June 15-21, 2026

Weather | 6/15, sunny, 50°, 75° | 6/16, p. cloudy, 0.01" rain, 58°, 73° | 6/17, cloudy, 57°, 83° | 6/18, 0.01" rain, cloudy, 60°, 75° | 6/19, sunny, 56°, 80° | 6/20, p. cloudy, 60°, 80° | 6/21, 2.16" rain, 59°, 70° |

• Monday, 6/15: 
  • Katie called and talked to us for about an hour. She made it back to Anchorage. Katie enjoyed her trip to Italy.
  • Mary hoed out the weeds in the second row from the west in the near far garden.
  • She then mowed the west yard, putting grass clippings on the row she hoed.
  • Using a ladder and a pole with 8' and 10.33' cuts into it, I cut walnut and cedar branches that were intruding into any place in the lane that was in a space of 8' wide by over 10' tall. These branches grew inward so that even our pickup was hitting them. My measurements equaled the width and height of a UPS or FedEx delivery van. Some cedar branches were big and heavy, requiring me to use the small Stihl pruning saw.
  • I mowed the lane. I keep beating back small poison ivy plants growing in the grass on the east side of the lane.
  • Mary ran into enough poison ivy plants while mowing to produce a slight red rash with bumps on her neck that started to move to her face. She soaked infected areas with a comfrey-laden cotton ball that greatly decreased these symptoms. I walked Cooper alone on his final outing of the night, giving Mary a reprieve from walking down the lane where I cut several poison ivy plants with the mower.
  • During a couple breaks from mowing, we noticed online that a major fire broke out at a gas station in West Quincy, MO. It completely burned down the building. HERE is a WGEM report. We drive by this location when we go to Quincy. The Missouri side of the Mississippi River in West Quincy is full of gas stations with cheaper prices than in Illinois.
  • Each evening I wash chicken waterers, then dump the wash water around apple trees in the south orchard. Cooper sniffed up a rabbit while I dumped water today and chased it into tall grass. Once in the tall grass, Cooper leaped high in the air with each stride, looking like a kangaroo dog.

   

• Tuesday, 6/16: Chicken Yard Poison Ivy
  • I clipped a huge bunch of poison ivy vines that have been climbing the east chicken yard fence for years. This year's spring rains made the vines climb way above the old wooden posts and sway down to the ground like so many snakes, getting too close to your face when mowing the chicken yard. I probably snipped off 50-100 vines with the big loppers, then tossed the poison ivy over the north chicken yard fence with a pitchfork. Once finished, I cleaned the loppers with soap and water, then wiped it down with alcohol.
  • While cleaning out the poison ivy, I smelled a skunk. The whiff arrived on the west wind, but I never saw the skunk as it probably passed through the west field.
  • I mowed the chicken yard. Again, I eliminated a bunch of new poison ivy starting on the ground inside the east fence. Mowing helps to keep the weeds and grass low. Otherwise, we lose chickens in the thick and tall growth.
  • Along the lane and in tall growth of the east yard is the great aroma from common milkweed blossoms (see below). They don't look like much, but they smell wonderful.
  • In the evening while picking strawberries, Mary heard a yellow-billed cuckoo. This is the last of our spring bird arrivals. 
  • We watched two movies, which were Justice League (2017) and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2017).

  

  Common milkweed blossoms add great aroma to the air.

  
  
  

