The Unintentional Farmer

What Are You Doing In There?

This was the year I wasn't going to get new babies. No chickens, no ducks, and the geese are suppose to be difficult to get goslings from. Well I have a silkie sitting on 4 duck eggs (to go to someone else) and the geese laid a total of 22 eggs three of which are in the fridge waiting to become blown out Easter eggs the rest are sitting under the two moms. They have been setting since the  beginning of March and of course I didn't mark it down since I assumed that like last year it would come to naught. My plan was to let them set for awhile then candle the eggs just to make sure and then toss them. Today I was able to candle the eggs while the moms were out stretching their legs and taking a bath. I think I am going to have to re-think that no baby plan. Out of 19 eggs 18 seem to be well on the way to being babies. The one egg that looked, well, like an egg was just that. I cracked it open and tossed it in the garbage.









I have 4 Sebastapol geese. Two ganders and two geese. The funny part is that only one gander has mated with the one female but both females are sitting on the eggs. They seem to be getting along but I had the man build two separate nest boxes for them with a wall between so they can't see each other. However the four of them talk to each other constantly. I call them the screecher creatures. I gave the non-laying goose 9 of the eggs and they are both being very good moms.

So good in fact that when neither of them had been off the nest for food or water for 4 or 5 days I finally went in and picked them up off the nest setting them near a food and water dish. They were absolutely joyful about the reprieve. They were also a little wobbly on their feet so after a good drink and a short bath they both got back on the nest. Guess I will have to do this every day.

The boys are also working in tandem. Both of them guarding those girls. My family has dubbed them "the evil geese" but they really aren't that bad with me. Compared to other breeds of geese that I have had these guys are a piece of cake. They can be pretty scary though when you don't know them and that is the point after all.  Here they are hissing at me through the fence. I am inside with the girls and they don't like that at all!

Will keep you updated on our progress.

Finished Enough? Bathroom Update.

It is mostly finished or maybe what you call finished enough for now like most of our projects. I am having a heck of a time finding just the right mirror or at least framing for a mirror so we are temporarily using one from the hall.  If anyone out there has an idea where to find a really large, affordable  (approximately  54 X 36 inch) frame molding let me know. So far frame shops are somewhere between $400 and $800 for just the molding. Mirror Mate is much more affordable but limited in what they carry. We were going to try to make a frame but didn't like anything we came up with.

I am also trying to decide on a roller shade for the window. Smith and Noble has good looking roller shades for the window but kind of spendy too and the man and I can't agree on what looks good. I will probably end up buying a plain fabric shade and making a valence that I can change when I get the urge as I so often do.

The bead board and cabinets are glacier white and the top half  of the walls are Ivory Tusk paint from  Clark and Kensington paint, an Ace Hardware Brand. Really nice paint but also spendy. However it did cover in one coat and spatters were minimal. Apparently this paint also got kudos from consumer reports too.

This is actually white. 

We used white subway tile in the shower with a decorative border and a high quality white shower pan on the floor. Then we had Dennis Meszaro,  Meszaros Glass Studio put in the glass door and panel. He did a great job and even though our wall was 1/4 inch off he was able to compensate for that giving us the clean look we wanted.

One of the best things about this bathroom is the new American Standard  toilet. No more trying to clean all those curvy pipe like things on the bottom that catch every piece of dirt and crud that floats by. The profile is simple and clean and it flushes like a dream without any extra help. Call me weird but I love it when things work the way they are suppose to.


We have two stained glass windows that came out of a garden trellis in the front yard. The trellis was rotting into oblivion and we really wanted to save the glass. I would like to hang or display them on the wall above the tub after we refinish them but we will see about that. In the mean time here are pictures. The bathroom is more than usable and I love the colors. Being neutral will let me change colors with the seasons with the addition of towels and rugs.

Click on the pictures to see more detail.