A year (nearly) on Old School Acres

My to-do list is downright scary. It never seems to get shorter, and I can't look anywhere around the place without pangs of guilt. The animals need this, the garden needs that, the gym... the studio.... The hallway still has particle board on the floor, the living area STILL has plastic instead of doors, yada yada.

The truth is there is enough work around here for 15 years (20 for the ancient slow-motion carpenter), but that doesn't mean we haven't done a lot. So while I'm planning next year's priorities, I want to celebrate last year's accomplishments.

The place became ours Jan. 31, 2013. We moved in about three weeks later. And over the last year (in addition to surviving) we – with the help of family and friends – have:
• Moved 27-plus years of stuff from the Ancestral Home (this was a massive undertaking that involved many trips in rented trucks and many family members and many hours and is still not completely finished)
• Fenced, terraced, dug, de-rocked, de-knapweeded, de-quackgrassed, planted and harvested an amazing, BIG garden (this was the big accomplishment of the year – C. did most of it, and Richard did a whole lot of rototilling)
• Canned, dried and froze many, many pounds of food from that garden (C. again)
• Installed an awesome wood stove (with the biggest legal firebox you can buy)
• Fenced a pasture for the big animals
• Fenced two yards for the dogs
• Built a chicken house
• Fixed up the old barn for the big animals (and the two chickens who insist on laying out there instead of their perfectly nice chicken house) (Richard, Emma, KC, Cullen and KiSong did this)
• Had some of the roof redone (there are still some issues, but several areas are brand new)
• Got the basic systems up and running: fixed frozen pipes, replaced some faucets and water-heater elements (thanks, Tom), capped off the crazy buried irrigation pipe that was sucking all the water out of the house system, rootered out the lines to the septic tank, patched some of the vandalized electrical system, replaced glass in some doors and windows
• Hauled supplies for future projects: 2,000 square feet of maple flooring from an old school (I nearly killed Richard with this), hundreds of feet of old picket fencing, a set of kitchen cabinets...

So when I'm feeling doomed, I'm going to look at this list and remind myself that we have accomplished quite a few things. Now, the list for next year.

January at the ranch

It's the middle of January, and the ground is bare except for icy spots in the shade (like the path from the north door to the barn and mailbox). Another warmish day – 35 degrees or so – and cold enough at night to put a skin of ice on the chicken water.

C. is plotting her seed purchases. We inventoried leftovers from last year – lots of tomatoes and squash, zero beans and greens. Unfortunately we can't buy more until payday at the end of the month. Hope our varieties aren't sold out.

The bunders keep growing fur and round bellies. The first guy is my favorite, with his fat head and belly, and ever-evolving coloring.

We read we're supposed to check them daily, and rub any full bellies to make them pee. I guess mom is supposed to do that, but we're the backup team. C. got peed on yesterday.

I ran power from an outlet in the locker room to the vacuum and beyond that to the wall. Cut three pipes out of the wall so I could use their channel for the cable. I do basic wiring but cuss the whole time. It's hard to get all that wire to fold back into the box when you're done. Either I am tragically weak, or there is a trick to it. I should go to YouTube and watch Big Tony for tips.

The two leghorn pullets are laying an egg every day now. Roz the Rhode Island red is a slacker.

Fritata for dinner. Mmm.

Bunny trouble

We found two little guys cold and apparently dead in the new rabbit room this morning. They're in a drawer in the bathroom now, on a heating pad and covered with a cashmere sweater. No signs of life yet. They're probably dead, but we have to try.

We just moved everybody yesterday, when the melting snow and a roof leak made Lake Elk in the middle of the kindergarden room where the rabbits live. They're in Dracula's Bathroom (my sprout laboratory) now, a smaller, dry space that we can easily heat. Chrystal was upset by the move, and must have been taking the little ones to a new nest she'd started in the wall. She'd ripped a particle-board patch off a hole in the wall and pulled out the insulation. She's resourceful.

Shit happens, and we screw up. That's pretty much what I've learned over the years. Below, the surviving four. We'll be checking them every hour or so until Chrys seems to settle in.

I'm staying away from the rabbits for a while – Chrys growled at me when I went into check on the babies. She likes C. better.

I hung the central vacuum unit up in the old girl's locker room. Next, will extend the power from a nearby outlet. Then drilling and piping and drilling and piping. It's a big, involved job (at least when done by the slow-mo amateur carpenter). I've decided to run the lines through the attic rather than the unpleasant crawl space.

Went up on the roof to see the cause of all the leaking in the rabbit room. The rest of the roof is bare, thanks to the warm temperatures this weekend, but the area over the bun room is on the north and in the shade of the taller gym roof. It's covered with a couple of inches of ice and some wet snow. I cleared what I could – weird to be shoveling the roof – and half-exposed a fragile-looking area of old patches. I think the ice blocked the runoff from the upper area, and left the patched place puddled. I'll need to do some repairs when the rest of the area thaws and clears. Below, the January garden and the old hoop shelter for the big animals.

We'll need to bury the two little white bunnies (who did not come back to life).