June 30-July 6, 2025

Weather | 6/30, 0.11" rain, cloudy, 68°, 85° | 7/1, sunny, 65°, xx° | 7/2, xx°, xx° | 7/3, xx°, xx° | 7/4, xx°, xx° | 7/5, xx°, xx° | 7/6, xx°, xx° |

• Monday, 6/30: A Little More Rain
  • Mary trimmed forsythia branches that shot out this spring into walking and parking areas. She also cut back some Virginia creeper vines that are trying to capture our legs as we walked up the porch steps.
  • We waited for oncoming rain that finally arrived in the late afternoon. We got just over a tenth inch of rain.
  • I walked down to the mailbox to get shifting cable clips that arrived in the mail. Our mail delivery person can never seem to close any mailbox door. She always leaves them open by about an inch, so if rain or snow is eminent, the mail gets wet. What a doofus!!!
  • A recommended fix that I've found on several videos dealing with riding mower spindle bolts that break when they are removed is to tap threads into new spindles. I checked and I have the correct tap to make those threads. My attempt to start tapping threads was detoured due to oncoming rain that required doing evening chores early.
  • With rain starting to fall, we could only get nine hens and Leo, our rooster, into the coop. We got tired of playing chicken games and left the remaining six hens out to get soaked by rain. At sunset, Mary opened the chicken door and six bedraggled, wet hens went into the coop, one by one.
  • Mary discovered that there is a cardinal nest in the forsythia next to our main door. A cat bird followed Mary into the woodshed and kept picking up odd bits off the woodshed floor and throwing them around, like Leo, our rooster, does when he's protecting his flock of hens.
  • We enjoyed a bottle of 2023 pumpkin wine after dinner. It's much improved with aging. This wine once had a strong sulfur taste. It has floating stuff in it, so I filtered the wine through some paper towels and into the glass pitcher. Drinking it chilled is delightful. The taste includes a cinnamon spice element and pumpkin flavor. It's nice and refreshing.