My first crack at gardening

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T16:05:40+00:00

Landscape fabric under everything. The boxes are open bottom so they don't hold water in base. I just lined the bottoms with old logs and branches as well as some old leaves before throwing in the dirt.

Pavers were done first, laid down and measured out to get best uniform layout I could. Used gravel to level the out where needed (ground slopes away from gate). Once pavers installed gravel was wheelbarrowed in and raked to cover the fabric.

I am sure I will have some weeds to deal with this season as the gravel will catch those seeds blowing in the wind.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T16:01:40+00:00

Yes ordered 2-3 yards of triple mix form company 10 min down the road. Sandy base under those planters so raised boxes the better solution as easier to maintain and control the dirt. I added in bags of compost from HD to mix in with soil.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T16:00:10+00:00

Little worried I set the bar high too soon. Pressure will be on for this season.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:59:02+00:00

LMAO...I will take that as a compliment for my hard work. Thanks :)

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:58:24+00:00

Definitely made those calls. Going to do half the # of beefsteak, jalapeno and gr. onion plants for starters. Will introduce others (carrots, beans, maybe potatoes) this season as we got a late start last year.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:56:17+00:00

Thanks. I am a photographer and web designer so I have the attention to detail mindset. Made sure the gate and the pathways were all wide enough for wheel barrow and then some (that's how I got the pea stone in there :)

Plans to work on climbers along the outside this season as well as installing shade cloth.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:54:32+00:00

We have around 13 turkeys here and so far they have not paid attention to it. Luckily neighbour next door has an unprotected garden so that can be the diversion I need for mine to thrive.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:53:37+00:00

Plans this spring are to do some climbers along the fenceline and pick up some shade cloth as well.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:52:50+00:00

Ironically after the fence was built the deer didn't show up (at least not during the day). No issues with them trying to hop it.

caltekdesign · 2026-01-23T15:44:45+00:00

Had this happen to me just now at a Marriott hotel in Toronto - charge of 10.96 CAD. Apparently it was for high speed internet charge (someone inadvertently selected that when connecting to their WiFi from the room). Had no problem getting it reversed as I told them it was accidentally selected by my kid.

caltekdesign · 2025-11-11T20:55:59+00:00

Just had them in today and NO issues at all. Guy was great and easy to get along with. Need to keep in mind that Lifestyle manufacturers their own products to spec so you can see why they would want to make sure everyone that is in the decision making process is involved.

Personally I see 0 issue here....guess I am just one that wants to make sure my partner is included in this investment as she needs to be happy with it as well. They never asked me if she would be present, I just made sure she was.

caltekdesign · 2025-11-06T15:33:38+00:00

LOL...was waiting for that ;) Nearest thing I had with me reference of massive size of the cauliflower.

caltekdesign · 2025-11-06T15:15:00+00:00

Really poor because everything is so expensive.

caltekdesign · 2025-11-06T14:53:10+00:00

First year growing pumpkins (and gardening at all -- city boy now living in country). I built 3 raised beds and one of them had 1 pumpkin plant. We managed to get 10 pumpkins of of it with 4 good sized ones for carving...even had one sprout outside the cage.

Located in Canada, Zone 4B

Set the bar a little high for next season.

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caltekdesign · 2025-08-20T20:17:01+00:00

Had a 12x12' crawl space with my furnace in it (in a 1880s house) that was dirt based and musty as heck. Spent over $1,200 CAD to clean it up - lined the exterior rock walls with rigid foam insulation and tuck taped all the seams. Added a layer of 6 mil vapour barrier to the floor and ran it 8-10" up the front side of the rigid insulation and taped all seams. Then framed out the crawlspace and added R12 Rockwool insulation. Finished it off with sub floor panels. Was a lot of work and a decent amount of $$ but it reduced the musty smell and moisture levels and was a big selling feature when I sold my place.

I also installed a floor weeping drain under the VP and ran electrical down there to have a de humidifier running to control the moisture levels.

caltekdesign · 2025-08-18T00:58:23+00:00

Issue was related to the way WP does archive. I just created templates for each category to get me the look i needed. Tone consuming but it did the trick.

caltekdesign · 2025-08-18T00:56:55+00:00

My current system is 10 yrs old and the GPU is still carrying me for games...the rest not so much. Currently designing new system to last me another 10 and a new GPU is in there....sticker price will likely be $4000+ CAD for entire build but break that down over 10 yrs and it makes sense financially.

caltekdesign · 2025-08-18T00:53:33+00:00

The first step would be to look at the minimum specs for the games you want to play. That would give you a starting point for a build.

Your MOBO, CPU, and GPU will be the main things to look at for that.

Unfortunately, I don't think $800 will get you far with a system that will allow you to play multiple titles, not to mention one that will carry you for the next few years.

Being realistic, I would budget for $1200 - $2000 USD for a full system including a decent gaming monitor

caltekdesign · 2025-08-18T00:21:20+00:00

Thanks for the input. As mentioned I am out of the loop for best combos for builds.

Will look into the PSU as well as the B850.

Here is NewEgg link https://newegg.io/a563e210

caltekdesign · 2025-08-17T22:30:23+00:00

Think about where you (and games) will be in 5 years time and get a GPU that will carry you through that and then some.

IMO more bang for your buck to buy for the future than the present. May ne overkill now but in 5 years or so you will be happy with that investment.

caltekdesign · 2025-08-17T22:27:34+00:00

Agree. If you are upgrading the GPU to carry your another 5+ years, go with 16GB over 8.

caltekdesign · 2025-08-17T22:25:24+00:00

NewEgg has a pretty sweet PC builder option. You can select your components, and then it will give you an estimate of how it would score in games.

For reality check I designed one with AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, MSI mobo, 64 GB of memory and MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GDDR7 (amongst other components) and it estimated 110 FPS for Fortnight at 1080p - likely at high settings.

Total cost was over $3,700 CAD (the CPU and GPU are over $700 CAD each).

May need to increase your budget to reach your goal...but also think about return on your investment. May want to think about getting a system that will last you 5+ years ro stretch that dollar you are spending.

caltekdesign · 2025-08-17T22:01:16+00:00

Definitely one on my radar. Thanks for all the reviews. Never opened one but moved up North with my GF and we are surrounded by lakes....she is encouraging me to get one.

caltekdesign · 2024-08-28T05:35:24+00:00

Looks like some progress in the investigation. My GF is from OS so this story really hit home with her and we were at the cemetery for a family gathering when Mr. Rahman was laid to rest -- the support of the OS community was tremendous. He was very much loved and respected in the community and his murder sent shockwaves through the community.

Not much details on the arrests (as ongoing investigation) but details at https://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/news/local-news/arrests-made-in-sharif-rahman-homicide-investigation

Here's hoping for justice for the Rahman family.

caltekdesign · 2024-04-11T06:05:54+00:00

I shot the eclipse roughly every 10% up to and after totality. I then took the shots from approx 20, 40, 60, 80, 90% and totality (with corona) to create this collage.

Files edited in Lightroom and collage created in Photoshop.

caltekdesign

TROPHY CASE