Author: greatwallstudios

Sounds fun doesn’t it? So we now have some additional fruit trees added to the yard to go along with the items I planted years ago. We have 2 Apple trees, two Cherry trees, a grape vine, raspberry patch, and a strawberry patch that seems to travel around the property thanks to the bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons. So today I went out and bought, then planted 1 Nectarine, 1 Peach, 1 Combo Plum, and 1 Pear tree. Thanks to some advice I got from fellow fruit tree enthusiasts on Threads I planted these four new additions in a line, close together, parallel to the line of pre-existing and established fruit trees.

In a year or two I hope to see some new fruity faces hanging around in the yard. Not only that but some additional shade would be welcome too. I planted them away from the house do the roots shouldn’t become an issue to the foundation.

The goal here was also to keep the new trees close to the rain barrel, and the downspout to ensure that they get watered relatively easily. Due to the orientation of our house they will get sun for the majority of the day, excepting the early morning and dusk because our neighbours all have gigantic trees that block off those low angled rays. Not a big deal.

The ground was soft and wet so it felt like a great day to plant trees. It’s above 10°C, and it is to drizzle for much of today, and the next several days off and on. Seems ideal for new juvenile trees. The Home Depot app makes them look like tiny sprigs, but two of them were almost full blown trees at this point. I have high hopes that they will take, because established, and live a long and fruitful life in our side yard.

I bought some fruit tree fertilizer spikes to go with them, so each new tree got two each. I can always add one more later on in May if some appear to struggle in our soil. I know I will likely complain once I have to cut the grass around them, but if food insecurity is coming thanks to all the fertilizer blockaded at the Strait of Hormuz, then I’d prefer to get out ahead of it, and get my kids sorted before shit hits the fan.

I’ve wanted to be better prepared for a while now, but I’ve taken the plunge to be more proactive. This isn’t to live through the apocalypse, but to survive some hardships, downturns, bursting bubbles, and hard resets. I think I can sleep at night knowing I’ve done what I can to keep the kids sorted out during an emergency. That’s all anybody can ask, I think. Something is always better than nothing.

I do look forward to seeing if these fruit trees will bloom this year or now. The Apples and the Cherry trees always look so pretty when covered in blossoms. I’m sure the local bunnies will appreciate new fruit types falling onto the ground in the yard. Not trying to feed the neighbourhood here, but I know the local wildlife will love it all too.

I’m sure I’ll hate myself in a couple years when I’ve added ten extra bags of leaves to my fall clean up, but it’s a small price to pay to keep your kids fed after the single purchase price of a trees, and a couple fertilizer spike to kick them off. Ron Popeil is my spirit guide here, as I both “Set it, and Forget it!”.

How has your Wednesday started out? Our dog walking pals have cancelled for three consecutive days, so poochie here is a little miffed our walk was faster than usual, and not as entertaining for him. I cannot control other people’s schedules! He looks forlorn, and despondent. It’s a whole schtick with this dog of mine. You’ve never heard such a hard done by sigh like I get with this doggo. Best of luck out there fellow fruit tree enthusiasts. May your thumbs be green, and your flora ever fruiting!

Not only had I planned on going for a nice long walk today, but I was going to stop in at the local nursery to grab some peach trees, and some nectarine trees to plant in my backyard. Probably a great time to plant with the ground being soft, and lots of moisture present to help the roots become established. But, ugh. This is a good amount of rain to be playing about in. The plants would love it, even if I hate every second of it.

No matter, with a shortened walk because the dog fled the trail to go back to the vehicle, and our walking partners cancelling on us, it’s now really early, and I just want to take my wet self home to dry off. Maybe tomorrow things will play out a little better.

I had thought about hitting the driving range today, but with this rain I’m not. Plus they have strange spring hours where they can open at 10, 11, 12 or 2:00 pm, and I can never remember which days, or why that is. If we had a nearby indoor range I’d hop over there for a change of scenery, and a chance to dust off my clubs, and stretch out my swing. I’m truly terrible at golf, but I find it to be fun. I stop play on any given hole if I hit double the par for the course to maintain a pace of play. Most part par threes I can do without going too far over. Depends on the accuracy of my drive. If I’m up the middle it’s likely I could very well make par, but other than that I might have to shoot from the weeds, or out of the woods! Ha.

Ideally I’d go hit 120 balls at the range then play some mini putt. Far less stress, and I’m hitting likely about the same number of shots. Like I said, terrible. If I broke 170 I’d be surprised.

