We had a lovely mild morning today. We supposedly had rain last night, but nothing noticeable. I’m going to have to go back out to water the remaining garden beds today.
As I write this, my various weather apps tell me we are at 15C/59F. I just made a trip to the town north of us. There’s a bank with one of those signs with a rotating display that includes time and temperature. According to that, it was 21C/70F.
I’d say the sign is right and the apps are wrong!
I did a harvest this morning and completely forgot to take a photo of it! There were some Chocolate Cherry and Black Cherry tomatoes to harvest, an orange bell pepper and a hot pepper, a surprising amount of beans, and some San Marzano tomatoes.
What I did not harvest was melons, but something did!
Considering the size and weight of the melon, and the fact that it was taken out of a raised bed and into the middle of a path, I’d say racoons did this.
This is all that’s left of my kohlrabi, after the flea beetles were done with it.
*sigh*
Tonight, we’re supposed to drop down to 4C/39F. Not quite frost temperatures, but we’ll definitely cover the two beds where it’s even possible to do so. I don’t think we’ll harvest the last of the other things until tomorrow, though. I’m taking a chance with that, but we’ll see how it goes. Just watering the garden really well will help things handle the temperatures a little bit.
It’s all one day at a time in the garden, this time of year!
All the areas needing mesh were done, with the mesh first tacked on with staples. For the short sides, I started securing the mesh with wood lath across the bottoms. I then spent a bit of time working out how best to start framing for the clear panels that will be sliding doors, while further securing the mesh on the bottom half.
The clear panel, which still needs to be cut to the sizes I need, is a quarter inch thick. The wood lath is also a quarter inch thick, though individual pieces have variations in width, so that will work out perfectly for sliding channels.
For this side, I added long, vertical pieces of wood that would both secure the wire mesh on the bottom, while also starting to form a frame around the opening that the clear plastic will be covering. This is so that the panel will slide towards the back, over the section that’s insulated and covered.
If you click through to the next photo, though, you’ll see my problem on this side.
The floor boards were placed flush with the edge on the other side. A couple of boards were slightly longer. When covering the section on this side, I took advantage of that and rested the first piece of wood lath right on top of the parts that stuck out, then worked my way up.
There was no way a door panel could slide across with those there. Mostly, it was the one piece that stuck out the furthest, but a second piece had to be dealt with, too.
Thankfully, I have a pull saw with a very thin and flexible blade – a Bear Saw, which I think is a model, not a brand. You can see how flexible the blade is in the next photo of the slideshow. I was able to saw off the parts that stuck out, then use a rasp to take off any bits that were left.
In the last photo, you can see the rest of the framing in place. Some of this will be hidden from view when the sliding channels are complete.
For the sliding door’s channel, I will need to set pieces across the top and bottom, positioned so they will be flush with the panel. I’ll need to find the thickest and straightest pieces for this part!
I am pretty sure I’ll need to add more framing pieces, but I won’t be positive until I have the panels as a guide.
I’ll probably give a bit of extra space for the panel at the top, so it’s not too snug – but not too much space, or it’ll wobble when being opened and closed. Once those pieces are fixed in place – and I’m sure the panel can slide over the covered and insulated section unobstructed – two more vertical pieces will be added that will overlap the top and bottom of the panel, holding it in place.
If we need to remove the panel for some reason, it can be slid right out one end.
The mesh for this section was just a square, but I made sure not to secure it too high. There needs to be enough space for the clear panel that will cover the front of the top level to have the overlap it needs to be screwed in place.
The covered section is over the opening to the second level, so there are no floor boards at the bottom. The bottom piece of wood covering the insulation was lined up with the horizontal frame piece, which made the whole thing slightly lower than the cover on the other side. That gave me room to put a long piece of wood lath across the top as well as the bottom. The rest was done pretty much the same as the other side.
That was it for today. Tomorrow, we need to get the table saw set up so we can cut the clear panel pieces.
Once the clear panels are in place, the door/ramp on the bottom will be installed. Last of all, the roof will be assembled. I have some handles I can add to the sides to make it easier to move it around, too. They were meant for something else, but are needed here, more.
After that, it’s done until we can pick up more paint! With or without paint, though, we can bring it over to the house and set it where the cats can start checking it out and getting used to it.
We’ll need to pick up more heat lamps so that we can have one to set up inside the upper level of the isolation shelter during the winter. Even with insulated walls, the plastic room and clear panels have no insulation. They may be good for passive solar heat during the day, but not very good at night!
I just checked online and the lamps I had in my wishlist are on sale right now, so I’ve just ordered a pair of clamp lamps and a pair of ceramic heat bulbs. I think we still have a timer laying around, too. If it has a light sensor, we can set it up like the one in the cat shelter, so that it will automatically turn the heat on at dusk, then off during the day.
Hopefully, the cats will get to enjoy the shelter soon. Especially the ladies we’re building it for, and their post trap and spay recovery period!
Judgement has always been great with the kittens, so it was no surprise to find him snuggled up with a couple.
The black and white is another one we can’t get close to. I think the other one is Magda. It’s hard to tell, sometimes, with so many similar kittens!
So many adorables out there!
The outside cats got their version of cat soup this evening. I adjusted the ingredients, using more dry kibble and letting it soak longer in hot water before blitzing it with the immersion blender. There was also a couple of cans of wet cat food, lysine and powdered pumpkin seed.
They absolutely loved it, and licked the food trays clean. The skunks and racoons will have nothing to steal tonight!
I first spotted him yesterday evening, though my daughters saw him earlier. It’s been weeks since I saw him last, just once, and more weeks before then.
Wow, is he ever hungry, too! He doesn’t seem too thin this time, though. Sometimes, when they come back in the fall, they look like they’ve been starved for some time.
Hopefully, he will be staying this time, at least for the winter.
I’ve started to do something different for the outside cats. Just for a few nights now. When I make the cat soup for the inside cats, I’m not making an extra soupy soup for the outside cats. It’s mostly warm water with only a couple of cans of wet can food (we can’t afford to do more), some lysine and pumpkin seed powder. I also add some dry kibble to the water to soften up a bit, then divide it out among all the liquid proof trays.
The outside cats absolutely love it.
Best of all, if there is any kibble left in the feeding trays, it all gets eaten up. They literally lick the trays clean, so any lysine that didn’t stick to the kibble from the morning feed and settled on the bottom gets eaten up, too.
There isn’t any kibble at all left for the skunks and racoons to steal, by the time they’re done!
Things are getting chilly out there. It’s time to get the sun room set up for the winter, open up and clean out the cat house – and get that isolation shelter finished! Hopefully, I’ll finally be able to work on that again, today.
Then there’s all the stuff to get done around the house and garden, too.
The Re-Farmer 