December 15-16, 2012

This was a quick solo trip, arriving late afternoon Saturday and leaving fairly early Sunday afternoon -- but a very rewarding trip! And yet another warm December weekend with highs in the upper 50s Saturday (cloudy) and just touching 60 Sunday afternoon (clear and gorgeous).

Expose Bluffs

I had been looking at all the unsightly under brush and small trees growing in front of the bluffs just above the spring, much of it growing up underneath the big cedars there. Plus the cedars, which had been trimmed up nicely at one time, had now put out new limbs growing back down toward the ground. Our bluffs are an attractive part of the place, and these were mostly hidden. So exposing them was my big project for the weekend. These first pictures are the before.

I lopped all I could Saturday and hauled one load of small trees and branches down to the pasture near one of the cedar groves where I had piled ice storm limbs (which I eventually burned). Now there is a new pile to eventually be burned (a great activity for some cold wet weekend -- if it ever gets wet again). Sunday morning I took the Poulan and cut all the larger trees, and began cutting out the lower cedar limbs. Eventually I had to get my step ladder to reach some of the cedar limbs I wanted removed. Balancing it on the step hill and using the chain saw was a bit tricky. Luckily I only fell once and just torked my knee a little.

I hauled 6 loads total down to the pasture. I had to strap the limbs down in order to keep from losing any on the way. Some of the longest ones had to be cut in half. The bulk of them are cedars. I now have a quite large burn pile.

The results, I must say, are very impressive. There is probably nothing I else I could have done to spruce the place up with an equivalent effort. I wish I could have gotten this done before the wedding. The trees I left will be reviewed after they leaf out, and any undesirables will go. I also need to paint the stumps with herbicide to keep new growth in check.

Riving Boards

I had talked to my dad last month about the struggle I was having trying to split off shakes from all my pine logs. I knew they had used pine for roofing. He said that as a boy that was one of his jobs, riving boards. I had never heard that term, so I looked it up and found it quite appropriate.

Rive:
verb (used with object)
1. to tear or rend apart: to rive meat from a bone.
2. to separate by striking; split; cleave.
3. to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).
4. to split (wood) radially from a log.
verb (used without object)
5. to become rent or split apart: stones that rive easily.

He didn't call the results shakes, but boards. He also said his were 2 to 3 feet long each (versus what I cut at 18 inches), since for roofing you had to overlap them three times.

I was anxious to tackle my pine logs again, and so with 30 minutes before time to leave I got this technique down which I videoed using my iPhone. Watch the video on Youtube -- Riving a Board (http://youtu.be/r23MV2_qbgw). I am sure this is not the proper technique for using a froe, but hey it works.

December 7-8, 2012

Warm weather has persisted well into December, as have the ticks. It was near 60 both days, gray and drizzling on the way out and extremely foggy Saturday morning. Luckily we had received a nice rain on Monday, I guessed about an inch. Regarding the ticks, I picked one off of me and Tender continues to pick them up. We should not have stopped his Advantix II for the winter.

Lopping

We were late getting out, so I had little daylight left Friday. I took my loppers and cut 100+ cedars below the barn before it got too dark. It will be nice when the days start growing.

Meter Reader Hit Pine

We walked up the road Saturday morning and I took a closer look at this tree. I had noticed it the last couple of trips out, and sure enough someone had run off the road and pushed it over. Carroll Electric and their meter reader are the only other ones with a key, so I figure it must have been the meter reader. What the heck was he smoking! I'm glad he didn't run off the other side of the road and end up in the ravine.

I came back with a hand saw and my loppers later. I cut up through the woods and lopped over a hundred cedars before I got to the pine. I cut it with the saw and went ahead and thinned out the other small pines growing up along the road. I then proceeded through the upper field to the south where we are letting the trees grow up, and then came back down the hill jsut above the swing. I ended up lopping and cutting over 500 cedars. Using the saw I was able to get many of the larger ones I'd skipped in previous expeditions.

Happy Face

While coming down the road on our morning walk, I noticed this patch of bright blue showing from underneath some leaves and pine straw right beside the road. Look what I pulled out, some kids toy figure/puppet/whatever. Sally wouldn't let me keep it to play with, so I just hung it in a tree near where I found it.

