May 15-21, 2022

Weather | 5/15, .02" rain, 61°, 68° | 5/16, 47°, 79° | 5/17, .71" rain, 51°, 83° | 5/18, 60°, 80° | 5/19, 56°, 84° | 5/20, .03" rain, 65°, 80° | 5/21, .21" rain, 47°, 64° |

• Sunday, 5/15: Dandy Wine, Nighttime Spraying & Lunar Eclipse
  
  • We experienced a tiny bit of rain in the morning.
  • Katie called. She's in Point Lay. She was just starting to enjoy spring in Anchorage, then flew north and back into winter. Katie and a foreman are setting up a work camp to tear down a water tank. Some of the boiler union guys showed up early. This tear-down job is planned to take 2 weeks. Then, she goes to Point Hope, which involves constructing a new water tank for the village. The job needs to be finished by Sept. 1st, so the village can fill the tank with water before freeze up. 
    
  • Mary cooked venison and gravy on biscuits for our main meal. The nice part about this meal is eating leftover biscuits with apricot or peach jelly, later.
    
  • She also worked on her cross stitch project, Native Raven.
  • I racked the dandelion wine for the 2nd time, since a half-inch of fines were in the bottom of the gallon jug. The specific gravity is 0.996, resulting in 11.79% alcohol. It went into a gallon jug and I topped it up with a couple ounces of distilled water.
  • On a fruit tree tour, I saw bug damage on apple leaves of trees that didn't receive spinosad spray on May 7th. Tons of tiny fruits are forming on 3 of the apple trees.
    
  • We saw a double rainbow just before sunset.
    
  • I mixed up a batch of insecticidal soap spray, using a recipe involving a quarter of a Kirk's bar of soap. Then, I sprayed fungicide and insecticide (either spinosad or soap) on all apple trees, except the Sargent crabapple. Spinosad went on trees that didn't receive it last week and insecticidal soap went on the other trees. This job went on well into darkness.
  • While I sprayed, Mary sat and watched the lunar eclipse. While the moon was partially covered, she watched bird fly over the face of the moon. Once the moon was fully covered with earth's shadow, she spotted 3 small stars in a perfect line just under the moon. As time went on, they rose in relation to the moon, with the middle star blocked by the moon. I visited Mary off and on to watch the eclipse. Mary spotted a cluster of tiny stars right over our heads, which through binoculars, turned out to be a large bunch. She looked it up later and found they are the Virgo cluster of galaxies. Well after the full lunar eclipse, I showed up with what Mary calls my "obnoxious" headlamp and finished cleaning my spray tank. Soon after, we both went back into the house.
  • The neighbor dogs barked constantly, probably due to my headlamp lighting up trees as I sprayed. Then, coyotes howled all around us and those 2 dogs. That shut up the dogs and I commented to Mary that silence is golden. We didn't hear a peep out of the dogs for the rest of the night.
    
    
• Monday, 5/16: Mowing, Onion Seeds Planted
  
  • Mom texted that she also watched the lunar eclipse and while doing so, saw the space station fly by. She sent photos of Nanking cherry bushes she planted 8 years ago that are in bloom and of herself (see below).
    
  • Mary mowed the south end of the far garden while I whacked down knee-high grass next to the rows ahead of her to make mowing easier. I also got halfway around the outside of the far garden's electric fence with the trimmer using the blade attachment.
  • Mary fertilized the blueberries with aluminum sulfate to give them more acid soil.
    
  • When we got the mail, we saw the 2 Canada geese, with several goslings, on the property across the gravel road. For several days, one lone goose was standing guard in the driveway of the trailer across the road. Obviously, it was the male, guarding the hen on a nest nearby. Now they're raising young ones.
    
  • Mary planted onions (round 2), after the replacement seeds arrived in today's mail. 
  • Snow peas are about 4 inches high after 3 weeks, 2 days. High heat summer temperatures last week slowed their progress.
  • I mowed the north yard.

Mom's Nanking cherries.

Ruth Melvin at 87 years young.

• Tuesday, 5/17: Ants, Mulch & Rain
  
  • Mary planted shallot seeds in the near garden.
  • Katie texted the fact that there are no more sunsets until fall, starting today, in Point Lay, AK.
  • A dove on a nest in a low cedar branch next to the west entrance to the machine shed bit the dust. Feathers were near the nest and next to our garbage can. Eggs were gone, too. We suspect a feral black cat we've seen, recently.
  • We spotted a female summer tanager. Mary read that they specialize in hunting and eating bees and wasps, without getting stung.
    
  • Mary raked grass that was mowed yesterday and put it all into the far garden rows.
  • Carpenter ants are invading a crack in the base of branches in the big pie cherry tree. I nailed hundreds of them with Dawn soap solution for several hours. I also discovered the insecticidal soap recipe using a bar of Kirk's soap is ineffective. Dawn works better. I suspect these ants are coming from the weeping willow tree stump that I failed to cut down all the way last fall. It's now sprouted new branches (see photo, below).
    
  • I finished knocking down grass outside of the electric fence in the far garden.
  • I also sharpened the blades on the lawnmower and the grass trimmer.
  • Outside work was cut short with an evening thunderstorm that approached from the west. We got almost 3/4" of much-needed rain. Our clay-based soil was starting to develop cracks. Mary said working a hoe to plant seeds was like chipping away at bricks.

  

  Our weeping willow weed with big pie cherry tree in background.
  

• Wednesday, 5/18: Katie's Letter
  
  • Katie had a nice email from the general manager of UIC, her employer. It read, "Katie, Wanted to let you know how impressed I was at the conclusion of our recent site visit to Venetie. It was clear you represented UIC well while you were working there last year. I saw where lots of good relationships were formed, and your understanding of the scope and the existing facility were very helpful. Your efforts to add this bid and the trip to the site into your workload was very valuable. Great work, Katie. Thank you!"
    
