Saturday Paul came over with his old school friend Braeden, from Edmonton. It was nice to see in what a wonderful young man he became. We talked and of course gave him a tour at the acreage. Paul also brought ice for my cool room. YAY! Very important to keep my food cool. It was great to see you again Braeden! I hope your dream of having a nice acreage will come true.
I love my evening walks, just when the sun start s to set and the colors in the sky change by the minute. Always in company of scruffy, and most of the time also from all or some of the farm cats. The horses also start walking with us, so we must be quiet the parade. Hahaha. I pick some of the alfalfa here and there and give that to the horses. They love it so much. So yeah, no wonder they like to walk along with me. I love to walk alongside the pasture fence but it’s also really nice to walk in the more hilly part at the north side. We got lots of ticks right now, so even though it’s a joy to walk through the trees and the higher grass.....coming back in the cabin means also first getting rid of all the ticks that had a free ride. So for now I make sure I spray my clothes well and avoid the higher bushes and higher grass when going for a walk. The dog has drops now, because she was full of ticks. Now it’s better, but I have to swipe the cabin floor more often, because they drop off from her. LOL Oh dear, it just never ends, the work. Hahahaha! A few more weeks and tick season is over.
The black flies are real bad but spraying some off on my clothes, helps. The horses do suffer though, and will call me to be wiped with the big repellent. If I don’t, they run and buck and kick and I just can’t watch them suffer like that. In the wild, they can go to a different place, have a bath in a river or lake or slough, plus they have better choice of shelter. By example they can go higher in the hills or mountains, where it is cooler, so less big nasty flies. The only ones that don’t seem to have any problems with the bugs, are the cats. Amazing. Polly did bring in a flea, so I got the drops for the cats now too. Just in case. I hate bugs in my home.
I replaced the hummingbird feeder to the flower garden area. I got too many flies on my deck. In the wind the feeder would move, and drip the sweet stuff on the deck. So no wonder it was just not possible to sit on the deck anymore. As soon I moved the feeders and cleaned the deck, it was much better. Of course during sunset, mosquitos always are there. But the big dragonflies are out too and they are great hunters for mosquitos! They fly everywhere in the yard to catch a nice meal. The Eastern Phoebes also are great to catch insects. They are fly catchers, and it’s great to have them. Instead of the bird feeder I hung up lamps. One is solar, the other is a candle holder.
Paul gave me some rock sheets and I made a cute little rock garden. I put in some lilies and Hen and Chicks, put rocks around and in it, as also a little birds nest from last year. It looks really awesome. I also seeded some Quinoa. It supposed to give beautiful flowers. We will see. I was cleaning up some things on the deck and almost fell down. So I thought, hm...maybe a good idea to make a railing. Right now. Hahaha. So I got some wood, measured stuff, sawed, drilled , and tadaaaaa....a railing was born. Better and safer. Once I got the siding, I will decide what color I’m going to paint it. I need to replace the middle bar with a two by four though. But for now the two by two is fine. I also sanded all the rails and I believe it looks just wonderful. I’m very happy with it.
Then I needed to clean beneath the deck. It was a mess and I just didn’t know anymore what was there. So I took everything from under there, and started to organize everything and threw out what was broken or not needed anymore. What a difference. It’s nice to know what you have. We had a good rain and it even got so chilly that I had to lit the wood stove for the night. Just for an hour to warm things up a bit. 5 C is not nice to wake up in. Next day the sun came out again and now it’s not that cold anymore. But nice to have the stove on those chilly evenings in the summer time.
While sitting on the deck during my breaks, I love to watch the huge puffy clouds in the sky. Or suddenly I see a grouse coming out of the woods, just looking for some bugs. I have to laugh about Hunter, who is trying to catch them. They are way too big for her, and they fly away fast too. I don’t think she would know what to do when she would catch one. One slap of the wing and she would be out. Hahaha.
The baby Eastern Phoebes are growing. It’s nice to see mom and dad still being around, because with my cats in the yard, that isn’t easy. But they are such a good team together. When mom drinks, he’s watching the cats from one of the little fence posts in my yard. Or he sits in a tree, and makes sounds when cats come too close to his partner. It’s amazing to watch.
The potatoes are growing well and it was time to hill them. I hope this will help to grow lots of potatoes in the fall. I noticed one of my chimes that it was all tangled, so I sat on the deck, untangling it. Then I hung it up next to one of the lights. I love chimes. But this one is quiet loud though. Hahaha. During the rain and strong winds we had, one of the down spouts fell off. Simon had warned me that could happen if I wouldn’t attach it to some wood. But I didn’t get to it so now it’s off. Another job on my to do list.
A lot of the caterpillars are now making their cocoon. I can’t wait to see what kind of butterfly they will become. Or moth. It’s amazing how they make that cocoon. Not bad for those little worms.
This morning I was leaning on my deck railing, enjoying the sunrise. ( I was up at 4, so could watch the whole thing. ) Suddenly I looked down and noticed something hanging on the deck railing. EWL! A spider! I’m no fan of spiders when they surprise me. So I took the broom and gently I wiped it away. Then it fell on the deck. So I had to get it from there. It worked, and I hope it will find another spot to make her web. I like the genius spider, and they do a lot of good. And instead of getting hysterical, I now just feel my heart in my throat when they scare me and then I just make sure I can get rid of them in a gentle way. Outside that is. Inside it freaks me totally out so then I kill them.
