Tuesday, November 07, 2017

The house thats for the bird that has everything.

Well I had or rather I still have this cheapo purse. I only had it for a couple of years I guess before it got all torn up and ratty. It was really nice when I got it. Most unusual and different from all the other purses I had in the past and I just couldn't resist purchasing it despite in my head I knew its a cheapo. Plus I felt sorry for the foreign girl working in that little shop that I know probably wasn't going to last for much longer and she would probably loose her job. Well I was right. The shop soon after closed and she probably had to go back to her own country cause she just couldn't make a decent living in our humble little mall. It really is a little mall which consists of just the main grocery store and a few enclosed shops. Definitely not a plaza. 
Anyways instead of just throwing the purse away I decided to make it into a bird house out of it. Something I kind of wanted to do anyways in the future and took advantage of when I got an old ratty purse to do so. 
So here it is. I hung it close to a bird feeder underneath a shed roof but so far no takers this year. Oh well maybe next year when I move it to a different more secluded spot. 

 

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Just dilly

Last year when I took these pics, like the cat nip, the dill that grew, really was bountiful. Sadly this year the dill that grew back although looked like it was going to really be bountiful again, was not. The swallow tail butterfly cattapillers made sure of that. Usually they go crazy all over the parsley and the tomato plants but for some reason it was the dill's turn to get pummeled. Oh well there's always next year. 




Friday, October 06, 2017

What's a little catnip

Well its October and I'm still pulling up those annoying ivies. Thankfully I can see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. But the last to pull out is the more difficult. On top of that I think that ivy was the thing that was making me itch all summer. Still have to yank out all those butter cups. 😖

Anyways here are some nice pics of some colossal sized pretty much a bush of cat nip weed I snapped last year. When it came time to get rid of the old growth, I threw it in to the bushes and I think that's what drove Meetso to go over the top. Sadly when I tried to repeat the growth, Meetso as with all cats just couldn't resist raiding the nip. So the only thing that survived this year was the one still hanging in a pot. Oh well. Got to figure something out. 😏





Friday, September 15, 2017

Little big flood.

While the other parts of the world were having their own natural disasters including north America mainly with those big and nasty hurricanes and parts of Canada with those fires, we had our own little disaster here too a few weeks ago. So I just had to post this so yeah for once this is fairly new stuff. 
Lately for the past few years we've been having lots of things such as floods here. I forgot about the small one we had last year. I remember that day we went to a mall. Not the one that flooded but another one. I had purchased a black stylish hat that day. This year however we got one of those 100 year old floods. It flooded our basement for a second time since our family has lived in this house. The last time was only a few years ago. I think in 2010 was the last time. I suppose we're now going to have these more often now. Sign of the times I guess. 
So anyhow most of the summer we struggled to get some rain so it ended up fairly dry around here. When we did finally get some substantial rain, boy it really rained. And rained and rained until our naighbourhood began to resemble a system of rivers and ponds. After awhile it started to seep in though a wall in the fruit cellar. Later I noticed that when I checked on our sump pump, it was on non stop and I started to get that panicky feeling of "here we go again". Then it started to bubble up through the drain in the floor and that's when I started to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I'm sure, though out the city this was happening people were probably feeling the same way. I think we were pretty lucky for not having a downstairs toilet which would have probably resulted in sewage in the basement as well. None the less I got as many of our things off the floor as fast as I could on to higher ground while my dad tried to go out to look for tubing for our extra pump. After doing all that I could downstairs, I went outside to the porch and took a few pics of the craziness.  (see pics below post)After taking a few pics a neighbour came over with urgency and asked for assistance. There were many cars getting trapped in the rising water that day and that guy's, van was no exception. So along with a few of the guys and me being the only woman we pushed the van up I guess his driveway to safety. So after a bit of socializing with the neighbours I walked back home. Found out my dad came back home without success. The stores were all sold out of hoses. There was only one way out of this. Compromising. My dad had to Macgyver the feed hose that we used in the fish pond for air and water circulation and use that for our extra pump. It was a bit of a mess considering that thing was all full of long strands of green alga and who knows what else but we had no choice. We hooked up the thing, fed it out one of the closest windows to the main sump pump and pumped away. The water finally started to let up around 7pm in our house and the neighbourhood as well. At its peek we had about 3 to 4 inches of rain water in the basement. It was a long day. Tomorrows day would be just as tedious. Removing wet rugs, placing them outside and the arduous task of re-mopping the floor. I had already done that weeks ago and was not happy about this. We were pretty lucky (or unlucky depending on your perspective)over all compared to some of our other neighbours. They had to redo some parts of their soaked basement and its pretty uncertain if insurance would have covered it fairly. (We have pretty lousy insurance coverage here in our humble and normally boring city.) The next day it was pretty evident how the flood impacted everyone in the city with the gargantuan mounds of trash piled high at the end of almost every driveway from flooded basements. To this day, its sill being collected by our diverted garbage and recycling trucks plus extra trucks from Toronto. They finally got to our street just yesterday although they still have the rest of the city to get to. Not easy when only about 10 houses can be cleared of debris at a time before they have to dump the load at some temporary depot. Ironically at our only and last GM plant which closed years ago and was torn down recently. So much for motor city, now rat city, garbage city and a city loaded with lots of sad and grumpy people. No wonder they all want to desperately smoke pot. 
Yup sign of the times.  😒

