the old yellow recycle bin...
is full of cat beds to be washed...
the kitty litter containers...
are actually where they belong and they are full...
but they are hiding the furnace vents...
so they need to be moved...
the pots need to be emptied of leaves...
sorted and stored...
the various refuse bags, ditto...
as well as the paint, plant food, etc...
the remaining cat food may still be OK...
but I'll check it before storing it...
[it's been there a while...]
and of course...there are leaves to remove...
just to the left of my back door, next to the oak tree...
there is a giant pile of junk...
large storage bins of bird seed...
a pile of good furnace filters that belong in the basement...
numerous containers, painting supplies...
gardening supplies, old cat bedding...
several winter "furniture covers"...
and an old silver tarp, hiding my garden cart...
I decreased the pile to the right somewhat...
but all it's leaves and sorting the cart will have to wait...
to the left, however, I was more successful...
as you can plainly see...
I merely "added" to the leaf mega pile...
since they didn't pick up my green waste until quite late...
and by then, I was tired...
so I'll bag leaves "tomorrow"...
the first thing I did today...
was to put a new rolling tray under my weeping Japanese Maple...
the old one was wood and had fallen apart...
causing water to run out without soaking in...
creating stress and causing some "brown back"...
I love the sculptural look of this tree...
especially in winter, when the leaves are gone...
so I think it will be happier now that I've attended to it...
cut off the dead tips and put on a new tray...
while raking leaves from the Japanese maple's area...
I noticed this, growing in an old Boston fern...
I'm sure it is from the Valley oak overhead...
but it reminds me of another small oak I found 20 years ago...
growing here...
in the crack between the concrete and the railroad tie border...
I asked a workman to cut away part of the tie with his Saws All...
to allow the tiny seedling to grow...
and 20 years later...
we have this... a volunteer Valley oak...
the parent of the one in my fern, I'm sure...
I planted the Pin oak...
and allowed this Valley oak to grow...
somehow, I find it all very satisfying...
in a "circle of life" kind of way...
a couple of days ago...in my on-going "critter war"...
I dumped almost an entire container of "critter repellent"...
down into the space between the inner and outer walls...
below the old electrical panel box area...
when the electrician removed the old electrical meter...
it left a large hole in the outer door...
he promised that he would "close it off"...
but as you can see... he "forgot"...
mice, rats & baby possums have made an awful racket...
using it as their winter lair...
and I've had enough...so I've come up with a plan...
not wanting to use poison...
[I bear them no ill will...
nor do I want to take the chance on poisoning a cat...]
I first moved the trellises that helped provide access...
this cut the noise & activity level, greatly...
then I decided to dose the space...really GOOD...
with the repellent I know works...
the next step is to fashion a cover for the hole in the door....
here you see my 1st attempt, "setting up"...
I sawed several pieces of wood veneer laminate...
glued 2 together at the edge...clamped it...
and glued a 3rd piece as a support for the seam...
of course...3 of 4 places could be clamped...
the 4th has a pot full of dirt on it...
as a weight while it "sets up"...
[Norm on "This Old House" would be proud...
too bad I didn't have a "biscuit tool" like he would have used...]
tomorrow...I'll "attempt" to patch the hole...
stay tuned...for more "Adventures in Home Maintenance"
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