Oct. 14-15, 2011

Weather

It was great -- sunny and low 70s both days. It was hard to leave. We also had 2.25 inches in the rain gauge, which was very nice since it had dried up again.

Hammock

The weekend before I had just gotten the hammock stand set-up -- first time all year. It wasn't dry enough in the spring and then it got so hot so fast. These last two weekends have been ideal for it.

Pulled Weeds

While Sally lounged I pulled many large weeds that had grown up around the black berries. I'm not sure there is much use though, as I will be surprised if many of the plants survive -- they just burned up in spite of my attempts to water. I also took the brush whacker to that area, the hill in the back, and around the barn. Still much more to do, but at least the growth should cease soon.

Garden

Sally picked lots of jalapenos, so Sunday we had Chris and Lindsey over for stuffed jalapenos (cream cheese inside and bacon out). They were good, but we couldn't finish off what we had made with 12 oz. of bacon. Sally also got a few more squash, but left many. Her fall seeds are showing a little progression, but not much. I think the rain will help. I weeded the garden.

Walnuts

There are an amazing number of walnuts considering the hot dry weather we suffered through. I found that I could step on them to break the hull, and then role them under my foot to remove most of the hull. I picked up what I could find around the house Friday -- without gloves. That was a mistake as my right hand is very stained. They were very wet and yellow/green, but everything turns black later.

Saturday I went down around the pond, but found most under the tree by the creeks confluence and the one near the old home site. I think I have a full bag which I left in the rabbit hutch to dry (20% of what I had last year). I used gloves, but my left hand still ended up with some stain.

I took this picture in the office after charging my phone. Apparently I left the radio on Friday night and it drained the battery constantly searching for a signal (which doesn't exist at the house without the external antennae).

Other than some sudoku challenges and relaxed reading, that was it for our farm time.