Nanowrimo has been tough this year, but then I bet I say that every year. The story is coming in fits and starts and I'm doing what I can to get enough time to finish. I'm writing at work, early in the AM, through lunch, etc. because it's so hard for me to write at home in the evenings and on the weekends.
But what's making this year difficult is, I suspect, the fact that I'm finishing up the "trilogy" for my daughters. It's been harder than I expected to find the right ending. I had an idea in my head when I started this two years ago, but since then so many things have changed that the original ending seems flat. So I'm scrambling to do better.
Then, once this is over, I can relax and decide what to do about next November. I have a great idea, but I might also consider taking a year off.
You know, like in college. And we all know how well that works!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Fall Garden
Our Fall garden has been much more satisfying than our Spring/Summer garden. The bugs are mostly gone, the mice never came back, and things seem to just be easier.
We grew a lot of lettuce and various salad greens. Our peppers continue to crank out fruit. And we're eating it all, which is nice.
Of course, almost on cue, the chickens started molting and haven't laid an egg in two months! I'm sure the crazy weather had something to do with it as we went from very hot to cold and rainy back to hot again here in the bay area.
We've been giving the hens some extra protein to try to help with the stress, but so far they just seem to be getting uglier by the day. :)
In other chicken news, the coop and run are integrated so the chickens have 32 square feet of run they have constant access to, but when we let them out to range in a netted area of the yard we have to move several things around and it's generally a pain. We do it now by leaving the door to their run open. Also, they manage to find their way out of the netted section frequently.
So the plan is to make some kind of popdoor in the end of the run and then do something a bit more secure on the netted section of the yard. That way we can open the door from outside of the run without having to leave the main door open. They'll be able to range outside and everybody wins.
To start that plan in motion I took some leftover lumber from when we built the coop and painted it with the same sealer (nontoxic/etc.) as the rest of the run. I'm going to use that to make a frame/channel/etc. for a guillotine-style door.
I was hoping to make that this weekend, but now it looks like it'll rain. Sorry birds, maybe next weekend.
We grew a lot of lettuce and various salad greens. Our peppers continue to crank out fruit. And we're eating it all, which is nice.
Of course, almost on cue, the chickens started molting and haven't laid an egg in two months! I'm sure the crazy weather had something to do with it as we went from very hot to cold and rainy back to hot again here in the bay area.
We've been giving the hens some extra protein to try to help with the stress, but so far they just seem to be getting uglier by the day. :)
In other chicken news, the coop and run are integrated so the chickens have 32 square feet of run they have constant access to, but when we let them out to range in a netted area of the yard we have to move several things around and it's generally a pain. We do it now by leaving the door to their run open. Also, they manage to find their way out of the netted section frequently.
So the plan is to make some kind of popdoor in the end of the run and then do something a bit more secure on the netted section of the yard. That way we can open the door from outside of the run without having to leave the main door open. They'll be able to range outside and everybody wins.
To start that plan in motion I took some leftover lumber from when we built the coop and painted it with the same sealer (nontoxic/etc.) as the rest of the run. I'm going to use that to make a frame/channel/etc. for a guillotine-style door.
I was hoping to make that this weekend, but now it looks like it'll rain. Sorry birds, maybe next weekend.
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