Good Morning

One of us, or both of us, are out the door early every morning with the dog. The house looks so nice, nestled in its green surroundings with the trees shadows being cast upon it as the sun rises in the sky. Thought we would post a picture now that we have a little bit of green to contrast all the hard surfaces.

I still think we need a bell mounted in a cupola on the roof!

Life Without Air Conditioning

So the big question everyone asks is how is it without air conditioning?? Not bad. The hottest the house has been was 26 degrees. That was the week of stink-hot, where the outside temperature was 36 degrees or more. For those nights, we ran a small fan in the bedroom for he who gets real hot. So even though it was warm in the house, compared to outside, it was pleasant enough.

What we have learned is that the house takes a while to get warm, but conversely it also takes a while to cool down. With no cool evenings, it stays warm, but on nights like one we are expecting tonight, where they are forecasting under 20 degrees, it's very nice. We open the windows at night and catch a breeze. First summer in years that I haven't had a sore throat and head-ache all summer long.

So rather than the hum of an air conditioner, we go to sleep listening to crickets, loons on the nearby lake and frogs. Big fat frogs!!

This guy was sitting on back stoop last week. Haaarrrumph!!

Work Report

Finally got back to installing base-boards and door casing in the main bath-room. I have been waiting for a day that is not too hot, so that I can do the cutting outside. Less of a mess to clean up. So that room is now complete, aside from the plaster painting.
Crack filling on the outside began today. Thought I would attempt the biggest crack first, which was a settlement crack. Of course, it was dead centre of the wall, on the long side of the house, exactly behind the propane tanks. But it is done. So now the plan is to go another winter and see if the patch stays before painting the exterior. Saves having to patch after painting. It's not that the patch will fall off, but the majority of the cracks occurred over metal strapping. So we are not sure if the metal strapping will cause the new repair to fail come freeze up. Only time will tell.
Mixed two colors of sanded grout together and came up pretty close to the existing plaster color, so aside from the texture being slightly different, it's difficult to tell where the repair has been done.
The garage has been tidied, re-arranged and gussied up, and gets lots of compliments from visitors. Even the birds thought so, as we had a pair of grey-crested fly catchers nest on one of the rafters. The two babies fledged today.
Screen doors are on the radar for next week.

Natures Bounty

Who has time to worry about house stuff. First there were the wild strawberries and then the raspberries hit. We have had so many nice raspberries that I have almost given up trying to keep up with them. I have made wild raspberry jam and have freezer bags full. This without leaving the yard!

There are several black raspberries too, but they are too finicky to try to pick several so they get eaten as found, but I can't wait for the blackberries to ripen as we are thick with them too. I love berries!!

Speaking of the garden

As I mentioned back in May, I have been experimenting with a bale garden. This is it, wrapped in netting and flagged so the deer don't run into it, ready to be planted.

Here it's in its infancy. It has been suggested that you keep the hay cut, so that it is not competing with the planted crop, but the dog likes munching on the long sweet grass, so I leave it. I planted a couple tomatoes, squash, herbs, beans, cucumbers and some edible flowers - nasturtiums. They have been slow to start, but I was speaking with a local farmer who is growing soy beans in last years corn stalks and he tells me to be patient.

Well I have been very patient, and it is paying off.

We have had some cherry tomatoes, there are a few beans, and yesterday I made a big batch of pesto sauce with the basil. There will be a few peppers too! Cool.

Oh Deer Two

Can't believe all of June and most of July are gone and we haven't posted anything. We've been busy trying to grow things. Forget about grass per se. We've got green stuff that needs regular mowing, but it's not grass. It's crazy weeds that choked out the newly planted grass. And whatever grass blades were strong enough to find their way to the surface were promptly scorched by the sun and shriveled in this relentless heat we have been experiencing.

In addition to crazy heat, we have also been vandalised by deer. I hadn't planted a lot and thought a safe route would be to use potted plants. Wrong! This is my one and only hosta I planted. It was "Sum and Substance", supposed to grow to a huge size and be sun resistant. The deer have returned and munched up the last bud they left the first night.

This is my potted portulaca. It was beautiful until a couple nights ago. Seems they nibble on it to start and then return to finish it off.

I'm thankful I protected the garden.