Did Some Things

After complaining about minor problems, I meant to list things I managed to do anyway.  OK, I'm a couple days late...

1.  I have 2 birdfeeders.  One is thistle seed for the goldfinches.  Actually 2 feeders there on a movable pipe stand.  Those are easy to refill.  I buy thistle seed in 50# bags and store them in gallon plastic jugs for easy refill.

2.  The other is the black oil sunflower seed feeder for the cardinals, jays, titmouses etc etc.  That one takes the 8' stepladder to refill and is awkward even then.  The stepladder was in the far backyard where I was repairing the garden enclosure chicken wire crushed by heavy snow 2 years ago. 

I dragged it to the sunflower feeder liming all the way.  It could have been worse.  I might have had to just drag it.  But I got it set up.  I had the bucket of sunflower seeds at hand and dumped them in.  And I refilled the 2 suet cages.  I can already see that the birds are appreciating both.

3.  Indoors, from outside, my tray plantings of lettuces and carrots and celery were a mess and there were aphids.  I clipped off what was useful of the lettuce and sprayed the carrots with an organic soap.  Took a week to eliminate them.  They don't seem to like celery.  

4.  I have a 2' x 4' plastic box I mix new soils in.  But this time, I dumped the empty trays of freeze-killed lettuce in.  Watered them slightly and pulled all old roots and a few weeds out.  Mixed in some organic fertilizer and refilled them.  Re-planted them.  Seedlings are emerging now.  Hurray.

5.  But that meant they needed light.  I turned on the light stand power and timer and discovered half the bulbs were burned out.  The lowest ones, of course.  It is really hard to get down on my knees to do bulb replacement.  I spilled a bowl of thistle seeds indented to the pollinator garden and had to sweep it it all back into the bowl.  More bending at the knees...

6.  I got the light stand lights replaced so all are working.  I buy them by the case.  If you want to know, 2500 lumens and 5000K is the best combination for seedling growth.  Since they are on 14 hours per day, they only last a year though.

7.  So, after the lights were working, I had to replant some trays.  And because the trays can overflow with watering and the are electric lights below, I had to get trays under them to catch extra water.   And I have to match trays and emerging seedling to height.  You want the seedlings to stay close to the lights.

8.  So I had to move trays around according to their height.  Lifting objects above my shoulder is literally a "pain".  But it had to be done and I did.  Ouch and all that...

9.  I dragged 2 trash barrels of mown leaves to the compost bin.  The previously composted material had dropped 8" so there was room for more.  Carrying them there was "left foot forward, then right foot forward".  Repeat for 100'...

10.  I collected fallen branches, slowly.  I cut them apart with the bowsaw.  I have enough for a small fireplace fire when I want one.  I had thought to do it New Years Eve, but I was too tired then.  

11.  I did some shopping at Walmart.  For whatever reason, they sell Fancy Food real cheap.  While I was looking for the varieties The Mews like, 2 ladies were also there.  One commented on my cat mask and asked about what I knew about getting their cats to eat.

I mentioned that sprinkling a few kibbles on the top got their hunger activated.  Also that dipping a fingertip in the canned stuff and rubbing it on their nose made them lick it and activated eating.  They were thrilled at the advice.  

12.  I repaired the vacuum cleaner.  Had to take it mostly apart at the bottom, but found the input chute was clogged.  That was a real pain to clear but I finally managed it.  Works great again now.  So I suppose I will have to clean the whole house now.