Attila completed the fix for the leaking garage floor. Over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, he dug a 3 1/2 foot deep, five foot long, two foot wide trench in hard-as-rock clay, cleaned and caulked the concrete wall and foundation, filled in openings in the concrete foundation with spray foam, trimmed the foam, applied plastic waterproof sheeting to the exposed wall and foundation, back-filled with gravel and stones, then with earth. When he was all done, he graded the soil away from the foundation, and installed a large patio stone an an easy step out into the yard. He was very relieved to have the whole job completed in three days!
Last evening, as Attila and I sat on the porch, the weekend heat wave came to an end. Within minutes the humidity dropped, as did the temperature. It remained warm on the porch, as the the decking, the chairs, etc. were still super-heated after sitting in full sun when the temperature was 31C. Breathing became so much easier.
The hot weather killed most of the third planting spinach seedlings, there are seedlings left, out of dozens. I think that is all that perished in the heat wave. The second planting of spinach is doing well, but is bolting. But we are dry, dry, dry! Attila waters the garden every single day, and this is barely keeping the plants going. But they survive, and we wait for replenishing rain!
Today we harvested:
Spinach
Chamomile Blossoms
Edible Pod Peas
Fresh Basil
Zucchini
Some of the garden seeds and bulbs we purchased this year came from The Dollar Store. All of the seeds and bulbs we purchased there have been a great success. Right now I am sitting in my easy chair enjoying the beautiful Gladioli, cut from the garden. Seven bulbs were purchased from The Dollar Store, and six of them grew tall and healthy, no sign of the seventh. And now they are blooming joy right in front of me.
This morning when I went out into the garden to pick some spinach for my mid-day meal, I glanced into the net in the Mosquito Magnet. It was crawling with mosquitoes! Attila had attracted them to the area where the Mosquito Magnet sits, as that is where he was digging his trench. He worked into the night, both Friday and Saturday night, and so had the area lit. The combination of a human body working hard, the heat, and the light, attracted a great many mosquitoes, and it seems we have prevented the captured insects from procreating! Unfortunately their relatives are still busy populating our little corner of the world.
Our Mosquito Magnet runs on propane. At one time I was an administrator for a propane company, and could buy the unit at cost, so I did. It was the one and only year that Attila and I both had living wage jobs, so although it was still expensive, we splurged. It was while we were living in the bush, at the country house, where the mosquitoes were incredibly numerous and aggressive. Naively, we thought the Mosquito Magnet would allow us a small area to enjoy the outdoors without being plagued by mosquitoes. Well, I am here to tell you, that the Mosquito Magnet didn’t stand a chance. The unit worked the way it was supposed to, and within a day, sometimes two, the catchment net would be packed full of mosquitoes. We were breeding them, I think, in the wetland on our property. Anyway, we put the Mosquito Magnet away because it could not keep up with the insect population at the country house.
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But here we are now, living at Mist Cottage, and although the mosquitoes here are worse than they have ever been since we bought the place, the population is sparse compared to the country house. So a week or so ago, the Mosquito Magnet came out of retirement, and was pressed into service again. It makes a difference here! But every day a new generation of mosquitoes rises up from the grass, I swear they breed on the grass, to torments us. I hate to think how numerous the mosquitoes would be this summer, if it were not for the Mosquito Magnet.
Worldly
Weather
22°C
Date: 1:00 PM EDT Monday 22 July 2019
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.2 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 21.5°C
Dew point: 15.5°C
Humidity: 68%
Wind: E 16 km/h
Humidex: 26
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they’ll remember and be kind to someone else. And it’ll become like a wildfire.”
Whoopi Goldberg
The thing about this wish for the world, is that is does not involve getting any recognition or thanks for your kindness. The reward is in the kindness being passed along, and if the kindness is passed along, you will never know. I think this is the essence of genuine kindness, recognition is contraindicated.
Glad to hear Attila completed his project! Chances are he’ll need to find something else to do but at least he won’t be driven by time constraints.
We’ve also had problem with the feast-or-famine rain. Our purple clematisvwent crazy and had huge blooms, but the pink clematis bloomed 2 weeks later and by then we were low on water while we were at the cottage. We now have a huge number of blooms that will never open, and the few that have are the tiniest I’ve ever seen them – about the size of a nickel.
We’ve had a terrible time with mosquitoes at the cottage. I had more than 2 dozen bites while there and had a large allergic reaction to one. When we go back for this weekend we’re bringing a mosquito repeller that works with propane, to try to keep mosquitoes from entering the house when the dogs are walked at night. Since it’s also portable we can use it to hopefully create a shield for me when we’re outside.
I totally agree with you on kindnesses and have often thought about that sort of thing when people are broadcasting their good deeds.
Teri, that is exactly it, any other project Attila tackles, if any this summer, will not be driven by time constraints. He is much happier that way!
The mosquitoes are bad at your cottage too, how awful. This year we have a bumper crop! I have my permethrin treated big shirt and cotton pants, and I find that if I go out on the back porch in the evening I need to wear them. At least if I most of my body is protected from bites, they will concentrate on my head and face, and I can see and hear them, and usually I can get them before the get me. I had not thought about dogs though, the mosquitoes would hid in their fur and come inside with the dogs, yuk! Nasty little things, mosquitoes.
Yes, those who broadcast their good deeds are building an image, creating themselves as a “brand”.