XXDIY Animal Rescue

I should really be careful what I say nowadays.  Yesterday I was 'complaining' about the ducks wanting to make our backyard home and I jokingly said that next thing you know I'd wake up in the morning and find lemurs in the garden.  Well, no lemurs but I did find these...

I really don't know what to do.  We currently have one dog, one cat, a rat and a bird.  The cat, rat and dog were all adoptions and we don't really need another cat do we?  But, gosh, they're adorable.  I don't know what to do.  Keep one or give them all up to Animal Services?

N&B (Nest & Breakfast)

OK, it's a terrible photo.  I was so shocked to look out the back door and see a pair of mallards swimming in our pool that I wasn't really concerned with photo quality.  So many thoughts ran through my head at once.  First on the list was "DON'T LET THE DOGS OUT."  I was just getting ready to let the boys out for their morning ritual and thank goodness I noticed our new house guests first.  I immediately yelled up the stairs to my daughter to get out of bed and look out the window and see the ducks swimming in the pool.  My next thought was "Please, please don't try and nest in my backyard!"  I know it's got a lovely private swimming pond, the garden is overgrown and tangled with lots of hidden places to build a nest and it seems private enough but how on earth could I keep a one and a half year old Jack Russell Terrier from terrorizing this feathered family until their babies were old enough to fly away?  I seems unlikely that a pair of ducks would seriously consider nesting in a suburban backyard, unless of course you've been through this before. 

Two years ago, in a different house we had almost the exact same conversation.  That particular pair of ducks were named Mildred & ______ (I've forgotten her husband's name already!).  We woke up one morning and there they were, swimming in the pool.  You think they're just stopping by but they keep showing up day after day, even after meeting the Boston Terrier who won't stop terrorizing them.  It was all fun and games until the men came to open the pool for the summer.  They found  a handful of duck eggs at the bottom as they were cleaning.  Poor Mildred had been trying to build a family.  I don't know why her eggs kept ending up in the pool but I felt so bad for her it was somewhat heartbreaking.

Last year we went away for the weekend and when we came back there was a brand new robin's nest right next to the door, on top of the porch light.  Mum and Dad robin were not happy to see us.  Everyone kept telling me to take the nest and get rid of it.  I just couldn't do it and we spent the next few months dodging angry parents, watching their cute little babies grow up and sometimes having to leave and enter the house via the side door.  That ended in a heart wrenching episode when the last little one to learn how to fly accidentally jumped out of the nest and landed right in my watering can.  Thanks goodness there was only a few inches of water in the there but the poor little guy was frozen, shivering and traumatized by the time I discovered him.

 The moral of the story is that it's cute to think of fluffy, furry and/or feathered creatures making their home with you but really it will just make you an overprotective surrogate parent and you'll find yourself treating your house and garden like they are a protected wildlife reserve.  You don't want to find yourself standing on a stepladder on the front porch putting a fledgling bird back in the nest while scolding it, saying "Now you just stay right there mister until you're sure you can fly.  I can't keep coming out here checking on you every five minutes until you're all grown up and besides, don't you know how dangerous it is out there?"  I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a little loony.
     

Rainy Day?

