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I have done the front beds a number of times but have been slacking off in favour of reading, working, and tending to my four new fruit trees and their accompanying rain barrel. But the excess greenery was detracting from the peonies and other purple flowers so I got my leaning over back put on right and got to work yesterday afternoon. I also broke out my rake to clean up the back patio from all the hedge clippings I dropped on Sunday. I have a nice sorted pile under the lilac ready for transportation to the farm. I am toying with trimming back the other lilac because three lower parts really get in my way when I cut the grass back there, and I’d like to not get knocked on the head/neck by low lying branches when I’m all sweaty and agitated. It has bloomed and now looks like just another green shrub. I think I just might do it this time!

Today’s garden focus is the random mostly empty bed against the back of the house. It’s where the dog digs the most. If I leave weeds in it he doesn’t dig so much, so I have strategically left a handful behind to deter his mining urges. Let us see if they work at all. I don’t think they will. At least not for long.

My main goal is to be able to sit at the patio table and one, not have the hedge look unruly, or overhang into the useable space, and two, not have the beds look atrocious or unkempt while seated and actually looking around. The far bed has trees, ferns, and a tulip like ground covering weed in it, so it looks ok, and purposeful. The one I weeded today just looks like a mess, but I don’t know of any plants that would like that spot. Maybe some shade loving hostas? We have lots of those. Even more Daylilies? I’m not sold on that either. Maybe just scented mulch? Who knows. It’s unlikely I will do anything about it this year. I put the budget into those four new fruit trees. I very likely went overboard. Oh well.

Luckily the thistles haven’t started up yet. They get really nasty in July and August. Long needles and tiny shards that embed in the skin with barbs and are just all around painful. If you have to pull out thistles you reach right down to where the stem meets the ground and twist/pull from there. It’s the least armored spot, but beware it’ll still bite you if your grip fails, and your hand slides up the stem. It’ll git’cha!

I would typically go for more grass and fewer beds. More shrubs and fewer flowers. I’m a lazy outdoorsman. Not much of a gardener once the heat climbs up into the thirties and beyond. No thanks! As I age I sweat more than ever even from mild exertion. I’m certain the pot belly and thirty five extra pounds don’t help at all in that regard either. Ha! Look at me, I’m a pear.

Had an odd dream about shifting through timelines last night. I was at a party talking to random guests, as you do. When I was asked a series of what I believed to be pretty standard questions like what hand do you use to cover your heart when singing the national anthem, what lyrics to a certain song do you recall, name this book/character from an image etc… only to discover that I am in fact from an alternate timeline, and am the third such person discovered to have been so. It was a funny, Erie, and strange dream but not scary or frightening. It just kinda felt like “Oh now this makes sense” . Good times.

I don’t typically remember my dreams the following morning, not unless they were traumatic or deeply unsettling. This was just quirky. I like quirky, far better than night terrors by an extraordinarily wide margin. I don’t like horror films, and I don’t go in for jump scares either. Not a fan.

It’s Monday, and a fair bit cooler today as this morning was down into single digit territory. Had to turn the heat on in the car! No frost luckily, as that would kill everything this far into June. Still might see a stress response from some things in the garden after such a cold night though. We will wait and see.

The fruit trees are doing about as well as can be expected, which is fantastic. We have a week’s worth of rain coming, unless the forecast changes, so the rain barrels should be well stocked as we gear up for full on summer sunshine, and all that incessant heat! My barrel is almost always in the shade so it shouldn’t dry out before the contents get emptied onto the trees it’s there to support. We will see how that works in reality as the season progresses.

I have some work to attend to shortly, but I see some Domestic Duties Monday chores that I need to tackle as well. It never ends! These kids create messes, and laundry, as well as dishes from out of thin air. It’s a damned magic trick, I swear it. Frustratingly so.

Enjoy your cooler than usual Monday here in southern Ontario Canada.