It’s Tuesday, the very last one in April. I have been notified that my second to last pre ordered book is coming on the fifth. I am excited to read it, but it might have to wait until I receive and read book eight of the Matt Dinniman Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I have read the first seven books in the series one after the other. I’m 2/3 of the way through book seven. The last three books were all over 800 pages, so I’m not moving as fast as I first was. I have until roughly May 12th to get the seventh book finished before I have the next one in my hands. So if 8 finish it too quickly I need to decide if I can start & finish another book in that time frame, or go back to painting the last ten or so minis I have primed, or just be a lazy bum and doom scroll during that lull, and pick up where I left off once I have book eight in hand. Choices, choices, decisions, decisions.

I did have a productive day yesterday. Walked the dog, took my club in for repairs, did some web banner work of which I had fourteen to do. Then I took down our children’s outdoor playset after numbering the pieces, and then I assembled the covered trampoline at my inlaws house that evening. Work was slow, so I’m kinda glad I did those outdoor projects to stay busy.

I don’t know why I’m so fixated on it, but I really want to plant several more fruit trees in our backyard in case everything goes tits up in the future. It’s just a nagging concern that I have. I know that a handful of fruit trees wouldn’t make us self sufficient, but it would alleviate some food scarcity concerns if they fruit every single year. I’d know that even when things get tight we’d have, apples, cherries, grapes, raspberries, and some strawberries too. If I buy the peach trees and nectarines or pears we’d have those too. A real fruit salad of choices in our own yard. Might be unconventional because we live in a suburban neighbourhood, and not a farm, or homestead property. But I like the option of having the fruit at our disposal rather than not. Plus it adds shade after a few years, and if I keep them far enough back the roots won’t interfere with the foundation, and can act as a pollard in case some random drunk tries to mount the curb taking the corner at the nearby intersection and accidently rams up the lawn towards the house. Always thinking. Worst case scenarios. It’s a curse I tell you.

I balked at the idea of buying a fifty pound bag of rice to keep on hand for emergencies, and settled on fifteen pounds instead. Ha. I looked into those plastic pales of emergency food, but for those they start at six hundred dollars for one month, and go up into the thousands for three. Six, nine or twelve months. They say they last for twenty five years when sealed, cool, and dry. But that’s a much larger investment than I think I can shake loose at this point in time. I’ll just keep a whole lot of dry pasta, and rice on hand, along with the tinned meats I know none of us like enough that they would randomly get eaten just because it’s there, and available. Like I say, we could very well survive, but it won’t be a thriving type of situation. Ha. Although if we had all these fruiting trees around it wouldn’t be so bad, like it could be. Things to sit with and think about. Huh.

I have a Taylor Made Aero burner #3 in two pieces which I would like to have made whole again, so I’m making an early morning pit stop in the Aurora Golf Town to see if they can make that happen. They don’t open until ten so I’m stuck here waiting for the doors to unlock. It wasn’t a crazy expensive used club, but I like it, and want to continue to be able to use it.

It is fixable. Extra stiff shaft, and a jumbo grip later, I can have it back in rotation by next Monday. I’m happy with that. Let us rejoice with a few balls at the driving range next week!

Simple enough right? We’ll, the boat died on our way back so we had to cut the first dock free to just float about in the bay. We paddled the boat back to shore. It took some time to clear the gas lines free from the varnished fuel, and the silt that built up along with it. So then we launched a seadoo, but you can’t move as much with it. So things got a little delayed and we ended up working into the onset of night to get one large section bolted to shore. The water is very. Very high right now. The entire rock wall I worked on last summer while the lake was supremely low is totally submerged, and up over many rocks on shore. I’m sure there must be flooding on lower lying spots around the lake. Scary stuff. Not Muskoka lake high, but up a bunch more than I’ve ever seen it.

So today we will bring over the last three sub sections, and lower the boat lift. And if it remains calm perhaps try the lift cover. No good if there’s any wind. It’s a giant, and heavy kite that will pull you into the lake fairly easily. Pulling a two hundred plus pound tarp out of the lake is extraordinarily difficult, and taxing on the body.

After having my hands in the lake to attach the chains for the anchors, I would not like to fall in. Awful. Hardly a degree or two above freezing!

Once we get this dock fixed in place we will need to head home. School tomorrow, and I have work to complete for first thing Monday morning. This was a brief visit with only one expressed purpose, land the docks to launch a boat. Fini. Anything else is a bonus, and we’re free to go once the job is done. No waffling to delay our departure recommended.

