My rain barrel system that I was putting together when I caught myself with the drill bit is up and running. Course, it helps when you remember to close the drain taps before you try to fill them. But I’ve got one barrel full, and two more half full, so I’ll take it.
Now to set up the soaker watering system so I can use that water! BTW, that scratch is well healed now, just a shiny scar down my arm. Though you can still see the marks from the bandaids too.
Good god Robins are stupid birds…..ever since we put in solar power the Robins have been determined to nest on top of the switch box for the panels. Several home made deterrents failed and we resorted to bird spikes to keep them off the box. It was a bad place for several reasons, including that in the event of a fire we would need access that box in a hurry. Plus it was easily accessed by a pair of dogs. A week or two ago a Robin tried to build a nest on top of a tiny light fixture on the side of the garage, equally accessible to the dogs, though at least a few more feet higher in the air. I went to go dig out the spare bird spikes, but by the time I got back I discovered that the nest had fallen off the light! Over the next 4 days the scene was repeated, Robin would build a nest, and an hour later it’d fall off the light. The bird finally gave up. Yesterday I found where it had moved too.
Those boards are the remains of the A-frame I used to cover the broccoli over the winter. The nest is nose height on Apollo, along a path we walk along several times a day with the dogs. Its under the edge of the pool, which is only about 4feet high, which is why we’d not noticed it till I happened to look in the right direction while gardening.
To late to try to convince the bird to nest elsewhere, we’ll just have to watch out for the nestlings I guess.
The weather has been an almost literal killer lately. We’re pushing record breaking heat, temps in the upper 80’s to even low 90’s, and harsh sunny. Very little rain, what there is has been only in scattered showers, or thunderstorms. So I’ve been watering the garden daily. Course, then there’s me, working in the garden dept of said big box store, during the Memorial day sale madness. Normally SPF 55 is all I need, but when its this hot even reapplying it twice throughout the day isn’t enough. I came home from work Saturday decidedly pink. On top of almost collapsing from the heat despite drinking water constantly. I spent my last two hours on Saturday inside the building doing non-difficult tasks after that. Yesterday I picked up some of the sun screen that is supposedly sweat proof, and while I was at it made I picked one that was 70 SPF. Gotta find a hat I can stand to wear at work that’s legal for the dress code too. They’re predicting a hotter than average summer, so I’m going to need it.
Yesterday (Sunday) started out equally hot and nasty, but mid-afternoon a string of storms rolled by and we even got some rain, cooling things off enough to make it possible to work outside. I got the 2nd level of the potato bed on and the potatoes mostly hilled:
Here’s a shot of the entire garden from a few days ago:
