Author: Re-Farmer

The things we find, and arborist update

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The arborist called about coming over today to look around at the work that needs to be done.  Since we rather suddenly have to buy a new CPAP, budget demands we have to split the work.

As I went to unlock and open the gate for him, I paused to check out the fence line from the garage to the gate.  It is along this fence that there is a power line to the gate that I was able to use to plug in the weed trimmer, not long ago.  Some of the fence posts are tipping, and the line itself is sagging, so I wanted to take a closer look.

While I was finding a top wire that was no longer attached to its post and following it along to see what was going on with that, I found something I hadn’t noticed before.  Another thing to add to the “why is this here?” list!

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Another toilet?  Really?

And this time, the tank, too.

This is next to the garage.  Where did it get hauled from?  Why did it get left in the bush?  Why is it there?

The post it’s leaning against is also part of the problem with the fence line.  It’s also tipping, and that’s why the wire I had been looking at was no longer attached to its post.

I am really looking forward to when I can move on to this section for clean up.

As for the arborist, after looking around, we worked out the essentials.  So for an estimate of $750 (half of the $1500 estimate he gave me for the whole job), this is what we will get done.

At the south end of the yard, clear some of the willow branches away from the power lines.

Just north of the house, clear some of the maple branches in one tree from the power line.

Top off the dead spruce tree so that, if it does fall, it will not hit the power line.

Top off the two maples leaning over the roof so that, if they do fall, they won’t hit the house.

Everything else can wait until spring.

So I’m thinking early October to get this stuff done.

It was funny to walk through the maple grove to look at the area there.  I joked that I’ve done quite a bit of work since he was last out.  “I noticed!!” he said.  LOL  No kidding!  We could actually walk through the area and not fight our way through a blocked off path, or have to avoid tripping over pieces of tree trunk and dead branches in the tall grass.

After he left, my younger daughter and I headed into town to go to the pharmacy.  When we got back, we saw Butterscotch coming out.  I’d left some food for her and the kittens earlier, and she was eating.

One of her kittens also came to see us.

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No sign of the other three.

I look forward to starting to clean this area up, too, but I do like the idea of leaving some sort of shelter for the cats to use, too!

Just without any grody, moss covered, rotting carpet pieces.

The Re-Farmer

Above and below

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While checking on the crab apple trees this morning, I found this in the branches of one of them.

The birds have been done with it for some time.

Getting the photo from above involved reaching as high as I could, and hoping my phone’s camera was pointing at least somewhere in the right direction. *L*

The Re-Farmer

Some little things

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Not a particularly productive day, but a good day for little things.

And pretty things.

I’ve noticed quite a difference in behavior in the birds as they visit the feeder now, compared to when we were still just putting seed on the frozen ground.  They seem a lot more chill and relaxed!  The bird in the photo on the left was just hanging around in the feeder, pecking at a seed every now and then, shifting position now and then, but otherwise just sitting there.  Even on the planter feeder, the birds more frequently take just sit around and take their time as they feed.  Rather nice. :-)

Earlier today, my younger daughter and I made an unplanned trip to the city.  When we got home and were walking to the door, we saw Butterscotch coming over, and could see her babies over by the old dog house.  So I grabbed our things and went inside while she topped up the cat kibble, and took some over for the kittens, too.

When I came out again shortly after, I found her over by the storage house with Beep Beep.  We now know where she moved her kittens to!  They are under the storage house.  My daughter brought some kibble for them, too, and they were quite happy to scarf it down.  They are much more nervous than Butterscotch’s kittens, though, and quickly hid themselves as I walked by, even though I didn’t go towards them.  No chance for photos!

I’m happy to know where Beep Beep’s babies are, and that they are eating solid food now, too.

It’s good to enjoy the little things in life.  Especially if those little things also happen to be furry and adorable! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Our green friend is back

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Our froggy guest had been staying in our kitchen window daily, leaving at night and returning by morning, for a few days.  Then it didn’t come back and I thought that would be it.

A couple of days ago, it started coming back again, and I am so happy to see it!

So cute!

The Re-Farmer

Un. Be. Lievable. Part 5

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For those of you that have been following this blog for a while, you’ll know about the issues we’ve had with transferring our IDs to our new province.

If you’re new to the blog, you can catch up here.

Briefly, after months to get my own driver’s license changed over, we couldn’t get my husband’s changed over.  The identity unit told the public insurance company that the only way for it to be fixed was for my husband to get a legal name change to… his legal name.

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When my daughter went to get her learners license changed, because it was past the 3 month grace period, she had to do the written test again.  Which had its own issues!

This required going directly to one of the public insurance company’s locations, in a nearby city, so I took the opportunity to confirm with them about this.  Which they did.

The only way for my husband to get a new ID/driver’s license in this province would be to go through the time consuming and costly process of changing his legal name to his legal name.

They agreed.  It didn’t make any sense.

However, they did give me the contact information for the ombudsman to see if an exemption could be made.

Well, it’s been a while, but my husband was eventually able to call and explain the situation.

Recently, they got back to him with a solution.

It turns out that no, he does NOT have to get a legal name change to his legal name.

What he’ll need to do is get two bills that reflect his FULL legal name – all four names – to match his birth certificate.  He can then take those, along with his birth certificate, to an agent and get a new driver’s license for this province, that has his FULL name on it.

Thankfully, he does have two utilities under his name (the rest are under my name).  He’ll just have to contact the companies to get his full name on them.

The question then becomes; will their software allow them to include, or be able to fit in, all four names?

Un. Be. Lievable.  All this, just to transfer his ID!!

The Re-Farmer

Kitten Kibble

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While topping out the outside cats’ bowls with kibble, I decided to leave a bit extra beside the old dog house for Butterscotch.  There’s some old carpet that was dumped there that the kittens climb all over, and that’s what I put the kibble on.

While doing my nightly walk around the yard this evening, I saw the kittens, digging into a fold of the old carpet, trying to find some last pieces of kibble!  The kittens are eating solid food now. :-)

Then Butterscotch came out and went over to me for some pets, before going to the food bowls.

So I got more kibble for the kittens.

Soon, Butterscotch was back with them, and they were all eating kibble!

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One finished before the others and decided to explore.  This one actually came fairly close to me – but not too close!

They’ll get used to me, eventually. :-D

I knew zooming in with my phone to take pictures wasn’t going to be the best, so I took some video, too.

Unfortunately, I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes!

So I didn’t stay long.

The Re-Farmer

After and after-after shots

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This afternoon, I went back to the area in the maple grove I worked on last.  Rather than working my way farther down the rows of trees, I focused on taking down dead and dying trees, pruning away lower branches, and so on.

So here are the after pictures from before, and the after-after pictures from today. :-D (click on them for larger images)

When I took pictures last time, I had worked closer to ground level, so you can’t really see as much of what I cleared away higher up.  There’s a nice, straight spruce tree in the middle that had a lot of dead branches that I pruned away.  In this section, that tree saw the most work.

I pruned as many branches as I could reach.  One tree has a large dead and rotting branch that will have to wait until I’ve got a full size chain saw.

Aside from pruning, this area had a small, dead spruce tree taken out, too.

I did nothing with the big dead spruce tree in front (with the rock at its base), though some of the lower branches were a bit in the way.

This area is where I started to need to do a lot more picking and choosing.

The maple that’s under the power lines came down.  I left the stump tall for when I have a full size chain saw.  If I were to just leave it, it would probably start growing new branches.  Maples are resilient that way.

More small trees had to come down.  I’m trying to salvage some of those spruces, but the more I look at the one on the right of the photo – the healthiest looking one out there – the more I realize I will probably need to take it down completely.  It’s just too close to the power line.  It’s not a problem now, but it can potentially grow another 20 ft or more, and it’s already just a few feet shorter than the height of the line.

I think I will leave it for now and ask the arborists when they come out.

Lots to clean up in this area.  I got to one tree that was clearly planted deliberately; the sticks that had been put in the ground to mark and protect it when it was planted were still there.  When I got to it, however, I discovered that the only green leaves on it were from those vines!  Once I pulled those free, I could see the tree was quite dead.  In other areas, I took down a dying spruce that had been planted in the row, but growing out of its base were two self-sown maples.  I ended up taking out one of them.  We shall see how the other one survives.  In other areas, I was pruning branches from a couple of elms so close together, I couldn’t fit between the trunks, but they seem to be doing fine, so I’m not going to thin them down.  Unlike the dead spruce that was also right next to them.  The spruce was planted.  I think the elms sowed themselves.

As I was working, I noticed I was getting pretty close to the birch trees I’d noticed when I was surveying the area a while back.  I had shown the pictures I took to my mother and she was happy to see them.  She had transplanted them from saplings she dug up while visiting her grandparents’ homestead up north, years ago.

