Work to do!

The man of the place and I are leaving for yet another diving trip on Friday.  Before I go, I have a number of things I need to accomplish.

1. Finish some pyjamas that I am making for my grandsons in Chicago.  I am hampered by the sewing machine malfunctioning when it comes to the buttonhole maker.   This means that tomorrow I have to take the machine into town and hope beyond hope that he can fix this problem while I wait.  If it works, then I can get everything finished!  I would also like to make myself a new nightgown. . .but that is merely icing on the cake if that happens.

2. Make plum jam.  I was hoping I could wait until we got back before I this happened.  I looked yesterday and damn it, the plums are ripening.  The wasps will swarm in and take everything if I don't make the jam.

We lost a big portion of the tree in a spring storm.  The tree is now suffering more damage as the weight of the fruit snaps the branches!

I started picking the plums this morning. I started work in the drizzle thinking that there would be fewer wasps.  There are fewer wasps, but there are still a couple around.  No grabbing the fruit without looking first!

If a plum splits, the wasps will start feeding.  They will tunnel in and then in the manner of James and the Giant Peach will have a dry, safe place to quietly get full of plum.  The wasps were happy enough in their little plum cave but I disturbed the branch. They started to come out!  They were still on the plum but I didn't need any further reason to come back in the house.

I took my two bowls of plums in and I will come back out later with more containers.  I may have to bring buckets!    This means that I have a lot of plums to convert into plum jam. 

As I am going into town to see about the sewing machine tomorrow, I think I will be getting some more sugar.  I think I have enough jars.  Thankfully plums contain plenty of natural pectin and I won't need to add any. 

This little tree that I bought as a sapling from a supermarket display years ago is finally coming into its own.  The first crop of plums was a lone bowl of fruit. The next couple of years were worse.  No plums or the few plums that were there split and wasps got them before I could get them.

I rejoice in the plummy harvest, but I am not thrilled that I am forced into plum jam production this week.

Improvements

We have lived in this house for almost 17 years.  In the near future we will be finished paying for the mortgage.


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When we arrived here - our youngest was about 18 months old.  We have some photos of him stomping round in the garden and back yard in tiny little yellow wellies.  He is now at Napier University.  I love that he doesn't remember living anywhere else.  It is the longest I have ever lived in one spot in my life.  It's a good thing that I love living here then.

When I see this most recent satellite image of the place, I can see that it is a few years old.  We have since put all new gravel on the drive.  The chicken coop and run were taken down in August.  I haven't had chickens since then.  I may get a new hen house and re-install a chicken run.  At this point, that seems like so much effort!

The car in the drive is the one I crashed last winter.  I see that the vegetable patch is all dug over nicely.

I love to compare it with what the place looked like when we first moved here . . .   A link to the big extension project is found HERE.  I can see George's little yellow paddling pool in the front garden.  The raised vegetable beds in the front have become smooth lawn.  The big plastic tunnel (poly tunnel) had just been put up when this was taken.  The plastic that is only guaranteed for 2 years really should be replaced 16 years on.


Well . . .insert sentence full of nostalgia here.  I just thought I'd share that.

Replacement Hen House

I have been thinking for some considerable time that my hen house is going to have to be replaced. The floor boards are soggy and have a disturbing 'bounce' to them when I have to go inside to get eggs and clean up. The hen house is quite old. We have had it for about 15 years and it wasn't new when it arrived. I have replaced the roofing felt (tar paper for you North American people) a couple of times. Although it has had a coating of wood preserver a couple of times and it really needed a new coat a few years ago, I've not done it.This is a hen house that has been sitting in the farmyard next door to us for a number of years. I remember when it was built, so it isn't as old as the one I am currently using. My lovely neighbours have given it to me and have said that they'll deliver it this weekend using the front end loader on the tractor

The green colour is alarming, but really don't judge it just yet. Though the boards are green and a little damp, they're not rotten. It does need some work, but I think that over all it requires the same amount of titivation that the current coop requires.Both need a good clean out and and new roofing felt nailed on securely. Easy jobs. The door on both hen houses need to be rehung. In order to rehang the door of this model, a new board has to be nailed in place so the hinge can be attached to a good, solid piece of wood. The other hen house needs a whole new hinge!

