Ok, what’s been going on at the ranch lately?  Well actually a fair amount, though I did try to enjoy the weekend a little bit.  Our coat rack finally showed up from Pottery Barn; it was on back order and its delivery date was all over the place every time I called them.  It was easy to mount, I used the hardware included (3 screws and 3 metal drywall anchors).  One note, we have a big ass air vent between the studs where the center screw needed to go.  I could feel it when I was drilling my pilot hole and I seem to remember it from when we were building.  I used a small drill bit to pierce its thin foamy shell (I don’t think it was a sheet metal duct), then a larger bit to accommodate the wall anchor.  I then squeezed some caulk into the wall before drilling the wall anchor into place, presumably to close up the hole I just created in the duck.  Another note, I had taken photos and videos of this area when we built, but I didn’t look to see exactly was going on behind the drywall…I’ll go back and examine the video and photos later to make sure my assumptions are correct.  It’s a phenomenal idea to take photos and video before the drywall is hung on your new or remodeled home. If you learn nothing else from my awesome blog, learn that.  Here are the coat rack install pics:

Since we don’t have a front hall closet we had to go with this coat rack and shelf approach.  One thing I like about it is it sends a signal to guests that the house isn’t necessarily that formal.   It says that a family lives here and the house is loved and used, not some museum piece…we have coats and boots and all the ugly life stuff.  We try to keep it organized but it’s a home at the end of the day.  Or at least this is what I tell myself.

We bought another bee hive yesterday for a total of two.  Today was such a beautiful day the boys went out and rode their bikes and we put up the swings to play on.  I decided to build two hive stands for our bee hives.  Using scrap treated lumber and screws I had lying around, leftover from construction of the house, I built the stands in about two hours time.  I designed them as I built them.  I might change a couple of things, including tucking the legs under the frame, but all in all I think they will work out just fine.  These are more complicated than some of the more simple frames one could have built.  The bee expert we talked to suggested just taking four 2×12 and arrange them in a pin wheel.  I didn’t have any lumber that size lying around so I did my own thing and it didn’t cost me a dime.  Another option would have been cinder blocks but I’d have had to buy those, and the same expert I talked to wasn’t a big fan of putting bees on blocks.  Here is the gallery walk through of my home-made hive stand construction:

Finally a couple of items on my wish list are below.  One thing I finally did get though was a warm spring like day which I had been wanting for a long time.  It was so nice to bee……ugh….be outside today.  I can’t wait for more and more days like this.  We even have little buds on our bushes and the bulbs are coming up in the front yard I heard the wife say today.

I really want a greenhouse. Lowes has these inexpensive ones…it’s an option…I could add this to a shed.

saw this at Lowes too. Really want this book – it looked like it had some good info for growing our apples.

Cool book I saw at Barnes
& Noble. I might think of asking for this for my birthday.