Prepping My Outback

My tasks yesterday began with finishing the cushions that are now lighter in colour than the sofa. I don’t care about the difference in colour though. This is Gabriola. I may take the sofa outside and wash it too.

The lush green (left) I planted last year. All the green beyond the Japanese Maple
is weeds and that is what I am removing to prepare for seeding in the Fall.

After the dog walk, I got to work on the part of my land where my fruit trees grow. I’ve also got several Lavender plants growing amongst the trees on land I’ve never seeded. Weeds grow in abundance, but they are dying now and so it’s easier for me to extract them and leave the land bare.

Yes, it’s full of demon seeds, but come Fall, I’ll add some new soil and saturate the area with grass seed in hopes of keeping weeds at bay. My decision to do this happened spontaneously as I began to till yesterday. When I finish executing this plan in the Fall, Now I’ve only one area left “wild” (ie: weedy) and I’ll likely attend to it next year.

It was hot yesterday. By eight-thirty am, it was already twenty degrees, and in the afternoon, it reached thirty-one degrees. I’d work for a while, and then come and sit in front of the fan to cool and dry off, have a drink and then get back to it. I got a great start done, but I stopped at one o’clock. I was just too hot and tired from a super busy day on Saturday.

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Sheba was limping again yesterday, so we took short walks. The forest is incredibly beautiful right now; it’s fragrant and cool. I love the walks as much as Her Highness does.

This is awesome weather. It is such a privilege to be so comfortable and bugless in my home where it’s nice and cool, and to have all the screened doors and windows open. I love going to bed and feeling the breeze on my face.

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Sheba is walking better this morning, so we’ll go on the walk first and then I’m excited about getting back to work on the fruit tree area—at least for a while. And I’m watering some gardens twice a day now and I’ve made shade for my Paulownia tree (its huge leaves can’t take the heat).

Today is predicted to reach thirty-three! The heat saps my energy, but I’ll get as much done as I can. If the tilling is too much, I can do some transplanting in the edible garden instead. Summer! Yay!

A Walk in the Forest

Yesterday was stunning. Today is predicted to reach thirty degrees!

I spent yesterday walking Sheba and improving the aesthetics of the entrance to my backyard. I’d covered a little strip of land between my driveway and deck with sand when I moved in, and it became a weed factory. So, I first removed the sand.

My plan was to dump the sand onto the sandlot where my incinerator is, but when I got there, the lot was covered with forest fall, so I had to clean that up before I could add more sand. Sigh. But now the lot has three more wheelbarrows full of sand. Then I added soil to the bed and then shade-tolerant Heather. Now my entrance looks much, much nicer.

Before.

After.

Not shown is a nice new terracotta pot. It was at the nursery and it was badly cracked, so I asked if I could have it at a discount. But Clarence gave it to me for free!

I came home, repaired it, and put a nice pink Hydrangea in it. I have three now. And I put it in the entrance area opposite the new garden of Heather that I did in the morning. 

I also tried on another new job: Upholstery cleaner. I have a sofa that I love. I searched high and low for weeks (thirteen years ago) to find it. It cost as much as a condo, but it has a high back and few sofas today are made with high backs.

Sheba loves it too. After my bed, it’s her favourite piece of furniture. And so, out of respect for the nasal sensibilities of my guests and my fear of being nose blind, I decided to give the cushions and the back of my sofa a good washing. It was so hot yesterday I knew everything would dry quickly. It’s something I’ll do every summer.

I loved playing Croquet and my incredibly fabulous dinner at Eoin and François’ place, but I am very happy being alone here at home with the pets and tinkering in the gardens—or making new ones as I did yesterday. Summer makes me manic about outdoor life.

I worked hard all day—burning calories, you know—and then took Sheba for a lovely meander through the forest on one of our favourite walks. It’s high Summer now, all brown and dry. A week ago, everything was lush and green. Below, are my photos of our walk.

In the evening, I watched Piano to Zanskar, a pay-per-view offering of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival on Vimeo. Lingshed is a mountain village in the Indian Himalayas province of Zanskar. At 14,000 feet above sea level, it is one of the most isolated settlements in the world.

And that’s where eccentric British piano tuner, Desmond O’Keeffe (age 65), decides to deliver a piano so that the village school can better teach music. You should see what they go through to deliver the piano to a very grateful population. The piano, of course, was disassembled and reassembled once they arrived at their destination.

It was amazing, it was heart wrenching and it was absolutely beautiful and very emotional. 

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Today’s plan, after the big community dog walk, is to tackle the land at the extreme east end of my property. It’s a field of weeds. I’m going to till it to kil all the weeds and continue to ponder what to do with land I’m not keen to seed. It’s dark in this area and the soil is acidic, so I may propagate a bunch of Ivy and try to get Ivy to cover it. I’ll also till around the Apple trees to kill all the weeds there.

The grass is half a meter high.

The Ferns are two meters high.

Daisies are everywhere.

Sometimes, the Ferns shine in the forest.

Tiny purple stars are everywhere, like the Daisies.

These spectacular Grass seeds will turn black!

Ideal, beautiful symmetry.

The Thistles smell absolutely divine. They grow
in large groves as you can see below.

These wildflowers are a stunningly bright yellow.

Fifteen Pounds Gone!

I’m supremely relieved that I’ve been able to get all Sheba’s medications on her wound and into her. I worried I’d not be successful, but it’s going fine and I can see in her every move that she’s in less pain. She’s been very good about leaving her sock alone.

We went on the dog walk and I came home to water and to do some work on the edible garden. The many little things I’m doing, such as transplanting, trimming Strawberry runners and staking, are incredibly satisfying to do and to see done.

Then it was lunch before going to Rollo Park with Sheba for a Croquet game with my fellow dog walkers.

I have to say, I was a smarty to get my Croquet set. It’s a huge hit with everyone who plays, and they often attribute the fun to my set. It has very sturdy mallets, large lovely bright balls and the hoops are narrow, making the game a tad tougher.

It was nice because there were some huge Cumulus clouds giving us periodic relief from the bright sunshine. And Sheba was very happy. I could tell by many aspects of her behavior. It’s like she is “back;” the medicine has clearly relieved some pain rather quickly. (One medication contains a steroid.) 

Everyone loved the game again and they all want to play again in a week! We have such fun. It’s a wonderful way to visit with friends and be safe together.

But last night I had a scare. I woke up in the night shivering and feeling freezing cold when I went to the bathroom. I dreaded being as cold again later in the night, and I worried I was seroconverting. But on each of the other two times I woke up, I felt normal and I feel find today. Covid anxiety.

On the plus side, I’m officially half-way to my goal. I’ve now officially lost fifteen pounds. I can’t believe how easy and fast it has been to lose that weight.