Last slice of May

Today is the last day of May and I just heard the weather outlook for June is lower than normal temperatures and rain.  So I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of gathering in buckets of tomatoes.  Though, the varieties I chose this year are Russian heirlooms (Black Krim and my long standing favorite Black Trifle) so perhaps there is a little hope.

But the bumblebees are everywhere gorging themselves on nectar.  Here's one I sat down and waited for near a Comphrey plant.

Then I wondered what it looked like in there when he stuck his little head in there.

The Dogwood tree is wearing a blanket of pristine white flowers.  I don't blame her, it's chilly.

Reason #123 why you can never leave Cooper unattended.  He saw the neighbor's cat lying in the street, so he went and laid down next to him.

TA DA! 

May

May has been a fun month.  I found an excellent, informative grilling cookbook and we spent a couple weeks cooking nearly everything we ate on the grill.  This chicken was amazing and so was the stock it made.

The  kids have been anxious to get the bikes out since the weather has been warming up.  Sammy had her helmet on waiting for me to get the bikes down.

We had a late spring hail storm that shredded a lot of tender new growth like these seedlings.  Then it poured rain in sheets and buckets filling up our french drain out front by the driveway, where Cooper loves to run.

The bathroom is almost done!!!  The shelves and the mirror are in and the cabinet it almost finished.  We had a hard time get the frame square.  Apparently making furniture requires a little more skill than building a chicken coop.  When we broke the other cabinet trying to remove it from the bathroom, I looked at what it would cost to replace it.  Cheap, particle board cabinets from big-box home improvement stores started around $200.  Nicer wooden cabinets in the style I wanted started around $300.  The cabinet we built cost us $250 in  materials and tools we had to buy.  $175 for the all the wood (including the shelves) in red oak and local hemlock and $50 for a clamp, a jig and stain. 

All we have left to do is stain it, install it, plumb it and we're finally done!!  The next project will be building a better laying box from the hens.  I plan on using cedar fence slats we saved when we replaced the south section of fence.  We have a huge pile.