April 20-22, 2012

With Sally in Denver, Tender and I made it a full weekend at the farm. There was still a half inch of rain in the gauge, just like when we had left the weekend before. It had rained early Friday morning, so I was hoping that entire half inch was from that rain -- but sadly not. Its still very dry and we're about 3 inches below normal for April. The weather was great for our weekend though, with a low of 38 and high of 70 Saturday, and 45 and 65 Sunday (but windy).

Benches

Sally bought two benches she had me bring out. I guess they are cast iron and wood – very heavy. Getting them out of the truck by myself was not easy. I've got them sitting over the two drains built into the barn floor, but Sally says she wants them out in front of the barn for the wedding. I say keep them in the shade (and covering the drains).

Blue Birds

The first order of business is always to fill the bird feeders. We had put out two covered low clearance feeders built just for blue birds the weekend before. They had a suet type cake around the center shaft and we had left meal worms in the dish. So I headed out with more meal worms only to find the entire feeder out back gone, and the bottom dish missing from the other. Squirrels or something really wanted the suet cake I guess. The pie pan on the post down the hill still had some deceased meal worms in it, which I blew out and replaced (but checking on Sunday, they were still there). Out back I put a rock in the cut out bottom of a box with some meal worms. They disappeared over night, and I presume they were eaten by some critter. But I think some of the ones I put out Sunday may have been eaten by birds during the day, so I put more out just before leaving.

It was sad to find the babies in the house on the hill gone, the nest obviously robbed. I checked the house by the pond while sitting on the running mower, and momma was there looking right back at me from atop a new nest. There is also a nest now started in the bird house out back. I'm thinking we have to put coon guards on all the houses -- and Sally had purchased a 5th house and sent it out with me to hang (which I just nailed to a tree by the barn -- not far enough from the others for blue birds and no guard).

Knap Weed

This invasive is really getting bad. While carrying the meal worms around I couldn't resist stopping to pull some of it. That's when I noticed that the ground moisture was only at the very surface meaning the early morning rain didn't amount to much. I found that if I could get a 270 degree twist on it I was more likely to get it up by the root. But still only about half would come up versus break off. I did notice that there was hardly any in an area where I had pulled virtually all of it two years back – that was rewarding. I pulled up several hundred over the weekend, mostly just below the barn.

Barn

I brought my blower out, opened all the barn doors, and went over and over the whole barn blowing out everything I could. I wore a mask and goggles for this dirty job. Lots of the spider webs on the walls blew off along with anything loose. We'll still need to wash it down at some point. The swallows are nesting right now and flying (and pooping) all about. We're hoping the babies are out of their nest by June 16th.

It was after blowing out the barn that I decided to drag the cedar posts out to the back (should have done that first). I have a plan to use two posts on the vacant concrete piers at the open end of the barn, running them all the way up to the bottom of the gable there. They need to be almost 10 feet long. I have one that is perfect, and a second big one that would match but is a few inches short. So one side will have to be a bit smaller in girth. I think it will look nice, and much more finished than those empty piers standing out alone. (Sally says there are more important things for me to be doing.) The other posts still need to be split into rails, but I stood one up next to a steel girders and thought it looked pretty good (wired it to the steel).

Treat Loveable Loo House

I brought out some cedar toned Flood Clear Wood Finish and applied a coat to the outhouse to keep it from turning gray. That wood was really dry and soaked it right up. It took a while, but keeping it looking nice will be worth it.

I found out, though, that we will not be able to keep toilet paper on the dispenser I had installed the weekend before. Some critter had dispensed it all. There was just barely enough on the floor and out back for my use. I need an ammo box or something similar to store it in from week to week.

Burn Trash

We still had lots of scrap wood, plus some cut cedars I had left and Sally located out behind the barn. I hauled up the limbs and had a big burn Saturday morning. I also stored the rest of the scraps left from the loo construction, so things are beginning to look better in the garage/back yard area.

Disassemble Double Pallet

I took this double pallet apart as best I could. Most of the slats split, but I hope there are enough to use with the other two regular pallets to build the compost/humanure bin. And, I got it all apart without loosing a single nail in the grass (though locating some that went flying was not easy). The 2x4s were in pretty good shape, so I stored them with the rest of the lumber in the barn.

