Pollinator Garden

When we arrived at the fish hatchery in mid-May the staff had a list of projects for us to tackle.  We like that!  We like to get organized and plan for the months ahead.

One of our projects was to put in a pollinator garden.  Even though “creating a pollinator garden” was on our original list of projects, there wasn’t a lot of helpful information such as size, types of plants, where exactly to put the garden, etc.  So, this project was talked about and discussed for a few weeks which put us into late June before we started it.

After all the basic questions were answered, the first step was to mark the boundaries.

We were not going to use weed mat under the plants because there are certain types of bees that burrow into the soil.  So, killing all the grass was necessary.

We probably picked the hottest day of the year to dig out all the dead grass.

We were told we had about a $350 budget that was money left over from the disbanded Friends group.  We found these beautiful quartz cobblestones at the local hardware store.  They cost almost half of our budget, but they are so pretty I really wanted to get them.  Mark did a great job getting them even.

We got out most of the dead grass and roots and raked it smooth.

Next up – and the fun part - buying the plants.  We went to a local garden center, grabbed a wagon and spent about 2 hours walking around to see what plants had the most bees on them.  Those were the plants we bought!

We did great purchasing enough perennials to fill the new bed.  We set them all out and started digging holes.

Everything got a good watering.

It looks great!  A heavy layer of mulch was added to keep the weeds out and moisture in.

It looks so good the staff wants 2-5 more identical beds.  A gift card was given to us by the Friends group of another fish hatchery.  Bed #2 is started.  I don’t know if we will have time this year to complete #2.  Beds 3-6 will be something to look forward to next year.

After a month the garden has really filled in.

We'll have our work cut out for us next year if we put in 4 more beds!

Teri

We Could Make A Horror Movie

Do you see it?

How about now?

We came back from a 4 day trip and Mark just happened to look up at the outside refrigerator vent. There looked to be a hornets nest taking over the RV!

This was a very busy nest. Lots of hornets going in and out. Mark sprayed it for a couple of days but we weren't seeing much less activity. Finally late one evening he pulled the nest off the outside of the RV. He was pretty sure there was a lot more inside the vent. After more hornet spray and seeing very little activity, it was time to take the vent off to see what nightmare was inside.

We don't know how long this nests had been in the works but it was big!

We've seen these kinds of nests before. The paper housing on the outside hides the hive inside.

Everything is cleaned up and back to normal. No hornets ever got inside of the RV.

The Fundy Rose

The next day we had to head back home. Mark had been reading about the MV Fundy Rose Ferry. It leaves Digby, Nova Scotia and arrives at St. John, New Brunswick. It would save us about 5 hours driving and looked like a very relaxing, enjoyable ride so we decided to take it.

Mark's ticket was $48. I got the senior discount so my ticket was $38. The truck costs $116.

We were told to arrive one hour before departure. We got to see the ferry coming in from St. John and unloading.

 Incoming ferry.

 Dropping the gangplank.

We loaded on time. The boat was full.

 Waiting for our turn to load up.

 Lined up and ready.

Finally, it's our turn.

Plenty of help to get us parked.

We had a beautiful day!

We walked all over the ship and sat outside before heading in for lunch.

 Movie room.

 Plenty of room to sit outside.

One of three snack bars.

The ride was very enjoyable and took a little over two hours. It wasn't long before we were docking in St. John, New Brunswick.

 Starting to see the dock.

 We have to turn the corner.

 Getting very close to the dock.

Everything looks very small from this high up!

We were not allowed to stay in the truck while the boat was moving. We were the first row off the ferry.

Waiting our turn.

We headed to the border.

 Leaving the boat.

 Welcome to St. John.

Almost back in the good 'ol USA!

The ferry ride was a lot of fun - certainly magnet worthy!

The end to a wonderful birthday.