Fall update
Just another day in paradise.
This fall has been very busy with getting rabbits and building the hutch. We are working on installing insulation on the house, Updating our fencing for our garden, and expecting a new baby in January. We are also beginning the process of Darrick adopting Bee.
Last winter we discovered the reason why the previous owners had used the house primarily as a summer cabin: the basement had no insulation from the Northern Minnesota weather. We use mainly wood heat with a furnace in the basement so naturally all the heat from all the wood we put into our furnace was successfully heating the outside instead of the house. We ended up going through somewhere between 7-9 cords of wood. Not this year! Darrick worked hard and insulated all the block around the basement and we already notice the house stays so much warmer. The only downside is the basement will be pink until spring when we plan to finish it.
Our rabbits are moved into their new hutch and loving being outside. Our breeding doe, Gloria, has calmed down significantly. We aren’t sure if it’s due to her liking being outside or if she is enjoying being far away from the bucks. We attempted to breed her in late September so that could have calmed her down somewhat. She had her three babies late October but didn’t pull enough hair to keep them warm. We attempted rebreeding her so we will see if that worked in December. Stay tuned for updates. 
Our monofilament wire fence worked for a while. We drove 6 foot stakes into the ground about every 8 feet and tied fishing wire about every 6 inches up the stakes. We read somewhere that if the deer can’t see it, but run into it, they won’t try to jump it. Which is true. We haven’t had deer jump the fence. Instead they’ve been digging under it when the grasses grow up enough to push the wires up, or lately they just chew the wires and step through. Just this fall they have eaten our blueberries down to a foot tall, chewed the raspberries, the strawberries, and even the asparagus! So time for a new plan. We bought 7 foot mesh deer fencing and Darrick is attaching them to the outlying trees. The branches will also prevent them from jumping over so we hope this works!
Yes we are expecting again! This pregnancy has by far been my hardest pregnancy. Severe morning sickness for the first 24 weeks caused me not to gain any weight during that time. During our 20 week ultrasound the baby only measured in the 2nd percentile so was flagged for being small. That means monthly ultrasounds to monitor baby’s weight gain and growth. At our previous appointment baby was in the 13th percentile, he or she started at the 2nd percentile, so that was a big relief to us. I’m a small person, at a whopping 5 foot tall, and Jr is also a lil guy as he is in the less than 1% for his weight and head size, but 7% for height. The doctor we seen told us: I’m a small person, so is our son, and she’s not surprised this little one is either. After several growth scans baby is healthy and growing strong, so we feel comfortable not getting ultrasounds at every appointment. We are excited to meet this new little one in January!
Our newest adventure in country life is we have experienced our first stray cat drop off. We had two cats dropped off near our house. The first one ran off that night but the other one decided to adopt us and would not leave. We called every shelter and person we knew to take a cat, since Darrick is very allergic, but no takers. In the meantime Bee, and her big heart for animals, fell in love with the cat. So we sucked it up, bought some cat food, and decided to take the cat as our own. With Darrick’s allergies we decided an outside cat to hunt mice would be ok. Happy early birthday Bee.
This is Elvis, named because never stops singing. He sleeps happily in a straw pile under the rabbit hutch and meows at the window all day for Bee to come play with him.
Stay tuned for more updates! Thank you for following us. Please leave comments, questions, or suggestions in the comment box below.
God bless,
Darrick and Kay
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
~Isaiah 41:10
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