It's raining

It’s raining today which is a good thing. We are on the highest level of water restrictions again. Apparently the pipe that broke in June has other issues that need to be repaired so it won’t break again. Calgary is getting all of its water from the smaller of the two water treatment plants. The birds will like the bird bath filling up with water and the lawn and the trees will like the rain. We didn’t get a rain barrel earlier in the year so we aren’t collecting that water. Maybe next season we’ll get one.

Rain drips off one of the deck lights

I don’t mind the rain as long as I don’t have to be out in it for very long. I’ve done my share of cycling, hiking, and paddling in the pouring rain and it isn’t my favourite thing. Today I’m fine with it. It gives me a chance to drink tea, put on a fuzzy shirt and hunker down,  I don’t feel guilty about taking the car to an appointment this morning rather than riding my bike. I have another appointment this afternoon that is a few blocks away and I can walk there. Even if I get soaked it's a short time before I can get home and get dry again.

Reflecting puddles

I’m enjoying the cooler weather. It hasn’t been overly hot the last week or so and I really do like ‘sweater weather.’ It’s currently 9°C which makes it perfect for a light wool sweater and a breathable rain jacket.

With cooler weather comes fall, my favourite time of year. The leaves, though not like the red maples of Central Canada, are lovely enough for me. The nights are cool and one of the things I like to do is camp in the fall when I can reach up from my sleeping bag and turn on the furnace to take the chill off before I crawl out to face the day. Pretty luxurious camping and I love it. We won’t be camping this year but I will call to mind the fall trips we’ve taken in the past. Last year we camped at Writing on Stone provincial park and got to hear and see a rattlesnake at fairly close range. A couple of years before that we spent a week at Tunnel Mountain Campground in Banff and had a lovely time wandering into town for lunch or dinner and then returning to the van. Often we have left Little Elbow Campground in Kananaskis Country on the day it closes for the season and we have watched in our rear view mirror as the park staff tip up the picnic tables for the winter.

While it isn’t fall yet, the signs are there. I spotted the first yellow leaf on our Manitoba maple today. The wasps are super annoying and nighttime temperatures are dipping toward freezing although tonight is the only one forecast to be in the single digits for the next week.

A sign of fall

Then there’s the fact that the kids are back in school tomorrow. I hardly even notice that milestone anymore, this being the beginning of my 17th year of retirement, and also of this blog.

So what’s the point of all this? Nothing earth shaking, except to say that it’s a good day today. I’m comfortable with my cup of tea and Odie beside me whistling softly. I have work to do on my latest ukulele and I’m looking forward to actually having a reliable source of heat in the shop as the days grow colder. For now, I’m going to sit in the quiet of the house, drink my tea and admire Odie. Today I am content.

Odie enjoying a snack

Battling bugs and weeds

Creeping bellflower

I’m not much of a gardener and we had our back yard set up with as many perennials as we could when we had the shop built 15 years ago. Of course they do need some maintenance and we’ve taken out some; some have died, and some new species have volunteered.

Normally I’d say that volunteerism is a good thing but not when the volunteer is creeping bell flower. It’s all over the place in our neighbourhood and it’s very hard to get rid of. In order to finally eradicate it you have to dig down and get the rhizomes out. That’s a bit difficult to do because some of it is coming up in the middle of the juniper and the juniper has every right to be there as far as I’m concerned. There was a big patch by the back fence and I spent some time earlier in the year layering newspaper and mulch over it. That sort of worked but I see leaves of the pesky plant coming out on the sides of the newspaper patch.

I’ve kind of given up except to pull up any stalks I see with flowers on them. It won’t make the nasty stuff go away but, at least, I can keep a bunch of the flowers from going to seed and that has to be worth something, or so I tell myself. Since there is plenty of it in neighbouring yards and in the alley it’s probably a losing battle. At least I get the satisfaction of yanking it out.

The second pest I’m battling is of the insect variety. We have a Manitoba maple tree in our front yard. I’m sure it’s as old as the house is and it’s the only tree left of the three big ones that came with the property. The green ash was a city tree and it got cut down after a wind storm brought down some of its bigger branches. We had a weeping birch until a few years ago and we chose to take that down because it was infested with aphids. I’ve since learned that you can buy ladybugs to release at intervals and they will happily eat the aphids. I think we’ll get some next year because the Manitoba maple has aphids now and that tree serves as our air conditioning during the summer.

It’s not the aphids that I’m battling at the moment though: it’s the box elder bugs. Box elder is another name for the Manitoba maple. I had never seen these bugs until about a year ago and now they are everywhere. They don’t pose a hazard to humans or pets and they are quite striking looking. They do, however, leave nasty reddish brown stains on the siding and if they can get inside to keep warm for the winter they will. I’d just as soon not share my indoor space with a bunch of bugs.Only very desperate spiders will eat them because they, apparently, taste bad. I have to wonder if there is some poor sucker somewhere who has actually tasted them.

Adult box elder bug

Incidentally, they are true bugs not beetles and they change up to 7 times before they become adults. Apparently you’re not supposed to squish them because they stink and the smell attracts even more of the little devils. You can kill them by soaking them with a solution of water and dish soap. I decided yesterday it was time to take on the insect hoards.

I got a spray bottle, filled it with water and dropped in about a tablespoon of dish soap. Then I headed out in the heat of the day to battle the bugs. They like to congregate on the south side of buildings but there were a bunch of them on the west side as well. That’s where the Manitoba maple is. I have to say the dish soap solution is pretty effective at dispatching them but you have to really soak them and they, of course, will try to run. They also have a knack of clinging onto the building after they’re dead so you need to spray them some more to get them off.

Younger box elder bug

I’ve been having trouble with tendinitis in my elbow and I found that using the trigger on the squirt bottle didn’t help it much so I made a quick trip to Canadian Tire for a garden sprayer that I can pressurize. That is a lot easier on the hand and arm and I made my way around the west and south sides of the house killing bugs. When I checked today there weren’t quite as many and I saw fewer adults. I think going after the bugs will be part of my daily routine for the next little while and I need to clean up the leaf litter near the foundation of the house before it snows.There will probably be a new crop of bugs next year but I’ll get on it at the beginning of the season now that I know what to do.

Now, if only I could get rid of the creeping bellflower by squirting it with a little water and dish soap.