A patch of my mother’s flowers that she still constantly asks about is now in full bloom.
These are all about 3 feet tall. Can you make out the two markers hidden in them? That’s where the haskap berries are planted. The flowers are actually cleared away from around them, and they’re still hard to see! :-D
Does anyone know what these are called? I’ve tried using Google Lens on my phone, but the possibilities it offers up have included things like a type of coneflower, and even dandelions!
These pictures were taken yesterday, with the top one taken just as it was starting to rain. By the time I was out again and took the second one, it was bright and sunny again. For all the thunder and winds, we didn’t get much rain at all. More than we have in a while, to be sure, but it’s a good thing I needed to empty the patched rain barrel by the garden, because I still needed to water the squash beds.
I would really like to know what it is about where we live that pushes storm systems away. Watching the weather radar, the storm did not miss us. It passed right over. My mother told me they had a solid downpour at her place, yet we had only a light rainfall.
Microclimates can be strange and perplexing things!
This morning, I was a bit late doing the outside part of my morning rounds, having taken the time to finish the second hoop to cover the rain barrel by the sun room.
On checking the rain barrel by the garden, it seemed to be okay, but I did find a very minor leak from one of the larger cracks.
Then I noticed this, beside it.
It’s a bubble of water! The Plasti Dip on the outside it still holding it, but it won’t take long for it to give out.
So I need to empty the barrel, then add more sealant after cleaning and drying it.
I’m out of Plasti Dip, but I did finally find the silicone sealant we’d used to fill the holes in the wall from when the satellite dishes were moved from the side of the house to the roof of the sun room. It’s designed for exterior use, and is what I’d wanted to use at first. So that is what I will use on the inside of the barrel.
For now, though, I think I’m going to shut down the computer as we hunker down. Storms are coming through, and look like they’ll actually hit us this time. So I am expecting to lose our internet completely at some point, and probably at least some power flickers.
The rain is going to be wonderful. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a solid rain.
Our first summer here, when we found the grapes among the overgrown spirea, the ripe grapes were barely bigger than the seeds. I was still excited, because… we had grapes! And they made great jelly (this from someone who does NOT like jams and jellies), and still tasted great, straight from the vine.
This year, they look massive in comparison. I am really looking forward to seeing how they are when fully ripe!!
This year, I’ve been allowing various things to come up in between the sidewalk blocks by the sun room, instead of taking the weed trimmer to them, to see what is there.
Quite a lot of flowers have come up through the cracks and crevices between the rain barrel and the clothes line platform. Most of them are either the purple bell shaped flowers we’ve got all over the place this year, or a taller plant with bright orange-yellow flowers.
Then, there is this one.
And it is just one. A single stalk with a single flower! I can’t see any other part of the plant.
I don’t know what this is, other than something from the allium family.
While I was outside this evening, I found Junk Pile and all three of her kittens, playing in front of the storage house.
When I had the chance, I tried to see if I could get one of them to come close.
It almost worked.
Almost, but not quite! This was as close as little Braveheart would get!
It’s hard to see, but there’s a kitten behind the grapevines in the background. :-)
They love playing on those stairs!
I’ve been keeping that insulator on the steps filled with water lately. Junk Pile and her kittens seem to prefer drinking out of that, over the wider, shallower container by the food dish.
I would love to have stayed longer to try and play with them, but I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes!
Meanwhile, I had this on my bed…
At first, it was David, Cheddar and Big Rig, but then Keith pushed his way in between and settled in, too!
This morning, I emptied the can of Plasit Dip on the cracks in the rain barrel.
Yesterday, I found a couple of hoola hoops at a dollar store in town, and this afternoon, I dug out the role of window screen mesh we found while cleaning out the basement. I hadn’t quite figured out how I was going to attach the mesh to the hoops, and decided to just sew it on. The only problem with that was holding the mesh in place, so I ended up applying the WeldBond glue I’ve got to the hoop, then laying the mesh I’d cut to size on top of it.
