Working With The Sun

Ahhh, another sunny Saturday!  Just made for adventures and projects galore.
This morning, I joined a group of very nice folks in the elementary cafeterium up at the school and made a solar oven.  Fashioned from corrugated plastic (I picked orange) and shiny aluminum duct tape, it is a work of art.  Functional art, as well.  While it won't get to extremely high temperatures, in the sun it should get to be 250 degrees.  That's plenty hot to cook up some beans and rice, or stew, or a nice cake.  I can hardly wait to try it out.

After class, I came home and discovered my handyman Jack and his stepson hard at work installing the fence panels for the new chicken run.  It isn't quite finished, but I am really excited about how it is turning out.  In another day or so, the new chicklets should be able to get out, stretch their scaly legs, and explore the great outdoors.  They are terribly curious about what is outside their door, and stage random pummelings against the door and window in an effort to get outside.

It was such a lovely afternoon, so I spent it outside.  I transplanted some herbs, checked on the rabbits (Magda had her kits this morning, initial count is TEN little babies!), and whacked at a few more weeds before the battery crapped out on the whipper.  I got a great start on my little pond project, as you can see:

It started off as a stock tank that had been used for chick brooding (I need a new one, as this one got burned in the infamous heat lamp versus cat skirmish and I didn't want future chicks to nibble on the charred plastic bits that keep shedding), that I cleaned out and filled with water.  A bit of gravel on the bottom and it is ready for some water plants.  I'll get the plants soon, whenever I track down a good source for them, but for now, there are four fantail goldfish swimming around in the depths.  To better hide the stock-tank-ness of the pond, a few pots of flowers and trailing vines add a bit of kitchy cuteness.  I simply love the fountain that I made out of a copper rainchain and a simple pump.  It makes such a lovely noise, and the birds are so happy to have flowing water nearby.

A couple of badass gnomes seem to like it, too.