BACK TO WORK

Cloudy and cooler. Smoke in the canyon.

What a pleasant mid-summer day! A coolish breeze wafts through the open windows and occasionally we have a few drops of rain. It’s a wonderful respite from the oppressive heat of triple-digit days and warm nights. But – looking at the forecast, summer isn’t over yet. We will have more hot days.

Mike’s excellent Canadian adventure and my staycation with Bess have closed and it’s on to the next activities. We came back to the farm yesterday (Tuesday, Aug. 9).

Old agitator is TP holder

The Great Rodent War seemed to be on hold. We had no gopher activity in the yard this summer – at least, not that we can see. I’m sure they’re running through their vast underground network of tunnels and just haven’t needed to excavate. And we haven’t seen mouse sign in the house either – until this last absence, that is. I use an antique hand agitator to hold extra rolls of toilet paper in the downstairs bathroom, and I congratulated myself for finding a clever use for a museum artifact, but over the weekend, a mouse (or mice) ripped away at that paper. I was disgusted!! Undoubtedly they used it for nest fodder, but the question is, where. I checked the under-the-stairs closet across the hall but didn’t see activity. We set traps next to the agitator last night but caught nothing. Obviously, it’s time to be vigilant again.

Use or toss?

So – would you use or toss that TP? I pulled off the worst of it and added it to the compost bin.

Mike spent several hours Tuesday afternoon repairing the lawnmower. Unfortunately, he clipped a small but sturdy little tree at the pond a couple of weeks ago, and that broke the steering gear. The new part came while he was gone and is now installed.

Next up was the dishwasher repair, which I had diagnosed as a broken latch. Mike determined that he needed a “star” bit, so he hopped on his XT and headed down the grade to Builder’s Supply on Riverside to get the needful. He especially enjoyed the trip back up the grade, he said.

The dishwasher was full, so I washed the dishes by hand in preparation for the repair work. Didn’t hurt me a bit, but we expect family next week, and we would prefer not to spend our time washing dishes any more than necessary.

Long story short on the DW repair, my diagnosis was wrong and it was actually a simple fix, but naturally, we didn’t figure that out until Mike had taken the door apart. The unit had slipped under the counter so that the door wasn’t meeting up with the latch. Well, at least we didn’t have to hunt for a new latch or worse, a new dishwasher. It’s all back together now and running. It’s noisy, but today it’s music to my ears.

“When the bees come, the hummingbirds leave,” said sister Harriet, but I’ve found it’s not necessarily so. The hummingbirds are wary of the yellowjackets that also frequent our feeders, but they are still here and enjoying our nectar. KW