Made a real mess on my hands, pressing it into place, but thankfully, the glue washes off easily.
After it had set long enough, I then just sewed the mesh on with a needle and thread.
It’s a bit on the light side and I want to figure out how to add weight to it. With the screen directly on the top of the barrel, any weight on the hoop could potentially tear the screen. I’ll probably just put a board across the top.
Here are the areas I sprayed with the Plasti Dip, both inside and out. I even sprayed areas that I wasn’t sure was cracked, or just a deep scratch, just in case.
That big crack at the top? It’s actually sealed. I didn’t think it would work, but with enough layers, it filled the gap! Most of the seal on that one is on the inside layers.
After giving the inside of the barrel a quick rinse, it was time to fill it and test out the seal.
As of tonight, it is completely waterproof. When I do my rounds in the morning, I’ll see if it held up through the night.
I’ll also be able to water the garden using water that has had a chance to warm up, instead of ice cold well water. :-D
The second hoop is currently sitting in the basement with the mesh and some glue. Tomorrow, I’ll use needle and thread to attach the screen securely, then put it over the rain barrel by the sun room. It’ll be nice to use the water from there, and not have my watering can’s head get clogged up with leaves and other debris. :-)
It took a while to get the garden rain barrel to the point it could be filled, but I think it was worth it to keep adding more layers to the cracks, with lots of time in between to cure.
It may not be pretty, but it’ll do the job! And that’s all that matters. :-)
This morning, I touched up the scratches we found after we flipped the picnic table upright again. This evening, we moved it over by the fire pit.
It will probably be moved again, the next time we do a cookout and figure out where is the most useful place to position it in relation to the fire pit.
It practically glows! :-D I’m really happy with how it turned out, and look forward to using it at our next cook out!
Last night was supposed to be the height of this year’s Perseids meteor shower, so I headed out again to try and get some photos.
This time, I actually played around with the manual settings on my phone’s camera a bit, so I will include that information the photos in the captions, for those who are interested. I resized the following photos by 50%, but the images are otherwise untouched.
f/1.5 Exposure time: 13 seconds ISO 1600
This time, I headed straight to the old garden area, which is the darkest areas that is close to the house. As before, I had my phone on a GorillaPod and used voice commands to take the photos after positioning it.
In the above photo, you can see I caught a meteor on the bottom left. I did not actually catch many meteors in photos, and while I did see (but missed getting a photo of) one really bright meteor, followed by a flash when it hit the atmosphere, I didn’t actually see most of the meteors I managed to catch during the long exposures!
I think I may have simply gone out too early in the night, and it may have still been a bit too bright.
f/1.5 Exposure time: 20 seconds ISO 1600
In the above photo, you can see some clouds, looking like a smudge on the bottom right. They were so thin and sparse, we could not actually see them ourselves.
f/1.5 Exposure time: 20 seconds ISO 1600
After taking a few shots with the phone on the ground (and being tackled by a Potato Beetle, desperate for attention!), I ended up using the top of the straw bale as a surface.
This was good enough for Potato Beetle, too. After sniffing the phone, he laid down nearby and kept me company.
Much nicer than him jumping half way up me, and hanging on with his claws… :-o
f/1.5 Exposure time: 30 seconds ISO 3200
While I was taking photos with my phone’s camera, my daughters came out with the DSLR on the tripod to give it a try.
I haven’t uploaded the card yet, but my daughter was very frustrated. Even at 30 seconds exposure time, the camera preview showed nothing but black. While it may not have been as light as the above 30 second exposure shot, it still shouldn’t have been black!
f/1.5 Exposure time: 30 seconds ISO 1600
I just love how the Milky Way shows up. Especially in contrast with the trees.
f/1.5 Exposure time: 30 seconds ISO 1600
One of the frustrating things about trying to take the photos is how many of them ended up being out of focus. The camera was on auto focus, so I finally switched that to manual. There is a sliding bar between a flower (macro) and mountain (landscape) icons. I set it as far as it would go towards landscape, but for some reason, the bar would adjust itself just short of that, on its own. I’d take a good picture, then the next one would be out of focus and, invariably, I would find the manual focus had changed on its own.
