Closed For the Season

Fall is slowing winding down into winter.  The first freeze is forecasted for tonight.  I think that this is the first year in a very long time that I actually had everything out of the garden ahead of time.  I went down and removed the last few cherry tomatoes and watermelon this afternoon.

I had been trying the give the watermelon extra time to ripen, but even though it weighed in at more than 8 1/2 lbs, it still wasn't ripe, so the chickens are currently enjoying it.

This is the latest that I have gotten the pool closed up for the winter.  The downside to this is that all the wet bits are sitting on the veranda in the cool, damp weather, and will take a long time to dry before I can finally put everything away in the barn.

I emptied out the potted plants outdoors and found this huge sweet potato from my ornamental sweet potato vine.  I am considering putting it in the curry that I have planned for dinner. There are a few of the pots that I bring into the garage for the winter, that will be in and out until it's finally too cold to stay outside, and I have starts of the coleus and silver falls vine in water in the kitchen window that I had outside which I would love to have for my planters next year.

Yesterday, JP and I put together these racks for split firewood and moved the remainder from last year in preparation for receiving more in the near future.  I think we are in good shape as far as winter prep goes.

And finally, the Fridge Facts for this week, the Wisdom Edition:

Plink, Plank, Plunk...

You may recognize the title of this post as the iconic sounds made by blueberries hitting the bottom of the bucket in the book, Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey.  L and I picked over a gallon of the lovely berries yesterday.

I am thoroughly frustrated with my garden again this year, but things like my fantastic strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb and asparagus, that come back year after year with minimal attention are the saving grace of the entire space!  L and I have finally planted out all of the plants that I started from seed indoors, and we planted seeds in her beds.  I spent 3 hours on Tuesday evening prepping one raised bed and planting it with corn.

This is the issue:  I don't have 3 hours to spend just planting each of the 13 raised beds that we have, let alone keep up with the weeds, that are once again taking over the walkways that I spent hours and hours covering with wood chips 2 summers ago.  This is one of the reasons that we downsized the garden space this year.  We have tried for more than 5 years practice no-till gardening, but it just isn't working here with this soil that is mostly clay.  JP has promised to try to till the raised beds with our roto-tiller, but in the meantime, in order to be able to get some corn this year, I guess I will attempt to plant hills of corn in 2 more beds so that I don't have to work the soil very much.  Everything else will have to wait for another week, as we will be too busy to work in the garden next week.

My flower gardens are continuing to be lovely.  In fact, my goal was to have them grow so thickly with perennials that I don't have to weed or mulch on a regular basis...and it's almost there!  I go out for about an hour once a month to pull weeds and dead-head flowers, and everything continues to look pretty nice!  Here is what is blooming this week:

2 varieties of Lillies, red Bee Balm, and Shasta

Daisies from my friend, T

We finally got the pool open for swimming, and have actually been in several times.  The persistent rain is keeping us out lately.  JP is continuing to work on the deck and entrance, and on fencing the entire pool.

J has started her summer job as of Monday.  She is not enjoying it as much as last year, when she worked the circulation desk at the Library.  This summer she is working in the Literacy Department at the Library, which sees many fewer patrons, and was in need of a good clean out due to recent personnel changes.  She doesn't like to clean very much!

L has been very helpful in the garden, with the pool, and generally around the farm.

JP spends hours mowing.

The only ones who take it easy on a regular basis are the kitties.  In the summer they like to sleep on our deck chairs, or recently under the new pool deck.

Summer really and truly starts today, so make the most of it!

And So It Begins...

On Friday, the girls had 2 hours of school before being dismissed for summer vacation.  We attended the annual "End of School" party at our friends' house, with a bunch of other kids, and about 1300 water balloons and pizza.  Here they are crossing the line between "School" and "Summer."

 JP and I have been working on a bunch of projects for the upcoming season.

We moved the lower fence in the garden up about 20-25 feet, and took out the bottom 2 raised beds.  I just couldn't handle all of the garden on my own!  We have covered the strawberries and blueberries against bird predation, and I have picked strawberries at least 3 times.

