May 26-June 1, 2025

Weather | 5/26, partly cloudy, 49°, 67° | 5/27, rain, cloudy, 55°, 74° | 5/28, 0.20" rain, cloudy, 55°, 69° | 5/29, 0.05" rain, 59°, 69° | 5/30, 0.17" rain, 50°, 76° | 5/31, smoky, 55°, 79° | 6/1, smoky, 55°, 75° |

• Monday, 5/26: Bass Fishing
  • As Mary walked outside, our youngest cat, Mocha, grabbed a juvenile skink, and because Mocha was halfway out the door, the screen door swung shut on her abdomen. It didn't deter her. Mocha ran inside with a skink in her mouth. Mary was in fast pursuit on what became the Great Skink Roundup. Mary and I followed Mocha upstairs as she ran into the north bedroom. I shut the door and Mocha dropped the skink. Mary grabbed it from under a desk and took it back outside to release it. Now, every time we open the front door, Mocha is there to look for that skink.
  • Bill, Mary and I went fishing at Bass Pond. I drove the tractor and trailer loaded with our poles and tackle. The tractor knocked down the grass, making it easier for Mary and Bill to walk to the pond. We caught nine medium-sized bass that we kept and threw back several small fish. There were ticks everywhere. Bill donated lures to the giant American lotus weeds growing in the pond. He even got a lure caught high in an oak tree that we'll try to retrieve in the winter when the pond is frozen.
  • Our main mission once we got back home was to clean ourselves of ticks. This year is the season of small seed ticks. Everywhere in the tall grass is crawling with hundreds of them. 
  • While Bill and I filleted fish, Mary picked a big bowl of ripe strawberries. She also picked a bunch of greens. We enjoyed fried fish, a baked potato, and a huge salad. The fresh food was really yummy.
  • On our evening walk with Plato, Fred, the barred owl, landed on the electric line next to a power pole at Bluegill Pond near where we stood. He watched us walk on the lane. He's used to seeing us and doesn't fly away. 
  • Bill spotted a raccoon walking through the yard and heading west at dusk. Mary went outside to make sure it didn't mess around at the chicken coop. She didn't see it, but made loud noises to ensure that it moved on. 
  • We watched the 2012 film, Lincoln.

• Tuesday, 5/27: Mary's Birthday
  • For Mary's birthday, Bill gave her a big spatula and a large, foldable playing surface made of a felt/plastic material to use when playing Michigan Rummy. Katie gave her a gift card to 123stitch.com for cross stitch items. My gift of flowering plants decorates our front porch.
  • Katie called while she drove to work to wish Mary a happy birthday. 
  • Mary picked more strawberries. 
  • For the midday meal, I made waffles that we stuffed with strawberries.
  • Bill left for his apartment around 3 p.m.
  • I thinned the fruit on the Porter's Perfection apple tree. This is the first year we'll get to taste fruit from this tree, as well as several other newer apple varieties.
  • The pie cherries are ripening fast. Like everything, fruit is developing very early this year. We'll be picking cherries in a day or so.
  • Mary cut scapes off the garlic. She surmised that she will be pulling up garlic by the end of this week.
  • I watched hockey while Mary cross stitched and read. The Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars, 4-1, and now lead the series, 3-1.

• Wednesday, 5/28: Picking Cherries
  • We heard bob white quail calling in the yard while we were in the living room this morning. There are more this year than we've noticed in recent years.
  • Mary and I picked cherries. Mary noticed cherries dropped by birds on the trail to the chicken coop, so she started by picking ripe cherries she could reach from the ground and from the six-foot step ladder. Then, I took over and picked cherries from monkey levels while using the 10-foot ladder. We both chased out several birds, including woodpeckers, cat birds, and cedar waxwings. There are 2.5 quarts of new pie cherries in the freezer.
  • Mary thinned the apples on the Liberty apple tree.
  • She also started weeding onions. Mary got most of the Patterson onions weeded and part of Red Bull onions finished.
  • Mary also picked a big bunch of strawberries.
  • She cut more garlic scapes. All of the garlic will need to be pulled by Monday, because on Tuesday, rain is predicted, and we don't want to hang damp garlic up to dry.
  • I failed to mention that one of the flies I tied this spring, the Clouser minnow, was a big hit for catching bass at Bass Pond. The action of the fly in the water exactly resembles a swimming minnow and fish hit it on almost every cast.

