My daughter and her friend decided to make today their hang out at the beach day. It’s the last long weekend of the summer, so they were intending to go a couple days from now, to avoid crowds. Weather forecasts changed their plans.
The beach was certainly crowded, though not in the way I expected. :-D
The Re-Farmer
Some other photos from when we were playing tourist.
One of the perks of living on the bottom of an ancient lake bed is that the local sedimentary rock is sometimes filled with fossils.
The fossil above is one of many scattered about some limestone columns we passed by.
There is also a fair amount of granite in the area, and sometimes you can really see the mica bits in sections of layers.
This picture is from a big, decorative rock sitting in a park.
I’ve always loved rocks. They often have the most interesting things hidden in them.
The Re-Farmer
I hung out after putting kibble out for the outside cats, hoping to lure some kittens.
No such luck. Going past where I was sitting to get to the food bowls was the most two of them would allow. Beep Beep came over for pets, as usual, and her tuxedo came with her, though he wouldn’t let me touch him. The little bobble headed orange tabby came close enough to play with the end of a stick. No sight of the calicos at all.
That grey tabby is getting to be a really big tom! He’s definitely heftier than his mother (though that doesn’t take much, really), though still not fully grown.
I can’t get over the size difference between the teeny tabby and all the others. It’s quite noticeable when he’s with his brother. Hard to believe they’re from the same litter! It’s good to see that he’s very active and playful, and has a very hearty appetite. He just looks sickly and half starved. :-(
The Re-Farmer
A couple of photos from when we were exploring the native plants garden.
This bee photo was pure serendipity. It was the first of several I took, in quick succession, and the only good one of the bee!
This was in a structure near the native plants garden that I think is actually there to disguise and protect some infrastructure equipment. There were several wasps nests in varying stages of construction, all on the shadow side of these support beams.
I didn’t see the spiders until I uploaded the photos, though.
I’ve seen many wasp nests in varying stages of construction before, but never have I seen the cells exposed like this, at this size. The little ones on the left of the photo is usually about as big as they get, before they get covered over. I think the high level of protection they have in these locations may have something to do with it.
The Re-Farmer
Today we made a trip into the city to play tourist, run a few errands, then pick up some stuff for my husband’s birthday.
It made for a very long, but enjoyable, day.
We started off with an early lunch, taking advantage of being in the city. It turns out that Le Burger Week started today (I’d never heard of it before), so I tried the burger offering at an Asian fusion type place.
I can’t even remember what it was called, but it was SO good! Even better after I realized it had jalapeño in it, and took it out. I love the flavour, but don’t do spicy well at all, due to damage to my tongue. :-( That spiral cut potato in the background was delicious, too!
It was really hard to choose from the menu, though. I had originally intended to have a bento box, and as good as the burger was, I’m still not sure I made the right choice.
My daughters both ended up choosing a sushi and sashimi bento, while our guest chose the shrimp one I had been eye-balling. The only sushi we have available out here is grocery store sushi. I’ve tried it. It’s pretty… dry.
Choices like this is one of the things we do miss about city living!!!
While playing tourist, one of the places we visited as a prairie garden filled with native plants.
It looks a lot like our outer yard, except with all the varieties in a much smaller space. :-D Mind you, there were a few things I’ve never seen before, but most of it was quite familiar. I’ll post some of the better pictures I got, later on.
As we ran errands before heading out, my darling daughters found, then got, something for me.
Meet my new friend.
I think I will call him Yorick.
Alas, he is too big for my dash. As I write this, he sits on my printer, looking at me.
He is soft and squishy and marvelous.
The Re-Farmer
It’s been a while, but today I was able to continue working on the perimeter of the spruce grove. I started off at the little maple I had stopped at, last time, and made it to the fence line. :-D
The last time I went through the area, looking ahead to what needed to be done, it was still green. The leaves are completely yellow, now!