• Wednesday, 6/17: New Modem
  • I installed the new T-Mobile modem that arrived yesterday when the UPS delivery driver ceremoniously dumped the package into poison ivy leaves at the base of the mailbox post. The sticker on what T-Mobile calls a gateway (fancy name for a modem) announces a set up in just 15 minutes. Ha, ha, ha...that was really funny. It took hours. We're rural, so what happens in a city is slower out here in the country. Plus, one isn't supposed to use the old modem to start the process. Instead, you take the old US Cellular modem offline, power up the new T-Mobile modem, then follow their directions. Unfortunately, the instructions on their sticker reads to just use the QR code. It takes your phone to a T-Mobile app that gives you a constant whirling circle and gets you nowhere. When I ventured online on my laptop, I figured out my mistake and powered on the new modem and started getting somewhere.
  • The 5G equipment T-Mobile uses involves signals off their towers that reaches out at greater distances, which helps us immensely. Websites that took ages to download are popping up instantaneously. We now have very good internet service.
  • This afternoon, I cut downed a tall, but skinny, mulberry sapling that fell onto the lane after I cut away cedar tree limbs yesterday that held it into place. I also cut out some autumn olive trees blocking our view to the east when we pulled to the end of our lane.
  • Our chicks grew about four times the size that they were since arriving a week ago. We have never operated a heat lamp so much for baby chicks in our history of raising them. It's been cooler than usual this past week, so the heat lamp that usually gets turned off during the day is on most of the time.
  • A line of thunderstorms developed just south of us and rolled into Illinois and beyond (see video, below). After dark, I watched live coverage of tornadoes throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. This is where the seeds of tornadoes are planted, and they move on.
  • Mary discovered the sound of two new birds while using the Merlin app on her phone. They are a yellow-throated warbler, and a white-eyed vireo. The Merlin app is a product of Cornell University and identifies the photos and sounds of birds.
  • Mary also saw a summer tanager. It was picking off insects from its perch on an electric wire in the north yard. The sunlight off dark storm clouds caught its feathers in such a way that they seemed fluorescent orange. 
  • Even though there were fewer fireflies tonight, we saw more than in recent days. A big squadron of lightning bugs were swarming near the forsythia bush just before dark.
  Thunderheads developing south of us and moving east.
   
  
  

• Thursday, 6/18: Oh, Deer!
  • I put a new flag on our mailbox. The old one was jury-rigged together several years ago after it fell off the side of the mailbox. We'll see how long this new flag lasts! The parts that hold the aluminum flag in place are made of plastic...not so great for something that sits out in the weather full-time.
  • Mary watered the garden for the second day in a row. We haven't been watering gardens until recently, due to consistent rains.
  • I sharpened a hoe we've had since we lived in Red Lake Falls, MN, in 1991. Our elderly neighbors there gave it to Mary. He took the wooden handle of a Christian Brothers hockey stick thrown out at the ice arena just next door and made it into a handle for the hoe. Mary loved the feel of that hoe and borrowed it so many times that our neighbor gave it to her.
  • I hoed the western row of the near far garden. There were lots of vole tunnels along the edges of that row.
  • Mary washed the sheets she uses to cover couches and stuffed chairs. When she put the newly cleaned sheet back on the chair in the living room that Cooper lays on, he wagged his tail. He liked the idea that she was fixing his bed. He has interesting traits. Cooper hoots each time that Mary dishes up his food, so she calls him a "hooter hound."
  • We have one hen, a barred rock chicken, who hops over the fence near the gate to peck fresh clover in the yard. She is the our only "escape" chicken. She often returns to the chicken yard on her own. Mary calls her "Houdini Hen." Today, Mary noticed that she was in the brush between the chicken coop and the machine shed. Mary decided to handle her when she finished putting the chicks to bed for the night. When done with the chicks, Mary got all of the adult chickens inside the coop and counted them to discover all chickens were present and accounted for. Houdini jumped into the chicken yard while Mary's back was turned.
  • We watched a nice buck through the house windows browsing on green vegetation in the east yard (see photo, below). It munched on horse weed along the near garden fence until it touched an electric wire and received a shock. The deer jumped a couple steps away and looked around to try to see what nipped him. Then, it wandered off to the northeast.
  • When I went to look at the chicks through the coop's south windows prior to going to bed, I aimed the flashlight to the west while walking to the coop. A deer standing next to the Porter's Perfection crabapple tree jumped and ran into the west field. Mary thinks it's the mother to the twins she saw a few days ago.

  

  A buck deer showing his velvety antlers in our east yard.

