I just got back from my evening rounds, and a bit of a harvest from the garden. Since I was focusing on watering the garden this morning, I didn’t bother checking to see if anything was ready to be picked. It’s really just sugar snap peas and raspberries to pick right now.
I have been leaving the peas to get a bit bigger between harvests, as I find they are tastier on the larger side. I got about a handful harvested (minus the ones I ate!), and a decent amount of raspberries.
I also got a picture of our first bell pepper; a Purple Dragonfly. I can see other peppers forming, but they are still barely larger than the flower buds.
A couple of the winter squash that are growing nicely were lying directly on the ground, so I grabbed a couple of bricks to set under them and protect them from the soil. The others that are currently developing have naturally set on the log frame, which is handy.
According to my weather app, we got a bit of rain this afternoon, but it seems to have missed us. I now see that we are supposed to get rain from about 9pm to midnight. If I look at the weather radar, the system that’s supposed to reach us by then is large enough we should actually get rain, and it should continue past midnight by some hours.
We shall see!
Right now, it’s over the lake to the north of us, and there’s quite a lot of lightning happening in parts of it. Mostly over the lake. There is no rain at all over where the fires are, though.
At least we are finally starting to cool down a bit.
Last night was one of those nights where, as soon as I went to bed, I just kept getting more and more awake! I finally got up and spent time with my younger daughter, who was busy making pies. Of course, being up at 2 or 3 in the morning, I was peckish, so I made a snack in between batches of pies, then she and I watched an episode of Columbo while they were baking.
We cheated on the pies. We had some canned pumpkin pie mix. Yesterday, I made a quick trip to the local grocery store and grabbed some frozen pie shells and other missing ingredient. There was no way we were going to be making pie dough in this heat and humidity!
By the time I got back to bed, it was 4am, and even then, I was still up at 4:30!
I did get a bit of sleep, though, but was just after a nap at that point. We were looking at reaching a high of 29C/84F today, but the coolest part of the day was going to be a brief period at about 5 or 6am. My goal was to water the garden while it was still cool.
So when I woke up at 6, I got up and headed out.
The first thing was, of course, to feed the outside cats. As I was going into the sun room with the kibble, I saw several kittens asleep together in a small cat bed on the floor. One got out, another start looking around, and the third…
*sigh*
One of the tabby kittens was lying stretched out, looking like it was asleep. With this heat, I see a lot of the cats sleeping all stretched out like that, but with all the commotion, this one wasn’t moving.
Yup. We lost another kitten.
That’s three kittens in four days.
After putting the food out, I quickly buried it near the unknown kitten I found yesterday morning.
I wonder if it’s the heat and humidity getting to them? There was no sign of anything obvious. It was about 17C/63F at the time. The sun room would not have been much warmer – these days, we leave the doors to outside wide open and the ceiling fan on all the time, for maximum air circulation. If anything, down at the concrete floor, it would have been a bit cooler.
I don’t know what to make of it. About the only solace I can take is, fewer cats in the colony.
Once the sad deed was done, I started my morning rounds. It was very foggy this morning!
It was so dense that I could see the fog covering the tops of the spruce trees in the inner yard. My phone’s camera automatically clears up the image, so in reality, it looked foggier than in the photo.
That sun is red because of smoke. Again, the camera doesn’t capture it well. It was much redder than it appears in the photo!
I just checked the live fire map. There are no fires near us; they are all quite a bit further up north. However, there are currently 6 fires listed as out of control, another 5 listed as being held, 29 (!!!) listed as being monitored and another 9 listed as under control. Some of these, however, are grouped closely on the map, almost on top of each other. All of them are listed as natural causes. None are near populated areas.
So this morning, it was both smoke and fog!
Checking the weather forecast last night, it was saying thunderstorms during by around midnight tonight, but when I checked again this morning, it was saying thunderstorms starting at about 3pm this afternoon.
I’m writing this at quarter to 3 right now, and on checking the weather radar, there are no storms on the horizon. My phone’s app is now saying to expect a thunderstorm around 8 or 9pm.
We shall see.
Either way, with the upcoming heat, once I did my rounds, I did a thorough watering of the garden beds. Which was rather torturous, because I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Not so bad that I was willing to go back to the house and get the bug spray, though. Having had only a little more than an hour of sleep, I was planning to go back to bed as soon as I got inside and didn’t want to have to wash all
As I write this, we are at 27C/81F, with the humidex at 32C/90F The expected high had changed to 28C/82F, and I’m not sure if we actually reached it.
Oh! I just got a message from the Cat Lady. She just dropped stuff off at the gate for us. She didn’t message ahead, or I’d have opened the gate. She had The Wolfman with her, and she says he started going nuts as soon as they got on the gravel road. When they opened the windows at the gate, he started clawing to get INTO his carrier. He didn’t calm down until they were back on the highway.
