Something Isn't Right

After last weekends raid on the garden I put up an excessively complicated electric fence. We had a few days of quiet. Then this morning, aaaaaaaah my last Cherokee purple tomato is gone. It was just starting to get ripe and had to weigh 2 lbs. There was no sign of the tomato anywhere in the yard. The electric fence is still up and hasn't been tampered with. I am thinking we are dealing with something slightly worse than just rodents. There really is only two possible culprits 1) super intelligent mutant squirrels or 2) zombie squirrels with a taste for tomatoes. These things exist, they have to, I found lots of pictures on the internet. 

 or possibly a chipmunk with giant tomato-sized cheeks.

Maybe the deported rabbit is back for revenge?

or something more sinister?

I haven't seen any, but high IQ mutant zombie groundhogs aren't out of the question.

Either way, the war is on. I feel sorry for anything that wanders into the garden. I may have to call in air support for this campain. 

I would tell you specifics, but I'm not sure that my enemy doesn't have the internet.

Anti-Harvest Monday

No harvest this monday. Last night these words came out of my mouth, "We have more tomatoes on the vine right now than we have ever had. We will have huge Cherokee Purples by the end of the week." Famous last words. This morning we went out to the garden to see destruction. Something took every last ripe or partially ripe tomato. The Cherokee Purples were huge and there was no sign of them. That leaves out squirrels, chipmunks, or rabbits. Best I can tell this was something slightly larger. We haven't seen any raccoons in a while, but something with fingers did this. I am leaning towards coons or possums.

Anyway, that was the last straw. Today I installed an electric fence. It bites well enough to deter me so hopefully this is the last time we loose anything from the garden by anything larger than bugs or robins eating worms. 

As for the garden update. We will have tomatoes again in a week. Cucumbers are probably a week away too. We are still eating romaine lettuce. Garlic is finish and can be pulled whenever.

Shastoration Sunday

It was a big, hot weekend of work on the trailer. Saturday afternoon I managed to finish putting the plywood on the second wall. Today we got the wall in place and,

got a least a few supports in. We need to get the front and back window supports, back support for the solar panels, and supports for the vent installed yet. The plan is to get the cabinets, closet, and benches installed before entirely closing it in. 

Hey, at least we got to a point where people will stop asking "what's is going to be?"

StudioBuild Office Organizer

Our second bedroom is our office but the organization has never been great. Some papers in the closet, some in the dresser. With the new baby on the way I figure we will need the closet and dresser storage for other things. So, I drew up an idea for a small organizer to fit under our desk and gave it to the guys at studiobuild. A couple weeks later we are in business.

Hey something new.

It is mounted on wheels and has drawers in the front and pull out hanging file holders in the back. 

Pretty neat.

Shastoration Sunday

So far summer has been very busy with work, parties, and weddings. Having the trailer stored elsewhere is nice because it gives us space to work. However, it is easy to ignore, out of site, out of mind is true. This weekend we finished construction on the wall framing, finally.

After going back and forth on assembly order, we decided to install the interior before the aluminum skin. I fit 1/4 inch plywood to the frame and attached it with rivets. The interior will be white so the rather pinkish plywood won't matter. 

I think the three partial plywood sheets doubled the weight of this wall. 

We can hopefully get the other wall finished this week and get them installed next weekend. 

Tiki Time Already

If Memorial Day didn't do it, the annual Tiki party officially welcomes summer. This year the weather was perfect. We had a good turnout of about 40 people but everyone is getting old, or maybe it's just an off year. The party ended pretty early and was quiet. Must be all the new babies. And like usual I don't get around to taking any decent pictures. Here you can kind of make it out, people, beer, food. A good time was had by all.

Hey, look at all those tomatoes. We have gotten 5 cherry tomatoes so far. I am pretty sure that eclipses last year's total garden production.

Three swallowtail butterfly caterpillars have taken up residence on the dill. It needed a trimming anyway.

Oh boy, the cucumbers are blooming. I can almost taste the pickles.