Fence Repair

When I was trimming the honey suckle a few weeks back, the ladder tipped with me on it and I fell into the fence between the garage and the porch. The porch side broke loose, so I finally got around to fixing it. I have a stump in the corner by the porch I sit on to take off my boots if they are muddy. It was in the way and had to be scooted to the side. Underneath I found this tarantula nested in a hole he/she had dug out. Funny that all these doodle bugs were all curled up beside it. I guess they will be keeping each other warm throughout the winter. I carefully replaced the stump when I was done. Tarantula's don't bother me.

Walnuts

I built a wood frame with a chicken wire bottom to shake my walnuts in with the intent of removing some of the loose hull and grit from their outside. It didn't work. They were still surprisingly moist, and I hope it works better later after they have dried out more. The few I cracked were also still too moist inside. The darn things are just too small this year as well.

Wedding Signs

For the third or fourth time I re-hung the wedding signs. Either the wire breaks or the nails or hooks into the boards break off. The wind tosses them around too much. Staying up one day, no problem. To keep them up for months I need a different approach. This may the last time.

November 24-25, 2012

We went by Academy in Rogers so that we could get Savannah a bike for Christmas. That meant we came into Eureka via Hwy 62, so we had to stop at Bubba's for some barbeque. (The meat just fell off those ribs.) There was great weather all weekend with clear skies, cold nights, and warm days. The sunset really lit up the thin clouds to the south, unfortunately my phone camera could not capture it.

Garden

We've yet to receive any decent rain, and so the garden soil is like powder. The paper quoted George Stowe-Rains with the Forest Service saying we are now 15 inches below normal (he said we were in an extreme extreme drought) and the fire danger throughout the winter will be very high. There is nothing left growing in the garden save one spindly kale plant. Sally pointed out all the others had been cut off at the base, and that this one had a close knit wire cage around it (keeping it safe from the rats). Sally is worried that the garlic she planted won't come up because it is so dry. I say give it time. I did some weeding, mostly pulling up the larger dandelions and then tackling the deep rooted bermuda invading the east end.

I decided to take a different approach to weeding on Sunday. Since it was so dry and most of what was left was small spreading weeds, I used the hoe to scrap the surface -- pulling them up or cutting them off. It took awhile (Sally says not to bother), but looks much better.

Lop Cedars

Late Saturday afternoon I took my loppers down the hill below the barn, cutting 500+ cedars. There are always cedars to lop, and two more pens to clear below the barn.

Walk to Pond

Sunday morning we walked to the pond with Tender. He did fine, other than wandering a bit. It was nice and dry at the house, but there was a heavy frost in the valley. The pond remains extremely low, and I haven't seen any fish in months.

Front Gate

Sunday I took down the right half of the front gate, nailed it back together, and re-hung it. It has never worked that well, but at least it opens, closes, and latches again.

McCulloch

Next I looked at why this chain saw wouldn't crank. I found no problem on the chain side and could see that cylinder was moving freely. I then disassembled the crank side and found the pull cord off the pulley and wrapped around the axle (so to speak). I put it back and would it a bit tighter, cleaned out some of the oily sawdust, and put it back together. I went ahead and cleaned the air filter, so hopefully this machine is good to go.

Honeysuckle

I like the honeysuckle growing up the side of the garage next to the house, but it knows no bounds. This is the second time I've taken some snips to it. I'm sure next spring it will once again be reaching almost over to the roof of the house. I've bought some perennial rye grass I would like to get to grow in there, but we need rain first.

Walk Upper Pasture

Sunday afternoon I got Sally to take a walk with me – up the trail through the woods to the west to the upper pasture, across the top back to the east, and down the old 4 wheeler track back to the house. It was nice and I was very glad she joined me.

Haul Amanda's Dresser Home

With clear weather we thought it would be wise to go ahead and bring Amanda's dresser home since she is scheduled to take it back to Colorado at Christmas. She bought it while antiquing with Sally well over 5 years ago, and it has staid at the farm all this time. We'll miss it.

November 9-10, 2012

Sally and Tender staid back in town, which is beginning to look like a trend. I saw my first Eagle of season on my way out, just south of Eureka along Hwy 23. It was yet another mild, dry and windy week and weekend. (Actually a front came through Sunday and we received some rain!) There were still some nice fall colors, though they were fading and leaves were beginning to fall. (Lots of pine needles have already fallen, as you can see in the next pic.)

