July 15-21, 2024

Weather | 7/15, sunny, 73°, 93° | 7/16, 0.02" rain, cloudy, 70°, 85° | 7/17, sunny, 65°, 80° | 7/18, sunny, 54°, 77° | 7/19, p. cloudy, 55°, 80° | 7/20, cloudy, 58°, 75° | 7/21, p. cloudy, 60°, 80° |

• Monday, 7/15: Hot Humidity
  
  • At daybreak, I spotted a lump under the Empire apple tree. After looking through binoculars, I discovered a raccoon was sitting there eating a couple apples that fell under the tree. It lumbered off to the south.
    
  • It was really hot today. The thermometer reached 93°. We spent more time inside, cooling off, than outside in the heat. It only takes about 30 minutes before clothes are totally soaked.
    
  • I whacked down tall grass, then mowed it up on the east side of the far garden between the electric and chicken wire fences. That part of the job is done. I finished mulching the small apple trees with the grass clippings.
    
  • Mary mowed part of the north yard.
  • Dense humidity and upper atmosphere smoke put a strong orange hue on the setting sun that gave the sky a Halloween appearance.
    
  • Storms rumbled through Iowa and Illinois, north of us. We read that tornadoes touched down in Des Moines and Chicago. On our last dog walk, continuous lighting lit up the sky east of us as those storms moved on a southeastern track into Illinois. One 10-minute dog walk gave our clothes a damp feel, due to the high humidity in the outside air.
    

• Tuesday, 7/16: Dwindling Blackberries & Marquette Visit
  
  • Lightning flashes through our east bedroom window woke Mary at 5 a.m. She checked weather radar images online and saw a quick explosion of a storm line go in an unusual east to west development, starting at Hannibal. The front moved south and didn't affect us.
    
  • While walking dogs on their morning outing, about 15-20 Canada geese flew overhead, skimming just over the fields and trees.
    
  • I clipped weeds and trees growing just under the electric wire fence line of the far garden. Next, I removed support posts on the southwest corner post of the far garden and pounded them back in at a 90-degree angle. I had to replace one of the support posts, because I broke off the old one right at ground level. It took a great deal of grunting and prying with a spud bar and a mattock to get the broken steel post piece out of the ground. As a result, I only got one of the four corner posts done.
    
  • Mary picked blackberries and finished off our 14th quart, and put a third of a quart into the 15th bag. Blackberry numbers are dwindling. She says when she's done with the current bag, blackberry picking season is over.
  • When I got the mail, David Marquette drove by in a three-wheeler pulling two tiny trailers and we visited. He broke his ankle in March and his fix was wearing a leather boot tied at the top with several shoe strings. He never saw a doctor, of course. He got into an argument with Ben Woodruff, who owns land west of us. David had a radio on while tilling his garden. Woodruff had turkey hunters in land south of David. Woodruff first called David's father, Ansel, and chewed him out, then dropped by and told David off. Woodruff told David he bought hundreds of acres to put hunters out there and David is blasting ZZ Top from his radio. I told David what he does on his land is his business. I would have told Woodruff to stuff it. David is having the same problem we're having. Woodruff puts hunting stands up right on property lines. David is rebuilding a barbed wire fence on his south property line. We should do the same on our west property line.
    

• Wednesday, 7/17: Eye Exam & Shopping
  
  • I went to an eye exam at 10:15 a.m. at the Quincy Medical Group Eye and Vision Institute in Quincy. Vision in my right eye is off by just a little, but the best the optometrist could correct vision in the left eye was to 20/50. The optometrist suspects cataracts and lined me up for a cataract exam and consultation on August 5 at 3 p.m. The high level of astigmatism in my eyes means cataract removal needs to be done and new lenses placed in both eyes during surgery to correct them to good vision where all I might need is reading glasses. That will be a real treat. So with that development, I'm not getting new glasses at this time.
    
  • We shopped for the rest of the day. Mary bought a lamp at Goodwill for just $5.94 that will help her while reading in the living room. I found a threaded steel rod, washers and lock nuts for fixing the new lawnmower's back flap. We got home around 6 p.m.
    
  • We watched the 1994 movie, Maverick, that we found today in the Walmart $5 bin. We once owned it as a VHS tape. Now we have it as a DVD. It's a fun show.
    
  • It was cooler, today, which is a relief from temperatures in the 90s.
    

• Thursday, 7/18: Blackberry Picking is Done
  
  • I forgot to mention yesterday that the main reason for the eye exam, which was to check on any diabetic eye damage, was good. Eye pressures were perfect, so I don't have glaucoma. A thorough check of the retina and optical nerve showed no damage.
  • Mary picked the last blackberries, filling the 15th overstuffed quart bag in the freezer. She said several unripe red berries from her last visit were gone today. She found several berries that looked good on top, but after turning them over, she'd see a whole side of nothing but bare seeds. The latest hot spell dried up several blackberries.
  • I finished straightening up the last three corner posts of the far garden. I can tell what happens. With the electric fence turned off in late winter/early spring, deer trample fence wires and easily pull corner posts inward due to the soft ground. The only answer would be to get 10-foot long corner posts and bury over four feet into the ground. Cooler temperatures, today, meant I could finish the job without going inside to cool off every 30 minutes.
    