Cut Scrubs

To enhance the view of the up-hill bluffs you see as you drive in, I decided to cut all the elms, persimmon, ash, and cedars that had grown up. I left the oaks, hickories, and red buds (for Sally). After I cut the trash trees, I went around and painted the stumps with herbicide so they don't just grow back. Then I made three trips hauling them to the back of the barn for chipping. I'm hoping I now have enough to cover the ground in this open part of the barn. Now I need to find a chipper.

Crack Walnuts

I've fallen way behind on cracking and picking the nuts I collected and foot hulled last fall. I had three bags, and on this trip I finished the second bag and started in on the third. I doubt I will get through it. Maybe I should freeze some whole like I did last year.

Mow, Weed Eat, Spray

I mowed to the pond, although not all the way around it, and out back. I did some brush whacking out back and down behind the barn. Seeing the trees coming in the septic field line, I mixed up some herbicide and sprayed them and the briars in that area. I also hit the briars and poison ivy where ever I saw it, behind the barn and behind the house.

Garden

The garden was really dry and is just not growing as it should. Hardly any of the spinach we planted came up. The same with the radishes. Some of the green beans are growing and most of the onions look okay. I watered Friday and again really good Sunday morning, and then again Sunday afternoon before leaving. Some of the onions stalks were cut off like someone has used a knife. Sally had me spray everything with garlic oil and water hoping it would keep insects off.

April 14-15, 2012

It was a very windy weekend with temps in the low 70s. There was a half inch in the rain gauge, and we received another half inch Sunday afternoon before we left. The front that spawned 100+ tornadoes in Oklahoma was coming through, dumping its rain on us quickly.
Luckily we didn't have to drive through much on the return home.

Blue Birds

Sally is anxious to get more blue birds, so she brought out some meal worms, two suet type rings, and some peanut like butter you spread on the tree bark. The first two we put in our domed feeders (which keep large birds out), and hung one in the back and one in the front. The barkdacious butter she spread on the pines in front. Since I had found baby birds in the house on the hill, she had me nail a pie pan to the top of a fence post and put some meal worms in there.
(That was just before the storm hit and the last thing I did before we left.) We never saw any birds eat any of it.

While mowing I checked the house at the pond and found it askew on the post and the eggs were gone. The same thing happened last year. So I jury rigged a board and the extra raccoon guard to the metal pole Chris had given me and replaced the cedar post. It was Saturday when I found the eggs gone, so I went ahead and removed the nest. Sunday when replacing the pole, a new nest was already being started. I hope this setup provides them the needed protection. Still no nest in either of the blue bird houses up by our house – one in the front and one in the back.

Rocks, Knapweed, and Mowing

Before starting to mow, I went around the yard in the back with a bucket picking up rocks. They grow everywhere, but this seems to be the worst area. Many just roll down the hill of course. I dumped most of them around the base of the Loveable Loo (which saw more use and still no odor). The knapweed is really out – I guess it will just keep getting worse each year. I couldn't walk by it without pulling it up or at least trying. I was surprised, but much of it did come up with the root. One by the bluff had a root that I bet was 18 inches long – growing back up into the hill. I'm sure I pulled over a hundred, and my hands were tired. I then mowed the back, across the spring, down the road to the pond, and in front of the barn. And the mower started without jumping!

Deck

With the battery charged on the drill I was ready to finish this job up. I started by laying out the remaining boards and immediately saw a problem. I had screwed the 2 joists up flush with the back ledger, but they needed to be down an inch and half so the boards would be flush. That meant removing the lag bolts and redoing that part of the job. After that it went just fine and I had exactly enough deck screws.

Rebuild Adirondack

One of the mail ordered Adirondacks has had a rough life. At one point it was blown over the bluff and I had put it back together the best I could (including some bailing wire). It was tumbled over again a few weeks back in another wind storm and the lower two back braces broke. I took them home, drew out a template for them on a 2x4, and cut the curved pieces out with my saws-all. Not very neat, but now there is more wood for the little lag bolts to hold on to. We'll see how the repair holds up. (That purple one in the back of the picture we picked up the weekend before from Sleepy's for $50 – last year's stock that didn't sell because of the color.)

