Author: greatwallstudios

Didn’t see it during the evening, or when I changed clothes after the farm visit, or when I got ready for bed. From the looks of it the tick hadn’t latched on for long before I found and scratched that particular itch. Felt kinda gross after the removal so I hopped through the shower to scrub the ever living fuck out of the bite zone. I took a photo so that I can compare and contrast after 12, 24 & 48 hours to make sure it didn’t develop into something I have to worry about medically. So far so good.

Both of my kids are currently in day two of writing the EQAO standardized testing for grades three, and six respectively. They weren’t all that concerned about sitting for two days of all day testing, so why make more of it if they’re all good. Will have to sit for exams soon enough once they reach junior high, and then high school, and whatever format of post secondary they choose. I’m glad neither seem all that anxious about it. Let’s keep it that way shall we?

We are now on day two of the current warming trend. Thankful for the downpour because my rain barrel is filled to the absolute brim! I have lots for my new fruit trees to keep them going through a potentially dry summer. Luckily they look to be taking rather well to their new homes. I had questions about the soil and the amount of sun/shade, but it hasn’t affected them adversely yet. My big concern is that the second lilac is spreading out width wise and I feel like it is trying to subsume the poor lone pear tree. After the lilac blooms are done I think it’s fair if I prune it back a full twelve inches or more. Leave just a hair more breathing room between the two. Or maybe I’m over reacting. They are all green with new leaves, and the nectarine even had a single blossom on it, which was really adorable. This tiny twig of a tree with a lone bloom. Very peanuts. Very Charlie Brown Christmas.

Did I also mention that I have since located a third Cherry tree, found in the fence line beside one of my hedges. I will leave it be for now. If I though I could untangle the roots without killing it, I’d move it a bit further over into the corner. Life is wild, and tangled so I should leave it be, and let it get on with growing bigger and eventually producing fruit. It can’t all be ordered, and orderly you know!

Tuesday is here. The new garbage can seems to work as far as keeping the raccoons out, but they figured out the green bin within a night. So I’ve gone ahead and made a modification using a step bit drill bit, and a short length Bungie cord. Not enough to make it difficult for me to use, but enough to stymie a couple of raccoons, and stop them from coming here for a late night snack. Otherwise I will have to put them in the garage and then all my furniture grade wood, and hand tools will stink of hot garbage. No thanks. I don’t need additional flies and bugs in my work space once it gets consistently hotter. Yuck.

I’ve done five to seven loads of laundry in the last three days, and I feel that is a bit much. These kids need to thin out those closets by half! Half to two thirds at least! So much clothing everywhere. Luckily there’s a Diabetes clothing donations pick up on Sunday so we can get a bunch out of the house.

I started to clean the blinds, and the ceiling fans. I have several left to do, but I got it started, and for that I will take the win. Will need to vacuum out the air vents too. Who knows how much dog hair, and crumbs are down inside those things. I shudder to think about it. Ugh!

I even had a chance to do some wood splitting today, earlier this morning. We did our usual walk, and then I moved over to Pile One, set up shop, and then split by hand for forty minutes or so. Not too much, as I do have to climb later on this evening. I made a good dent in the line I’m working on. I have about seven or eight days of work to cut up last falls bucked rounds, and then another week for the most recent logs that I cut. As for the really tough stuff? Likely to wait until the fall. I can’t be out here swinging an axe when it’s 36°C or more with the humidex once we actually get into mid or late June. I like it, but I’m no glutton for punishment.

We can home from splitting, and having our nature walk and I was far more meticulous with the tick search afterward. The dogs got pills to inhibit them, I ain’t got shit but my own two eyes, and a sense of the itchy’s. Horrible sensation.

Tucked away in the far corner of the yard sits a once massive bird house that is lies in a state of disrepair. I do not remember a time when this wooden monstrosity wasn’t tilted askew, and devoid of its primary use. The only saving grace it seems is the over grown trees which surround it, making it nigh on impossible to see from the front of the farm house. I think this bird house might be the perfect metaphor for the farm as a whole. Once glorious, now lies rotting in the treeline, forgotten. Abandoned as its usefulness gave way under the weight of neglected maintenance. Bereft. Wilting. Unloved.