  • Mary planted Jet Star tomato plants in the near garden where corn was going to be planted. It's too late for corn to mature in time. Jet Star plants grow into with a more compact stature, thereby fitting better into the near garden's smaller space.
  • I went around the entire far garden while pulling the bottom electric fence wire out from under grass, dead leaves, and dirt.
  • Woodpeckers are hitting apples in the two trees producing apples south of the house. They sure are a nuisance.
  • Mary had a Henslow's sparrow talking to her as she picked blackberries. We heard them this spring. During the cicada eruption, we didn't hear this sparrow. Now, we're hearing them, again.
  • I finished the Jack London biography. It was interesting.
  • Mary tried her new reading light and it worked very well.
    

• Friday, 7/19: Wienie Roast
  
  • Mary mowed the west yard. It was hard going, due to thigh-high chicory stalks. She had to go over some areas twice. She put grass clippings around the two apple trees in the west yard and mulched the blueberry bushes. She also gave the chicks and the hens some clippings that both sets of chickens devoured.
    
  • I took the string trimmer to under the bottom electric fence wire of the far garden. Dusty conditions meant I was a dirt bomb when I finished that job. Next, I tighten electric wires, turn on electricity to the far garden, then tackle a grass-infested chicken wire fence.
    
  • We built an outdoor fire and had a wienie roast. We also played a game of washers where Mary beat me, soundly. I did hit one bull's-eye, which was my first, ever. We heard the normal nighttime sounds of tree frogs and barred owls. During twilight, we heard wood thrushes, tanagers, and cardinals tweeting in nearby trees. We suspect cardinals are concerned about fledglings moving about. The moon rose to the southeast and we actually scooted closer to the fire as cool air breathed on our backs. It was a perfect night for an outdoor fire.
    
  • We wanted to drink a bottle of perry at the wienie roast, but I accidentally grabbed a bottle of 2023 pear wine and opened it before I realized what it was. It tasted as it should...like pears. I think it will be even better around Christmas, when it has aged a year since it was bottled.
  • On the east side of the north yard is a mass of wild bergamot, also known as bee balm, or horse-mint (see photo, below). It's a major attractant to butterflies and bumble bees.

  

  Wild bergamot next to the north lawn.

• Saturday, 7/20: Far Garden Electrified
  • The local media reports that we're seeing below normal temperatures for this time of the year. Great! I'll take cooler temperatures anytime.
    
  • This morning, we watched four World War II fighter planes flying north in formation. Mary looked online and the Oshkosh airshow is next week in Wisconsin. They're probably flying to that event.
    
  • Mary mowed the far north yard, where lots of rag weed is growing. It's time to knock that stuff out before it starts pollinating.
    
  • I tightened all 11 fence wires surrounding the far garden. Then, I tied three old garden hose pieces around metal corner support posts that were too close to electric fence wires, so the wires won't short out. I moved electric fence insulators so that all were at the same height on all of the posts. Finally, I hooked up power and tested the fence. It's now charged to the far garden.
    
  • A yellow-billed cuckoo started calling from the north woods. We haven't heard it in quite a while.
  • I kept hearing field sparrows throughout the day. I call them the ping-pong bird, as the sount of THIS VIDEO demonstrates.
    
  • I finished reading the book, Co. Aytch, the Civil War memoir by Sam Watkins. It's a strong reminder of the horrors of war. Watkins was quoted throughout Ken Burns' The Civil War documentary.
    

• Sunday, 7/21: Pulling Chicken Wire Fence
  
  • Mary raked grass that she mowed yesterday and used it to mulch the little Bartlett pear tree, with the last load going under the Empire apple tree.
  • I removed the chicken wire fence in the south end of the near garden, including all of the posts supporting it. This was a tedious and tough job. I pulled tall grass woven into the fence through both ways to free every inch of it. Posts were so stuck in the ground that eventually I resorted to pouring water at their base to free them from the hard and dry clay soil. It took all day just to pull the chicken wire fence free. I was really sore by day's end.
  • I found a perfect bird's nest nestled in the tall grass next to the chicken wire (see photo, below). Mary thinks it's a sparrow's nest. Grass is intricately woven into a perfect circle.
  • While Mary watered the near garden, she found an aphid army. They were all over tomato and pepper plants. Mounds of them were up and down foxtail grass blades. She sprayed them all with a Dawn soap solution. It might take several sprays to knock the aphid horde back.
  • Woodpeckers continue to knock away at our apples. Firecrackers came out today. A quick bang from one firecracker sends them off to the west woods.

  

  A nicely woven sparrow's nest.