Have a Sunday Funday, Lazy Sunday, or be as productive as you can be. Take the day how you see fit! Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

Lovely day for doing the docks. No wind, and the lake is smooth like melted butter. Sunny & bright, but not too hot, and more importantly no bugs! Took us a combined 2 hours for all five sections including gangway to shore. With the lake water up so high we’ll have to stop here. The boat lift will be underwater if we lower it now. So no tarp, no flooring planks to lay down today. We even got the patio furniture out and washed. Nice!

Just as soon as I bought it the sun came out, and all of the clouds went away. A whole week later we have some rain to finally begin the process of filling up my 200 L tank under the downspout. While I did appreciate the sun and warmth, I do also want to get some fresh water stored up in the barrel for my fruit trees. I think I might plant some sweet corn in the yard just for a hoot. See if I can, sort of thing. Tried last year, but 8 misjudged the beans as corn in seed form and I don’t much care for doya beans myself. But having my own sweetcorn? Yeah buddy! We’ll see how it does with my dog bothering everything out in the yard each evening.

I have to wait until early to mid May to plant the corn, so it’s not a rush at the moment. Not while we still have single digit or negative temps at night. Gotta have warm ground, and no more Frost’s for the seeds to kick off, and not die. I am excited to see if it will take in the soil we have on hand near the cherry trees. Could be a total bust! I might try in two spots. One out front and one around the back. Both have to be near a hose with available water. Not that I intend to baby the potential corn crop. But I’d like to see it get established, then step back and leave it alone to do its thing.

Speaking of water, I need to top up the fish tank. Our surviving six fish have lasted for several months now. They all seem to be getting along, and eating on the regular. I washed out the filters and bubbler several weeks ago, and nobody died. That’s a plus!

Happy Saturday to you all.

Seems it didn’t even take more than a few hours to totally fill my 200 L rain barrel. Overflowing out onto the grass after one morning of rain. I seriously thought it was going to take several days of solid rain to fill it. Should have bought two! Ha. Seriously though, one is good enough for my needs. But wowzers did I ever underestimate the amount of rain we get during a good April shower.

He’s my beautiful boy, and a real scallywag at that too. Walks around the farm, through the bush, out in the fields, around all the old abandoned equipment rusting in the tree lines. It’s a whole thing. Made better by the presence of another dog, that being Gracie-Mae. She’s a fair bit larger than my pooch, but they get along like chalk & cheese, and run one another ragged, so that I don’t have to. There’s rarely a full moment when both mutts are around. Lots of running, jumping, rolling, and gnashing of teeth. Sometimes they snarl a little, but for the most part it’s just drool and killing tongues after our outdoor walks. I think he likes it.

I’d like to see this week wind down and draw to a close. It’s been a bit of a financial hit, since the Tax Man came and took his fair share. I’m a little down to see those funds go. No matter, there’s more to be made, and more of life to go live.

I just bought a new Hoover brand vacuum for the house since the two we already own are both ready for the trash heat. No matter how many filters I clean, change, replace they both overheat and the plugs get hot. So no bueno. I’m certain there’s something internal that I can’t reach that needs looking after in order to “fix” them, but I’ll be damned if I know what that is. I’ve used my air compressor to blow them out, and picked shit out of every inch of both machines, but I think they are both ready to move to the curb as trash. Might keep the hoses, and random attachments, but the bulk can go out in garbage bags for pick-up. Or get taken to the dump in Aurora. Which I feel is the closest one to us that accepts technology items.

Which reminds me, I need to call the vet because the ticks are bad, and the dog needs meds. Heart worm pills, flea and tick meds. Potentially some vaccinations for being in town. I’m sure it’ll run me about five hundred dollars or more. They can find a way!

It is Friday April 24th, and we have an extended family members birthday to celebrate at some point this weekend. You only turn four once! Soon to be off to school in the fall. My how time flies.

Two big ones, at least from my point of view. One: I’m about to achieve the second best year on this blog in about a week as I get close to day 740 of my writing streak. That’s pretty cool, especially given how much of the year is left. Could I rival my best year ever? Don’t know. This place seems fickle but I’m ok with where we’re at.

Two: Home Depot offered me the chance to be an Influenster with their seeds program. I’m not sure if it’ll go through, but all my years of writing reviews for Amazon, Google Maps, Canadian Tire,  and Hone Depot feel kind of vindicated. I don’t really know if anything will come of it, but you know, it’s the thought that counts. The onboarding survey was pretty extensive, though it felt geared towards women if I’m being honest. I did include the dog, my spouse. And both of my children so maybe there might be something for them to look over in the mix. Again, I don’t really know, I just thought it was interesting.