  • While Mary made flour tortillas, I picked all of the radishes out of 3 plastic bins. After cleaning them up, they filled a gallon storage bag. 
  • Mary mowed the lane, minus areas where poison ivy is growing.
  • I used eight 4-foot long pieces of rebar and propped up the chicken wire fence where deer or rabbits knocked it down and broke wooden stakes holding it up. Then I used the grass trimmer with the steel blade and took down grass between the chicken wire and electric fences. Finally, Mary picked up hay from grass I've been dropping with the trimmer and put that mulch around our two new apple trees.
  • While Mary moved hay, I mowed the lane where poison ivy grows.
  • We saw our first monarch butterfly while getting the mail, today.
    
  • In the evening, I bought some Tree Tanglefoot Insect Barrier online, since I couldn't find it in various store inventories in Quincy. I need it to keep carpenter ants out of the large pie cherry tree. I noticed they're back with a vengeance.
  • The Esopus apple tree has some nicely developing fruit. I'm not seeing much for fruit on any of the pear trees. They had lots of bees on blossoms, but somehow rain or wind ruined the crop, unless they're slow to develop and I'm not seeing them, yet. Lots of cherries are growing. We also have several green strawberries developing.
    
    
• Thursday, 5/19: Outside Work
  
  • I weedwhacked the rest of the north end of the far garden, producing an abundance of hay. I also whacked the north trail to the far garden, the trail to the asparagus bed and around the asparagus plants, and under and around the Esopus tree.
    
  • Mary moved the hay in several wheelbarrow loads and mulched 3 blueberry plants and 5 trees, which were the small Bartlett tree, and 4 small cherry trees.
  • Mary fertilized the garlic, strawberries, and herbs with fish fertilizer.
  • I mowed in front of the gate to the near garden yesterday. Today I raked it all up and put the mulch in the far garden.
    
  • I thinned Esopus apple tree fruit where I could reach the tiny apples from the ground. By thinning about 80-90% of the small fruit, it helps the tree to develop larger apples. Something is eating up the leaves at the lower branches. I suspect squirrels or opossums.
  • We were physically pooped from today's work.
    
  • Mary made a shopping list for a trip we'll make to Quincy, IL, tomorrow.
    
    
• Friday, 5/20: Dead Vehicles
  • We intended to go shopping today, but after loading coolers into the pickup, it did not start. The engine turned over, but did not fire. I even tried starting fluid. There was no fuel or spark. I put the code reader on and got a PO0335 code, which means a "crankshaft position A circuit malfunction." I looked it up online. It has more to do with an electronic malfunction, than a problem with the crankshaft. A crankshaft position sensor tells the engine's computer about the crankcase shaft's rotation speed to help calculate and distribute correct gas and air amounts. When it's shut off, the engine won't run. I looked up its location on a 4.3 liter GM V6, jacked up the right front of the pickup and put blocks of wood under the tire, crawled underneath and found 2 chewed off wires. They're in an impossible location to solder back together, so I ordered a new crankcase position sensor connector from RockAuto. It's to arrive in the mail next week.
  • Meanwhile, Mary mowed the far east garden and the path I whacked to the north end of it. She also raked grass and added mulch to a row in that garden.
  • I worked on getting the Buick Park Avenue, that we've let sit since 2019, back running. I changed spark plug wires. Two were chewed in half. I suspect squirrels. I pulled gobs of maple seeds out from around the engine. The air filter is well chewed and I pulled a huge mouse nest from just outside of the filter. Brake fluid was out, so I filled that. The driver's front tire was flat, so I aired up all tires. The battery was dead. I charged it, then started the car. It misses slightly, which is no surprise. I spotted 2 seriously chewed wires in the engine compartment. In one case a good 4-5 inches of wiring is completely gone. After putting stuff away, I went to start it, and it wouldn't start, again. So, I left the charger on for an hour. Rain halted my intentions of changing oil.
  • I helped Mary rake grass and mulch a far garden row. Big wet splats of rain told us to get our butts inside.
  • We're low on pet food. The Buick's plates are outdated. Hopefully, I can get it going well enough to drive 5 miles into Lewistown's Dollar General store and get cat and dog food. I still need to fix a front passenger door latch to pass a vehicle inspection, then get updated license plates...maybe on Monday. Then, we can make a trip to Quincy in the Buick.
  • Squirrel season opens on May 28th. I'm going to be in the woods plinking squirrels on and after next Saturday. I'm tired of them!
    
    
• Saturday, 5/21: Bay Tree Re-Potting & Buick Oil Change
  
  • Bill called. He's working to get his car's brakes fixed. No one will do the job using his parts. He received a recent raise. The receiving department is down to him and another person, who is on vacation right now. That means he is the only person working for receiving. He said he works like a robot and gets it done, but that he is beat by the end of each day.
    
  • Mary cleaned house. 
  • She also re-potted the bay trees, because they were full of ants and not liking life outside. She brought inside, placing them on an old rolling TV cart in the sunroom.
    
  • I mowed part of the east yard, so I had room to change oil in the Buick. I raked the grass I cut and mulched more in the far east garden.
  • I changed oil in the Buick. The last oil only had 350 miles on it, but it was 3 years old. Plus, it was the wrong weight (5W30) for that car. The new oil is the correct 10W30. I test drove the Buick to the pavement and back on the gravel road. The brakes aren't great, but they work well enough if I'm careful. We decided I'll take it on a shopping trip to Quinicy, tomorrow.
    
  • Mary made a wonderful chicken dinner with sweet potatoes. It was tremendous.