  
  
  

• Friday, 6/19: Mowing & Mulching
  • Mary mowed grass in the west yard in a thicket of white clover. She said it never dries. Houdini Hen kept her company. Mary watched her pop in and out of the chicken yard throughout the day. Mary added new grass mulch to the onions and parsnips in the near garden, which took a lot of time.
  • I mowed inside, between the fences, and outside of the electric fence of the near garden. Together, Mary and I mulched about half of the row that I hoed yesterday.
  • The first purple coneflower is blooming in the west yard.
  • I saw a corn snake on the lane while walking Cooper around noon. I spotted its tail in front of me, so I stepped to the right to avoid it. The snake pulled its head out from under grass in the middle of the lane and coiled back in a strike mode. I walked on. Corn snakes are quite colorful. 
  • I let Cooper out with me when I wash chicken waterers in the late evening. I noticed today that he watches early-emerging fireflies. He is a very observant pup.
  • There are fewer fireflies at night. It's probably because it's cooler and dryer.

   

• Saturday, 6/20: Mowing & More Fireflies 
  • When Mary opened the living room west window's curtains, the robin that's been on a nest in a maple tree at the southwest corner of the house flew in several circles around the west yard, then stood on the edge of the nest for most of the rest of the day. Mary thinks chicks are hatching out of eggs today.
  • A chicken chick was on the first rung of the roost this morning, so they're getting big enough to reach that height. Mary noticed that the two black chicks aren't barred rocks, but Australorps, due to the raven black color of their wings. Barred rock chickens have spotted wing colors. 
  • While walking Cooper on the lane around noon, a deer snorted from the other side of the trees on the east side of the lane. After a bit, Cooper and I watched it run off to the east. It was a doe.
  • Mary finished mowing the west lawn and then mowed a major chunk of the north yard.
  • I mowed paths in the east lawn and then mowed inside the far garden and the areas between fences in that garden. We finished adding grass mulch to one row. I started adding additional mulch to another row.
  • Black flies were out en mass, chewing on us, despite the fact that we doused ourselves with bug dope! 
  • While reading books after dark, we heard coyotes howling from the west field.
  • We saw more fireflies flashing in the trees on Cooper's last walk of the day.

   

• Sunday, 6/21: Father Day Calls & Online Shopping
  • After Mary and I did our morning chores prior to breakfast, it rained a deluge of water. We got 2.16 inches of rain this morning.
  • Bill called to wish me a happy Father's Day. He talked about the fiasco of trying to purchase cheaper ink for the postage machine at work. The ink cartridge he ordered won't work in the machine. His place of work is under a contract for a mailing machine that they lease and are forced to buy ink at three times the cost of the price that he can find. He told his boss that if yearly postage drops below a certain amount, they should drop the lease. Bill got July 3rd off and will visit us.
  • Katie called on Father's Day. Her, dog, DeSoto, was bit in the face by another dog while at an Anchorage primitive dog park. Katie took DeSoto to a 24-hour vet emergency room and was there until 2:30 a.m., because other more urgent cases kept coming in. DeSoto's bite wounds were fine. Katie only had breakfast several hours earlier. The only place open was Taco Bell. She waited in a drive-through line, but that Taco Bell had to close because they didn't have enough employees, so Katie went to a different Taco Bell. She got home and had to feed hungry pets. Bedtime was 3:30 a.m. for Katie and she was up at 8 a.m. to call me.
  • Mary saw a handful of ants on a sunroom window sill, so she put out ant bait. Later, that bait was crawling about 100 ants. Mary refilled ant bait twice more throughout the day.
  • We enjoyed a bottle of 2022 blackberry wine. It paired wonderfully with pork loin and barbecue sauce that Mary made for our midday meal. This wine tastes so much better when it ages for a few years. This was the last of the 2022 vintage of my blackberry wine.
  • I spent most of the day deciding what fly tying materials to order with a couple gift certificates that I've received from Katie. I ended up getting 25 items.
  • It was cooler tonight, so I closed the chicken coop windows for the hens. There were not as many fireflies tonight.

