Apr 17-18, '10

Tender and I were alone since Sally was in Denver. Before heading out I picked up 8 roles of R13 3.5 x 15 inch bats of insulation, which pretty much filled up the bed of the truck. More on that project later.

Garden
It hadn't rained all week, although it did sprinkle on me most of the way out. Everything in the garden was doing okay but it was bone dry. So as I was watering a light rain began to fall. That didn't stop me though.

Sally didn't trust me to plant the additional marigolds she had bought, so I had left them at home. The only other gardening I did was to weed the next morning and water again before I left Sunday afternoon.

Burn
Since it was raining I decided to burn the cedars I'd cut below the barn. I headed down with my newspaper, lighter, and a rake. But I didn't realize until I got down there that I had forgotten my hand saw (for cutting up the bigger trees). Got the fire going and was burning the smaller stuff when the rain quit. The fire was so hot the immediate area including dead grass around the burn quickly dried out. Then I was hesitant to pile on whole cedar trees, so I just ended up burning the smaller stuff I had collected in that area.

Insulation
By the time I got back to the house it was sprinkling again. (All in all I don't think we got a quarter of an inch of rain.) Given it was too wet to mow or weedeat, I decided I would tackle the insulation job.

The house was built without indoor plumbing, and sits on a very thick slab of concrete (Ben told me so). The well and plumbing were added by Kathy when she bought it from Ben circa 1995. Water lines were run to the north side (hot water closet) and south side (kitchen) of the house. Hot and cold water were run through the attic from the hot water closet to the bathroom and laundry closet, and the hot water runs all the way across the attic and down through the wall to the kitchen sink. (You can hear popping from the heat expansion when the hot water is turned on in the kitchen.) So I've always been paranoid about these lines in the attic freezing, especially after cold winters like this last one (we burned 250 gallons of propane, more than ever before). That's the basis of my concern about the pilots going out on the propane heaters while we are not there. So, I figured another layer of insulation in the attic (at least in these areas) would be a good thing.

The ceiling joist are just 2x4s, although they are from the 1970s and thus real 2x4s. So the depth of insulation in the attic is just 4 inches. Not much covering those pipes. It took me 2 and half hours to cover the area I intended, using 5 of the 8 roles. By that time I was done stooping and crawling around up there, plus it was pretty darn warm even though the outside temp was in the 60s. I'll look for an opportunity to spread the remaining insulation -- maybe next fall/winter (though I would like to get enough to add another layer to the whole house as I figure it will also help keep it cool in the summer).

Morning Walk
Tender and I walked down to the creek I've been trying to clean up. Look at this white foam bleeding from the wild grape where it was scraped. Further up I found this wild iris blooming -- first time I'd seen one of these actually in bloom. And then on the way back up the hill I checked this bluebird house. I didn't have to open it to check for a nest, because I could see the head and eyes looking back out at me. After the picture, I got up closer and noticed some blue on the tail feathers -- so I am sure it is a bluebird. No one has yet set up shop in the other two bluebird houses, one in the front yard and one out back.

Spray Apples
Last year the apple-cedar rust almost killed one of my apple trees. So I bought a sprayer and immunox, and doused all three trees good. There were still blooms on the trees, so this is the right time to start spraying. They are supposed to be sprayed every 7 to 10 days for about three months. This will be very difficult for me to do. I can already see the ugly balls forming on the cedars. Next, orange tentacles will emerge from them. Uck!

Crack Walnuts
I cracked the last of my walnuts. If I had had some already cracked, I would of sent them to Amanda via Sally. Amanda said that John grew up with a walnut tree in the front yard and had volunteered to help pick them out. I also owe Jackie some (cracked, not picked) which I will be delivering soon.

Northern Red Oak/Lopping
Seeing how good this red oak looked in the front yard made me want to go down to the pasture and check on the rest of the lot of 100 I planted in '08. So I got my loppers and Tender and drove to the pond. (Some very slight beaver activity -- I don't understand why, if they are there, they aren't trying to dam the culverts more.) The plot where I put the red oaks is up the creek from the pond and in a small clearing on the other side. I counted 35 of the 90 I had originally planted there. In '06 I had put 300 pines in there, but they had gotten brush hogged. Some of these have survived though -- I counted 35 of them as well.

From that area to up above the pond I wondered around lopping any trash I found. Mostly cedars, but also elm, briars, persimmon, and something that looked like some type of thistle. Another thousand down, but whose counting.

Mow/Weed Eat
The riding mower started without jumping the battery. I was figuring on having to replace the battery, but maybe it will hang on another season. Did a bit of mowing, and then got the brush whacker out. I mixed up some fresh gas for this monster (it uses a 16-1 ratio) and it fired right up. I got most of the hill cut back.

Dog Wood
Here is one of the dogwoods we put out in 2004. See how the deer cropped it during the long period when snow was on the ground. Good to see it coming back, even if it such a slow grower.

Short Cut
I drove home through Eureka, being tired of the dusty dirt road already. It turned out to be 19.9 miles (vs 8.5) and took 29 minutes (vs 25) -- no definitive reason to go one or the other. I'll probably pick and choose based upon how dry (dusty) the conditions are.