sun room

Checking out the new digs

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Played around with a set up for the outside cats, in the sun room.  This is what I’ve come up with.

20181122.check.it.out

I had another crocheted blanket that we used as a car blanket hanging around.  I decided to try draping it from the back of the swing bench to the back of the transfer bench.  It’s incredibly heavy, so I knew it would need support.

I have some sheets of foam insulation among my craft supplies that I thought would work.  Unfortunately, a sheet is just barely long enough to reach the backs of both benches – which means a stiff sneeze would have knocked it down, never mind rambunctious cats that are sure to jump on top of it.

After going through what was available in the room, I ended up putting one of the unused, home made plant stands on the transfer bench.  That would support one end of the sheet of foam insulation.

After draping the blanket over, I folded up one corner for access, and it immediately drooped into where the cats like to sit.  So I found another plant stand to hold that up.

As you can see by the photo, Doom Guy and The Outsider were quite ready to check out the new digs!  In fact, Doom Guy surprised me by already being in there when I first picked up the corner to open it up.  I never even saw him jump under while I was laying it out!

My husband was checking it out through the bathroom window just a little while ago, and he tells me Doom Guy was on top of the whole thing.  The foam insulation is rather bendy, but it has enough support that it should hold.  I’ll have to check it out, later, to adjust things, if needed.  I can just see a cat trying to walk across a part that doesn’t have support and pulling things down. :-D

I don’t think there is going to be much hesitation for the cats to use it.  Especially today.  Though the temperatures have warmed up, there is a nasty, bitter wind out there.  I think everyone, human and animal alike, will be staying indoors as much as possible today!

The Re-Farmer

How did that happen?

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Just look at these guys.

20181016.innocent.kitties So cute.

So innocent.

Such sneaks!

20181016.spill

The bucket was just refilled a couple of days ago.  A new bag filled it just a couple of inches from the top.

It’s now at about the half way mark.

Taking into account what was used since it was refilled, about a quarter of a big bag of cat food got eaten overnight.

The bucket is now kept in the Old Kitchen.

The Re-Farmer

A quiet day

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

One thing about the chillier weather; it has made for much quieter days!  It’s too cold to do much outside, and what little we have left to do can wait for the few days it’s supposed to warm up again.  Otherwise, it was a good day to stay warm inside, drink lots of tea, and catch up on various things.  In my case, crochet. :-D

I did want to share this cute little thing that happened, though…

Heading into the Old Kitchen, to close up the sun room’s outer doors, I turned on the sun room light and immediately saw through the window, all these pairs of ears turn towards the window!  A pile of kittens, in their favorite spot.

So I go back to get my phone to see if I can get a good photo.  It was a pile of the shiest kittens, so I wasn’t expecting to get them all, but who knows, right?

I open the inner door and check them out through the window of the second door.  There they all are, looking at me.  As I unlatch the door, they jump around a bit, startled by the noise.

They weren’t the only ones.

Our stinky friend ambled out from under the swing seat and headed outside!

20181011.buhbye

I just managed to snag a photo through the screen before he was gone.

Then the kittens all scattered, so I wasn’t able to get a picture of them.  Ah, well.

A few things were knocked over and pushed around that needed to be cleaned up.  No turd bombs that I could see, but it does look like the skunk left some puddles. :-(

At least this time, it was easier to get everybody out of the sun room to close it up for the night.

After the last few years, I can really enjoy things like this being the most exciting action in my life. :-D

The Re-Farmer

This could be a problem

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

Today, the plan was to open the outer doors to the sun room during the day to let the kittens use it, then close it up for the night.

At one point, I was outside and decided to sit on the swing seat they like to cuddle on and play with Doom Guy, and get other kittens used to me.

One of the things I did when cleaning up the turd bombs and transferring the cat kibble from its chewed up bag into a 5 gallon bucket, was to put the bucket itself into a box on its side.  It just fits into a size medium moving box, with barely enough space above to be able to use the bowl we use to measure out the kibble without taking the bucket out.  The box and bucket are sitting on the plastic couch that is also in the sun room, to further make it hard to get at.

