August 10-11, 2012

Wow, it had been four weeks since I was out and three weeks since Sally was out and watered. During this period we had many 100 degree days, but fortunately we received some rain during that time – there was 1.25 inches in the rain gauge and the rain barrel was full!

Garden

The garden was bone dry, but many things were hanging on. The green beans weren't good enough for me, but I cooked some of them up for Tender and saved others for seeds. There were lots of little beans, which hopefully won't be to big and tough by next weekend. The tomatoes, jalapenos, basil, and chard were all doing fine, though there were very few new tomatoes or even blooms. The bell pepper had blown over, knocking one ripe pepper off (I ate it), leaving only two which I hope will turn yellow. Before watering I decided to weed since the drought had not slowed them down. I think I hauled out three buckets, and then another one of just bermuda grass Saturday. (I used a potato fork to break up the dry ground in order to get that stuff out – a very difficult job.

Water

I emptied the rain barrel in the garden. The flow is slow, so I would just move the hose around while I weeded. That wasn't near enough water, so I then reverted to the well. After the garden I moved my efforts out front. This poor maple seems to be the favorite for the deer. They've eaten most of the leaves and broken many limbs. The CDs I hung in it obviously did no good in deterring them, so I left some of Tender's hair around the base. The deer also like the baby walnut trees, a couple of which had been cropped and are now trying to put on new leaves.

Coon

I was quit surprised to find this dead coon in the back of the barn, right in the middle of the pine shavings we had used for an aisle for Amanda and John's wedding. It was just skin and bones, nothing left of its insides at all. I presume it died of natural causes and then insects hollowed it out – all within the last month. I picked it up by its tale and took it down the hill.

Mow/Weedeat

The grass had actually grown enough to need mowing. I did around the house and down to the pond, splitting the work over the two days. Saturday I ran the weed eater to clean up around the house and did the hill out back.

Dogwood

This dogwood I had transplanted from town and was doing well. The south side got stripped when this pine limb came down on it, a limb that had been dead and hanging since the February 2009 ice storm.

Pond

The pond is lower than I have ever seen it, with lots of bare shore line showing all the way around. I wonder how the fish are doing? All I saw was a turtle.

Thistle

I noticed another patch of thistle while riding the mower. It was not to far from where I found the last down in the lower gum creek area. I came back with the truck, shovel and bag. It was far gone, so I didn't do much good by bagging. I wish I had seen it a month earlier, now the seeds are scattered and I will have more to dig up next summer.

Dead Field Pine

This is the most evident sign of the drought on the place. It is a huge field pine that will be a big job to cut down and cut up. I don't look forward to that. I see other dead trees on the hillsides, but actually feel fortunate that there aren't many more given our extreme drought.

Birds

The blue bird house and nest on the hill that had eggs 4 weeks earlier seemed deserted with no sign of molestation, so I cleaned it out. I noticed a blue bird leave the house out back, so I checked it and found at least 3 eggs. I don't think I've ever seen them nest and lay eggs this late in the year.

When I arrive, the first thing I do is fill the bird feeders. But since they had been empty so long, the birds were gone. It wasn't until I was getting ready to leave on Saturday before I saw the first bird at a feeder, and one humming bird at that feeder as well.