May 14-15, 2011

Sally stayed home to catch up. The rain gauge showed 1.75 inches, and the weather had turned very cool -- overcast in the lower 50s Saturday and partly cloudy and 50s Sunday.

Dunn's Fish Truck

I went out Saturday because the fish truck was in town at 9am. I mainly wanted more grass carp thinking they could address my pond problem, but the only ones they had were already promised. They did tell me that the grass carp would continue to eat even after they got big (contrary to what I had heard some time back). Well, I've got some big ones so I hope they go to work soon.

They didn't recommend minnows if you had over an hour drive, but I got 2 pounds anyway. They packed them light, putting them in two bags. (There is just a little water in the bag, but they pump oxygen into the top part of the bag.) I also got 50 catfish also packed in two bags. I had two ice chest with water and frozen water bottles floating in them -- you have to keep the fish cool or they will die as well. I drove fast directly to the pond. At first I thought most of them were goners. But after I added a bit of pond water they livened up, and after I released them I didn't see any corpses floating. I hope the minnows can find a place to take shelter, or they will be goners. (They are intended to be food for the bass, but you want a reproducing population.)

Burn

Given the grass is nice and green and it was wet and cool, I decided to burn. I had three limb piles beside Plume creek (ice storm damage I've cleared over the past two springs) and ended up with two burn piles. I decided to leave the hard wood and only burn the cedar. The hardwood will rot, but the cedar stays around for years and years.

One of the huge cedar trunks that I had cut (because the tree was laid over the creek) had washed down stream a good 200 feet. I was able to work it up out of the creek bed by lifting one end at a time and walking it up.

Sprayed

I sprayed buck brush, briars, and elm below the house Saturday, and buck brush, sumac, and persimmon up on top on Sunday. I also doused the apple trees with fungicide, although I have not noticed the apple-cedar rust galls in the cedars this year. (I'm sure its there though.)

Garden

I made a salad from lettuce, spinach, radishes, and bock chow I picked from the garden, plus some onion and olives I had. The tomatoes haven't done anything, but at least they are still alive. The cilantro has really taken off – now to find something to do with it. I did some weeding Sunday morning.

Walnuts

I cracked the bag of walnuts I had in the freezer, and then moved the last of the last bag to the freezer (put the whole mesh bag inside one of the fish bags). I used a cup and half of nuts to make banana bread that evening (good, but not the best I've ever made).

Blue Birds

This picture is of the nest in the bird house out front. It's the fancy one with the plexiglass viewing side. I am pleased to report that there is also a nest in the house out back. (When I went out to check it, what looked like two females started flying high circles over me. I got dizzy trying to follow them.) So we now have three houses and three nests!

Mow/Weed Eat

I mowed everything Sunday – boring and time consuming (and the season has just started). Before leaving I re-strung and fired up the John Deere to clean up around the house and down by the spring.

May 7-8, 2011

There was a lot going on in town due to the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit. We attended a traditional Tibetan dance demonstration Friday night and Sally volunteered at the Tibetan booth at the Farmers market Saturday morning, so this was an unusual Saturday-Sunday visit to the farm. It was very warm for this time of year, lower 80s Saturday and upper 80s Sunday, with a heavy fog in the morning. We had 2.4 inches in the rain gauge.

Build Screens

With Friday afternoon off in town, I went by Johnson Hardware and got the materials to build screens for our bedroom windows. This project has been on the list since the beginning, and I've had a scrap of paper with the dimensions sitting on the desk for years. Rather than have them build the screens, I just purchased enough material and tackled this job first thing.

I needed 2 screens just under 2' x 4', so I had 4 6' channels. I immediately screwed up the project by cutting two short pieces for the top and bottom from one piece. Rather, I should have cut the four short pieces from each of the four 6' sections. This meant I either had to wait and purchase another piece or splice one of the long sides.