It's supposed to thunder storm all day today and tomorrow.  Though it's dark and cloudy and damp, there is no rain, yet.  I'm deciding whether or not to chance taking the saw outside and working regardless.  It'll mean keeping a close watch on the sky and running outside to quickly dismantle should the rain come.  I'm favouring the idea of trying to work.  I'd hate to lose ground at this point.  I've taken a photo of the garden this morning, which also happens to show how nice and blue and clear the water of the pool is since the algaecide treatment last night.  Unfortunatley I can't find a photo of the garden before, though I know I've taken tons.  Suffice it to say, it's a big change.  The plan is to keep the Forsythia hedge, take everything else out and move it elsewhere (that's two huge poppies, four clumps of as yet unidentified flowers, three rspberry bushes and at least four or five roses).  Leave a gap for a large bench to store pool related stuff and then plant another hedge on the other end by the evergreens.  I need something that grows fast, dense and tall as I like the privacy the hedge provides.  I read on the internet that you can make a hedge out of some varieties of Blueberry, but there are a few problems with this idea.  One is that I'd have to be sure that it could hold a more formal shape, two is that each mature bush can yield 20lbs of fruit and I'd be planting 8-10 of them and three is the mess of flowers in the spring and fruit being dropped and eaten by birds in summer.  I have time to think about it however as this project has to wait until at the very least, next year.  I've also been thinking about the planned raised vegetable/fruit bed at the far end of the pool.  There are tons of plants/bulbs there that need moving as well and yet more roses.  This should be done this fall or next spring if we're to start planting /growing veg next year.  Anyway, I'll search for the photos of the overgrown garden and get started on cutting before the rain hits.

I'm Back!

Today was my daughter's first day of camp, which meant it was time to work on her bedroom.  The weather started out rainy and overcast, but by 11am the sun was shining off and on and I took a chance that it wasn't going to pour all over my power tools and I set up for the day.  I went to T_____L____ and bought yet another load of 2x4's and away I went (more on my discovery at the lumber yard in a sec).  Today it finally looks as though there is progress being made.  I managed to do a couple of loads of bulk cuts rather than having to go up and down the stairs after each and every one.  I also stopped screwing everything down between cuts and just dry fitted as far as I could, which sped things up as well. 

Because I'm somewhat making this up as I go along, I haven't really been sure what the final product was going to look like.  Today I think I've got it mostly figured out.  You can now see where the two recessed bookcases are going to be located on the long side and there is a definite space for the proposed built in drawers on the short side.  Before I started I had thought that there would be two smaller bookcases on the long side and that the drawers would come out by the foot end of the long side as well.  However, once I started building, I realized that the drawers were just going to be much too long in that direction and it would make more sense to use that space for more books (since we don't have a television, we read a lot in our house).  The two things I'm still not 100% on are the ladder or steps to get onto the bed and whether or not I want or need to have side rails on this bed.  In regards to the ladder, I don't want it taking up too much room in an already tiny space and I don't want it to cover or hinder access to the shelves.  After looking at today's photo for a bit I think I may build a flush mounted ladder into the only empty space in the whole thing, on the short side of the bed.  It would be small, but take up next to no room and not block anything.  As for side rails, I don't really want them as it will close the space in quite a bit and putting sheets on the bed would then become a royal pain in the behind.  In one of our old places, my daughter had a metal bunk bed with a futon/double bed on the bottom and a single bed on top.  Trying to shove and smooth sheets on the top bunk drove me nuts!  There's always the option of using store bought temporary style bed rails, but they're really ugly, even if they don't require permanent fixings. 

Another point that has been bothering me is the fact that the top edge is quite thick and the bottom is thin.  The balance is effectively backwards and if I leave it this way it will mean that I won't be able to add baseboard around the bottom of the unit and it will become visually top heavy.  I knew that from the start but was loathe to change it because it would mean building up the bottom to at least equal the thickness of the top edge and this would cut into the amount of usable space for the bookshelves, not by all that much, but enough that it may mean the difference between having three useable shelves per side or only having room for two per side.  Today I convinced my self that there was no other option but to build up the bottom because I'll regret it later if I don't.  The unit will have no hope of looking built in if I can't install baseboard and I'll end up hating it, not a good thing after so much work and money going into it. 

