WE'RE BEING INVADED

I've got 3 traps set up around the house.

I don't care if these marmots live in the back 40 but not in my immediate yard.

This is the lucky one.

It's a lot like fishing with Ron.

He makes me throw the big one's back because they are the breeders.

This one got into my relocation program.

So Ellie looks at him and says "Let's take it inside and see what she'll do".

I don't think so.

So we're sitting on the back deck when I noticed Daisy scurrying

 past the hot tub and around the corner.

I called her and she came back to me carrying a dead marmot in her mouth

 that she had just done battle with.

I think she's practicing for next month at the lake.

Tough little dog. She sure was happy.

Summer Is Definitely Here

It's going to be 92 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow.

I wish we still had a swimming pool.

It's been a busy week AGAIN.

I tuned a few pianos down near the boarder.

One of my favourite customers just got a new puppy.

She's 12 weeks old and can already sit and wait with her new friend.

I watched the training and it is done only with love and kindness.

This dog won the lottery.

My friend also has a new cat. She's 4 months old and is best friends with the pup. 

They both come and sit still for treats.

I was impressed.

I'm looking forward to coming back next year to see how she's doing.

My buddy came over for a couple of days and we did more fencing.

It's hard putting in those damn u nails so he made up a jig.

He drilled a hole in the end of a pipe and then flattened it to hold the nail.

This made it possible to hammer it in over the wires without hitting our fingers.

I couldn't believe how fast the job went with this new gadget.

 This is why we should never buy cheap tools.

The property has 1000 feet of frontage along the walking trail which runs from Kelowna to Vernon.

It's always been a pain to climb over the fence which is along our property 

and use the trail so today we installed a gate.

I should have done this when we bought the place.

I left it as green treated wood so that it isn't too noticeable from the trail.

I told my buddy than al I need to do now is get a lock for it.

He stares at me like I'm an idiot and says , "You have 1000 feet of fence here. 

If someone wants onto your property don't you think they will just climb over the fence"?

I did feel like an idiot when he said it like that.

June 17 th. Where's The Month Going

So I hooked the John Deer up to the tree that I pulled down the other day

 and dragged it out of the bush to buck up for the base in Ruth's raised beds.

Nice and dry.

Nothing cuts better than a sharp chain.

I figured out why the tree rotted at the base.

Someone wrapped the tree with barbed wire when it was young.

The wire choked the tree and it was unavoidable. No flow.

I have a helper.

She loved the ear protection.

Ellie kept pretending she couldn't hear what I was saying.

She's so cute. Always smiling.

Play time on the trampoline with Nona.

Lots of fun.

Does anyone know what kind of snake this is.

It looks like a rattle snake but there was no rattle.

Daisy almost stepped on it and still never saw it.

Today my Bee Keeper came for his weekly checkup.

I love how he doesn't wear protective clothing .

He says as long as you are calm the bees will be fine.

The hives have been here for about 8 weeks and he figures there 

should be about 5 to 6 hundred pounds of honey already.

Busy bees.

It was interesting to see him split the hives.

They were very calm.

I was within 6 feet of the hives as he was working and wasn't nervous.

I'm looking forward to seeing him separate the honey from the combs.

He broke a piece of the honey comb off and gave it to me .

Instructions were to chew it like a piece of gum

 and when the honey was all gone I was to spit the wax out.

Doesn't get any fresher than that.

 It was delicious.

It certainly is a small world.

As we were talking he asked me what I did for a living before this .

Turns out I sold him and his wife a piano about 20 years ago.

I knew that I likes him. He gave me money once upon a time. 

Now he's going to be giving me honey.

I'm A Lumber Jack And I'm O.K.

So I had a buddy come over and help me put together Ruth's new raised beds.

I precut all the wood last week and Ruth painted all the boards.

We're sort of like Ikea.

The metal cutting blade had destroyed itself with all the metal cuts 

so Carrie and I drove into town for a new one.

She finished cutting the metal while I finished building the last two beds.

They turned out better than planned.

Now the gardner just has to fill them.

She's filling the base of them with rotting logs.

We have a surplus in the back forty.

It's a push up the road but she's happy and managing quite well.