f/1.5 Exposure time: 30 seconds ISO 1600
It took me many tries, but I finally got one where the Big Dipper could be clearly seen!
f/1.5 Exposure time: 30 seconds ISO 1600
Before heading into the house, I couldn’t resist taking a few more photos from the East yard – and caught another meteor! :-)
Hmm. Interesting. I selected what I thought were among the best photos from the many I took last night, and they all ended up having almost exactly the same properties. I know I adjusted the F stop, as well as trying out different ISO and exposure times. I guess f/1.5 and ISO 1600 for 30 seconds simply gave the best results!
It’s a pain in the butt using manual settings on a smart phone. Especially with how I have the GorillaPod set up so it lies almost parallel to the ground, resulting in a Pod leg blocking the part of the screen the adjustments are made. It is, however, worth it. I am so happy with how these photos turned out!
While picking cucalmelons this morning, I found a little friend!
We’ve been seeing LOTS of frogs about this size, every time we to go through the garden beds. Usually, they hop off too quickly for me to get photos, but this one didn’t move!
He was even okay with the cucamelon leaves being pulled aside.
I am very happy to see so many frogs in our garden beds. I’m sure they’re doing a great job of eating up things that would be eating our vegetables!
On a less cheerful note, the original plan for today had to change. This was the day I was supposed to bring my husband into the city for an appointment at the cardiac clinic. They want to discuss the possibility of implanting a defibrillator in him.
Unfortunately, about a week ago, my husband discovered cats had peed under his hospital bed, and under the small table with the mini fridge he keeps some of his medications in. He cleaned it up himself, rather than asking any of us to do it.
He still hasn’t completely recovered.
When his pain levels didn’t improve by Monday, he called the cardiac clinic about his appointment. The letter he received said to expect to be there for at least 2 hours. He explained his situation. The choices were to either cancel the appointment, or they could find some way to accommodate his pain levels and disability.
The appointment got cancelled.
They way he put it, the response was along the lines of, how dare he mess with their system.
They will send another letter with a new appointment (I find it interesting that they make these appointments with zero input from patients), and after he gets the new letter, he can talk to them about accommodations. Of course, he has no way of knowing if he’ll have a good day or a bad day – or even a good week or a bad week – that far in advance. That’s why he was stuck phoning them only about 48 hours before today’s appointment. No matter; even if he’s having a good day, being able to lie down on a stretcher of something would probably be needed, just after such a long drive.
I understand why the province has a single cardiac clinic in a central location. It is probably much more efficient, and allows for things like better access to equipment. The problem is, like almost all Canadian provinces, we are geographically huge, and not everyone lives in or near this particular city. We’re just an hour away from the city (though it can take another half hour to reach the clinic, depending on traffic), and it’s difficult enough. I can’t imagine living in one of the fly-in communities and needing cardiac care. Sure, the small communities don’t have the population base to warrant their own cardiac clinics, but there are large towns and other cities that could serve these more remote communities.
The fact that it’s such and inconvenience for them to accommodate my husband’s disability is also frustrating. They’re in a hospital, for crying out loud. And with so many hospitals cancelling care to make room for all the pandemic hospitalizations that never materialized, there are plenty of stretchers and beds available that could be used for someone like my husband, without having to prearrange it weeks in advance.
Another unfortunate thing with my husband is that his pain levels have forced him to cancel a number of appointments. He has also done things like walked out after being forced to wait well past his appointment time, due to pain caused by the wait itself, and basically has stood up for himself. He is likely now considered a “problem” patient. I don’t think they realize that, when it comes to his list of health problems, his recently developed heart condition is actually not at the top of the list. Not even close. With everything else going on, this new development doesn’t even phase him, and certainly doesn’t frighten him, as it probably more typical. His pain needs to be gotten under control first. Some of his other health problems are caused by the pain itself, and will improve on their own, accordingly. They have not been able to figure out why his heart failure developed in the first place, and we’re pretty sure it has more to do with the large number of medications he is on, and has been for such a long time, than anything else. We already know that there is no surgery or treatment that can “fix” the physical source of his disability, and it will continue to cause further degradation of his spine. The only real thing that can be done is treat the pain. That’s the foundational thing. Without that being addressed, treating his other problems are little more than stop-gap motions.
