A Day to Ourselves, Some Work, Some Play, Some Relaxing

The Ridge

On Saturday, July 25^th Bill was up and showered before I even moved. I know I was awake briefly at 5:30 but it was one of those ‘don’t bother me’ awakenings and I dozed off easily. My eyes saw the light of day at 6:30 when I got up. Early enough for me after having a late 11 o’clock bedtime but I was ready.

Good morning sunshine

Bill took his coffee down to the Hangar in his outdoor mug. He had a plan to get as much gravel spread as he could before the heat took over the day. I was not sure what to do. Go for my walk or go help. He made the decision for me when he said it was better that I do my own thing instead. He was deciding as he went how and where to spread the gravel so preferred working at his own pace. I get that and it is totally Bill. It isn't as if I'm begging to slug gravel!

On my walk, I was looking at many of the milkweeds
for caterpillars

So, I went for my 2 mile walk and enjoyed it very much. On my return, I noticed that some of the choke cherry bushes along North Line have tent caterpillars nesting and eating and killing the bushes. That was going to stop right now! Back at home, I slipped on my nylon pants over my shorts and gloves and went down with the long-handled clippers. Snip, snip and along that north side, they have been dealt with and tossed.

The cherries are really coming out and there's a lot to pick
This is a healthy bush

And this is one of the worst affected by the critters (yeuch!)
this bush is right at the end of our driveway and it didn't have anything worth picking last year

As I came up the lane, I did some more trimming of the small tree branches that tend to get heavy and lean over the driveway. There were more than I thought but it cleaned it up even more than Bill’s walk down the other day. No problem getting rv’s up there now, for sure! 

The new green stuff is what I cut/trimmed today from the laneway

I took my tools up the hill and hoed the garden which didn’t need it too badly and then planted the last of the green and a few of the red shallots.

Bill and Gerry get his new pump set up with a new fitting

I tried doing a better job in the hopes that they take root and produce better than the first batch. Next year, I’ll go back to the multipliers, they fared much better and that surprised me. Me and my garden, everything is a trial and a mystery. The tomatoes, peppers and lettuce are doing very good and the pumpkin plant is looking quite happy. He has flowers coming out so I’m excited to show Bill.

The garden is looking good

And I know you can't see them all but some of my tomatoes are getting big!

As I was leaving the garden area, I noticed a caterpillar on a milkweed. Just last night, Donna showed me a picture of a small one on a leaf at her place. 😊 She was so happy so we started looking around here since I had one last year that I was able to watch during the whole process, caterpillar to butterfly. Seeing this one, I was happy as well that I had one. Mine looks bigger and a different colour, perhaps a Swallowtail caterpillar? I know caterpillars about as much as I know plants and birds so chuckle and correct me if you must. LOL

I haven't broke off the leaf yet, this guy is really hungry!
I noticed a few of his 'droppings' too and after reading about it, knew
what they were

Because of its location, a place I seldom go, I may bring its leaf and stem down and put them in a jar down here where we can watch the process closer. With a vented top to let air in and the abundance of leaves around to keep it fed, it could be fun. Donna said it reminded her of her school days, keeping them in jars to watch the metamorphosis. I haven’t thought of that word in ages!

My Shasta daisies are reaching for the sky
looking so happy

I also found a huge plant of Purslane in the vegetable garden. They spread so I pulled it out and I brought it down to wash. I used to fry it up in butter when we lived in London but we didn’t have more than 1 or 2 small growths to pick from. I’ll taste it again and see if I still like it. It would be an addition to my lunch plate. 

Purslane is rich in minerals and Omega-3 fatty acids.
May offer protection against heart disease, cancers and other chronic diseases
Yes, it's a weed!

With the sun hot on the area, Bill finished moving gravel and then got the weed eater out to clean up down there by his trailer and Hangar. He has more energy than I do, much more, as I was ready to come inside and get something to eat. He’d already had his toast and jam earlier so wasn’t hungry. I made a coffee with my lunch and then had my own shower. The afternoon would be a lazy one for both of us. We couldn’t believe it was only Saturday but were thrilled about that!

He wants the whole area in front of the Hangar and cargo trailer covered

I got caught up in reading emails with videos for about an hour. I don’t often read them on my phone as they take up so much battery, so wait until I’m at the laptop. By then I may have 5 or 6 to read. Today, I had about 10 since I’ve been busier. Woops! We are nearing the end of the month and have hardly used any of our 10 gb of hi-speed data (and still have unlimited) so I wasn’t concerned about the videos using too much. Most of the emails our friend sends us are worth opening. 😁

The rest of the afternoon was peaceful. I started a new Stuart Woods book called Swimming to Catalina. It is a Stone Barrington story and I’m on Chapter 10 already. I love page turners, especially with so much other stuff going on, it roots me for a while. 

Bill went down to the cargo trailer/Hangar and worked on a plane and I worked on my puzzle for a while in the Bunky.

When Bill was trimming, for the first time (we've only been here 4 years!)
he found a raspberry bush along our brush pile
Cool!

Yup, he's at it again

There were 2 flies out there who were testing fate and before we started bbq’ing, I caught one in my hand and sent him outside. The other one will be dead by nightfall if I go back out after we eat. I made good progress on the puzzle. I’m enjoying this one. I probably already said that before.

I'll be done tomorrow 

When Bill came up at 6, he’d resorted to about half hour of grit spreading again, he lit the Weber and began grilling burgers. It’s a hot day and our appetites are on the lower scale so I didn’t bother with a salad. I had mine in a tortilla instead of a bun, saving myself about 80 carbs. Big deal. The burgers were loaded and delicious. We each had some creamy Jell-o for dessert right away. We're trying not to eat after 7.

I've never had my burger in a tortilla wrap before

But it was quite good and I'll do it again

Dessert

After dishes, Bill went out and shoveled a few more bunches of gravel. There is something down there biting him but bigger than skitter bites. I guess he must taste pretty good! I’ve been getting enough little bites of my own usually around my hair line but I don’t stay in their vicinity very long so they don’t get satisfied. The evening was quiet, inside and out, for a Saturday night. Once I finished my post, I read and Bill worked on his own blog.

Now you can see better where it is all going
with some left for another area up the hill
He finished and came up for a shower at 8
Maybe he was tired of me checking on him. :)

Great day reaching 28C/82F in our neck of the woods. There was a slight breeze near the end of the day which helped cool it down to a comfortable 15C/59F 

for sleeping.

Good night!
(Now where's my book?)

Thank you for stopping around.