Playing with the neighbours

There was a dog in the neighbour's yard that was barking for hours. We took the dogs over to see why and saw that nobody was home and they had left the dog tied up to a tree. Although the dog was in the shade, it had got all tangled around the tree and it couldn't reach the water bowl. So we untangled the little dog so it could reach the water bowl, let Tawny and Taz play with it for a few minutes and then we continued on our walk.

Backyard panorama

This is a BEFORE panorama of our back yard taken with my iPhone using a free app called PhotoSynth from Microsoft. I expect that it uses the same photo stitching algorithm used in the ICE software (also from Microsoft) that I run on my PC.

Tawny was walking around, as you can tell because she's there and not there at the same time.

It looks like it was a hot day, but it was actually a perfect temperature with a nice light breeze. It was very hot in the sun, of course, so it was best to avoid the sun.

Too hot!

It have been very hot lately. Too hot, in my opinion, and the flowers don't like it either. This is a photo that I took back on July 7th. I am posting it now because it has been a while since I posted anything. Hope you like it.

Air conditioner installation

I had to prepare the location for the air conditioner by building up the pad where the a/c unit will sit. I calculated that I needed almost a cubic yard of gravel, so I got four containers of 2 cubic feet of gravel.

Here is the air conditioner after installation.

Tree removal

Tree removal

We had a big maple tree in the back yard that we had to take down because it was too close to the power line. This is the before picture, obviously.

Partly cut down.

Cutting down the main part of the trunk.

Taking off a piece of the trunk.

Another action shot.

Just a pile of logs. Some friends came a few weeks later and picked up all the logs - it took two trips.

Now there is clear air where the wire is.

This is the stump grinder. The operator is driving the machine over to grind down another stump. We had about five stumps ground down.

This is the stump grinder in action. The machine had a little diesel engine that drove a hydraulic pump that spun the grinding blade as well as driving the wheels.

Sorry to see you go, Mr. Maple.

More pretty flowers

Sorry I haven't updated the blog for a bit. I hope you enjoy these pretty flowers.

Most of these flower photos were taken on June 17th, 2011.

The roses are in the front flower bed, in front of the living room window.

These are the peonies in the back yard - that is a mock orange behind it that is rather overgrown.

We had a torrential rain storm on June 24th.

Accidental trap

No photo today, as you will understand why.

We had a lot of rain overnight on Wednesday night, but needed to water the plants under the house overhang. Freda picked up the half full watering can and then noticed that there was something in it. It was a chipmunk that had obviously gone into the watering can to get a drink, but then couldn't get out and drowned.

I used to leave the watering cans full so they were ready to use and won't blow around. I think I will either have to leave them very full or almost empty to avoid situations like this.

Sorry, little chipmunk!

Beautiful roses!

June 14th, 2011

This rose bush has a profusion of these pretty yellow flowers.

A pretty bud! Next time I will have to make sure that my reflection is not in the picture! haha

June 16th, 2011

These roses seem to last a long time!

The white rose bud has popped open with all its gloriousness.

This was a bud yesterday and is now partly open.

Peonies popped!

Wow - amazing what a difference one day can make!

These photos were all taken on June 14th.

This is the same peony as above, but the flower is a little bit younger. The pink seems to fade quickly in the sunlight.

The pink is so vibrant that it overwhelms the sensors in the digital camera. If I desaturate teh image so the flower looks normal then the foliage doesn't look right.

A view of the row of peonies beside the carport. All of these will have to be relocated or else they will die.

The beautiful white peony.

Birthday Peonies

These photos were all taken on June 13th, 2011. The title of this blog post is Birthday Peonies because June 13th was my dad's birthday, and his sister's birthday too!

We had a lot of rain and wind, and it resulted in these peonies getting mostly bent over.

The peonies are loaded with buds. It is nice to see that there a few varieties.

Snow white.

There are more of these deep pink ones than any other colour.