Summer doldrums

The summer doldrums are with us.  Summertime and the livin' is not so easy in a CoronaVirus infected world.  WinSol's mode of operation has always been 'shelter in place' so it's a bit easier.  But, like everyone else we miss the socialization and inviting people to visit and help.

Summer 2020
Daily morning temperatures are at least 10 degrees cooler than last year -  it's very tolerable.  The added insulation covering the bedroom windows makes it a nice cool place for daily siestas. So far haven't need the homemade evap cooler.

Roofing project
The BIG project this year is removing the entire roof and clearing out all the carpenter ants/wasps and their chewing of the polystyrene insulation.  For the last 3 years it's been 'raining' tiny white particles inside the house - ant chewings!  It's like having dandruff on everything - what a pain.
This project is like putting on two 4,000sq.ft. metal roofs:  take off all steel panels, remove insulation, clean out all stuff, chemical warfare (yuk!!) to prevent further ants/wasps from nesting AND then replacing all the insulation and reattaching the roof panels.  And sanding all fasteners to bare metal, priming and applying 3+ coats of green paint.
The good news is that the roof panels are in great shape after 20 years and will easily last another 30 years.  The bad news is that I'm not getting any younger and doing hundreds of deep knee bends each day is taking its toll. I am SO careful on every single step i take, especially going up and down on the ladder.  The ants that chewed the polystyrene that started raining down inside the house 



The roofing chain of events is interesting:  First there were wasps that exploited each and every high-up opening underneath flashings, and mostly through the openings in the 2x6 steel studs.... that was my big design failure:  not covering the 2x6 openings - who knew?!  Then mice followed after wasps abandoned their nests.  I remember hearing them in the walls,  I set out traps and contemplated re-introducing cats (which I now have). The mice left various chewings, cloth nests and droppings all over which attracted the ants embarking from tree branches that contacted the roof on the west side (my bad for not trimming those branches). 
The roof re-do is taking longer and is harder than i anticipated.  Cutting through the thick metal roofing around the chimney was not easy.  Hi speed worm-drive saw throwing sparks everywhere with red-hot metal.


Gardens:  
The grapes have exploded this year.  I trimmed back just enough this past winter to retrain the vines - and they love it.  The flower seeds I spread all over are not all that spectacular.  Remind me to not buy any of those 'wildflower, perennial seeds packets' again.  I'm better off selectively buying single flower packets. 
But the BIG April wet snow dump broke 80% of the fruit trees.  One cherry tree did have dozens of cherries, I ate 3 unripe ones before the birds took all the other unripe ones.  I moved a couple cherry trees into the greenhouse!
Blackberries of course are exploding like crazy right now, the crickets have started their annual concert, and the cats and 3 kitties are ... well, acting like little kids!

Water:  abundant.  the only issue is the low greenhouse tank which inexonerably leaked and emptied in April for some reason.  Thankfully there was a late storm in May that refilled half of it.  But i'm taking most of my showers inside (cold water) after sweating profusely on the roof in the early evening.

People:  with the COVID virus around I'm not inviting people.  As a matter of fact I've withdrawn from Woofers and HelpX.   It's been pretty quiet all summer.  Somebody parked a modern RV at the big turnaround at the end of the property and seems to have moved in.  They are quiet - so no prob with me!









 


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