Well, that didn’t stop them completely, of course.  While I was there, Doom Guy jumped into the box, squeezed in behind the bucket, then stood up to look in.  He was able to reach into the bucket and just reach a piece of kibble, take it out, and proceed to crunch away, out of view, behind the bucket.  He only did it a few times before coming back for cuddles.  It was cute, but I’m thinking we need to find a lid for the bucket!

Just a little while ago, I went through the Old Kitchen to close up the sun room’s outer doors.  There was a whole pile of kittens, some scattering out the door, some behind the swing bench they were on, and Doom Guy made a dash for the old kitchen.

One of the other things I’d put on the plastic couch was the bag of deer feed.  It normally sits somewhere else, but I moved it there while the floor was being mopped, and hadn’t put it back.  It had been knocked onto the floor, with most of the feed spilling out.

*sigh*

I was able to sweep the majority of it back into the bag.  As I did that, kittens were dashing around me in all directions, and it sounded like one was stuck behind the dresser I use as a tool chest.  I swept up the last dregs of the seed into a dustpan to throw out into the garbage can just outside the doors.  I took the opportunity to see which kitten was stuck back there.

Whoops.

20181009.1.skunkinthecorner

So I guess, when I went into the sun room, the skunk was under the plastic couch where I couldn’t see it and, when I disturbed it, it hid in the corner.

I’d seen it earlier in the day, coming through the front gate and up the sidewalk to the house, like any other visitor, before coming around to the cat food under my office window.  There was a fair bit of ruckus under there, as not only is the skunk pretty loud under there, but the blue jays were having a field day, going after the kibble.

So I went to check the bowls and, sure enough, they were empty.  The skunk had gone in to look for more food, most likely.

I refilled the bowls, hoping to tempt it out.

I waited a while to see if the skunk would come out, then came out of the house through the main doors with a flashlight.  No sign of the skunk, but I certainly tempted the kittens out!

20181009.2.allthekittens

All seven of them were very happy to have the bowls refilled!

At first, I couldn’t see the skunk and hoped it had at least come out of the corner and would be making its way out to the food bowls.

I was wrong.

20181009.3.skunksettledinthecorner

It wasn’t hiding in the corner, after all.  It was settled in, quite comfortably!  Not the least bit disturbed by my flashlight, nor the flash, when I’d taken photos, earlier.

As I started writing this post, my daughter came by to let me know that all 7 kittens are in a pile on the swing bench.  I don’t hear any crunching under my window, which means the skunk hasn’t come out to eat.

This could be a problem.

Hmm.  I hear skunks make good pets…

:-D

The Re-Farmer

The Sun room – finished!

/ Re-Farmer / Leave a comment

Yes!  It’s done!

The sun room is now cleaned and put back together into a usable space!

The challenge in rearranging the room was that is has to fit two uses.  One is to have a nice space to just sit and enjoy.  The other is to put away and store tools and supplies.

The initial cleaning was a huge job, so the difference is very stark!  Here are the before and after pictures, starting with the East side. (click on them for larger images)

 

The dresser now holds the tools that I found in the sun room as I was cleaning it up, including a collection of saws.  I even found one with a long, very thin blade that would be perfect for cutting branches in odd places.  Except it looks completely dull, so we’ll see.  I also found several different types of hammers and hatchets, including a hatchet that is also a hammer. :-D  Buckets of screws, clothes pins, and even the containers I used to take deer feed out, are all now tucked away into the dresser.

I just realized, I forgot to check under the seat of my dad’s walker.  He used to keep tools in there, too.  :-D

That tiny instrument hanging on the wall is a music box.  I remember it from when I was a child!

 

Now, instead of pictures on the walls, I have saws.

Which is much more my style, anyhow. :-D

On the West side…

 

I chose a before picture that was taken after the dresser was moved out, since that was added by us from another room and was only there for the winter.  I’d also already moved the plastic couch that is in the East side “after” pictures.

Whoever wants to use the rocker will have to move my dad’s walker out of the way.  Depending on how things work out when we clear out the old kitchen, it might end up being stored in there.  My mother likes to use it when she visits.

