Out Out Damn Rat - oops I mean Out Out Damn Townsends Vole

Carnage in the pole bean plot.
Someone has been chewing the plants off at the bases and leaving the remnants on the ground, and sick little stubby plant stalks bleeding sap around each pole.

Not in my garden you nasty little vermin. The peanut butter laden trap was implemented at 1:30 pm.

The rat zapper, always a reliable pal, had been unsuccessful the night before in dealing with the vermin. 

At 2 pm the vermin was snapped in the shiny new peanut butter laden trap. Out of my garden.....you're not welcome here.

Doors, Closets and Bricks

The new ensuite door has been painted and installed.  It will ultimately have a blind on the inside for privacy, but for now it's letting the light through. 

The guest bedroom closet has been fitted out. It still needs a dresser but we'll find one of those soon enough. 

AO continues brickwork up the wall.

The rotten birds have been destroying the new pole beans by cutting them off at the ground level.  We put screens in place to keep them out and hopefully the carnage will stop.

AARGH - I blamed the wrong vermin....the beans continued to be chewed off and we've lost 30% of the plants.  A quick trip to Buckerfields and the purchase of some new rodent traps caught a Townsends Vole within 30 minutes...in the middle of the day.  I hope she was travelling alone but fear that voles usually occur in larger numbers so will leave the traps out for a while longer. 

Sunday Developments

Many many screws have gone into the bathroom walls to help support the weight of the granite tiles to come!

HK has been working diligently on baseboards and window trim. It has been a long process to figure out how to actually make them glossy.

AO continues the brickwork; the dining room window is the last piece of brickwork left to complete.  Only a few more days work and it will be done forever :)

August Progress

Brickwork under the ensuite window is complete.

You would never know that this used to be a door.

The tomatoes are slowly ripening. The plants on the deck are blighty but the ones in the garden seem to be very healthy.

The mulching is complete on the rhododendrons.

Reno Progress

The support structure for the guest bedroom closet doors has been constructed.

The closet door railing has been installed underneath the support structure.

The bedroom door has been hung, though it still needs to be painted prior to being complete.

The former door onto the deck is a distant memory and it is getting slowly bricked in.

A closer view of Sunday's brickwork.

The End of Wildberry Road and the Silver Lining

A number of trees came down to make way for the hydro lines for the new house going in at the end of Wildberry Rd.

The end of the road now has a lot more light coming in, though it's  a bit of an eyesore at the moment with the stumps bleeding sap; it won't take long for new little fir trees to start growing though.

The silvery lining comes in a large donation of chipped branches that can be used as mulch for the rhododendrons and for stabilizing the tractor trail.

About a cord of firewood was shared with us.  The trees are a nice easy size to handle and nice and straight for easy splitting.

More firewood!

HK loves the tractor :)

The rhododendrons needed mulch so finally having some without having to do the chipping ourselves is great!

The August Garden

The August garden is quite productive and colourful.  Overall, despite a very cool spring it has been quite successful.

Red Crocosmia in bloom.

Orange Crocosmia look more like a painting than a photograph.

Benarys Giant Zinnias are finally filling out after a slow start.

Pretty pink perennials are starting to emerge.

The Asian lilies are in full bloom and their scent is heavenly as you step into the garden.

The bees love the Heliotrope and Alyssum.

Heliotrope is a stunning regal purple, the plants are far larger than I had expected they could ever get.

Borlotti beans are hanging on the vines. They are supposed to produce red and white beans for drying and storing so we'll see what happens over the next few weeks as they begin to fill out their shells.

The pole beans went in far too late this year because the peas came out so late.  I'm not sure if there will be enough time to actually get beans off these fellows, but we're certainly hoping for the best. 

The apple trees have a good number of fruits this year.  We will get a good harvest if all goes well for the rest of the season.

The tomato plants have grown considerably and are starting to produce a few ripe fruits.  There are a lot of flowers on them and  a few weeks of good heat ahead so hopefully we'll get a good harvest. 

AO installed the sprinkler system around the driveway side of the house to save us time with the watering jobs.  It seems to work quite well but will need a few more sprinkler heads added to cover the ground properly. 

The Japanese Maple with sprinkler system installed underneath.