Here are the before and after pictures. (click on the images to see them better)
The cluster of trees is made of up 3 poplars and 2 spruces. One of the poplars has lost its top, and I’m pretty sure that’s what’s lying on the ground near the little dead spruces I took out. There is some dogwood at the bottom of this group of trees that I cleaned up a bit, but otherwise left to grow. It’s one of those things that will spread quite handily, given the opportunity.
The next section is an open, mossy area. I’ve been using it to turn around with the riding mower.
Most of the clean up here involved pruning shears instead of saws.
Once that was done, I was at the fence line and had to make some decisions. How far to the north did I want to go?
In the end, I decided I needed to at least clear out a dead tree that had fallen on the fence, so I could access it for repair.
Though the dead tree was a big poplar, the remains of two other trees had also fallen on it.
The poplar itself was growing on the outside of the fence line. There are a few larger trees on the outside that I will have to leave, but I will be taking out any smaller trees on that side, as soon as I am able. I’m not sure about the bylaws in regards to municipal land along the roads, as far as who is responsible for keeping it clear, but I don’t want it to become overgrown with trees like it has on the other side of our gate.
I didn’t do much more in this area, as I want to focus in the other direction, so this section is unfinished. There are a couple of trees that will be taken out, because they are too close to the fence line. Otherwise, it’s mostly undergrowth that will need clearing and cleaning. There seems to be some juniper in there that I intend to leave.
Moving southward, now.
There are some pretty massive spruces here! There isn’t really a lot that needs doing with the trees themselves; a few low hanging branches and dead branches to clear out. I could see that, at some point – long ago – someone had gone through and cleared the lower branches, so they were already pretty good. Again, I spent more time with the pruning shears! There are quite a few poplar on the outside of the fence that I will have to go back to, later.
If you look in the before picture, at the big spruce to the left of centre, you can almost see a potential problem. The top of this tree is broken off, and its top is still there, hanging upside down. I have no idea how long it’s been like this, but at some point, it’s going to fall. Ideally, we’d get it down before it falls on its own and potentially damages something, but for now, it will have to wait.
It’s starting to open up quite nicely.
Though my priority is clearing the fence line, so it can be accessed and repaired as needed, I might have to clear out some of the dead wood further into the grove. There is a large spruce that has come down in the area that I am leaving for next year, but I might have to cut away at least some of the branches, just so I can drag out some of the stuff I know I will be dealing with, further down.
And that is my progress for today! It might be another few days before I can work on it again, so I’m glad I was able to at least get this little corner done.
The Re-Farmer
Yesterday evening, my younger daughter and I were able to take her friend into town for dinner. When we were told it would be about 20-30 minutes before a table would be open (buffet night is popular, it turns out… :-D ), we put our name on the list, then headed for the beach, which was basically across the street from the restaurant.
We had been getting thunderstorm warnings for a few hours by then. While there were no signs of a storm, yet, the winds were incredibly high. High enough that one of the small trees on the boulevard near where we parked came down while we were in the area!
This late in the day, the tide was very low, and people were taking advantage of it.
I’m not sure if you can tell, but the kids on the left are lying in the shallow water, waiting for the waves to crash over them. :-D
It didn’t show well in any of the photos I took, but the high winds would, at times, pick up and blow away sand hard enough that walking into the wind meant our faces getting sandblasted as we returned to the restaurant.
The dinner was excellent, and we got a couple of pizzas to take home for my husband and older daughter, too. I never imagined a chicken and broccoli pizza with Alfredo sauce would be that incredibly delicious!
Since we were in town, we took advantage of being there to play some Pokemon Go. We ended up joining a group for a legendary raid, at a park near a cove. While waiting for the rest of the group to show up, I got these photos.
I usually come by here in the mornings, and this area is, if not completely under water, very close to it. It looks absolutely dry in the photo, though that would be very misleading.
Such a pretty little cove.
