March 29-April 4, 2020

Weather | 3/29, 41°, 61° | 3/30, 40°, 61° | 3/31, 41°, 59° | 4/1, 32°, 59° | 4/2, 45°, 63° | 4/3, 0.13" rain, 35°, 55° | 4/4, 0.02" rain, 27°, 48° |

• Sunday, 3/29: The wind blew very hard out of the west all day. We had midday nachos and watched the movie, Pan. An actor in that movie has Hedlund as his last name. Looked him up online and he was born in Roseau, MN. There are lots of Hedlunds there. His parents divorced when he was young, he graduated from high school in AZ, eventually living in L.A. The movie is good, even though I wonder if the director was on drugs, due to the psychedelic colors. Mary crocheted for an hour. After chores, we walked to below the Swim Pond, looking for gravel dumped there by the renter of the land when Mary's uncle, Herman, was alive. We found it, plus big rocks put there from when fields were plowed on the property. While looking at it, I turned to the NE and saw a deer looking at us. Pointed it out to Mary. We all stood looking at each other, then it turned and bounced away, showing off its namesake, its white tail. We walked to the Swim Pond. A kingfisher flew back and forth on the opposite shore, occasionally skimming the water. Lots of fish were surfacing, some pretty good sized bass. The water that was murky a couple days ago is clearing up. We also watched a great blue heron fly by. I researched growing strawberries in containers and the cost of titrets, an item that measures SO2 in wine. Costs $26 for 10...I might just guess on my wine's sulfur content.


• Monday, 3/30: It was a nice, sunny day, without wind, a rare day in March. We heard a brown thrasher for the first in the morning. Mary washed sheets and furniture covers, then made spaghetti for our main meal. I checked out 4 gallon cat litter buckets that I drilled holes in the bottom last year, threw away some that were all chewed up by mice, kept 27 for planting strawberries and apple tree root stock in , with 4 alternates. Mary cleaned old grass that grew on the 2nd compost bin last year and said the compost in it is perfect. She fertilized the asparagus with compost and wood ashes. She then fertilized the garlic with fish fertilizer, then made kindling out of saved branches in the Machine Shed. I drove the tractor/trailer to the ash tree I downed to the east a couple days ago, cut it up, along with 2 dead cherry trees, loaded up a wagon load of firewood and drove it back home. The ground is drying up, but still squishy in places, especially on trails. Pretty tired...some of the logs from the ash tree were quite heavy.


• Tuesday, 3/31: Mary washed the towels. She planted pepper seeds and put 3 big sweet potatoes in Mason jars, filled with water. She cleaned dead plants out of the near garden. I cleaned the air filter and spark plug on Mary's lawnmower. I also sharpened the blade. Mary mowed inside and outside the fence of the near garden. I unloaded firewood out of the wagon. Mary figured March 2020 weather stats...this March was the 3rd warmest and the 2nd wettest since we started keeping records in 2012. Average temperature was 44.23 degrees and rain for the month was 3.39". Last year's rain was higher, over 4". Mary found a plan for making a face mask, which we might do, so we have it when we go to Quincy on shopping trips.


• Wednesday, 4/1: I was going to put copper spray on all of the fruit trees, but a SE wind was blowing too hard. With the SE wind came the neighbor dairy spreading huge mountains of cow manure on a field that is located SE of us...ah, the odor of spring in the air! Mary did 2 loads of laundry. She also dug up about half of the near garden, getting it ready for planting. She said she noticed about 14 earthworms per shovel full. Some were huge...about 16 inches long. Mary also planned where various plants will go in the garden. I worked on the near garden fence by loosening the wire braces on each corner, then pushing down corner posts, then tightening the bracing. Tightened 2 wires running around the perimeter of the fence and tamped down soil immediately under the bottom wire. I turned on the electric fencer and it wasn't getting above the yellow color on the strength lights (red is lowest, then yellow, orange, and green is best). The bottom electric wire is rusty and touching the ground it too many places...something I'll have to fix tomorrow. We're hearing Bob White quail, now. The forsythia bushes are kicking out yellow blossoms. Mary texted Bill, asking how his first day of work was. He said he ought to take time off more often. His most troublesome worker was fired and they're offering him a new position. The returns department is a mess and they'd like him to fix it. Details are yet to be worked out. Texted Mom. Snow was falling with about an inch or 2 on the ground and it was 18° in Circle, MT.