Sally wanted to participate (or watch me screw up), but she spent most of her time battling the wasps that were nesting in the area. One got in the house and that really panicked her. She was going around swatting at them with a piece of the screen channel. I finally stood on my saw horse and knocked it down from the ceiling fam with a fly swatter. But when I got to the point of building the splice (used a sliver of wood I chiseled down and fit into the ends and then screwed in place) for the last side, I only found short pieces and ended up having to make two splices. After I was all done and picking up, I look around in the house and there is a long piece of channel, which Sally had used to swat at the wasps, sitting on the ottoman. I really did only need to make one splice! Oh well, they are up and we slept with the windows open for the first time.

Brush Whacker

Also on Friday afternoon, I went by The Hardware Store and got a replacement spark plug for the Brush Whacker (which hasn't run since last fall). While there I looked at their Stihl weed eaters, and even told them I would be back to buy one if I couldn't get the brush whacker running. I was actually a little disappointed when it did fire up. On Saturday I did the road all the way up to and around the cattle guard and back. On Sunday I did around the barn and some of the hill in the back. It ran fine and even re-started a few times, but I've really got to do something about the handle which is broken and held together with wire and duct tape. You can't really see it, but I'm totally splattered with the juice of the wet spring weeds in this photo (there is no guard on this beast).

Garden

Sally picked spinach, bok chow (we had it raw with dressing for dinner), radishes (also eaten raw), and some summer spinach for a quiche. These pictures are the garlic and onions. I wish we had planted more garlic now. We also brought out two tomatoes that Sally planted. We were kicking ourselves for not getting another basil to put in the ground. The bell pepper I planted before the last freeze also died (along with the basil). The green beans were coming up but appeared to have caught some hail, leaving holes in their little leaves.

Walnuts for Jackie

With only one bag left, I am determined to get through all the walnuts I picked up and had hulled. I couldn't tempt Amanda into another shipment, but Jackie said she would never turn down black walnuts. So I cracked another box full while the fire was burning down for a buffalo burger cook out. Back in town I picked out most of the large shell-only pieces, packed them into a flat rate box, and Sally took it to the post office. Now I've got maybe one more box full to crack. (I put a Wal-Mart bag full of un-cracked nuts into the freezer a few weeks back, being unsure as to when I would get to them, but wanting to preserve them.)

Pond Walk

I used my new GPS to create a track to the pond from the house. Its a little further than I thought, .53 miles by the road. I took way points at the mid-section of our eastern property line and the pond. I forgot to check the elevation change or the distance as the crow flies.

This pretty blue wildflower, covered in dew, was blooming near the pond. The only one of this unknown type that we saw.

Pond Weeds/Algae

The grass was several inches high on the bottom of the pond, and the algae was all along the shore line with a few patches floating out. I decided to rake out what algae I could, and so worked on that Sunday morning. I bungy corded the rake to the mower to save a trip down -- I just stopped mowing when I got to the pond and switched tasks. It took an hour and half or two and left me pretty sore. I'm thinking of trying these bacteria pellets you spread that eat up the muck on the bottom and thus deprive the vegetation of its nutrients. Now to talk Sally into this approach.

Birds

We were delighted to see a rose breasted grosbeak, which seem to only be around this time of year. And finally, a blue bird pair is building a nest in the house out front. We love watching them. The humming birds and indigo buntings are also back. I even saw a king bird on the fence down toward the pond. And when at the pond on our morning walk a great blue heron flew up to the top of the big oak there. (That explains why I found half a fish under the tree while mowing a few weeks back. It may also explain the absence of our catfish.)

April 29-30, 2011

Weather

This was the conclusion of another brutal week of bad weather. Fayetteville received 10.5 inches of rain on the previous Sunday and Monday resulting in flooded streets, water in homes, and some deaths. The University even closed Monday afternoon -- the first time it has ever closed for rain. Sally and I were returning from Miami Monday afternoon and just suffered a canceled flight, resulting in the privilege of sleeping in the Dallas airport. (At least we were given a cot, blanket and mini-pillow.) Our house, luckily, only had water in the unfinished utility room.