A view of our flooded park, parking lot and street from my porch.
 A view of our flooded park, parking lot and street corner from my porch and the corner of our front lawn.
Some guy decided to take a dip in one of the large and apparently deep ponds that formed in the corner of the park. I wonder if he realized that there was a sewer grate there. 
Our front sidewalk that leads from our porch. You can see the river that was our street. You can see a wake from a passing van. Many people didn't care that they were speeding and that would cause more water to go in peoples houses.

I liked how the water looked on our trees. Like sparkling diamonds.

A view from our dining room of the park and street.

A view from our dining room of the park and street. Another van goes whooshing by.

A view from my bedroom window. You can see a few cars stuck in the water at the far right. The same spot where me and some guys pushed a van up a drive way. The water was about up to my knees. A few feet worth.


Friday, August 25, 2017

The butterfly bush or weed



Just some lovely pics I took last year of my butterfly bush/weed. They had finally made it to blossoming after many seasons of frustrations. First I just couldn't get the seedlings to survive after insects and other critters ate them in the small pots. Or was it just not the right type of soil? Not sure but the next year I decided to use a soil that wasn't loaded with compost. That was successful. There were other problems after that too. By the time I tried again in another season I was left with one successful seedling that actually grew enough to be planted.  Good thing, I was only left with one last seed. So after I planed it and it grew to a nice plant, thinking it was just another weed, my dad nearly killed it off. I was pretty disappointed at my dads kill happy hands. Well another season goes by and in the spring I get a surprise. The plant came back and this time later in July I think with a crown of beautiful bright orange blossoms. So pleased that finally after my hard work and persistence I finally got my butterfly bush. 
So far it really hasn't attracted any butterflies but a few hover flies and other things.
This year it made even more blossoms and the only thing it managed to attract were lots and lots of aphids with their keepers the ants and one ladybug. No seed pods this year because of the infestation. 
Oh well there's always next year. 😏

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Just some cooings on.

Time for catch-up again. Still decapitating those ivy vines. Just can't do it all the time. I wait for when its not so hot and humid. But none the less they're almost pretty much out on the front. Found lots of empty snail shells for my collection in the processes. They come in handy for projects. Such as wreaths and a certain broach I made for my self. Still tackling other things too. Been a pretty busy summer. And oh yeah we might actually get some peaches this year. So far the squirrels have been keeping away. Another story when it comes to the night creatures.

Anyways here are some pics of some of my doves took two years ago just before I put them out for the season in their outdoor cage. I managed to take a few nice ones of my "rare in my household" a young dappled ring neck dove. She had a brother who looked just like her but as I said before her brother got spagetified by a hawk before we reinforced the cages to keep out the rodents and you guessed it hawks. Oh and I even got a rare pic of a dove just about to take off the covered car in our garage. Rare considering my camera is pretty old and its only a point n shoot camera. Not to mention a Kodak camera. I wonder if someday it might become a collectable? 



