July 8-14, 2024

Weather | 7/8, p. cloudy, 66°, 85° | 7/9, cloudy, 0.06" rain, 68°, 73° | 7/10, sunny, 0.13" rain, 63°, 85° | 7/11, p. cloudy, 61°, 81° | 7/12, p. cloudy, 61°, 87° | 7/13, sunny, 69°, 87° | 7/14, 0.01" rain to sun, 73°, 90° |

• Monday, 7/8: Berry Picking & Small Shopping Trip
  
  • Our chicks are a month old today. I need to clean up the north chicken run and let them outside, soon.
  • Dead vehicles were lined up for so long that it seems weird to be down to just one good vehicle sitting outside. I need to locate gravel to fill in the holes where the Suburban's tires sank down into the ground.
    
  • Mary picked just over a quart of blackberries. I was wrong on my last grand total assessment. We now have 10 quarts with today's work.
  • Mary had a broad-winged hawk flew over her head and landed in a tree in the southwest timber. She heard a wood thrush singing in the north woods as she picked blackberries in the north field. We saw several chimney swifts and barn swallows eating bugs while flying over our house before dark. They are the reason our mosquito population stays low.
    
  • I drove to Montecello, our county seat, and dropped off the lower portion of the titles for the Buick and the Suburban that we recently sold to the junk dealer. In Missouri, you're supposed to get them into the license people within 30 days after selling any vehicle. Today was the 30th day after selling the Buick, so I just made it.
  • I then drove to Quincy to pick up half of my medications, chicken and cat food, and a couple grocery items. The Mississippi River is very high and just under the low part of the Memorial Bridge, which is the older of the two bridges and handles eastbound traffic going into Quincy. If the river's water level goes up a couple more feet, it will flood that bridge.
  • Thunderstorm clouds developed to the south and east at sunset and were illuminated by the setting sun. Mary took photos of the clouds (see photo, below). The cloud shown here was deep into Illinois. Mary took the photo from our second story bedroom window.
    

  

  Rising cloud illuminated by the setting sun.

• Tuesday, 7/9: Nice Light Rain
  • Based on weather radar maps, we were on the northernmost edge of weather created by Hurricane Beryl. Rain started at noon and lasted about two hours, then fell sporadically  throughout the afternoon. This is perfect weather for recently transplanted garden plants in the near garden.
    
  • As Mary made vegetable soup, I updated and balanced the checkbook. It was a quiet indoor day.
  • Mary and I toured the pear trees. We actually have a handful of Bartlett pears growing on the east side of the large tree...just enough for eating. There are no pears on the Kieffer pear tree. All pear trees have extensive rust on leaves. A small number of leaves show fire blight damage, but nothing as severe as what they experienced last year.
  • I found one apple on the ground under the Empire apple tree. I cut it in half to discover coddling moth larvae damage on half of the apple. That's probably why the tree dropped the apple. The other half was good, so Mary and I each ate a quarter. It was green, quite tart, yet very tasty.
    
  • We watched a double rainbow develop and disappear just prior to sunset (see video and photos, below). A low sun shining through falling rain made for a high semi-circle of double color. The photos and video don't do it justice.
    
  • I watched a couple videos on bud grafting. One was by a British conservation group. The other was by a college professor in Quebec. Bud grafting is not too hard. I need to buy a couple more grafting items. I plan on grafting McIntosh buds onto two of the Antonovka rootstock saplings. It's supposed to be done in late summer.
  
  
  A double rainbow just before sunset.
  
  
  

A double rainbow viewed from our porch.

The same rainbow a few minutes later.

• Wednesday, 7/10: More Blackberries
  
  • During an early morning bathroom jaunt, I looked out the south sunroom windows to see a deer munching on our Empire apple tree, so I ran outside and chased it away.
    
  • With thunderstorm predictions flagged for the late afternoon, Mary and I decided to hit the blackberry picking scene right away. She went east and north to pick blackberries and I went west and south. Together, we then got the three remaining patches in the north field. We put two more quarts in the freezer, giving us 12 bags of 2024 blackberries.
  • Rain started to fall when we went to the north blackberry patches. Our wet shirts felt nice and cool after picking berries in the blazing sun.
    
  • I spooked up a doe and a fawn when I went to the end of the west field. The doe snorted at me as her baby joined her. Maybe it was the same deer munching on our apple tree early this morning.
    
  • Eastern phoebe fledglings are peering in our house windows while perched on Virginia Creeper vines, which is driving our cats nuts.
    
  • We experienced a steady rain for about an hour in the late afternoon.
    

• Thursday, 7/11: Mowing & Knocking Down Tall Grass
  
  • Mary mowed the lane. This is always a hot job. A quarter of a mile is a long distance to mow. The lower half of our lane gets no wind, which is perfect when snow is blowing in the winter, but not good on a hot and humid day.
    
