Thanks to the ongoing pandemic, the summer has been largely uneventful.

I have spent much time in the garden. The war on weeds continues. As the garden railroad work continues I have been making adjustments to the garden bed. I have stared leveling the brick sub-roadbed for the garden railroad as I get the tracks into the desired alignment. I acquired a turntable several months ago that I will install near the center of the garden bed.

I had trouble with the local deer family eating a particular rose bush I am trying to revive from near death. I tried several UV devices with limited success. Finally I found the suggestion to use bars of Irish Spring soap. So I purchased a case and put several bars into bowls along the garden path. Amazingly it seems to be working!

Work from home is wearing on, bitterly tainting home life. I will be able to return to the office soon as they are opening back up to limited staff. I’ve been making a trip into the office on Wednesdays to take care of business like configuring hardware, shipping equipment and receiving orders.

Much of the property was cleared of brush for the first time since we’ve owned the house. It will take several years to defeat the blackberry and pea invasion. I have been working on the upper garden area, burning brush and clearing weeds. Up behind the decorative trees along the upper garden is a giant blackberry bush with stalks over 1″ thick.