The window glass needs to be replaced. I suspect it is a standard greenhouse sized pane. It also quite obviously needs a good scrub and lathe tacked on to plug the gaps between the boards. After all of that, I predict a coat or two of exterior house paint.

This hen house is larger, has a removable dropping board AND nest boxes that allow the eggs to be harvested without having to go inside the coop!! One only has to unlatch the little hatch and grab 'em! Pure luxury!

So, if this thing shows up tomorrow, I'll have my Sunday all planned out. In the meantime, I have started tidying up the greenhouses in preparation for the new growing season.

There were only two panes of greenhouse glass to replace this year and I had two panes already on site. I think I replaced about eight last year. I'm glad the re-glazing wasn't a big job because I really hate those "W" shaped glazing clips that are used to hold the glass in place. My personal name for the glazing clips is "those bastard pinging things". I have to take my gloves off when trying to get them installed or they will ping off and fly through the air instead of securing the greenhouse glass.

On a final note: This guy was discovered crawling up the kitchen wall on Friday morning. Since I flung him outside, we have found all sorts of silvery slug trails near the kitchen door. it looks like he had been having a grand old time sliming his way around the place. Eww!

Another Glorious Orchid and Home Repair

This particular rescue orchid has really done me proud.

It has two massive flower spikes with many blossom branches coming off the main flower spike. The effect of all this vigour is that the orchid is at its peak just now. It was a pretty pathetic specimen when I bought it last year. The plant itself was nothing to write home about and the one and only small flower spike only had a few drying blossoms still clinging on for dear life.
orchid oncidium

Look at it today! It has made all my efforts really worth it. I have had to support the flower spikes with a few small bamboo sticks. It looks top heavy, doesn't it? It will be re-potted after the flower show is over.

The other orchid that started blooming in August is still going strong. That's three solid months of blossom from that orchid!

On another front, work has started on the damp in a back sitting room. Two south facing rooms have become increasingly and alarmingly damp in the last two years. As yesterday was another rainy day and The Man of the Place was prevented from working out side, he started in on the back sitting room. He disconnected and removed the radiator from the wall and started chipping away at the plaster.

Once the plaster was gone, we could see that a number of the bricks were obviously wet. See above photo with the very noticeable wet patches! My husband then started to remove the inner layer of bricks. Inside the wall cavity (the space between the inner and outer layer of bricks) the insulation that was blown in there at great expense a number of years ago was absolutely sodden. It could be squeezed and water would drip out! This was no longer a damp problem but a water-coming-in-from-somewhere problem. When the insulation was removed we could see that water was almost running inside the wall cavity from outside (it was raining quite heavily outside). It was my guess that water was running down the plate glass window and instead of running off outside, was getting channeled down the inside of the cavity wall. It is no wonder that the room was damp!I think we'll have to take advice from the people who installed our windows years ago and/or advice from our old pal Kevin The Builder.

I am so pleased and proud that I have a husband that can do things like repair our house. It is when a little home owner crisis such as this occurs he really does become The Man of the Place. Himself having a bit of lunch.Foot print in the plaster dust.

Home Life

I do love to travel, but I am always happy to be back at home again. I belong here.

We have had some lovely weather this week, lots of blue skies and warm dry days.Julio seeks the shade of one of the cars. He has been very busy catching shrews, not eating them and leaving the bodies in odd hiding places for us to find a few days later. George mowed the lawn on Sunday - He always tries to add an element of fun.

On Saturday morning a swallow was zipping around our back garden. They have returned to us! Let's hope they reinstate the old nests stuck to our house. I pray that they are successful nesters this year and raise loads of chicks.

One flew right in the kitchen door and into the front room. I had to get it before Julio the great hunter realized what was going on. I caught it quite easily and had The Man of the Place take a photo of this incredibly beautiful bird.
While I was holding the bird, I could feel its heart beat. The heat beat was going so fast, it felt like a buzz. While I held the swallow I realized that the poor thing was covered in bird lice. It really had a terrible infestation as some were crawling onto my hands in the moments I held the bird. I have some louse powder that I put on my chickens when they get avian lice. So before I released the bird and using very small amounts, I gave the delicate bird a dusting of louse powder. Lice on newly hatched chicks will weaken their condition and a very bad infestation could cause them to die.
Doesn't my new Hungarian tablecloth look so sunny on my dining table?A daisy filled detail.