• Thursday, 5/29: More Cherries
  • Rain fell in the morning and then again in the evening. These small rain showers are keeping plants going and us from watering gardens.
  • I picked cherries for most of the day, rotating through various sized ladders. An additional 1.75 quarts went into the freezer. We won't get as many cherries as last year when cicadas filled the appetites of birds and kept them out of the cherries.
  • I watched the Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars, 6-3, to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
  • Mary had me look at glass beads at 123stitch.com, which is a cross stitch and quilting website. The beads are so much cheaper than on fly tying websites, plus they're glass beads, not cheaply-made plastic beads. I added 12 types of beads to Mary's order, along with two sizes of small zip lock plastic bags.

• Friday, 5/30: Tending Fruit Trees
  • Pie cherry picking continued from the large tree. I only made it halfway around the tree on the tall ladder before quitting for the day. I froze a total of 6.25 quarts.
  • Mary thinned apples from the Empire apple tree, which is our largest apple producer. She gleaned a third of a bucket from going around the outer edge of the tree and picking off what she could reach from the ground (see photo, below). By taking off small or insect-damaged apples that are crowded together in clumps, we grow larger and cleaner fruit...we hope! 
  • Mary also pinned five strawberry runners into cups filled with wet potting soil. After roots grow, these will replace weak plants in our strawberry plant collection. She then clipped any other strawberry runners. Mary then picked two healthy bowls of fruit.
  • Mary cut garlic scapes. She starts harvesting garlic tomorrow.
  • We noticed that raspberries are starting to ripen. 
  • Smoke from Canadian wildfires reached us today (see photo, below). A rising or setting sun or moon turns orange when on the horizon.

Culled apples from the Empire apple tree.

Smoke fills our skies from Canadian wildfires.

• Saturday, 5/31: Start of Garlic Harvest
  • Smoke continues to put a haze in the otherwise clear sky.
  • The ripe cherries are coming on strong. I picked four quarts of cherries today. A grand total of 10.25 quarts of 2025 cherries is in the freezer. I thought I really picked a high amount until I looked at last year's grand total, which was 39 quarts. I've picked only a quarter of the 2024 total. It was an unusual year last year with all birds stuffed with cicadas. This year half-bitten cherries are plentiful under the tree as a result of bird pecking. Plus, broken branches on top are a telltale sign that a raccoon was reaching for cherries overnight.
  • Mary pulled up three garlic varieties from the far garden, which were Music, German Extra Hardy, and Georgian Crystal. She only had five plants with rotten bulbs. All of the rest looked great. I joined Mary to bundle the garlic in bunches and hang them from the west-end rafters in the machine shed. They dry until Mary takes them down in September.
  • We see ripe mulberries in various trees. Mary and I tried one. They really have no taste and I don't see why anyone would seek them out. 
  • When we walked Plato for his night outing, a slight glow of red aurora borealis was in the northern sky.

• Sunday, 6/1: Trailer Wiring Fix & Garlic Harvest
  • A three-week online search of a used riding lawnmower that is relativity close to us yielded a result when I found a 2015 Cub Cadet with a 50" deck for sale for $1000 in Quincy. We need a faster mode of mowing grass. Via messages, I agreed with the owners that I'd visit them tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.
  • I worked on the wiring to the lights on the tilt trailer. The recent welding job melted wires near the hitch, so I cut out the melted part, which enabled me to pull out wiring that ran through rough gas torch holes cut in the metal framing. Then I drilled nine small holes in that same metal at strategic locations and added temporary plastic wiring clamps using small bolts and nuts securing the clamps through these newly made holes. At a later date, I'll add wire loom over the wires and use larger clamps at these same locations. Today, I just wanted to bring the wires up from hanging low off the trailer's framing. Once the clamps were in place, I rerouted and connected the wire with crimp connectors. I'll do a better job in the future with soldered butt connectors covered with heat shrink. This job took all afternoon and into the evening.
  • Mary harvested the last three kinds of garlic, which were Siberian, Samarkand, and Shvelisi. Mary and I bundled and hung this garlic in the machine shed rafters. All garlic is harvested.
  • The motherwart plants in the in chicken yard are absolutely stuffed with honey and bumble bees. 