I was anxious to get to the farm and check things out. It survived surprisingly well. I suspect it did not receive as much rain as Fayetteville. My 5 inch gauge had 4.8 inches still in it on Friday. This picture is down where the creeks merge and flow through a culvert under the road. You can see the height of the water by the debris. I've seen it at least this bad before. Once I witnessed water running over the road there. The pond had also over-topped the dam, but there didn't seem to be any damage.

The sump pump in the well house must have also worked well, as there were no signs of the pressure pump floating. The second picture is in the barn where the electrical service comes in. It is run down hill from the house through a flexible plastic water pipe. I'd always wondered why this corner always flooded, and then during a very wet period I observed water dripping out of the breaker box. (Not a very safe situation I am sure.) Since then I have kept a bucket propped underneath, and on a few occasions I have had to dump some water out. It was completely full this trip. (I dumped it before taking this picture.) This is another project, run the electricity straight from the pole and meter 20 yards away to the barn. The meter and service is closer to the barn now since our very first project was to remove the pole which was directly behind the house. (That involved digging a ditch and burying the service to the house).

The weather was great during our visit at the farm with a high of 70 both days. It did cloud over Saturday and turn misty, but very nice overall.

Spray

With Sally in Harrison, I went ahead and sprayed the apples with fungicide and sprayed buck brush and briars with herbicide and diesel (going down the hill from behind the barn). I've given up on spraying the knap weed and will likely buy some specially bread bugs that are suppose to attack it.

Weed Eat

With some tuning attempts, I got the Poulan 31cc weed eater running and had started on the hill behind the house. Then it just died for no obvious reason. I got it restarted a few times but it would just die again. Finally, I couldn't even get it restarted. With the monster weed whacker spark plug in town (meaning to replace it), that just left the little John Deere. It starts and runs good. I did finish the hill and around the house with it, but I really need one of the heavier machines working for this place. I am very tempted to just buy a new one -- after all the two that aren't working were purchased used in 2003, welded and duct taped together then.

Garden

It seemed we had received some hail, as the spring spinach was a bit beaten and torn. The garlic, onions, and cilantro are looking great. The sweet bell pepper may make it yet, and the summer spinach is big enough to start eating. Sally picked a few more radishes, and I did some weeding. We were surprised at how dry the dirt at the surface was, given all the rain earlier in the week.

Trees

All 10 of the little trees I had brought out from town are showing green. The largest walnut I transplanted from the garden ended up at the end of the line leading down from the house beside the road. Deer have munched much of its new tender leaves -- I hope it can recover. Unfortunately we have lost our autumn blaze maple that was just reaching a decent size. It was transplanted from Sunbridge, to Elm Street, and then out to the farm in 2004. The bark at the trunk had split over the winter and I new it was in trouble. Strange how it happened just as it was trying to leaf out.

Mow

I did the road to the pond, around the pond, the spring and barn on Friday. Saturday I finished all the upper level just as it began to mist.

Spring Blooms

The Peonies out here are the best. They struggle to survive late in the year, but they always come back with deep rich blooms. The snowball bush with its white blooms really made the peonies stand out. (It has sure grown.) Thanks to Eddie and Virginia for both.

Fighting Road Erosion

The upper road survived the heavy rain very well. But the stretch going down the hill from the house and at the second turn heading down both had deep (a couple inches) ruts cut in. To stop the bleeding, I filled 8 bucket with mud from behind the barn and built three small (one lane only) water bars on the stretch below the house. After I dump the mud I find a spot where the gravel has washed off the road and accumulated. I dig up some of it and work it into the mud by walking over it. All in all a very messy job when it is so wet.

At the second turn is where Carroll Electric had cut into the ditch with their equipment and I had tried to fix it a few weeks back. But the water had run off the hill, across the road, and just missed getting channeled into the ditch. So I re-worked this with my adz plus cleared more of the ditch further down. I didn't forget to take my ibuprofen this day!