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.