September 1-2, 2012

It was raining steady on Friday due to tropical storm Isaac blowing across Arkansas, so we waited until Saturday to come out. It was nice to find 2.25 inches in the rain gauge. I suspect maybe half of that had come the previous weekend, as we got less than 1 inch in town from Isaac. Nevertheless, it was great to get this slow soaking type of rain. The garden was well watered and the rain barrels were full. It did make for a warm and muggy weekend however, climbing up into the 90s Sunday after a dewy foggy start to the day.

Garden

The basil was fantastic -- lush, bright green, and tender with very few blooms. We picked 12 cups and could have gotten another 12. The jalapeno peppers and chard were also producing well. Sally picked a bell pepper that was slightly yellow, but turned full yellow by the time we got home. She also got some green beans, a half dozen small tomatoes, and several kale leaves from our sole plant. She pulled up a green bean plant that had been sheltering what I had assumed all year was a chard plant (and had picked and eaten as such), but it turned out to be a decent size beat. And then there were a dozen Sun Flowers that had come up and were blooming -- ones we did not plant. I suspect some critter had planted them for us, getting the seed from the bird feeder we had moved out back.

Sunday I took the potato fork and tackled more of the bermuda that's crept in. What a job. Sally was pulling some mint from outside the fence and pulled a big cedar log (holding the chicken wire down) over leaving a long scratch on her leg. (Thankfully it is healing nicely without any infection.) It was already drying up, so we went ahead and drained both rain barrels on the garden -- just moving the hose around occasionally.

Mow and Weedeat

Everything needed mowing, but I only did down to the pond, over to the spring, and around the barn. It had been early June since some of this had been mowed. I decided to just wait till the next week-end for everything else. I did weed eat around the barn.

Pond

The rain we've gotten seems to just get soaked up. Neither creek was running, and the pond level seems to continue to drop. I've not seen any fish in months and fear they may have perished due to oxygen depletion (without the continuous inflow).

Thistle

I spotted more thistle. Some around the spring and more down by Gum creek. I bagged it and, with the burn ban off, burned it and others I had collected over the past couple of months.

Trees

I cruised along the road, where I had flagged walnuts the past 4 years so they wouldn't be brush hogged, and along the creeks and fence line where I had planted 100 pecans years back. There were only a few walnuts above 10 inches, and I only found 4 pecans. These past two summers have just been too much for these babies.

Walking Sticks

This baby and parent were frozen right outside the back door. Strange position they had assumed, I must say.

Blue Bird Eggs

There are still 4 eggs in the house out back, and no sign of momma. Since they have been there 3-4 weeks I believe they have been abandoned, but Sally is holding out hope.