My friend Walt had said that he keeps them from getting inside by using cayenne and chili pepper; I didn't have any cayenne, but I have a jar full of chili pepper. I sprinkled it along both terrace doors, and so hopefully that will keep them out.
The hummingbird feeder was a bit trickier; I did some research online and the consensus was that the two things that work best are to tie bay leaves around the feeder (ants apparently don't like them) and to hang it from a monofilament line as they can't crawl down it. I knew I had bay leaves, but I wasn't sure about the monofilament. Then I remembered I had some still attached to something I used to have hanging at one point in my old apartment.
So after scrubbing the feeder clean with hot and soapy water and rinsing it thoroughly (there must have been about 25 ants that came pouring out of the little plastic flower reservoirs), I taped bay leaves to the top, as well as on the hook that holds the feeder, and then hung it back up with the monofilament. Hopefully that will keep them away. I have to keep Lord Edward fed, after all!
"Edward" is the name I bequeathed to the little ruby-throated hummingbird who lives nearby. He and his partner like to chirp back and forth to each other, and Edward is extremely vocal. He'll sit the cherry tree and sing, then the locust, then the maple -- making quite certain that we understand those are unquestionably his trees. I think most of his energy goes into that.
It's funny to watch -- he holds his little head up, beak extended towards the sky, fluff of bright red, shiny feathers all poofed out at his throat, giving him the austere, regal air. He also looks like he has a little red goatee.
I awoke this morning to his singing (he's that loud!) at dawn, and I have to say, it's really nice to lie in bed and listen to my windchimes and the birds through my terrace door. I have lots of different birds over on this side; my old unit overlooked a shadier area with denser trees -- and so I saw a lot more squirrells, robins, mourning doves and about eight billion different kinds of finches.
OK, that was an exaggeration. It was really more like 6.2 billion.
I finally got everything pretty much put away this weekend. I can't wait for the storage unit to open up in the building; I did manage to get everything tucked away pretty well, but at a loss of getting to things easily. In many places I have to move three things to get to one, or at least shift things around before I can get to it. The flattened boxes are behind my shoe racks and under my bed; I don't mind them behind the shoe racks so much, but I don't like having them under my bed. They catch dust and spiders too easily, and I keep bumping my toes on them when I make my bed. I half-considered taking my name off the list for a unit to save money, but I honestly don't like being that crammed in / Tetrisified.
I do have to refine the Sterilite drawers and other places, but that can wait. I'm sick of organizing and unpacking and toe-stubbing and thinking I have stuff put away, only to discover there's something still sitting on my coffee table that goes in the box. Or that I've finished for the day with my tool box and I find something else I need to hang up.
One necessary thing I did get this weekend was a bamboo screen for one end of my terrace; the afternoon sun shines right down on my bedroom end of the terrace and, thus, right into my bedroom making it hot. Closing the bedroom curtains made it feel too stuffy. So I went to Fred's and picked one up (nice surprise, too -- it was on sale! I didn't even know that until I got to the checkout stand). I may have to get one or two more next year; I don't know. I was going to wait for this one, but given we're due for mid-70- to-mid-80 degree weather for several days, and our summers can bleed long into October, I figured it was necessary.
I did promise pictures, so here they are:
Terrace viewed from the lving room end. You can't quite see the wall, but on the wall to the left, on the other side of the wicker shelves, there's enough room, I think, to put in a free-standing water fountain like the kind my dad has -- it leans against the wall. There's a plug just to the right of the bedroom terrace door, making it easy to plug in.
Terrace viewed from the bedroom end.
View of the pool from my terrace.
Bedroom.
Living room.
Dining area.
Terrace viewed from the parking lot.
So there you have it. Next year the terrace will be even prettier with geraniums; the light will allow for better growing, and I think the bedroom end of my terrace gets the kind of sun where I can plant at least some tomato and sugar snap pea vines, maybe a few other things. Mmm...!
Linda, my old neighbor who works on the garden I had below me came over and offered a plant to me; I said I'd wait until next spring. She also offered her tree pruning saw so that I can get rid of a bunch of dead branches on the locust tree. I think I'll wait to borrow that so that my friend Rory can help by standing below and catching what falls (the branches I want to get rid of are all about the size of my thumb and index finger) so that they don't land on the cars below.
It's a lovely view out there on the terrace. I finally started a neat book Hanne (Andrew's girlfriend) gave me for my birthday called The Omnivore's Dilemma. Good read. But with the sunshine, a Rogue Dead Guy Ale (one of the best brews out there in my opinion, tied with Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA, for sipping on a warm summer afternoon), and finally getting to relax I got too sleepy to read much. It was a nice feeling.
I'm so flippin' tired. It was a long push to get all unpacked and organized last week and this weekend, and I'm still kind of sleeping strangely and restlessly, but that will pass. I'll be right as rain before too long; hopefully before it begins falling so I can really enjoy this lovely weather we're having.
Later, all.
-- H
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