So here is a big problem.

We've had two rotten trees break at the base in the last week.

One was a clean fall but this one wasn't.

It just leaned over into its neighbour.

The tree is completely rotten at the base and the neighbour tree is totally stressed with it leaning on it.

If I cut the healthy tree down we don't know where the rotten one will fall 

and if  I cut the rotten tree I know it will kick out and hurt whoever is doing the cut.

A tree in this situation is called a widow maker. No Thank You.

The answer I felt was to pull it off the good tree and let it free fall.

First try I put the strap too high on the trunk.

When I started to pull it looked like it was going to come right over on the truck.

The tree is about 100 feet tall but the strap is only 60 feet long.

Yikes.

My way of thinking was to lower the strap to just where the rotten part is 

and where it originally snapped.

It took a couple of tugs but down she went.

Right where I wanted.

Carrie took these action shots as it fell.

Success. I was worried about the kids playing back here before.

I think I'm going to drop this other one as well.

It has quite a lean to it now and I don't feel it is anchored properly anymore.

So after the tree episode Carrie and I finished framing the side fence

and this morning Ruth came out and started painting it.

She'll likely finish tomorrow and then my buddy is coming over to help me stretch the wire.

It will be nice to have the fence done. 

Then daisy can roam freely around the house.

I told Ruth I was just going to watch the news and wasn't at all tired.

I guess I should have said I was really exhausted.

At least she took a picture of me with my mouth closed.

Even With The Floods , Life On The Farm Is Very Busy

Last year we had a wasp problem so this last week I pulled some boards off of the soffits 

to expose the nests.

I've got the persuader here as back up.

I waited until dusk before the assault.

I think it worked.

It is wide open and after 5 days I think they have all moved on or died.

We're painting the place. 

I hated the colour that it was so I have become the official sander.

It's a big job but I'm dressed for the occasion.

Even though we're busy working I've still found time to cook.

I have the best meatball recipe of all times.

There's half a cup of cream in the meet and another cup of cream in the sauce.

Yumm.

So after I sand , Ruth follows and paints. 

She's a great painter. 

She's doing a nice job and she is enjoying doing it.

That's good because I hate painting.

We've rented out the back forty to a bee guy.

He started with 4 hives and today I was back there and counted 12 hives. 

The bees are very busy when I approached.

I don't want to get too close. It's very cool to watch them going in a and out.

Sometimes it's not so much fun

We may have a problem here.

Madison Erhardt - Jun 2, 2017 / 5:21 pm | Story: 198603

Photo: Google street view

An evacuation alert has been issued for the Emerald Point apartments at 3550 Woodsdale Rd. in Lake Country.

The alert is due to ground water in the parkade that may impact electrical transformers.

Occupants should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice and possibly be out for an extended time.

Residents can prepare by, 

• Locating all family members or co-workers and designate a meeting place outside the evacuation area, should an evacuation be called while separated
• Gathering essential items such as medications, eyeglasses, valuable papers (i.e. insurance) and immediate care needs for dependents and having these items readily available for quick departure; preparing to move any disabled persons and/or children
• Moving pets and livestock to a safe area
• Arranging accommodation for your family if possible

All previous evacuation alerts and orders remain in effect. Check out the map at www.cordemergency.ca/map and search by address, or to find the closest sand and sandbag locations.

I'm on the strata board of this complex. 

It's a nice building close to the lake and beside two regional parks that are on the lake .

Over the weekend we had water in the underground parking.

The water came up thru the expansion joints in the concrete floor.

It's not flood waters. It's the water table.

We knew that it was high but didn't expect this.

We manned the pumps in the sumps and got it down.Yikes.

Usually these sumps are 5 feet deep and dry.

This is the lake level.Let's hope it doesn't go up any more.

We did an experiment last evening. 

We turned the pumps on for 45 minutes and the level dropped significantly.

When we turned them off the water came up very little in 45 minutes.

That makes us think that when the predicted rain comes this Thursday to Sunday 

we should have a good chance of staying ahead of the water.

Let's hope so.

We're under evacuation alert right now.

These concrete stairs in the lake are usually 5 feet away from the water.

5