Pest control

We got an invasion of bees the other day to our conservatory. We have no intention of becoming bee keepers and I decided to do something to prevent the bees getting in. I have no idea if the bees wanted to make nest into our conservatory or if they just collected nest material from there or what was their motivation and I don't mind a single bee flying around in there but there were tens in some point and that was bit taunting.

Most of the bees flew in and out from the opening near the ceiling of the conservatory (those places pointed out on the third picture of this post). From those openings also some wasps fly in during summer and the mosquitoes later in the summer and also some birds have flown in from there once in a while and not to mention the biggest pest the squirrel also finds it's way in from those openings.

I invested in stiff mosquito net, I have seen metal ones too but this plastic one is easier to handle. I cut out strips from the net and attached those with a stapler. I like that the net is white, it does not jump out from the white roof beams. The shorter pieces right next to the ceiling are not attached to the ceiling in any way. Because the net is stiff I'm hoping the upper edge does not need any fixing, it is just stretched between the roof laths. In theory a squirrel could be strong enough to break through the net if it's really motivated to get in.

Now I think the only problem is that if some pest does get in (like from the open door) it now does not have many places to get out from. I hope that does not turn out to be a huge problem.

Float of toys

On our backyard is a small creek or maybe I would call it a ditch. It collects rain waters from the streets, that means the water is not very clean, and that is why a ditch sounds more appropriate. The ditch runs underground and comes on surface next to a children's playground. All sorts of toys float on the ditch once in a while. When I see toys floating on it I usually take out my rake and rescue the toys from the water. Previously I've thrown the toys to trash or taken to the playground of our apartment building. But now I'm keeping the toys for Likka. We already have a ball and a shovel for her.

(Of course there is also trash on the ditch, when I see them I pick those up too and take those to our trash bins)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter and spring to all.

Spring is far here already and the coltsfoot has flowered here for a while, but that is about the only flower I've seen blooming so far. The leaves of the coltsfoot are not the prettiest but the flowers are cute, so petite.

I've been having bit of blog tiredness lately, perhaps you've noticed. It's mainly because I have not done anything DIY or similar lately. Those sort of things I normally would blog about and I'm not that great with lifestyle blogging in my opinion. I guess lack of projects results from Likka. She now needs more attention than she did before. She does not sleep as much as before and requires constant attention when she is awake. Also I find it easier to entertain Likka outside home. We go to family cafes, lunches with other mommies, to the open daycare center, free museum tours, or anything that does not cost a fortune and gives us something to do. That means that I'm not at home doing projects when ever Likka does sleep and on the evenings I feel worn out to start much anything. Well, this is the phase now. Maybe I regain my DIY energy after a while. But I wanted to let you know why the blog has been so uninspirational and why it might be so for some time.

White sofa

We have white slip covers on the sofa. The covers do need to washed from time to time. I had not washed them for a while (maybe for a year), it is bit of a hassle to take the covers off and put them back on. But surprisingly I do not think those have needed washing until now, maybe my standards of cleanliness or whiteness are not that high. 

Removing the covers for washing reminds me of why I made the slip covers in the first place. The sofa frame and the cushion fillings are in very good shape, but the upholstery is really worn. The pillows have holes and stains. Considering it's age, about 30 years, it's a miracle the upholstery is the only thing that is worn. The sofa is obviously well made, I love the it, the proportions are excellent and it's good to sit on. Odd to see the sofa in it's original colour.

Another knitted dish rag

I started this new dish rag on the same trip to a spa as I did finish the previous dish rag. But the travel time to the spa was too short and I did not finish the second rag. Then two evenings ago I was watching Rambo (?!) from television and finished the second rag and finished the coil of yarn too. 

I tried to knit the rag when Likka was awake too, but the yarn turned out to be a fun toy.

Replanting

When I moved to my own home, to live on my own, I bought a coffee bush to decorate that home, about 10 years ago. The coffee bush was so tiny back then. Now it's not so tiny anymore. It was time again to replant the coffee bush, since it had out grown from the previous pot. I was hoping that I could have found a white pot for the coffee bush from my large collection of flower pots, but I only found a terracotta one on the right size. Terracotta is not bad either, it's after all very traditional.

Now the coffee bush is covering one third of the whole window area. I would prefer to have it deeper in the room and not having it in front of the view. But our living room is not the sunniest especially on winter and the plant would die from lack of light if it would be deeper in the room. Our bedrooms are lighter and I could keep the plant there, but I love to have one big plant in the living room. It makes the room come alive.

Plastic versus metal

Sorry for the long absence, I have not finished anything blog worthy in a while. There is one biggish project I am doing and then there is the HUGE project of those boat cushions which is pressuring me. For now I will show a very very small thing we improved.

Once upon a time I made a post about organizing the tools cabinet we have in the vestibule. The order is still working, but the shelves are heavily loaded none the less. The tiny brackets holding those shelves are plastic and few days back one of the brackets broke. Luckily that is all what happened, the three brackets left hold the shelf on place, but imagine what would have happened. The heavy shelf would have collapsed most likely collapsing all the rest of the shelves underneath it. The tools and paints we have in that cabinet would have been all over the place. That is why we changed the brackets to metal ones. Those should not brake.

(Sorry about the dreadful pictures.)