This cat has gotten completely attached to them! More than any of the others they ended up keeping permanently!
Excuse me while I head out and collect the donated kibble from the gate.
Wow! Four 9.1kg bags of kibble were waiting for me! I’m glad I dug the wagon out of the garage to bring them over. That will be such a huge help!
Also, I am absolutely dripping with sweat. I just checked and yes, we reached the predicted high of 28C/82F in the last twenty minutes. The humidex is at 33C/72F Apparently, our humidity levels are just 56%, but I question that. Stepping outside was like walking into a sauna!
I did top up the cat food outside with some of the new kibble, and they definitely prefer it over the feed store kibble I got. They’ll eat the feed store brand, but not as enthusiastically. Not that they are eating much in this heat, anyhow!
We should have a brief respite over the next few days – meaning will be in the mid 20’s rather than approaching 30C/86F – but then we’re supposed to get right back up there again.
This is the sort of weather that breed thunderstorms, but so far, those only seem to be forming up north. If only they would get just rain to help put out those fires, instead, that would be good!
Well, the tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, melons and squash will sure enjoy the heat! We just need to keep up on the watering.
I think I’ll go to the living room and stand in front of the air conditioner for a while!
Well, I finally got my mid July garden tour video done and uploaded. I actually finished it yesterday, but waited to go over it one last time today before deciding it was done. It’s just a plain narration video with very little editing. I hope the video quality is okay.
I’m happy to say that, since this was taken, we do have a couple of white scallop squash growing, though not in the pot and, so far, they are still surviving!
In other things…
We had another loss this morning, but it was a new one. When I went into the sun room to start feeding the cats, I saw something through the window in the old kitchen garden. A little ball of black and white fur. *sigh* Several adults paused to sniff at it, and one or two seemed to try and move it.
Once the kibble was dispersed, I went to look, and it was a very young kitten. Maybe a few weeks old, so not one we’ve seen before. I am thinking it didn’t survive the mother trying to move it. No visible evidence of why it died, though.
I was able to bury it under a rose bush.
It looked like we got a light rainfall some time in the night. Just enough to make things damp, but that’s about it. (I wonder if the rain was a contributing factor re: the kitten…) So I went ahead and watered the garden before the heat of the day hit. As I write this, it is almost 3:30pm, and we’re at 27C/81F. The humidex has us at 31C/88F, and we’re still supposed to get warmer. Even while I was out early with the watering, we broke 20C/86F, having never really cooled down during the night. Yesterday, it was so hot upstairs, my older daughter gave up trying to sleep and went into the living room to be in the AC and ended up passing out on the couch. Today, her sister is crashing on the couch. It isn’t much better on the second floor during the night, when they are up and about, for all their fans and ice packs. Granted, the ice packs are more for their computers than for themselves! For all that the AC helps on the ground floor, it really doesn’t do much for their “apartment” upstairs. Especially with the high humidity.
Well, we do the best we can. Among the things the girls have been doing is the bulk of the dishes and the cooking at night, so it doesn’t have to be done during the hottest part of the day, which I greatly appreciate!
They were still doing some cooking when I finished the watering this morning, then grabbed a bowl to pick some raspberries and a bunch of the small strawberries. We don’t have a lot of raspberries, relatively speaking – most of the bushes are first year canes – but they ripen so quickly, they can be picked twice a day. I am thinking it would be good to prepare a place to transplant some of them, in the fall. Right now they are basically a big wild mass of plants covering the old compost pile. We were never able to use that compost, after I moved the ring out. When I started digging into it, I found it was filled with tree branches and someone had been using it for garbage. I got the garbage out and just left it to continue to decompose, and the raspberries are taking full advantage of that! We should be able to transplant out a very decent sized raspberry patch, when the time comes. It will be much easier to harvest them in rows than from one giant mass! There are others that are easier to reach, but not being in the old compost pile and getting too much shade from the chokecherry tree, they are much smaller. I’m really not sure why my mother decided to transplant the raspberries from a sunny location into a shady one. This was a flower bed. After we move the raspberries out, I want to convert it back into a flower bed and select shade loving flowers for it. There’s a black currant bush right under the chokecherry tree I want to move out. It bloomed a lot this spring, but I see almost zero berries forming. Currants need at lot more sunshine, but the two large bushes that were here when we moved in were both planted right under trees! Actually, one of them may have been seeded by birds.
