Month: April 2026

Saw him again for the first time this morning, haven’t seen him since late October. I did a drive by to make sure he took off into the woods. I’m going to sit and wait ten minutes before I release the dog for our morning walk. That’s usually enough time for the coyote to make itself scarce and we can enjoy our morning stroll without any additional excitement.

Everything here on the farm seems to be turning green as expected. Grass, shrubs, trees etc. It’s a very refreshing sight to behold after these long cold months of snow. Last November I planted several hundred tulips and wouldn’t you know at least 80% actually grew! Lucky stars. Now I don’t know if they will bloom this year due to the stresses we got them under, but next year, oh boy! Should be a very colourful treat to see. A feast for the eyes!

It is Tuesday, and the mornings start in the negatives, and end in the early teens, so pretty soon it’ll be shorts weather. Find the hats and sunglasses stat! Where’s the sunscreen? Sandals or Crocs for day to day outdoor operations that don’t include power tools or the lawn mower. Choices, choices.

I need to brush out the cobwebs, open the windows, wash the blinds, and clean the ceiling fans. Let’s put dust out of our way. Funny how we can focus on the small day to day things while there are world regimes toying with dropping nukes. Oh what a world.

I’m just trying to get to Friday evening, right!?! Roll on weekends and no early morning alarm. I just keep telling myself that some day soon these kids will be somewhat self sufficient and the spouse and I can relax just a touch. Just a sleep in, together. Same room, same bed sort of thing. Some point soon-ish I hope.

I still had a productive weekend even if I initially felt like I didn’t. I gathered a bunch of supplies for the house on Friday, shoring up some loose ends there. I secured a 200 L rain barrel for the back yard that doesn’t look too out of place, along with a length of hose that will reach all of the fruit trees, raspberries, and the grapes. The strawberries are too far away, and more of a nuisance than a food source. The bunnies tend to eat them all anyway, so while we do technically have them, they don’t really factor in unless I make some pretty serious changes to the bed they’re in. I don’t see that happening this year. I could change my mind. So setting up the rain barrel meant adjusting the downspout, but this house must have had a collection barrel here before because the cinder block base, and height of the elbow in the downspout were spot on. I took off one extension piece and it all slid right in under the spout with nary a millimeter to spare.

I also had the chance to work on the garage on some Girl Guide turtle boxes. I cut the 2×4’s down to size. Cut out a 3×1 inch hole on every single panel (twenty panels in all), then I prefilled recessed pilot holes for the 3″ deck screws, and cut the four wire mesh panels needed to cover the tops of the turtle boxes. I put one together as a test run with the hammered in staples. So that project is good to go for my wife’s guide unit on Tuesday.

Felt good to be active in the shop. Didn’t hurt that it was above ten degrees celsius so I was at least somewhat comfortable in the shop. It’s not a furniture build, but it felt good to get outside and do something constructive! I have my eye on building a cherry table to run along the back of the couch, which would allow us to take down the dogs crate, since we just use it as a shelf to put shoes on, or hold stuff. The dog crate is big, heavy, and in the way quite a bit every single morning. Part of me wonders if I could move the children’s mini couch to the basement when we do the table, and really open up the front hall.

I think I even started to put the hats, mitts. And gloves and such away on Friday. So obviously we had some snow yesterday. Naturally. I need to move boots, snow pants. And jackets and helmets too, but alot of those items need to be washed first, and in some cases repaired. Stitching up tears and torn seams. Should be fun.

Although I don’t think we entirely ready to roll over into spring and begin the deep cleaning process. Purge & clean is coming soon! We’ll have donations, garbage bags of trash, and items ready to go to the cottage for the younger niece and nephew. All a part of the cycle. That and closets, closets, closets.

Dog walks, wander around a mall, snoop through some hardware stores, just chilling out, and looking at stuff. It’s not very productive but it makes me feel as though I am doing something. I would like to get a rain barrel for the house so that I can use rain water to water plants around the side of the house instead of from the tap. I’m just concerned about having to tap into the downspout, and creating a stagnant pool of water for a mosquito breeding ground right next to my house. But if droughts persist, collecting rain when we have it to boost the time when we don’t seems like a smart idea. This is less important to me than the safety stuff I have been gathering over the last several months. Still waiting on delivery of my three safety straws, and the solar generator battery pack.