 

In the “before” picture, about half of that stuff is what we brought into the room, including the weed trimmer.

I am keeping the prie dieu and plan to pick up some wood oil for it.  The side facing the wall is in much better shape.  I am guessing the majority of the damage to it is from the sun (as I notice it is in a sun spot…).  It’s a bit rickety at a pair of joins on the bottom, and I want to investigate the best way to repair it.

There are a few things not going back in, including one shelf (the dresser is a much more useful and attractive fit for the space) and the metal table.  Having packed all of the books, phone books and magazines my mother had in there, the two shelves I did decide to keep have nothing to put in them for now!

Knowing us, that won’t last long. :-D

My dad’s favourite seat is a glider rocker that has lengths of pipe added to the legs to make it higher, so it would be easier for him to get in and out of it.  I am happily keeping those, since we’re not exactly limber, either.  I plan to replace the cushions when I get the chance.  These original ones are very old, and very stained!

With both the glider rocker and the rocking chair on the same side, we have to make sure they don’t get pushed back too far, so no one will bump into the windows!

There will, of course, be other changes made over time.  I want to add some hooks on the wall by the old kitchen window, so I can hang the extension cord when it’s not being used.  We might even add some decorative items on the walls.  Who knows?  Minor stuff.  For the more major stuff, the outside doors need to be replaced completely.  The screen door doesn’t even close properly anymore, and the inner door has a lot of water damage on the bottom.  Even the doors into the old kitchen should be replaced at some point, but they are in better shape.

No hurry on any of that, though.  The main thing is that the room has been packed up, cleaned and can once again be used!

Next and last room (not counting the basements) to pack up, clear, clean and rearrange: the old kitchen!

The Re-Farmer

Sun Room Cleanup – West side

/ Re-Farmer / 4 Comments

Once I had cleared out half of the sun room, I had the space to work on the other half.

Here are some before pictures.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.westside1.before

The moving boxes, I added to have them handy to pack things.  We’ve been using empty cat food bags as garbage bags, slated for the burn barrel.  Except we’ll probably just make another dump run tomorrow, with all the stuff we found.  Including many, many phone books for various cities, and years of seed catalogs.

Aside from the box for the weed trimmer, the rest of the boxes on this seat were here when we got here.  Including the one under the cat food bag with a toilet seat in it.

Also, an empty bottle of vodka.  ???

The orange extension cord coming out from under the door is plugged in in the old kitchen.  There is another old household extension cord coming through the kitchen window, that my dad used to power a clock and a radio.  I needed something more heavy duty for the trimmer.  When I got the room cleared out, I was able to put it through the kitchen window, too.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.westside2.before

The dresser in the foreground had been upstairs, and was slated to go into the shed for storage.  I have decided to instead keep it in this room, and plan to put it under the shelf across the window in the other side of the sun room.  It will be good to hold things like our tools, gloves, etc.  The extension cords on it are the 100ft cords my older brother and his wife got us, so we could have electricity in the garage to plug in the block heater for our van.  Lately, I’ve been using them for the weed trimmer.

After getting the top of that couch cleared, I moved it to the cleared side of the room and found…

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.westside1.during

A whole lot of crap.  Literally.

And bird seed.

I moved the bird seed out so we could put it into the bird feeder, when I noticed something odd in it.

A used strike plate for a door knob.

Because where else would you store a strike plate?  Right? LOL

The outside cats made a MUCH bigger mess under here.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.westside2.during

That plant was there when we moved in, in the fall.  I have no idea if we were supposed to tend it, but by the time we noticed it, it was too late.  Not that we could have reached it, anyhow.

The table it’s on turned out to be a very old metal topped table with a drawer.  The drawer had some tools, and all sorts of odd bits and pieces; outlets, screws, a refillable lighter, scrap bits of fabric…  With that curtain being used as a table cloth, no one would have been able to access the drawer.  Who knows how long it was all there!

The box you can partly see under the table had decorative bottles, a bag of chess pieces, and… very familiar toys.  Toys my girls played with, when we last lived in this province.