Clear Wood Finish

Being a warm day in November and the south side of the house showing signs of needing another coat of Flood Clear Wood Finish, I decided that would be my project for the afternoon. It went pretty quick and I used only about a half gallon of the finish. I had also brought a new (new for the farm, but used) 4" brush out for the task. That made it much nicer since I had been using the same brush for this task for the past 9 years. I never cleaned it, just bag it and store it in the freezer. The problem was that it had gotten loose where the bristles joined the handle, and it would wobble around on me and actually pinch my hand. After doing the house, I had just enough light to put a coat on the picnic table.

Paint Touch Up

Since we painted the living room last summer, I had noticed many places where I had failed to get a thorough coat on (the lighter previous paint showed through), or just did not get all the way up to the trim or outlets. Using a bright light I hit 40 or 50 spots Friday evening. I'll have to check again in the daylight. This didn't bother Sally, but it had been bugging me.

Bran Muffins/Multi-Grain Pancakes

I had some buttermilk to use up, so made bran, coconut, walnut, raisin muffins Friday night. And then for Saturday morning I had multi-grain pancakes with cranberries, butter and maple syrup. I don't get to eat like this when Sally is along.

Pickup Walnuts

First thing Saturday I drove down to the big Walnut below the pond to hull (by foot) and pickup another bucket of nuts. Back at the house I spread them out to dry in the sun and wind. End of the day I bagged them and stored them in the rabbit hutch. This made 4 buckets and probably all I will bother with.

Field Pine

I took the sharpened Stihl back down to the pasture to finish off the big field pine that died, and that I have been working on for 3 weeks now. I also took my wedges, sledge, and splitting maul so I could split the big logs in half so that I could lift them into the bed of the truck. (It took all of these tools to get the logs to split – small wedge, large wedge, followed by the maul pounded through with the sledge hammer.)

The slices with big limbs I left, rolling them down to the low area where the pasture drains. All others I hauled back to the barn, along with all the pine bark that had come loose. I'm not sure what I will do with the bark, but it can be nice in a flower bed or maybe even in the garden lanes. There were little worms under much of the bark, probably what really killed the tree after the drought weakened it.

Froe Use

Using my froe, I first split up all the pine pieces I had created from my attempts to create shakes from the pine logs I've had in the barn for about 4 years. These, shown in the bed of the truck, I will use as kendling for the stove and fireplace. (Our gas line leading to the fireplace starter developed a leak and had to be cut off and capped.) Then I tried to slice shakes from one of the green pine logs. Green was right as they are still full of moisture and would bend but only split reluctantly. I did not realize how hard I worked at this until the next day when the sore muscles spoke to me. Needless to say, this effort was only marginally more successful than my previous attempt. I will let the logs dry out a bit more and try again. If it doesn't work I will be stuck with some big pine logs and a ton of kindling.

Garden

Since it is still bone dry, I watered the few things growing Friday. Saturday I picked more jalapenos (and then pulled up the plants), a little chard and kale (still worms on it), and bag of spinach. Without rain, the fall crops (kale, chard and beats) will not amount to much.

Sharpen Saws

Last I sharpened the Stihl so that it would be read to go. Then I thought I would do the McCulloch. Wow, about half the teeth were missing from the chain. They were so worn down they had broken off in its last use (cutting some of the field pine). I then found another old chain, but after getting it own I realized it had stretched so much that it now requires a link to be removed. I decided to chunk both of those and found two more chains I had stored in a can of oil. I got one on and sharpened, and then realized that the saw was locked up and wouldn't crank. Its happened before, but I can't remember exactly why. A job for my next outing.

November 2-3, 2012

This was another great fall weekend in the Ozarks. The oaks were in full blaze so I took lots of pictures. It was warm Friday getting up to 80, but only reached 70 Saturday. Unfortunately it was another dry week. I had to hook up the hose so Sally could water what was left in the garden.

