CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in September 2016

Another new month, the month when we reach the Fall Equinox and fall into winter.

This month I will continue harvesting my tomatoes, planting my fall garden and try to do my best in our upcoming Fall Fair. In addition get some pruning done as so many of my shrubs have extra growth this year due to the mulching with wood chips I have added this past spring. I will try to get on top of things before the snow brings everything to a halt and I have to play catch-up in the spring of 2017.

Although I love this month of September and my DH and I used to always take a holiday after the children had returned to school, I often feel a bit down in the dumps
as we have to wait another six months before the daylight hours reach the same amount as now.  OK, we do have most of the month before equal day & night so we must make the most of it.

I hope all Canadians and Honorary Canadians have had more successes than failures as we know that if we have a very successful year, then next year may turn around and bonk us. (Bonk: hit resoundingly )

Kelejan wrote:Another new month, the month when we reach the Fall Equinox and fall into winter.  . .
Although I love this month of September and my DH and I used to always take a holiday after the children had returned to school, I often feel a bit down in the dumps as we have to wait another six months before the daylight hours reach the same amount as now.  OK, we do have most of the month before equal day & night so we must make the most of it.

I'm feeling a bit down also because with the slight weather cooling, I know summer is drawing to an end.  Taking this in a different direction, I suggested to the reunion committee that we should consider an open monthly dinner for any alum starting in Nov 2016 (reunion is late Sept).  First Tues of each month at Denny's.  Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years can be a very hard time for some folks.  Knowing there was a dinner get together may get depressed or newly widowed folks out the door.  We will only get older and the ranks will thin at an increasing rate.

Sanderson, you are right when you say the ranks think out pretty quickly as one gets older.  Two of our group of six have gone this year, and I think a third member is not doing too well as the two that are gone are her special frineds.

But I am up early this morning and feeler a lot chipper; amazing what a good night's sleep does for one's feelings. I have two special friends in this group and one is back home after being away for a month, and I am hoping that the other will be back perhaps next week; (the one that I am watering her outside pot plant each day. )  I know she would do the same for me.

I intend to prepare the space for my garlic and my tulip bulbs today.

I have purchased some Cellulose Powder to prepare some carrot seeds for planing, as per Plantoid's suggestion for handling small seeds that makes good sense to me as I dislike sowing tiny seeds; it also ensures that the seeds I am planting are viable so that I can use older  seeds and know that I have a better chance of seed germination and not leaving gaps in the SFG bed.

Of course, that could all change in an instant if my neighbour arrives home and wants to continue cutting down to size my cedar hedge that blocks light from my home. That would take priority.

Got my Mom home safely to St.Catharines.  Mrs TD and I will likely take a drive today along the shore of Lake Ontario through the vineyards and fruit orchards to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a beautiful village where the Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario. From there we will drive along the Niagara Parkway on the edge of the Niagara River gorge to Niagara Falls. The drive along the Parkway is one of the great scenic drives in the world.

Enjoy your drive, TD and Mrs. TD.  My DH and I did that drive in 1992.

One of those good days when you mow the lawn then it tipples down with rain.

We have rain for the next few days.  Quite a lot tomorrow, then 30 and 40 per cent  chances.

Talk about the price of water.  On TV today I saw an item where a young householder in Ottawa was charged $1,400 for three months water. 

She was trying to establish some new sod in her garden.

a)  She was drowning the sod through ingnorance, never having gardened before.

b)  If it was installed by professionals, they either prepared it incorrectly or omitted to show her how to look after it.

In our town we are water-metered this year in preparation to being charged by meter next year.  I wonder how many shocks some of us will receive?

e.g. My average usage so far is 25% because I live alone, I do not water my lawn nor have a car to wash.

My neighbour across from me waters her lawn, plus half the roadway, three times a week for hours at a time. and often has large family gatherings that must use lots of water.  I would love to know what she will be charged but I do not know her well enough to ask her. Other neighbours send rivers of water along the road. I did that once when I forgot to turn it off.

We will all have to wait until next year to hear our fate. I fully expect to be charged at the minimum even if my usage does not reach the minimum usage, as even with garbage collection, I am still charged the same fixed amount in spite of recycling and composting.  I have a huge garbage can to contain my one bag every second week and if the garbage contains stuff that can safely be left, I leave it until the next collection.

L

Kelejan wrote:Talk about the price of water.  On TV today I saw an item where a young householder in Ottawa was charged $1,400 for three months water. 