• Thursday, 4/2: Got a text from Mom...snow and a morning temperature of 5° in Circle, MT. It was garden prep day for us. Mary dug up the remainder of the near garden, finding lots of huge worms. I replaced the bottom electrical fence wire and rusty parts of the 2nd from the bottom wire. Replaced orange bailing twine going around the top of all fence posts. Thoroughly stomped down all soil under the bottom electrical wire. Replaced bottom gate handle and 2 gate wires. Turned on fencer and still had a low reading. Fortunately, Mary was in the garden when I plugged in the fencer and initially heard a snap where vertical wires connect horizontal electrical wires, making alternating ones either hot or grounded. I replaced all of these vertical connecting wires and then had peak performance from the fencer. Now for the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom story...Nick, our mainly white cat, spotted something behind the cabinet doors under the sink. It was a fairly large black racer snake. Mary carefully grabbed it behind its head (something I wouldn't do, because it gives me the weebee geebees) and hauled it outside into the tall grass. After dark, Mocha came into the living room several times with a live mouse that she batted around, let loose and chased after. At one point she chased it into my empty moccasin and another time under the dog bed blanket. Eventually, she didn't have it. Hope she ate it and it didn't crawl off to die and stink somewhere in the house. An evening call from Bill revealed his interesting day. He took most of the day at work sleuthing the loss of 50 iPads worth over $18,000 that shipping records showed they received, but could not be accounted for. Video recordings pointed to 2 employees in Bill's department showing the movement of full boxes to a door out of the building near "going home" time, followed by the video showing an empty cart returning back into the building. Once they had video evidence, Bill's boss asked him to keep those 2 employees busy until 6:30, when police arrived to make an arrest. Good news...thieves are gone. Bad news...tasks done by those 2 employees means the only person remaining who knows how to do those tasks is Bill.


• Friday, 4/3: Our high temperature was just after we got up, then it got colder throughout the day. Spent morning online, reading news. Mary was planning on planting some seeds, but decided not to with temperatures probably dropping below freezing tonight. We got a notice that the powdered milk we ordered a few weeks back from Sam's Club is waiting for us at the Walgreen's store in Quincy. When I saw it was being shipped from the grand powdered milk cow in California via FedEx, I changed its delivery to the Quincy Walgreen's, so we'd actually see it. We also got notice that our strawberry plants and apple tree root stock was shipped from Fedco in Maine, again, via FedEx. It's due in on Wednesday, so I'll try to coordinate that so I can pick up both shipments in one visit. Mary made flour tortillas, and then chimichangas. I was going to move rocks into the tractor tire ruts in the Machine Shed, but incoming storms prevented that. We walked back down to below the Swim Pond dam to determine whether to come in with the tractor from the SE or NW. Would have to cross a quagmire of mud via the SE route, so NW is better. While walking around checking this out, I spotted an owlet with just white feathers at the base of an oak tree. Left it alone...hope it survives. I also discovered a head-high mound of gravel that we can use, A small cedar tree is growing out of the top of it and it's covered with grass. Rain started at 3:30. We watched the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, then did chores, then watched the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows. 
• Saturday, 4/4: A cloudy to sunny day. Morning temperature was below 32°, but a warm ground prevented anything from freezing. Even the yellow forsythia blossoms stayed healthy. Honey bees are buzzing in the weeping willow tree flowers. Mary found directions online for making face masks. It was through a blog by an British woman who recommended a website called craftpassion.com, developed by a Malaysian woman, an engineer, who created face mask patterns for her kids who were suffering from allergies due to air pollution. Mary worked at creating the pattern on graft paper, but it didn't come out right. I said I'd give it a shot. She hand washed some fabric that will become masks. I took the tractor and wagon, along with a spud bar, to below the Swim Pond dam and collected up some big rocks. While driving there, I spotted an animal looking at me from the NE as I crested the hill. I thought it was a deer, but when it spun around and ran off, I realized it was a coyote, and a pretty big coyote, at that. After getting the rocks, I drove back to the Machine Shed and partially filled the tractor ruts. I'll need more rock to finish the job. Makes for a bumpy ride driving the tractor under cover, now. Asked Bill how work was for him and he said it was okay...his boss is looking for replacement workers for him. He took a fictional character personality test that told him he was most like Bruce Banner, the person who turns into the Hulk. I asked him if he was turning green and he responded, "Nope, showered this morning."