While at the farmer’s market yesterday, talking to my cousin, I saw he had red currants for sale and talked to him about it. He told me currants can be propagated by just cutting a branch off and sticking it in the ground. Like a willow, they will take root, just like that! Which is good to know. They need regular pruning, too, which we’ve never done, and I know my mother never did. My sister gave her the currant that’s under the chokecherry, but my mother told me she never ate the berries. She was unfamiliar with them and afraid they were poisonous – as if my sister would give her a poisonous berry bush! I guess my mother thought it was just decorative. Meanwhile, she potted up and grew a cutting from a bush near her place and gave it to me to transplant. She told me she didn’t know what it was, but people in her building were eating berries from the bush, so she took a piece for the farm. I’ve planted it in the south yard, near the chain link fence, finding a spot not shaded by the elm trees or lilacs, and it’s doing really, really well this year. I don’t think it’ll have berries for another year or two, but the plant sure is looking strong and healthy. I had to ask my mother a lot of questions before I got enough information to conclude it was a black currant, too.
Ugh. I’m procrastinating right now. I’ve got stuff to do, but it’s so hot and sticky, I just don’t want to move.
From the state of my bed, neither do the cats. Cat puddles, all over the place!
I will need to make a trip into town, but I want to connect with the Cat Lady, so I’m waiting to hear back from her before I do. It might be a while. I believe she and her family have gone sailing today!
It must be pretty crowded at the beach right now! We should try and remember it exists, and make a trip out during the week, when it’s quieter, and take a dip in the water. Gotta make sure to have water socks, though. Zebra mussels can be very painful to step on.
But I digress.
Come on, Re-Farmer. Get your butt out of the chair and do something productive…
Today was my day to take my mother to her medical appointment. It got hot fast this morning, even as I was just going my rounds. As I write this, coming up on 7pm, we are still at 29C/84F, and the humidex is at 34C/93F. This heat is supposed to continue for the next couple of days, and no rain or even thunderstorms expected, so tomorrow morning, I’ll have to make sure to give the garden beds a deep watering, before it gets really hot again.
I am really appreciating the AC in the truck!
I was thinking of going to my mother’s a bit early, so we could get a bit of a visit in before her appointment, since I had to go to pick up eggs after. I was going to call her to see if she was good with my arriving early when she called me, instead.
While I was in the washroom, of course.
The message she left was almost a wail, asking where I was, and did I forget about the appointment today?
I had told her I would arrive at about noon. She was calling shortly after 11.
So I called her back and told her I could leave right away. In the end, it was only about half an hour earlier than I intended to be there originally.
I tried to have a conversation with her. I really did!
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out well. A couple of times, I was trying to share some information with her related to the topic at hand, and she would cut me off and start going off on a rant. It was as if she’d assumed the conclusion of what I was saying and responding to that – even though it was not at all what I was trying to say. She had no interest in what I was actually saying, but in what she thought I was saying.
When she cut me off again by making a racist comment, I gave up and suggested it was time to leave.
So we were a bit early for the appointment.
While in the waiting room, we got to talking about the purpose of the appointment, which was to get her medications reviewed, including the changes done by the ER doctor, and for the pharmacy to get the updated information before they have to do her next bubble packs.
That’s when I found out my mother wasn’t taking the one pill the ER doctor told her to start taking again, every day. She was taking it every other day. She had already been saying to me, how she was feeling better after being back on the pill, but then she was saying that she was feeling worse after being back on that pill.
I told her she needs to stop messing with her prescriptions, and that we needed to make sure to tell the doctor about this. She was to stop taking the pill for 30 days, and the blood work she had done would tell the doctor if anything about it needed to be changed.
When the doctor came in, we explained about my mother going to the ER. She tried to look it up on my mother’s file.
The hospital never sent the information to her!
She was able to go online and link into their files, though, and see test results, at least. There were no notes of any kind attached, which was very frustrating. The ER doctor had not only told my mother to start taking this one prescription again, but doubled another one, so she’s now taking it morning and evening – but no information as to why the doctor made these decisions!
The other information was there, though. My mother had Xrays done, and everything looked clear. The hospital’s blood work was done a week after my mother did her scheduled blood work after stopping the pill for 30 days, so the doctor was able to compare three different test results; the first one that identified a problem, then the other two showing any changes.
My mother’s results showed significant improvement in that 30 day period, and even more improvement in just the week before the ER tested her again. Everything is now right back where it should be!
The doctor has taken this pill off my mother’s prescriptions. If my mother starts to have any particular symptoms start, she’ll add it back, but only as a “take as needed” prescription, not part of her bubble packs.
My mother’s turning 93 this year and, for all her complaints about her health, she is remarkably resilient and has an amazing recovery time. It’s just amazing!