Welcome to Monday.

Higher than normal winds, near record rainfall, and a general sense of gloominess kept us cooped up yesterday for the most part. I still took one child climbing, but it poured the entire day. So no option to take the kids to the driving range, or walk around the farm, split wood, or ride a bike, or skateboard. Nothing. Too much rain. I’d like to get outside a little more now that we might finally have seen the last of the flurries, single digit temps, and frosts. Soon enough we will start praying for rain if it dries up like it usually does. But no such luck yesterday. I was amazed at the sheer volume of rain that fell. The clouds had to be three miles thick and absolutely saturated for that amount of rain. Hard to fathom. Water vapour coalescing and condensing on a grand scale. Boggles the mind.

So it was well worth the effort to do the lawn on Thursday, a few days ahead of schedule. I haven’t looked outside yet today, but I’m sure we will have lots of twigs and sticks to clean up off the lawn. I hope there are no major limbs down. I think my kids would hoot & holler if anything really big happened just outside our windows, but then again with how devoted they both are to using the VR headset, they just might not look out the windows at all. I could walk into a gasp worthy scene out on the lawn.

Now it’s Sunday morning. I stayed up a little later than normal, not by much, just because it was a weird, and isolating day. I wasn’t ready for it to end even though I ultimately didn’t do anything new or unusual to add some pizzazz to an otherwise objectively boring day. Maybe today I should mop the floors, tackle cobwebs, and wash the blinds, and vacuum off the bathroom ceiling vent, and the ceiling fans. Knock those household chores off the spring cleaning list. Or gather up some clothes for our CP/Diabetes clothing donations, and bring my closet back down to a manageable level of fullness. I once again have altogether too many clothes. I’m once again up over 200 lbs, even with two days climbing, five days of dog walking, occasionally splitting wood via axe, by hand. I’m gaining weight, and snacking more out of boredom.

I really need to be more active, and eat fewer calories, and try to eat healthier because I don’t like feeling squashed inside my clothes, and buying newer larger clothes is not a healthy option.

In other news I purchased the house a new locking garbage can, and a new larger, and also lockable green bin. So I need to take the saws-all to both old bins and stuff the remains in a garbage bag so they actually get taken away as trash, and not left behind as receptacles for trash. This time I WANT you to take away those busted up bins bruh!

Reminds me, I need to drill tiny holes in the bottom of the new bins to allow rain water to drain out. The freezing of water inside the bins is what chartered and warped my previous bins. Also raccoons and vermin chewed the ever living shit out of the lids & handles trying to get inside them. I genuinely consider poison when those little shits start to destroy my stuff. As inhumane as that is. Piss off trash panda!

Squirrels and chipmunks dig up my bulbs, and the bunnies lop the heads off my tulips, and the damn raccoon knocks over my bins and spreads my green bin food waste contents all over the porch. I’d wheeze them all if I could. Traps. Poison bait. You name it I’d do it, except then I gotta dispose of bodies, or see the next animals in line move in and do more of the same. The devil you know, and all that Jazz.

The rains are depressing, as well as awe inspiring, and a little intimidating. Sounds nice on the roof. Filled the rain barrel in about a minute. I never did buy a second one.

Though it is rainy, and a little gloomy today the light purple flowers still look as vibrant as ever. Smell is a tad dampened down under the rain drops, but on the breeze you can still smell it fairly easily. My only gripe is that they don’t last until later on in June. Once they bloom they begin to fade rather quickly. I’d love for ours to stick around until my wife’s birthday at least, but we don’t have irrigation here, and I don’t think my rain barrel holds enough water to keep both trees flowering for an additional two weeks time. Plus have enough left over to also water my four new fruit trees once the summer sun, and the heat moves in for weeks at a time. I’ve seen the forecast, after this weekend of rain it will be both hot, dry, and sunny for ten days straight, and who knows how long after that? Could go most of June, and July, and August without more than a couple inches of rain. That super el niño I keep reading about says we’re in for a nasty time this summer, and possibly into Nov, Dec, and January too. T-shirts and long pants in mid December around here is a big no-no. That just ain’t right! By all accounts it should be boots, coats, and snow pants weather by then.

Have a restful, and pleasant Saturday everybody.

