Rats Branching Out

I can just imagine it.... furry little rat sitting atop this gourd, nibbling away.

I've found rats sleeping with my Paloma, staying warm no doubt. Rats living in the ceiling insulation, like a fiberglass Hyatt Regency. Rat motels under the roof edging (less luxurious than fiberglass insulation). Even rats in the car engine compartment....camping out?

Number one favorite food....macadamia nuts. Where macnuts are abundant, I don't see them eating much of anything else. Thus the reason they are hard to catch in a traditional trap or with poisoned bait. But I have had some successes by gluing a macnut to the trigger of a trap.

Down at the community garden we've recently become plagued with rats and mice. Sadly the garden lost its resident cat to a dog attack. When the cat's away, the mice (and rats) will play! Living in the wings, so to speak, is a litter of kittens, but it will be awhile before they become proficient ratters.

The one thing that seems to be controlling some of the rodents is the fact that there are no macnuts there, as a result they are stealing the slug bait. At least that seems to be the reason it's disappearing. I've seen both rat and mouse droppings in the bag.

But one serious rat apparently hasn't visited the greenhouse where the slug bait is kept. This one is in the gourd patch. Evidence-- partially consumed gourds with markings matching those of rat incisors. Dang buggah is eating the gourds! Boy, if it isn't bugs getting the gourds, it's rats! Just can't win.

So far it is only one variety of gourd that the rat is eating. A rat with discerning taste? High class rat, I suspect. Regardless of his sophisticated palate, he's got to go. I'll be putting out traps tomorrow, baited with.....macnuts, of course.

Gosh, who'd have thought rats would eat gourds?

Little Fire Ants Attack

Here's a real nasty group of words ..... Little Fire Ants !!!  Thankfully they're not on my homestead. They would make farming really miserable. After this experience, I will be very diligent to keep them off the farm, you betcha.

So I just had my first, and hopefully last, run in with a very nasty little ant that likes to live in vegetation. I can assure you that they are aptly named. I'm quite impressed just how painful the bite can be from such a tiny ant. I don't know exactly how many ants were on me because as soon as I felt the fire I violently shook my hand and brushed them off. 6? 8? 10?  But they surely did a number on me. Luckily I was able to get ice on my stings immediately which helped reduce the pain. It's a good thing I did because in spite of the ice, the hand swelled. 

This photo was taken 3 days later when the area had developed lots of blistering and redness, but most of the swelling had gone down. It looks nasty but it really doesn't bother me much. Just a little itchy and sore. Guess I'm just too busy to notice. Not infected. Just a reaction to so many stings.

Kitchen Update - Two Utility Tables

Another small project completed! Two small utility tables to sit beside the refrigerator and freezer.

View from the pantry side. Notice the vent on the bottom of the table for the Steca. 

I quickly discovered that having a flat surface nearby is a must for the chest units. Sometimes the item you want is down underneath something else, necessitating the temporary removal of the offending item.  So it's real nice to be able to set it aside while you reach for the item you really want to get.

View from the livingroom side. The two Steca units with the new tables on either side.

I'll eventually put some sort of pad or cover on the top shelf, but I'm not yet sure what. Maybe a hand towel? So something washable? Or a rubber mat? Or a decorative tray? Any suggestions?

Well, it's time for me to take a break from working on the kitchen. Someone else is building the counter top framing since I don't have any experience with that. I suspect I'd mess it up and end up not being able to attach the counter tops or get the sink properly installed. I can muddle along with the simple stuff. And I'm real good at sanding and applying polyurethane finish. But I know when to step aside and let someone else take over. Next week David arrives to build the rest of the big stuff for the kitchen. I think I'll start looking into how to hang the pots and pans from the ceiling.

Stop and Smell the Roses

On the weekends, walking the dogs is high on our activity list. And I swear Helen, the brownish dog in this top photo, knows when it's Sunday. That's her lets-go-for-a-walk day. Even at 15 years old, she still insists on at least a half mile jog up the hill before willingly turning back for home. Normally we'd have our white husky along but since the lamb wanted to join the walk this day, it was best to leave the predator dog behind. No sense risking an attack on the lamb should it decide to start boinging and running about. Lamb? Did I say lamb?? Yup, you heard right. Little Billy has taken to joining us on the weekend walks.  

Left to right: Helen, me, Billy, Crusty

If you noticed in the photos, I live along a one lane paved road. When we bought the place, the road was cinders. The farm up the road wanted to get permits for a commercial farm and thus had to pave the road. The county didn't say that he had to pave two lanes, so as you can see, the road is one lane. Fine with us. Just means that one vehicle has to pull over to pass. We seldom have a car on the road, so it's not much of an issue. Besides, it's a nice road for walking the dogs. 

It's impossible for a Border Collie to stop herding! 

Dog walking is a pleasant past time. After a week of steady work, it's not something I do for the exercise. I find it's nice to bond with my dogs and have time with hubby. 

Homesteading shouldn't be all work. All-work results in stress in my life. It always did in the past, so I actively try to avoid that now. Weekend dog (and lamb) walks help de-stress. We talk to the dogs, look and listen for birds, note any new flowers, sniff for the macnut flowers and ginger, and keep an eye out for fireweed, which we pull out.

Weekends are my time away from work, from the homestead routine. Surely I care for the livestock on Saturday and Sunday, but weekends are not work days. I've seen plenty of small farmers work all weekend long. I've seen their farms take them down, just as a wolf takes down a struggling calf. When I was active in the farm bureau back in NJ I listened to many a farmer who was so submerged by their farm struggles that they couldn't enjoy life, couldn't stop struggling. I'm trying to avoid the traps. So yes, I stop to smell the roses (or ginger).....and walk the dogs!

