The weather is nice for the moment, but it’s supposed to get colder and maybe snow in the next few days. So while the temperature was in the 40’s, I took the opportunity to do a few things outside. I pulled out the tiller again, and once I got it started, I ran it over the raised bed garden again. The dirt is looking nice and black!
Then I emptied the paper shredder into the compost bin. Using my digging fork, I turned one of the bins into another bin that had stuff already in it. Now I have one really full bin, and one empty bin, and one bin that has just a little stuff left in it. In a week or two, I will turn the full bin into one of the other bins.
Then I got out the rake. I raked the grass in the area near our wood pile. There was a bunch of small peices of bark, and wood debris all over the grass. Once I raked it into a small pile, I scooped it up, and dumped it down the hill into the woods behind our house (still part of our 1.6 acre property).
I also raked up the leaves that had blown into and got trapped in a corner area next to our garage. I dumped some of these down the hill, and some of them into the compost bin.
I am looking forward to warmer weather so I can plant my garden! I want to plant some tomatoes, lettuce, beans, and maybe peas. Maybe also some cucumbers. And whatever else strikes my fancy. I can really fit a lot into that 4 foot by 12 foot raised bed garden.
Our house is in the woods. So every year we deal with a variety of pests. One of the mot consistant pests are ants. We get a variety of ants. Everything from these tiny little ants that come streaming in to carpenter ants.
The most persistent of the ants are the little tiny ants, that I see streaming into the house. I see lines of them going up and down the foundation and under the trim. At times I have found up to three separate lines of them entering the house. I have tried a bunch of different baits. Most of the baits, they simply walk around. The one bait that I have used that I actually see them line up to eat is called Terro Liquid Ant Baits. The Terro Liquid Ant Bait stations contain this thick syrup stuff. The main ingredient is boric acid. The ants supposedly take some of it back to the nest, and feed it to the other ants, and the queen, and they all die. So I set one of the bait stations outside right next to where I see the ants entering the house. It has worked often. I usually see the number of ants diminish slowly. They start moving slower and slower over the next few days. Then sometimes the line disappears completely for a while. But I never get rid of them completely. The little ants always to seem to come back. Maybe different nests find my house.
The liquid bait has worked for other types of ants as well. I usually don’t see the little black ants inside my house. I am not sure where they go. Maybe they live in the walls? But when I see ants inside the house, they are usually big black ants. Have seen occasional carpenter ants too. The big black ants usually show up inside our kitchen cupboards. I set one of the liquid bait trays in there, and they disappear.
Today at work, I met a pest control guy. I was talking to him while he was setting an ant trap. I mentioned my bucket mouse trap. He liked it! I mentioned about the ants, and he was telling me about how different ants like different things. He gave me a couple ant bait stations. Something called Dual Choice. Apparently it has two types of bait in there. Both a sweet bait and a protein bait. So I will save them and try them out this year when I start seeing ants.
I have been wanting to replace a couple of the burner elements on our stove top (model # 911.9382192). They are both 8 inch burners. The one is bent just a little bit. The other’s contacts where it plugs in, don’t alway get a goof conection. So you have to wiggle the pot around sometimes for it to work. The stove is a Kenmore. So I went down to Sears last night to see about getting replacements. I was also interested in getting new reflector bowls. I talked to a salesman and was told they didn’t have the parts. What? I could see them not having the burners, but not having the bowls? I can buy generic bowls at the grocery store, and Sears doesn’t even carry them, and they sell the whole stoves? I asked where the parts department was so I could order them. He said they didn’t have a parts department. I asked if I could order the burners at customer service, and he said no. I thanked him for wasting my time.
When I got home. I went to the Sears website, and found the part ridiculously high priced. For the 4 burners, and reflector bowls, it would be over $250. Crap! For that, I would buy a whole new stove! I did get the model numbers: 8″ SURFACE ELEMENT:WB30X0255, 6″ SURFACE ELEMENT:WB30X0256, 8″ BURNER BOWL:WB31K5041, 6″ BURNER BOWL:WB31K5040.
Doing a google search I found some alternate model #s: For the 8 inch bunrer, and I can also use MP26YA, 660533, or WB30X255. For the 6 inch burner I can also use WB30X256.
But all is not lost! I really only need the two 8 inch burners, and maybe replace the 8 inch bowls too. I looked around online, and found I can get the parts cheaper. The cheapest place I found was on eBay. I found an expired auction where the guy was selling five of the 8 inch burners for $15 plus shipping. Heck, I could keep two, and sell the other three. But that auction was expired. There are a couple still listed, the cheapest for $25. I will just keep watching. The stove burners we have now, work, so will wait for a good deal.
We have a bird feeder, and we get a variety of birds…and squirrels. The bird feeder is squirrel resistent. I have yet to see a feeder that is truly squirrel proof. They are ingenious little buggers. Anyway, my wife thought it would be nice to stick up some suet feeders. We have put one up before, and it sort of melted untouched. We decided to hang these under our deck in the shade. Great! They didn’t melt, and we got some birds down on them. The woodpeckers really liked the one kind of suet we bought.
My noticed the the squirrels were starting to go after it. So it moved the suet feeders a little farther away from the posts that the squirrels were hanging on.
Then the other day my wife calls me at work to tell me one of the suet feeders was gone. She looked around for it, but it was just gone. It was too heavy for the birds to have knocked down. We thought a squirrel might have knocked it down, but we thought it might be awkward for the squirrel to drag it off. We figured that they would just eat it where it fell. So we thought maybe a raccoon might have stolen it.
Well last night we were woken up three times by the dog barking at something in the back yard. The first time, we told her to quiet down. The second time, I got a flashlight and was shining it out the windows. I didn’t see anything though. The third time my wife flipped on the 500 watt flood light and spotted the thief! A raccoon coming to steal the second. She ended up taking the suet feeder down, and bringing inside so we could get some sleep. Not sure what we will do. If we put it back up, the raccoon will likely come back.
Last night the toilet got clogged. Not sure how. I got home, and it was clogged. Maybe my wife did it? Maybe I did it? I am pretty sure the dog didn’t do it. Anyway, I used the plunger, and it got it to drain. My said she had tried plunging it, but couldn’t get it to drain. I unclogged it….or so I thought. Tonight, I found it clogged again. Grumble! I used the plunger again, but it wasn’t clearing it. This is the old basic style of plunger (looking up some plungers, I think what we have is a sink plunger). I don’t think it was getting a good seal. I had thought last night about how we should get a newer, better style of plunger. I ran down to Home Depot, and bought one of the plungers that are corrugated. I also bought a auger type snake thing.
I used the new plunger. I don’t think it was getting a great seal, but it seemed to unclog the toilet. But just to be sure, and since I already bought it and wanted to play with it, I ran the auger down the toilet. I got maybe 5 feet of snake down the toilet. I cranked the thing around, then pulled it back up. The toilet seems to be clear now. So hopefully the problem is solved. If not, I will do it again.