Oh they look a bit poopy considering when inside their winter quarters its a bit cramped for the night. But they have the whole garage to do what they please during the day. Such as bathing, foraging, playing and of course flying. 😊
 

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Meetso in the fur

Just some ravenously hansom pics of Meetso taken last year in late spring I think. As you can see he still had not shed his lovely fur off for the summer. 





Oh a small progress report. Still lots of bush hacking to do, pulling of ivy vines, pulling of butter cup weeds to do and not to mention pull out all that grass around the pond too. Besides I don't think Meetso can really enjoy that overgrown tall grass anyways. I'm also thinking of now hacking that overgrown bush near my bedroom window in half because of a incident of a peeping tom last night. I don't know what those guys get for disturbing my evening anyways. 1. He can't see anything anyways. So what is the point of knocking on the wall? Practical joke? Really no point and not funny. Also stupid. next house he does that could involve a gun pointing at him. He should really consider that. Get a life dude! 
Oh did I mention I broke a tooth? Yeah I broke a tooth on an already cracked tooth one of 2 a few years ago by eating something stupid. So now I have to make an appointment or two to get it crowned and oh yeah my gum cut. Yup gum cut cause the tooth as in molar is a bit short so they can to get at the problem area. Fun. 😿
Oh and yeah getting my hair done tomorrow too. For awhile at least I'll look like a different human. 
Actually going to look more like my kitty besty friend Meetso. 😺

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

The better frog pics

I have some more frog pics taken last year. Better ones this time. And oh yeah long time no see. 
But it seems that our resident frogs decided to leave us. Why? Who knows. It could have been because it was really wet this year which gave them more leeway for choices. But then again, maybe I was a bit too nosy taking a peak at their goings on every day and sometimes several times during the day. I would be annoyed too. But then they are frogs we're talking about. Maybe they didn't like the over growth of the butter cups. If you don't know what those are, there really obnoxious but deadly beautiful flower weeds. They have a bad habit of establishing and taking over every part of your yard. Oh yeah they're poisonous too. They are known to make cows blind after they ate some. Just like the other problem we have, we also have an annoying English ivy problem. That is another issue. Anyways in the end who knows why the frogs left. I really hope they come back. I really enjoyed the enhanced and added pleasant atmosphere they brought to the pond. Maybe we'll have others that will come. 😾




Monday, February 27, 2017

Frogs in the koi pond

Yes! Only a few more weeks till spring and Feb is just about done. 
In the mean time enjoy these pics from last year I took of some green/bronze frogs that decided to spend the good seasons in our pond. I hope they comeback again this season. Last year it really was a banner year for them because we never had so many in one small pond. Only one of them I think actually did the singing. But we did have many babies as a result. I didn't see any of the tadpoles though.  They sound a bit like someone strumming on a rubber band affixed to a cardboard box. Reminds me of an old lady talking on a phone. Go and look it up. Pretty freaky when you first hear them.  




Its a bit difficult to see but if you look in the corner you can see a frog in each pic.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Ogling the bunny

More of last years pics, yeah I know. But then they're perfectly appropriate for this time of year even though we're technically still in winter. But hay its only a few months before spring. 
One day Meetso spotted his favorite subject matter. Nature and food television, only real life. Fresh rabbets happen to be one of his most favorite meals aside from smelts, tuna and shrimp. It was raining that day so you can just make out the gentle rain drops falling that the camera captured. So the lighting wasn't that great, but you can still make out all the things that were happening. 






Took a few quick pics of Meetso too. After awhile he kind of got annoyed of all the attention and wanted back in.  But then it could have been that the bunny decided to move on and then there's the rain. 
 That's our front yard on the corner of our street. A great place to find bunny's in their favourite territory. And no doubt probably lots of Pokemon Go too. 😉


 Till next time. Spring can't come fast enough.  😉😸