June 8-14, 2026

Weather | 6/8, cloudy, 0.46" rain, 71°, 83° | 6/9, p. cloudy, 0.02" rain, 71°, 87° | 6/10, 1.21" rain, 67°, 83° | 6/11, 4.19" rain, 65°, 85° | 6/12, sunny, 57°, 80° | 6/13, cloudy, 0.02 rain, 58°, 79° | 6/14, 0.04 rain overnight, sunny, 58°, 71° |

• Monday, 6/8: Backwards Meat Whistle Fly
  • We received an email that our chicks shipped out today from Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, MO. We should see them on Wednesday morning.
  • We've come to the end of gnat season and we are now in the middle of deer fly season. They swarm around you the instant you venture outside. Sometimes they come in on us or the dog. You'll notice one in the window, but it isn't wise to swat them on the glass, because the end result is blood spattered on the inside of glass. Fortunately, a squirt of Dawn dish soap solution kills them quickly.
  • Our forecast calls for rain throughout the day. While washing dishes after the noontime meal, I looked out the window and said, "It's not raining at all." The very next second, a downpour drenched our property. It made Mary laugh.
  • I made a meat whistle fly (see photo, below). Unfortunately, I put the rabbit fur backwards on the hook. We'll see if my mistake works when I try it on the end of a fishing line.
  • Mary was working on a cross stitch pattern when she declared that she did two froggings in a row. Frogging is cross stitch speak for "rip-it, rip-it," meaning you have to tear some stitching out due to a mistake. She decided on setting that pattern aside for later.
  • We decided to celebrate two straight days of hobby activities and enjoyed a bottle of 2025 spiced apple wine. It was really good.
  • We had the best night yet on the numbers of fireflies lighting off after dark. Their numbers keep on growing, making all of the trees sparkle with their flashes.

  

  My backwards rabbit fur Meat Whistle fly.

  
  
  

• Tuesday, 6/9: A Clean Chicken Coop
  • Mary and I cleaned the chicken coop, which took a big chunk of the day. I worked inside the coop shoveling out old hay and chicken manure while Mary moved and emptied wheelbarrow loads into the compost bin. She and I installed the wall the separates the chicks from the hens. While I stapled plastic bags to the top of that wall, Mary hauled in wheelbarrow loads of new hay. We hung the heat lamp and added unfilled chick feeders. Everything is ready for tomorrow's arrival of chicks.
  • During the time I swept dust from the inside ceiling and walls of the coop prior to digging out chicken manure, Mary trimmed tree branches at the chicken run gate and around the forsythia bush. That bush had branches reaching out and partially eating the pickup.
  • Mary checked the blackberry bushes at Bramble Hill. The berries are all very green.
  • We saw the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the eastern sky after sunset.

   

• Wednesday, 6/10: Chicks Arrive Along with Big Rains
  • After eating breakfast, we received a call from the Ewing Post Office that our chicks arrived. I drove to Ewing and brought them home.
  • We have 26 new chicks. Two are Barred Rocks and the rest are either Buff Orpingtons or some kind of white chickens. They were all slow to move and huddled under the heat lamp for about 15 minutes, then slowly warmed up and started feeding and drinking water. Through the day they seemed very fine.
  • A thunderstorm started banging away at 11 a.m. Over several years of raising chickens, this was the first year we received a thunderstorm on Day 1 of the arrival of new chicks. This storm lasted until 3 p.m. We just at a snack around noon to stave off hunger, then ate our midday meal around 4 p.m.
  • After chores and while Mary picked black raspberries, we heard thunder rumbling to the west. We had a train of thunderstorms travel through us starting in the late afternoon that continued until 1:30 a.m.
  • We watched quite a bit of live weather material online, such as Max Velocity on YouTube, as tornadoes, hail, and high winds were evident west, north and east of us. We didn't get hail or tornadoes, just a lot of water.
  • After the thunder finally quit, I checked the chicken coop. The chain link fencing at the gate was leaning slightly to the south, due to a thick post breaking at the ground. Small maple trees growing through that fence held it from falling all of the way to the ground. I looked through the coop window and the chicks were fine. Standing water was everywhere. We really got a huge dumping of rain, making frogs and fireflies really happy.

