April 7-13, 2025

Weather | 4/7, sunny, 33°, 49° | 4/8, sunny, 21°, 53° | 4/9, p. cloudy, 0.01" rain, 40°, 70° | 4/10, 0.05" rain, cloudy, 37°, 65° | 4/11, 0.03" rain, cloudy, 40°, 59° | 4/12, sunny, 35°, 65° | 4/13, thin clouds, 51°, 80° |

• Monday, 4/7: New Trailer
  • While Mary and I took Plato on a morning walk on a short loop through the woods just north of the machine shed, we watched a pair of bald eagles glide overhead to the northeast.
  • We checked out the redbud tree in those woods and next to the north field. Mary took a photo of the blossoms (see below).
  • I've been looking for a trailer large enough to haul 4' x 8' sheets of plywood and other building materials...supplies for a future home. It needs to be something I can pull with the pickup. I found a 2009 trailer that seemed good, yet at a reasonable price ($900) on Facebook Marketplace. I texted with the owner, who is at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and decided to buy it.
  • I drove to Lewistown and bought gas ($2.95/gallon), then to our bank in Quincy to get cash for the trailer. Next, I drove to Mt. Pleasant, which is 72 miles north of Quincy, or 82 miles from our house.
  • A very strong northwest wind was blowing. I really felt it in our pickup. It's amazing how rough paved highways are in Iowa. They build all highways with concrete and no asphalt. Even patches are concrete. Then they plaster tar over cracks that's about two inches high. In an old pickup, driving over that mess feels like your molars are going to fall out!
  • The trailer looked good (see photo, below). It has a tilt bed, so ramps aren't needed. The trailer is 6 foot wide by 10 feet long. This guy's grandson "fixed" the trailer lights. The new lights look okay, but the wiring job won't last. The jack at the front needs replacing. Other than those things, it looks solid. I paid for the trailer, hooked it on the pickup, and drove home. 
  • The trailer tires travel beyond the width of the pickup, so diligence is needed while towing it, especially on narrow county roads. While running empty, it bounces a lot. I returned home just before sunset.
  • Tonight's forecast is for cold temperatures, so Mary covered the winter greens.
  • We drank a bottle of 2023 apple wine. This was bland right after bottling it, but after a year of resting, it tastes really good. It has a good apple flavor and it's very tart...YUM!!!
    

Mary's photo of redbud blossoms.

The new trailer. The old red trailer in the background
is too small to haul 4'x8' plywood. We'll sell it.

• Tuesday, 4/8: All Fruit Trees are Fine After Freeze
  • We experienced a solid freeze with a 21° low at 6:30 a.m., just before sunrise. Mary and I did a check of all blossoming pear trees and nothing was harmed. One or two blossoms are on the big cherry tree and on the McIntosh apple tree. Tons of blossom buds are showing on the Sargent crabapple tree and the small Liberty apple tree.
  • Several honey bees were in all of the pear tree blossoms at noon. Mary spotted a bee fly, Bombylius major, in the Keifer pear tree. HERE are images and information about the bee fly. They have a hairy body and a long proboscis. We also saw the first giant swallowtail butterfly of the season.
  • I researched our new trailer. It was made in Sikeston, MO, located at the south end of the state. The Iowa trailer registration indicates it was made in 2002, not 2009, like the previous owner suggested. The latch mechanism that closes onto the ball was beat on with a ball peen and it's rather loose on the ball when closed. Also, the jack is bent. I think someone left it down and pulled the trailer forward. I want to replace all of that, which will require some torch work and welding. I'm going to ask around for the whereabouts of a good welder.
    
  • Very thin clouds in the nighttime sky gave us a big ring around the moon when we walked our puppy on his final outing. It was pretty and weird...looked like a huge eye in the sky.

• Wednesday, 4/9: Big Chainsaw Fixed
  • Mary made a big batch of chicken noodle soup. Yum, yum!
  • When I walked down to the mailbox, I saw two snakes sunning themselves on the lane. The first one was a Graham's crayfish snake. I walked around it. On the way back home, I saw a small western fox snake. It arched up a foot off the ground with its neck, opened its jaws wide, and struck at me three times. I leaped backward and it never was close. Mary has encountered this same snake. It's not poisonous, but known for quick attacks.
  • The Stihl chainsaw oiler that I ordered from Minnesota came in today's mail. I installed it in the large chainsaw and fired up the saw. After several high-speed revs of the engine, I pointed the tip of the chainsaw bar toward bare cardboard and saw a very pleasing stream of wet oil sprayed out. It works great! Also, the new clutch springs that I installed on Feb. 6th worked perfectly, since the chainsaw's chain didn't keep rotating on the bar once the saw was at idle speed. I finally have the big chainsaw back in service.
  • We're noticing that several blossoms are ready to emerge on most all of the small apple trees.
  • The pear blossoms were snowing white petals all over the yard with a strong south wind blowing during the day.

