June 21-22, 2013

After two weeks there was only 3/8ths in the rain gauge, enough to fill the rain barrels but the garden was really dry. Temperatures were up to 90 both days.

Fruit

The nectarines were turning red and looked good, but were still green. That didn't stop me from eating many of them. While in the hammock I glanced down and saw these two pits at the base of the cedar we use for shade. So even though they are green the critters (squirrels I presume) are already feasting. Fearing there would be none the following weekend, Sally picked 30-40.

The Gold-rush has lots of apples and it seems to be doing well. The few pears are still there, and there remain green peaches on the two wild trees. I did get to eat a few black berries I ran across while mowing. The huckleberries are tiny and still green.

Garden

We dug all but one of the onions. This batch just did not do well, not many survived and those that did did not get very large. We also pulled up the garlic and Sally harvested bunches of chard, still more kale, and a little spinach. I did a bunch of weeding since it was getting very overgrown. Parts are over run with bermuda but there is not much to be done with that this time of year.

Lunch

We had some marinara sauce over quinoa noodles and stir fried vegetables (mostly from the garden: onion, garlic, chard, spinach, and kale).

Mow/Weed Eat

So boring, but necessary. I divided the mowing over the two days, and used the brush-whacker up the road, around the back, and on the hill.

Blue Birds

The babies have flown from the two houses that they were in two weeks earlier. I cleaned them both out. The one at the pond had ants bad in the bottom of the nest. I hope they were not there while the babies were being raised.

Thistle

I spied more of this evil plant in the same area as two weeks earlier. I pretty much filled another bag with the stuff. The two bags I had on the fire pit I went ahead and burned.

Sudoku

Sally beat me 2 out 3 again. I won the first and had high hopes, but she roared back. I thought the first one was easy, but she thought it was hard. Just the opposite on the second. It was close to a tie on the third.

June 7-8, 2013

It was a very pleasant weekend at the farm. It never broke 80 on Friday and was only in the mid 80s Saturday. There was a quarter of an inch of rain in the gauge from early in the week, so the garden was really dry.

Mow and Weed Eat

I divided the mowing over Friday and Saturday. I only did limited weed eating -- around the house, out front, and some of the hill west of the house.

Turtle and Grass in the Pond

I have been watching the grass grow in the pond. Now it is up to the surface at the shallow end, so I decided to use the copper sulfate I had. I took the ant infested canoe out and tried spreading the granules using a large cup. This really doesn't work very well, I expect leaving too heavy a concentration in one area while missing most. I prefer the Cutrine Plus sprayed from my backpack sprayer. What I need is more grass carp! I also spotted a good size turtle in the pond. The good news is that there are lots of fish. I had been afraid I had lost most over the past two hot summers, but you can now see them, and some are a nice size.

Thistle

Returning from mowing I noticed a patch of thistle by the road near the confluence of the creeks. Saturday I returned with a bag and shovel to dig it up. Then I noticed another patch, and then I noticed massive amounts on the Clark's. If they let it go to seed, which I am sure they will do, it will just spread to out side of the fence. I hoped over and dug up or knocked over all of it close by, but the wind will carry the seeds from the other a long way. I then walked our fields down between the creeks and found much more. Unless those purple blooms have opened up it is hard to spot -- green on green. I hauled it all back to the truck, only fitting half of it into the one bag I had brought. Back at the house I got another bag and shoved it in, leaving both on the burn pile.

Turkey

While I was walking and digging thistle I heard this bird clucking over on Jeff's place. I could see some big bird heading down the hill. It wasn't long before he was right beside me. If I tried to touch him, he shied away. He kept following me around, and even followed me all the way back to the truck. There he became fascinated by his reflection in the bumper and kept trying to peck at it. While there I was actually able to reach down and stroke his back. From there I drove over to the pond to spread the copper sulfate, and what do you know if he didn't show up there shortly. He must have been domesticated.

Baby Blue Birds

This first picture is of the ones that hatched on the previous weekend (the house out back). They have grown a lot in a week.

This second picture is from the house at the pond, where these tiny babies must have just hatched within a few days. This is the second hatching of the year for this house.

Re-stack Rails

Sally and I walked Tender to the barn for some exercise. While out back she commented on the rails (stacked for the wedding) being down (knocked down by Jeff's cows when his fence was down from the tornado). So we re-stacked them.

Snake

Sally went to pick up a water bottle left on the barn floor since the wedding, and jumped back when she saw this snake. I think it was a King snake, very desirable for keeping down the rodents. I couldn't remember if it was there when I opened the barn door, which was latched just to the left of where this guy was relaxing. I meant to check later in the day when I closed the barn (after mowing), but I paid no attention and couldn't tell you if he was there or not -- says something about my observation skills.

Garden

Lots of spinach, chard, and this summer spinach is going crazy. Sally has some nice looking green beans, and then she informed she had several butternut squash coming up -- close to a dozen I think, while only 4 ended up covering the entire garden in 2011. I guess that will make up for not having tomato or basil.