Tarantula

Sally spotted this guy camped out on this piece of trash in the barn (really, this is the last piece of trash down there). I've never seen one in the barn before, nor seen one this time of year. The only time I've seen them is in the fall when they're moving across the yard, or last fall down near the pond. I disturbed this guy and he took shelter in the cedar logs nearby. But when I returned later he was back on this plastic bag, so I got a picture.

Briar Removal

Sally suggested we go down and clean out the briars on the hillside behind the barn. Some of them I had sprayed last summer and were dead, and many many others were still alive. There were also new shoots a foot long coming out of the ground. I got a blister on my knuckle (where the seam in my glove rubbed) from cutting them. (Of course they will be back.) I rolled them into big balls and herded them down the hill so they would mostly be out of sight – after all, this is the wedding venue. I did three big balls and have one more I need to re-locate. This was hard work.

New Bird Feeder

Sarah and Dave were not able to use the bird feeder we had gotten them, so we brought it back from Chicago. It is almost identical to one we have by the house, but it is newer and shinier. Sally had me put the new one on the old pole, and I put our old one up with the new post down by the barn. Hopefully we will have birds chirping and singing at the wedding.

Garden

Thankfully Sally has been tending the garden. She brought out some flowering annuals, including marigolds, and a basil and got them all planted. The bell pepper planted the week before was totally gone. The onions are doing good and we had the last head of lettuce in a salad. Some spinach came up, but its not doing anything (been to dry). On the oher hand, the summer spinach is growing and is almost large enough to start harvesting. Something was coming up all over the garden and my advice was to pull it since it resembled a weed I had seen a lot of the past two years. These yellow Iris are in the corner and are just beautiful. They came from Sunbridge. We cut some and took them to Laverine on the way home.

April 6-7, 2012

Sawdust

I needed sawdust for the Loveable Loo. I called 5 places before Tina at White River Hardwoods took the time to go ask a guy in the custom shop. They don't sell it, but would let me have some given my purpose -- for a composting toilet. I went by during Thursday lunch and they helped me load up these three bags. I didn't realize their bags were so big. But heck, I won't have to be back for more in a long long time. I actually left one bag at home to use for the same purpose the guy in the shop said he used it -- to fill holes. I do appreciate them sharing.

(I also put the loo to the test Saturday morning, and didn't notice any odor when I re-visited it later that day. We also bought some composting trash bags to line the buckets with – it's supposed to help with the cleanup.)

Kathy's House Burned

What a surprise we had when driving in and found our neighbors house burned to the ground. About 18 years ago Kathy bought our place and added the well, plumbing, septic, and did major finishing work inside the house as well as building the barn. She had two young girls at the time and raised llamas, but only staid about 4 years. She met a fellow and moved, selling our farm to Eddie and Virginia. They added the siding to the house and the extension, and sold it to us after 4 years. About 5 years ago Kathy bought Vito's place up the hill from us. We never saw much of her, but feel for her loss. We found a report online that said the fire was Sunday night (we left Saturday the previous weekend) and that no one was injured. Her horses are still there.

Snowball/Blue Birds

This snowball bush has gotten huge and was in full bloom. Still no blue bird nest in this house -- no nest at all, but there was one tiny egg. I'm not even sure it was a bird egg. We took it out and left it on the ground. (Blue bird eggs were still in the house down by the pond, and I saw a blue bird leave the house on the hill as I drove the mower up.)

Mowing

The flat tire I had taken in to town to air up was still holding, so I put it back on and then jumped the mower. It cranked a bit, but finally started in a billow of smoke. I took off the jumpers and was ready to go to work, but I couldn't engage the blades. I had to shut it down and review the work I had done last fall when I had the deck off for repairs. I finally figured out that I had attached a lever below rather than above a connector. Of course the mower wouldn't start on its own, so I had to repeat the jump starting process. I mowed everything except the very back of the house and area across from the spring. The grass was so thick and high down by the two Sycamores that I could only get through it by going up next to the fence. Jeff's cows have kept the grass low there by sticking their heads through and eating it. I did a little weed eating with the John Deere as well, deferring heavier work another week.

