Hank and I have been Jeff-less for over a week now. He’s having the time of his life fishing with his brother and friend, hopping from lake to lake in Northwestern Ontario.

I feel like SO MUCH has happened while he’s been gone. Like when I discovered that the noises in my office wall are in no way related to that vole that was circling my legs a while back. That crinkling noise in the wall isn’t the crunching noise that voles make. It is the noise carpenter ants make as they consume my wall.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I figured it out when I noticed this odd light coloured dust appear again near the wall, when I knew I had just vacuumed it up. Before I assumed it was the dust from a kleenex box that is above it, because I’m allergic to a growing number of things. But I don’t use THAT much kleenex to make a new batch of dust so quickly! I shone a flashlight on it and it was grittier looking than dust. And then I saw an ant come out from under the baseboard. An ant with big bent pinchers (that are actually just antennae I think). I took care of him, and then grabbed the Wilson Ant Out powder we had (with all the firewood stacked near the house I’m always leery of signs of ants so I already had some). I squeezed some powder near the baseboard and shoved some into the gap where he appeared.

This stuff is just a diatomaceous earth powder that cuts up their exoskeleton and they dehydrate and die.

But where are they coming from? Aren’t carpenter ants supposed to have an outside place and they go back and forth? There is NO sign anywhere!

But then… there was.

I was looking around that back corner of the house and I saw a tiny hole in the duff layer. I took a little stick and pulled back the covering a bit, and there was a two-way ant HIGHWAY! AHHHHHHH

I put the dust in there too, and then over the next half a day, I’ve excavated more of it and there are several ant highways right under the surface. Not in the dirt of the ground, but in that layer of dead cut grass that just builds up above the soil. I dusted it all. Take that!

Now I see the poor ants carrying their dead home, all covered in this powder that will kill them. I really don’t like killing, but they sealed their fate by trying to eat my office wall.

I have to work out on the front porch or with loud music because their crinkling noise in the wall is very distracting (and right beside me). Hopefully I won’t hear them any more in a day or two and then we (Jeff) will pull the drywall in that piece of the wall and see if any wood needs replacing. If their noise doesn’t cease, I may drill a few little holes in the drywall and get that dust inside the wall. I’m so glad they are only in one small area (from the noise anyway!)

What else?

Well there has been a bunch of lightning-caused fires spark up. The weather has been gloriously warm and sunny, and then the afternoon thunderstorms will roll in. But the storms have really missed town. We’ve had little wind storms and some rain, but the thunderstorms have bypassed us.

The fires are being tackled and none of them are too concerning (right now anyway). Here are some shots from on top of the Dome last Friday when I heard one was visible.

Speaking of fires, you probably heard this news:

With the investigation phase of the post-Pit era wrapped up, the demolition of the pile of debris has started. They’ve been sorting through it and a few things partially survived the blaze!

There were so many iconic items in The Pit. But for some reason my favourite was the big old butcher block that sat back near the Ladies bathroom on the tavern size. I have no idea why. It just always caught my eye. And there is behind the piano!

I’ve been working from the front porch most days, sometimes with a mosquito coil lit, usually with a cold iced tea or Diet Coke or Bubly. My friend Tarie brought me this gorgeous addition to my outdoor work area! I love it!!

I’m finding it easier than ever to work solely on my laptop, without an external monitor, since so much of my work is in terminal windows these days. It makes it easier than ever to work from anywhere (that has a signal).

Hank and I take a 30-45 minute walk every afternoon, wandering town. He LOVES tourists and assumes everyone of them wants to pet him. And some of them do! Every day you can hear, “What a gorgeous dog” and I’m like, “Thanks?”. I mean, what is the proper response? I didn’t build him.

That’s Hank, a very hot husky in front of the old historical jail.

And here is Hank wanting to go outside. While I spend a lot of time on the front porch, he’s outside in his kennel run, sunbathing, napping, and watching the world go by. My job is to rescue him when it rains. Or whenever he lets out a little yip to demand to be relocated immediately.

And he is shedding in CHUNKS right now! When I take him into the yard and brush it all out, I need a rake to help fill a garbage bag with it!

When we’re walking around, he remembers where all of his favourite people live, and everywhere he’s seen them before. One of his biggest fans is our friend Crickett who we run into at least once or twice a week on our walks. He spots her from far away and gets as giddy as we ever see him get.

This is his “it’s after 5pm and time for my walk so get off your laptop now lady” look:

The Yukon River has been rising every day, covering some of the lower dyke trail. We haven’t had significant rain so I think it’s just the end of the spring melt from the hills and mountains.

The Klondike Spirit is back in the river this summer, taking tourists up and down the river twice a day. It had been parked up on shore since covid shut off the flow of tourists. I LOVE hearing its steam whistle blowing and echoing off the river banks. (I’m sure it isn’t probably steam anymore, but you know what I mean.)

I see a boat trailer submerged.

There is usually a big landing here where we put the boat in and out.

The other fun thing this week is when I realized the pump #2 isn’t working on the hot tub. I usually don’t use the jets. I like a calm soak while I listen to a podcast or audiobook. Pump 2 is the higher-pressured one that comes on for the first minute of the filter cycle to get the water all churned up. I noticed I hadn’t been hearing it but didn’t investigate until last weekend, hoping it would either fix itself, or.. well fix itself.

My investigation involved shutting the power off to the tub, having ChatGPT beside me to ask questions and share pictures back to it as it helped me troubleshoot.

So far, I have determined that the fuse for pump 2 is dead. Of course that isn’t something I can just run down to a store to buy.

So I overpaid for one that could be delivered to Jeff’s brother’s house so he could get it before he came home.

I’m no electrician, but I’m guessing the pump is likely going to need replacing and it’ll blow the new one too when we switch it. But I suppose there is a slim chance a fuse fixes it? 🤞 Here’s hoping!

Tonight Jeff will be back and I bet he’s going to be very tired! I hope he didn’t get too used to having darkness at night!