I see a few products that I could use for this, but I’m wondering if I can find less expensive options. Like a 50 gallon drum, rubber/plastic or metal. Would they be cheaper than the rain barrel specific items I see at local hardware places. I’d have to cut my own holes, and place my own spigots & hose combo. I’ll have to look into it and make a determination one way or the other.

Looks as though Home Depot has the least expensive option by about $90.00 here in southern Ontario, so that’s good to know. I’ll need some bagged stone, and perhaps a stand, and another small hose to go with it, once I’m ready to make my move. All of the options are for 50 gallons, or 190 litres, so just about equal across the board. Some have two spigots. Most just have the one at the bottom. So I can save time & effort not trying to fit my own in place after the fact. Also good.

I figure the saved rain water can be used to keep my fruit trees well watered once we get into the nasty dry season from June to September. Things can get pretty parched around these parts. The green grass quickly turns straw coloured and gets mighty crispy. And yet the weeds manage to get big, and tall, and strong, and spread all over the show under the same conditions. Go figure.

It has not yet snowed today, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t! Ha. Have a wonderful Sunday. Take care out there.

Wouldn’t you know it, went to pick up my kids from their Guides cookie sales extravaganza and I found an even cheaper 200 L rain barrel, with spigot, and overflow hose, that I could pick up a generic 25 foot garden hose and still come in under the price of the other one I was looking at that was well over two hundred bucks before taxes, and an additional garden hose. I think I did alright! I will need to level the ground with some stones from the farm, but those are free to me. Will need to hacksaw the downspout to the correct height, but that’s not a major issue. All good. Extra water stores now taken care of.

I’d say that 200 litres of reserve water from rain should be enough to help the trees survive our hotter than ever summers. Also good for us in the case of an emergency. Can use it for washing clothes in a pinch, or just for shoes, Crocs and boots after doing a farm run. I like it. Things are shaping up around here. Getting things checked off the list. I feel good about it.

Had a great if brief climbing session today, and had high hopes of getting down to the farm to split some more rounds while the temperature was modest, and it was still dry. But, such is life, it now seems as though the heavens have opened up and it is once again raining quite heavily. No end in sight, given how dark, and overcast each and every direction looks. Lovely.

Guess I’ll read my book then. I’m still waiting on the power pack portion of my solar generator to arrive. Delivery said any day between Friday and Monday. I do have the solar panels in hand, which is good. But ultimately useless without the proprietary power pack slash storage battery. With any luck it will show up on Monday afternoon, and I can get it to start charging up. I will feel a whole lot better knowing we have it on hand as we get closer to the May wind storm anniversary.

If work slows up a bit (it has gone full tilt for multiple weeks now – which is astounding, also excellent!) I can give the dog a walk, and then start to split some rounds, or process the last remaining logs for seasoning prior to getting split next year, or the year after that. I don’t really like to plan that far ahead, because you just don’t know anymore. I have two current friends battling cancer, and some recent deaths from cancer, and some acquaintances have passed away from various lymphomas too. It’s very prevalent, and seems to be extra aggressive as of late. In growth, expansion, and how it attacks the afflicted individual. It’s nuts. So given how paper thin everything feels, I am keeping my planning to whatever is in each month, and perhaps each quarter. I don’t want to be looking out for stuff five six months from now, I want to focus on today, and the here & now primarily.

I’m not negating the long term plans, but I want to be present for immediate things, not spend my time longing for stuff that’s months, or years away. I haven’t gone all YOLO, but I am trying to be more present. I love a good plan, lists and whatnot, but given how do many others are being dealt upsets, it’s good to be here, now, and get things done with grace in the moment. Not sure if that sentiment reads how I feel it, but that’s where I’m at right now.

I did all that prep work on the off chance we might face so kind of struggle or chaotic event, so I haven’t given up on the future. But I have no guarantees for long term, so instead of putting things off, I’m more likely to hit them head on now, than wait. It’s a little contradictory, but a suitable balance can be made, I think.