My asparagus bed is now out in the open,

surrounding by netting to keep the deer out.

This weekend we have been trying to get the pool opened.  The stairs in the pool have broken the past 2 years, and this time were un-fixable.  We are building a small deck to attach a new ladder to.  This was all we managed to accomplish all weekend, including 2 trips to the hardware store for supplies.  The posts are pounded 3 feet into the ground, and the frame of the decking is bolted to the posts.  We still need to attached the ladders in and out, and will be putting PVC fencing all around the pool so that we can install the basketball hoop and volley ball net that JP got for Father's Day 3 years ago, and won't have to worry about losing the balls!

In addition, there has been plenty of mowing and weeding going on.

Next week, L has BBall camp, and we need to do the summer clothes shopping.

Zippidee doo dah - we're off into summer!

Frog Research

JP and I removed another 13 frogs from the swimming pool cover last night.  A few of them were gettin' busy, if you know what I mean.  ACK!  I decided that some research was in order to be able to confidently face the challenge of the pool frogs.

 

We have been completely stymied as to how the frogs are getting there, seeing as our pool is nowhere near a body of water where we ASSUMED that frogs would need to breed and grow.

 

Well, I discovered that the frogs in our pool are actually tree frogs, and we live IN THE WOODS. 

 

Cope's Gray Tree Frog
picture from paherps.com



Apparently, these little guys migrate from the trees to small standing bodies of water from May - August to breed.  I guess it just took them a couple of years to find our pool.

More research reveals that proper chlorine levels should keep them out of the pool, so if I'm ever able to achieve that, we'll be golden.  Of course, it has rained 2 1/4 inches over the past 48 hours, so I'll need to re-shock the pool, etc.

SIGH.

Open Season

We were finally able to get into the pool this afternoon!

It has been a long and frustrating journey to get to this point.  We all worked together and got the cover off the pool right after Labor Day.  It took us until the first Saturday in June to get a water truck out to deliver around 3,500 gallons of water to fill up the pool.  I had the pump, filter and chlorinator hooked up and ready to turn on right away, and had been up to the city the day before to buy a mineral filter for the chlorinator.

Soon after the pool was filled, I noticed a connecting hose leaking, and then it blew out right in front of me!  We had to go back up to the city to buy new hoses the following day.

The opening package of chemicals from Amazon was delayed until Tuesday, so started up the pump then, and realized that I had a major leak from the chlorinator.  It appears that I lost an O ring when closing up the pool last fall.

After yet another trip up to the city last Friday for the O ring, I filled the filter with diatomaceous earth, and set about dumping in the chemicals.  Things really didn't clear up right away like they have done in the past, and the following day, when I usually have sky-high chlorine levels, they were normal.

In the meantime, I have relocated 11 tiny frogs from the pool to the creek down at the bottom of the hill.  I think I have finally captured them all, as I haven't seen or heard one for the past 3 nights.

I have continued to fiddle with the chemicals, but the chlorine level remains low.  I vacuumed the entire pool, and scrubbed down the sides on Saturday, and we put the steps in on Sunday evening.

This afternoon, the water finally looked crystal clear, and although the chlorine level was still lower than normal, the girls and I jumped in.

Hip hip hooray - summer is actually here!

Lions & Tigers & Birds & Bees...Oh My!

During our busy Fair/Family Vacation week last week, I somehow lost sight of the fact that this week is the last week of Summer Vacation.  I have veered back on track, however, and we have accomplished Back-to-School clothes shopping, as well as a trip to the Zoo so far this week.

My parents have the opportunity through their insurance company, to attend several activities at nearby locations throughout the year.  This summer, they were offered "Zoo Walks", where they were allowed free entry into the zoo up to 2 hours before opening to the general public, along with a "Meet the Keeper" program once a month.  They invited us to go along, since they were allowed to bring one guest each.  We had a nice time there, although it was hot.  We were able to see about half the Zoo before too many people were there, and left shortly after lunch.

