Category: Uncategorized

Had the chance to walk up to pile one for the first time since early last week, and somebody has been busy moving all of my bins, and getting rid of the waste wood. I’m happy the junk wood is being gotten rid of, however I’m not to find of how they’ve moved the bins I was using. I had them set up in a semi circle surrounding my chopping block so that I could stack the split wood away fairly easily. Now both the chopping block, and the bins are spread way out too far apart which doesn’t make any sense to me. Nobody asked me, they just moved it all willy-nilly, Milli-Vanilli. Not cool. Those bins are heavy, even whilst empty. I don’t feel like putting my back out trying to haul them back to where I had them stationed for ease of use. That’s an aggravating development.

Plus there is still one full pile of junk that seems to have been forgotten about. Not to mention the mountain of peeled bark that’s still sat on the ground untouched. Speaking of untouched, I called in to get an update on my weed eater I sent out for service, and no news yet. I was told 1.5 to 2 weeks, and today is two weeks and I have not heard a peep. I was just going to drop in, but didn’t want to waste my time when I could just call. But now I’ve called, spoken to somebody whom took a message, but I don’t know any more than I did prior to picking up the phone.

We had a large guest at the farm the other day, it was the fertilizer people in their gigantic tricycle wheeled tractor. I bet those tires cost a whole bunch of money to replace! Ouch.

It’s now Thursday, and I’m hoping to be able to catch the early afternoon matinee of the Talent Show my eldest daughter is in. She is in the school band, choir and has choreographed a dance number with three friends for a Lion King tribute with costumes. I am looking forward to watching it because I was afraid I had to miss tonight’s show due to taking my youngest daughter out of town to her on site dress rehearsal at the same time – roughly. Now I get to do both! Makes me happy.

I need to go grab a ladder, and a pair of gloves from Canadian Tire, so I’ll chat later on if I think of anything else that needs to be said. Ciao Bella! Take care out there.

A very striking colourway compared to the regular purple ones that we have closer to the front entrance, and are twelve inches shorter. These Champagne Irises are quite large, though smaller still than my neighbours which stand about three feet tall, if not more so. While we don’t yet have any hanging baskets or potted plants in the two new urns we were gifted last fall, I think once we take the time to fill them, things will really pop! Around here. My fruit trees bloom very briefly, if at all, so can only add more green into the mix. But after seven months of cold snowy winter, I will take greens over Grey’s, whites, and all that drab brown.

Luckily it is Wednesday, Hump Day, middle of the week day all ready! Busy week so far, with the bulk of the craziness still left to come. It took me two days and two attempts to cut all the grass at my inlaws place, and it was hot, dusty, and unpleasant both days. But I got it done, and just in time to do my own today. Such luck! I hope to hear about my Echo SRM-230 at some point tomorrow, because that’ll be the two week mark since I took it in for servicing. If not I’ll need to pop round and see what’s what. Though with all this sun, and heat, and no rain the grass isn’t growing have as crazy as it was just a couple of weeks ago. We don’t irrigate and keep it artificially green, so it is expected that it would slow down a fair bit. No surprise there.

I have heard about one big project that’s coming up, so that’s great to hear. I can plan for that early next week once all these extracurriculars come to an end, or just about. Had an interesting visitor at the farm the other day, but I’ll tell you about that tomorrow.

And don’t they look lovely? I pruned the woody portion back in April to get rid of a bunch of dead limbs, and some recently snapped bits from the two fat raccoons that plague our property at certain times of the year. I think the blooms look fuller this year, but I am biased. A couple pops of colour added to the garden as the last of the tulips fade in the late spring heat. What we should have done was plant things that bloom one after the other all season long so you’d get colour and vibrancy in the garden beds all season long. Instead we get a few early on, and then it is mostly just green, until the orange, and yellow Daylilies bloom. Possibly some purple flowers on the hostas. Some white bits on a plant I can’t recall the name of just now. And a spreading ground cover with tiny magenta flowers on it. I guess it’s not too bad we do have a little bit of colour. Fall is best because the Dahlias really get going in September. Plus we usually have some pumpkins or gourds that add the yellow fruiting flowers to the mix.

Didn’t take long to get here did it! Vroom-vroom says the clock. In the blink of an eye we will be neck deep in July, with all that that entails. once things ramp up it feels as though you have to hold on for dear life, or else get left in the dust. The bugs have begun to appear, ready to feast upon our exposed skin at every single turn. Inescapable. Cool mornings followed by hot afternoons lead the way towards summer on June 21st.

Of course this means that I have already one child at home sick with a cough, and a congested nose. Can’t close out spring without a bug running through the entire family first! Be on the lookout for sniffles, runny noses, coughs, and spring time colds coming your way — fast.

Now that I know a couple OTC Tylenol extra strengths can minimize the sting from my sore back I’m far more interested in enjoying this weekend, rather than trying to “get through” it. Late Friday I was really concerned I had done something exceptionally bad to myself. But besides bend down for golf balls, and swing a hundred or do times, I didn’t do much of anything else that day that should have led to this level of discomfort, and stymied my mobility. It still stings, and shoots pain when I get into the car, but otherwise I’m not too bad off. Friday nights sleep was punctuated by shooting pains that woke me up, but I did actually get some sleep in between pants. I didn’t climb, but I took the kids still. By the end I needed them to pick up the mats so that I could tie them off, and buckle them into, and out of the harness. I will most definitely need to adhere to a stretching routine before I start swinging next time. That’s a given now. No short cuts right to an activity that full of repetition.