• Thursday, 4/10: Two Rainbows in One Day
  • Today was a two-rainbow day. As the sun rose, a full rainbow showed up against the west clouds. In the evening, while the sun was setting, another full rainbow was on display in the east sky.
  • We experienced spits of rain throughout the day. It didn't amount to much, but it kept everything wet.
    
  • While walking Plato in the morning, I saw two deer in the south field. Then I heard a shot to the north. Don't know what that was for!
  • I spent a big part of the day doing paperwork related to Mary's health insurance.
  • I drove to Lewistown, bought some gas and went to the post office to mail out the paperwork, along with picking up a book of stamps. The pickup got 18.59 miles per gallon on the drive to bring the trailer home. I thought that was pretty good, with a headwind while driving north and pulling a trailer on the return trip.
  • We still have Asian beetles inside the house...just fewer of them. I vacuum them in the late afternoon.

• Friday, 4/11: Strawberry Plants, Pepper Seeds & Weeding
  • Dandelions are appearing all over our yard, so I picked some flowers, pulled the petals and froze them. I'd pick a dozen at a time, go inside, pluck all of them, then stuff pedals in a gallon freezer bag. In one hour I plucked five dozen dandies and got 19 grams in the freezer. I need 270 grams to have enough for a one-gallon batch of dandelion wine...I'm 7% of the way to my goal, so there's a lot more dandy plucking in my immediate future.
  • Mary planted pepper seeds. It amounts to five different kinds of hot and sweet peppers in 20 Styrofoam cups.
  • I uncovered the strawberry plants. All containers had yellow leaves pushing up through the grass, so this method of keeping the containers outside and covering them with dead grass worked well. I moved the grass and mulched around the Granny Smith apple tree, and two small cherry trees. Then I lined all of the strawberry containers up into two rows at the east end of the near garden and covered them with white lace curtain material to give the yellow leaves protection from direct sun. Hopefully after a few days they will green up and I can remove these covers.
  • Mary started cleaning up tall weeds and grass next to the near garden's bunny fence (two-foot high chicken wire). She got about a quarter of the way along that fence.
  • We heard a white-throated sparrow singing near our yard. They are here in the spring, but head north and nest in Canada.
  • More and more apple and cherry blossoms are opening.

• Saturday, 4/12: Near Garden Fence Work
  • I picked dandelion petals for another hour and froze 18.5 grams for a grand total of 37.5 grams towards enough for a gallon of wine. I need to increase my picking efforts, or I'll be at this for a long time.
  • There are lots of bees in the cherry blossoms. I also saw several in dandy flowers.
  • Mary cleaned more of grass and weeds out of the near garden bunny fence. She's more than halfway around that fence.
  • I fixed three corners of the near garden electrical fence. Each winter and spring, all four corner posts lean inward, requiring me to straighten them. On the corner posts nearest the house, I simply had to pound a couple rocks or brick pieces into the ground surrounding the post bases. The southeast post was leaning the most and with that post I had to reposition support posts and add new diagonal wiring. The last one requiring work is on the northeast corner.
  • While doing evening chores, I spotted a new cell tower within site of our property due south of us. We're guessing it's about two miles away. This must be new tower construction, since we didn't notice it until today.
  • We enjoyed deviled eggs, pumpkin cake, and two pots, each, of loose leaf tea while watching two movies. They were the 2000 film, Finding Forrester, and the 2010 movie, Leap Year.

• Sunday, 4/13: Starting to Turn Over Garden Soil
  • It was 33 years ago, today, when Katie was born in Crookston, Minnesota.
  • Mary and I watched a sharp-shinned hawk fly overhead at tree height as we walked Plato first thing in the morning.
  • I picked more dandelion petals, bringing the grand total to 81.2 grams, or 30 percent of a 270-gram total. Today was a two-hour session and I picked 144 flowers.
  • Mary did some cross stitch work.
    
  • I straightened the last corner post of the near garden, pulled all of the electrically-charged wires tight and turned on the electric fence surrounding the near garden.
  • Mary turned about 10 feet soil over in the near garden. She's trying to get a jump on starting garden plants.
  • Several small apple trees are blossoming for the first time this spring. The Sargent crabapple tree, the McIntosh apple tree, and the large pie cherry tree are all white with blossoms.