This evening was an example of one of the reasons I enjoy playing Pokemon Go. For those who don’t know the game, it uses GPS and real-world maps to get you to different areas to catch Pokemon. There are “stops” in the game that are at real-world locations (churches, public art, historical buildings, etc.) that can be spun to get things needed in the game. Some of these stops are also gyms, where you can train your Pokemon by battling the Pokemon from people on other teams that control the gym, and take control of the gym for your own team. A fairly new feature added to the game has giant, different coloured eggs suddenly appear at gyms, with a countdown to when they will hatch. Most of the time, it’s a larger version of regular Pokemon, of varying strengths. Some, a player can battle by themselves. Others can be defeated within the time frame only when players battle in groups. The colour of the egg gives players an idea of how powerful the hatchling will be, and how many people will be needed to “raid” the gym and defeat the Pokemon. This is a way people from normally opposing teams can work together for mutual benefit in the game.
Then there are the Legendary Pokemon. These hatch out of a particular type of egg, and typically require quite a large group battling together to defeat. That is what we ended up joining last night, and there ended up 9 players battling together. I’m part of a chat group that people use to organize this, and it’s rare that we are in town and able to take part, so we took advantage of it.
We got to the location early and just hung out at the park and statue in the area, until others started to arrive.
The first group arrives and I watch as they come out of the vehicle, realizing that I know one of them. A woman from my home town that I’ve known for pretty much all my life, in fact, and haven’t seen in more than a decade! It turned out she has been playing the game for less than a week, and she was there with family members who where showing her how to play.
Then, just before we started, a little family group arrives, including a young child. I recognize the mom and daughter. They are the daughter and granddaughter of a friend of mine from high school! It was the dad and daughter that were playing the game. :-D
I also got to attach faces to user names that I have as “friends” in the game.
Since I’ve started playing the game, I’ve found Pokemon Go players to be the friendliest of people, and now the game is bringing me on contact with people I wouldn’t be crossing paths with, otherwise.
It’s really quite awesome!
The Re-Farmer
High winds last night. Lost the internet a few times. A bit of a storm, later on.
Several times, I took a quick walk around the yard to check on things and picked up downed branches (one of the apple trees in the west yard lost a big one).
I paused to take a short video, during which my heart was in my throat.
Can you see those power lines?
Can you see those branches, whipping about at the power lines?
When we can finally get those cleared, it’s going to be so much better for my blood pressure.
The Re-Farmer
With a house guest staying with us for the next while, we have been making use of the king size mattress that’s been leaning on the dining room wall since my husband got his hospital bed.
It’s now set up in a corner of the dining room (we can even still use the dining table! :-D ).
The cats have taken advantage of this new arrangement.
The first day it was there, they claimed it as their own. Though no longer quite as novel, after a couple of nights, they still take it over, every chance they get. :-D
The Re-Farmer
Though it’s only the end of August, everywhere we look, we see the signs of autumn.
This is one of the crab apple trees in the West yard. The apples are smaller than usual. Though the apples are not ripe yet, the tree, like so many others, is turning colour and dropping leaves already.
One of the plum trees has completely changed colour already, and the plums…
Most have already dropped, and what few remain on the tree are looking like these.
Today was our day for heading into the city for our monthly shop. Along the way, we saw flocks of Canada Geese in the fields, taking a break from heading south. We’ve been seeing them in fields on the way to town, too.
On the drive home (when it was warmer), the snakes were out. I was able to avoid a couple, but the highway had many squished snakes on it that others did not miss. They have been making their way to their hibernation dens to the north of us for at least a couple of weeks, now.
I had seen a news article about how it’s expected to be a mild winter this year, but earlier, I’d see that The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting a long and bitterly cold winter, with possibly a late spring as well.
From what I’m seeing, I think The Farmer’s Almanac is likely to be the more accurate prediction. :-(
Either way, we’re going to have to start our fall preparations for winter over the next few weeks.
The Re-Farmer