  • I put the steel blade on the Stihl trimmer and whacked down tall grass, persimmon saplings, and lespedeza weeds around the outside of the far garden electric fence. It's about an eight- to 10-foot swath on the west and north sides of the garden and a five-foot swipe down the east side. That equals a lot of movement back and forth with the trimmer and sore muscles in the end.
    
  • When I walked to the mailbox for the mail, a doe snorted at me midway down the lane. They have a loud snort, like an out-of-tune wind instrument.
  • Mary and I stood in driveway east of the house and watched chimney swifts fly about. Whenever they fly close to one another they let out a loud chatter. Chimney swifts are fun to watch.
    
  • We have a white-feathered young cockerel that is never afraid and gets into everything while we're attending to the chickens. Mary calls him Woodstock, after the Peanuts cartoon character, because he's constantly cheeping. Put feed in the feeder and he jumps up on the top edge to peer into the feeder. Set a feed bag on the floor and he nips at it, which moves the bag, and scares the other chickens. Put your finger in front of him and he bites it. He's unique, but, no, we're not keeping him.
    

• Friday, 7/12: Berries & Weeds...It's Our Life
  
  • Mary was back on the berry trail and added another stuffed quart bag of blackberries to the freezer, giving us 13 total bags for the season. She also gathered several ticks (36) on a reversed roll of packing tape.
  • I mowed up grass knocked down yesterday around the far garden. The east and north sides are mowed and look nice. The west side is still a mess. I tossed cut lespedeza stalks into neighboring tall grass, since I don't want it put down as mulch around fruit trees.
  • Mulch from my mowing went to small apple saplings south of the house. One Antonovka apple tree is dead and the other two only have a tiny bit of leaves on top. I don't think they like our soil, plus rabbits have gnawed off new growth. Their demise eliminates this year's apple grafting plans. I think I'll start over by transplanting Sargent crabapple trees that I see starting under our current Sargent tree. They seem to thrive, here. If I can get them established, I can then proceed with grafting.
  • Our new push lawnmower has a faulty part. The hinge support to a door you open to install the grass catching bag is all plastic. It's separating, due to summer heat. I tap it back into place with a hammer, but I'll have to do something else to fix the issue. The Kohler engine is great. The Cub Cadet mower deck with its cheap plastic parts is not so great.
    
  • Since the recent remnants of Hurricane Beryl passed south and east of us, outside humidity levels are extremely high. An hour spent outside means all clothes are soaked.
    

• Saturday, 7/13: Mowing Up Downed Grass in the Heat
  
  • Mary cleaned the house and made flour tortillas. She also watered the near garden. 
  • I mowed up grass cut two days ago on the west side of the far garden. This side of the garden is up against a bunch of trees. It's full of persimmon shoots that I picked out before mowing up the grass. I moved about six wheelbarrow loads of sticks away and dumped them in the field just south of the compost bins. I didn't finish. There are still two sections of fence (between metal fence posts) to mow up. It's hot work. About every 45 minutes, I need to go inside and cool down for about a half hour. There are three small apple trees surrounded with grass mulch that is about 18 inches deep. A fourth tree is partway mulched.
  • An online check of the model of our newest mower indicates several owners have the same problem with a faulty rear hatch hinge as I'm experiencing. It's a poor design.
    
  • Bill went to Six Flags St. Louis with his friend, Craig. The descriptions of some of the rides sound horrible. He enjoyed himself and said it was a good day to do this activity since St. Louis is expected to reach 96°, tomorrow.
  • Each day for the past few days, a random apple falls out of the Empire tree. I cut out bad parts and we enjoy a tasty treat. They're still tart, but we're approaching their harvest time.
  • Mary left the heat lamp off to the chicks for the night. They're old enough with a full set of feathers to go through the night in the cool.
  • An assassination attempt was made on Donald Trump by a 20-year old man with an AR-15 rifle. I hate the fact those guns are sold to the public. I'll never own one.
    

• Sunday, 7/14: Berries, Ticks, Grass & Heat
  
  • With rain approaching on the radar, I woke Mary so we could get morning chores done before it rained. I startled three deer midway down the lane while walking the puppies. One was a buck with antler spikes that were a foot long. He'll have a big rack come autumn. The rain amounted to just a few drops.
    
  • Mary picked more blackberries. High heat is drying up blackberry brambles. She is a little shy of another stuffed quart bag.
  • Through the day, Mary picked 47 ticks off her clothing. Several were just hatched and tiny.
    
  • She spooked up a deer that was in the north yard while Mary was returning from picking berries on Bramble Hill.
    
  • I finished mowing the outside of the far garden. Then I began work on the two- to three-foot area between the electric and chicken wire fences. I took down the tall stuff with the steel blade on the trimmer while throwing persimmon saplings to the outside to collect with a wheelbarrow. Then I mowed up the grass and dumped clippings around small apple trees. I'm finished with the west and north sides.
  • High temperatures mean Mary and I spend half or more of our time inside cooling off. It's a scorcher out there.
  • We enjoyed a bottle of last year's apple wine. It tastes great and surprise, surprise...it tastes like apples!