neighbourhood neighbourhood
just a compilation of recent-ish tidbits about our place/ surroundings:
- (prompted by) yesterday evening i saw two skunks fighting in a corner of my backyard. watched them fascinated through the kitchen window. apprehensive because: i'd just come back in with the baby; our cat was still at large, and she is dumb enough to get sprayed by a skunk; and b. was just supposed to be returning from work. it went okay, they went on into the bushes, then continued to walk around our fence, and into various neighbours' yards. i though they only came out at night! neighbour says it's fine, just pretend you don't see them and get on with your business. okay then.
- reminds me that the same neighbour told me a racoon entered her house one night through the cat flap. apparently the racoon was very friendly but the cats went crazy.
- compost collecting anecdote: my compost was not collected for three weeks running, until i placed the bin on the curb with the handle facing toward the street. good to know.
- jungle!!! beside grass-cutting, which we're just getting the hang of, we have to keep plucking various plants and/or saw various trees that just grow into our yard indiscriminately. wind, pollen, seeds etc blah-blah. i had honestly not been able to imagine how fast certain things spread. e.g. also we have vine tendrils growing pretty strong in 2-3 places (so far we've done nothing about it) but also possibly 5-6 trees we have to cut from around our fence, for cosmetic/ de-shading/ unmasking skunks purposes.
- neigbour gossip sources: until about 2 years ago, inspectors from the city came to check that you cut your lawn and trimmed your bushes to specification; if found lacking, you were given 24 hours to comply with the neighbourhood code or whatever. lol, we would've probably been chased out with pitchforks. but now apparently it's more relaxed because we are part of montreal proper, and montreal is not as anal about lawns. (seriously! i keep comparing villeray to here and omg so much time going into lawn-keeping, WHYYYY)
- (prompted by) yesterday evening i saw two skunks fighting in a corner of my backyard. watched them fascinated through the kitchen window. apprehensive because: i'd just come back in with the baby; our cat was still at large, and she is dumb enough to get sprayed by a skunk; and b. was just supposed to be returning from work. it went okay, they went on into the bushes, then continued to walk around our fence, and into various neighbours' yards. i though they only came out at night! neighbour says it's fine, just pretend you don't see them and get on with your business. okay then.
- reminds me that the same neighbour told me a racoon entered her house one night through the cat flap. apparently the racoon was very friendly but the cats went crazy.
- compost collecting anecdote: my compost was not collected for three weeks running, until i placed the bin on the curb with the handle facing toward the street. good to know.
- jungle!!! beside grass-cutting, which we're just getting the hang of, we have to keep plucking various plants and/or saw various trees that just grow into our yard indiscriminately. wind, pollen, seeds etc blah-blah. i had honestly not been able to imagine how fast certain things spread. e.g. also we have vine tendrils growing pretty strong in 2-3 places (so far we've done nothing about it) but also possibly 5-6 trees we have to cut from around our fence, for cosmetic/ de-shading/ unmasking skunks purposes.
- neigbour gossip sources: until about 2 years ago, inspectors from the city came to check that you cut your lawn and trimmed your bushes to specification; if found lacking, you were given 24 hours to comply with the neighbourhood code or whatever. lol, we would've probably been chased out with pitchforks. but now apparently it's more relaxed because we are part of montreal proper, and montreal is not as anal about lawns. (seriously! i keep comparing villeray to here and omg so much time going into lawn-keeping, WHYYYY)
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| pic of eastside, from the bridge crossing into Laval. yep we walked into Laval - as to the perennial question whether our neighbourhood is a suburb, after this trip b. decided that we are only "semi-suburb" and qualified Laval as "very sad". |
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| one of the few good things to grow unprompted in my yard: yellow lilies. good job, guys! i have seen some others on our block, but not very close to our house, so they must have travelled some. |
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| small rose-smeller. the rose bush is on our land, but all the flowers face away from our yard and into the neighbour's. but then again, who am i to complain? |
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| very montreal-nord |
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| very montreal-nord 2 |
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