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bugs
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# Posted: 29 Apr 2010 06:18pm
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Its been a while since I have posted. The week after my last post we got 25 cm+ of snow. So we spent most of Feb and Mar taking weekend day trips out to the land. The snow shoeing was great with snow knee deep or better. We bought a calf sled to haul in some salt blocks for the deer etc. A tough slog it sure made a nice trail for us and the wild life to use.
By the first of April the snow had mostly gone so it was time to start working on trail clearing. With chainsaw and bladed weedwacker in tow we were able, over the course of 3 days, to get about 500 yards of trail through dense bush cleared away to add to our trail network.
Now we are in a waiting game due to the weather, rain and frost coming out of the ground, makes it impossible to get our truck up our driveway. We have the logistics in place for delivery of 100 yards of gravel once the road ban is lifted from our municipality.
We also have worked out the preliminaries for the solar system and have the lumber ready for our screened in porch. And now the lady wife wants a dock so she can sit on it in the evening with a beverage of choice and watch the sun set. We are going with a floating dock system that is locally manufactured.
Considering what the "new" threat (volcano eruption) can do to air travel to Europe I think we are happy we are just planning to holiday at our "shed" this year.
Note the sled and propane tank.
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Mar62010B.jpg
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beaver lodge and our lodge
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land03.jpg
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bugs
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# Posted: 29 Apr 2010 06:21pm
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Some of the trees are old and dying balsam poplar and birch and they have large bracket fungi on them.
We are continuing to enjoy the wild life and the not so wildlife. Our last trip out we finally met "our" elk on one of the trails. The bald eagles and vultures are back as are the many geese and other waterfowl. And it appears tick season has started again.
clearing trail
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fungi
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neighbours horses
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inquisitive squirrel
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Hick
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2010 12:25am
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Bugs,
My wife and I both love what you have done! We will be starting on our project soon. It is a little bigger 12x16. Thanks for all the motivation!
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2010 01:40pm
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Quoting: bugs And it appears tick season has started again.
Aren't ticks fun? We do tick races in Missouri, the losers get Bic'd
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 21 May 2010 03:53pm
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Hey Bugs! can't wait to see more pics. Keep it coming.
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bugs
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# Posted: 23 May 2010 02:04pm - Edited by: bugs
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Tick Races!!!! Hmmm Not for me.
I have been hacking together a deck/porch for our shed over the past few days. It has gone fairly well so far with only one incident of CSI-worthy blood spatter and trail... No permanent damage! Thanks to swanugly, walnut and others for posting pictures of their porches. While cruising the net looking for ideas and examples I came across this page: http://www.deckplans.com/deck-of-the-year-2009. Very humbled and inspired by this fellow's work.
We were able to get the porch frame erected on site before rains hit. Hope to finish off the project when it stops raining so we can start work at putting in some 36x68 inch screens we found at the Habitat reno store to reduce the bugs and wind.
We are still working out the logistics of getting 100 yards of gravel on the driveway and yard site. It seems "in the country" most gravel companies use triple axle belly dump semis or large "dump" trailer trucks that reach 40 feet when dumping. They haul 20 to 40 yards at a time. Small single axle 5 to 10 yard trucks, which is what we need, are extremely rare. Hopefully we can get something worked out so we don't have to worry about getting stuck if it rains.
One of the new trails we have cleared provides us reasonable views, 60 yards away, of a great horned owl nest. We have enjoyed watching the progress of the chicks. While not as good as Avan's they are not too bad for hand holding a 600 mm lens on a windy day. We expect some noisy July nights once the chicks have fully fledged and are a bit independent.
Yesterday when we were out to the property we noticed many of the aspen trees were defoliated. Walking on the trails we could here the caterpillar frass falling from the trees like a light rain shower. The culprit is the aspen tortrix moth. Hopefully they will cycle through and the trees will be able to leaf out again. The many insect eating birds are really enjoying the feast right now.
We have put up about twenty bluebird boxes around the property. Now most have a tree swallow nesting in them.
deck
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porch frame
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owl nest
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tree swallow
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 24 May 2010 11:59pm
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Wow! an owl! I find they are so rare.... we have lots of blue Jays, which are nice but they are unfortunately the bullies of the bird realm. I did see some frogs though, and we found out our stream has small spotted trout and crayfish!
love the porch... great plan to screen it in... can imagine a couple of chairs out there for morning coffee and evening libations with the occasional cigar.