May 19-25, 2025

Weather | 5/19, 1.67" rain, cloudy, 55°, 67° | 5/20, 0.09" rain, cloudy, 59°, 67° | 5/21, p. cloudy, 50°, 63° | 5/22, sunny, 43°, 61° | 5/23, sunny, 44°, 69° | 5/24, cloudy, 53°, 73° | 5/25, cloudy, 57°, 63° |

• Monday, 5/19: Thunderstorms
  • We experienced rain from thunderstorms in the morning and at night. Mary and I both bounced out of bed at 6:30 to disconnect freezers and the fridge due to lightning strikes. That storm gave us a third of an inch of rain. After dark, a slow moving thunderstorm traveled through us, constantly thundering. The nighttime storms gave us another 1.34" of rain. It was dry enough that most all rain soaked into the ground.
  • Mary cut scapes from the garlic plants. This means that we ought to be harvesting garlic in a couple weeks.
  • I put a question out in four buy and sell groups for Lewis County, MO, on suggestions for a good welder within the county to remove the old coupler on the tongue of the trailer and weld a new one in place. I got several suggestions. I selected Hudson Welding in LaBelle, run by an older guy and his two sons. They are close and seem to charge reasonable prices. I drove the trailer to the welder in the afternoon. He asked if we lived in the house north of a pond on our gravel road and when I explained that it's where Mary's uncle, Herman Hutton, once lived, he replied, "I knew Herman very well."
    
  • In the morning, Mary reported that the egg numbers coming from the hens were dwindling. At the end of the day she collected nine eggs...not dwindling at all!
  • Mary had two barn swallows zip around the house twice and pass within a foot from the brim of her hat. On the second pass, they were twittering as they flew by her face.
  • As thunder barked outside at night, I read several chapters of a book entitled Canoe Trip: Alone in the Maine Wilderness, by David Curran. It's a fun read.

• Tuesday, 5/20: Dandelion Wine Racking
  • I racked the dandelion wine for the second time. The must sat over the fines for about 2.5 weeks, but it didn't harm the taste. The specific gravity was 0.993 and the pH was 3.1. Just over 0.2 grams of Kmeta was added to the must. I lost about 750 ml of liquid, although Mary and I drank a couple small glasses of the wine. The initial taste was rather bitter from the dandelion petals, with a sub flavor of citrus, from the orange, lemon, and lime. The aftertaste was amazingly close to the taste of grapefruit juice. We thought it was delicious. Give it time to age and this will be some mighty fine wine!
  • We found out that Bill will be here from this upcoming Saturday through Tuesday.
  • In the morning, two hummingbirds flew by Mary at knee height between her and the door, as she stood on the front porch. In other words, they were about six inches away as they flew by Mary.
  • These days, when we need some lettuce or spinach, Mary just goes into the garden to pick our our "grow"ceries (see photo, below).
    
  • I finished reading the Canoe Trip book.

  

  Mary picking "grow"ceries (lettuce & spinach) in the near garden.
  

• Wednesday, 5/21: Wild Kingdom
  • We went for a wildlife walk when we took Plato on his morning stroll. First, we noticed a bunny on the edge of the lane. Then a doe deer ran out near the bunny, looked at us, then zipped back where it came from. Next, a tiny fawn, that was maybe a few days, old ran out into the lane. It tucked its head into a bush as if it thought that by hiding its head, we couldn't see its rump that was out in plain sight. The bunny was long gone, thanks to the deer circus. We turned around to give Mama and her baby some space. Finally, two wood ducks and a great blue heron flew overhead. Welcome to our Wild Kingdom!
  • I gave Mary a haircut.
  • I checked with the welder handling my trailer and he was working on it at that moment and said it was almost done.
    
