-
Sunday, 2/28: We Don't Care!
- We're finding our minds are automatically turning off certain news media obsessions. "Taylor Swift..." we just don't care. "Brittany Spears' father..." forget it! "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry..." turn the page, fast! "Former President..." we've heard enough. There's obviously a public interest for these topics, or reporters wouldn't get assignments to write about just drivel. We've got more important tasks to attend to. "Mary! Can you hand me another roll of toilet paper?"
- Mary pruned the remaining 2 pie cherry trees, then painted wound sealer on pruning marks. She then checked trees she worked on yesterday for missed pruning wound sealer spots.
- I cut and stored sticks from branches Mary prunced yesterday to practice my grafting techniques ahead of the real thing. I also cut four 8-inch scions (pronounced sigh-ons) from Esofus Spitzenburg apple branches that Mary pruned yesterday. I'll graft a couple of these scions to apple rootstock later this spring. The scions went in the fridge.
- Several Vs of snow geese flew over us today. Mary spotted 2 cackling geese trying to catch up with some Canada geese. Cackling geese are 2/3 the size of Canada geese, and possess a higher pitched call.
- Mary made flour tortillas and chimichangas for our midday meal.
- I took an inventory of all of our homemade wine (see photo below). I then asked Bill if he can find and bring me some clear and dark beer bottles when he visits on Saturday that I'll use for brewing and storing the remaining bits of wine from various batches.
- We played the pachisi board game. The score was Mary 3, Dick 1. We come away from game night with smiling faces. It's plain fun.
- A late-night online review indicated that severe winds are hitting Alaska. Ruby Hollembeak (I worked on Hollembeak's farm for 2 summers in the 1980s) said the Richardson Highway is closed south of Delta Junction due to whiteout conditions. I shared a Facebook photo of an 839-foot cargo ship experiencing rough seas with 65-70 knot (75-80 mph) winds just outside of Kachemak Bay in the lower Cook Inlet.
- We're finding our minds are automatically turning off certain news media obsessions. "Taylor Swift..." we just don't care. "Brittany Spears' father..." forget it! "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry..." turn the page, fast! "Former President..." we've heard enough. There's obviously a public interest for these topics, or reporters wouldn't get assignments to write about just drivel. We've got more important tasks to attend to. "Mary! Can you hand me another roll of toilet paper?"
 |
| Wine inventory (top to bottom, left to right) 2020 pear, 2021 pumpkin, 2019 pear, 2020 blackberry, 2020 grapefruit, 2020 garlic, 2020 watermelon, & 2020 dandelion. |
- Monday, 3/1: Lower Bird Numbers
- Usually we notice a wide variety of birds by March 1st. This year, numbers are way down, or even non-existent. For instance, by now we often hear woodcocks in the evening, but not this year. We hope the single digit temperatures that hit as far south as Texas didn't kill a bunch of birds we usually hear right now.
- I made a batch of waffles for our midday meal.
- We created a want list that we will prioritize for spending our tax refund money.
- I hand sharpened one of my newer chainsaw chains. I purchased 2 chains and a bar a year ago. The teeth are hardly worn. Teeth on past chains were half used up in 1 year, but by sharpening by hand with a file, instead of sharpening with a grinding wheel, my chains last longer and stay sharper. It takes longer to hand sharpen, but the results are vastly improved.
- Mary picked up all of the pear, cherry, and apple branches that she pruned the past two days and hauled them off to a pile near the woods and SW of the house. She also put wood ashes on the sugar maple in the north yard. She noticed that rabbits chewed bark off the Esopus Spitzenburg apple branches left on the ground for a couple days.
- Mary did a load of laundry.
- More geese flew over us, today. Mary saw a juvenile red-tailed hawk.
- Usually we notice a wide variety of birds by March 1st. This year, numbers are way down, or even non-existent. For instance, by now we often hear woodcocks in the evening, but not this year. We hope the single digit temperatures that hit as far south as Texas didn't kill a bunch of birds we usually hear right now.
- Tuesday, 3/2: Geese Explosion
- There were snow geese flying overhead, east to west by the thousands, all day, today. Mary spotted some Ross's geese flying in a V of snow geese. They look like snow geese, but they're noticeably smaller. While I was cleaning the chainsaw at dusk, a very low-flying group of geese went overhead. At first, I could only hear them, then I saw a group of about 100 snow geese coming right at me, just over the tree tops. They were close enough that I could hear the air rushing by their wing feathers. What an experience.
- Mary washed 2 loads jeans and sweats. We're almost caught up after the stint of cold weather and our multiple-day period with low water pressure.
- We prioritized our list for spending tax refund money, and put cost estimates on high priority items.
- I took measurements for standard-and-bracket bookshelves that we want to put on the west and south walls of the living room. I looked up pricing at various box stores in Quincy.
- Mary baked a chicken. It was our first taste from chickens we butchered in November. We thought they might be tough, because they got so big. That is not the case. This chicken was nice and tender.
- Mary made a shopping list. Guess what we're doing tomorrow?
- I cut firewood from 4 small-sized dead oaks on the edge of the woods SW of the house. I loaded the firewood into the trailer and parked the load in the machine shed.
- I'm connected to a Historical Homer, Alaska group on Facebook. Today, someone loaded a photo of the 1973-74 Homer High School wrestling team, and there I am as a high school junior (see photo below).
