Our chimney had seen better days. Last winter it had caused us a lot of trouble with no draw.  Smoke backflowing into the basement.  No heat!

It was crumbling in spots when we moved in, and of course, it's gotten worse over the past four years.

I started by breaking the bricks loose from the mortar with a chisel and a hammer.  In some spots- no hammer required.  It just crumbled.  The upper portion here was the last repair done by the previous owner.  I cursed him as I took it apart.  There were broken bricks, and huge chunks of mortar where bricks should have been.  I figured that was the cause of the decay.

Once I had it all apart I cleaned the old bricks to see what was reusable.

Then I mixed a batch of mortar and started rebuilding the chimney.  Then I understood the problem.  The newer bricks from the last repair were all too big.  There was no way to fit them around the chimney tile without leaving big spaces.  What a mess.

I went to Home Hardware with one of the original bricks.  Who knew buying bricks would be so difficult?  They had "nothing that size".  I went out to take a look.  They had no bricks at all.  Stupid square patio stones.  I needed to fix the chimney, not a walk way.

I asked them to order me some bricks.  The lady didn't know what kind of bricks they were.  Just regular clay bricks.  The size is what's important.  She measured my brick and called her supplier in Quebec.  After several minutes on the phone, they established that I was looking for Ontario Standard bricks.  They should be in in a week.  Two weeks later, when I hadn't heard from them, I went in to see if they had my bricks.  Different lady.  I wasn't listed in the computer.  There was no brick order, either arrived or pending.  She called the other lady.  They broke my bricks.  When they were unloading the truck they dropped the skid and smashed them all.  Do I want them to reorder them?

Are you freaking kidding me?  My chimney is ripped apart, winter is coming, and it didn't occur to these people to at least call and explain?  Yes, reorder the frickin' bricks.

Another two weeks passed, again no phone call, but this time when I went in, they had my bricks.  Yee haw- home to fix the chimney!

It took about 5 days - 3 to 4 hours a day to get it done.  #3 and #4 worked diligently, lifting an old paint can tied to a rope, one brick at a time, half a bucket of mortar at a time, from the ground to the chimney.  We dragged the hose up on the roof so I could mix the mortar from there.

I added a piece of old stove pipe around the top, where part of the tile was broken off.  Wore the skin right off my index finger filling in the chinks at the end, but it's all done now, and ready for winter!

 The view from the ground, with the cap on.

Gone Fishin'

We managed to get out on the water a few times this summer and do some fishing.

We had one very good day on the Montreal River.  #3 caught the biggest fish of the year, so far. #4 hasn't caught a fish yet.  The rest of us did ok.

The boys all went swimming in the river.

And back at home...

Everyone helped prepare the bounty for the freezer.  5 meals of fish safely stored away.

While the Boys Were Away

The mom will play...

Or work.  Definitely work.  When we bought our house we had these lovely chunks cut out of the walls in the older boys' room.  The ceiling was falling- slanting...  The previous owner cut through the wall and installed beams in my room to hold it up.  Then he stuck the cut outs back in and taped them up.

It looked even worse with the cracked and peeling tape ripped off.

Many, many layers of poly filla ere applied.  Four days worth, with sometimes three coats in a day.

Then I started painting.  Home mixed paint, once again.  It may not turn out the perfect shade of "Norlandic Ice Blue", but if your tastes are less specific, and your wallet less thick, you can achieve a nice shade of blue for little to no cost.

A five gallon pail, the mixer attachment for the drill, and 5 one gallon pails of assorted shades of blue latex paint.  Most of these I picked up at the township paint swap last year.  One can was a mistint that cost me less than $10.
 

Surprised and happy boys returned from camp.

Now I just need to finish the younger boys' room.

Garden Update IV - Beans!

Two buckets of beans from the first picking.  The beans are phenomenal this year.  The year of the bean!

The plants are big and luscious, and producing at an alarming rate.  I'm picking every third day, and it takes about 7 hours to pick, cut, wash, and blanche them.  My back is not loving the beans!  Thankfully the blueberries are easy picking this year, and I don't really need a lot of them, so that provides some relief.

I planted a variety of beans, after the bean failures of the past three years, hoping to find the magical variety that would love my soil, rain, and short growing season.  mother nature decided to play a big trick on me though, and give us a hot humid summer.  Isn't she cruel?  lol.  So my data is a bit skewed, and I plan to plant a variety again next year, in hopes of similar results.

McKenzie stringless green pod-  good germination, slower to start producing, smaller plants, production increased mid season.
McKenzie tendergreen improved-  good germination, good production
McKenzie classic contender-  ok germination, smaller plants, ok production
McKenzie greencrop-  poor germination, small plants, long tender beans, excellent taste
Pike dwarf green stringless-  poor germination, long slender beans
Pike labrador-  poor germination, lower production
Matchless tendergreen improved (Dollarstore!!)-  excellent germination, excellent production, very large plants, sure didn't do that last year...
Saved seed-  excellent germination, excellent production, huge plants!!

I get almost as many beans from the matchless and saved seeds as I do from the other four rows!  Fascinating!

Three buckets of beans on the last picking.  I have 21 bags of beans, about 5 cups each, frozen for winter so far.  We've eaten another 6 meals worth.  Once I get 36 bags frozen, I'll start shortening my rows, allowing the last two plants of each to go to seed.

The broccoli is also doing well this year.  Five small bags frozen so far, plus one meal.  Not enough for a dish of broccoli by themselves, but nice sized servings for chicken rice casserole or stew.

 No heads yet on the cauliflower.

The beets are doing better this year than in the past, onions are doing great, potatoes look good.

