Deck repairs by Ms. Maintenance

You'll recall my feeble effort when the girls were here. The middle deck had a rotted piece. Izzy and I measured and cut a new board, but the board was 2" x 6", rather than 1" x 6" and I admit I didn't measure. It stuck up like a sore thumb. The hole was, at least, temporarily plugged. It was a fun project for a girl and her gramma!

Realizing the lower deck has a punky board, too, I finally took measurements, but not the 6" width. I was ready to buy 4" until the thought occurred to me. I realized I need 1" x 6" x 80" for the middle deck, and 1" x 6" x 9' for the lower deck. I haven't bought a lot of wood. The previous homeowner, a carpenter, had a ton under the bench in the garage taking up a lot of storage space. I lugged it all down to the driveway one day, with a sign on it, $20. Someone took it all away, with the plan that she would, instead, make me a woodpecker feeder. That was 3 years ago. No feeder. Screwed again.

We made it to Rona, where I'd picked up a few odds and sods, fly strips, a new screen cat door (yet to be installed), poison ivy spray and then we ordered the wood. I keep forgetting you have to go to the cash, order it up, take the receipt and go around to the back of the store where you can load up.

Back home, I began my project on a very hot day. First, my helpers and I removed the board. This required inspection. There is a chipmunk who unwisely hangs around. Feline friends disappeared when the hammering began. The final photo was our rain from Aug. 1st. A mere 2mm. So disappointing.



I also redid the cat door. Butch raccoon wrecked the screen. It wasn't worth salvaging.
That was a task and a half. I have the tools, but I'm not good at cutting. Mind you, I'm not picking up kitting any time soon, either. I can't cut, draw, sew or knit a straight line!



I inserted the cat door into a piece of recovered plywood. Then, I covered it with some birch bark I'd harvested from the forest.

Currently, the cats won't use it properly. The manufacturer suggests that you tape it open until they 'get it', which did work when we led them to it. It'll take some time. It's a heavy door for a 7 lb. cat, and requires a bit of pressure. Dorah, at 15 lbs.,  is at the upper limit for the size of door. She's not as frantic to get out at night as Daisy.

Dorah had a nap on the septic bed cover tile. She was exhausted from chipmunk watching. In fact, she is a sleepy girl!

Raccoons and Barred owls

We've had a lovely visit from our friend, Yam.  Yam was attending the Blogville Awesome Retreat, and has done a North American tour afterwards.
I have miles and miles of photos of our car trips around the region, soon to follow! Not quite ready to organize those, we were sitting, having taken Yam to the train station in the early afternoon, and I heard my owl! (More below!)

Not long after this, having checked to see if the garage door was closed, I heard a sound. Sure enough, Butch and Sundance (momma raccoon and offspring) were in the garage. She has figured out the cat door into the garage, taught her 4 babies, and they were into the garbage and the winter bird seed. SIGH. Cat door is now locked. We primarily used it for Buster in the dead of winter to get warm.

I laughed so hard, watching her squeeze out of the cat door! I didn't laugh this morning when I saw one of them left me a deposit beside the Hops vine!

June 24th

I threw on some jeans and t-shirt (that wasn't enough!) and took camera and videocam to see if I could grab a photo of momma and chicks. I could hear the chicks  just off to Momma barred owl's left. Two chicks have survived. I simply could not spot them! I could hear them on separate trees, but the mosquitoes were so bad, and dusk was approaching.



 I managed to capture her doing a full hoot, as well as Robins bothering her.
Momma owl hoots from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
I haven't seen momma and chicks, she's still feeding them. First, she is calling, then the robin family started harassing her. Robins must have brood #2 nearby.