Tofino Brewing

In addition to the stunning coastline, the beer isn't too shabby either....

Tofino

In September, we finally made it over to Tofino for a four day "break" from retirement, the area is stunning, beautiful beaches, the freshest air you can imagine, and for those that indulge, incredible surfing and weather systems on the wild west coast.

The front line....

At the front of the house, to the side, we're doing something similar, rocks have been installed at the property line, shrubs are being planted, grass is being removed.

Beer is being consumed.....

Updates at the back.....

The mammoth task to remove most of the useless grass continues in the front and the back yard, the rectangular bed, adjacent to the house, has now been introduced to a larger rose and shrub bed. It's a multi-year project and we have many plans, so we will keep you posted as we progress.

To be featured on Google maps in the future...

The large patch of lawn at the side of the house is evolving after the first eighteen months, we have created a fourteen foot diameter circular bed with some large rocks from our local excavation site, added half a yard of composted soil and a bunch of rhododendrons, escallonia and an abelia in the middle. In the next week we will be adding lavender (for the bees) and finishing off with mulch.

 Three blue spruce at the side and a cotoneaster on the hillock.

It's been a lot of work so far, but such joy!

Seeing Double

I find myself in the fortunate position of owning one and a half lawn mowers.

The two hundred dollar Poulan in the background worked for the season, but it had a tendency to stall under very little load with the Kohler 149cc engine, had an awkward height adjustment mechanism, plus, after a very mild winter it was reluctant to start, and even after stripping down the carb and making sure the fuel process is good, it has not returned to it's previous lackluster levels  yet.

The new kid on the block is a return to a 162cc Honda powered unit, a Troy-Bilt lawn mower that feels almost as powerful as the vintage unit we retired when we moved from Gibsons. Hopefully we will get sixteen years out of new one.