20 bird houses eh? wow! you guys are hardcore...
R&R
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bugs
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# Posted: 4 Jun 2010 06:36pm
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We got out to the place the end of May. It was so muddy and wet we had to walk in with the various tools and construction materials. (The main pond is up about 2.5 feet over last year this time.) But it is a very pleasant walk along the driveway and a person never knows "who" they will meet.
We got the roof on the porch and shingled. We even had a chance to enjoy the place a bit. At lunch we were serenaded by plethora of birds. The owl chicks, three of them, seem to have kicked mom out of the nest as we saw her snoozing in the sunshine a few meters away from the nest. There is still the background noise of caterpillar munching going on but soon they should pupate and disappear.
I finally broke down and bought a Dslr. I purchased a Pentax, like my wife, so that I could mount our old Tamron lenses that we had around from our 35mm cameras. Sure is great to once again use the 90 mm macro I have.
Great to hear you have a trout stream R&R. The stream should be relatively clean and healthy with trout in it. Of course I would be more interested in the bugs the trout are feeding on. You have some really neat aquatic bugs in Que/Ont.
Cigars!!! I remember smoking them when I was doing research on blackfly control on the SK River. We would be camping and the only thing that seemed to keep the hoards of mosquitoes away was to puff away on a cigar while sipping Labbats 50!!!Fond memories of a misspent youth.
Mom owl
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Yellow Warbler
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Libellula quadrimaculata
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Buck
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bugs
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2010 10:02am
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After more than 200% of normal rainfall for this spring we were finally able to drive to our yard site and spend the weekend working, wandering about the grounds and just relaxing.
We got our porch done.... or almost done. Still a few bits and pieces to finish off. Like so many on the forum we immediately gravitated to it. Chairs popped up and we enjoyed coffee and meals in it. It has already increased our living space substantially. Although not bug proof the large screen walls significantly reduce the wind. By sliding them back and forth we can easily adjust the air flow.
So it is on to the next projects: gravel and solar and enjoying the place.
One pic below shows a view to the west and some hills about 5 miles away on the horizon. When these disappear we know we have just a few minutes to get everything under cover before we get the rain.
porch
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morning yard
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hills
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on guard duty
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bugs
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2010 10:06am - Edited by: bugs
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And what is a post from us without some wildlife pix.
The owlets are now out of the nest.
We just caught a glimpse of the piebald. The mom was near by and not at all pleased.
owl chick
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piebald
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damselfly
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wood borer
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bugs
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2010 10:11am - Edited by: bugs
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And some pretty flowers.
So far we have only found one small patch, maybe ten square meters, of the striped coralroot orchid on the property. Gorgeous blooms. The flower spike is only about 6 inches high
In the second image the purple flower in about 5 mm in diameter.
striped coralroot
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flower 01
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flower 02
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white violet
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bugs
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2010 10:29am
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And I came across a clearwing moth acting like a humming bird. Neat to watch.
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 14 Jun 2010 11:40am
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Wow Bugs! I bet porch does make a huge difference in terms of living space as well as increasing the outdoor experience. It looks really well done as well, it doesn't seem like you cheaped out at all.
Love the flower pics as well.. we cut our grass for the first time 2 weeks ago, I felt kinda bad about mowing down some wildflowers but I made sure to leave some un-mowed patches as well. If I plan ahead a bit more I think I could leave more meadows.
Anyhow very nice!
R&R
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bugs
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2010 01:03pm
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As can be seen from the pix we got some gravel... Sort of. Our supplier was able to dump about 20 yards (80 yards left to go) at the approach between rain storms. The semi left 18 inch deep ruts in the approach that filled with water from the rains we had the past week. So when we arrived on the weekend we left the truck on the road and packed our tools etc to the yard site.
Our neighbour spotted the truck parked on the road and rode his atv into see us and check out the pasture we are letting him use. He suggested he could bring his bobcat skid steer down and spread some of the gravel for us so we could get the truck in. Do appreciate good neighbours! Although I think he enjoyed the recreational "bobcatting".
So we were able to spend the night at the shed and now we have all weather (?) access to our place. One year ago the cat bulldozed the driveway into our yard site. We feel we have come a long way since then.
With all the wet weather the trees that were pushed down last year to make our driveway are sprouting some interesting fungi. The mushroom below is about 7 inches across.
We again found the owl chicks. They are starting to look very much like mature owls.