Live and learn. I have my eye on rebuilding a smaller potato box style fixture for the second raspberry patch. Right now it’s just a mud pile, but if I section it off using the last of my pressure treated lumber it might look a little clear out back. I just need to measure it out, build the two layers I need, and then back fill it after I place it down on the ground.  I’ll see if I actually do it today or not.

I did spend a few moments weeding the front beds. Not enough to re-injure my back, but long enough to pull up some stragglers and make a modest effort. These beds get over run quite easily. I don’t really want to be out on my hands and knees for hours on end, but 5-10 minutes here and there can make a meaningful dent if I do it every single day.

This is a busy week, and now both kids sound congested, and have coughs. So that’s awesome. Just in time for rehearsals, dress rehearsals, recitals, and tournaments all happening this week. Looking forward to it!

We have our tickets in hand for all of the events. Even found a ride for my oldest to be able to do her talent show event(s). Due to scheduling conflicts we cannot attend, which sucks. I wanted to see how they managed to choreograph a full routine as a group of 11 & 12 year olds, with costumes no less! Maybe the grandparents will video tape it so we can watch it later on that evening. Seems like her dance number is early in the show, and I my other child won’t even have been released from her dress rehearsal by then. D’oh!

Well it has been a lovely weekend weather wise. A touch windy on Friday night, but no major issues here that I am aware of. The Lilacs have finished all ready, the blooms have burned off in the sun. Shame. They never do stick around long enough for my wife that loves them so much.

Making life difficult for myself this weekend with some pulled muscles, or some internal damages. Not sure which it is. Mobility is greatly reduced. Voltaren isn’t helping me out all that much. Might need an ice pack or a surgeon. Ha! Will middle through the next few days. Bad week to be sore and suffering with so much to do.

Next week is a real doozy, so this weekend is the last respite before a major slog of a week. Everything culminates over the next eight days. We’ve had both Girl Guide units have their big send off parties. We have a full on site at the venue dress rehearsal for the soon to follow dance recital, two immediate family birthdays, one party, a prom, an athletics banquet, a talent show, a taekwondo tournament, the last volleyball class, tutoring comes to a close, and likely some items I’m forgetting about because it’s only on our Google calendar and not the wall calendar in the kitchen. Next week is going to be a blur of activity.

Hold on to your hats because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Some nights have multiple events which means 8 have to drive one child to another city, and miss out on my other child’s event. Not a fan of everything always being at the same fucking time. Why can’t some events move a few days further into June, or happen a couple of days earlier into May. Spread things out a little, not everything needs to happen on June 4th, 5th ,6th or 7th. There are other days available to everybody. Poor planning.

On the plus side while we were out at our event yesterday I did not receive a single work e-mail, and I appreciated that greatly. Made it so I could focus on the event, and be more present. Thankful for that small wonder.

Anyway, back to work today though! Have a lovely weekend if you can.

I am OOO today taking care of a few items, so I’ll keep this particularly brief. Have a great Thursday, the last one in May at that! Until tomorrow then.

Only got forty five minutes of chopping in before I stumbled across a whole colony of red ants, and once a couple got in my glove to sting my wrist I felt justified in packing it in for the morning. Boy did that both itch and burn a fair bit. Nasty little critters they are.

Luckily I had Graham here watching out for foxes, coyotes, and skunks while 8 was absorbed in my work. He’s a good pup. A round of applause for my good boy!

Nothing new on the tick bite front as of yet. Which I am thrilled about. Not a fan of having to dig bugs out of my skin. Gives me the creepy crawlies. Gives me the phantom itchy’s whenever I think about ticks, or head lice too. Ugh!

Both the axe and the hookaroon both seem to be working fairly well. I have not had any marathon sessions in the wood piles yet, but as of today I have been pretty happy with the new hookaroon. I’d love for it to remain useful for several years, but we will have to wait and see about that.

This week is the last session for both of my kids Girl Guide units. My eldest is now a Pathfinder, which is awesome. She moved up after also completing a three year long project for extra distinction. We are all very proud of her accomplishments. Well done kiddo. My youngest is also moving up into her new unit. I think that she is now a fully fledged Guide, and not an ember or a spark anymore. Good for them both for sticking with the program for so long!

I just cut the grass and had forgotten I Took my Echo SRM-230 Weed eater in for service late last week. I went back into the shed to put the mower away and grab the Echo when I was alarmed that its spot was empty. One quick flash of panic before I remembered it was out of commission, and having a tune up, along with repairing/replacing some additional parts (potentially as it will depend on both the cost and how long it would take to order, ship, receive, and swap out said new part). After twenty years I’d like to continue on with my precious Echo for twenty more years of dedicated service, but I won’t cry when I finally have to get a new tool to replace it — eventually.

Today is a far more reasonable twenty degrees Celsius, so I have all of the windows and doors open to take advantage of what’s left of our Lilacs. Fresh air in the house is never a bad thing! It’s also ever so slightly breezy today, and that softness is very refreshing. It’s a shame that we get so few of these idyllic spring days around here. It’s either cold and miserable, or jumping twenty five degrees and boiling hot. I could sit outside in the partial shade and enjoy this for a huge portion of the day. Drink and book in hand. Computer nearby, waiting at the ready.

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.