Apparently the Gopher Story is making the rounds as folks forward the link or print it out to show people. I didn’t think it was particularly epic. Clever, perhaps. Epic? No. But in reading this blog you occasionally get a gem like that post — followed by a hundred more bits [...]

EDMONTON (Starkware Press Service) - Residents of a south side neighborhood are relieved this morning at reports of a conclusion to the week-long standoff between homeowners and an unwelcome invader in the north-eastern corner of the small municipal territory. Authorities have confirmed that following a stalemate of failed negotiations for a peaceful settlement to the [...]

If you scroll back a couple days you may recall my excitement at setting up some vegetable garden test plots this summer. I was keen. I was ready. I even started building little wooden frames to mark off the zones.
Then IT arrived.
Just when I thought I had my rodent problem [...]

If you thought I was keeping a garden in my backyard because I love fresh summer produce you’d be only half right. At heart I’m really a big kid who loves to do science experiments, and a garden is nothing less than an outdoor biology lab with ongoing informal research on horticulture, entomology, and [...]

A year ago today the folks drove up from Red Deer to help with the frantic fencing bee. We spent a chilly morning and afternoon slathering green paint across a few hundred fence boards promptly followed by a lot of pounding nails that eventually led to the the bulk of the back and side [...]

Ah, another weekend in September gone and time for an update on the progress of summer projects. It has been, yes, a busy, busy summer. For those who read this regularly, it’s probably common knowledge that we’ve kept ourselves busy with little projects around the house. I reported earlier that the deck [...]

I was standing in line at the hardware store this morning, yet another pail of paint in my hand, and I got to thinking just how many projects I seem to have on the go at the moment:
1) There are still a few fence boards to tack on before winter arrives. I’m like 99% done. [...]

I keep meaning to post some photos of the garden these days. It’s become a grotesque, seething organism in and of itself, and I’m — well, I’m a little scared of it, frankly. When I do manage to muster the courage to step foot inside, it’s usually to check the progress of the [...]

In the spirit of the quickly fading summer, we ordered our shed package last week. Building it will be one of two last outdoor projects to accomplish before the weather turns cool and the insides of our house echo with the sounds of parenthood.
The shed package itself — an eight foot square, barn-style contraption [...]

I’ve been giving away lettuce by the bushel. And I don’t even really know what a bushel is.
Apparently the steroids I put in my garden soil this year kicked into high gear and suddenly I’m cursed with an abundance of leafy green foliage beyond the capacity of we simple folk to consume it in [...]

It’s war.
Of the two rows of peas I planted this spring, both have come up nicely — only to be all but obliterated by an unknown foe. Currently, there are roughly a half dozen plants that are still healthy. But, alas, something has chewed, chomped, and discarded most of the others.
What we know:
- [...]

It’s been a little more than a year since we had our little deck-building party and quickly constructed the platform out our back door. Last weekend, we decided we should do a bit more work on that project, and (after a series of trips to the hardware store for lumber and fasteners) I took [...]