She was trying to establish some new sod in her garden.

a)  She was drowning the sod through ingnorance, never having gardened before.

b)  If it was installed by professionals, they either prepared it incorrectly or omitted to show her how to look after it.

In our town we are water-metered this year in preparation to being charged by meter next year.  I wonder how many shocks some of us will receive?

e.g. My average usage so far is 25% because I live alone, I do not water my lawn nor have a car to wash.

My neighbour across from me waters her lawn, plus half the roadway, three times a week for hours at a time. and often has large family gatherings that must use lots of water.  I would love to know what she will be charged but I do not know her well enough to ask her. Other neighbours send rivers of water along the road. I did that once when I forgot to turn it off.

We will all have to wait until next year to hear our fate. I fully expect to be charged at the minimum even if my usage does not reach the minimum usage, as even with garbage collection, I am still charged the same fixed amount in spite of recycling and composting.  I have a huge garbage can to contain my one bag every second week and if the garbage contains stuff that can safely be left, I leave it until the next collection.

Interesting!  We in the USA have always been billed for water and sewer.   Unless you live with a well and a septic tank.

Scorpio. Canada has always been profligate with water and British Columbia has always used more water per capita than other provinces, and  I am  sorry to say that our small town has, or did have, the highest per capita usage in B.C.

I think that maybe because we are surrounded by mountains that generally get huge amounts of snowfall that drains into the mighty Columbia River most of the year round. 

Finally we have reached our limit due to a growing population and less snowfall these past few years and so need extra infrastructure or metered water or both.  That is an expense but will pay for itself in the long run by charging us and also limiting use because of that charge.

Like all things it will make people conserve water and then they will put up the price as people will save so much water that the city will not be able to keep the infrastructure maintained.  Catch 22.  It worked with electricity so why not water?

I am having a couple of lazy days doing nothing much. 

Only dropped in to see if I missed anything. 

Hope everyone has a good Long Weekend but commiserations to anyone caught up in hurricanes, power outages and anything else nasty.

Back to routine on Tuesday.

Kelejan wrote:I am having a couple of lazy days doing nothing much. 

Only dropped in to see if I missed anything. 

Hope everyone has a good Long Weekend but commiserations to anyone caught up in hurricanes, power outages and anything else nasty.

Back to routine on Tuesday.

"Lazy" can be good for re-charging the batteries. Have a great do-nothing holiday, Kel. 

We are at our daughter's place making preparations for our grandson's birthday party (he just turned eight). His friends will be arriving soon and the highlight will be a water fight. Cardboard box hiding places have been set up in the yard. Several kids pools have been filled with water as sources of replenishment for the water guns. There will also be up to 500 water balloons. It's going to be a wet afternoon on a beautiful sunny day.

That sounds great fun, TD.  Tell us how it goes when it is over.

So much for my lazy  twp days. My neighbour friend will be turning up shortly to carry on cutting some more of "my" cedar hedge.  No way will I deter him. I will be helping him all I can.

Kelejan wrote:That sounds great fun, TD.  Tell us how it goes when it is over. ...

The water war was a great success.  Much fun was had by all including the adult spectators. Strict limits were placed on boundaries of the battlefield so as to protect the onlookers and the property from water damage.

Interesting water themes... since buying our home and taking care of a garden. I have learned so much about water and water conservation. Growing up, my family did not talk about the water bill- or how to keep plants alive- so it has been a steep learning curve. One of my old neighbours advised me to water the plants, when I water myself, which made me laugh  and now reminds me to water. At the same time, I try not to be a water hog, or needlessly wasteful with water. The lawn gets the odd sprinkle (luckily it is protected by a big maple). Although, I could be doing a lot better by conserving our grey water, using mulch more, and using the run off water from the roof. Not sure the roof water I safe for the veggies though. Is it?

I can't say that I have a huge harvest of tomatoes this year (although I am very good at growing lots of tomato leaves). But I am VERY proud of the great variety of different cherry, regular and beef steak tomatoes I have been able to produce. Here's a picture of my current selection which I lovingly grew from seeds. The White Tomatoes are called "White Queen", we have also been enjoying "Brandy Wine""Cherokee Purple", and Kelloggs Breakfast". The crazy looking tomatoes ,in the picture are: "Reisetomato" reds.[size=34][/size]

Mimi. great bunch of toms.

With regard to water from the roof, after no rain for a while, I suggest you let the first rain rinse all the dust etc off the roof before allowing the rain into the water holder.

