Castile Peppermint Soap Ant Spray

If you've been reading recent posts, you know Mom's cat Stick Tail has moved in with us. We call his dining area the "food bar." From the picture, you can guess why. When Stick's hungry, he heads on over to check things out. If things aren't to his liking, he'll lie down and pray to the food gods for something better.

At the cabin, Stick's food bar had unwanted visitors - ANTS! I've seen a few on the sink, but a squish and the problem was solved. But with an endless supply of treats at the food bar, they wouldn't stop coming.

I remembered reading a post at a blog I used to follow called Pacy Crochets.  She doesn't blog any more, but does have a Pinterest site.  I bought the Castile peppermint soap. I was skeptical, but didn't want to put ant poison near Stick's food (or ours). Because of the location, I just rubbed a little soap along the edge of the wall and by the stove. I did this for three days, and no more ants. Because it's the odour that deters the ants (and mice as well), I will probably have to do it over again when we return to the cabin. But no problem, the soap goes a long way and it smells nice. Well, at least to kitties and humans. I'll also make some spray to use outdoors for good measure.

1 gallon water
4 tablespoons Castile peppermint soap

Thanks Pacy for the great tip. -- Margy

Giant Beaver on the Prowl

While Wayne and I were out fishing, I took this picture of a shadow that reminded me of a beaver with a long flat tail trailing behind.  I often see cloud images on the side of Goat Island just as the sun sets to the west.

Besides the interesting shadow, I love the reflection of trees turned yellow-green in the late afternoon sun. -- Margy

Indoor Cat Heads Outdoors

Stick Tail loves his new float cabin home.


He started his indoor life twenty years ago (he's at least 21 years old now) when we lived in Pomona, California. Our Los Angeles suburb home was near a hillside with packs of coyotes. Stick's name came from a near-death experience that cost him the tip of his puffy tail.

When we moved north, Stick came to live with Mom and became her constant companion. In a third floor apartment style condo, he remained an indoor kitty. He never seemed to mind.


Now that he has moved to our float cabin, he can go out and walk around the deck. He's discovered a HUGE drinking bowl that will never run dry. Lap it up, Stick. -- Margy

Spring Cruising Under Blue Skies

Our Bayliner 3058 has taken us on some great cruises.



Here are some shots with blue skies and calm seas.



It's always that way, isn't it?


Well, most of the time in the summer. -- Margy

A Schmidt-Cassegrain in Our Kitchen

My husband Wayne is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He has three telescopes, a Meade ETX125 (125 millimeter) Maksutov-Cassegrain, a Meade LX90 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a Edmond Astroscan (for fun).

The LX90 has been a fixture in our cabin's kitchen for several years. On clear nights, Wayne takes it out to the corner of the deck for dark night observations. We have a small slice of the sky to view from Hole in the Wall, but the seeing conditions are excellent. Both telescopes have the Autostar computer-driven goto feature. That's really handy for finding some of the more distant objects. The ETX125 has recently moved from our condo to the cabin small storage room. There was so much light pollution in town, we decided it was better to have both models handy up the lake.

I used Wayne's telescope to take some Moon and Jupiter shots through the lens. In the future, I hope to take some more, but I need really bright objects for my little Canon digital camera to work.

One of my most memorable telescope experiences was with the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers. They booked an observing session at the Mt. Wilson Observatory's on the 60-inch telescope for the night. Not only is the scope massive, but it is a part of history. The observatory was founded in 1904 and in 1908 the 60-inch scope was installed. When it was built by George Ellery Hale in 1908, it was the largest telescope in the world. That night we saw Jupiter, Saturn and its moon Titan, a globular cluster, several planetary nebula and distant galaxies. It was quite a night!

Want to know more about our unique lifestyle in a floating cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC? Visit the category called "Float Cabin Living," or read Up the Lake written by my husband Wayne. -- Margy

Compost Pit Completes Full Cycle

In October, I put the contents of my compost barrel and final garden clippings in a hole I dug in my hillside potato patch.  I'm using a compost accelerator called Rot-It to help tougher stems to decompose by spring. After the first layer of trimmings, I sprinkled on some Rot-It and then gave it all a good watering.

Then came another layer with the same treatment, and then a third layer with more Rot-It and water. The moisture helps accelerate the composting process. I covered the mound with dirt from the hole and gave it all a final watering.

Then came an unexpected break in the process.  We had to rush from Powell River back to Bellingham, and I didn't get back up to the cabin as planned.  But while I was away, the rains continued to moisten the soil covering compost pit.

When I got back in December, I continued preparing the clippings to decompose over winter. I covered the mound with two large plastic trash bags opened flat to help hold the moisture in, and generate some heat to break things down.

To keep the bags in place, I put boards on top. We can get quite a bit of wind during the winter, especially over the cliff where the potato patch is located. I'll leave everything in place until spring when I work up the soil for planting.

And the compost is exactly where I want it to be come spring. I have to climb four flights of stairs to get to my upper potato garden. Making my own soil up here is a whole lot easier than carrying bags up from lake level. Well, a whole lot easier on Wayne that is.

What I found under the plastic garbage bags was lots of sprouts. They went into my compost barrel. On the surface, the soil looked ready for planting.

The test was to dig up the plot and see for sure. I was amazed. There were only a few roots that hadn't decomposed. I added those to the compost barrel too. After digging in a bag of steer manure, my potato patch is ready for planting in about three weeks.

Now my wire compost barrel is empty and ready to accept kitchen vegetable scraps and garden clippings for next year's pit. -- Margy

Coastal BC Plants: Carnivorous Sundews (Drosera)

Carnivorous Sundews

There's a small plant that grows on my floating logs just above the water line. It's quite prolific during the warm summer months, growing in tightly packed groups clinging to the wood surface and wedged in cracks and crevices where moisture is plentiful.

Sundews are unique both in appearance and function. They are a perennial insect eating plant (visions of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors!).

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Sundews grow in moist bogs and wet meadows, but they obviously like floating logs too.

As you can see, there's one leaf per stem and the stems are arranged in a radiating pattern close to the log's surface. The round fleshy leaves are surrounded by reddish "hairs" that exude a sticky fluid that is used to catch their insect prey. Out of the center of the plant a tall thin stalk rises and is topped with small white flowers.

Sundews are photosynthetic, but augment their "diet" by catching and digesting insects. This allows them to thrive in nutrient poor environments, especially those low in nitrogen. Insects like mosquitoes, midges and gnats better look out. Mine were even munching on several large (by Sundew standards) blue damsel flies. The dew may look tasty, but it's the last supper for the unwary.

For identification, I use Plants of Coastal British Columbia by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon. It is available from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca. I highly recommend it because of the excellent pictures, illustrations and descriptions. It is specific to the region and quite comprehensive. -- Margy