Lop Cedars

After filling the bird feeders, I decided my Friday afternoon project would be to lop some cedars and check out the upper pasture after it was brush hogged. I looped around the top of the bluff back of the house, and then worked my way up to the top of the hill. I had lopped almost 200 cedars by the time I got up top. The pasture itself was clean, I did not find any cedars there. I then skirted through the area we are letting grow up, cutting any cedars I found and some of the pines. (I think I actually should thin the oaks and hickories coming up here to give others more of a chance.) I then started working along the line between the pasture and wooded hillside, heading back east. There were lots of cedars along here, some tiny and some larger than I could lop. This is where I stumbled upon this stash of fence posts, hearing something clink under foot. There are 30 to 40 here, and I bet there are others along this line. I did later find a big role of field fence, also mostly buried. I'm surprised I'd never run across these before, but they were under a lot of debris. By the time I got back to the house I had lopped 800 trees and felt like I had accomplished something.

Garden

With Sally along, she pretty much took care of the garden (nice). There was not much to harvest, but she did pick more jalapenos (because they were there!), chard, and just a little kale. Then she started pulling up plants, which I got to haul off. I did do a little weeding. We're still hopeful that the kale will grow, but we need rain! She planted a few garlic cloves now that it is November.

Walnuts

Saturday morning I drove into the back pasture with hopes of finding some large walnuts. I looked under at least a dozen trees and only found 4 nuts total. I guess this north facing hillside was too dry? The trees were gorgeous though, and I enjoyed walking below the bluff and coming back along the track I use to drive back there. The trees in this area are the tallest on the place, mostly white oaks and hickories. I then drove back to the big tree below the pond and filled my bucket there, hardly needing to move (but small nuts).

Field Pine

I sharpened the Stihl, and in the afternoon I drove down to the field pine. I got 4 cuts on the base of it and could tell the chain was dulled by that point. (It was workout for me as well.) I then took the 4th slice, the smallest, and rolled it to the truck. Using my knee I was just able to hoist it up into the bed. I took it back to the barn and split it in two. (Visible in the next pic.) It was very wet and bit difficult to split. I made these cuts 18 inches and hope to be able to use my froe to slice off shakes. We'll see. (I tried this with the previous large pine I had cut years back and saved, but they would not split straight. I'm hoping the green wood will do better.)

Firewood

Since I had the truck and was in the barn, I loaded it with firewood to haul back to town. I'd taken another load the weekend before. Two loads is just right to store on one side at the back of the carport. We're ready for winter now. (I cleaned the stove pipe and flu the previous Sunday.)

October 26-27, 2012

Sally staid in town and missed a beautiful weekend at the farm. Crisp clean air, blue skies, fall colors, hawks soaring overhead, with highs in the 50s and lows in the upper 20s. There was an inch and half in the rain gauge, but most of it must have fallen a week or more earlier. The ground was really dry.

Garden

Though we had had a light freeze weeks before, we now had several days of hard freezes forecast beginning with Friday night. So I figured I better harvest everything possible from the garden.

• The tomatoes were finally ripening and I picked 20 or more red ones and maybe half that many green ones. (This picture shows how the pack rats harvest them and carry them to their garden door, but can't get them through. I don't feel sorry for them.)
• The bell pepper was also loaded, though some were small. I probably picked 15 or more. Unfortunately none of them had even begun to turn yellow. I'd love to learn how to speed up that process.
• The two jalapeno plants were just loaded. We have a big bag from the last time out, but I went ahead and picked more than we will ever use (because they were there).
• I got a nice bit of chard, but only a little kale because of the dang little worms that have been devastating it. I'm hoping it will survive the freezes, but that the cold weather will get the worms.
• The summer spinach was still doing well (even after the frost), so I picked enough of it to fill a quart bag.
• I also chopped off the tops of much of the basil and spent a great deal of time picking through it for the good leaves (it had suffered from the earlier frost, was not in as good a shape as it appears from the picture, and was wiped out by Saturday morning). I ended up with enough leaves for a half a pesto recipe.

Saturday I went ahead and pulled up the tomato and the bell pepper plants.

Winterization

With colder weather it was time to do the routine winterization: put insulation into the top of the well house, empty the rain barrels (I flipped them upside down and put them in the back of the garage), light the heaters, and bring in the glass rain gauge. Tasks I knew I wanted to get done this trip.

