August 5-6, '10

Since we were going to be out of town for the weekend, I came out Thursday night. The week had been very hot, several days hitting 100, and dry in town. I was glad to see puddles on the road, and found .8 inches in the gauge -- apparently falling earlier Thursday. I woke to this thick fog in the valley.

Garden
I picked the garden before breakfast to avoid some of the heat. Lots of cherry tomatoes and some others, a few bell peppers (none orange), a few hot peppers, and some black-eyed peas. Later I weeded, and even though the ground seemed pretty wet I went ahead and hand watered before I left.

Apples
There were still apples on the Gold Rush, with just a few on the ground and chewed on. I picked a couple and took the mostly whole ones that were on the ground. The pie I had made with the green ones from the previous week was okay, but not as good as I had hoped.

Sprayed
I had gotten some diesel to mix in with the Clear Pasture. The first tank I took down to the buck-brush in the little pen at the bottom. The spray had been somewhat effective in July, but it was obvious it will take repeat applications to knock this stuff out. The remainder of the tank I took to the field above the pond where there is still some sumac and lots of viney thistle.

The next tank I hiked up the hill and continued mopping up the sumac in the upper pasture. Its looking pretty good, though I keep stumbling on patches of sumac. We're letting the center part grow up (not brush hogged the past two years) and trees are 8-10 feet. I waded through these searching out sumac as well.

Lop
While down by the pond, I took my loppers into the back area where I first planted pines that got brush hogged, then walnuts, and finally red oaks three years ago. I wanted to lop the persimmon while the leaves were still on and I could recognize them. Lots of pines have survived, and probably half or less of the others. I even found a few cedars to whack. I didn't cover it all, but did ware myself out.

Mow
Once it dried out, I mowed the back area behind the house, around the spring, and the upper area on the other side of the spring and over by the swing.

Brush Whacking
The road was really grown up, especially round the cattle guard. So I took the brush whacker up one side, around the cattle guard, and back down the other. Its not running great, so I need to figure that out. Plus the bar used to hold it had cracked and the wire I duct tapped to it isn't working that great. Oh well.

Swallows
These baby barn swallows were peering out at us the previous weekend as well. They were so cute -- several nests and 15 or so birds all watching as I would walk through the barn. I wish I had gotten a better picture.