This has been explained at heart clinic appointments a few times. I’ve watched notes get taken for his file, that the whole team looks at. There is no reason for them to not be aware of his disability, and what that means for his appointments. Even the fact that we have to drive so far and the affect that has on his pain levels has been duly noted.
Yet when he tries to address this with them, he’s made to feel like he’s inconveniencing them somehow?
Not impressed.
Well, next week he has his first appointment with the pain clinic. Hopefully, that will get the ball rolling on more effective treatment.
For the past while, whenever I’ve had the chance, I’ve been looking for what I might need to fix the front outside tap.
At first, it would spray water when we shut the water off, so we just left it on. It made it more convenient when using the hose, anyhow. Then, after the end of the hose broke off and I tried putting on another one, I found it had started spraying water all the time. So we’ve had to use the tap at the back of the house – and almost 300 ft of hose – leaving the front one shut off in the basement.
I figured I just needed to replace the O ring (or whatever this type of seal is properly called) inside the tap, but do you think I could find one? I was also looking for replacement taps, since I thought that might be easier (and I figured it was due to be replaced, anyhow), but I couldn’t find those, either. I wasn’t even sure what section of various stores to look in. The closest I could find to what we had were laundry taps, and any ring seals I saw were not for inside the tap itself, but for the couplings.
I needed to go to town today, so I remembered to take a photo of the tap before I left. Once at the hardware store, I just showed it to an employee, explained the problem, and asked him where I might find what I needed.
Of course, he needed to know where it was leaking from, which was right at where it turns on and off.
Well, it turns out there’s a reason I couldn’t find what I was looking for.
They don’t carry that type of seal.
In the end, it was easier to just replace it!
Also, the new taps were, indeed, in the plumbing section (not the gardening or laundry sections, where I had also looked), but not where I had been looking. According to the label, the tap is designed for boilers. :-D
Once back at home, I dug up some thread tape and headed out to replace the old tap. The old tap was painted over a bit, but nothing a wrench couldn’t get loose.
On screwing in the new tap, however, I found an unexpected problem.
This is the new tap, with the hose connector facing down. Notice how much of the threads are exposed? In the old tap, there was nothing like this!
It wasn’t actually screwed in tight in the above photo. I got a daughter to turn the water on in the basement to test it out, and I was happy to see it did not leak at all, but as I turned the tap on and off, the whole thing would turn and wiggle even looser.
For the tap to be on good and tight, we get this.
All it took was a quarter turn to tighten it, but it would go no further.
It’s a flexible hose coming through the wall, so we could move that board the tap is affixed to, if we wanted, and reposition it to the side. I don’t really want to put new holes in the wall, then have to seal the old holes, get paint to touch up the wall (the house was painted the summer before we moved in, but we don’t have any leftover paint from that), and end up with a tap that’s lower and harder to reach to screw the hose into.
So we’ll just leave it like this, with the hose sticking out sideways. :-)
Of course, I had to open up the old tap to see how bad the seal was inside.
It…
…looks perfectly fine!
The seal is still flexible, and nothing is cracked or broken.
I have no idea why this tap started spraying water like it did, where it did!
So I’ve kept it.
In the end, I’m happy with the new tap. I like the triangular design over the round one, as it can be gripped more easily and securely. Especially with wet hands.
So now we have front and back hoses again!
We might need to get another hose for the front, though. I looked for something to fix the hose that broke, but everything I could see would require me to cut off the metal reinforced end. I might just wait for the fall sales and pick up another one, instead.
The Re-Farmer 