After her appointment was done, my mother had wanted to go to a particular grocery store that was on our way out of town, but she changed her mind as we were leaving. It turned out she’d only eaten a piece of toast for breakfast, and had deliberately not eaten lunch before this appointment. I’m not sure why! Needless to say, she was famished, so we stopped for lunch and shared a pizza. After that, she didn’t have the energy to get out of the truck again.
As we were leaving her town, I’d pointed out to her where I’d be going to get eggs later; part of their property borders the highway. My mother suggested I stop to pick up the eggs on the way, rather than driving back later. She even said she might want to get some eggs, too.
Of course, what she really wanted as to see was the egg lady’s place and make judgements. Because that’s what my mother does!
I ended up sending a message to the egg lady, because I wasn’t sure if she was even home.
She wasn’t, but she was on the way.
I told her about my mother being interested in getting a dozen eggs, too, and we worked things out. I was going to stop at a gas station and take my time about it, to give her more time to get home ahead of me.
Which worked out well. We got there and, as we were driving in, my mother got to see the guinea hens, and a couple of free range goats, without having to leave the truck.
She changed her mind about the eggs, though. Which I expected, since I knew that was just her way to get me to take her to the egg lady’s place.
I don’t think my mother was impressed. It didn’t look like a picture postcard, but an active homestead and home based business that also involved animals.
I’m probably going to hear about it later. At the time, she was just too tired to say much.
I got her home and settled in, but couldn’t stay long with the eggs in the truck; they didn’t fit in any of my insulated bags. Hopefully, my mother went for a nap soon after I left!
As we were driving into her town, though, I realized the farmer’s market was started. It’s every Friday, but I’m almost never in this town on Fridays. I saw my cousin’s truck there, too, so I wanted to make a quick stop.
But first, I wanted to stop at a nearby feed store. We haven’t been able to connect with the Cat Lady to pick up the kibble donation, and we were running low. I knew the grocery store prices would be insane, but maybe the feed store would be better.
Plus, it was half a block away from the farmer’s market.
So I went there first and looked around. Sure enough, they did have cat food – in 40 pound bags! (18.1kg). The price was a little over $60, though, which would have used up most of my cash on hand. They did have 20 pound bags (9.1kg) for just over $30, though. It looked like they had only one 20lb bag left, too! So I bought it and paid cash. Then I picked up the bag and set it on my shoulder to carry it out.
Which is when I heard and felt something very strange.
I pulled the bag down and discovered the sewn strip across the top had come loose. I’d just spilled kibble all over the floor!
Of course, I was very apologetic. What mess!
The guy behind the counter came out with a broom and dustpan to clean it up while telling the other guy (the owner?), who was in the office, what happened. They talked back and forth for a bit when the other guy said, “give her a 40 pound bag.”
??? !!!
In the end, the other guy came out and went to their storage building out back and got me a 40 pound bag himself, while the guy behind the counter finished sweeping up the kibble.
So I got to take home a 40 pound bag for the price of a 20 pound bag!
That was so awesome of them!
As soon as possible, I want to go back and pay the difference.
The one guy (the one I think is the owner) was also complaining to the guy behind the counter that almost ever third bag they’ve been getting, the stitching is loose at one corner, so this is not the first time it’s been a problem! As he was loading the bag into the back of my truck, he made a point of telling me this, and to watch out for those corners.
With such great customer service, I definitely plan to go back there!
Plus…
While the price per kg is slightly higher than what I’m paying at Walmart for the 9kg bags, and Costco has even better prices for that size, the price is SO much better than at the grocery stores. Factoring in the cost of gas to drive to the city, and it comes out cheaper.
So while we will still pick up kibble when we are already in the city to do our stock up shopping, when it comes time to get more, later in the month, it would be more cost effective to buy from the feed store than to drive to the nearest Walmart.
Best of all, I’ve already given some to the cats outside, and they like it. The last time I got kibble at a feed store, it was in another town, and they had 16kg bags (35 pounds) for an even better price. The problem was, the cats didn’t like it, at all. Even the outside cats didn’t want to eat it. They did anyhow, since there was nothing else, but this stuff is clearly a better quality cat food.
After getting the cat food, I popped over to the farmer’s market. I talked to my cousin for a while, and picked up some of his creamed honey. He doesn’t have a lot of honey right now; he lost all his bees when a neighbour sprayed their field for grasshoppers, and had to buy more. He doesn’t have much of an inventory yet. No 3kg buckets for quite a while!
Then, I made a quick stop at a booth selling baked goods and picked up a bumbleberry pie. It had better be good – it cost more than the honey I just bought, and more than twice the grocery store price!
While I was doing that, I got a message from my husband asking if I could swing by the post office. I had just enough time to get there before they closed.
All this made for a very long day, but a more productive one than I expected. I’m really glad I remembered this feed store and decided to check it out.
