June 28-29, 2013

Sally was in Texas, so this was a boys trip (me and Tender). It was very hot for June: 100 Friday and 95 Saturday. And still no rain -- the rain barrels remain empty.

Garden

Needless to say, it was bone dry. After filling the bird feeders the next priority was watering the garden. Everything was very droopy but quickly perked up after watering. I waited until Saturday to harvest lots of kale, chard, green beans, the last onion, and some of the summer spinach (there's a lot). The squash is really taking off, with some of it beginning to bloom. I watered again before leaving Saturday.

Nectarines

The nectarines looked great, but were still a little green. But given the number of pits under the tree I decided to go ahead and pick about 60, less than half on the tree. I do not expect to see any of them next week.

Blue Birds

There was a new blue bird nest in the house out front with 3 eggs. The house at the pond, which I had cleaned out the weekend before, had a new nest and one egg. That is the third laying in that house this year. We have now had six different layings total.

Mower Died

I mowed down to the pond and was on my way back up the hill when the old '98 Murray threw the belt. I rode it down to where it was level and took a look. The bearing on the right spindle driving the blade had disintegrated. Back at the house I pulled the deck off to take a better look. I couldn't even tell how to get it apart, much less replace it. Given all the other problems it has, I decided I would retire it by giving it away for parts.

Saturday morning I checked Craig's List and the only one I found of interest was a 19hp Craftsman in Wesley. I called and found out a bit more about it and planned to go by on the way home. I checked again before leaving the farm, and it had not yet been purchased. The seller had a dinner engagement that kept me from stopping on the way in, so I just went out later that evening and purchased it. I hope there are no surprises waiting for me. He had some ramps and just drove it up into the bed of my Tacoma. Now the trick will be getting it out of the truck without ramps.

High Wheel String Trimmer

I took the high wheel trimmer down to the pond to cut the high grass growing around the bank -- something I was planning on doing, and not totally prompted by the broken mower.

Brush Whacker

Friday I used it to trim around back including the hill in the back. Then I was heading toward the barn when it died and I could not get it restarted. I let it sit overnight, but still could not get it started even after spraying carburetor cleaner into the carburetor. That should have eliminated fuel as the problem, which leaves spark. I brought it and the Poullan Weed Eater (hasn't run in years) home with the idea of taking them somewhere for repair. (Or maybe I will give them both away and buy a new, more reliable piece of equipment. These were purchased used 10 years ago from a fellow that was getting out of the lawn care business.)

Thistle

I spotted three more while mowing the road, so later went down with a shovel and bag. I found much more, and this time some of it had already gone to seed. That is bad news. While driving back I noticed a bunch across the fence on Jeff's. So I went over there and dug it up, bringing back the plants that had already started blooming.

Scrub Trees

There were several scrub trees growing up underneath the large cedar beside the path down to the barn. I have been wanting to remove them for a long time, so I took the Poullan chainsaw and cut them down. That was the easy part. Then I had to drag them up to the fire pit, cut them up, and pile them up.