   

• Thursday, 6/11: More Rain
  • First thing this morning, I used several strands of baling twine and tied the top of the section of chain link fencing, which includes the gate to chicken yard, to a maple tree branch, to hold it upright. It's a temporary fix until I do some permanent work on the fence. The chicks look great, even though the west wall of the coop got enough rain to soak through to the inside.
  • Local media sources reported flooding and washout areas on several area roads. HERE is a video from WGEM in Quincy of flooding in our area, including Highway 156, the route we take to drive to Quincy. 
  • On the noontime walk with Cooper down the lane and back, I noticed that some of the gravel at the end of the lane washed away. Gravel even washed away on the gravel road.
  • We did evening chores around 3 p.m., due to weather radar that showed a thunderstorm front on its way to us. Fortunately, the white section of the radar, which usually involves hail, moved by to the north of us. We just received another downpour of intense rain, amounting to 0.75" of moisture. With 3.44" from the night before, we got a total of 4.19" today.
  • We watched online as severe tornadoes ripped through towns in Illinois where Mary lived when she was young, including Streator, Dwight, and Wenona. Later in the night, tornadoes were seen in South Bend, IN and into southern MI.
  • I finished reading Alexander Kent's 23rd British Navy novel, Sword of Honour, and started the next book, Second to None. 
  • Right before we went to bed, Mary spotted a horsehair worm on the kitchen floor near cricket legs. Apparently, a cat ate a cricket. The worm looked like a nightmare. HERE is information about a horsehair worm.

   

• Friday, 6/12: Damn Squirrel & Yummy Berry Waffles
  • It was cooler outside, with a deep blue sky above us, as we sloshed through water in various places in the grass. There are a lot of photos online of flooding throughout northeast Missouri with several rivers going over roads in the region.
  • While eating breakfast, we heard the robin that's in the nest outside the southwest corner of the house raising a stink. Mary looked out the window to see a squirrel near the nest. She banged on the window and I ran outside. The squirrel ran up the tree and onto the roof. It was gone, but Mama Robin told me off, so I left. She went back on the nest.
  • Mary picked black raspberries. It was a smaller amount. Some have dried up with hotter temperatures. She's currently working on the fourth quart of raspberries.
  • Mary had an Eastern Towhee land two feet away from her as she picked raspberries. They looked at one another, then the bird flew off. 
  • I made waffles for our midday meal. We had fresh strawberries and blueberries on them. Wow! What a wonderful flavor!!
  • I used an extension ladder and cleaned Virginia Creeper vines away from the upstairs bedroom air conditioner. I'm trying to keep dead leaves from falling into the AC and clogging up the escape of water that collects in it.
  • While I was on the ladder, I cleaned the other west-facing window in our bedroom, and then cleaned the kitchen window.
  • Mary is receiving photos from Katie on her visits throughout Italy. She was in Rome and sent images of the Coliseum (see below).
  • I took in a Missouri Department of Conservation virtual session on fireflies. It was interesting, even though it was extremely difficult to hear this presenter, due to her sing-song pattern of speaking when her volume went way soft on the low notes. Online presenters ought to go through a public speaking class. Missouri has about 200 types of fireflies. There are 2,000 varieties throughout the world.
  • T-Mobile bought U.S. Cellular, our cellular carrier, last year. They made the final switchover to T-Mobile equipment today. Our cell service for our phones drastically improved. We were informed that a new cellular modem for our online service was shipped out today. I spent time online reviewing their emails and texts sent today. They look like a better company.

  

  Katie took this photo of the Rome Coliseum.