Having to try to read this book slowly because it is the last available one to read for at least another full year, or possibly longer. I have read all of the previous seven books one right after the other, but now that I’ve caught up, I have to make a determined effort to apply the breaks in order to savour it. No matter, as I have some other great books to read after this one, but I am on my twelfth book for the year (which is great!) and now I’m not in a panic to achieve my reading goals for the year. Also pleased to note that I have grown rather fond of my glasses, and no longer refuse to utilize them to the betterment of my life, and my work. So there is that. What’s next actually getting hearing aids to help me listen better — utter madness. Nonsense. Don’t even mention it.

It’s a rainy Sunday in these parts of southern Ontario. I completed an hour or more of work to prep for Monday, and the kids cleaned up a fair bit around the house to make way for a play date. Laundry baskets are full, dish washer is filling up, floors have shed dog hairs, so Domestic Duties Monday is going to be a go once the dog walk, school drop off combo is completed. At least I know what’s on the schedule! Afterschool programs are just about all finished now until mid September. Taekwondo will be done as of the 27th. Then BAM! right into summer break 2026.

I actually did get around to straightening up the hedgerow in our back yard adding a few extra centimeters to our back seating area by pushing the cedar boughs back with the trimmer. I used the Feather Lite 8ft step ladder I bought recently to do it. Worked great! Just like I knew it would. Going to need several hours if I decide to straighten the top out though. That’s going to be a much more challenging endeavour. I cut six to eight feet off the top several years ago, but they came back stronger than ever. That’s going to be a real chore believe you me. I might just let them get twenty feet tall, I don’t care! The gate opening was trimmed back, and I opened up the airspace around the shed, as much as I could anyway. I could do more, but it’s not totally necessary. It becomes a vanity project after too much time & energy get dumped into it. The space is useable, and that’s all I care about anyway. Hopefully the ferns I stood on will perk up after today’s rain. Oops. Didn’t mean to kill them, or injured them but it was very hot, and I wasn’t keen on a prolonged hedge trimming session in the humidity. Sore butt from all that ladder climbing as it is.

To all my half asleep night time readers, I salute you! May reading bring you peace of mind, and a terrific night’s sleep. To our nooks!

Now I should start by saying that I don’t typically go bouldering when I want to go climbing, I prefer the other side where the auto belay routes are, and you have to clip in and out of the ropes while wearing a harness. In bouldering there is none of that, just shoes, and some chalk. The rest of the experience is up to you. I prefer auto belay because I don’t ever want to blow out my knees, or roll an ankle jumping down off the wall. The auto belay just lowers you down at a steady, yet slower rate than straight falling. Which means I don’t concern myself much with my knees or ankles. But I become extremely aware of the frailty of my body when bouldering. It’s a long drive home with a busted up body part integral to driving (ie) hands or legs/feet.

All the worry was for naught (this time) as it was my youngest whom slammed her chest into the last jutting out jug when descending and knocking the breath out of herself. Left a pretty good solid red mark on her skin from the blow. Poor kid. She eventually bounced back and continued on climbing.

I tried a new path myself which I was rather proud of. Made me spread out wide, do some foot swaps in situ, testing my finger & grip strength to make it across to the top. I was very happy with myself for having tried it.

We still have the taekwondo lunch to go, and I need to get a jump on the backyard hedge before it starts to get into the full heat of summer. June 21st quickly approaches! Happy Saturday.

Not that views were down by all that much here, but on Linked-In whoo boy, things had absolutely tanked. Every 8 to 9 weeks I need to set a reminder to double check that the cross population links are still connected. I’m having another banner year here on the ole blog, but the other site was lagging quite a bit. I think my last two weeks worth of posts hadn’t been shared there. I was otherwise occupied with work and my Domestic Duties around the house to really notice. Fun times.

It was positively windy at the farm this morning, so I’d had high hopes it would continue once I got home and started to cut the grass. It was blowing right up until I put gas in the mower and pulled the starting cord, then the temperature rose, and it became dead calm. Hot & humid for the full seventy five minutes I spent putting lines on the grass. Damn. Yet, here we are twenty two days since 8 took my weed eater in for service, and I still don’t have it back yet. Though they have called me twice with updates, and news on the trigger fix I was after, so that’s good news. I also know it should be about $215.00 plus tax, so the price isn’t a surprise anymore. I appreciate that at least.

