Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Oct. 30-31, 2010

Sally was in Chicago, so it was just me and Tender. The weather was great with temperatures in the 70s and mild nights.

Black Walnuts
I hit Asbell school again to complete my haul of nuts for the year -- I pretty much had a truck load with the bed full of bags of nuts. (I forgot to get a picture with the truck full, and snapped this one half way through the unloading/hulling operation.)

The huller I had used in 2007 and 2009 in Clifty wasn't operating anymore. There was a huller setup at the old Anderson's site on Hwy 45, but it wasn't listed on Hammons' web site and I couldn't find a phone number when I stopped by there on the way home the weekend before (and I had never seen anyone there). Hammons listed a Huller north of Berryville, one in Gentry, and one in Westville, OK. No listing for the one in Elm Springs which I had used in 2008. Since I didn't get an answer for the guy in Berryville, and I had time Friday afternoon, I decided to take them to Westville.

You can see the operation behind this feed store. They would buy the nuts from me for 11 cents a pound, or they would hull them for me and charge me 6 center a pound. I chose to keep all of mine and ended up with 6 bags and 280 pounds. In one of the recent years I had 150 pounds, so I will have my work cut out getting through these. But Mimi and Papa will pick out their own as Jackie will, and John has offered to help Amanda pick out theirs -- Yes!

Do you see all those bags stacked in the background behind the huller? Some day I would like to tour the Hammons operation to see how they do it. For now the nuts need to dry out. I've just got them in the back of the truck, but that will have to change. I've also noticed several that didn't get hulled, so I may dump them out and go through them. Some of mine were on the small size, so maybe that is why.

Garden
We had gotten .6 inches of rain, which must have come the Saturday before. The big event was the first killing freeze which we received Friday morning. It got the peppers, the tomatoes, and the one green bean plant. I was able to harvest a dozen or more bell peppers (though they had not yet turned yellow/orange) and a few of the hot peppers (I found the identifier for them, Santa Fe Grande's). The lettuce, bok chow, and tender spinach survived just fine so I brought more of that home. The summer spinach was slightly tan on the highest leaves, but I was able to pick as much as I wanted (got a quart). The ground was bone dry, so I watered the surviving plants both Saturday and Sunday.

Oil Barn Doors
I'd brought my extension ladder from home for the siding project, but I first used it to try and oil the barn doors. They sit on rollers at the top and slide back and forth. I couldn't get to them to actually use oil, so I just sprayed them with WD 40. It seemed to help -- not that I was having a problem with them.

Insulate Well House
With freezing temperatures arriving, I went ahead and spread the insulation over the top of the well house. There are 4 2x6s in there that create a ceiling for the insulation just below the roof. The system seems to work well with the submerged house.

Treat Cedar Siding
The big job for the weekend was to treat the cedar siding by painting it with a clear UV sealer. I brought the ladder out so I could do the high areas on the east and west ends of the house. I worked on the east end Saturday and the west end Sunday. I didn't finish both ends, but got most of it. What's left is low, so the ladder went back to town where it is needed regularly this time of the year to clear the gutters.

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