Mow/Weed Eat

With it getting late, I decided to do a little mowing up front and out back -- mostly just to run the mower and charge the battery. Then I took the brush whacker out and cleaned up the first half of the road down to the pond.

Loveable Loo Invaders

I checked on the Loo Friday and found that something had been chewing on the top like they wanted to get into the bucket. That's a sick critter. From the droppings I would presume it was a rat. I'd rather they not do this, but how can I stop them. I also installed a coat hook so I could hang a wrap while visiting the pot in cold weather.

Walnuts

I had two projects Saturday, cut the dead field pine and pickup some walnuts. I cut the notch in the field pine so it would fall to the southeast. But there was a breeze out of the southeast, and I didn't want it to fall the other direction toward the fence. So I decided to get my rope, come-along, 4' steel stake, and mini sledge to pull the tree back to the east as I cut it. On the way back to the house I decided to pickup the nuts under the walnut near the old homestead. These were a nice size and the hulls were moist and soft. I would stomp on them and role them under my foot to remove most of the hull. I would do a half dozen or so and then pick them up, remove the rest of the hull, and toss them into a bucket. I'd move around, and pretty much picked up all from under that tree within about an hour. Back at the house I spread them on the ground to dry in the sun and the wind.

After felling the pine, I went to the large walnut just below the pond. It had been really loaded with nuts, at least 5 times as many as the other tree. I filled another bucket up there. They were smaller, but the hulls were thinner. I didn't make a dent in the nuts under that tree. When back at the house I spread them out on the ground as well, but it was getting late and they didn't have much time to air out. (The first batch dried out nicely.) Before heading home I had to bag them all and stash them in the rabbit hutch. I hope the second batch doesn't get moldy. I ended up with about 1 bag, though I kept them separated. It would be nice to get another bag full in the next few weeks.

Cut Dead Field Pine

Cutting any big tree down always makes me a bit nervous, and this was a big tree. Here you can see the rope and come-along I used to ensure it would fall to the east. If it wasn't for the breeze I probably wouldn't have used this, but I didn't feel good about it without this helper. I would cut on it awhile and then go over a tighten up the come-along – maybe three times. I didn't relax until I finally saw its weight shift.

The second picture is pretty amazing to me, it leaned over until the wedge held it and it just staid standing there. There weren't that many fibers holding that huge thing up. Just amazing.

And look at this third picture and note the 6 feet or so the trunk ended up, jumped, from the stump. I had trouble holding the camera steady. This was one big tree.

There's a draw right where it fell that drains this pasture. The smaller limbs I cut and threw into the draw. I cut the tree with my Stihl, but thought I would use the old heavy McCulluch to do the limbing (partly since it hadn't been fired up in almost a year). It was a little difficult to start, but performed well once running. I got the limbs off and cut the trunk into a few sections, and even rolled a couple of big ones over to the base of another pine. There is more to do here, but I was ready to move on to picking up more walnuts and my time at the farm was running out.

October 12-13, 2012

It was still warm, but fall is definitely knocking on the door. The Ash, Walnut, Persimmon, and Virginia Creeper were all in full color. We drove out in the rain, but it stopped by the time we got to Eureka Springs. There were two inches in the rain gauge, and then more fell with a line of storms that came through Saturday night after we left. Very nice, although the pond has yet to rise one bit.

Garden

It was muddy mucking around in the garden. Sally wanted the sweet potatoes dug up, so that was my job. I used the potato fork, but as careful as I could be I still speared a few of them. I was amazed to find more than 20, some very small but some huge, and some color variation in them. Most had splits in there skin, I presume from dry (drought) periods and then watering (or rain). Sally thinks the large ones will not be good, but I disagree. I made the mistake of washing them, a natural reaction after holding these huge muddy blobs. Later Sally said, oh yea the instructions said to just let them dry and then knock the dirt off. Hopefully they will still keep. We ate 3 (or more) of the ones I had injured for dinner sliced and baked with a little olive oil and salt. That was the whole of dinner, and it was good.