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bugs
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2010 01:10pm - Edited by: bugs
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A couple more pix.
We put a bird box just out side the privy door. It is now occupied by a family of wrens. Adds to the enjoyment of visiting the outhouse.
We were able to watch the life death struggle of this little 6 inch garter snake trying to devour a tree frog. The frog expanded itself by gulping air and after about five minutes the snake finally released the frog and went off in search of smaller prey.
The salt lick we made for the animals attracts these little blue butterflies.
We spent about 40 minutes after breakfast watching an elk with her calf on the opposite shore of the pond. Really enjoyable to see them although they were too far away to get a good pic.
wren
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snake and frog
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blue butterfly
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2010 03:20pm
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Amazing... makes you want to take an edible mushroom identification class. Being an underdog I think I would cheer for the frog. Its always special to find things that are coloured blue out in nature since it is rare.
I think that your neighbors are a huge resource out in the country, especially ones that own bobcats.
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avan
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# Posted: 22 Jun 2010 03:25pm
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superb site, superb story, It's like reading a diary, a passionate one. You have a dreaming piece of land, you call it waste hum! not waste for everyone. Keep continue. Thanks
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avan
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# Posted: 22 Jun 2010 03:27pm
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PS I'm jalous of your great horned. three years we find the nest, but no chick.
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hattie
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# Posted: 23 Jun 2010 02:57pm
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Beautiful cabin, bugs...and I love this thread. avan got it right - "it's like reading a diary"...Keep it up. I especially love the front porch on your place. Amazing! Do you have inside pics? I'm jealous of the owl too.
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2010 03:28pm
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Bugs, we saw one of those hummingbird moths (aka clearwing) as well and were absolutely fascinated. Thank you so much for posting that photo and the correct name to look it up. We were totally mystified.
R&R
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bugs
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:04pm
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This last weekend we hauled out our fridge and solar setup.
It was quite something to have cold beer (+4C) after a hard day's work. The fridge/cooler is an absorption type and works on ac, dc or propane. We have it in a ventilated cabinet on the porch working on propane. It took about 3 hours to get from ambient 23C to 4C without any real help from cold or frozen items.
We modified our porch a bit. We found a storm door that we added to the porch wall so there is a bit more protection for the cabinet that houses the cooler and also will be nicer for cooking.
The solar system (one 130 W Solar Panel Array, two 2.7 kWh Maintenance Free Batteries, 1800 W Inverter / Charger, 30 A Charge controller with meters. Rating: output (kWh/year): 167 or (kWh/day): 0.5) was a plug and play setup. We it bought locally. The people provided the various components already wired together on a board and all the wiring and good instructions for attaching things. Only had a couple of real sparks and metaphorical sparks over the set up with the lady wife. We are still married! The backless cabinet below the solar board contains the two sealed batteries and has room for a third if we want. We have to build a 45-degree support for the solar panel as it is mounted flush on the porch roof right now and that is not the most efficient angle for our latitude.
It looks like we will only need a 25 watt = LED bulb to sufficiently light the whole shed and another pot type LED light to read by. We ran a cord through the wall so we can have a light in the porch and/or run an extension cord to the pergola. And we can now charge up the netbook and watch dvd's with stereo speakers.
Our little shed has entered the 20 century.
By the way thanks to all those who posted on the forum re solar setups. It sure helped me become informed about the practicalities of sizing and the lingo used.
Glad some are enjoying my blathering on. Thanks R&R, Avan, Hattie and others. I enjoy reading other people's experiences with this process we are all undertaking too.
Hattie as you can imagine with only 77 square feet (no loft) the interior is not very posh. But it is better than a 1.5 person tent. We essentially just have a shelving unit to store various things. The homemade pull out bed. A tiny two person dining table and now the small cabinet to hold the batteries. Very cozy but comfortable. The new porch is really enjoyable.
cooler/fridge
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solar board
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shelf unit
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homemade bed
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bugs
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:16pm
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Glad you saw a clearwing R&R. They are sure neat to watch. I always have to take a second to realize it is not a hummingbird.
As per our usual posts here are some pix of the "people" we share our (their?) property with.
We came across this pair of Canada geese moving the gosslings from the small beaver pond to the large main pond. The parents kept their necks extended and did not move so they looked like logs or rocks. None of them made a sound. We kept our distance so they would not be too stressed.
