Caging the Berries

Thursday morning was lovely because there was no wind and no sunshine, so I lit a small fire to take the chill off. H.H and I drove Ali and Pete to the ferry, and then I picked up some light lumber with which to finish the blueberry cage. I figured out what I am going to do. But I didn’t get down to work. Instead, I cleaned up in the house.

One job I hate doing is cleaning the ceiling fans in the ‘grand room,’ my large open plan kitchen, living room, dining room, office. They get mighty dirty over the Winter, so I addressed their cleaning yesterday. Anything involving a ladder produces slight anxiety in me, but I got the job done.

And then it was lunch time. The cats were thrilled with the fire, and so two very groggy kitty cats came to the kitchen for lunch. Ethel seems to be thriving. I haven’t seen her licking or biting herself since we moved to hypoallergenic food for both cats. Once everyone was fed, I had a nap and then got busy with finishing the blueberry cages. It went well until I ran out of nails, so it was back into the village for H.H. and I.

On the way home, we stopped at Rollo Park to play fetch. Getting her running—she loves to play fetch—is part of my plan to help her lose some weight. Then, as the sun struggled to get through the clouds, I returned to working on the cages. I got everything done that I wanted to do and then quit. I’ve more to do, but that’ll have to wait until I water all the beds, so I hope to finish it late today.

I’ve the top and “front” of both cages to do (12’ X 3.5’ top; 12’ X 6’ front). The front must be easy to open to that I can pick the berries, and secure when closed. The netting is black, fine plastic, so I attach florescent coloured plastic ribbon to warn off the birds. I hate working with the netting. It catches on everything. Doing the top on my own, is going to be a challenge.

It's back to sunshine today, but it’s cool and there are clouds. As I write this morning at 6:30 am, it’s only 9° outside. H.H. and I shall walk with our friends, and I shall do a lot of watering today and I shall try to do the top of the two blueberry enclosures.