  • While Mary cleaned house, I mowed the lane, the south orchard, and the trail by the small cherry trees west of the house.
  • Mary cleaned up a lot of garlic scapes in the far garden.
    
  • After I finished mowing, there was a message that the trailer was done. I drove to LaBelle and returned with the trailer. Mary did all of the evening chores while I was away. The welder told me that the trailer manufacturer originally welded the tongue up so well that the old coupler came off in pieces. He did a very good job putting a new one on and installing a new trailer jack.
  • I watched the Edmonton Oilers/Dallas Stars NHL playoff game. After two periods, the Oilers led, 3-1. Dallas scored five unanswered goals in the third period to win, 6-3.

• Thursday, 5/22: Birds, Shopping, & a Movie
  • We had a turkey hen walk through our property in the morning hours. At 5 p.m., while Mary was looking over Plato for ticks, a turkey hen erupted into flight from the path next to the near garden and flew north. It was probably the same bird as the one we saw this morning.
    
  • I went shopping in Quincy.
  • I got two flowering plants for an early birthday present to Mary. One is a New Guinea impatiens and the other is a petchoa, which is a hybrid between a petunia and a calibrachoa. (see photo, below). The petchoa has exceptional disease resistance, improved heat tolerance and cleaner foliage than traditional petunias. Mary plans on repotting them.
  • Mary noticed all kinds of colorful birds on our property throughout the day, such as a male Baltimore oriole, rose-breasted grosbeaks, ruby-throated hummingbirds, cardinals, eastern bluebirds, and common yellowthroats. "It's like living in a tropical forest," she said.
    
  • We watched a movie I picked up for $5 at Walmart called Plane. A lot of work went into that film title. It's actually a good movie.

  

  Magnum XL orange impatiens (left) & EnViva red petchoa (right).
  

• Friday, 5/23: Ripe Mulberries & More Fireflies
  • Mary repotted the two plants I gave her yesterday.
  • It was a low activity day for me.
  • A mulberry tree that grows in the middle of the cedars south of the near garden is full of ripe, red berries. Ripe mulberries in May is quite early. This is good, since we're starting to see color on some of the pie cherries on the big cherry tree. Again, this is early, too. Mulberries help to keep birds away from cherries.
  • I watched the Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars, 3-0, to even the series at 1-1.
  • We noticed quite a few more fireflies in the grass field south of the house when we walked Plato on his last outing.

• Saturday, 5/24: Bill Arrives, Hotdogs, Washers, Movies
  • I watched a hummingbird check out the new petchoa plant sitting on the front porch.
  • Bill showed up around 11 a.m. He's here until Tuesday.
  • Mary and I found four ripe strawberries. There are several big green strawberries waiting to ripen.
  • We had a wienie roast out under the mulberry tree in the west yard and played washers. Bill got very good at tossing a washer.
  • While picking greens for big salads, Mary picked some huge spinach leaves. This year is shaping up to be a great spinach growing year.
  • The swamp dogwoods along the lane are blooming and the flowers are full of all kinds of bees.
    
  • Bill picked out two movies that we watched, which involved the 2022 film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and the 1952 movie, Singing in the Rain.

• Sunday, 5/25: Owl, Doe, Vultures, a Game with Pizza
  • When we walked Plato in the morning, a barred owl, who we call Fred, flew from a tree next to the lane to a cedar tree in the south field. These big birds are super light. It was perched on a twig at the top of the cedar tree and that thin branch wasn't bending at all.
  • There is a doe who we see regularly near Bluegill Pond. Today we saw her in the afternoon.
  • On a late afternoon walk, we saw 11 turkey vultures swirling around in the sky all at once while they rode the updrafts caused by a northeast wind.
  • Bill and I watched the Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars 6-1 and take a 2-1 lead in the series.
  • Mary was happy to get in some cross stitching while we watched the game. Mary says she loves it when she gets time to do that hobby.
  • Mary made some pizza that we ate while we played a game called Atlas Adventure. Mary won twice.