Ugh. I need to go outside and do my evening rounds. It’s now coming up on 8pm, and we’re still 27C/81F with the humidex at 30C/86F.
It’s going to be sticky out there!
Even our overnight temperatures are supposed to only drop to 19C/66F. I think I’ll be leaving my window fan to keep blowing hot air out, for the night.
There should be quite a few raspberries to pick, though, so I’d better remember to bring a bucket of some kind, and get out there!
This was our third attempt of sowing these, and I planted two pairs of seeds in the bed with the onions and shallots. There are still none in the pot (sowed them twice in there) and I had been thinking of what I could plant in the empty space where the Magda and White Scallops had failed, only to find these! So far, it’s just the one pair of seeds. No sign where the other pair was planted, but if it took this long for the first ones to show up, there is still hope!
Now, they just need to survive.
Still no Magda here, but a second one germinated in the pot on the steps.
There is also a nice little row of tiny kohlrabi seedlings popping up in the potato bed at the chain link fence.
I got a surprise phone call this morning, too. The scrap guy was going to be in our area. Did we want him to come by?
Today???
Yes, today.
*sigh*
I’m taking my mother to her medical appointment today, so that won’t be an option. We talked a bit about the state of the ground for getting to the barn and stuff. He’s going to be in the area again later – he has to wait for the ground to dry out more, first, so he can’t say exactly when, but he can call us first, if we want.
Yes, please!
We need to re-bag the aluminum, anyhow. Between the cats, racoons and skunks, quite a few bags have been torn up. That’s the down side of having so many cat food cans in there!
Since I’m going to be in the area, anyhow, after I bring my mother home from her appointment, I’m going to head over to my homesteading friend that sells eggs. She’s overwhelmed with eggs again – this has been a good year for eggs for a lot of people! – and is all but giving them away. When she posted about it on FB and someone asked the price, she just said “whatever is reasonable!”
We still had eggs, but the girls cooked some up with their supper, and boiled the rest for egg salad, so there is room in the fridge again. I’ve asked for 4 flats. I remembered to ask if she needed egg trays, and she does, so I’ll be bringing a bunch of those over for her, too.
With all the driving around, plus the likelihood that my mother will be seen late (hard to say; I’ve actually been seen early, at this clinic!), and a trip to pick up eggs, I’ll probably not get home until well into the evening.
Today, we’re supposed to reach a high of 28C/82F, and now the forecast has the same high for the next two days. As I write this, we’re at 23C/73F, but the humidex is already at 31C/88F! Humidity is at 81%, but apparently there’s just a 9% chance of rain this afternoon – or thunderstorms, if I look at a different app!
Next weekend, we’re supposed to reach highs of 30C/86F, and stay there for days.
I do wish we had better forecast regarding rain or storms, so we know whether the garden needs to be watered or not! I probably will anyhow, tomorrow morning, just so the garden can better handle the heat.
It was another sleepless night last night. Pain and stiffness, I expected, but the worst of it was the pain in my damaged elbow. Talking to one of my daughters about it – at about 3am – we tried an experiment. One thing that helps it is warmth. Which is weird, considering how warm it was during the night. My daughter had some scrap sleeves in a stretchy material that she brought down. We found a section that fit fairly well and cut it into a shorter tube to cover just my elbow. My pjs already had long sleeves, which helped hold the tube in place.
It seemed to help, because I did finally get a couple of hours of sleep.
After that, it was the cats going crazy that kept me up!
My daughters took care of the morning routine for me, though, as well as the cats, and I did finally get another hour or two of sleep. Which I needed, since I was going to be doing some driving this afternoon.
Once I was finally up and about, I did my usual rounds. I was just finishing up and coming around past the cat house to go in through the sun room when I spotted Squash lying in the grass.
I’ve been able to pick Squash up fairly regularly, so I went to pet him (her? we never did find out. I’ll just say “he”) and realized something was very wrong.
Squash was clearly dying.
I ended up spending almost two hours with Squash, trying to comfort him. He did not seem to be in any pain, but was barely breathing. He did seem to perk up a bit when I started giving him water, one drop at a time, with my finger.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay with him any longer. I left him in a shady spot, then headed to town for, among other things, a pharmacy run to pick up my husband’s injections. When I got back, Squash was gone, and I buried him near Driver.
With so many kittens, there are bound to be losses. and we’ve had quite a few over the years. Among this year’s kittens that we’ve seen so far, if there was any I would have expected to suddenly pass, it would have been Button. He’s so incredibly tiny, we’re sure he was the runt of his litter. Yesterday, however, I did pick up Squash and found him very… lethargic. When I put him down in the sun room, he went back outside, though, and that was pretty normal for him.
