Water Optimization – Update

Our privacy is a key part of our dream yard. We were lucky to find a house that we loved with a property that is manageable for the two of us and will provide us a personal paradise. One of the things we loved about this house was the private upper yard so that we…

Pathfinder

The heat has finally hit. I feel I may have jinxed it with my last post! It was 30* yesterday and 37* today. I guess I should enjoy it while I can, it is supposed to be back down to the mid-20’s by the middle of the week. There is no enjoying the heat though…

Ellie vs. The Magpie

We have really been enjoying the summer so far. Usually, this time of year we would be stuck indoors for two reasons; the ridiculous heat and the wildfire season that has blanketed us in a haze of smoke the last few years. Instead, we have mild temperatures and frequent rain, which I will happily take….

Wire Webs

Well, the battle with the spiders continues. To prepare myself to get back to the small section of wall we had to finish building for the landing, I decided to work on wrapping the tops of each section of the wall in preparation for the caps. Would I see spiders, yes. Would I need to…

F U Spiders

GRAPHIC WARNING: Some images in this post are inappropriate for certain audiences.  Spiders, they are such useful critters, but give me the heevee-jeevees like no other! I can deal with pretty much any bug, but put a spider near me and all common sense and logic flies out the window. I begin to get paranoid…

The Smell of Rain

Living in a semi-arid dessert has many perks; a longer growing season, lots of sun to feed the plants, plenty of time spent outdoors, and so much more. One of my favourite things is the appreciation for the power of rain. We don’t see a lot of it, and this spring has had a lot…

Sisyphus Revamped

We did it! A few days behind schedule, but the second wall is complete. It was perfect timing as the weather here is steadily getting hotter, and making it more and more difficult to work outside past 8 am. It was a fantastic and exhausting sense of victory as we filled the last tall cage…

Flip Flopping

It should be flip flop wearing weather, but instead the weather has been flip flopping. June is always a rainy month for us, but this year the rain held off until the end of the month, and even then it is more a threat than a reality. We have been expecting rain all week, and…

Hay Fever

Allergy season is upon me, with the main culprit being grass and hay. Our city is surrounded by farmlands and dry mountains covered in grasses, so there is no escaping it. But, that is not what this post is about. Rather, our hay fever, is about all the areas we have decided to use hay….

Paralleling

This has been the season of the rocks! For two years we have been chipping away at the 2 yards of rock that we had delivered in order to fill our walls. In this one season, I would say we have used about 1.5 yards of that rock and have moved it from our front…