  
  
  

• Saturday, 6/13: Katie's Last Day in Italy
  • Despite predictions of bad weather, it never came our way. We did get a little bit of rain. 
  • We were all-day bums.
  • Katie called and I talked with her for a little bit. She was on a high-speed train. Katie visited Pompeii and said it was very impressive (see photos, below). She leaves for home tomorrow and spends all day traveling. Katie said when she learned that the National Guard portion of the trip was mandatory, her boss suggested she might as well take time and see the sites, since she would already be there. Katie has been in Italy for a month.
  • While Mary was shutting chicken coop windows in the evening due to a chance of oncoming rain, a pair of fawns ran past her in the west yard. One stopped 10 feet from her and stood for about a minute before moving on.
  • In the evening, I spotted the score of the NBA Finals Game 5. The San Antonio Spurs were ahead by 11 points in the first quarter. Later, I saw that the New York Knicks won and took the championship. Today (6/14/26), I read that the Knicks were behind in the fourth quarter of all five games...pretty amazing.
  • I've been checking the chicks every night before going to bed by peering through the front windows of the chicken coop. Most are sleeping. A few are moving, eating, and drinking. They've doubled in size since we received them Wednesday morning. They are a week old, today.
  • While walking back from the chicken coop I noticed a rather artistic scene. Fireflies were blasting away with their twinkling lights in the trees while lightning flashed from storms north of us in Iowa, showing the outline of the pecan trees. It was a beautiful natural light show. 

Amazing preservation inside a Pompeii building.

Intricate artwork of a Pompeii wall.

 
• Sunday, 6/14: South Orchard Chores
  • We enjoyed cool air going through the house with our windows open for most of the day.
  • Mary cut all of the starts off the sweet potatoes to create 28 slips. Once roots develop on these slips, they will be ready to plant in the garden.
  • I cleaned the windows of the main entrance storm door. Since we never open the glass part to let air into the house through that door, I removed the fiberglass screening that was ripped the first year after we installed the door by Merlin, our big tuxedo cat at the time.
  • Two small apple trees in the south orchard were slightly leaning after recent strong winds during thunderstorms, so I added bracing by tying doubled up baling twine between the surrounding cow panels and the tops of the rebar stakes supporting the trunks of the Antonovka and Black Oxford trees. I cut small lengths of an old garden hose and placed them to the tops of the rebar stakes to protect tree bark when wind blows the trees onto the rebar stakes.
  • I trimmed mulberry branches and tall grass from the southeast corner of the house that were starting to cover the electric fence energizer and the outdoor electrical plug in.
  • I removed tall weeds and grass from inside the enclosures to the small Sargent trees I transplanted last year. Now that we can see them, they look like they're thriving.
  • I cleaned thistles and wild, spiky horse nettle plants from the inside and around of the cow panels on all of the south orchard trees.
  • In the late afternoon, Mary heard a bird with a unique song that was similar to a catbird, but more repetitive. She grabbed her cell phone and brought up the Merlin app, which identified it as a yellow-breasted chat, a first time bird. HERE is information about it.
  • While on the late afternoon walk on the lane with Cooper, a wild turkey hen burst out of the bushes on the east side of the lane and flew to the end of the hazelnut bushes while squawking at us.
  • I watched the last NHL game of the year where the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Las Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 3-0 to win the Stanley Cup Finals.
  • Before going to bed, we shut all of the windows of the chicken coop. It was cool, so there were fewer fireflies out in the nighttime air.

June 1-7, 2026

Weather | 6/1, sunny, 0.04" rain, 66°, 87° | 6/2, hazy, 57°, 81° | 6/3, sunny, 57°, 81° | 6/4, p. cloudy, 56°, 85° | 6/5, 0.70" rain, cloudy, 67°, 79° | 6/6, p. cloudy, 71°, 87° | 6/7, 0.12" rain, cloudy, 71°, 83° |