The one symptom he did have was a severely leaky butt, which he did not have yesterday. We had something similar happen with a kitten we’d brought inside, last year.
Unfortunately, with this heat, we’ve had kittens and cats splashed all over the place, all stretched out and trying to keep cool. Every time I see one – especially when it’s Button or one of the other smaller kittens – I find myself wondering if they are okay! So in a way, it wasn’t really a surprise to find Squash in his condition. The only surprise was that it was Squash.
After the sad job of burying him, I loaded the truck with our garbage and made a run to the dump. Later on this evening, I plan to go out again and rake up some of yesterday’s grass clippings for mulch. It’s past 6pm right now, and still 25C/77F with the humidex at 28C/82F, and we’re not supposed to start cooling down more for a couple more hours. It’s a good thing the days are so long! Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter and, depending on what app I look at, we’ll either have no rain at all, passing showers, or possible thunderstorms.
Tomorrow afternoon, I’m taking my mother to her doctor’s appointment, right when it will be getting the hottest. Thankfully, the truck’s AC works all right!
Meanwhile, I need to start editing my July garden tour video. One of my daughter’s previewed the recordings made on the 16th and the 17th, and said both days were fine. The only think she noted is that I sounded tired – which I was!
I still am, to be honest. I might just skip collecting the grass clippings tonight, and do it in the morning, before I have to leave for my mother’s. I seem to be waking up at 5:30am, no matter what, so I may as well be productive when it’s a bit cooler.
I just hope I don’t find any more kitten losses. 😢
I took advantage of today’s relatively cooler 20C/68F, give or take a degree or two, to mow the lawns. Last night, we actually dropped to 8C/46F! At least, that’s what it was at about 5:30am I actually felt cold last night! Not cold enough to close the window, though. I was enjoying it too much!
I’d already done most of the edges around the yard with the weed trimmer yesterday. Today, I went to start the riding mower, but the battery was dead. So I put the charger on it, then used the push mower to mow the edges wider, so it would be easier to make the turns with the larger riding mower.
After doing all the edges along the inner yard, I got the riding mower going and started doing the rest.
I doubt I got as much as 50 feet of mowing before I gave up and parked the riding mower. I don’t know what’s wrong with that thing, but it just won’t cut! It’ll cut for the first foot or two, then nothing. The grass wasn’t that tall, so I can’t blame it on that, this time. If I reverse, then go back and forth a couple of times, I can finally clear an area – but only if the deck is as low as it can go, and I use the slowest speed.
At which point, it’s faster to use the push mower.
So that’s what I did.
By the time I finished the south and east yards – the largest sections with the thickest grass – I’d been out there for several hours. I went in for supper and was considering finishing the rest tomorrow. The north and west yards are a lot smaller, and the grass is thinner, so it wouldn’t take long.
Then I saw that we’re supposed to hit 27C/81F tomorrow.
There is no way I want to be mowing in that heat!
So I went out and finished the last two sections, and even mowed the one path through the maple grove I’ve managed to clear this year.
Then I filled the tank one last time and started working on the outer yard. Usually, I work in a circle, but this time I started at the chain link fence and just went back and forth until I ran out of gas. I managed to cut around the junk pile – most of that was grass that hadn’t been cut this year – and a path to the electricity meter. By the time I ran out of gas, I had almost finished clearing as far as the last time I was able to mow, except the driveway. I didn’t even try for the driveway this time. Next time, I’ll grab the gate key and mow all the way to the road.
But not today.
It was past 7pm by the time I finished, and I am totally beat!
I’m really happy with how the yards look, though, Plus, the grass clippings get to dry in the sun tomorrow, and at the end of the day, I should be able to collect quite a lot of it to use as mulch. Especially around the junk pile, where the grass was the tallest.
Also, I think there is a new litter of kittens in the junk pile. I’m seeing some white and greys running around in there. Previously, there’s only been the one fluffy tabby, until I found Button. I’m not sure if I saw two or three or four kittens!
Aside from the mowing, I tried to record some video for the July garden tour. I did some recordings yesterday evening, but I wasn’t sure I was happy with them. So I did more this morning. I don’t think I’m happy with them, either. However, I was really tired while going through the files, both times, so I think I’ll get one or both of my daughters to review them and tell me what they think.
Meanwhile…
After making some recordings this morning, I got a bit of a harvest.
I also startled a deer this morning! It was on the far side of the row of problem trees on the north side of the main garden.
Deer make the most interesting huffing noises.
While doing my rounds and mowing the lawn, I also saw lots and lots of frogs. All that rain may mean we’ve got lots of mosquitoes, but we also have lots of frogs to eat them, too!