Oh, I also have my "other" drill back which has been incredibly helpful.  Previously I was switching between a drill bit (for pilot holes) and the driver bit (to drive in the screws) for every single piece of wood.  I had blisters on my palm from the friction of the keyless chuck.  Now I can use one drill for pilot holes and one for screwing things together.  Heaven!  Many thanks to my Uncle D___ for diagnosing the problem with my "other drill" and getting it sorted for me. (In the photo below you can see where my daughter has tucked in one of her stuffed toys between the joists of the bed...at least someone is getting to sleep on it)

In other news, my grandparents came over last week and spent the day helping me figure out what were flowers and what were weeds in my garden.  Then they helped me pull out an enormous amount of weeds.  In exchange they got lunch and a swim in the pool.  I got the better end of the deal I'm sure!  I've got to take a photo tomorrow of how bare it is now.  Also, since my grandfather spent the whole day using the Fiskars long handled weeder on the lawn, the grass looks like grass again instead of a dandelion farm.  I can't tell you how thankful I am for the help and they may be attempting another round again next week which would be amazing to say the least.

Lastly, the pool has been great since the weather has been so hot and I haven't put the air conditioning on.  However, end of last week it developed a case of algae.  It cost me $60 in algaecide, shock and Alkadjuster to get rid of it.  I even went in with a scuba mask and scrubbed the sides down two days in a row just to be safe.  It was beautifully clear and clean up until today when I realized the darned algea is back.  I dosed it again with algaecide and I'll have to make sure to vacuum to waste tomorrow and completely backwash the filter to try and get rid of everything.  I can't believe that anything could grow in there with the amount of chemical I dumped in it mere days ago.  I think I'm single handedly killing the environment and it's making me feel rather guilty.  Also, since I had that mask on, I found two more small holes in the liner.  One in the same corner as the other, but at the very bottom edge and the other right at the bottom of the deep end.  I'm going to repair them while wearing latex gloves this time as I believe the glue that got on my fingers after the last repair made the skin peel off and look quite gross for weeks after.

   

June 14, 2010

Pool started up first try with no problems and primed itself within 30 sec. Chlorine is still too high, so I turned the chlorinator down, pH is within normal. Not much sleep last night, tossed and turned until about 4:10am. Today will be a pool vacuum and edging the garden. Looks like rain so I'd better hurry.

Also, the kitchen faucet, when turned on full, will not spit out any water unless I use the pull out hand shower thing located beside the faucet. This seems to happen whenever I've filled the pool or otherwise used the outside water "too long". It takes at least a week for the pressure to get back to the kitchen faucet. I know I need a new faucet but I'm saving myself for the $250 commercial style sprayer and plumbing is one of the things that I don't know how to do, nor would I attempt to learn. All spending on work having to be done by other people is temporarily halted until the pool is figured out. This means we have to live with the faucet and various other things I haven't got into yet for just a while longer (or until I win the lottery).

June 13, 2010

I'm conflicted about how this past weekend went. On the one hand it was important for me to do what I did, which was spend almost every waking moment watching the live web cast from Creative Live of Zack Arias so I could learn about studio lighting from a pro photographer. On the other hand I did next to nothing with the house, which made me feel terrible. Today during the scheduled breaks and before the online class started I edged the small garden around the tree in the front lawn. This made me feel good since it was looking kinda scraggly and overgrown and now it looks neater. Tomorrow I'll have to go around it with the hedge trimmers to tidy the grass right along the edge because seeing a neat and trimmed edge is just one of those "things" that does it for me. I look at it and it makes me feel happy. I also got to finish edging the garden that runs along one entire long side of the backyard. I had planned on making a completely straight edge from one end to the other but it would have left almost no grass between the garden and the pool at the far end. Now it's a soft undulating line and since I have gone along the edge with hedge trimmers to tidy the grass I can look at it with a feeling of peaceful satisfaction even though it's just and edge and the rest of the garden is still full of weeds and garbage and who knows what else. At least something got done. The pool looks exactly the same as yesterday. I left the pump and filter running overnight to see if that did anything to the water clarity. Nope. The girl at the water counter of P_____ Pools said I should just add chlorine and the water would clear up. Well, the chlorine is still off the charts, though lower than yesterday, and it's not one iota clearer. Time for bed. More jobs on tomorrow's list.

