March 23-29, 2026

Weather | 3/23, p. cloudy, 29°, 51° | 3/24, cloudy, 33°, 57° | 3/25, cloudy, 45°, xx° | 3/26, xx°, xx° | 3/27, xx°, xx° | 3/28, xx°, xx° | 3/29, xx°, xx° |

• Monday, 3/23: Pruning is Done!
  • On the morning walk on the lane with Cooper, a wood duck pair lifted off Bluegill Pond. They can easily be identified by the female wood duck squawk. HERE is the sound.
  • Mary and I walked Cooper on the north loop around the north field at noon and he was off the leash the the whole way. He looked back at us many times to make sure we were still with him. He returns to us with a quick whistle. He's a good boy!
  • We identified a location south of the clothesline to plant a Prairie Fire crabapple sapling and another spot in the east lawn to plant a Carpathian, or English walnut tree that we've bought from Fedco and should arrive this month.
  • I finished pruning the big Bartlett pear tree using the 10-foot step ladder. I took out several water sprouts, but also left several, because when pruning, only a third of the tree branches should be removed. From atop the big ladder, I noticed lots of white buds, which means blossoms are coming. It's an advantage with pear trees. They blossom over a long stretch of time, so if some blooms are nailed by a freeze, future blossoms will survive.
  • There was no game of fetch for Cooper. His rear leg wound needs to heal. Instead, we let him loose for extra running around the yard. I did take him down to the mailbox at the gravel road and noticed that our Hispanic neighbors have moved out. The last time I spoke with Juan, he said smell from mice under the mobile home was too much for his wife, Alma, to live with and that they were looking to move.
  • We celebrated the end of pruning fruit trees with a bottle of cherry wine...how apropos! It sure is good stuff!

   

• Tuesday, 3/24: Foam Dragonfly
  • We decided to have a quiet day inside without physical exertion after I spent time yesterday crawling up and down a high ladder. I always tense up leg muscles while pruning trees from heights. I would have made a very poor sailor a couple centuries ago.
  • During our morning walk with Cooper, four deer ran off in the north woods beyond the end of Bobcat Trail.
  • We watched an unusual low-flying airplane go over our property several times today. It has a long probe off the rear of the plane. A recent WGEM article explains that it belongs to the U.S. Geological Survey. They are surveying Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri for minerals. HERE is the article. 
  • While Mary did some cross stitching, I made a big foam dragonfly lure. Below is a photo of a green one I made in the fly tying class and a video of the large red foam dragonfly I tied today. I used a YouTube video from an Italian who demonstrates tying flies to help build the red foam dragonfly.
  • Mary and I played fetch using a fast-running dog. Mary was on the porch and I was at the machine shed. I'd call Cooper. He'd run to me. Mary would call him and Cooper ran to her. We did that several times to burn excess energy from his puppy body.
  • In the middle of all of this, Mary spotted a peregrine falcon that flew east to west over the machine shed.

  

  A simple green foam dragonfly made in the fly tying class.

  
   
  Today's red dragonfly. Fuzzy body parts made with feather from our rooster, Leo.