July 21st 2020

It was a very good day. I accomplished a lot. It's funny that I always feel it's a better day if I get stuff done, check things off a list, have a sense of good tiredness. Others may think it's a good day if they do very little, rest and relax. Everyone's different.

Husband had been finishing a home project involving our front hall. All the messy, dust producing work is totally done, with just paint touch up left, so I got to work cleaning up the dust in the house. Naturally, that led to other cleaning because one thing leads to another... but it felt good to pull furniture out, really see how bad it was behind things, and then give it a good cleaning. I know, I know, lots of people did that during their isolation, shut down, lock down time, but I didn't. I was still working from home with two other people working / studying from home. 

After I had a bit of lunch, I tackled the great outdoors. My Christmas present trimmer (whipper snipper, weed eater, whatever you call it) got refueled and I proceeded to cut the long grass along the rail fence, by the house, by the pool fence, by the chicken coop... My arm was shaking by the time I was done. Oh but what a joy to use a gas powered trimmer instead of the battery powered one I was using for years. I didn't have to stop with a job half done while the batteries recharged.

I've been doing really well "keeping ahead" of the weeds in my vegetable garden and this is one of the best years so far. 

For the past two years I have had hardly any success with tomatoes due to blight and just very little growth. This year is a whole different experience. We had very heavy rains and wind a day or so ago and although I had caged my tomatoes, they still tipped over. I ended up staking them now. The picture may not really show it, but they are lovely and big and healthy. I grew them from seed that I purchased through Mackenzie Seeds. 

My pumpkins are crawling through everything else and have had lots of blossoms. I love growing pumpkins but haven't done so for years. All of this is due to digging out all of my strawberries last year. Now I have room for lots more vegetables. Ignore the weeds in amongst the beets and carrots. If I pull them out, that will disturb the roots of those vegetables, so they can all grow merrily together.

I can't seem to get my words lined up along the left-hand side without some problems, so if the next bit looks odd, that's why. I had to replant quite a few things: beans, peas, cucumbers (x4), but everything is great now, except I gave up entirely on the cucumbers and have a couple growing in big yogurt containers. I may stick them in the ground when they look like they can handle themselves.

Here are two more tomato plants that I didn't have room for, so I stuck them in a big planter on the porch. They grew so much, I put a tomato cage in there with them. For interest sake, I am growing Big Beef and Mortgage Lifter tomatoes.

The following flower pictures are what is in bloom at the moment, all glorious "hot" colours with echinacea, daylilies, crocosmia, and trumpet vine. 

Oh dear - that's rather out of focus, isn't it? That's the problem with looking at your little phone screen without your reading glasses on!

This is daughter's very first car of her own, purchased with her own money (which wasn't much considering she's been a university student for a while). Husband is a handy guy, never afraid to tackle anything: electrical, plumbing, construction, pool-making, and mechanics and body work. (Not big on cooking, however) He is just starting to take care of the rusted sill plates (do I even have that right?). Everything else is done for it to be certified, this is the last thing that needs finishing. There's always a project going on!

I've been doing some reading. I really enjoyed Magpie Murders written by the same author as Midsomer Murders. At the Edge of the Orchard was a bit of historical fiction - not bad. I've read Ann Granger before, so I knew Rooted in Evil would be another good mystery. I tried to start Brett's Death on the Downs, but it was so unnecessarily wordy that I just couldn't stomach much past the first chapter. I wanted to shout, "Just say it!!" All of these books were ordered online through my local library's website. Now I have to think about what I want to read next.

That's it for today - now I shall read your blogs!

Welcome, Spring!

Here are some hopeful signs from two or three days ago. I think we might actually be enjoying spring and that it is here to stay.

Forsythia is just beginning to bloom. I have this type of shrub in three locations around the property. Very pretty right now, not so thrilling later.

There are little wee clusters of tiny purple violets in the lawn. They're so delicate and such a nice shot of colour.

Peonies are emerging with their wine coloured feathery tops rising up over last year's stalks.

Hostas are just starting to poke up in a new bed that I planted last year. I'm hoping for even bigger clumps this year.

The pink hydrangea from that same bed are also showing some nice growth.

Early tulips are putting forth leaves.

The rhubarb is even bigger now.

Husband and I cut down some dying / dead scrubby little trees and lilacs from the edge of the property, cleaning things up nicely. The bigger trunks will be cut up to add to our firewood. The more branchy stuff goes to the burn pile (which will be a towering inferno if we're not careful).

Since I took these pictures, things have greened up even more. The air is full of birdsong and it just feels lovely.

Speaking of birdsong and on a completely different note, Husband and I were sitting on the front porch after work this afternoon, telling each other about our days and just relaxing. I saw Scooter the Cat with No Tail coming along the rail fence. I could tell he had something in his mouth and it looked big, but I couldn't see clearly because of the fence. At first, I thought it was a black squirrel because there was so much on either side of his face and it seemed to still be moving. The cat kept trotting along, coming toward the house. Of course, I shouted to my husband to do something, but by the time the cat came up to the front walkway and husband got up to "do something", we could see it was a bird. He had the bird more or less by the head and both wings were stretched out, very much alive and moving. I don't like the thought of animals suffering and the cat just came right up the steps onto the porch where I wanted Husband to pick the cat up and force him to drop the bird. The bird, by the way, was a mourning dove. They are not small birds.

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The cat saved us the trouble. He opened his mouth and the bird flew out, scattering small feathers across the porch. The cat turned to look at us with a couple of small feathers still stuck in his mouth and whiskers. I think he was so proud to have caught this bird that he was bringing it for his humans to see and the whole thing just backfired on him.

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This is likely what I would have done:

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Actually, Scooter is black and white, much like Sylvester the Cat (except of course, with no tail).

                                    Looks rather innocent there, doesn't he?