• Monday, 6/1: Gardening
  • Around 6 a.m., water dripped off the house roof. We got a tiny bit of rain in the early morning hours.
  • You can smell garlic while standing inside the chicken coop. This year's garlic crop is exceptionally aromatic.
  • At noon, while walking Cooper on the lane, we had a doe deer walk toward us, then run away. I wear a head net if I haven't sprayed bug dope on myself when walking the pup to keep gnats from bugging me. I think the doe was curious as to what that human with no face was all about.
  • Mary finished weeding the onions and then weeded half of the parsnips.
  • I sharpened the blade of my mower and then mowed more of the far garden grass. I chased a small bunny inside the near far garden. Peter Rabbit squeezed through the one-inch chicken wire, but my name isn't McGregor.
  • Mary saw a red-headed woodpecker while walking Cooper in the late afternoon. It's the first of the year.
  • We saw even more lightning bugs this evening. Venus and Jupiter are closer together in the western sky.

   

• Tuesday, 6/2: Gardening & AC Repair/Cleaning
  • Mary saw a deer at the southwest corner of the west yard when she took waterers out to the chicken coop at around 6 a.m. Later in the morning, while walking to the raspberry patch in the east yard, she heard hoof sounds of a deer crossing tin roofing left on the ground in that area. We are living with deer that are within 50 feet of the house.
  • I sharpened the blade to Mary's mower.
  • I cleaned and repaired the large air conditioner. A mouse chewed a hole in the filter and in the side of the interior solid foam. When I opened up the foam, there was a live mouse and a mouse nest under the interior fan. It left. When I poked the nest out with a stick, another mouse fled the AC. I washed everything down, then cleaned surfaces with a bleach solution. I repaired the hole in the white foam by cutting a plug out of a sheet of Styrofoam and taping it in place with aluminum tape. I cut screening out of an old AC filter and aluminum taped it over the filter hole. A soft foam air seal near the inside of the unit decayed and was falling apart. I removed it and used aluminum tape and foil to create a new barrier. This work took all day, so I didn't have time to install the unit.
  • Mary weeded the rest of the parsnips.
  • She mulched all of the onions and all but a foot of the shallots with grass mulch.
  • Mary also mowed the inside of the near garden.
  • She picked about half of a quart bag of black raspberries.
  • We noticed even more lightning bugs on Cooper's last walk of the day. There are so many that they make the oak trees look like they're filled with Christmas lights.

   

• Wednesday, 6/3: Last Air Conditioner Installed
  • I installed our largest air conditioner into the west living room window and sealed it in place with foam boards on the outside and screws, packing and masking tape on the inside. The filtered and cooler air is a vast improvement on our main floor. We've been keeping cool so far with a big fan in the living room, plus our two ACs upstairs. The AC air felt so good, we spent the afternoon inside soaking it up.
  • Prior to installation, I trimmed two branches from a maple tree near the southwest corner of the house. I noticed a nest in that tree where three branches emerge. Mary noticed that a robin made that nest and is using it. Later in the year, when the bird vacates the nest, I'll cut the whole tree down. It's too close to the house and rubs against the outside walls during high winds. I also trimmed some giant ragweed from below where the AC is located.
  • Mary is noticing that several of the black raspberries are drying up. We need rain. She also noticed that birds are eating them up. She is constantly getting cursed by catbirds. Mary had a Bob White quail fly out from under a walnut tree near our compost bins while seeking raspberries.
  • Mary worked on a shopping list. She found a good sale price on whole pork loins on the Niemanns (one of the grocery stores in Quincy, IL) online flyer. The sale starts on Friday, therefore, a planned shopping trip for tomorrow is postponed until Friday.
  • The lightning bug extravaganza continued tonight with even more flashing. Jupiter and Venus are very bright near the Gemini constellation in the western sky.

   

• Thursday, 6/4: Oil Change, Mowing & Mulching
  • I changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter in the pickup. I reset the oil change reminder in the vehicle's computer memory for the first time since we've owned this pickup, so now I won't get a reminder that I have to change the oil each time I start it up. The last oil change was March 2025 and we drove just shy of 4,000 miles in 15 months...we don't drive much.
  • Mary finished a shopping list for tomorrow.
  • She mowed the yard north of the house and trails through tall grass just east of the house so we don't have to walk with grass heads touching our knees when we take the pup out at night.
  • Mary mulched the rest of the parsnips in the near garden and started putting down grass mulch on a row in the far garden.