Thanks to A____ for helping me dig out the sod after I cut the edges. Much faster with two people.

June 12, 2010 - Morning

I was awoken much too early for my liking, at 7:00am, by a well meaning friend. How were they to know that I hadn't got to bed until 12:45am? I had been hyped up on caffeine and busy envisioning a plan for my backyard while reading the entire book of "Common Flowering Plants and Shrubs" to try and find the things in my garden I cannot yet identify. I'll get back to that in a second.

I rolled out of bed groggy and somewhat cranky at not having a blissful lie in. However as soon as my eyes had popped open I started worrying about that tiny little tear in the liner and wondering if I'd go downstairs to find it had opened into a huge gash in the middle of the night. I decided that rather than lie around worrying about it I might as well just go look. I could turn the pump on while I was at it and check the water quality. It took me four tries to get the pump started and primed. I don't know what I keep doing wrong but the bloody thing rarely starts up properly on the first try. Is it because the line drains back to the pool overnight and it just takes that long to build up enough pressure to suck it back? I've tried every combination of procedures to try and help it along and I may have found one that works. Maybe. I had to open the pump and pour in a bucket of water. (being a nice person, I felt awful about firing up the hose at 7:30am on a Saturday, I hope I grow out of this worry because I seem to care much more about my neighbor's well being than my own at this point) This was done with the vacuum line turned to the closed position (currently the only functioning line in). Then I replaced the lid, opened the line and quickly hit the "on" switch. It still took over a minute for the water pressure to build up enough for it to stay primed. However, this combination of activities, as opposed to my other attempts, did not result in a faint electrical odor that I fear signals me burning out the motor. Two buckets of water and ten minutes later the pump and filter were now up and running. I totally forgot to check the liner but I did test the water. PH is within normal range and the Chlorine is off the frigging charts. I have no idea why this is. There is no more visibility than last night and the water is still cloudy.

Here is what kept me awake; building a ground level wooden deck to replace all the patio stones in my backyard. Here's the thing, and boy do I wish I had a diagram, the pool is currently surrounded by cheap concrete paving slabs, one stone deep on the long sides, two slabs deeps on the end. With the pavers the pool is the same width as my house and between the pool and the back wall is more pavers. So basically there are pavers going from edge to edge of my back wall and all the way out to the pool. It would be OK I suppose if they were new, but they aren't. They are also heaving all over the place and I trip on them all the time. Some of them are crumbling, some are cracked and there are weeds sprouting all over the place. As if this weren't enough to make me want to do something to fix it, they are also graded so that the entire thing slants from the pool towards the house. I don't have a leaky basement, thankfully, but it's like asking for trouble. I had originally planned to try and save up to get some new "fancy" concrete paving slabs. This is not my first choice because I don't even like paving slabs. Last night I wondered if it was possible to pull up all the slabs out back, including the ones around the pool, back fill with gravel to establish a proper grade and then construct a deck that covers the entire width of the house from the back wall out and around the pool creating a new pool deck. The whole thing somehow sitting flush on the gravel.

I don't know if this sort of thing is even possible but it looked absolutely fabulous in my head. If a way could be found to secure the huge deck to the ground without having to dig and pour deck support posts then it would only be raised off the ground by whatever the width of the wood is. Also, since the entire area underneath would be covered in yet more gravel not only would it keep down weeds but it would also improve drainage, I think. I know they sell interlocking wooden deck tiles all over the place now. They're about 1' square and have a plastic/rubber grid backing that locks together with surrounding pieces to keep it all attached together. I know these are intended for balconies and such but if you could do that, why not an entire patio made of deck. I need to check the internet, chances are good that someone has already attempted this. First I need to go make a cup of tea. Actually, first I need to go do yesterday's dishes since I last used the kettle with grimy pool slime all over my hands and I refuse to drink anything that comes out of it until it's properly cleaned. I'll also check on the liner while I'm at it.