Fall Weather and Island Rabbits On The Way
Greetings from the island everyone! I hope that all of you are doing well and looking forward to the first official day of Fall in a few short days. Autumn is a much more formal way of referring to the season between summer and winter, but being an off-grid island residing shorts and T-shirt kinda guy, it’s Fall to me. But regardless, I’m so looking forward to the light northers, and cooler outside, hummer watching and coffee drinking mornings.
The island has finally received a few scattered showers this past month, thank goodness. No heavy continuous downpours, but a 1/4” and 1/2” here and there have been a welcomed relief. I am very conservative with my fresh water rain use out here, never knowing how many weeks or months I might go without rain to fill my combined 1,100 gallon tanks. During the summer months all of my showers are taken outside using underground well water to conserve my rain water inside the house. Even in July and August, that well water coming straight from the ground, no hot water heater, is cold!
I enjoy displaying some of my smaller beach and island finds, aka “treasures”, for visitors to see. Two years ago I bought a large heavy duty metal display shelf to put on the porch and display my different little found treasures. Well, in this corrosive environment, going with metal, even heavy duty, was a mistake. Last month the rust finally took its toll and the shelves started falling apart. . . not a wise $300 spent!
Clint’s new Island Treasures shelf display
So I cleared the shelves of everything and finished tearing apart the old metal shelf. Over the course of my next two trips to the mainland, I brought back the lumber to build a bigger and stronger nice wooden display shelf unit on the porch. I have no doubt that thing will still be standing for years to come. And thank you, Susan, for help arranging everything back on the new shelf unit; it looks great. Now I need to find more beach treasures to fill the bigger shelves.
Well I’ve decided to expand on my island small farm animals endeavor. I just finished assembling two nice rabbit hutches for two Flemish giant and two dwarf rabbits that I’ll soon be getting. I call them hutches, but they are actually like mini condos for the bunnies. The rabbits will be for pets only, all females, and I’ll get them when they are 6 weeks old from Boling Bunny Farm. I’m looking forward to getting them and watch as they hop around the yard. I’m not sure how Corky and Jetty will react to them, hopefully NOT by salivating, but I’ll slowly introduce all of them to each other and hope for the best.
And speaking of animals, the 10 Indian Runner ducks are doing just fine and loving island life. They enjoy exploring the yard and playing/bathing in the two wading pools, and they love eating watermelon. They get along just fine with the chickens and guineas, and Corky doesn’t bother them. They always stay close together in a group, and I’m waiting for them to begin laying eggs, hopefully soon.
My younger sister, Darla, and her husband, David, made the drive from California to Seadrift two weeks ago, and we all had a great visit while they were here. Mom really enjoyed seeing and going to church with them, and we had several wonderful meals.
That’s it from the island for now. Everyone take care and enjoy the Fall weather that is so very near.
