E is currently going through a particularly gruesome annual chemical peel which keeps him inside, away from the sun and other humans, while he feels and looks miserable. Transplant recipients are high risk for skin cancer so it is something he has to do and it is horrid. So while he is recovering and Piper is recuperating from his surgery, Shanty and I are just trying to keep quiet and stay out of their way.

This allows me hours on Youtube watching videos on topics like rose propagation, pressure canning and cast iron pan seasoning. Most of these channels are run by self titled homesteaders but, they often wander off topic to nonsense, especially the men, but there are one or two of the women who have a lot of great gardening advice. So I ignore the political yammering and skim ahead to the part where they teach me how to store farm fresh eggs in a glass jar for eight months with no ill effects.

I did take some time today to go up to the garden in the sunshine to check on the rose experiment situation. It was 35 degrees in the greenhouse so, needless to say, the rose babies no longer need a glass jar over each pot. In fact, I might have already fried one or two. The other two growing in the ground are so healthy that I was able to plant them each in their own pot.

The garlic is healthy but only half the size it was this time last year. I really don’t know if it is because it’s a different type or the weather we have been having, but I weeded the bed none the less and I am sure it will be fine.

We are still waiting on the herring to arrive. They are getting closer. They were in Nanoose today. There is a fishing boat which has been contracted by fisheries to test the herring population in the different areas up and down the coast. They are currently sitting out front of us. Presumably tomorrow we will read an update on what they were able to find.

It has been nine years since we had a really good spawn in these waters. I really hope it happens next week when our grandkids are here. We have to go to Vancouver at the end of the month for E’s annual testing at the hospital. If the spawn happens while we are off island, I will be displeased to say the least.

The banana rose growing experiment had a couple of unexpected hiccups. I found two of the containers on stems which had been pulled down to the ground, the soil removed and the bananas eaten. No one on any of the Youtube channels I watched about propagating roses mentioned that squirrels like

to eat bananas.