Sudoku Challenge

Sally and I have an ongoing competition to see who can complete the same sudoku puzzle first. I use to copy the puzzle from our paper (only 4 star, Dave Green's), but I purchased an iPhone app that lets me take a picture of the puzzle and then do it on my phone -- much easier. We did this one, our third of the weekend, late Saturday while relaxing in the hammock. Sally beat me by 4 minutes on this one, slaughtered me on the one before, but at least I won the first (but only by a short time margin).

May 31-June 1, 2013

There was three quarters of an inch in the rain gauge upon arrival, and we received another 3/4's over night. Temperatures were rather mild, low 80s Friday and mid 80s Saturday.

Mow/Weed Eat

I am still working to get the grass down to a reasonable level, and knowing it was to rain overnight I was anxious to get the required mowing in on Friday -- which I was able to do. (I hate that much sitting on the mower at one stretch.) Even after the rain, I was able to do the needed weed eating (the hill out back) Saturday.

Garden

The spinach was still doing spectacular, and Sally filled every container she could find. We were out of garlic, so she picked one but it was really too early. Several green bean plants are up and looking good, and there was enough chard to pick some of it. There might have been a little kale, but it is about gone. Saturday I went through and did some weeding.

Flowers

Sally has some great flowers blooming, both in the garden and some out front. The verbinum just continues to bloom and spread, and the Jupiter's Beard she bought the previous year along with some unknown companion were also blooming. There were two regular roses blooming, and for the first time the climbing rose started blooming.

This unknown plant was also put out last year, and has come back and is in full bloom. Unfortunately, we were gone when the Peonies and the Snow Ball bloomed (early May).

Baby Blue Birds

Friday after the mowing we had some hammock time. While out back we kept seeing the male blue bird going and coming from the house. I thought this was strange because soon after we had arrived I had checked the house and there were still eggs. Seeing the male doing the same thing on Saturday, I decided to check the house one more time before we left -- there were babies. I stuck by iPhone in to the top of the house to snap this picture.

May 24-26, 2013

It was a bit warm, but a nice weekend -- mid 80s Friday and upper 80s Saturday. The rain gauge was almost full, showing 4.5 inches since we were last out three weeks earlier.

Armadillos

Before filling the bird feeders, I heard something bumping the back of the garage. At first I thought this was highly unusual for pack rats. I walked around back and found 4 small armadillos rooting around. I certainly did want Tender to find them, so I kept him in until they disappeared.

Garden

Sally immediately took possession of the garden, where there was a ton of spinach (all that rain), some kale had finally grown, and a few radishes. In spite of the rain gauge the ground was drying out, so she emptied the rain barrel into the garden.

Rain Barrel

I never liked how slow the rain barrel drained, just sitting up on some rocks Armin helped me set almost a year ago. With it empty, I pulled off the screen and washed out some of the muck that had collected in the bottom and then set it on our old picnic table (Sally had me bring it to the farm to burn, but this is a much better use.)

Mow/Weed Eat

This was the first mowing of the season for almost everything, and boy did it need it. There were spots I could only get through by going forward a couple of feet, backing up so the mower could recover, and then inching forward again. I divided the mowing and the weed eating over Friday and Saturday. Friday I used the little John Deere to clean up around the house. Saturday I took the brush whacker up the road, around the cattle guard, over across the spring, down and around the spring, around the barn, and did the hill south of the house. What a workout.

Nectarines

We have lots of these, but they do seem to be rather small. I was hoping they would fatten up with all the rain -- we'll see.

Iron Bacteria

Friday evening I noticed a rotten egg smell coming from the hot water. We ran a lot of hot water out, but it still smelled and Sally would have nothing to do with it. I called Rex and he didn't know what it could be other than the anoid, and suggested I call Mavericks. The fellow there said it was iron bacteria and that it would do that if left unused for 2-3 weeks. (It had been three weeks since we were out, but why didn't my old one do this -- need to do some research.) He said we needed to drain it and refill it to get rid of the smell. I hooked up the hose and ran it out the house and down the hill and began draining it. The flow was real slow, and finally stopped. I disconnected the hose and was about to refill it when I told myself something was wrong, I should have gotten more water out. I then read the instruction book that came with the heater, and it suggested that in addition to opening a hot water valve, I should open the pressure release valve on the top of the heater. Sure enough it really started draining then, and took quite awhile. I just hope I don't have to keep doing this.

Guests

Sally's massage therapist came out to see our place late Saturday, and brought his girlfriend and another couple. It was fun showing them around, and we even took a warm hike to the pond. The gals were botanist and had a field day (literally) identifying wild flowers. They taught me names of two of the plants we have way to much of, Smilax (a briar) and Sensitive Briar, and I taught them Knapweed. (I wish I didn't have any of them.) We also got to show them the baby birds out front, and the blue bird eggs out back and down at the pond. John ended up treating us to dinner at Sparky's, our first visit to this local hotspot.