March 19-20, 2011

I forgot my phone, so no camera and no pictures this week – you can tell I'm not tethered to the thing. Saturday was overcast and in the 60s (there was a chance of rain but unfortunately we didn't get any) and Sunday was clear and in the upper 70s (Fayetteville set a record high of 79).

Logs

I brought 8 logs to the farm from the house: 1 long hollow red oak blow log, 3 short red oak logs for Denver/Chicago, 3 short black oak logs for D/C, and one short walnut log I've had at the house for several years (I suppose I thought I was going to make something from it). Other than the walnut, these were cut on the shortcut on the way home the previous two trips out. I cleaned out the inside of the blow log with a shovel and split all but the black oak.

Garden

The onions and other sprouts had all survived, and some seeds Sally had planted were coming up (spinach and bok chow I think). She tended those and watered (I broke out the hoses) while I continued weeding, and worked one more bag of compost brought from the house in. After lunch I just started using the shovel to scrape up the weeds – the roots were so matted into the packed earth between the rows it was very difficult to get them up. Basically the garden is now good to go.

Well House Insulation

I bagged this up, and hung it in the garage. It is getting pretty ratty looking (it actually does look like rats or something nest in it), but figure I can use it at least one more year.

Afternoon Walk

I talked Sally and Tender into driving to the pond and walking the fields behind the pond and up the hill. I wanted to check on my trees there. The pines are doing good, but I couldn't tell much about the red oaks and walnuts since they hadn't started leafing out. I took my loppers and got 240 cedars on the walk.

We tried to get to the cave, but there was so much downed timber Sally couldn't/didn't want to make it. I guess I haven't been in there since the ice storm. Just one more area to clean up.

Some algae is growing around the edge of the pond. I read a pond management article that talked about an algae bloom being good for the fish. I don't know if that is what we have or not, but I don't like the looks of it.

Prune

I pruned the two pears, the last of the fruit trees needing this. Their leaves were beginning to show but I couldn't see any signs of blooms. I'm hoping for more than 1 pear this year. The nectarine was covered in its beautiful pink/white blooms, and there were a few blooms on the elberta peach. I also pruned the three hollies on the west side of the house – they really needed a hair cut.

Fajita Cookout

Even though there was a fire ban on, we had a cook out. Beef fajitas with grilled onions and bell pepper. Very tasty.

Sunday Morning Walk

We went down the hill, and at Plume creek I tried to get Sally to walk with me up the creek (I've been working on getting it cleared). It was too uneven for her in tennis shoes, so it was a no go. I did bring my loppers along again, and got another 60 cedars. On the way back I noticed a blue feather in the bottom of blue bird house that sits half way down the hill. I opened it up to find a dead blue bird. No nest or anything else. We guessed it was maybe seeking shelter in the cold weather and died of natural causes.

Cell Phone Antennae

Sally was having trouble getting reception, so I got the ladder and repositioned the antennae on the roof. It had slid down 8-10 inches due to the snow on the roof. I tapped it back with duct tape.