Put stuff in place, just in case you get to tomorrow, but live in the here and now, with what you got going on. I think I’ve always lived this way, but as I continue to get closer to fifty years old, I’m more introspective, and willing to do important things now while I can, rather than wait for retirement, or once the kids hit this milestone, or that one, etc etc…

I’m seeing and hearing of people dying, getting various cancers and other ailments, losing limbs to amputations, and all sorts of upsets to people’s plans for their futures. It makes you think. Part of me screams forget tomorrow do it all right now!, this very instant, and the responsible part says keep a watch out for tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next five years, and the next ten after that. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

So in short it’s raining again (April showers bring May flowers after all.) as much as I was hoping to go split some wood it seems unlikely for today. There is a call for single digit temperatures tomorrow, and the possibility of snow. Seems late in the month for snow, but chaos is chaotic for a reason. Tire swaps will have to wait until next weekend then. I don’t appreciate doing the tires during inclement weather. I’ll turn the water on to the outside tap so I can power wash the road salt off of the winter tires when I do swap them out. Cleaning them doesn’t add all that much extra time anyway.

Good news is all this climbing means I can still grab a hold of an axe comfortably for 75-90 minutes. My one elbow still doesn’t like chopping all that much even with five months off. Keeps me from spending all day basking in the sun splitting, so that’s likely a good thing. I need to get more Gatorade G2, or Zeroes for prolonged axe swinging sessions. My chainsaw gear is brand new, clean, and ready to rock & roll too. Once work slows up, I can hit the two remaining piles hard, and try to get ahead leaving reduced piles for the fall. If all goes well that is.

After many a sleepless night, spent worrying about the safety of my immediate family in the case of a natural disaster, or some kind of unforseen event (think attacks on our Canadian Sovereignty) I have begun to amass some bits and pieces that should keep us alive, perhaps not thriving, but hobbling along whilst living to make it through 8 or 9 weeks of trouble. I’m not a rich person, so I can’t plan for every contingency, and I can’t afford to be luxurious about our safety measures. Think along the lines of better than nothing. That’s the level we will survive on in case electricity goes, natural gas gets shut off, and water goes away too. The scenario I think we can hobble through doesn’t include being bombed, or active armed combat. I can’t do anything about those things, when everyone employs tanks, drones, and missiles.

But, in the case of another larger major wind storm that knocks out much of the province, we can get along ok. I now have a cheap camping stove that runs on propane, of which 8 have a number of tanks. Life straws, and now water tablets incase the bottled stuff doesn’t last as long as I’d hoped, or it gets so hot we need to consume more than I have on hand. I bought several freeze dried meats, so my protein concern is lifted (slightly).

We have matches, lighters, oil lamps, sleeping bags for all four of us, air mattresses, and individual yoga mat pads,  camping cookware with plates & cups, a waterproof 20 L bag, informational books, medical kits, at least 4 tourniquets, possibly six of them. I thought I had four in the bathroom with one medical kit, and two more in the garage with the kit in the shop. So I think we will be ok for a modest stint.

We keep more food than we eat in a single week in the house, so we have canned goods, and bagged goods to start off with. But maybe because there are four of us my math might be a little off. Either way we should be able to get through some trouble with all of us mostly fed, watered, rested, and still alive. That’s my goal here.

No bunker building, no arms cache, no delusions of thriving in the chaos. Hunker down, and live to tell the tale. It wouldn’t be glorious, or much fun. BUT, if it comes we can weather some kind of prolonged storm or event. I’m good with that. I feel like I have done my part.

It’s Friday y’all. Did you catch the season finale of The Pitt last night? I enjoyed it, much as I have the rest of the season. Less fanfare this year. No need to continue to raise the stakes to awkward proportions. No jumping the shark. Did it tie off every loose string? Nope. But that’s life. Some shit just floats along unaccounted for.

Might get some snow this weekend. Tire swaps might get bumped to the following weekend.

Blasted my funny bone on my left arm about thirty feet in the air and it still hurts like the blazes three days later. Has made sleeping uncomfortable, and sitting to read in an armchair very unpleasant. Although, that being said I did manage to get within six pages of the end of my latest Dungeon Crawler Carl book, and can likely start book seven today, if I try hard enough! But, back to my elbow. I’m not certain what I was doing to bang the shit out of my elbow.bi think I had finished, and was descending on the auto belay and randomly caught my elbow on a jug that was slightly more prominent than I had previously thought when 8 was going up. And WHAM! right on the funny bone. Money shot! Tingles and pain from the elbow to the finger tips. A nearly entirely numb hand for the first little bit, and now nagging pain when my elbow meets a surface of any kind. The dangers of climbing… Oooh!

