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I had an issue with posting to this blog so that is the reason why there hasn’t been much. I believe it is fixed now!

Catching Up

It’s been a while since I last posted something. With the pandemic and stay at home there’s not a whole lot to share. However, we did have the nice fall colours.

I also fired up my ol’ 1974 FJ40 back in October. Felt really nice!

We also had a tornado go through here in November that snapped a tree at the back of the yard and ripped our chimney cap off.

The winter was generally mild. Not too much snow.

Firing up the old FJ

Last Monday, I thought I’d start putting some effort into starting my old FJ40 up. The battery no longer holds a charge so I called cAA for battery replacement service that’s part of my membership. But, they sent a guy who only boosts. It turned over well but since it’s been sitting so long it’ll take some extra choke. However, the CAA “kid” upon hearing it turn but not start proceeded to tell me “there must be a problem with the crankshaft”. I then shook my head and explained to him the carburetor just needs some priming and extra choke. But he insisted there was a problem with the crankshaft. At that point I relieved him as he was obviously of no help. Probably didn’t even know what a carburetor is….which made me feel old…LOL.

I wrote an e-mail to CAA to complain and learned that they don’t have anyone in this are to do battery replacement. I wish they could have just told me that from the beginning. Also why did this Service Technician not tell me either. And to this I felt grumpy! …which made me feel old again. They told me to take the battery out myself and to to the CAA in Milton but that they were not sure what battery to give me. Apparently, my vehicle and year is not in their system so they don’t know what to recommend, even though they have my old CAA battery as replacement. I decided to not mess around with CAA anymore and contacted Georgetown Toyota. It’s a shame that knowledgeable technicians are disappearing and people are becoming robots.

Georgetown Toyota got a battery in for me. I picked it up and put the new battery in. My neighbour came over to help and held the carburetor closed to give a little extra choke. After a few cycles it fired right up! Amazing!! After 3+ years of not even being started. It felt so great to hear it running, and running so well. Sometimes these old cars are so basic, they’re more reliable.

Greenhouse

After buying a small covered shelf and then a portable greenhouse we decided to get a small greenhouse after seeing one on sale. I had done some research and wanted to get a Palram. They have good reviews. We purchased a small 4’x6′ model. It was not fun assembling it but it’s great now that it’s complete. It has double pane ribbed walls of plastic. The double walls add insulation so it does not get too hot and maintains some warmth on cooler nights. The ribbed pattern diffuses the sun protecting items inside from harmful UV rays.

There’s a door and roof vent. I added an automatic vent opener. The opener works just like an old thermometer. The main cylinder has mercury that expands with heat (opening the vent) and contracts with cooler temperature (closing the vent).

Basil

I tried starting basil from seed but it did not take. So, I bought a mixed pot from Canadian Tire garden centre this past spring. It came with three different types.

I learned how to prune basil and to use the cuttings to make new plants. I currently have 5 extra plants and will make a few more soon with new cuttings. It is very easy. I wish I new this before.

The Garden – Part 2

Naturally, I started the usual things from seeds choosing Kumato tomato, Grape tomato, Japanese cucumber and Asian cucumber (although a few months later it appears maybe my seeds may have got mixed up). All tomatoes have been planted in the garden. The two cucumbers were planted in pots. Growing in planters has been easier here and I like having the flexibility to move the pots as needed. During the spring the temperature was very up and down. It was very handy to move the pots into the greenhouse for protection. Strange though, we only got 1 cucumber on each. Our tomatoes are all doing well. The extreme heat we’ve had over the past month has been great for the tomatoes.

Last year I had brought in the sweet peppers, hot peppers and eggplant inside to over winter. They did well in the window and gave me a head start this spring. We have lots and f hot peppers.

We had a couple of eggplants but one went funny (perhaps the heat and intensity of the sun were too much) and the other was bitten off by a raccoon.

I’m also trying to grow ginger from store bought ginger. My first piece propagated 3 new shoots.

I’m also growing potatoes in a bag from a store bought potato. I’ll keep you posted but so far it looks good.

On my agenda next is to propagate green onion from scraps and garlic.

The Garden

I have several additions to this years garden. First, I purchased a Yuzu and a Meyer Lemon tree. Both trees are very young so we may not see anything from either for the next year or so. The Meyer Lemon did flower which produced tiny lemons. But they all turned yellow and fell off. After some reading, it seems this is normal for a young tree. It won’t hang on to anything it can’t handle.

The Yuzu tree:

The Meyer Lemon tree:

We also purchased a strawberry plant as well as a raspberry and a blueberry bush.

Strawberry and blueberry:

Raspberry:

I struggled to start Flat Parsley so we bought some along with some chives. Much to my surprise our aregano survived the winter in a pot. We re-potted it and it’s come back nicely.

I of course started sone things from seeds. That will be in the next post.

Happy Fathers Day

…..to Dad. This is the 11th Fathers Day without you.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.

Robins

We discovered a Robin had taken ownership of an existing nest on top of the drain pipe on the rear corner of the house.

She had 3 little chicks. One morning when we attempted to check on them the mother robin was quite territorial. We discovered one of her babies had either attempted to leave the nest or had fallen out and landed on my old garden hose rack.

He or she spent a few days there and then disappeared. We hope the little one is doing fine.

There were still 2 more baby robins.

A couple of days after the first one left, a second baby fluttered out and onto our back deck. He fluttered around a bit and then flew into the bushes. He sat there in the sun for quite a while and then too disappeared. We could still hear the last baby robin chirping from inside the nest although we could not see it. Today, all is quiet. Seems all three robins left the nest. We hope all are doing fine. Mother robin is still in the back and chasing the bluejay away so her kids are probably still here somewhere.

Blossoms

Now that we’ve gone from winter straight to summer, our Weeping Cherry tree did not bloom as much this year. But still put out some nice blossoms.

Our Peach tree has so many pink blossoms on it. Was quite surprising for us. Hopefully there’s enough bees around to turn them all into peaches!

Last year Deniz discovered something in the back corner of the yard on the edge of the forest with nice blossoms on it. Turns out it is an Armenian Plum.