living in, making it all messy. We had meant to barricade the doors, but since we had to leave in a hurry, we couldn't. Note: In the video, the unfinished side was worked on more before we had to leave, so it is more closed in than the video shows. Also, the small triangular opening is a dog door and the opening in the roof is a window. |