Fred and the garden

 It's been too chilly to plant my 3 veggie plants: 2 zucchini and one squash. I put them out in the rain. See who was headed over? Fred loves her veggies!

I moved them onto the coffee table.

In the afternoon, in the warmth and sunshine, the kits came out. We still have 3 kits. 

You can see the 3 here. Momma, now that they are eating grass, is wandering further away. She spent a lot of Tuesday under the lower deck. When she wasn't eating my plants.

Momma Fred seems to have moved over to the burrow under the lower deck. Can you see her? 

She is working on my hosta plant. She is leaving the Bleeding Hearts along for the bees!

YUMMY!

The Crumbly Acres camera reveals the early morning action. Fred is quite keen on my front yard garden.

   

 I spent a couple of hours trying to put up some barriers. She's eaten 3/14 of my milkweed plants. Just lopped them off. Who likes milkweed, other than monarchs?

First try was a drain spout, I didn't think that would last. 

 

My next idea, was to raid our dump pile. Using the skill saw, I carved out the bottom of the old hanging planters. 

My next idea was using the netting that I use in the deer fence. That didn't seem adequate, and I added fencing. My petunias are looking good, with the lobelia hanging over.

What could go wrong?

You can sort of see the netting. It is great stuff, and still lets us see the flowers.

Epic fail! Rookie error? I forgot to take into account that they can climb. She just slipped under the netting.

I reinforced it!

I'll try put the surveillance siren on from 6 – 8 a.m., she's there at a predictable time. That MIGHT dissuade her! 🤞

Crumbly Acres Chores

What a spring it has been. Apparently, allergens abound. I heard an expert explaining that some early trees were delayed with the cool weather. They now are in bloom, and the other trees are blossoming at the same time. It doesn't help allergy sufferers, but it does explain the severity.

Maggie Magnolia is in full bloom. She is so pretty. I tried a drive by shooting from my lawn tractor, and it didn't go well in the close-up! Ah well, a record of the tree.

Cinnamon was supervising his goldfish.

More rain! The problem is the little pieces of the tree blossoms. 

We've had winds, and the dead leaves and blossoms are blocking the gutter. At 6 a.m. (after putting garbage out!) I was up the ladder, inserting my old hose to syphon it out. 

After the syphoning, I realized I had to climb up and clean it. There wasn't a lot of debris, just enough to blog the drain spout.

It was mucky, smelly stuff! Splatted on my face. 😒

It didn't take long. I took a panoramic from the roof. This is the back.

Here is the front yard! We don't have to hire someone this time!

Joe Brian fetched the makings for meatloaf. I thought it'd be nice to heat the house baking. It turned out to be a 24 ℃ day. It was a good idea at the time!

The clouds moved away, the sun came out, and I worked on a couple of other things. I went down well.

Crumbly Acres and Crumble

I am hoping our days are warming. It's been too cool to sit out back for long. The odd time the sun comes out, I move the plants around. It keeps me off the street! 

Look to the skies. We like to watch the Canadian show, Mayday, which depicts the efforts of our Transportation Safety Board (TSB) to determine causes of incidents and prevent them in the future. You can check out the information on Wiki, as well. There you can access links to the official TSB reports. 

Yes, it's been cold and rainy lately. Indoor play. There is only so much housework one can do. 😏There have been several incidents at our local small airport. May 17th, June, 2024, and Nov. 2024: 🛩 'Controlled flight into terrain'. Much research, amazing scientists who research the problems and correct them.

As I look skyward, I wonder what they are up to. It's the small airplanes that cause some concern. I figure if I film them there will at least be a record if something happens! These two were only up at 1100' (335 m) and 1675' (510m).  

Joe Brian went down to Miller's Bay Farm and fetched us freshly picked rhubarb and asparagus. I made a rhubarb/canned pineapple/frozen strawberry crumble. The strawberries won't be ready here until June. 

Lovely having the oven on for warmth!

It's the nights that have worried me. I bring my hanging planters in overnight. We had one evening when I did not, and Butch Raccoon knocked it over! I could hear something happening out there! Lesson learned. (MAYBE!)

Butch has been curious. They knocked the pond pump over. Froggy wasn't amused. 

Joe Brian had bought me a sturdy fish net for the goldfish pond. I picked it up and spotted an ant on my hand. And another ant, and another one. The handle comes apart, and tapping it on the rock I found hundreds of ants and eggs. No chore is simple! Some of our critters are more welcome than others. 😉

We've teeny flowers, as well as the larger ones, to please the eye. Lily of the Valley everywhere!

What my mother always called forget-me-don'ts! Caitlin gifted me some from her lawn. I've tried seeds and nothing seemed to take. SUCCESS!

🦫I have a report on Barry Beaver. He took down trees, one was blocking the path, about 5 are widow makers, but three have (thankfully) fallen. 

 He worked on it two nights and made progress. Aspens and Willows are their preference. We have Aspen!

BEFORE:

Progress AFTER TWO DAYS:

Good work, Barry. 

It's 6:30 a.m., and garbage is out, the plants are out in the rain. I've several new chores with Spring. The good news is I've shed 1 kg. with my Spring Chores. More to come! I wish I were as efficient as Barry.