I found this beauty on the upside down garbage can we use to support a rain diverter I needed to move so I could mow in the north yard. It’s held in place by a brick on each side. When I moved the diverter, the frog scooted under one of the bricks. I just had to move it long enough to get a picture! What a beauty!
I was still trying to use the riding mower when I spotted it climbing up the tent canopy that’s draped over the chain link fence right now. If it weren’t for the running motor, I would have taken video. It looked so adorable, climbing up the canvas! It’s body was, at most, an inch long. Probably less.
Even when using the push mower, there were a few times I had to pause to let some frogs jump out of the way. One little thing got stuck in the grass and I ended up catching it and moving it. That was was only about half an inch long!
I like frogs, and am so happy we’ve got so many this year!
Now, if they would just eat up all those slugs in the garden!
Well, I think I’m rested enough. Time for a shower. I’ve already got one of my daughters to put the bath chair in the tub for me. I’m so tired and unsteady right now, I don’t want to take a chance, no matter how many arm bars we’ve got in there!
It’s a “good” tired, though. Everything looks so much better out there, and I really do enjoy mowing!
Tomorrow, however, will be a different story. I am definitely going to be paying for that last push to do the outer yard! Just the weed wacking I did yesterday had my damaged left elbow hurting so much, it kept waking me up during the night. The pain killers I have don’t really do much for this type of injury, though. *sigh* It had been pretty good for so many years. Why is it coming back so badly, now?
My plan after doing my morning rounds was to get started on the weed trimming. It seems we got more rain overnight, though, so it’s probably not going to happen until this afternoon.
This was the first time there were enough sugar snap peas to harvest an actual handful. I also got a handful of raspberries. There were a couple of everbearing strawberries, but I ate them. The strawberries in with the raspberries are the tiny ones in the wattle weave bed we grew from seed. Such huge, strong plants, and such small berries! As cute as they are, they don’t taste any better, and they’re taking up space. I might decide to transplant them somewhere in the yard to grow wild, and use the space for something more productive.
The strawberries with the asparagus are a lost cause. I was going to put more netting around the bed but, at this point, that’s just locking the barn door after the horses have run away. There’s hardly anything left of them.
I wonder if they would survive if I transplanted them into the wattle weave bed, next to the ones already there?
With no rain on the horizon and lower temperatures, I finally had a chance to work on the low raised bed with the logs in place. With the winter squash getting so big right now, it was getting to be a “now or never” situation!
These are some before and after pictures. I started on the side facing the high raised bed first. The vines needed to be lifted safely out of the way, and I was able to use the pea trellis to hold them.
I look forward to when we have our permanent trellis beds done. The temporary trellis is fine for beans and peas, but can’t hold the weight of squash vines. The permanent trellis tunnels will be built with the weight of large vines and heavy squash in mind.
Once they were safely lifted out of the way, I went over the path with the weed trimmer, then rolled the 18′ log towards the high raised bed. I did some weeding on the inside of the where the log was, then used a stirrup hoe to loosen and level the soil under where the log was. Then, cardboard was laid out so that part of it was covering the soil inside the bed, as well as under the log. The cardboard got a soaking with the hose, then the log rolled back. I have a couple of 4′ lengths of wood cut for the ends of the trellis bed that ended up not being used. I set them against the high raised bed and the log to both keep the path at 4′ wide, and keep the log from rolling out of place.
Then I took the wheelbarrow and forced my way through the overgrown grass – some of it reached to my shoulders! – to the wood chips. One load of wood chips was enough to lay on the outside of the log, using my foot to press them solidly under, so it won’t roll away, plus some on the cardboard on the inside, too.
Once that was done, I could take the vines down from the netting. The less time up there, the less chance of damage, though some did get damaged as I was doing this. When laying them down, I set them to train them to grow along the sides of the log, rather than into the path. Some of the vines were growing adventitious roots, and I made sure those were over the wood chips.
I had considered not doing the short ends at all, but in the end, I went for it. The squash at the ends are the largest, and there’s no trellis netting at the ends to hang them off of, so greater care needed to be taken to move them aside.
I did the south end, first, using the same process: move the vine, weed trim, move the log, weed by hand, cover with cardboard, soak the cardboard, then put the log back. With this one, I had a rock I could use to keep it from rolling away, as I didn’t have any wood chips left. When returning the vine, I worked it around so that it will grow along the side of the log I’d put the wood chips against.
Then it was time to do the other side. This time, I weed trimmed the path, plus the end, and moved both the 18′ log and the 4′ log at the North end, then hand weeded. This side required more leveling of the soil as there was quite a gap under the North end of the 18′ log. I had just enough cardboard left to place on the ground, then rolled the logs back. This time, I had a wheel barrow load of wood chips ready and waiting, and got that laid out on both sides of the logs. Last of all, the vines were laid down and laid out in the direction I wanted them to grow. It wasn’t intentional, but I ended up with the vines all running counter clockwise around the bed.
