Not One But Two - New Roofs

Until the beginning of this month, our house had its original roof from when it was built in 1999.  It was only a 10 to 15 year roofing tile that the original owner had put on.  We just replaced it this month with a 30 year tile product.  Woo Hoo!

After that was done, Chris agreed to also replace the vinyl roof that was on the covered portion of our out door patio (also known as the man-cave). 

Voila!  Like magic we have a new kind of plexi-glass roof  that is much brighter than the old vinyl..  And, to boot, it was lovely to hear the spatter of rain on it for the first time tonight.

An Innocent Victim!

This one just isn't fair.  We have been raising Koi for a few years now.  This little guy, our smallest,  as you can see is still a fair size - almost 1/2 the page of our Vancouver Sun newspaper.
Last year we had a pair of herons build a nest in a tree across the road, and they have returned this year again to their same nest.  Our worst nightmare!  We have lost most of our goldfish now to these predators, but have never worried about them taking our Koi, as they are just too big.  Or so we thought.
In catching fish, the Blue Heron grabs smaller fish between the two mandibles of its bill, tosses them up and swallows them. We had no idea until now, that Herons will also go for large fish.  With a quick strike, it stabs the larger fish, grabs them and either swallows them partially to regurgitate in the nest, or else just eats them.  Chris found this little guy swimming in circles gasping the other day.  He went into to the pond to catch and examine him, and found a huge clean stab wound right through its chest area.  Those nasty herons.  Must have stabbed and not been able to catch.  Mr. Koi did not survive.  We have 3 others left, all bigger in size.  Fingers crossed they will be ok.  Nature is brutal at times.

Ouch!

I do love dear old Jake! And at the age of 10 now, he still does like to play.

Play is what we were doing the other evening on the grass, and unfortunately one of his paws hit my eye full force.  Believe me it was an ouch!!!

I've never been punched in the eye before but this was it.  And add a scratch to the Sclera as well.  It wasn't pretty; especially having to go to work with the eye like that.    Thank God we kept the eye patch from Chris's surgery last year when he has the vitrectomy.   It fit me just perfectly.

Everyone Needs a Garden Nanny Every Now and Again!

There are 2 areas of my garden which in the past 2 years have overwhelmed me: my perennial garden and  our driveway; simply because I let them both get away on me, then have now become a daunting challenge for me.  Often I stand looking at it completely in fear.  . Sort of the same way I would look at the prospect of crossing one of those rope bridges over 1000ft ravine. 
This spring was dry and I was busy concentrating on my 2 new lattice gardens.  Avoidance is always best applied when you are overwhelmed.  Here below are a couple of shots of the driveway.

 

When I spend the whole week at work, it's often hard to stay on top of everything.   I get into the garden on the weekends in early spring and I start to feel like I’m making progress, one garden area at a time, but I just block out certain areas from my mind.  BUT, are you ready?   This year I found the Garden Nanny!!  A helper!!!  Look what she did to our driveway!! I can't thank Tracey enough.

 

I find it so funny when people say "So have you got your garden all ready for the season?” It’s usually non-gardeners who ask this, because they view sunshine as the be-all end-all of gardens.  And considering the dry sunny spring we had, I suspect they all think that the sunshine just makes a garden happen and there is no real work involved.  They also seem to think that rain is simply something that requires you to take an umbrella out with you.  And "rain" is something we have had none of since April.  But I digress.   Back to the Garden Nanny,  When it came to the perennial garden, well, this was more daunting than the driveway, but the Garden Nanny tackled it like a pro.  She viewed it as a challenge I think.  Digging out the pavers and rearranging them.  I regret not taking before pictures, but here are a few after pictures.

 

So the moral of the story is - if you are overwhelmed with what is in front of you.  Ask for help.  It is an amazingly liberating feeling to feel on top of everything.  And I do.  For the first time in 3 years!