Process of Elimination

This year I planted two types of squash; Table Queen Acorn and Costata Romanesco Zucchini.This does not look like any acorn squash I have ever seen-and I can't see any sign of any baby acorns anywhere in the squash patch.

Hidden from View

When The Geek trimmed up the wildly growing grapevine, we found
grapes!
(Were you thinking it might have been something else?)

Midsummer

At this time of year one finds...



Black-eyed Susans







Caragana pods

Dragonflies

Tiger Lilies





And, better late than never,

Saskatoons and

wild strawberries.

The Squash are Blooming

These are all male flowers.
So far there have been four female acorn (I think, they don't look like zucchini) flowers. I'm not sure if I managed to fertilize the first female as it was the only one open at the time. I took a male flower from my sister's plant, but I don't even know if it was a flower of the same species so I will have to wait and see what happens.And I saw the bee again this morning so things are going well.

Free spirit

Wednesday after work I was to meet The Geek at Dynasty, a bathroom supply place on Logan, just east of Isabel, to pick up a sink and tap. I asked her to get there before they close at 1700 incase I was caught in traffic. Things went well for me and I had the sink in the truck by 1645, so I parked my truck in a vacant lot west of the store and waited for The Geek. At 1700 I called her office, no answer. The same with her cell. It should have only taken her 15 mintues to get from HSC to Dynasty as all she had to do was ride east down McDermot to Isabel and then north to Logan.At 1710 I left the vacant lot and drove to HSC to see if she had become ensnared in some drama at work. Her 'bent wasn't in the bike lockup. Puzzling. Then as I'm driving back to Dynasty to see if she is there, planning to drive back to HSC following her possible alternate route to the store if she wasn't, she calls and tells me she has arrived at the store. A few minutes later we have loaded her (who has a big sheepish grin)'s bike in the truck. The Geek tells me she left HSC around 1630 but got lost when she couldn't remember if Logan was north or south of the Salter Street bridge. She was well north of the bridge when she sees another cyclist riding a recumbent bike possessing a short wheelbase and underseat steering. She decides to follow said bike. She then ends up chatting with the fellow and test driving his bike. Then remembers she has to be somewhere else and rides south on Salter and over the bridge to Logan and the store.Tina is now apparently looking for a 'bent with underseat steering.

Yours for Life

Here are three plants I would encourage people to NEVER plant. They are fast growing and invasive. Having said that, if you want to cover something, you have areas where you need ground-cover, or co-workers with whom you feel the need to get even, this is your stuff. But it will not stay where planted.

This is called Goat Grass by our neighbours, tho' I suspect it has other names, many of which would not be printed in this family-friendly blog. It grows anywhere and spreads rapidly. The neighbours on both sides have it so our yard is assaulted on two fronts. I have pulled out several pounds of it from the side of the house and from the back where I have planted my peas and clematis. And I think it is ugly to boot.
This is Virginia Creeper and it is harder to eliminate than bedbugs in a flophouse. Gram planted some around her house and it still lives on even tho' that house is gone. Mom tried to kill it by injecting pure 'farmer-version' Round-up into its stem, but that didn't even phase it. This particular plant was growing on The Geek's house when she moved in and we pulled it off in 2006. as it was wrecking the brick and mortar. And have been pulling it up ever since. Today I filled a 80 litre garbage can with stuff that had grown in the month or so since we last filled up the garbage can.

And this little beauty is a Hops Vine. If it yielded anything other than leaves, I would tend it lovingly and encourage it to grow on both sides of the back fence. Apparently the price of beer is going up because of the shortage of hops. If this was a useful plant, we could have a nice little cash crop in our back yard instead of the pesky vine that it is. This one came over from our neighbour on the east side, where it grows around her garbage can area, tho' she didn't admit to planting it.

Current bathroom

We are planing on renovating the bathroom in the next little while. So, as a start, here is the current state.

Back Yard Renos-two months later

The garden does contain more than cilanto, tho' it is hard to tell from this picture.

Another Garbage Eve

Just thought everyone needed to know the score list.
The following worked as one load in the bike trailer:
- a broken electric lawn mower
- a 30lb exercise bar and a smaller one
- 2 6' pipe clamps
I then went on to find a bunch of buckets with lids and an ironing board that may or may not be worth keeping. Oh, and one of those 3-prong rakes already on the ride home.

I told a lady at work that I got a flower pot I gave her from Garbage Eve. She asked me WHO that was. In the context of garbage eve, it had not occurred to me that Eve would also refer to a person. Guess I am at risk of developing a nickname. :-)

we have A bumblebee

We didn't have any bees last year. The city's liberal use of malathion killed them all resulting in very few vegetables in the garden, while there were still plenty of mosquitoes.

So far this year, the city has only sprayed once, and at the moment, we are in a buffer zone, so lets hope this little one makes it.

Here's to tomatoes this year!!

The Bent

I talked with my Dad about my recumbent bike (aka "bent") a little while ago. I think his idea what it is is a little off. But, better than explaining, I'll just post a picture.
Not to launch into a sales pitch, but bents are easier on your arms and wrists and more aerodynamic. They are, however, much more difficult to do a trackstand on. ;-)

Where in Winnipeg does one buy fine literature?

At Princess Auto, of course.

The Geek saw this book on one trip to PA, and I was along on the next trip when we picked up the parts for the bike trailer. At that point we decided it should come home.

In addition to the huge earthmoving equipment shown on the cover, it also has categories for the largest submarine, biggest aircraft and the tallest bicycle, to name a few.

I am sure there are some boys who occasionally come to visit who will also find this interesting.