June 27-28, 2014

Sally was out of town again, so this was another solo trip for me. Driving in I could tell we had received a lot of rain because the road was scoured and I noticed a leaf dam in the ditch. I was still surprised to find three and half inches in the rain gauge. Temperatures were rather mild, low 80s during the day and low 70s overnight.

Gully Washer

Here is what the drainage looked like over by the swing, just before it drops off the bluff. I would never call this a creek because it is always dry except during a hard rain, but it does drain a large area and parallels the road coming down the hill. You can see where the term gully washer came from, it literally washed the gully out and parted the leaves. This is where I drive the mower across. I piled some rocks in here years ago and they back up the leaves which provide some base and elevation for me to get across. I just kicked them back into the bottom, and drove across and mowed as usual. I do have a little road erosion I will need to address.

Wildlife

Interestingly, I saw a Bald Eagle while driving out – near the White River. I knew we had some year around residents, but it is rare to actually see one of them (at least rare for me). Not at all atypical though, a Great Blue Heron took off from the pond as I approached on the mower. (I am sure they are the reason we no longer have any cat fish.) And then later when mowing around the big sycamores in the valley a ground hog scampered across the road. I suspect he is the same one I saw at the pond a few weeks back.

Mowing

With all the rain it is no surprise that the grass had really grown and everything needed mowing. I almost got it all done, but left the area behind the barn and the far area back of the house. I did some weed eating around the house, and then took the brush whacker up the road. The hills will need to be tackled the next weekend.

Garden

I couldn't believe how the weeds had grown in the garden, just when I thought I had them in control. I tackled them first thing Saturday morning. The Bermuda and mint remain my nemesis though. I think I am going to try a spray bottle with vinegar.

I picked enough green beans for one meal, had summer spinach with my eggs Saturday and Sunday, pulled up the garlic (which was hard to find amongst the Bermuda), pulled up a few onions whose stalks were laying over, got enough kale for a meal or two, and 4 cups of basil (enough for a double batch of pesto). The oldest Italian pepper was beginning to bloom and several others I planted later were coming up. Same for some late beans I put out. The tomato is not going to make it, unfortunately.

Deer

In spite of all the vegetation growing everywhere, the deer seem to prefer my plants. I could tell they had been nibbling on the Pixie Delight apple, the baby wild cherry I transplanted this winter, the walnuts I have started out front, the snowball bush I transplanted from home, and even the thornless black berries. Hopefully they won't kill anything.

Thistle

I went on thistle patrol again and only found 32. That's great, and I did not see any over the fence in the Clark's or Jeff's pastures. I am not sure why not since they both had problems last summer. Perhaps they sprayed. I also hiked up into the back pasture and along Plume Creek, but found none.

Walnuts

It looks like it will be another good year for walnuts. These were on the tree out back of the house, but the the tree down by the creeks was really loaded – I just didn't have my phone on me when I was down there.