Hopefully I can grab it early next week. I’d rather not go a whole month without my Echo SRM-230 if I don’t absolutely have to. I probably should have just bought a new one and gone about my business without the delay. But I’ve had the damn thing for twenty years or more now, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to be rid of it over two hundred bucks. It’s strong, not too heavy, and has worked without issue right up until this very year. I’d say that’s worth the effort to repair it.

Welp, work calls so I should get a move on. Best be about my business. I’ll save the hedge work for the weekend! Maybe it’ll cool off at some point soon? One could hope. On the plus side we’ve had a good amount of rain so my trees are still alive! Bonus.

Take care out there. Ciao Bella.

It’s going to be another warm & muggy one today. Add in the fresh sun showers and the humidity is up around the 80% range. Makes you feel slick within seconds of going out of doors. Not my favourite, but on the plus side the warm to hot weather doesn’t set the nerves in my jaw off, so I prefer it over winter time just because of that. Lots of dew still left in the grasses by 9:00 am. But it had rained shortly before I left the house this morning to take my kids to school so I’m sure some of that dew was actually just rain drops collecting on the ground. All I know is, my fruit trees have been watered at least twice this week with straight rain so that’s all good in my book.

It is now Thursday, and the school year is really winding down. The kids have been told by their teachers that there is no more homework, and I think my youngest has one more low weighted test left to go. I say that because their marks, and the report cards are due this Friday, so if it can’t even be marked before the deadline, it can’t possibly be worth anything, besides judging if they know that material or not. That’s fine.

This is the last year my youngest will get to participate in the primary fun outdoor day shenanigans. It stops at grade three, but with that ending comes the opening up of all the school clubs and teams, track & field, and school dances once she is in grade four in the fall. I think that’s a good trade off. She was already grandfathered into the Social Justice Club because my oldest has been a part of that forever, and her homeroom teacher also runs it. There are a couple younger siblings of established members in that club, so it’s not too crazy of an anomaly.

I do believe that the beans are going in, or we’re at least started prior to the rain fall this week. It’s welcomed because stuff goes dry pretty quickly once you get into double digit days without rain. We got around 2 inches on one Saturday just a weekend or two ago. Plus whatever fell on the Sunday as well. The river swelled up quite a bit. It’s back to its calm self again though, so we know last night didn’t dump too to much rain on us all at once. The corn field soil was dark and damp so we got enough for that to register. All good there.

I am now debating with myself on whether or not I should set up my hedge trimmer to tackle the backyard now, or wait for October. We do not use our back patio all that much, at least not until early July, so it isn’t a crazy important job. I’d just like to see the top half of the hedge cleaned up now that I have the 8ft step ladder in my possession.

I now have work emails so the hedge is a moot point. To the day job! Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

By all accounts we are to get a pretty sizeable electrical storm later on today. So likely we will get more rain, as well as lightening, followed along closely by window rattling thunder claps. The dog isn’t going to enjoy all that noise very much, and I don’t blame the silly sausage. I like to sit, or stand to listen to the rain falling after a good stretch of dry sunny days, but these thunder storms get bigger, louder, longer, and far more intense as I get older. Now they’re more of a threat than a visual spectacle. Mother nature is vast and uncaring!

It’s now Wednesday, which is Hump Day. I still need to mop these floors, but the bulk of the household chores are done. I also took the time to replace my wife’s hamper because the old one gave out in its entirety. Bottom fell out making it unusable. Plus side to cleaning up is that the new vacuum works really well. It’s nice and light weight, so it’s easy to carry up and down stairs. I probably should dispose of the two old ones, because even after a thorough cleaning, neither works as well as they should.

