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.