No clue why they were kept, and why they were left there!

That laundry basket has been there so long, when I tried to move it around, it practically shattered on me.

The old boots ended up being tossed.  There were also a number of single shoes.

We’ve found all sorts of old shoes while cleaning things up, in some very odd places.

Here are the after pictures! :-)

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.westside1.after

I swept up so many dead bugs and spiderwebs.  *shudder*

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.westside2.after

Right in the very corner, I found another nest of dead Asian Lady Beetles.  :-(

What a difference!

After this, we basically just put what we were going to keep, back into the room.  It’s supposed to rain tonight, but… well, the weather predictions have been calling for rain or thunderstorms a few times, and we’ve not been getting them, so who knows.

The next big thing I will do here is empty the room completely, then mop the floor.

Meanwhile, we have more boxes and other stuff to haul to the shed for storage.

I look forward to this being a usable room again!

After this, the only room left to pack and clean is the old kitchen.  THAT is going to be a challenge. :-/

The Re-Farmer

Sun Room Clean Up – East side

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Today, while the girls finished raking up behind the other house and adding to the flower garden, I finally got started on the sun room.

This addition to the house was the brainchild of my late brother, to create a space that my parents could sit and enjoy “outside” without being exposed to the elements.  My late father used to love sitting there.  It was also easier for him to get outside with his walker, as there are no steps to clamber up and down, like at the main door.

We’ve been using the room to store bags of feed for the outside cats, deer and birds, and now we’re using it to store the yard work tools we’ve been using.  However, we’ve basically only been able to use one side of the room.

Here are a couple of before pictures.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside1.before

My dad’s walker is still there, and still used by my mother, so she doesn’t have to struggle with bringing her own walker over here.

Behind it is what appears to be an antique prayer kneeler.

I’m keeping that, and hope to be able to refinish/preserve it.

That plastic church on the shelf across the window is something I thought was one of those Christmas village things.  It wasn’t until I started packing it that I realized it’s a hanging bird feeder!

It is now hanging off the stand in front of the living room window, waiting to have some bird seed added to it.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside2.before

We’ve been using my dad’s old seat to hold the feed bags (just cat food, right now).  It’s one of those glider rocker type seats.

The crutches in the background, leaning against the shelf on the right?  Those were there so long, the padding of the handle leading on the shelf was actually stuck to the wood!

Of course, cleaning this all up was… interesting.

I started at the window, taking things outside and getting it cleared enough that I could move the seat outside.

When I moved the green garbage can, I figured I’d better check to make sure there wasn’t any actual garbage in it.

I found a plant pot.

Full of gloves.

Then I spotted a… wire whisk?

Ugh.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside.during.wisk

I don’t want to know what’s on that.

It got thrown out.

Yes, I was wearing gloves for all this!

When I finally could move the seat, I found this, under it.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside2.during

The cat poop, I was expecting.  During the winter, we sometimes found one of the outside cats had snuck into the sun room while we were putting food out, and at least twice, we discovered a cat in the room the next morning.  There is no way a cat could be in there that long, without making a mess.  Unfortunately, we had no way to even look for it, never mind clean it up, until now.

I also found the world’s cheapest, dullest knife.

Once I could access the shelves, I finally could start packing up the books, magazines and old Polish newspapers, as well as the various odds and sots around.

Speaking of odds and sots…

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside.during.traps

There were tucked away behind the kneeler.  Mouse and rat traps.

Very gross traps.

The got garbaged.

The scrap carpet got added to the haul-away pile, outside the yard.

Here are the after pictures.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside1.after

The far wall is one of the log walls of the original part of the house.  Behind the bookshelf that was there, I found a pile of dead Asian Lady Beetles, that had made themselves some sort of a nest to hibernate in, partly under the paneling.

I really hope I swept them all out, but probably not.  We’d have to remove the paneling.

I’ve left the shelf across the window to finish clearing later.

20180608.sunroom.cleanup.eastside2.after

What a huge difference!

Once this side was clear, I had the space to start moving things around to work on the other side.

Which will be in my next post. :-)

The Re-Farmer