Bell

Sally wanted the tall cedar posts out front (part of the fence) cut off, and I wanted to move the bell. The bell was beside the garage but had been swallowed by honeysuckle and ivy. So I cut both posts but left one high enough to mount the bell. I had to trim it a second time because the donger was hitting the top of the post, but it came out pretty good and looks nice in the front. It still tends to wobble from side to side when you ring it, but at least now it can be used. It has the year 1886 stamped on it.

Deck

I had purchased some deck screws and was anxious to get this thing put back together. First I had to get the big nails out of the header that had pulled loose from the two joists. This was by far the hardest part of the job, partly due to the Iris growing there not providing much room to work. (Some were sacrificed.) Then I propped up the two joist using rocks, drilled some pilot holes, and screwed in a couple of 3.5 inch lag bolts. They drew the joist in great and will certainly hold better than those nails. I also added some screws to a few of the corners.

I went around again pulling any nails I could, and started replacing them with screws. I then started putting boards back down, but didn't get far before the battery ran down on my drill. I set it to charge and moved on to the barn.

Limbs for Chipping

The rails I had split, thinking I would use them on the Loveable Loo house, needed to be brought back down to the barn to be used in decorating somehow. So I loaded these up and also collected two loads of limbs from beside the road coming down – mostly pines downed by the ice storm (the trunks I had already collected and used on the hill side to slow the erosion). The limbs were an eye sore I need to gather material to chip to cover the ground in the back of the barn. It was messy hard work for an old man.

While at the barn with the truck, I hauled all the cedar post short pieces I had cut off over to the road by the spring. I still need to stack them to build up the road there.

Barn, SW Corner

As I was sweeping up, Tender came bounding down and then Sally. We tackled the Southwest corner where more trash and used building materials were stored. We put things like the old shower door and side panels into the trailer. The decent wood I moved over to the neater stacks I had started in the Northeast corner. The three pallets I put in the truck and plan to use them to build a compost bin up by the house – which Sally doesn't really approve of. We also loaded lots of scrap pieces of wood to burn. When we finished we only had this old coffee table that had been left by one of the previous owners, something we feel is nice enough that it could be used somewhere (outside). After sweeping it was all really beginning to look nice. I'm still not sure about the power washing idea, as I am afraid we would just end up with a lot of mud. I may bring my blower out and try that first.

Rain/Walnuts

A little shower blew up Saturday afternoon, so I never got to finish up the deck. During a break I started cracking walnuts, but then it started raining again and that was it for the day. It did stop before we started heading back.

March 30-31, 2012

We continue to have warm weather with highs in the mid 80s each day. Fortunately we received approximately 3 inches of rain early the week before. We must have also received some high wind with the rain, as the Adirondacks were all blown over and Tender's water bowl was all the way over by the house. The first thing I did was walk over to the Loveable Loo house to make sure it was still standing.

The Red Buds had faded and were replaced with the bright white of Dog Woods. The valley along Rock House Road near Winona Church was just spectacular. Ours in the valley next to the road in, broken and deformed from the ice storm, were also very nice. And out of the three Dog Woods we planted south of the house 7 or 8 years ago, we finally had our first bloom – exactly 1 bloom. I am sure next year there will be more.

Well House

Now that winter is long gone, I pulled all the insulation out of the top of the well house and bagged it up. I was surprised I didn't flush any mice out, but I could see where they had been nesting (and you could smell their urine). Next year I ought to get new insulation. Sally complained about seeing the bags in the back of the chicken coop where I stash them through the summer.

Loveable Loo

I needed to level the rock floor. So I took a crow bar over, jacked up the back rock, and filled in under it with some dirt. Moving those huge rocks around is not easy, especially now that the house is built around them. The floor is now more or less level, and I filled in some of the bigger holes between the rocks.

Next I needed to cut off about three inches of the door so that it would clear the rock stoop/step I have in front. I then attached the hinges to the door and took it over for placement. The lower 2x4 cross brace on the door was a fraction of an inch to close to the jam, so I decided to chisel out a notch for it (skinned up my knuckles in the process). I mounted the door only to find the lower hinge a tad too far off the siding (I'm sure both problems are the result of that post not being perfectly vertical), so I had to scab a piece of siding under it. I then laid out the placement for the handle and the latch, drilled a hole through the door for the thumb activated lever, attached the handle, and then screwed the latch to the jam. To finish it up I added a thin piece of cedar (left in the barn) to the jam. Opening and closing the door from inside and outside worked great.