May 12-18, 2025

Weather | 5/12, cloudy, 52°, 81° | 5/13, sunny, 59°, 80° | 5/14, sunny, 58°, 83° | 5/15, sunny, 66°, 87° | 5/16, sun & clouds, 58°, 81° | 5/17, sunny, 52°, 69° | 5/18, sunny, 45°, 74° |

• Monday, 5/12: Tomato Seeds Planted
  • I mowed the rest of the south lawn, cleaned out tall grass around steel fence posts around the Empire apple tree and put grass mulch over those areas around Empire, along with more mulch on the Seckel pear tree. I mowed inside and between the fences of the near garden. All strawberry containers received grass clipping mulch, along with two small cherry trees due west of Empire.
  • While adding mulch to the Seckel pear, I noticed a continuous stream of cottonwood seeds flowing through the air from the big cottonwood tree just north of the machine shed.
  • Mary weeded and thinned the parsnips. There are several nice looking parsnip plants.
  • Mary planted tomato and tomatillo seeds in 33 Styrofoam cups filled with potting soil.
  • She also repotted the Gerbera Daisy that Bill gave her for Mother's Day (see photo, below).
  • Mary heard the first yellow-billed cuckoo of the season in the southwest woods. We noticed a robin fledgling in the Sargent crabapple tree during our noontime walk of Plato.
  • I watched two periods of Game 4 of the Edmonton Oilers/Vegas Golden Knights playoff game. The Oilers won, 3-0, and are ahead, 3-1, in the series. My laptop went goofy in the second intermission and was continuously stuck on the startup page. I looked online on my phone, started the computer up in the safe mode, then got it going again. I'm guessing files need to be cleaned out in the computer.

  

  The Gerbera Daisy that Bill gave Mary.
  

• Tuesday, 5/13: Bedroom AC Install
  • The two Sargent crabapple tree transplants are still alive. I keep putting water on them. The two new apple trees in the south orchard are kicking on new leaves. The jury is still out on whether the newly planted Seckel pear will live. It only has two leaves that are yellow green.
  • High temperatures for Thursday are forecast to go above 90, so I cleaned the small window air conditioner we use through the summer in our bedroom. The new cordless impact wrench made quick work of removing and reinstalling screws and nuts. The Milwaukee cordless screw bits I got from Katie are magnetically charged, so turning screws deep into the AC was much easier this time around. I spent a good couple hours washing out dead Asian ladybugs and dried bug jerky out from the inside of the AC. After putting it back together, I installed the AC in our bedroom window, filled air gaps in the single hung window with foam inserts, and sealed all surrounding air gaps with packing tape. Sleeping in the bedroom overnight was very pleasurable after the AC ran for about six hours. During the previous couple nights, temperatures were a little on the hot side. The AC's fan bearing is loud. Time will tell if it lasts the summer.
  • Mary made pizza for our midday meals for a couple days.
  • She also mowed the area between the machine shed and the two grain bins.
  • Katie has good news. She was promoted from assistant project manager to project manager, with a boost in her salary.

• Wednesday, 5/14: Cleaning Big AC
  • Mary harvested a third to half of the radishes (see photo, below). They filled almost a full gallon bag.
  • We enjoyed our first salad with radishes on spinach and lettuce, all from the garden. It was quite good.
  • After opening the steel case surrounding our large air conditioner, I was amazed at all of the dead Asian ladybugs packed inside (see photo, below). They crawled in during their autumn swarming and died during cold winter temperatures. I cleaned this large AC and put it back together. Then I cleaned sticky residue off the inside face of the unit left behind from a sticker that was plastered on it when we bought the AC. Goo Gone works well at removing old adhesive. Cleaning this large AC ate up most of today's time, so I didn't install it...a job I'll do tomorrow.
  • Mary mowed part of the north yard and mulched the onions, shallots, and parsnips in the near garden.
  • Mary saw the first eastern wood-pewee of the year.
  • I watched Game 5 of the Edmonton Oilers/Vegas Golden Knights series. The Oilers won, 1-0, in overtime to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Both goalies were excellent with no goal scored until seven minutes into overtime.
  • Mary and I shared a bottle of 2023 pumpkin wine made from pumpkins harvested in 2022. This wine was left on the lees too long after the first racking and it still has too much of an alcohol taste, even after two years of aging. It tastes okay, but not great.