Lunch time.... You can never trust your cousins! This dragonfly caught the damselfly and was thoroughly enjoying its repast. By the time I finished photographing it the dragonfly and munched down most of the thorax of the damselfy.
goose family
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lunch time
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butterfly
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scolding
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bugs
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2010 01:20pm
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This moth is the adult of the caterpillars that defoliated all our aspens. This past week the air was full of them.
Some blue for R. The tree swallows were trying to call their chicks out of the nest. Spent a very enjoyable hour or so with a beverage of choice on the porch watching them swooping and calling.
Aspen tortrix moth
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tree swallow
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wild rose
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skipper
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avan
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2010 04:43pm
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what is the brand of the fridge? size in liter? where do you put your 20lbs tank? special cable? I'm looking for something similar that Sail outdoor sport have to sale . Any good and bad? thanks!
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bugs
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2010 05:02pm - Edited by: bugs
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Hi Avan
We got the cooler/fridge from Canadian Tire. Here is the link:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp;jsessionid=MpLVhmJm10KtBTZysTyG2 kSbJp9W226Qn4GpJs2CP6rfRPhMCXHY!-1277341145?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443303798&bmUID =1277758325726
If the link didn't come through the cooler is a 40 litre Mobicool. I tested it on ac and propane at home and it worked quite well. An adapter/regulator that you can get at Canadian Tire hooks it to a normal barbecue tank.
If you notice the image below we left a 12 inch ledge on each side of the porch (adds sitting area and I hate cutting things as you might have noted in my previous building posts). We ran the hose through the gap between the porch and the shed wall and have the tank sitting on the ledge. The cooler itself produces a fair amount of heat when using propane with the flame etc so it has to be well vented. The back of the cabinet we have it in is all wire meshed insect screen and the top of the cabinet is raised up to allow the heat to escape.
So far after just one outing we are very pleased. The proof will be in whether the lady wife gets ice cubes for her gin and tonic next time we are out!!!
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avan
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2010 07:15pm
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Thanks a lot, I watch at CT before but dont find it. The link told me "my" Canadian TIre have it in stock.
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2010 12:20pm
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Absolutely amazing again Bugs, and thanks for the blue tree swallow photo. You must have been working tirelessly lately getting all this done. Just in time to enjoy it the rest of the summer I guess. Ice cubes for drinks, eh? what luxury!
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bugs
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# Posted: 13 Jul 2010 06:04pm
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We have been able to sneak away to the shed for the last two weekends. It is great not to have anything to do other than lounge about after the many weeks of work. Now our decisions are: Where to stroll to? When is it coffee time? G&T time? and Nap time? And is it possible to combine the latter three? (By the way, the lady wife was able to have ice in her G&T. A great moment for us to make ice at the shed.)
Our only work last week was hanging some window coverings so the sun does not get in our eyes when napping or sleeping in. We chose the "Grad Studentesque" décor using T-shirts that we have collected over the years from travels and mementos of our special interests.
The main pond we have is going through a bluegreen algae/cyanobacteria (Aphanizomenon sp) bloom. The water appears full of small grass clippings. Under the microscope the filaments (trichomes) of the algae can be seen sliding on each other. The larger long rectangular cell at the top of the inset is an akinete that will overwinter. This may be one reason why there are no fish of any kind in the pond as when the bloom dies toxins and low oxygen levels result. On the other hand this could be a missed opportunity for us as Aphanizomenon is harvested and used in the health food industry.
Drumheller-Halifax Bomber
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London-Quebec
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Rolling Stones-Bugs
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Aphanizomenon
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bugs
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jul 2010 06:07pm - Edited by: bugs
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The pix below were taken while we were having breakfast. We enjoyed watching the heron hunting and sunning itself on the beaver lodge. The mourning doves were picking up gravel and bugs from beside the shed. Note the loss of toe nails on it. The young sapsucker was doing what we were doing: basking in the morning sun. And the bunny was enjoying the new seeded grass down the driveway.
Great blue heron
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mourning dove
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young sapsucker
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bunny
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bugs
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# Posted: 13 Jul 2010 06:11pm
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We canoed to the cropland and spent the morning walking around that area and taking pix. Because of all the rainfall it is likely the land will not be seeded this year so it will be full of weeds errr wildflowers and whatever can gain a foothold. We have a large population of chipmunks and the "kids" are out running around and chasing through the trees. We also have a good population of Baltimore Orioles to listen to and watch.
clover and foxtail
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deer
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young chipmunks
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oriole
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