The corn was ready to harvest and overnight it had become a meal for the critters. It took some detective work to find out what was behind the damage. Something caused a huge jump in the population of the local mice. In addition to invading the house they attacked the corn — only when it was ripe.
In early July the tile floor in the sunroom is installed. The base looks like sand when they bring it in, but hardens as it dries out.
A smaller contrasting tile will be used as a border around the larger ones that are being used for the majority of the floor.
The spacers are gone and the grout is in place between the tiles. Early morning sunshine gives the room a glow.
The horribly dirty carpet in the family room has been replaced with hardwood planks.
Slowly getting the furniture back in place after months of it being pushed to one side of the room. It seems so much larger now.
There were a lot of peaches. (Even after the birds had their share.) They should have been thinned more so there would be fewer but larger fruit.
By the beginning of June the finish carpenter had done his work and trimmed out the doors, windows and where possible put in the floor moldings. Then it was time for the painters to come through and when they left most of the place looked like it had always been that way.
Since they had to do the entire ceiling as well as several walls to make sure it looked right, we decided that the entire bedroom could benefit from a coat of paint. That meant that furniture had to be squished towards the center of the room.
Likewise the changes in the family room seem like they will be just fine eventually — when we can move furniture to more appropriate locations. (That will be a while longer yet as the carpet is going to be replaced.)
Once again the kitchen is usable. The holes in the ceiling for the fire system are not visible and the openings to the sunroom are starting to feel like they belong as well. Like the bedroom it needed the entire ceiling painted and most of the walls — so the little remaining was also painted.
Meanwhile, the stucco on the outside has been applied has been drying.
This is pluot Flavorosa. These managed to hide really well in the foliage of the tree and it wasn’t until this one dropped to the ground that I knew to look for more.
A few of the first carrots to be harvested this season.
carrots
“May Pride” peach section of the multiple peach tree was ready before I realized it. Many were overly ripe and bruised when I pulled them from the tree. There was also a large variety of berries.
The 2015 tomato plant has a few small tomatoes ripening. Next of it the acorn squash variety has an abundance of small acorns growing. Last year that one was almost a crop failure as the baby squash rotted instead of growing.
Two of the three tomato plants in the bed are huge while the third one is sickly. In between is a melon which so far, seems happy.
Another bed with two tomatoes that seem to be going well and a third not as vigorous. In some cases a variety which did really well the previous year is the one that is sickly this year.
The boysenberries are staring to get ripe now.
And the blackberries along the bottom fence are providing an ongoing harvest.
The nectarines and peaches continue to ripen although the one nectarine tree has lost most of its fruit after the birds feasted.
The”June Pride” section of the multiple peach tree is starting to get ripe. The trick will be to find the right time to pick for canning. Last year this was where the birds brunched. Apparently they prefer the fuzz-less nectarines over the peaches.
And yes, there was thinning done on this tree. It just needed at least twice as much done.
The four-in-one plum that now may be a two-in-one, is full of too many small plums. Another that hide the baby fruits until too late. This one may be a good tree to sort out next winter with serious pruning and then see if the scion exchange can provide replacements for the branches that died off.
This is one of the bench graft apples that appears to be happy in our climate.