I’ve just had a cancellation for the morning walk, so I’ll do that alone today, just Graham and I. We can go up to the orchard, and off to visit my old dog’s grave site, and say hello. It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve swung by there. Make sure he’s still hurried, and not a reanimated zombie terrorising the neighbourhood on his off days. Ha.

It’s Thursday, which means both Friday, and the weekend are within arm’s reach. Just gotta make it through the next couple of days, he says, to himself every week when life gets busy. I haven’t heard back from the accountant about my taxes, so I have that to pay at the bank before too much longer. We are officially beyond the halfway point of the month now. The joys of adulthood.

I don’t typically bother tying my loose brush up into bundles for the green bin trucks to take away. My usual routine is to collect them up, prune my trees and shrubs, gather a pile that gets about waist high, and then in the fall cart it all off to the farm. I’m trying to not give skunks any extra reason to hang out near my house, so brush or limbs will get carted off as soon as humanly possible this year (if I can help it!) the fence will last a whole lot longer if I don’t leave a bunch of stuff leaned up against it to rot away every single year. Our trees are pretty big, not massive, but of a good size, so every time we have a storm, or a prolonged down pour old dead bits fall out of the trees. I collect them up rather than attempt to move over them, because Shrapnel!. Then before 8 know it my little pile has grown a fair bit, and then it’ll catch blowing leaves, and I’ll toss pulled weeds onto the pile, and it’ll get bigger and bigger.

So to combat that constant pile up of debris and garden refuse, I put all three new piles out on the curb, tied in string. And they actually went this time. Handy thing was, since I had tied them up, I could have just as easily transported them to the farm. But this way was easier. Somewhat. I need to keep on it. We have a while to go yet before we reach May and I have to start cutting the grass twice per week. So I will continue to pick up all of the fallen twigs rather than mow them into the grass. It’s slightly less dangerous with the tiny twigs, and longer grass, than with bigger bits and our current short, and not very thick grass.

Every year I toy with the idea of taking more, and more lower limbs out of our trees because we can’t play catch in the shade under them once the leaves load them down. I should make the choice to cut them off before the buds appear, thereby not wasting the trees energy, and resources on parts I intend to remove. I might have left it too late all ready. Those parts will have to go to the farm, they will be far too big for the green GFL trucks to take away.

It is Wednesday today. We are in the dead centre of the month once we hit noon. I should get back to work!

Really toyed with the idea of not walking at the farm today, but just as I arrived for school drop off the downpour ended, and I thought “Oh what the hell!, why not go?”, and then shortly after the dog and I got out of the car and started our walk another pulse of heavy rains fell, and now my legs, feet, jacket, cuff are all soaked through. But! On a lighter note it is ten degrees out, and so not freezing cold. So I’ll take it. We are currently flirting with a major electrical storm, I can hear the booms, and a lot of rumbling, but I see no flashes overhead, or anywhere in the sky visible from our front room. The lights have flickered, but as of right this second… We still have power.

I do have the option to run my gas powered generator if I need to. It’s funny I ordered the solar generator because of how pricey gasoline has gotten, but we may have our first need of it before the thing arrives! How fun is that. Droll, very droll. Ain’t that always the way of things though?

It is now Tuesday April 14th, we are nearing the middle of month four, and the year is picking up considerable speed. Especially when you consider that the spring, and warmer weather bring with it new outdoor requirements. No snow shoveling, or breaking ice dams, now pulling weeds, cutting the grass, pruning trees, and cleaning the windows, and deck, and just tidying up the exterior of the house. Home ownership, it never ends. Cycle after cycle of cleaning, maintenance, repairs, and replacements, until you die.

With any luck we will get some dry patches in May to be able to plant our Dahlias, and Glad bulbs. I’d like to grow some sweet corn in the backyard this year. I think I’ll give that a whirl. Thought I did it last year, but those turned out to be Soya beans, and I didn’t care for that. No matter. If I had it my way I would plant several more fruit trees in our yard since neither the kids, nor the dog ever bother to play out there. I’d knock down the toddler play structure and add a tiny mixed orchard. Couple peach trees, one more apple, another cherry tree, maybe two pear trees. Give us a real fruit salads worth of home grown deliciousness. One step at a time. We have raspberries, grapes, and strawberries too. I planted Blueberries once, but they are fickle and weak and don’t take a late or early frost all that well. They just straight up die. So I won’t waste my money on those again.