I also found some apple trees further in.  A strange place to plant them.  The one closes to the power pole gets enough light that it is now producing apples, but these ones are practically in the dark.  It will be good when I finally go through that area to thin and prune.  Hopefully, they will be able to do better, next year, because of it. :-)

Not back for a couple of hours.

My branches piles are getting huge. :-/

Next time, I will finally start working further West down the rows.

The Re-Farmer

Beach finds

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I was able to stop at the beach again, after dropping my daughter off.

One of these days, we should there and actually swim or something. :-D

When I’m just there for a quick visit, I like to walk away from the sandy part of the beach and head for the rocky part.

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I like to keep a look out for unusual colours, shapes, fossils and fairy stones.

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It’s mostly sand and lime stone.  I like ones like this, with the interesting colours and textures.  Sandstone is remarkably light.

It’s common to find pieces of shell as well, but today, I found what looked like teeth.

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Which turned out to be exactly what it was!  On the jawbone of a fish.

No.  I didn’t keep it.

It’s a really nice and relaxing way to spend a bit of time in the morning.  Especially when it’s early enough that there’s hardly anyone else out, yet! :-D

The Re-Farmer

Bloom time

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When we moved out here to take care of the farm for my mother, one of the things we knew is that this first year would be a year of discovery.  With the yard in particular, I wanted to get an idea of what was growing where.  Sure, my mother could fill in a few details, but she hasn’t lived here in a few years, and isn’t going to remember everything.

As summer progresses, and things come to bloom in their seasons, I am making more and more of these discoveries.

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This is at the base of one of the dead spruce trees I’d pulled a whole triffid of vines out of, not long ago.  When I was going around here with the weed trimmer, I avoided this area, partly because I could tell it wasn’t just a whole lot of overgrown crab grass and weeds, partly because I wasn’t sure what was hidden in it.  I’m glad I left it. :-)

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The main garden area is completely overgrown right now, much to my mother’s dismay, but I did try to explain to her that I wanted to see what was there.

In the middle of some tall grass and burdock that I’d pulled, there is this splash of colour.  There is another next to it that’s more white than pink.  Just the two of them, in a sea of grass!

I will see about transplanting these somewhere, to salvage them, later on.

There were a couple of areas with a lot of thistles that I pulled when they were larger (easier to pull), but I didn’t get all of them.  There is another type of thistle, with fewer but larger leaves and spines, that grows much larger flower heads.

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The bees and butterflies love them.

There’s only a couple of these big thistles.  I will leave them for the insects and pull them out just before they go to seed.

There were many more random flowers and raspberries (I picked almost 2 cups of raspberries while taking these photos – far more than I expected to get out of them!) growing in between the trees in the maple grove, including in areas where I’d already used the weed trimmer.

The girls and I have been talking about what we’d like to do, and it turned out we’re all on the same page.  When things are cleaned and cleared out, we want to plant, in some areas, a variety of wildflowers and bulbs that will naturally spread.  The rows of trees are not the same distance apart, so I’m thinking of keeping the widest area clear, and planting between the rows that are closer together.  If we’re careful about what we select, we can encourage them in these areas to not only make it look pretty, but to reduce maintenance.  No grass to mow or weeds to trim.  We’ll just have to make sure there is plenty of grassy areas, too (or maybe moss) to walk in.  Plus, I’d like my husband to be able to enjoy the space, too, and not have to worry about getting stung, since he’s allergic to stings.

Finding that balance, and thinking years into the future, will be the key in deciding what we do.  We don’t want to be in the same situation, years down the road, that we are in now with the spirea and the vines!

Until then, we’ll just enjoy the blooms as we find them!

The Re-Farmer

Windy Beach

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One of the bonuses of dropping my daughter off at work for an early shift is taking a quick stop at the beach before heading home.

It was very windy off the lake today, making for some awesome waves!

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As I parked, I could see a guy struggling through the waves near the water line, carrying an oar and dragging what I at first thought was a kayak.

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Passing him on the sand a few minutes later, as he fought the wind to put it on its wheeled carrier, I saw it looked more like a surf board.  So I’m guessing it was a paddle board.

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The combination of the lake’s size and how shallow it is, makes it one of the more dangerous lakes to sail on in rough weather.  Today wasn’t too bad for boats, but I would not have dared go out there on a paddle board in these conditions!

It sure is beautiful, though.

The Re-Farmer