Unlikely that I will go to the driving range today. Maybe later on this week I can try again. I did something to my back the last time I went so I’m in no rush to tweak it again. I still have shoulder pain because of that previous visit. My wife did not locate her clubs so odds are she will borrow mine for her teacher activity event at Lyndhurst on Thursday. I saw she ordered some new pink golf balls so I can take my sets out of the bag to make room for hers.

Have a chill Wednesday.

The last ten days have seen a lot going on, and after this evening it finally rolls back to just two things to do after school in the evenings, at least until we hit June 27th. A welcome breather that will allow us to swim in the evenings instead of trying to juggle both kids between multiple programs. I like it. Sort of a soft launch for the summer break.

The great thing about area is that it is more closely monitored to align with the printed schedule. Which meant I could work yesterday, and pop out for thirty minutes to watch both of my daughters events. She claimed a personal best running long jump of 2.79 m, and ran a particularly challenging 200 m heat in the full sun of the day. I was happy that I got to witness her do her thing along with her peer group. Way to go!

The dance recital was lovely, as always. I did miss it last year due to our inclusion in the Taekwondo Black Belt World Tournament. This year was only 39 minutes behind schedule by 3:45 pm on the afternoon, and was a lot of fun to go to. The Pan Am Centre could do with 2x or 3x the amount of available parking for its events though. A multistory tower to increase spaces would not go amiss there. I made sure we turned up twenty minutes earlier than needed just so that I could do figure rights throughout the parking lots in search of a space. Turns out I was smart to do so. Go team!

Seen here sporting two of the three bunches of flowers given to them for their tremendous efforts.

Ok well I’ve got to head out for some routine blood work over at the local lab collection facility. So I best not longer around here too long, fawning over my children’s achievements. With any luck I will finish off the Domestic Duties Monday chores today so that I am free to work unencumbered for the rest of the week. Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

Lots going on this past weekend, what with multiple birthdays, a Taekwondo Tournament, and a dance recital, as well as dinner parties, Jays Games, concerts, a talent show and more. I’m exhausted! Luckily the kids got their flowers, and in the case of the taekwondo tournament a Bronze Medal for sparring. Both kids tried hard, and that’s about all I can ask for. They can’t help nerves getting in the way, any more than I can, so no use getting in a huff about it.

We enjoyed a school band performance, a dance number, and a school choir medley from my eldest at the talent show on Thursday. She was onstage nearly as much as the trio of emcees. I know she enjoyed every second of those applause breaks. Addictive, I know.

We were lucky enough to go and do some climbing on Saturday. We opted for the bouldering portion of the gym this time over the auto belay. I don’t enjoy the idea of dropping to the mats, as I’m not looking to roll an ankle or break any bones unnecessarily. If I can help it, that is. But it was fun in a different way. More inversions, and dangling. Shorter routes, but just as intense, and far more testing of my grip strength. Not sure I’d switch over to mainly bouldering, but it’s a fun diversion every now and again. I can handle that. My youngest just likes falling off the dragon into the foam pit if we’re being honest.

Looking to celebrate my wife’s birthday later on once all these extracurriculars calm down, and come to an end. She still has a few meetings, and a banquet, and a golf thing to do first. Then she can collapse in a heap at a spa and get pampered how she pleases.

Lots of driving this weekend. My 407 ETR bill is going to be ugly with all those additional trips these last few weeks. Oh well.

We finally had some rain! It filled up my rain barrel right full to the brim, which is excellent. Unless we get some additional major downpours over the next couple of months this may be the last time the barrel is topped off until September. So far the barrel allowed me to water all four trees four times each and still have some rain water left in the barrel. Which should hopefully get them through the driest patches of the coming summer. I just don’t want the little trees to die. They look to be alive and well, and I’d love to keep them that way. I think that I provided enough fertilizer to each tree to help them become established. I don’t really want to have to nurse them along the whole summer, but I’m ok to help May & June. After that it’ll be mostly hands off the back of the bike, to see if they pedal away or fall over.

Back to Monday means even more laundry, dishes, floors to vacuum and mop once again. Domestic Duties Monday! Argh.