A major reoccurring issue I see at the farm is drainage. The water pools, and flows in weird places because I don’t think the family has done enough to route the water away from the fields well enough. I think most, if not all of the culverts are clogged, and the water backs up and flows across the lanes, and over the grass instead of down the drains, and back toward the river/creek. If we were smart we’d figure out a way to unblock those culverts and the fields would dry out a little quicker because the water wouldn’t pool quite so bad if it had some place to easily go. But I’m no horticulturalist, so what do I know. I split wood, and walk the grounds every day, doesn’t make me a farmer, nor a land management guru.

Buds are on the trees, more so every day. Soon we will see them start to open, and the whole town will look a lot more colourful, and lovely. I may have mentioned this before, but I took some time the other day to cut the suckers off of our two oldest Lilac bushes. I’m hoping that forces the tree to support the old growth portions, and we get actual aromatic blooms that last for more than a single, yet intense, week of purple scented wonder.

If I could locate a Russian Olive I’d put one of those here too. A bit thorny though. But my god do they smell fantastic. I realize Magnolia’s look nice, and smell ok too, but a silvery, thorn & barb covered Russian Olive smells so much better. At least to me. Reminds me of cutting grass in Brampton back in the early 2000’s.

I noticed some pretty sizeable puddles in the street out front of my house this morning. So I uncovered three storm drains after I got home from our very wet walk. And wouldn’t you know, 5 minutes later, no more puddles. That’s what I call a job well done. Ha.

I have never had to pull so many off of a dog this early into the year. With the cold winter we had, with extensive snow presence I thought for sure the Tick population would be lower this year. But it’s the opposite. The woods are infested. Last year in its entirety I pulled maybe four off the dog, but we’ve killed five and it’s only April 13th today! Holy cow. I best get him in to the vet for his flea & tick medication sooner rather than later.

Have fun in this creepy crawly season of growth, rain, and warming temperatures. Best of luck to you.

The children were tasked with picking up pruned apple branches out of the nearby orchard, and I was there to provide them a ride both to, and from the farm to do the work. I took those 75 minutes to split several rounds for the first time since October, and attempt to fill one of the green wire bins. Almost did it too! Mind you I started by putting the final pieces of last year’s splitting work into the bottom of the bin, and then I chopped enough to nearly fill it right full. I think one big round split up a bunch would actually complete the bin, but I was still impressed with my old flabby self for chopping for 75 minutes straight.

We had done a dog walk, then a big extended family Easter egg hunt, along with a pizza lunch, and then gone back for outdoor chores and wood splitting. I certainly feel as though I got my 20,000 steps in just at the farm alone.

Not only that but we were able to move some kids toys and equipment along to the youngest member of the extended family. Baby Betty got a children’s drum full of musical instruments, a xylophone, some faux food in a picnic basket, a three wheeled scooter, a tiny bicycle with training wheels, a side winder cart, and a radio flyer tricycle. Almost all of the hanging stuff from the shed is gone. Booyah! Noice. Do not fret, my kids still have their bikes, and two two wheeled scooters to play with. They do not have to go without.

Our emergency food stores came yesterday. We have emergency rations, water straws, Brita filters, bottled water, propane heater, gas powered inverter, a solar powered battery station, and a couple of books with related food & safety strategies here in case of a natural disaster, or something equally as upsetting to our daily lives. I’m comfortable knowing we could make a one month to six week stretch if we absolutely had too.

Not to mention we have regular food stuffs here that we would tuck into prior to the emergency stockpile. I think we could eek out a couple of additional days or weeks. The real hardship comes down to prescription drugs, and or sleep apnea requirements for night time. Those put us at risk, provided the neighbours don’t go feral and start killing everyone for their food, gas, water, and medical kits. In that instance we’re pretty much doomed. Fun times.

On the bright side, I got to split wood in peace and quiet with a warm sun on my face, no need for a coat, and without anybody squabbling near me. It was pretty awesome. I enjoyed it. My body is sore today though, oh boy! Out of shape. Look at me, I’m a pear.