June 8-9, 2012

Only a tenth of an inch of rain, in-spite of Fayetteville receiving well over an inch. Drats.

More Plants

We brought out more plants, plus stopped at Blooms and More and bought 4 more. Three were caladiums, and Sally had to hold one in her lap and another between her feet. We were loaded down.

Birds

The bird feeder on the post below the house was gone, stripped from the post. Raccoons must be getting up there even though we have coon guard on it. I found it down the hill, pretty much intact though portions of the wood had been chewed off. I put it back up with longer screws. All the bird feeders were empty and it wasn't until Saturday that we began to see birds again.

The wren eggs in the garage (nest built on top of my pile of gloves) had hatched. I never saw the mom, but the babies would be there with mouths wide open. I hope she is taking care of them. Sally also reported a second set of blue bird eggs in the house out back, and noticed blue birds checking out the house in the front. In front we have yet to have a nest this year and Sally swears there is something wrong with that house. I think we have just provided too many other houses for them, though we have chased wasps out of it a couple of times. Maybe we will have a nest in time for the wedding. Here garden under neath it is looking nice.

Weed Eating and Mowing

I ran through three tanks of fuel in the brush whacker getting everything cleaned up for the wedding. I did the road to the cattle guard, around the swing and the parking area, out back, the hill, around the barn, and the road from the house to the barn. This should be it for the weed eating. I mowed to the pond and around the spring. Thursday I'll do around the house and the barn and the parking area on the other side of the spring.

Baking Mix

We mixed up four more batches of baking mix and ended up with over 25 bags of mix. That was 14 cups of pecans, 28 cups of 7-grain flour, 14 cups of corn meal, 14 cups of buttermilk powder, 10 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, plus buckwheat flour, soy flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (and I probably forgot something).

Burn Thistle

I had quite a pile of thistle in the fire ring and needed to get rid of that unsightly mess, so I burned it in-spite of it being so dry. It didn't take long, but did make me nervous.

Pond

The pond looked good, with only a little grass visible in the shallow end and few clumps of algae. A good rain to wash it all out would be great.