Here’s something you may or may not know about me.  I like challenges.  I like to try new things to see if I can do them or not.  This is a good example of that.

We were offered a baby bunny and I needed a home for him before we could get him.  I really wanted a bunny!  So I looked online, found a plan, bought wood and went to work.  That sounds pretty basic but the thing is – I haven’t built anything even remotely like this ever.  Or really built anything since shop class in high school when one of the guys finished my project for me.  But we had the tools I needed and there were step-by-step instructions, so…why not?

Here’s how it went…

Supposedly, these stacks of wood and hardware cloth are going to turn into a fabulous bunny hutch.

Hardware cloth. The bane of my existence.  I hate working with it.  Anyway, here it is being placed on the base of the cage area.

Here are the walls. There’s an enclosed area that’s is accessed by the little hole there. It almost looks like I know what I’m doing, doesn’t it?

Hey, look, we almost have an actual structure here!  It’s laying on the front face of the cage.

And here we have a roof!  No drenched bunnies for us!

Time to build the big front door panel. More hardware cloth. Ugh!!

Nice and secure from…whatever might want to eat our bunny, I guess.  He has a lovely screened-in porch, don’t you think?

It opens, indeed it does.  And look!  A door has magically appeared on the other side, too!

Here’s a shot from the side.  Nicely sloped so the rain will run off to the back.  It’s the real deal, kids!

Next we (I had a little help here from the kids) put on some water-resistant stain.  Lesson learned here: stain the boards before assembling them. That would have been SO much easier and the completed project would have looked better.

That seems a little short, doesn’t it?  I don’t want to actually have to bend over and get anything that might be construed as exercise just to take care of the bunny. That’s crazy talk. So…it’s time to add some legs.  Really, really tall legs.

I guess you can’t see how long the legs are here. Take my word for it. The top of the hutch is about 6 feet tall.  And here’s a shot of it with the doors open because I haven’t posted enough pictures of it yet.

And that concludes the excitement that is my first big woodworking project.  Thanks for coming along for the ride.  Next post, I’ll introduce you to our little tenant.

This little book, under 200 pages, packs a powerful punch.

It is the story of a man named Jones, who comes to a small beach town in Alabama and quietly turns many of the residents’ lives upside-down.

The story begins with Jones meeting the author of the book at a low point in his life. Jones gives the author some tough advice and his story is followed throughout the book. His is not the only life that is touched, however. Jones comes into many lives and seems to know just the right thing to say or to suggest to alter their perspective to what it needs to be to solve their particular problems.

There are many layers to this book, pulling from several schools of thought that I’ve been exposed to recently. It hits on some of the basic principles of these, applying them to each character’s situation. The ‘answer’ is not the same for every person, but the main way to get there is through a change of perspective. We all have filters we see life through and sometimes our filters aren’t working in a way that is best for us. Sometimes our filters are actually blinders. Once we are aware of this, we can work to adjust our perspective to one of truth rather than the lies we may believe.

This book is a nice little read, getting the point across with an enjoyable story line. I would recommend this book to anyone, as I imagine its message would apply to nearly everyone. It’s worth a few hours of your time to read.

Heather and I discussed the CPSIA on the Grace Talk podcast this morning and you can listen to it right here!

Click on the arrow next to "Select a past episode," and choose "CPSIA meets Dr. Seuss…" It should load and stream from there.

If this doesn’t work for you, you can also download the .mp3 file here!

Think these dogs have an easy life? I can assure you they don’t! I thought this picture was so cool, I had to include it. I love Malamutes and Huskies. I would have one if I could. (And yes, I do realize that I want one of *every* animal, but they are near the top of my long list.)

Anyway, I wanted to let everybody know that I’ve added our Sled Dog Lapbook to my site. I’ve posted some pictures of the lapbook my son made, along with some ideas and links to make your own lapbook. We had fun making this one!

Check out our Sled Dog Lapbook.

Don’t know what Pi Day is?  Well, think of the number for pi…3.14… Yes, it’s March 14 each year.

I just wrote an article with ideas for celebrating Pi Day. Go take a look and you might find something fun to do! Let me know if you do any of the activities, while you’re at it.

Happy Pi Day!