The weekend before we had received our first (light) frost. The only thing really affected was (sadly) the basil -- those nice tender new leaves on the top which have been perfect for making pesto the past months were blemished. Luckily we have lots of pesto frozen. The two jalapeno plants were so loaded we didn't even bother picking all of them, picked about 8 bell peppers (only 2 were beginning to turn yellow), about the same number of small tomatoes, and bunches of chard. The kale was up and growing but it is being decimated by some tiny worms we found on the back side of the leaves. After squashing all I could find Friday, more were back Saturday. Oh, the woes of the farmer.

Brush Hogged

Larry had been out and gotten everything brush hogged, so the fields were looking good. I didn't go back behind the pond to check where he stopped, but I should have. It still makes me sick thinking of all the pines I planted just to have them cut down. The survivors are now 15' tall. What could have been.

Pond

Sally and I took a walk to the pond, sans Tender. He is just not up to it any longer. He makes a fuss when we leave, but I think he is satisfied just snoozing in the house. The willow at the pond had a large mostly dead limb hanging out over the water that had actually put down roots into the water (the part keeping it alive). Since the pond was low, I knew this might be my only chance to cut it. I came back with my chain saw and cut it and another one hanging out over the water. I had to use the saw to cut through the thick mat of roots growing into the pond. (Apologies for the finger I got in front of the camera lens.) I just hope a new willow doesn't sprout out of there. (Hopefully the pond will come up and completely cover them and prevent that.) I sharpened the chain saw when back at the house, but it was really a pretty lazy weekend where I didn't get a lot accomplished -- bothersome to me.

September 29-30, 2012

It had been cloudy and cool with a good chance of rain for days, but we didn't get any. The gauge had only 2 tenths of an inch, although both rain barrels were full. Sally was so chilled she got a jacket out. Buffalo burgers and wine for dinner.

Mow

Even though we are still way short on rain, there has been enough falling to get the grass growing again – everything needed mowing. I did some in the morning, and finished up Saturday afternoon. Sunday I did some weed eating.

Beaver Den?

I noticed this pile of beaver sticks half in the pond while mowing, so went over to investigate. I certainly do not want the beavers to return, and thought this might be the beginnings of a new den. But there were no freshly cut trees, so I presume these were the sticks I had pulled out of the previous den and left up hill. I guess gravity pulled them down and back into the water. I'll need to return and drag them out at some point, and continue to monitor for beavers.

Tarantula

Sally was sitting out back reading when this guy decided to stroll across the yard (most Fall's we've seen at least one tarantula). It was Tender that noticed him and went to investigate, and thus brought him to Sally's attention. She said Tender's nose was right up to him. I came by later and he was still there for me to snap this picture.

Walk to Pond

Sally wanted to take a good walk, but Tender has just not been up to long walks recently. So Sunday morning he had crashed in the living room and we slipped out without waking him. There is still no water coming in and the pond remains as low as it has ever been. Leaves on the persimmon, some walnuts, and the few maples we have (like this one across the pond) are beginning to turn. We're not sure what kind of fall we will have given the drought.

Garden

Sally tended the garden, though I did some weeding. The jalapeno plants were just loaded, but we didn't pick any since we still have a whole bowl full from two weeks earlier. (Should have brought them to work to give away.) Lots of chard (with more coming up from seed along with some beets) and a little kale. One tomato plant has not produced more than a few tomatoes all year, the other had a few red ones and lots of green ones (all small). The basil has been fantastic though. Sally picked enough for a double batch of pesto, and another 4 cups for Sarah. I picked some for Donna and Joy and left it on the stems. Joy said she got 5 batches from her bag and Donna enough for 4 batches.

September 14-15, 2012

Due to a slow moving cold front it was forecast to be a rainy weekend, so Sally and Tender staid back. I had picked up a load of free mulch from the city and borrowed Chris' ladder, so I had some projects. There was a light rain until about 5:30 Friday, and off and on rain Saturday. We received less than a quarter inch by Saturday morning, but with some harder rain Saturday, the total got up to near an inch. Temperature was around 70 each day.

Hang Swing

The rope holding the swing up across the spring had broken after 9+ years. This was how Eddy had his swing hung, and I just used the same when I bought a replacement. (He took his swing with him.) I bought some chain and still had the original eye bolts with S hooks that had come with my swing. With Chris' ladder and a load of mulch in the back of the truck, I was able to reach the very high white oak limb. I removed the rest of the rope, drilled holes for the eye lag bolt, screwed them in, and attached the new chain. Then, with the truck out of the way, I connected the swing chain and was done. At least I got something done Friday.

