Happy Canada Day!
Another birthday for our great nation! There were a number of events in town, but we were far too busy out on the farm to partake in any of them except for the fireworks much later in the evening. Last year they had "virtual fireworks" at the library, which we didn't bother with as we had some of our own fireworks which we set off out at Looney Pond. This year they had real fireworks though, but I wasn't expecting much of a show from a small town. I was very pleasantly surprised however, and the town put on a very impressive display. Not as fancy as the Telus "Light up the Night" displays at the Calgary Stampede, but the town doesn't have a Million dollars per night to spend on fireworks either (and folks wonder why their Telus phone bills keep getting more and more expensive!)
Back on the farm, we had spent most of the day trying to get things tidied up and organized a bit more. Mom finished the painting (rooms) she was working on, then tackled the flower-bed in front of the house. She had planned to leave early in the day, but as it turned out she didn't leave until nearly 4:30pm! I hadn't expected her to build a rock-garden, but rather than just putting the plants she brought from Calgary into larger planters, she actually made up a small rock-garden on the small hillside at the house! She's done almost all of the painting in the house (I've done the special paint for the floors, but she's done everything else!), made curtains, patched drywall, and now planted a rock-garden! I've got a truly amazing Mom, and it's all the more incredible when you realize that she just turned 70!!! I think country-bred people just have in in their blood to keep active all the time. Mom grew up (at first) on a farm in Saskatchewan, and all the farmers I've seen around here (and purchased from at auctions) are quite nimble and spry, and can move around a lot faster than I can, and I'm half their age!!
We've got some pest-problems here now. Gophers (actually Richardson's Ground Squirrels) are everywhere, and while we don't have crops for them to ruin, they've destroyed other things. The latest fatality was the kidling's seedling tree, a Green Ash. It had a rough start and we thought it nearly died, then it sprang back and was growing beautifully until one of those blasted rodents dug a tunnel right up under it, and killed it! The soil around the tree was softer because we had dug it up to plant the tree, so the little bugger took advantage of that and dug yet another burrow there. There's also a burrow-hole right next to the Nanking Cherry tree that I planted on the North side of the yard, but it's far enough away that it didn't harm the tree (yet.) I'm going to pick up some "Gopher Destroyers" in town today and put an end to this problem. :/
The Deer have also officially become pests too. Yes, they're still cute and adorable, but they also ate all the leaves off my Mountain Ash tree that I'd been babying for the last four years and which survived the trip out here. Since I can't kill the deer (and don't really want to) we're going to have to put some kind of barrier around the plants we don't want them snacking on.
Trixstir helped me unload the JD sickle-bar mower and the cultivator from the trailer using the shop-crane, since the hydraulics on my tractor's FEL are buggered. The mower was the most dangerous, as the large sickle-bar made it unstable and at one point we all had to scatter as the crane toppled over. Fortunately, the mower landed right-side-up on the ground next to the trailer, and it was simple enough to detach the crane and set it back on it's legs. Just an example however, of how dangerous it can be on a farm, and how quickly accidents can happen.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting grass with the riding-mower, and even got a good swath cut through the 5' high grass down near the septic pump-out. Naturally, we have thick tall grass there, where I can't get a swather in to harvest it, but the "hay field" only has about 8" of grass and it's gone to seed already. This will be a bad year for hay. A tree has fallen down right next to the pump-out shed, and thankfully didn't land on it. Even though it's down, it's still very much alive which is a pity, as I've got no choice but to chop it up for firewood. Ah well, such is the way of things out here.
So that was Canada Day out here on the farm; Very busy day, lots of things done (with a million more yet to be done!) and wrapped up with a great fireworks display! Here's hoping my fellow Canadians had a great day too!