Had to cut the walk a little short to head out to another field to cut into pieces a newly downed tree that was blocking a laneway for the farm equipment. The trio of small trees were very dead, so light weight, and easily breakable. But with Bob’s electric Stihl saw we made short work of it, and those three connected fields are accessible once again. I guess the winds have been a little higher than I had thought around here as of late. I have been trying to cut much of the dead out of our trees so that I don’t wake up each morning to freshly fallen twigs & branches. I’ve only had moderate success with it, since I don’t dare climb far enough up into our trees to make a major impact. I don’t have the right ropes or rigging for that sort of venture. So if I can’t use my ladder, and pole pruner it’s too far up for me to take care of. I don’t fancy falling out of a tree and killing myself accidentally just because I think dead branches look hideous. Call me crazy!

So we’ve made it to Friday of the short week after a holiday weekend, and all is well here. Lawn is mowed. Weed eater did its job before I sent it off for repair/service. Trees are pruned up nicely. I could tackle the back hedge. I need a step ladder though, because the tops just too far out of reach when standing on the ground. I went looking at the ladders when the van was in for an oil change. I don’t have the heart to spend another $200.00 on a new ladder that I need once in a blue moon. I guess we could use it for Christmas lights, and harvesting apples & cherries too, in a pinch. Nah!

If the Echo repair isn’t successful I might look into the Stihl power head option, and get the trimmer head, and a chainsaw/hedge trimmer head so that I can prune stuff without need of a ladder. The more I read about ladder deaths, the less I want to get up on one as I crawl closer to 50 years of age. Working from the ground is where it’s at!

I might head out to whack some balls at the range today, that feels like a fun outing. I haven’t worked up the courage to actually golf yet this year. I’d prefer a little less wind. I’m pretty terrible and I’ll take all the help I can get!

It’s not been running all that well this season, which we’re only 3 weeks into lawn cutting, so that’s not very helpful. So I took it upon myself to replace the air filter, the primer bulb, the spark plug, and to take off the exhaust cowl and check the spark inhibitor mesh to see if the muffler and/or mesh was plugged with carbon and was causing the weed eater to big down, and not achieve full throttle. After some poking, brushing, and minor cleaning there was no difference in operation, so I’m stumped. I had to call up the Markham Mower service desk and take it down there to get it serviced professionally. I’m not at all mechanically inclined. Plus I had them price out a replacement trigger, since mine shattered last summer, or perhaps the summer before that. Either way, if it’s a reasonably priced fix I’ll tack it on. I’ve had the unit since 2006, so it’s had a good twenty years of mixed use. I did, once upon a time, do professional landscaping and I’d run it 8-10 hours a day. Now I use it once a week, or once every other week for less than an hour. I keep it inside the shed, and out of the elements. That’s about as good as I can do for it these days.

With any luck in two weeks time I’ll have it back, and for a price that won’t require me to sell an organ on the black market. Fingers crossed for an easy fix, and not only that but an additional long life left on the equipment once repaired! One can hope!

You know you talk to a parts counter, you check using Google, and you flip through a book but the colour suggested is just a tad too bright, and a little thin, and the touch up version is real thick and gloppy, so the attempts to hide the rust spots isn’t as successful as one might have hoped, but in the end it still looks better than when I started, and I have sparkle paint left at my disposal for other projects that require a bit of whimsy, so all good. The colour match for twelve year old paint isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I can do without painting the entire car, and that’s not in the cards for the GMC Terrain that’s nearing 170,000 Km, and limping along once more. If it can get to the end of the school year, and possible through summer, then that’s pretty great.

A shame that, it was this lovely brief moment through all the trees into a side window that felt sort of at peace given the current state of the world. Unfortunately it didn’t really capture the depth, nor the grandeur in camera. Oh well. I experienced it, and just wanted to share. Something’s you just need to be present for I suppose.

It’s now Thursday of the short week. Heading into another weekend. I have a dog urine sample to collect for the vet’s office because they believe our pooch has contracted Lyme Disease, and they need to determine if he has fought it off, or if he is still living with it. Thing is the blood work only tests for antibodies, and can’t tell us if it’s a current or past infection. Hence more tests required. And the urine sample collection. Hope it’s not a messy affair. Fingers & paws crossed.