About 1/3 to 1/2 of radish crop.

Asian ladybugs inside the big air conditioner.

• Thursday, 5/15: Hurray for New Green Leaves
  • I installed the large air conditioner in the living room's west window, secured it into place, used packing tape to seal all air gaps, and stuck stiff white foam board on each side outside of the the AC to shut out light and bugs. This AC is big enough to cool most of the ground floor of the house and helps clean the inside air of tree pollen, which is real high right now.
    
  • There are more leaves appearing on all of the new fruit trees, including the Seckel pear. That new additional fruit tree looked like it wasn't going to make it a few days after we planted it, so the tiny green leaves now appearing is a pleasant sight to see.
  • I watched Game 5 of the Winnipeg Jets/Dallas Stars NHL playoffs. Winnipeg won 4-0. Dallas leads the series, 3-2.
    
  • At night, we're seeing our first fireflies. A partial moon was rising when we walked Plato on his last outing of the day. It was bright orange on the southeast horizon and it lit up a very hazy atmosphere with an orange glow.

• Friday, 5/16: Great Pipe Organ Music
  • While I was watching hockey last night, I noticed quite a few small moths and night bugs flitting about the living room and thought I better recheck all tape around the air conditioner for leaks. In the morning while writing this blog, I looked up and noticed that I failed to put soft foam between the upper and lower sashes of the double hung window...no wonder I saw bugs! I added the foam this morning.
  • A strong thunderstorm with hail from a quarter to golf ball size put a few more dents in Bill's car. That same storm system put a tornado through parts of St. Louis that killed five in the city. There was no tornado at Bill's apartment or his place of work, although he did hear a siren go off.
  • We and a strong west wind that blew extreme stink off the diary poop pond a mile west of us. Gusts were over 40 mph. At one point I heard what sounded like a .22 rifle going off and I'm guessing it was small trees blowing over.
  • Mary picked another huge batch of radishes, this time more than first picking she did on Wednesday.
  • Mary mowed the rest of the north yard, while I mowed outside the near garden and munched down poison ivy on the north side of the path between the near and far gardens. I opened the cow panel around a small cherry tree that was munched down by rabbit when we first planted it. I mowed the tall grass around it and added a deep layer of grass clipping mulch.
  • In the evening, I viewed some videos of British organist, Anna Lapwood, someone featured in a blog that Mary follows. HERE she explains how a big pipe organ works and HERE she plays Davy Jones from the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I think this is really fantastic information and music.
  • I also viewed St. Louis television stations about today's tornado damage.

• Saturday, 5/17: Mowing & Hockey
  • We experienced strong winds overnight that died down in the afternoon.
  • On our noontime walk down the lane with Plato, we saw a deer run away to the west near Bluegill Pond.
  • Mary mowed the rest of the north and the east yard. I mowed the area between the far garden and the compost bins and then I mowed around the far garden fence. We both used the mowers without bagging grass clippings, just to get more ground covered.
  • I watched the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1, in an overtime win that knocked the Jets out of the playoffs.

• Sunday, 5/18: Mowing, Mowing, Mowing!
  • Mary and I worked outside today, trying to get stuff done before some storms arrive, which are predicted for tomorrow and the next day.
  • Mary mowed the rest of the yards around our house.
  • I mowed the near far garden where garlic is currently growing, between the electric fence and the chicken wire fences of the far garden, and part of the middle between the two sections of the far garden. That section has many persimmon saplings growing in it that I munch up with the mower. I probably will need to sharpen the mower's blade after abusing it on tiny tree wood.
  • We have a Baltimore oriole calling and following us around the yards as we mow. These birds are very beautiful and have a wonderful song. I remember that Grandma Melvin loved orioles as they sang from trees at her Maryland home.