   

• Friday, 6/5: Shopping, Fawn & Playing Bunnies
  • When we woke, rain was heavy, shooting huge volumes of water off the metal valley flashing off the southeast section of the roof. Mary postponed letting the chickens out until the thunderstorm let up.
  • We discovered that a package of rolled oats was scheduled to arrive via FedEx, today, so Mary stayed home to make sure the package didn't sit out in the rain or the heat. I went shopping, alone. Cooper was very happy after watching me drive the pickup away and then seeing Mary walk into the house. He doesn't like being away from his people.
  • Quincy was flooded with shoppers. I found several good deals.
  • We spotted a tiny fawn on the trail next to the near garden this evening. It was maybe two feet tall. Mary thinks it was the creator of the sound of hooves she heard running across roofing tin on Tuesday. We also watched bunnies playing in a clover patch in the east yard. Two rabbits would all of a sudden jump straight up in the air at the same time.
  • At nightfall, there are more and more lightning bugs. They really are a mesmerizing and an amazing sight.

   

• Saturday, 6/6: Picking Berries & Adding Chicken Wall Supports
  • Mary had a close encounter with a squirrel at the chicken yard gate first thing this morning. While going to open up the chicken coop and let the birds outside, she saw a squirrel bounce to the ground at the big mulberry tree south of the chicken yard. It ran to trees at the south fence of the chicken yard. As Mary stepped through the gate, the squirrel scooted by just inches in front of her.
  • Mom won a cordless DeWalt power drill at the McCone Electric Cooperative's Annual Meeting. She and Hank attended the event. He worked at the co-op for 44 years. 
  • Mary froze the two pork loins that she cut into 12 packages of medallions. I got these loins for $1.69 a pound in Quincy, yesterday.
  • Mary picked black raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries.
  • I glued up supports on the inside of the west wall of the chicken coop. This 16-year old coop is made of 2x4s and half-inch oriented strand board (OSB). The OSB is severely weathered on the outside, yet strong on the inside. I removed staples from hardwood removed years ago from an old overstuffed chair, applied Liquid Nails adhesive, and stuck the hardwood supports to various locations on the inside of the wall. We have chicks probably arriving on Wednesday and I did this to ensure that the wall gets us through to September, when I'll remove the old wood and rebuild decayed sides of the chicken coop.
  • The air is very humid outside, which makes for optimum firefly conditions. The lightning bug display gets more dramatic each night. Tonight topped everything we've seen so far this year. Even Cooper stops to view the flashing of these bugs on his nighttime outing.

   

• Sunday, 6/7: A Hobby Day
  • We started the day with rain and also ended the day with rain. Mary and I spent most of the day inside doing crafty hobbies.
  • Katie sent Mary photos of her tour of Florence, Italy (see photo, below).
  • Mary finished cross stitching an ornament entitled "Autumn Silhouette," (see photo, below). It was a tedious project, due to backstitching all of the leaf veins. She says she won't tackle this ornament, again. 
  • I made another foam dragonfly (see photo, below). This time I made it out of thinner foam and tried to copy a photo in Kenn Kaufman's Field Guide to Insects of North America of an Eastern Forktail Damselfly (see photo, below). We see a lot of them here. I used two feathers from Leo, our rooster, for the fuzzy legs. I tied in light plastic for wings.
  • Mary picked a large amount of strawberries, plus two blueberries.
  • We keep Cooper on the lane in an attempt to attract fewer ticks. They are really thick right now. We take a dozen or two off him after every trip outside.

Michelangelo's David in Florence.

Mary's "Autumn Silhouette" cross stitch project.

   

A photo of an Eastern Forktail Damselfly.

My latest foam fly copying a damselfly.