Tractor

 What is it about tractors that is so exciting? Bob is giddy with excitement and the neighbors are begging to take selfies on it. But the wildfire smoke is awful this morning so the fun will have to wait.

Here is the duck house last evening with smokey sky.

 

 

The boys are not amused. There are no walks to make the day more interesting while it's like this. I wish there was something I could do to help them and the ducks. The air is unhealthy for them to breathe too.

 

 

Boots attempts to negotiate a short reprieve but I hold firm.

Hattie is being a good sport about it as long as she can make the rounds with me.

I had an idea to make tiles to cover the stair risers for the rental porch, but after making test tiles I realized it is an impractical idea so, voila!, a wall hanging instead.

 

 

The Handoff

Young crows playing with something very desirable on the skylights.

 

Wildfire Smoke

The air is thick with smoke today so I'm staying inside and going bonkers so decided to update the blog. 

We finished the stairs at the rental house. There was old vinyl at the doorway that had to be removed and of course rot in the subfloor so we had to cut that out and replace it. Then we had the brilliant idea of replacing the vinyl with tile. Only 12 sq ft so should be easy. Except we chose 12x24 inch slate tiles and our old cheap tile saw did not want to do what we needed it to do. Anyway, we won the battle with the saw and got the tile cut, set, and grouted, then painted the stairs and it all looks much better than before. 

This is the before. Stairs were painted brown and just looked out of place.

After. I don't have a shot of the tiles. Maybe later.

I planted some manzanita, Leptospermum namadgiensis and a couple of iris in the new bed area, and once again Bob is thinking about replacing the old gray fence to match the cedar fence we built earlier this summer.

In the meantime we got new neighbors and they had this nifty metal fence built between our driveways. I'm happy to have the privacy but the sun reflects off the metal and is absolutely blinding, and hot! We had to park the pickup against it so we could work on the stairs. We're thinking of hanging cedar trellis to cut the glare. Our next project I guess.

I have been battling with removing a weird vine at the side of the house since spring. Come to learn it is a highly invasive knotweed the county has been trying to eradicate the last five years. Lucky me. My last move was cutting it back, shaving the stems a bit and dousing with Weedmaster and Roundup concentrate. It's looking pretty dead now but I'm told it is a multi-year battle. I'm on the county list now so next year they will spray it with their own toxic concoction if it comes back.

That's the latest on the rental. At our own house, we look forward to getting a new tractor. Today! If the smoke doesn't cause a delay.