May 5-11, 2025

Weather | 5/5, cloudy, 43°, 63° | 5/6, sunny, 45°, 70° | 5/7, sunny, 52°, 75° | 5/8, p. cloudy, 52°, 69° | 5/9, sunny, 42°, 75° | 5/10, sunny, 41°, 81° | 5/11, sunny, 51°, 77° |

• Monday, 5/5: Slow Mail & Beating Back Grass
  • The U.S. Postal Service has tanked this month. For the first time, ever, we haven't received utility bills in the mail by the fifth of the month. Traditionally, the fifth of each month is our bill paying day, so all utilities get paid on time. Packages sent by mail are traveling back and forth between sorting stations. We are seeing packages bouncing around between multiple locations in St. Louis or Chicago. I have a package of fly tying items that was sent from St. Louis to Hannibal, and then back to St. Louis. As much as possible, we will be forced to go with automatic bill paying and forget paying bills via mail. One bill, which was garbage, was paid today, because it never changes, so we knew the amount to pay.
  • Mary mowed the rest of the west lawn. Grass clippings were used to mulch the five blueberry plants, two small apple trees in the west yard, and the newest cherry tree.
  • I cleaned out grass growing inside the hardware cloth cage around the Antonovka apple tree. I also temporarily removed the cow panel and used the trimmer to knock out tall grass, then reinstalled the panel. I did the same chore on the Goldrush apple tree, along with thinning fruits on Goldrush (see photos, below).
  • We heard coyotes yipping and howling nearby in the east while walking Plato at night.

Grass trimmed on the Antonovka apple tree.
Goldrush & Granny Smith are in the background.

Untrimmed grass around Calville (right) & Roxbury (left).

• Tuesday, 5/6: Grass Work & Birds
  • Mary did more mowing and got partway through the east yard. She mulched the sweet cherry tree with grass clipping. That tree still has blossoms on it.
  • I removed cow panels, weedwhacked tall grass and culled fruit on the Calville Blanc d'hiver (which translates to White Winter Calville) and Roxbury Russet apple trees. The Calville had a lot of tiny apples, but the Roxbury had very few, even though both bloomed profusely. I also raked tall grass that I cut and stuffed it inside cow panels around trees.
  • Mary saw a rose-breasted grosbeak, which was the first of the year.
  • She also noticed a ruby-throated hummingbird going bonkers trying to protect all of comfrey flowers on all sides of house.
  • Gnat season has begun. An ample supply of bug dope dabbed on ears, the neck, and parts of the face keeps them at bay, but they still bounce off your face.
  • More parsnips are sprouting in the near garden.
  • We ate some acorn squash with leftover turkey pot pie. It's amazing how long the squash have lasted. They're usually gone by March.

• Wednesday, 5/7: Outside, Again
  • Mary mowed the rest of the east yard and put grass mulch around a small pie cherry tree and a new apple tree called William's Pride.
  • Mary and I examined the three new trees. We're seeing a tiny bit of movement on a couple buds on the two new apple trees, but not much of anything on the Seckel pear tree. It's obvious that Fedco left our trees in the dark. They sprouted some leaves that never saw sun and are yellow. Those leaves are now dead. It wasn't a good job done by Fedco. They say they had help issues and obviously our box of trees was one of the issues. I plan to get back to them about it.
  • I weedwhacked circles in the tall grass for two new planting locations in the south orchard. I want to transplant two small Sargent crabapple trees. I'll let one grew up and graft McIntosh buds on the other sapling. I also weedwhacked paths between all of the trees in the south orchard.
  • Mary heard a common yellowthroat warbler, which was the first of the year.
  • A male house wren stuffs sticks on top of the electric fencer unit every spring. Sometimes a female wren turns the mess into a nest, but usually our outside activity forces a female wren to ignore the male wren's stupidity and goes elsewhere. I'm joining forces with the female wren and removing the sticks. I've done it for three days, straight. Today, I removed sticks twice in the day. We'll see how long this contest continues.
  • I watched the Winnipeg Jets/Dallas Stars NHL playoff game. The Stars won, 3-2. Boo...I'm rooting for the Jets.

• Thursday, 5/8: Wild Hockey Game
  • I put labels on Batch II of the spiced apple wine and stored the 14 bottles in a cooler.
  • Mary did a bunch of house cleaning.
  • I removed the bent jack on the front of the trailer. It had quite a hodgepodge of bolts, nuts, and washers.
  • I sharpened the blade on the new lawnmower and cleaned the foam prefilter that covers the air filter.
  • I mowed all of the paths between the trees in the south orchard, along with the patch by all of the cherry trees west of the house. Grass clipping mulch went around four small apple trees in the south orchard.
    