Carrots are still buried in the weeds.

Peas are sad, mostly due to escaping turkeys, poor germination, and total neglect on my part.

Lettuce is still small, though we've been picking away at it.  Turnips didn't germinate well, and aren't growing well either.

In the greenhouse, the corn has tassles!

The tomato trees are loaded with big green tomatoes.  Please turn red!  Please!  Please!!

And something weird is happening at the base of the crazy pumpkins.  They almost look like they got hit by frost, yellowed, wilted, missing leaves.  But that's the part that's in the greenhouse.  The part outside is vibrant and healthy.  And the temperatures dropped before this happened, so there's no way it got too hot in the greenhouse and fried them.  At any rate, I can now see in and around them.

Cucumbers are just starting to produce.  Swiss Chard has been eaten again, and again, and is ready for another meal.  Broccoli is starting to develop heads.  Brussel Sprouts have tiny little heads all up the stalks.  Cauliflower is big and leafy, but no heads.  If I could find my herbs, they would probably be ready to start drying.

To be continued...

We Have a Bull!

A bull calf, that is.  i'm not quite ready to take on a full size bull.  Dorie greeted the young fellow playfully, putting on all of her girlish charms.

Let's bang horns!  He looks just like her, but smaller.  He's about 14 months old.  Same colouring, same shaped horns.  He's supposed to be a charolais cross.  we're calling him Steaks.

He looks so tiny beside her.  He's got three months or so to get the job done.  Then he'll go in the freezer. 

Casper tried to tell me this new bull was not necessary.  He mounted Nelly.  At 5 months, and hopefully castrated, I don't think that's going to work.  Hopefully castrated, because we did the bands, but nobody can catch Casper, let alone flip him over to take a look.

My little herd, relaxing in the sun.

Until I disturbed them.  "How close do you plan to get with that camera?"

Relax, ladies.  You've got a man in there.  I'll be keeping safely back BEHIND the fence.  'Cause I'm a big chicken.  My boys are making fun of me.  "He's just little!"  Yeah, that's right.  Just little, and calm, and gentle.  Until he decides he wants me out of his pasture.  I'm old and fat and short.  There's no doubt in my mind that he can outrun me.  I'll stay on my side of the fence, thank you very much.

Next year's bull?

He doesn't scare me so much.  Yet.

Garden Update III

Remember when I started planting the greenhouse? Remember all that open space?  See that tiny little 'cucumber' in the corner, in front of the bucket?  The baby tomato?  The little cauliflowers and brussel sprouts?

See how well they were doing?  See how the beans started coming in?  See how I started to doubt the cucumberyness of that corner plant?

See how everything grew and filled in, and the 'not a cuke' started to scare me?

See how I tied up the 'not a cuke', the tomatoes got bushy, and the little pumpkins in the front were doing really well?

See how I cut it down from the roof, opened the wall and pulled it outside?  See how it's growing big orange flowers and little green balls?  See how it's a pumpkin on some sort of steroids?

See how massive everything has become?  Both sides are open.  The other plant- the two seeds in the greenhouse floor through a hole in the ground cloth that probably won't even sprout so I didn't write it down but I think it was a squash- it tried taking over the other side.  I pulled it out through the other wall too.  I had a little pumpkin in between the broccoli and tomatoes, so I pulled it around to head for the outside.

See the baby cauliflower now?  See the corn on the left, and the tomato tree at the back?  See how there's no room to walk?


Notes for next year- cauliflower and broccoli down the centre.  Vines on the outside walls.  Cage all of the tomatoes!  Leave some foot room!!!

Meanwhile, outside in the garden...

If I could just keep up with the weeds...

We've had weeks of heat and high humidity this year.  The garden is amazing!

To be continued...

Turkey Killers

The turkeys are growing great.  They're eating lots of grass, weeds, and really enjoying the comfrey, which is apparently good for them and high in protein.  They're also eating a mixture of corn and commercial duck grower.  The duck grower is high in protein, but cheaper to buy than turkey grower.  It's also non-medicated.

They're friendly little guys.  Maybe a little too friendly.

I bought a pair of ducks at the auction.  They moved in with the turkeys.  There was some arguing between the drake and goose for the first few days.  The hen is laying an egg a day, but she's not setting on them.  Her former owner took her eggs and put them in an incubator.  we're sticking them under chickens. :-)

So everything was going really well.  Until I did a head count one night as we were putting them away.  22.  Three turkeys were missing.

We found one body that night.  It was only about 15 feet away from the turkey shack, still in the pen.  It had a small hole in the chest, and it's heart and some of the innards were missing.  I was thinking weasel.  A fox would have taken the whole bird.

#2 was my go to guy for peeing on the fence.  Human urine reeks to wild critters, making them think twice before entering the premises.  Since he's been away at camp for nearly three weeks, the pee supply has gone down.  I've asked #3 and #4 to pee on the fence when they're out there, but for some reason they've been playing shy.

We found the other two bodies the next day.  The boys did a few patrols with Waldo, in the hopes of scaring off the vermin, and spreading our scent along the fence line.  No luck.  Another dead body that night.

Then my dad spotted the culprit as he was driving by.  An owl.  We kept the turkeys in longer in the morning and put them to bed earlier at night.  That only worked for one day.  The owl was out waiting for them one morning at 11 am.  We scared him off, but he had killed another turkey by 3 pm.

In all he's killed 6 turkeys.  This morning we got him.  Now to wait and see if he has a mate and if she plans to be turkey hunting.  For now we're keeping the turkeys locked up, except when I am in the garden with the .22 handy.