Two weeks of extreme heat and what have we been up to?

Already two weeks have flown by since I posted last. We’ve had extreme hot temperatures here meanwhile ranging in the mid to upper thirties Celsius coming close to 100 Fahrenheit and with high humidity had us breaking out in sweat as soon as we stepped outside.  

 

A couple of times we were blessed with a heavy rain shower that revived our dying grass somewhat. At one of those threatening thundershower days I mentioned to Benno that he shouldn’t have bothered to drive the truck into the garage when a dark and ominous looking cloud was about to disperse its contents, because he had said earlier that the truck needed to be washed. “Good idea” was all I heard while he ran outside wearing only his swimming trunks and t-shirt. My energetic husband then proceeded to wash the truck in the pouring rain!

 

Contessa from 5Cs Que Pasa had asked me about the Cedar birdhouse Benno built and I took a close up photo for her. I tried to get a photo of the Chipping Sparrow as it flew in and out to feed the chicks, but he was too fast for me. As soon as she or he saw me, they would sit nearby with the morsels in their beaks waiting until I disappeared before flying into the birdhouse. 

 

The neighbours are not as skittish

I had more success getting a snap shot of the Baltimore Orioles as they still come to the table to get their desserts of Concord Grape Jelly. I think maybe Dad was teaching the brood where to come to fetch it. 

 

photos are taken through the window from inside

In my last post I mentioned being new to growing veggies and I thought I share with you what I found on both of my pepper plants last Friday. Jesus, I had not noticed these huge Tomato Hornworms before and I do check all my veggies twice a day when I water them and while I pick ripe zucchini, tomatoes and peppers. Strangely enough they suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and looking quite massive 3+ inches long, something you would not like to have in your salad bowl at dinner. Glad no harm was done to the plants or fruits.

 

And while I’m at the subject of critters, have you ever noticed a grey grasshopper? I had to take a double take while I was walking on the grey gravel on our driveway and thought a gravel pit had moved on its own. Talk about good camouflage. 

 

So what else was going on? Benno decided he wants to level the low spots on our properties himself. We have large puddles of water every spring and fall on our properties and last summer we hired a contractor to fill and level the low spots on the new land we had purchased. After paying him for his service we are still in no better position and the quality of fill was a disappointment.  It will require quite a lot of fill, in fact several tons of dirt (10 to 15 tons) and to spread that we need a machine. 

 

Here is the new addition to our fleet of toys, a little Kioti diesel tractor with a three-point hitch and a loader to level and move the dirt around. We are not getting lazy, but we are getting older too. On top of it, we put up a storage shed to house it and keep it from the elements. Hey, hold your horses, it could be put on the market again in a couple of years after everything is fixed on our land.

 

And while Benno is already busy enough I made him assemble an arbor for me that I am going to place between house and garage as an entrance to the garden. However, I have some digging to do so it can be anchored properly and not fall down in the wind. Stay tuned for the finished project as it also involves more digging and to relocate pavers etc. 

 

Next update I hope you won’t have to wait so long for. Thanks for stopping by.