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.)