I hope you are allowed to harvest your own water.  So far we are, but then we do have quite a good supply.

My quiet day at home:
"My" cedar hedge.  Managed to get another truck load of cedar hedge logs and branches down to the composting section in our town.  The notice there says nothing over 3" in diameter, but it seems to me that many people cannot read.  If there is no one to see, they dump it anyway. Quite a  lot of logs there which will never go into any chipper. We meticulously measure our tree trunks and cut them off at the three inch mark and leave the thicker sections at home.  I may try and make a fencing section and enclose my apple tree. With help, of course.  The apple tree is going to be severely shortened before spring and pruned so that I can get at any apple without having to climb up a ladder, also that I no longer have far too many.

I am hoping that when winter is here I will have a lot more light in my kitchen in the morning which will cheer me up no end.  I think maybe we are about half way there, then after taking down all the skinny stuff there will be a few trees with much thicker trunks.  If that is beyond the capacity of my neighbour to do then I will have to get a quote for the professionals to finish the job.

I do have insurance in case my neighbour gets injured.  I learned that a long time ago when a friend who worked as a tree feller, hurt himself when doing a job and he had no insurance and was unable to work for several months and did not recover 100%.

Another neighbour dropped off a jar of borscht she had just finished making, and another dropped off five pounds of red plums and nine pounds of lovely apples.  I know I have plenty of apples, Transparencies, but these were different and a good eating apple as well. I hope they are keepers.

Tomorrow my friend and I are going to collect some beetroots. At least they do not have to be processed immediately.

I have lots of green tomatoes and most of them are really large.  The largest one is a 1/4 pound but there are many that must be twice as big.  A few tinged with pink so are on their way to getting ripe.

No bears have been around for the last few days, but I will not get complacent. My neighbours seem to have their garbage problem under control, thank goodness.

Another busy morning picking beets and preparing them; will can them tomorrow.
Plums washed and pitted; they also will be canned tomorrow.  Apples on hold, can't do  everything at once. 

Around town everything seemed to be dead quiet with very few people about on foot but a fair bit of traffic going through town, possibly on their way home.  To me it is always odd that the actual day we have as a holiday, is used for travelling.

Kelejan wrote:... To me it is always odd that the actual day we have as a holiday, is used for travelling.

I don't like driving on the last day of a long weekend, especially when I have to drive through Toronto. So we are leaving our daughter's place to go home on Tuesday. Looking forward to seeing what has happened to the SFG and other gardens during our absence.

TD, that is the privilege of being a retiree.  You can pick your travelling times.  That was also a benefit at times of being self-employed.

I can just imagine what you are thinking about your SFGs etc. Even a few days can make a big change.

A little help needed.

I am just about to make some Marinina? Sauce and I cannot find the recipe here.

Things move along so swiftly in our forum and then drop off the bottom and I have lost it, probably because I have not spelled it right or looked in the right place.

Nothing seems to be there in SEARCH

About to turn off the water as  11:00am is our turnoff time for us even numbered homes.

I have one sprinkler on low, and what do I see when I go to turn it off?

About twenty robins having the time of their lives, along with some small birds and what I think are a couple of thrushes, al preening themselves, darting in and out of the water, flying around in the bushes, a squabble or two.

Now I have to turn it off in case I get fined quite a large amount. I think I will make a water feature there, is seems to be needed.

I feel such a spoilsport.

Mimi2 wrote:. Not sure the roof water I safe for the veggies though. Is it?

I always wonder about this myself.  I think it depends on the type of roof you have.  Mine are asphalt shingles so until I hear otherwise I choose not to use that water on my veggies.  It would probably be fine for the trees, perennials and annual plants though.

Kelejan, where do you get your beets?

CC

Kelejan wrote:TD, that is the privilege of being a retiree.  You can pick your travelling times.  That was also a benefit at times of being self-employed.

I can just imagine what you are thinking about your SFGs etc. Even a few days can make a big change.

Back home now after a 7 hour trip across Southern Ontario. We took a little side trip along the way by getting off the main highway and driving along the Thousand Islands Parkway beside the St.Lawrence River. Halfway along that route we stopped for ice cream (yum) which was quite refreshing on this hot day (has to be almost 10 degrees Celsius above normal for this time of the year).

As for the SFG and other veggie gardens, they still look good. Some things are coming to an end such as the acorn squash plants. The cucumber plants are starting to look a bit bedraggled. We are still getting lots of tomatoes and tomatillos. The lawns need cutting but that will have to wait for another day.