It was a relief to cool off in the pool once we returned home.  We've been having an issue lately, however, with the bees in the pool.  Apparently they discovered that our pool is an excellent water source once everything else dried up.  They have been swarming around the ladder, where there is an opening in the solar cover.  This makes it difficult to get it to use the pool ourselves!

I called the Apiarist who tends our hives over the weekend.  He came out and set up a sugar-water reservoir for them down near their hives.  There may be fewer bees at our pool now, but still anxiety causing when you want to climb the ladder to actually enter the pool.  Over the past few days, I've learned about 30 minutes before we hope to swim, if I throw back the solar cover so that there is about a 2 foot space of water surrounding the ladder, the number of bees diminishes enough to allow safe entry into the pool, as well as careful removal of the solar cover.

This morning I discovered that another hen was missing.  I found her beneath the roosts in the Chick-bit house, where she apparently fell peacefully asleep last night.  These poor ladies are definitely showing their age, laying very few eggs, and not getting around as quickly as in the past.  That pullet egg that J found a while back must have been a fluke, as we haven't seen another in 2 weeks.  I would actually expect them to start laying in the next week or so.

Cool Nights, Warm Days

I can definitely feel Fall in the air these days.  We have had the windows open more than not for the past week, enjoying the cool, fresh breezes.  Unfortunately, the cool nights have made the temperature in the pool drop and be unable to recover.  Leaves were also starting to blow in, so we decided that this weekend was the time to go ahead and winterize it.  Reading the literature, we may have been a bit premature - some people wait until the pool temperature is 65*, we jumped the gun at did it at 70*!

We decided to have one last swim before closing it up, which was a bit chilly.  It was actually kind of refreshing for the first 2 or 3 minutes. 

It took longer this year, since we did it the right way - adding certain chemicals and letting them circulate with the pump before adding others, etc.  It took us about 4 hours all together, including emptying some of the water, disconnecting the pump and filter, etc, and covering it.

That's done, check!

This weekend, we also:

- Did endless mowing
- Cleared out the corner of the barn in preparation for concrete being poured
- Dug red beets and potatoes in the garden, weeded and mulched 2 beds
- Dumped 2 tractor buckets of weeds into the woods
- 2 loads of laundry
- Caught up on our Hospital required continuing education
- Haircuts for JP and myself

Check!

Today, on Soccer Sunday, J's game was in the sun, and L's was in the pouring rain.  Fun times!

Summer Projects

Just a follow up on some projects that I started earlier this summer...

The bank behind the pool has a steep slope and needed help to prevent erosion and weeds.  I tried planting Vinca last Fall, but it hardly had a chance to get started before winter hit - and hit HARD!  Half of the plants did not make it.  I replanted on Mother's Day, and then added some ground cover that my Mom was thinning out of her beds:  bright green Creeping Jenny, and lacy Sweet Woodruff.

Here is how things are looking now.  They are growing voraciously, and I have weeded and mulched the flat areas next to the pool.  I haven't been able to push the mower for a couple of weeks, so the grass is long...sorry.

Last month I did a bit more on a project that I have been working toward for a couple of years.  I wanted to separate the driveway from the house and my shade bed in the "coffin", by putting in stepping stones and growing a Moss Garden.  It took several years of saving up large, flat stones, and trying to rid the area of weeds and grass that seeded themselves in.

 

Then I used this Moss Milkshake, and several bits of moss that I scavenged from other areas of Poplar Ridge.

One month out, we are starting to see bits of moss growing here and there!

It is very satisfying to see projects come to fruition...especially ones that had shaky starts.  My back is feeling better daily, so I'm hoping that next week, after my Exams are over with, I can work on the next one...

Proof

At last I got the chemicals right, and things sparkling clean enough in the pool for a full Family Swim today!

Here's proof that we are FINALLY using our "new" pool...nearly a year after it was installed!

Landscaping, Alpacas, and the Minions

I was not especially pleased with the state that the pool installers left our yard.  Not only did they leave the extension cord and hose that they borrowed laying (uncoiled) out there, but they left piles of dirt along on the grass beside the pool.  Since we have an overabundance of clay in our soil, and it rained last weekend, all those piles hardened into the consistency of concrete.  In addition, the back wall of soil behind the pool was not graded smoothly, and there were chunks of sod and rocks lying all over the place.

