A Midsummer Night's Fire

I'm celebrating the last day of July by lighting the woodstove. It's a gloomy, damp 9 degrees outside, and it was chilly inside when I got in from work. Things are warming up nicely.

And Suddenly it Was Almost Two Weeks Later!

Time flies. Very quickly.

I've been meaning to blog, but life seems to have gotten in the way. And that's probably a good thing. We've been doing lots of routine little chores, and enjoying the yields of the garden...lettuce galore (we have a "gourmet mix" of about 5 varieties), chard, strawberries (just enough to make a fresh picked snack), lots of herbs, rhubarb. The other veggies are slow, but coming along very gradually. Next year things will get a head start; I have splurged and ordered a super duper 3 tier stand & grow lights from Lee Valley...it should be arriving next week!

The creatures, tall and small are all doing fine. Cody was a joyful little whirlwind for his ten days home; he and Mike are close to Winnipeg tonight. Buck's leg is coming along at a snail's pace...he and Rupert had pedicures last Monday. Jasper hovered close by and devoured all the hoof trimmings.

This afternoon I fired up the log splitter and split a large pile of last year's logs. I will stack them after work tomorrow.

I'll endeavour to be a better blogger...and will leave you tonight with a recent sunset.

Rupert

Rupert keeping an eye on things.

The Critters

Here's Buck, grazing in the clover. The clover got planted around the house last year as a low maintenance dust suppressant, and has more or less taken over everywhere. It is very invasive. Buck gets to graze on it for an hour or two most days.


Cody, Jasper and Lucy having a good time!


Gillis looking dignified. He's hard of hearing and a bit confused sometimes, but he's going strong at 12.


Molly taking a dust bath.

Volunteers

This spring I was surprised to find some volunteer garlic growing happily in last year's bed. I thought I'd got it all last summer, but obviously I missed a few cloves. I'll leave the other bed for a few more weeks, but I pulled these this morning to make room for some fall chard I want to sow. These seem mostly to be one or two giant cloves per bulb. Sadly, I lost my detailed list of all the garlic varieties I planted the year before last, so I don't know what varieties I have.

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Things are busy here. I am in an ongoing war with weeds, and don't seem to be winning the battle. I've been burning roots and branches in the side pasture this morning, just a very small contained fire.

We had frost on Friday morning. My pathetic little bean plants died once and for all...no great loss as they were struggling big time to get going. The top leaves of the potatoes got some frost damage too, but they will be okay. Gardening at 3800 ft can be challenging; we can have frost any month of the year, although we're usually okay from early June to mid August.

Mike was home for a couple of days, and will be back for a week in a few days. Cody is staying here with me this week.

Buck's leg is coming along slowly but surely...I am still dressing it every day or two. He is well and comfortable.

The Mother Lode...

I posted last year about my four-leaf clover finding prowess. Tonight I have outdone myself!

Canada Day

Happy 141st Birthday, Canada! I worked at the hospital this morning, and I'm having a leisurely afternoon at home.

This afternoon thunderheads have gathered, and we are being serenaded by distant and not so distant rumbles. Thunder makes Lucy nervous, Gillis can't hear it anymore, and Jasper is oblivious. Buck and Rupert don't seem bothered at all. I enjoy thunderstorms, except for the fire risk they pose in the summer.


The past few days have been very hot; too warm to be outside doing anything except first thing in the morning or later in the evening.

My veggie garden is starting to take off; it has been so cold and wet that nothing much has happened until the last week or two. I've had fresh mixed lettuce, baby chard and rocket salads for the last couple of days. Yesterday I thinned the turnips and hoed some of the very prolific weeds.

This is our worst year for mosquitoes since we moved here...the late wet spring and cool damp early summer have provided ideal conditions for them. We still have several patches of standing water which have normally dried up in May. I'm not a DEET fan, but it's that or stay inside these days. There's usually a welcoming mosquito coil burning just outside the front door.