I love my evening walks, just when the sun start s to set and the colors in the sky change by the minute. Always in company of scruffy, and most of the time also from all or some of the farm cats. The horses also start walking with us, so we must be quiet the parade. Hahaha. I pick some of the alfalfa here and there and give that to the horses. They love it so much. So yeah, no wonder they like to walk along with me. I love to walk alongside the pasture fence but it’s also really nice to walk in the more hilly part at the north side. We got lots of ticks right now, so even though it’s a joy to walk through the trees and the higher grass.....coming back in the cabin means also first getting rid of all the ticks that had a free ride. So for now I make sure I spray my clothes well and avoid the higher bushes and higher grass when going for a walk. The dog has drops now, because she was full of ticks. Now it’s better, but I have to swipe the cabin floor more often, because they drop off from her. LOL Oh dear, it just never ends, the work. Hahahaha! A few more weeks and tick season is over.
The black flies are real bad but spraying some off on my clothes, helps. The horses do suffer though, and will call me to be wiped with the big repellent. If I don’t, they run and buck and kick and I just can’t watch them suffer like that. In the wild, they can go to a different place, have a bath in a river or lake or slough, plus they have better choice of shelter. By example they can go higher in the hills or mountains, where it is cooler, so less big nasty flies. The only ones that don’t seem to have any problems with the bugs, are the cats. Amazing. Polly did bring in a flea, so I got the drops for the cats now too. Just in case. I hate bugs in my home.
I replaced the hummingbird feeder to the flower garden area. I got too many flies on my deck. In the wind the feeder would move, and drip the sweet stuff on the deck. So no wonder it was just not possible to sit on the deck anymore. As soon I moved the feeders and cleaned the deck, it was much better. Of course during sunset, mosquitos always are there. But the big dragonflies are out too and they are great hunters for mosquitos! They fly everywhere in the yard to catch a nice meal. The Eastern Phoebes also are great to catch insects. They are fly catchers, and it’s great to have them. Instead of the bird feeder I hung up lamps. One is solar, the other is a candle holder.
Paul gave me some rock sheets and I made a cute little rock garden. I put in some lilies and Hen and Chicks, put rocks around and in it, as also a little birds nest from last year. It looks really awesome. I also seeded some Quinoa. It supposed to give beautiful flowers. We will see. I was cleaning up some things on the deck and almost fell down. So I thought, hm...maybe a good idea to make a railing. Right now. Hahaha. So I got some wood, measured stuff, sawed, drilled , and tadaaaaa....a railing was born. Better and safer. Once I got the siding, I will decide what color I’m going to paint it. I need to replace the middle bar with a two by four though. But for now the two by two is fine. I also sanded all the rails and I believe it looks just wonderful. I’m very happy with it.
Then I needed to clean beneath the deck. It was a mess and I just didn’t know anymore what was there. So I took everything from under there, and started to organize everything and threw out what was broken or not needed anymore. What a difference. It’s nice to know what you have. We had a good rain and it even got so chilly that I had to lit the wood stove for the night. Just for an hour to warm things up a bit. 5 C is not nice to wake up in. Next day the sun came out again and now it’s not that cold anymore. But nice to have the stove on those chilly evenings in the summer time.
While sitting on the deck during my breaks, I love to watch the huge puffy clouds in the sky. Or suddenly I see a grouse coming out of the woods, just looking for some bugs. I have to laugh about Hunter, who is trying to catch them. They are way too big for her, and they fly away fast too. I don’t think she would know what to do when she would catch one. One slap of the wing and she would be out. Hahaha.
The baby Eastern Phoebes are growing. It’s nice to see mom and dad still being around, because with my cats in the yard, that isn’t easy. But they are such a good team together. When mom drinks, he’s watching the cats from one of the little fence posts in my yard. Or he sits in a tree, and makes sounds when cats come too close to his partner. It’s amazing to watch.
The potatoes are growing well and it was time to hill them. I hope this will help to grow lots of potatoes in the fall. I noticed one of my chimes that it was all tangled, so I sat on the deck, untangling it. Then I hung it up next to one of the lights. I love chimes. But this one is quiet loud though. Hahaha. During the rain and strong winds we had, one of the down spouts fell off. Simon had warned me that could happen if I wouldn’t attach it to some wood. But I didn’t get to it so now it’s off. Another job on my to do list.
A lot of the caterpillars are now making their cocoon. I can’t wait to see what kind of butterfly they will become. Or moth. It’s amazing how they make that cocoon. Not bad for those little worms.
This morning I was leaning on my deck railing, enjoying the sunrise. ( I was up at 4, so could watch the whole thing. ) Suddenly I looked down and noticed something hanging on the deck railing. EWL! A spider! I’m no fan of spiders when they surprise me. So I took the broom and gently I wiped it away. Then it fell on the deck. So I had to get it from there. It worked, and I hope it will find another spot to make her web. I like the genius spider, and they do a lot of good. And instead of getting hysterical, I now just feel my heart in my throat when they scare me and then I just make sure I can get rid of them in a gentle way. Outside that is. Inside it freaks me totally out so then I kill them.