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.
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