Mulch

I can always use mulch, so when the city advertised it free due to a surplus I figured why not get some. Saturday morning I pulled the truck along side my baby trees lining the drive and added a good dose to each. I also had enough to spread around the two apples and one of the pears. It left the truck a mess, so I had to wash out the back.

Flag Trees

I bought some new flagging tape and wanted to flag what few little trees have survived so they wouldn't be brush hogged. So I walked the road, both creeks and up into the back pasture putting tape on the few walnut and pecan trees I could find. I also followed the line of pine trees up the hill flagging them, once again.

Drought

With the one inch or so of rain we have been receiving weekly, you would think it would have made a dent in the drought. The burn bans have been lifted, but according to this article in Friday's paper we are still in an exceptional drought. Ours is the only section of the state still at this most severe level, as you can see from this picture. Hopefully the rains will continue.

Garden

Everything was wet with the rain, including the produce I picked. I tried laying it out on the picnic table, but it wouldn't dry off there. So I moved it into the house and spread it on a towel under a ceiling fan to dry. Once dry enough, I started picking the leaves off the basil. By the time I got to the end (a good 12 cups), the basil was beginning to wilt and my drying had progressed too far. I also got lots of chard, a huge bowl of jalapenos, a few good tomatoes and some kale. However, I went off and left the chard and kale in a big plastic container in the fridge. I also did some weeding in the garden.

September 7-8, 2012

We arrived late because we participated in the office's First Friday Lunch and Bowl. Fun, no scores worth mentioning, but lots of sore muscles. There was only a tenth of an inch in the gauge and neither rain barrel was full. But as I was mowing the back it began to sprinkle and I barely got the front done before the skies opened up. We got 2 inches in about three hours. Tender could not settle down with all the thunder. The rain was part of a cold front which brought us 70 degree temperatures Saturday.

Garden

The chard, jalapeno and basil continue to be the big performers. Sally is anxious to dig up her sweet potatoes, but the tops are still lush and green. She got a few beans and small tomatoes and pulled up her one beat. She also found a tomato horned worm, and I forgot to follow up with another check. Only a few of the kale seeds I had planted a month earlier were up. She planted more. We picked about 12 cups of basil, and there is plenty more. I really like just chopping off the tops since it is easier on me to pick the leaves inside, it gets rid of the flowers, and I think it rejuvenates the plant. Had pesto pizza for dinner.

Road

We walked up the road Saturday morning and I noticed how most of the water bars were failing – they had silted up. Thankfully not a lot of damage, but that was my first task Saturday, clean them out and then cover the muddy bars with leaves and pine straw (to keep it from sticking to my boots and the car tires).

Birds

There were lots of birds around, especially gold finches. Nice. The blue bird eggs were still in the house out back so I removed the nest and eggs. The eggs were a bit discolored, since by now they must have been close to six weeks old. Don't know what happened that caused the momma to abandon them.

Mow and Weed Eat

So after mowing around the house on Friday, I did across the spring on Saturday. Then I took the brush whacker all the way up and down the road, around out front, the hill South of the house, and much of the hill out back. With rain the grass is growing again. Armin thought I should have more pictures of me, but its hard to take a picture of yourself – and what's there to see.

Toilet Leak

Friday night I noticed a stain behind the toilet, and found it wet and leaking from one of the tank bolts. I thought this was very unusual since it hasn't been messed with in years. I dried it up and put a jar under the drip. There was just a bit of water in the jar in the morning, but then Sally leaned on the tank and it really began leaking. One bolt was loose to the touch. I tightened them both up and the leak stopped. I'm glad we turn the water off when we're gone.

Garage Latch

When we were ready to leave, I couldn't get the latch to meet on the garage doors in order to lock it. It had been difficult for awhile, but with the rain I guess the poles (its built like a pole barn) moved a bit. I decided to remove the right side and reposition it. Three of the screws came out okay, but I had to drill out the fourth and use a tap to get it out. Remounting it was easy. I wonder if the doors will continue to move and cause future problems, or whether the poles are rotting and need replacing.