School ends in about a month. Not much time to do all the things! These next two weeks are going to fly by because everything is coming to a head with final classes, recitals, tournaments, proms, graduations, rehearsals, fairs, talent shows, spring dances, and whatnot. Heads will spin! Whoosh!

Parking lot is empty, but it’ll fill up before you know it. Just sat here, waiting, with no dog this morning. He had to do his business in the yard like a normal dog, instead of peeing at the school, or waiting to poop of the farm. I will eventually take him to the farm after the vehicle is looked after. I can’t walk him around inside the store, so it’s best he stay home. We are approaching the time of year when I can’t just let him tag along because I can’t leave the mutt in a boiling hot car. As much as I enjoy him being around me on my day to day errands, I don’t wish to kill him.

I need to grab a few items from the grocery store before I head home anyway, so further reason to not keep him cooped up in the car. I’m sure he’s not fond of being stuck home alone, but better there than here right this second.

Hard to believe it is all ready Wednesday! Wow. Fast moving short week. My clients all have events so I don’t expect to hear from any of them until they close down, pack up, and get ready for the next big thing that they have on the calendar. I’m cool with that for the moment. Helps me out so that I can run errands on slow/down days. Bonus!

It’s been up over 30°C for the last three days, 26°C the day before those, and it was 3°C on Thursday with drizzle and attempted flurries. Now we have humidity and summer temperatures. When do we get those six weeks of warm, breezy, sixteen degrees days of comfortable sweater weather where we can build up a tolerance for the sunshine, and the returning heat. This jump right back into the full heat of summer is too much. As I get older I need a longer lead time to adjust bodily to both hot & cold. Swinging up and down, back and forth just makes me feel ill. I was honest to goodness woozy when doing my wife’s tires on Sunday after about an hour in the hot sun. It took maybe fifteen minutes to feel the same way on Monday when I did the van.

I have only felt that bad in the heat once, and it was last summer, standing in line for Alpen Fury at Canada’s Wonderland with my eldest daughter, when it got up to 43°C plus whatever the humidex added to the final tally. I had bought us cold drinks, one each, when I should have bought three or four each. People passed out in the three hour long line around us. Colour drained out of their faces, and then they just collapsed onto the concrete floor. It wouldn’t have taken much for us to follow suit, but we made the most of our time near the misting fans, and once we completed our first ever ride we opted to get slushies and go straight home. The car AC was turned to MAXIMUM OUTPUT, and we both had a lie down when we got home.

I’m not good with extreme heat. Warm is good. Cool is ok. I hate cold & hot. Canada has a lot of all four!

I gotta run the dog to the vet shortly, so pray for my wallet. Pills, and blood tests, I’m sure they’ll take me for at least five hundred bucks, just you watch.

I might have a third surprise Cherry tree growing in my yard, so that’s cool. My four newly transplanted trees all look well so far. Glad to see that. The Lilacs are now purple, so they should start to get scented before too much longer. June is near!

I did my wife’s car yesterday and it was so damn hot I nearly fell over from sun exposure. Long pants was not the solid choice for the year. And it’s even hotter today. I had planned to do the tires first thing but a Facebook market place I put feelers out for pinged me, and we drove to Aurora to complete the transaction for my daughter’s new/used golf clubs. It’s a whole set, plus bag, and umbrella for $100.00 . It’s a steal! She’s happy, I’m happy, and now I can take her out of school to go play one day over the next month or two. Not sure when, but it’ll happen at some point.

So now the winter tires are off, washed, and marked to be placed back on the vehicle properly next winter. All I have left to do is drive them back to the storage locker and tidy up the car interior after moving all of these damn tires around.

I could have done with it being only 16/17°C today, that would have been perfect. But nope, I’m a giant sweaty mess right now. I pulled out the power washer and did all the tires, and washed both cars just because I had it all set up anyway. Several items off the to do list.

Tomorrow the dogs gotta go to the vet, and the next morning is a scheduled oil change. I can really get into spring cleaning if the weather is going to hold up from here on out. Maybe plant my sweet corn later today if I remember it.

I hot, hungry, tired, and very sweaty. I need a break. Happy Victoria Day, May 2-4 long weekend edition.