What I am not going to do is permanently attached the end pieces to the side pieces, yet. There’s too much risk of damaging the vines. We’ll do that in the fall, when it’s time to get it ready for the winter. Having the cardboard and wood chips down will be enough for now.
That done, I decided I needed to set up a temporary trellis for the melons. Getting the permanent supports isn’t going to happen quite yet, and the melons were starting to make their escape!
Since this was going to be a temporary trellis, I made it closer to the middle of the bed, rather than the outside. I had recently picked up more plastic coated metal supports at the Dollarama recently, in 4′ and 5′ lengths. I set up six of the 5′ lengths along where the melons are growing, then added 4′ lengths across the tops.
The netting I had was quite a bit longer than the bed. After setting the netting in place along the melons, with jute twine woven through along the bottom to hold it in place, the excess height was draped over the top. I didn’t open up the excess length, and wrapped it around the other side.
Once that was secured, the melon vines needed to be trained up the netting. If I’d had some, I would have used more of the 4″ square trellis netting. With the finer mesh, I wanted to make sure the melon vines were all facing the outside, so they can be more easily tended and harvested from. Some of them were so long, I secured them by fixing one end of some jute twine to the bottom, wrapping it around the stem of the vine, then securing the twine high enough on the netting to hold the vine up. Now that they’re set where they are, their tendrils will naturally start grabbing onto the netting as they grow, but until then, I’ll be checking them and training them towards the netting.
It may be a cooler day today than the last couple of days, but it was still hot out there. I’d considered doing more weed trimming around the house when I was done, but I was just too hot, tired and dehydrated by this time. So that will wait a bit longer. Tomorrow is supposed to have a high of 18C/64F, which will be perfect for the weed trimming. Most areas are still too wet, but we might be able to get at least some areas mowed. Unfortunately, the temperatures are supposed to start getting hotter again after tomorrow, but at least we’re not supposed to be getting more rain. We’re still waiting for the yard to dry out enough to finally be able to use the truck to get that tree off the outhouse!
I’m happy to finally get as much done in the garden as I did today, though. With the temporary melon trellis up, there won’t be any rush to get those vertical support posts in place, so we can take more time to do a solid job of it.
I ended up going into town this morning. One of my stops was not far from the marina.
I forgot it’s fish fly season right now.
Buildings and sidewalks are covered with them. Piles of them were under street lights. I walked past a poor guy using a leaf blower, trying to clear the sidewalk in front of retail outlets. Before going inside, I had to shake my shirt to knock the still living ones off of me. Ew.
While in line at one of my stops I – with permission, of course – removed a number of them from the back of the woman in front of me, and she was kind enough to check if I had any on my back, too! 😄
The good thing is, they emerge, mate, hatch their eggs and die, all within 24 hours, so this won’t last long!
After I got home, I was able to make the medical appointment for my mother to go over her prescription changes. They were actually able to fit her in this coming Friday, which is nice and fast.
Then, with the temperatures a much more bearable 20-22C/68-72F outside, and no rain expected, I finally got outside and got some progress in the garden. That will be for another post. For now, I share the cuteness!
Two of Brussel’s kittens are now regularly at the sun room. If the other two are around, I’m not seeing them.
Broccoli’s calico looks like a grizzles old man!
Then I found one of Brussel’s kittens in one of my summer squash pots! Thankfully, not on the one seedling that has managed to germinate. I was able to harvest the fuzzy little squashling and move it to the sun room.
It did not appreciate this.
This is a kitten that hunches down rather than runs away, and it did hiss at me. I think it did clue in that I mean it no harm, because I was able to handle it later, without getting hissed at. I just got a death glare, instead!
Button’s habit of sleeping right in the doorway is a bit of a pain, but with all our losses this year so far, every time I see him sleeping like that, I find myself checking to see if he’s still breathing!
Yes, he was fine. 😁
Seeing Brussel with only two of her kittens does make me wonder about the other two.
Then there is a pair of white and grey/black kittens that have decided the hand rail is the place to hang out.
They are not socialized, but I was able to pet them. Once actually stopped and let me, but the other disappeared under the branches of the rose bush that covered half the hand rail. I did manage to pet its back as it duck into the foliage, though.
Gotta keep working on the socialization thing, if we’re going to be able to get them adopted out! The Cat Lady even contacted me today, as she has someone looking for a kitten, and we do have some that we can handle regularly now, that are also old enough to be weaned.
Getting any adoptions done at all right now would be amazing!
The Re-Farmer 