The Income Tax Man has come through and taken a bite out of my bank account, so I have that much dealt with. Now I wait to see what state my HST/GST is in so that I hopefully get a refund again this year. Whilst I hate to see good cash go out the door every three months towards it, I like it even less when I have to make a lump sum payment alongside my income taxes. It really stings that way. Doing it quarterly means I don’t have the cash on hand long enough to feel as though it’s mine. Be gone foul beastie! So that’s what’s going on over here.

It is Thursday April 23rd, 2026 and the sun is shining, it’s going to get up to around 17°C today. We got a few points higher yesterday, and it’ll continue to slide down lower as we expect clouds, and rain for much of tomorrow and Saturday. Things are about to pick up as the pace quickens towards the end of the school year. Clubs and extracurriculars wind down, birthday parties are in full swing, house parties kick off, cottage visits, pool openings, lawn care, and summer programming turn on. Recitals and tournaments rear their ferocious heads asking for more money. Belt resting comes up at the end of June too. It will feel like living in a tornado soon enough.

Work has calmed down a little, but the work is still flowing in & out of the studio. I’ll need to place lawn cutting into the weekly schedule soon enough. Give up shoveling snow for a weekly trim, and weed eater session. Until it gets really hot using the mower is actually a pleasant experience. A chance to listen to some music through my headphones and get a few steps in for my health & wellness.

I realize my news is underwhelming. Not much I can do about that I’m afraid. Oh, I got a notification my life straws are due in today via delivery instead of coming in at the end of May. That’s good news too. My tiny cache of survival supplies is really coming together. I did actually look at the York Region fire arms course for rifles and long guns again. Price is reasonable. Takes up an eight hour day over the weekend, and has the test included. Seems good to me. Just need to book a time that works for all of us. According to google I have drastically underestimated the food, water, and hygiene needs of a family of four for any sort of lengthy emergency. But all I said was “survive” and not thrive like it was our predetermined goal in life. Hobble to the finish line is still a win. Might need to stash more bottled water, and soap, and batteries to make things easier on us. For a generic 72 hour thing, we’re golden. For a week or two, no problem. The three to eight weeks is where we will see the just survive it mentality kick in. It would suck, but we’d come out the other end. Or so I believe. Reality might have other things in mind. Come what may.

Any other interesting tid bits of news that I can divulge? Hmm. Nothing really comes to mind at the moment. With any luck things will remain calm, cool and collected for years to come.bfingers crossed.

I spent a while on Friday evening cutting down 2 x 4’s, notching out holes, and pilot hole drilling, attaching deck screws, and cutting down wire mess for my eldest daughter’s Girl Guide troup to make their own turtle boxes to keep the newly hatching eggs safe. We had hoped to build five of them, but there was only enough of the mesh to make four. I have staples left over too. All went into the pile of random gear I have in the garage. Unfortunately this project killed the last of my three inch deck screws, so I’ll need to go buy more at some point. Not a big issue.

I still have to buy the six thousand pound jack if I want to level out our deck, so no point getting too far ahead of myself here. I need crushed rock, sand, a paving stone, a foundation block, and the jack to lift up the deck to then place a newly cut bit of 4 x 4 post to keep the one side of the deck from sagging back into the mud. It’s going to wind up being a whole thing when I finally get to it. Might even have to dig two holes, use two pavers, and two new posts just to be certain.

But more importantly the turtle boxes were built, no injuries were had, and everything went together without too much fuss. I had the parts numbered, and all paid out together. I provided both a hammer, and my good driver to get all the screws sunk in good & tight. Daughter had fun. Time well spent.

My youngest is home after falling in gym class at the end of yesterday hurting her left wrist. It’s a little swollen today, but colour is good, and what’s more, she isn’t in agony. I have used a self adhesive bandage to immobilize it just a bit, and have attached a sling to keep the wrist elevated and cradled. She can have Tylenol through the day, and tomorrow she can head back to school. I called the doctor’s office but the phone lines disconnect me, so that’s cool. Pretty sure it isn’t broken, nor fractured. Just a hefty bump during her tumble. Should be fine in another day or three. Ha.

So she’s not going to be much help opening up the cottage docks for spring time. We have several pieces to live across the lake. And lock into place. That requires untying knots, taking deck boards off, and reattaching anchor chains all over the show. It’s a slow, long, and tedious process. Usually done in high winds, and a sprinkling of rain, and cold over cast shade. Sometimes the bugs are ripe, and ready to go real early in the season too. So much fun.

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.