Triangular Shelves in the Kitchen

Next shelf is completed! I now feel that some progress is being made. To tell ya the truth, it feels really good seeing something physical getting accomplished.

The handy, dandy spice shelves. 

Coming around the corner from the pantry, there was dead space next to the freezer. Not big enough for a counter or cabinet, but enough for trianglur shelves. I thought it would be a handy place for seasonings, coffee, tea, and other small items. Also a fine place for coffee mugs.

Just a pic from a different angle. 

The shelf is attached to the wall so that it wouldn't tip if it got top heavy. And I've already cut rubberized shelf liner, this time in beige. The pantry shelves have black.

I already put the rubberized shelf liner on the shelves. I'm eager to use them!

I spaced the shelves so the a quart sized mason jar could be set on each shelf. this gives me plenty of useable shelves for the small stuff. The space between the bottom shelf and the floor is greater so that taller things could be set there, such as drinking water bottles.

Propane for the Range

We recently installed the new propane range in the kitchen, so it was time to make something permanent to house the propane bottles. But first I'd like to comment on two things. 

#1- Our choice for a range was either electric or propane. Hawaii doesn't have natural gas, at least not yet. Electric was totally out of the question because we are on solar. Electric ranges are big energy hogs, so there was no way we'd even consider it. 

#2- Going with delivered propane is expensive. The cost per gallon is higher than if you pick it up yourself. Plus there's the installation fee and monthly tank rental. Having your own portable bottles filled is easy here. I pass two filling stations 5 days a week, so it's convenient. 

When we first moved here, we purchased fairly large portable bottles, about 20 gallons. But here we sit 10 years later and find those large tanks to be too heavy for us when filled. So we've replaced them with small 5 gallon bottles. Over the years we've scaled back our use of propane, so dealing with small bottles is just fine. They are light enough for us to handle easily and they last for several months of use. 

Finished box, just needs paint on the lattice in order to blend in. 

We wanted to store the propane bottles outside, keep them dry, plus have easy access to them. Hubby suggested that we build a box for them, so we started scheming. What we settled on is overkill for the need, but we're both happy with it. We built a small concrete slab, imbedding lava rocks into the surface for a pleasing effect. Left over lumber made the frame, which ended up looking like a table. We covered that with plastic lattice so that the bottles were out of view but the box was very well ventilated. 

Close up view of the top. 

Next, the box needed a rainproof lid. Hubby would have been happy with plywood I suspect, but we ended up agreeing to a bench top. It's made out of some redwood and cedar that we had. I think it turned out really nice. 

Bottom of the lid showing the metal roofing to keep the rain out. 

Of course, an open work bench top is hardly rainproof! So a piece of metal roofing was cut to size and screwed onto the underside of the bench top. The lid fits nicely to the top of the box. It's heavy enough not to blow off. We opted not to attach it with hinges, so that it would be easier to access the bottles. The two wood slats on the bottom of the lid slid into the lip of the box, keeping the lid from sliding around. 

Looking down into the box. 

The box holds two propane bottles comfortably. There's enough room to easily work with the bottles, disconnecting and connecting. 

The propane switching valve. 

The two bottles connect directly to an automatic switching valve. When one bottle goes empty, the other bottle automatically takes over. That way you don't run out of propane in the middle of making dinner or baking a cake. Right under the black cap on top of the valve you can see a green band. When it tuns red, you know that bottle #1 is empty. Time to flip the lever, then take off the empty tank and have it refilled. This valve is a nifty little convenience.

One more step to do and the box is complete. I need to get some paint that adheres to plastic and paint the lattice. Then I can paint over it with another color, so that the box blends in with the rest of  the house.

Kitchen with a View

Our house is nestled in the trees, giving us the feeling of cozy security. We sit atop a hill, and while it may be quite difficult to make out in these photos, we overlook our front pasture. Across the street, the neighbor has a band of trees along the roadside. 

What a wonderful way to start each morning, watching the new sunlight so brightly reflect off the tops of those trees. From the kitchen it looks like a brilliant band a yellow. I make breakfast for us, smell the coffee brewing, listen to the birds. Couldn't ask for a nicer way to start a day's work. 

Dawn. Sunshine turning the tree tops ablaze in light. 

I've often thought about trimming some of the trees away in order to give a clearer view of the pasture. But sunrises and sunsets remind me that I like being in our protected little area, hidden from the world. So the trees will stay. We purposely painted the house the color of the ohia and eucalyptus tree trunks in order to blend in. I'd say that the tactic worked since most people around here aren't aware that the house is even there.

Sunsets here are usually colorful, courtesy of the erupting volcano, Kilauea. Rose, orange, peach, gold, yellow-green, purples. All sorts of colors. Clouds make the sunsets spectacular, but even a clear sky presents a gentle, colorful end to the day. Since colorful sunsets are almost a daily occurrence, I have to be careful not to take them for granted. I want to be thankful and appreciate every sunset I get the chance to celebrate.  

Sunset.

When I lived back on the eastcoast, I saw that most people were so disconnected from nature that they were seldom aware of sunrises, sunsets, nor the night sky. But I can't be too harsh in judging people, because I myself often failed to notice. Life is different back there. Here I make a conscious effort to keep in touch with the world around me.