  • I took Bill's advice and watched Game 2 of the Edmonton Oilers/Vegas Golden Knights NHL playoff series. The Oilers won 5-4 in overtime. It was a wild game. The Oilers have come from behind to win in six consecutive playoff games, a new NHL record. Their goalie, Calvin Pickard, saved a ton of really good shots on net and is the reason the Oilers won this game. Of course, it helped that the Oilers' top two players, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who were scoreless throughout regulation play, combined for the overtime winning goal.

• Friday, 5/9: Transplanting Sargent Saplings
  • There are two more small apple trees in the south orchard. I dug two holes and added amendments (cut grass, firewood bark, and compost) to the holes. I also cut down a small ash that has woodpecker holes in it, destined to die soon with damage from emerald ash tree borers. It was right next to one of my holes. I dug up two small Sargent crabapple trees under the big Sargent tree. They were shoots off a one-inch root and had no roots of their own. Even though I doubt if they'll live, I went ahead and planted them in the holes. Once I poured six gallons of water around the saplings, they perked up. I added a plastic guard around the two new saplings and a makeshift surround around both trees with scrap two-foot high fencing. If they live, one will grow to replace the current Sargent tree as an apple pollinator and I will graft McIntosh buds onto the other, using it as rootstock.
    
  • I mowed a section of the south lawn, including under the big Sargent tree, and put grass mulch around the newly planted saplings. Then I mowed the lane, so grass is short for Bill's arrival tomorrow.
  • Tiny bunnies were running up and down the lane as I mowed it. I laughed out loud seeing one of these little guys moving its legs as fast as they would go and barely getting down the road. I think there were four of these fluffy rabbits on the lane this evening.
  • Mary finished up on housecleaning.
  • While watering the near garden, Mary noticed a few onions starting to sprout.
  • Close to sunset, we smelled a skunk, but never saw it, thank goodness!
    
  • I watched the last half of the Winnipeg Jets/Dallas Stars NHL playoff game. The Jets won, 4-0. The series is tied, 1-1.

• Saturday, 5/10: Bill Visits Us
  • Mary and I decided to take the weekend off from outside work.
  • Bill arrived around 10 a.m. Of course, Plato was overjoyed to see him.
  • I watered the Sargent crabapple saplings twice that I planted yesterday.
  • Green is showing on all three trees we purchased from Fedco this year.
  • Bill talked about how he is working on insurance compliance with subcontractors that his company uses to build homes. It's a tough go, because these tradesmen aren't keen on getting back to him, or doing paperwork. His employer, McBride Homes, builds 800 to 1,000 homes a year.
  • When we put the chickens to bed, we could not find a Rhode Island red hen. I looked several times in the chicken yard after Mary did a thorough search. I even looked for her twice after dark. We suspect she tucked herself under the coop for the evening and night. For about 10 days she's acted odd, such as staring at other chickens grabbing sunflower seeds without trying to peck any for herself. She's been wandering around in a daze.
  • We watched two movies that Bill picked out. They were the 1987 film, The Princess Bride, and the 2019 movie, Knives Out.

• Sunday, 5/11: Mother's Day
  • When we let the chickens out in the morning, the missing Rhode Island red hen was laying in the shade on the east side of the chicken coop. It didn't look well and died by the end of the day.
  • Mary picked three radishes out of the near garden. I washed them and Bill, Mary, and I each ate one. They were very good, without a hint of heat.
    
  • Bill went home by about 3:30 p.m. He's very happy to have a good job inside an air conditioned office. He plans to revisit us around Memorial Day.
  • I called Mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day. The recent earthquake centered south of Knoxville, TN, shook Karen and Lynn's house in northeast Georgia, Mom told me.
  • While doing evening chores, Mary and I heard a weird bird sound. It was the song of a great crested flycatcher, the first of this year.
  • I watched the second half of the Winnipeg Jets/Dallas Stars game. The Stars won, 5-2, and lead the series, 2-1...boo, hiss.