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.
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