Short Cut
Since we had gotten rain Friday morning, I figured the dirt road wouldn't be dusty so we took the short cut. Instead of dusty, it was muddy. It was also very rough (much worse shape than just a few months ago) and felt much rougher in the 4Runner than the Tacoma. It also was not any shorter time wise because I had to slow down to keep from shaking our teeth out.
Garden
Sally picked another couple of gallons of green beans, a half dozen onions, a few beats, a bag of summer spinach, and the last radish.
Mowed/Weedeat/Thistle/Berries
After filling the feeders, I mowed the back and the road down to and around the pond. I noticed lots of black raspberries on the plants under the two giant sycamores at the confluence of the creeks. On the way back up I noticed a giant thistle at the unfinished dam Ben had started on Plume Creek.
The grass was really high on the upper road and around the cattle guard, so I filled the tank on the brush whacker and took off. I worked my way up the hill on the right side of the road, got around the cattle guard, and came back down the other side. Ran out of gas about two thirds of the way down.
With thistle (and raspberries) on my mind, I grabbed a feed bag, shovel, and small bucket and drove down the hill. I dug up the thistle and then walked over and picked about a quart of black raspberries in 15 minutes. When I started driving off, I looked over and noticed another group of 4-5 thistles on the other side of the creek. I went after them and then started seeing more clumps of 4 or 5. Then I started noticing baby ones coming up that hadn't yet started to bloom. I just whacked them off at the ground with the shovel. Some must have gone to seed in this area, so I'll have to keep a close watch in the area.
Fishing
Lisa and family arrived just before dark. CJ was anxious to fish, so headed straight to the pond. He caught several bass and said they looked healthier than the year before -- heads weren't out of proportion with their body. He also reported seeing a beaver -- troubling news and something I have never been able to do.
As you can see, Savannah enjoyed the raspberries. (And so did I.)Kings River
Saturday morning we went down to the river at Rock House. Everyone got in but Lisa, although only CJ and Savannah spent much time in the water -- it was cold. The air was also cool until the clouds burned off. There were lots of canoes putting in -- and I had thought the river would be too low to float. Lots of dogs (and even a baby) were also going, and they had doggie life jackets. We decided we'd get one for Tender.
Sharpen/Spray/Cull/Mow/Weedeat
Saturday afternoon CJ headed back to the pond for more fishing. I wanted to mow, but Savannah was napping and Tender would bark. So I sharpened the Stihl and McCullock and got them ready for another outing. I then sprayed the apples and culled 150 nectarines -- some of the branches were bending down to the ground. Once Savannah woke I began to mow the upper areas. CJ got back then and took over the mowing while I took the Poulan weedeater to the front hill.
Cookout
We cooked hamburgers and a new curried turkey burger recipe. While the fire was going picked about a pint of blackberries over by the swing, plus a few more raspberries. Its a really good year for berries (due to the wet summer we had last year?).
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