1973-74 HHS Wrestling Team (I'm 3rd from left, front row). - There were snow geese flying overhead, east to west by the thousands, all day, today. Mary spotted some Ross's geese flying in a V of snow geese. They look like snow geese, but they're noticeably smaller. While I was cleaning the chainsaw at dusk, a very low-flying group of geese went overhead. At first, I could only hear them, then I saw a group of about 100 snow geese coming right at me, just over the tree tops. They were close enough that I could hear the air rushing by their wing feathers. What an experience.
- Wednesday, 3/3: Shopping
- Mary and I went to Quincy, IL, and bought another month's worth of food. We also got seed potatoes for our garden. They come from Sabin, MN, with black Red River Valley soil dust on them. Mary picked up 4 sweet potatoes out of County Market that she'll develop into sweet potato slips for the garden. We picked up standards and a 8 brackets for book shelves.
- Snow geese flew over day and night. I bet we see hundreds of thousands of snow geese flying over. We heard wood cocks this evening, so they've arrived home. The first of the spring peepers (frogs) are sounding off in a pond just west of our property.
- We watched a 2018 movie Mary picked out of Walmart's $5 bin called The House With a Clock in its Walls, starring Cate Blanchett and Jack Black. It's really weird and I like it.
- My Red Pearl Royal Dutch amaryllis is blooming (see photos below). It measures 9 inches across the blossom when I pull open the tips of the flower.
 |
| Amaryllis (foreground) & bay tree (background). |
 |
| Sun illuminates this huge amaryllis blossom. |
- Thursday, 3/4: Wild Kingdom, sponsored by the Melvins
- While reviewing online news drivel this morning, I spotted a juvenile red-tailed hawk sitting on a branch about 50 yards away from the south living room window. It suddenly wasn't in view, but we could see the tips of its wings above the dead grass. Then, it flew away to the south, with a mouse or a vole in its talons. It was hunting just outside our window.
- Mary did 2 loads of laundry. She also cleaned the pantry, which took over 3 hours, because it's so stuffed with items.
- I moved and watered all of the apple rootstock trees and strawberries, so they could enjoy warm sunlight. Mary and I moved them back inside the machine shed on high spots away from bunny teeth at dusk.
- I ordered 43 more shelving brackets from Menards. They only had 8 brackets in the Quincy store and we need 51. Buy checking "Pick up at store," we don't pay shipping.
- I unloaded firewood out of the wagon, then cut up 4 dead oak trees SW of the house. One tree was bigger, so I left tractor and wagon at the wood's edge. I'll load it tomorrow and drive the tractor back home.
- While reviewing online news drivel this morning, I spotted a juvenile red-tailed hawk sitting on a branch about 50 yards away from the south living room window. It suddenly wasn't in view, but we could see the tips of its wings above the dead grass. Then, it flew away to the south, with a mouse or a vole in its talons. It was hunting just outside our window.
- Friday, 3/5: More Firewood
- Mary and I picked up and moved the firewood that I cut yesterday. It was a full wagon load. We noticed that there is a lot more possible firewood in that area of the woods. It's on a hill, next to the south field, which gets a lot of summer sun. With too many trees competing for waning soil moisture on dry years, several are sure to die, leaving nice, dry standing oak trees that make wonderful firewood.
- I did online research on my non-starting pickup, then ordered spark testing and fuel pump pressure testing tools from Rock Auto. These will help me narrow down my starting issue. I discovered that Vortec 4.3-liter V-6 engines possess distributors that overheat and wear out, due to their location. A fix is an all-aluminum distributor, but replacing it requires a 2-way reader that costs about $500-$1000. It is used to adjust the timing to keep engine codes from showing. The old ways of timing lights and dwell meters were cheaper.
- We saw 3 deer run off to the east when we walked the dogs to the cow barn and back.
- Snow geese are still flying overhead, but only after dark.
- Mary and I picked up and moved the firewood that I cut yesterday. It was a full wagon load. We noticed that there is a lot more possible firewood in that area of the woods. It's on a hill, next to the south field, which gets a lot of summer sun. With too many trees competing for waning soil moisture on dry years, several are sure to die, leaving nice, dry standing oak trees that make wonderful firewood.
- Saturday, 3/6: Bill Arrives
- Bill showed up around noon for a 9-day visit with us. Before he arrived, I drilled holes in 8 used plastic Gatorade bottles, and put mothballs in them to use as critter-chewing deterrents for vehicles. I replaced one that I accidentally drove over and one that mysteriously disappeared, which I think a coyote grabbed and hauled off to play with.
- We built an outside fire and roasted pork loins for our midday meal. We split up the partial bottle of pumpkin wine that we had in the fridge. It was great...definitely a variety to make as a larger batch. The pumpkin wine matched nicely with pork loin.
- Wind died to nearly calm in the late afternoon, so I gave all fruit trees a round of dormant oil spray. I got everything except the very tip-tops of the large Bartlett pear, the large pie cherry, and the Sargeant crab apple trees. We need a taller ladder.
- By the time I got to the cherry trees, darkness fell, so I put on the bright headlamp that Katie gave me and finished spraying. While spraying the Stayman Winesap apple trees, Mary and Bill stood out in the front yard, listening to woodcocks and trying to catch a glimpse of one. Bill said that I looked like one of the ghostbusters marching around with a spray wand and a hardhat adorned with a headlamp. He looked at Mary and asked, "Who ya gonna call?"
- It was Saturday Game Night, so we played a 1981 version of Trivial Pursuit. Mary won 2 games and I won 1 game. Bill says we play it like charades. In other words, the questioner gives hint after hint until the person either answers the question, or we give up. It's kind of cheating, but it's more fun.
- I put a photo on Facebook of my red pearl amaryllis, which has 4 full blossoms and a fifth bud appearing on that stalk.
No comments:
Post a Comment