Have a guess what these are?
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Monthly Archives: June 2014
Robins update
Our baby robins didn’t make it.
They sadly didn’t grow much beyond the naked pink creatures I showed you in my first post.
I honestly didn’t know whether to write this post or not. I’d love to be able to show you pictures of cute fuzzy chicks, or awkward fledglings, or even the nest abandoned since the babies learned to fly. However, that’s not how the story goes this time around. This blog is about cataloging our life in the country–the good and the bad. In this case, there’s not a happy ending.
For the first few days after they hatched, Mama and Daddy stayed close, feeding them and sitting on them, keeping them warm. But then something changed. Mama didn’t come back to the nest one night. Maybe she got spooked or got attacked. Temperatures were still too cold for the babies, and they died.
When I first saw the babies, I thought they were the most helpless things I’ve ever seen.
Even though it was too late when I realized Mama wasn’t around, I started thinking about things like heat lamps and eye droppers. But the reality is that as much as I’m compassionate about animals, I’m also a “let nature take its course” kind of woman.
Growing up with chickens and ducks and geese–many of whom we raised from eggs and then ate, and many of whom had their own ailments and injuries over their lives–gave me a somewhat unique perspective on animals. Farm living has refined my attitude even more.
Nature is amazingly wondrous and exceedingly harsh. This is a fact of life… and death… that I’m reminded of every so often.
June project plan
June’s project might seem a bit unexpected. Weather has finally turned nice. Summer is almost here. Now is the time to be working outside.
However, this month, I’m going to turn my attention back inside to an area you haven’t seen too much of in a little while… the basement. The basement renovation was the big (all-consuming) project for Year One. That was not last summer, but the summer before. As with any renovation, there are still some finishing touches yet to be completed, even two years later.
This month’s project is the basement doors. There are 10 doors in the basement. Two of them are standard colonial style. The other eight (five of which you see below) are basic slab doors. Boooooooring.
All of the doors need to be painted. Smudges, scratches and yellowed paint make them look pretty shabby, especially next to our nice white trim.
Even more than paint, the slab doors need an injection of personality. I think their personality should be a little bit country, so I’m taking inspiration from barn doors.
A simple raised Z or X detail would be easy to apply, wouldn’t interfere with the hinges or knobs and would fulfill my interior design philosophy that every room needs at least one rustic element.
So the plan for this month is as follows:
- Figure out design for the doors – By June 6
- Buy material (and hopefully the store staff will cut it into strips for me) – By June 13
- Cut strips (if I have to) – By June 14
- Remove doors – June 14/15
- Remove hardware – June 14/15
- Trim the bottom of the door to the electrical panel closet (since it rubs on the carpet) – June 21/22
- Install strips on the doors – June 21/22
- Buy new ORB hinges – By June 27
- Paint the door jambs – By June 27
- Spray paint old knobs ORB – By June 29
You’ll notice that actually painting the doors and rehanging them are absent from this list. This is because my secret plan is to get the doors ready to paint, but then pass them on to Matt. He painted all of the doors in our last house, and I think it would be good to continue the tradition. Don’t you?
This probably is more of a one week project, rather than a one month. However, stretching it out will give me a chance to do some work outside still. It would be hard for me to spend the whole month of June indoors.
Have you ever dressed up basic doors? Are you on board with the barn door trend? What’s on your to-do list for June?
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