Summer Project

I actually had a picture of some spider monkeys from the Riverview Zoo saved to my desktop, intending to use it as my picture of the week, but I was talking to one of my sisters earlier in the week and she was asking about our “new” back yard.

I reminded her that I did a blog post about it (actually a two part post that you can find HERE and HERE . However, when I went back and checked out these posts, I realized I never posted a picture of the finished deck, yard, and pool as a whole.

So here you go, first the pool and deck (just click on it to make it bigger):

And here’s the pond garden and back patio with the fire pit (which isn’t really a pit, but it’s not a chiminea either):

Macerate Monday

macerate ~ to steep or soak; to break up; to emaciate

Timing is everything.

Last week the hubby and I took the grandbaby to Riverview Park and Zoo, which is about a 45 minute drive north. Or at least it is when you don’t run into detours and construction. I don’t know what it is about Peterborough, but the north side of the city seems to have been under construction for the last several years. I don’t mean houses so much, although it does appear to be spreading westward, but the roads.

I get admiration from passengers on how well I know the city, but trust me, it’s not because of any great love for it, it’s because I need to know the different routes for getting from point A to point B (like night school or a writers group meeting) just in case the one I’m most familiar with is blocked.

Anyway, we made it there eventually and that’s where my timing went off. We didn’t have a picnic lunch with us, we figured we’d stop at some point for take-out. It was close enough to lunch that we should have done this before we went to the zoo.

Also, it was a beautiful summer day so the place was packed – it’s a free zoo with a splash park and playground attached, why wouldn’t it be? We had to park several miles away and hike in (okay, I might be exaggerating just a little, but we weren’t exactly close).

We meandered along, making note of the snack shop and seeing very few animals because they were mostly hiding from the heat, and at the farthest end of the park was a small train. Grandbaby and I waited 45 minutes in line for a 10 minute ride. Hubby opted to just sit and wait for us in the shade.

Then we meandered back to the snack shop where they gouged us for a very unhealthy lunch. Fortified, we continued checking out the animals, at which point my camera let me know the battery was just about dead. The irritating part about that was that I have a spare battery, I just didn’t have it with me.

Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the gift shop near the playgrounds, there wasn’t any time to actually play. So I bought the grandbaby a stuffed otter (she really liked the otters) and we headed for home with the promise we’d bring her back some time so she could splash and play.

As I said, it’s a small zoo and there wasn’t a huge variety of animals, but the price was right (if you don’t count the lunch). While it was a little disappointing our timing was off so there was no time for splashing or playing, the grandbaby didn’t seem to mind – she had a great time.

And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

The Picture of Summer

As soon as I saw this picture, I knew it was my picture of the week.

It has all the elements of summer - the pool, the green grass and leaves, and the hubby reading a story to the grandbaby on the deck. He's reading her one of her "Walter the Farting Dog" books (yes, there is a series of them) and he has yet to be able to make it through an entire book. He laughs until he cries and he just can't finish. LOL

I'm glad I was able to immortalize this summer memory for the pair of them.

Murine Monday

murine ~ of, like or pertaining to mice and rats

Move over reading, ‘ritin’, and ‘rithmatic, there’s a new ‘three R’s’ in town – return, reuse, and recycle.

Our town started going green many years ago, but it’s always been kind of a pale, washed out green. Basically they added a recycling truck to the weekly garbage pick up, and in the beginning we just threw everything recyclable into one (or more) clear plastic bags. It was taken to the recycling plant and sorted there.

Then one day, without warning, they changed their minds about what was recyclable. It made for a lot of confusion and a lot of bags that had to be re-opened and sorted through to pluck out the offending items. We grumbled a lot, but obeyed the rules.

Now the town has gone and done it again. While the addition of the green bins (for compostable items) is more than welcome, there is also a new degree of separation for everything else. And just to give us a little more incentive to go to all that trouble, they reduced the number of bags of garbage we can put out.

But wait! It gets better! While the blue and grey boxes came with helpful little brochures telling you specifically what goes in each, the green bin did not. It was supposed to, the ones in my daughter’s neighbourhood did, but someone missed the boat in my neighbourhood so it’s anyone’s guess what goes in there.

There was, however, a single sample of the Glad compostable bags, and a smaller covered pail, presumably to go under your sink – should you have room for it. Which brings us to the final problem. Where are all these bins supposed to go?

You can’t keep them outside because they’ll get blown around by the wind. And the green bin is just regular plastic – the skunks, raccoons, and whathaveyou would have a field day with it. We had to get a heavy duty, critter proof garbage can just to keep our garbage safe overnight (you’re supposed to put the garbage out the night before pick up).

As you can see by the picture, there’s no way we can keep these in the kitchen. You can just see where I keep the current recycling bin beside the stove (the light blue clear bag sticking out). The bag is inside a wrapping paper bin, which is easily half the width of the new bin. My kitchen is tiny – the bins are not.

But back to the sorting for a moment. We can no longer recycle textiles (before we just had to make sure they were in their own bag), or food pouches, or chip bags/candy wrappers, or pet food bags. We can recycle take-out coffee cups, but not their lids. We can recycle paper towels, but not facial tissues.

Did I mention our town is about 60% seniors? Do they really think all those senior are going to deal with these huge bins and all that sorting every week?

I think the town is in for one big headache come September.

Bunny Love

*sigh* Remember how Monday I made the flippant comment about hoping the bunny left the rest of my squash alone? Well he seems to have lost interest in the squash. My tomatoes and carrots on the other hand. . .

This picture was taken later that same Monday:

Morkin Monday

morkin ~ animal that has died by accident

The romantic notion of having my own vegetable garden has been quickly deflated. Gardens are a lot of work! It’s not just the weeding – it actually hasn’t been bad for weeds now that everything’s filled in – but I’m having to pick the beans every couple of days and I’m having trouble judging when the peas should be picked – too soon and you’ve basically got pea pods, too late and the peas are big and bitter.

But I have to admit, it felt good getting the first batch of green beans done up for the freezer. And I’m pretty sure we’ll enjoy them during the winter. My neighbour showed me what to look for to see how many pumpkins I’m going to end up with. So far . . . one. All those blooms and only one is going to turn into a pumpkin. *sigh* And that’s only if this little guy:

leaves it alone. He’s already taken care of the squash blossoms on one of the plants, so it’s doubtful I’ll get any squash. But fortunately my neighbour looks like she’s going to have a bumper crop again, and she likes to share.

You might take note of the vines growing through the fence – even they have squash starting under their blooms. And tradition dictates that whatever grows through the fence is mine. LOL

Over the years the neighbours rotate their “crops.” In the past I’ve had enough green beans and peas growing through the fence to freeze, and one year it was cucumbers. I can’t talk her into growing zucchini though, so I guess I’ll have to plant my own next year. Meanwhile I’ll need to look up some recipes to use the butternut squash in.

I can’t wait for the fall to make vegetable soup with my own vegetables!

Reptile World

I took so many pictures (and a lot of them weren't even half bad) at Reptile World that I thought I'd share a couple more of them for today's picture of the week. :-)

The first is another shot of my favorite snakes. I'm pretty sure there were only two snakes in this enclosure, but it looked like more because they were super long.

And I like this one because it almost tells a story, doesn't it? Sadly, the worst pictures of the bunch were the ones I took of the grandbaby. She had an uncanny sense of when I was about to click and would choose that second to turn her head.