I would really like to have grass growing around the pool before snow flies, and since I'm the resident landscaper around here, I decided to get started!  I figured this would be a 1-2 hour job max.  I underestimated - I spent 4 or 5 hours out there yesterday!

I hauled 9 wheelbarrow loads of soil out that I had dug out, just to smooth and grade the back wall.  After that, I broke up and raked all the clods of clay, bits of sod and rocks out, and smoothed out the area that will be planted with grass.  I seeded everywhere with grass seed (including the holes elsewhere in the yard where I dumped the above mentioned soil,) and hauled 4 loads of old hay up from the garden to scatter on top.

That huge pile of dirt will be dealt with later!

The final step was to plant ground cover in that back wall to prevent erosion.  I thought vinca might fit the bill - grows voraciously, does not need full sun, and the deer leave it alone.  I had such a hard time digging holes to plant into, that I finally ended up carving out receptacles of sorts into the back wall. 

These I stuffed with the little plants, along with a bunch of compost and topped it off with clay to hold it all in.  Hope it works!

So...that was my big project for the weekend.  I'm hoping things look green back there in a couple of weeks!

Today both of the girls had a soccer game at 1:00, so JP and I switched fields at half time so that we could each see half of each girl's game.  Afterwards, we took a lovely drive through the back roads to the local alpaca farm, where they had an Open House today.  We arrived just in time to see a little fawn colored cria being sheared.

The stinkbugs are back in droves, swarming all over our windows, the veranda posts, and the laundry on the clothes line.  I have taken to calling them "The Minions."  JP has been fighting them with a vengeance all weekend, and the veranda out back is scattered with their tiny carcasses.  Where did these things come from anyway?

J has another orthodontist appointment tomorrow to have more hardware installed - an expander this time.  L has piano lessons tomorrow evening.  I am scheduled for a Library Board meeting, but I have already emailed my regrets that I cannot make it.  Mom has an appointment with her neurosurgeon as well.  Although it has been lovely to stop and pat the Alpacas, our life continues to tear on in this manic way.  I think I'll take the remainder of my weekend to relax with a good book.  So long.

Come on in, the water's fine! (Take 2)

Our plan is to go ahead and winterize the pool - it won't be warm enough to actually use it this Fall, and the filter/pump are not even hooked up.  The girls were disappointed, as they REALLY wanted to swim in it now.  This morning JP grabbed J, while I picked up L, then we ran outside and threw them in!

The water was a bit chilly, but it woke the girls up, and we started our day with smiles and laughter.

Come on in, the water's fine!

It might be a tad chilly, but it's crystal clear, and in a quiet, private location...today, for one day only - NO screaming children!

So...we honored our promise made to the girls 2 years ago:  when you are good swimmers, we will get a pool at our house.  Initially we wanted something that we could swim laps in, but we finally narrowed it down by the following criteria:

1.  Rectangular inground pools - too expensive
2.  Oval above ground pools - take up too much space and too expensive
3.  Pools > 24 feet in diameter - overkill and too expensive
4.  Pools located in the neighboring township in which our barn "lives" - requires building permit + certified electrician to check wiring - too expensive
5.  Pools on clearance after Labor Day, located behind the garage in the correct township, measuring 24 feet in diameter, and which we can pick up the supplies in order to save the $200 delivery fee - just right

After some finagling to arrange a start date, the guys arrived this morning with 2 trucks and a Bobcat to begin excavation and installation of the pool.  I am currently awaiting the truck with the final 5000 gallons of water before we call it a day.

Here's how it all went down:

Beginning the excavation...don't those look like a lot of bones on the ground?

He's just about done digging at this point.

They thoroughly tamped down the earth, then placed concrete pavers at intervals for the posts.  That's sand in the middle that they spread out under the liner.

Here they are putting the walls up around the outside.

All put together!

One of the guys had to get in and finish smoothing out the bottom of the liner while they began filling it.

And finally a word of caution: 

 

In other words - don't lose your head!