For the Loveable Loo itself, I purchased the materials and built it in town except for attaching the top and seat. (It was nice using my table saw at home for the cuts.) Mine is probably 5 inches higher than their specs, but I like it. With that additional space I built a shelf for the bucket to sit on (versus the floor). Sally was anxious to use it, but we need to get some sawdust for cover material. Now I'm working on her to let me build one for us to use in town.

Flower Bed

Sally had some flower seeds she wanted to plant and since most the (dis)Obedience plant out front had succumbed to the drought, that was the place for them. She got me out there with a hoe to loosen the soil so we could pull out the weeds. Then I worked in some wood ashes and the last bag of compost I had. To water, I had to pull out the double hoses I use on that end of the house and hook them up.

Wind Damage

The Adirondack that got blown over the bluff last year and that I patched together, did not survive this tumble. The problem is the two lower back braces are too thin to receive the bolts from the arms and legs. I screwed the back off of them so I can use them as templates to cut new pieces. It will be difficult because they are curved. We'll see.

The south latch for the front barn door also suffered damage. Apparently the wind was out of the east, so it blew right into the barn from that side and nearly tore the latch off the door – it was bent and twisted and hanging on by one screw. They should have used two screws on the top of these brackets, but in all six latches there was only one screw on top. I took off the twisted one and straightened it enough and then attached it with two larger screws. I went around to the others and tightened them and added a screw as well.

Pond

Saturday Sally went into town to shop, so I loaded my backpack sprayer with the remainder of my Cutrine Plus and headed to the pond. There was still no sign that the fertilizer had clouded the water any. (I've always wondered how it would work when a big rain could wash lots of water through the pond – like we had the week before.) I sprayed the algae and grass around the dam and half way up the south shore. I hope I will see better results than I had in previous months. Once the water warms up I'll try more of the bacteria I bought last summer.

Blue Birds

There were now 4 blue bird eggs in the house by the pond -- adding 3 to the one I had seen two weeks earlier. On the way up the hill I also checked the house that sits midway and got this picture of 5 eggs. Whoopie! There are nest in the houses in the front yard and back yard, but they don't look like blue bird nests. There was also a wasp beginning a nest in the house in the front, so we totally cleaned it out. (Lots of wasps were out building nests. With a fly swatter I got about a dozen of them.)

Barn

While Sally was in town, I decided to go ahead and tackle cleaning up the north-west corner of the barn where surplus materials are stored – mostly wood Eddie left behind. I picked everything up and re-stacked it all, eliminating two regular pallets and one long double pallet (I'm thinking of using them to build the compost bin). I was surprised I only flushed out one rat, and wish I could have taken a stick or shovel to him. (He took cover in the cedar posts still there, the ones for splitting.) I think it looks good and I've got it blocked off so Tender can't get behind anything. Sally hasn't seen it (though I did show her several pictures), so I'm not sure if it is going to gain final approval or not. I do keep reminding her that it is a barn after all.

Deck

I'm going to finally repair the little deck in the front yard. The nails are popping up and need to be replaced with screws, but the real problem is the sagging support in the center rear. Once I got a few boards up it was easy to see the problem. The center joist has pulled loose from the rear ledger. I've got some lag bolts left over from our Houston deck I plan to use to re-secure the joist. I may actually add a second joist if I can find a 2x6 long enough (they put two on the other side).

Mower

I had wanted to do some mowing. I even made several stops on the way out to find jumper cables, since I know I will have to jump start the battery (mine got stolen out of the truck over the winter). But it was not meant to be. The front left tire was completely flat, and with a hand pump I could not get the tubeless tire to seal. So I just took it off and put it in the car. (I was able to air it up using compressed air, and it seems to be holding.) We've talked of getting a new mower, but I guess it can wait until this one really gives up the ghost.

Fruit Trees

You can see the tiny fruit on the peach, nectarine, and pears. The apple is still flowering and there is only the one mature enough to fruit. We'll see if it gets pollinated from any neighbor trees. I fertilized them all, sprayed the apple for cedar-rust, burned some tent caterpillars out of the apple, and trimmed some large dead limbs from the peach. The Alberta peach looks like it is struggling and I will be surprised if it survives past this year.