Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Away, parasites!

Today, I took down the metal cladding on the porch ceiling, revealing all kinds of nasty raccoon detritus. I did figure out how to do it sort of neatly after some trial and error, but still a messy job. It’s fairly obvious that Mr. Concrete or his minions banged up the metal on top of shredded or missing boards, but we’ll just pass over that.

More of the same tomorrow, as the wooden ceiling comes down. It may be possible to be better-organized about that job, though, since I’ll be able to clear an access hole and clean the tops of the boards before they’re ripped down from below.

One thing I revealed was an enormous number of little foam shreds, both beige and pink, clearly from the foam insulation we put in last fall. When we thought we heard chewing and scratching from under the bay window this spring, we probably really were.

The solution to present and future raccoons is becoming obvious – we need to just get rid of the porch ceiling and not have one any more. We can look at the roof structure from below – that’s fine. A couple of coats of white paint might make it look nicer. Maybe we should use the kill-anything primer that R&D used in their house – it would still be much cheaper than 160 sq/ft of boards.

This approach wraps up a number of problems. There will be an easy way to get at the bottom of the bay window, for example, which (being inaccessible till now) is a weak point in our insulation.

Mystery Tree

For people who asked for a bigger image of Mystery Tree’s flowers, click on the image below. The blooms are about to drop, so it's now or never, or at least now or next spring.

Leading guesses include: apricot, American plum, hawthorn.

thinking with a crowbar

The mother raccoon actually didn't move out last night, as Mr. Wildlife Removal had predicted she would - I saw the same pair of eyes staring back at mine this afternoon that I did yesterday. It may be time for the professionals.

I finally nerved myself to do something I'd been getting around to since we moved in (well, one of them) - rip off the metal siding over the gable to expose the historic front of the house. Until this afternoon, we weren't sure what it looked like. My worst fear was a chunk of condo billboard recycled for the plywood, which is what Mr. Concrete used to repair the garage roof.

Instead, we found more or less what we'd hoped for - a version of the gables found up and down the street, quite similar to the one directly across from us.

This turned into a very messy job, involving hours of teetering on a ladder prying off siding while trying to contain the mess of shredded wood from raccoon damage from blowing all over the street as it was released. The winning formula turned out to involve a combination of probing with the shop-vac and holding a garbage can under the damage.

progress

Today the porch substructure was finished, more or less.

I'd been afraid we'd have to take down the porch ceiling, which was the floor for a small family of raccoons, which we hear scrambling and cheeping late at night. I opened up the end of the roof structure today to see what we're dealing with, and as far as I can tell the raccoons moved to the neighbours' side last night. The mother raccoon and I had a long staring match this afternoon - I could see tiny eyes shining behind hers.

In other pix: the boy tackles solid food (sweet potato a favourite) and Mystery Tree seen from the laundry room:

pix!

In the news at our house file: the reframing of the porch is progressing, with the gap from the old basement apartment filled in and the tilt to the south starting to be corrected by sistering joists.

Mystery Tree is finally blooming - we've been wondering what it was since we moved in last September. Could it be a plum?

Progress!

Progress on the porch to date: removal of two decking layers (thanks, P.), removal of the ugggly fake-wrought-iron railing, cleanup under the porch, creation of a huge pile of debris, mostly lumber, and the removal of the barrier to the south - now we have a nice view of Withrow Park from the porch. We could sit and admire it if there was anywhere to sit.

Now, we wait for the dumpster.

Yesterday afternoon, there was a litter of raccoons above the porch ceiling, but there's no squeaking today - we're hoping the mother moved them last night.

The Skydome bike shortcut, explained once and for all

I'm no longer in a position to use it, having moved to the east end, but for the record, here's R's explanation, once and for all, with many, many pictures, how the

absolute best way to get from the Queen’s Quay bike lane to downtown (and vice versa) is via the well-hidden Skydome/CN Tower elevator, which is ride-in/ride-out for cyclists because of its two conveniently-located doors. Here’s how to find the thing.

More here

Back in the saddle

Three milestones here: 1) C.'s first bike ride since last September; 2) the day we finally got out to the end of the Leslie St. Spit; 3) the Wuzzle's first ride in the bike trailer we bought him on Ebay: