May 14-20, 2023

Weather | 5/14, 0.22" rain, 67°, 84° | 5/15, 0.15" rain, 55°, 66° | 5/16, 0.09" rain, 54°, 73° | 5/17, 51°, 77° | 5/18, 50°, 81° | 5/19, 3 drops rain, 60°, 66° | 5/20, 43°, 71° |

• Sunday, 5/14: Planting Seeds & Phone Calls
  
  • We woke to thick fog, which made all outside surfaces very wet. Rain started falling around 2 p.m. The recent moisture means watering the garden isn't necessary. It's slowly washing kaolin clay off my apple trees.
    
  • Mary weeded the lettuce in the near garden.
    
  • I planted radish and lettuce seeds in the last two tubs.
    
  • Mary and I both pulled radishes. I pulled them from the first tub I planted and Mary pulled some from the near garden. Together, we trimmed and cleaned them.
  • Bill made three pizzas. We ate two and put the last one in the fridge.
    
  • I was interviewed by Jeff Olsen for a future article in the Roseau Times-Region, where I was an editor between 1992-96.
    
  • I called mom for Mother's Day. She's visiting Hank in Glasgow, MT. It's sunny today, after several days of over an inch of rain.
    
  • Katie called her mother. She's in Anchorage for the summer. Recently, she went through a second laser treatment in Seattle for her burns. She hopes this is the final treatment.
    
  • Bill gave Mary her birthday presents from him, early, since he won't be here on May 27th. He gave Mary a paring knife and DVD of season one of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. We watched three episodes. I slept through the last two.
    
    
• Monday, 5/15: Old Fart Visits Town for Meds
  
  • Rain has fallen for five consecutive days. We don't get a lot of rain, but it means we aren't watering the garden, which is nice.
  • I drove to Quincy and picked up medications, one of which ran out today. I also got a couple grocery items, including dog and hen food.
    
  • Mary made minestrone soup, which tasted good.
    
  • Mary picked scapes off the garlic, an activity that started yesterday. Scapes are developing quickly.
    
  • In the evening, Bill and I watched the end of Game 7 of the Seattle Kraken/Los Vegas Knights NHL playoffs. Vegas won and advanced. We then set up our smart TV to download and play PBS and YouTube content. Bill connected to a 4K video of underwater coral reef sea life and we marveled at the clear images. Then, Bill pulled up the 1980 U.S./Soviet Olympic hockey game, and we watched a 43-year old event...the whole game. It was interesting, fun, and we were very late at getting to bed!
    
  • We saw lightning bugs for the first time this year in the late night super moist air.
    
    
• Tuesday, 5/16: Pumpkin Wine
  
  • Bill and I started a 6.5-gallon batch of pumpkin wine. We thawed 35 packages of pumpkin meat, weighing 33 pounds. Bill chopped up four pounds of raisins. We placed the pumpkin meat, raisins, and 24 cinnamon sticks in two nylon mesh bags. Each bag went into separate brew buckets. Five gallons, one cup of water was split between the the two buckets, as was 12 pounds of sugar, to bring the liquid level up to 3.25 gallons in each bucket. The specific gravity was 1.090 and the pH was 3.5 in both brew buckets. Other ingredients split between the two buckets included six tablespoons of acid blend, 6.5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient, and 1.1 grams of Kmeta.
    
  • Mary mowed the north and west yards.
  • Katie is recovering from Lasik eye surgery that she went through this morning. Not wearing glasses or contacts during her construction work will be a big plus. 
    
  • A great-crested flycatcher came home for the summer. Mary watched a robin use the mulberry bush as a bird bath, because it was very misty in the morning and everything was extremely wet.
    
    
• Wednesday, 5/17: Wine, Mowing, & Cleaning AC
  
  • I split 3.25 teaspoons of pectic enzyme between the two brew buckets of pumpkin wine, then activated two batches of Lalvin D-47 wine yeast. I added must from the brew buckets to each yeast culture throughout the day and pitched them just before midnight. The specific gravity of the tall bucket was still at 1.090 prior to pitching the yeast. The wide bucket's specific gravity was 1.094. It must have sweeter pumpkin meat.
  • Mary received a birthday gift from Katie via UPS. It is a nice gardening stool with padding and storage bags.
    
  • I cleaned our large air conditioner, after taking it apart. A large amount of dried bug guts poured out of it.
  • Mary raked yesterday's mowed grass while I sharpened the mower's blade. Bill finished raking.
    
  • Mary mowed the south half of the far garden and put the grass mulch on rows in that garden.
    
  • Bill mowed the north yard.
  • Mary heard a summer tanager, the first for the season.
  • We watched a DVD that Bill brought with him, the 2019 movie, Plus One.
  • On our last dog walk, a deer snorted east of us, a coyote howled to the west, and then a dog from across the lane barked loudly, then howled. It was a loud night.
    
    
• Thursday, 5/18: Mowing, Another AC & Outdoor Roast
  
  • Mary mowed the east and south yards while putting grass mulch into the far garden. Bill helped by hauling mulch in wheelbarrows and placing the grass into the garden.
  • Bill changed oil on his car.
    
  • I whacked down tall grass on a narrow path to the outside of the west living room window, then cleaned up grass with the trimmer around the three new apple trees west of the house, around cherry trees, on the paths between trees, and around the Liberty and Porter's Perfection apple trees.
    
  • I washed the outside of living room windows, then installed the large air conditioner into the west living room window. I then used packing tape to seal up cracks around the AC. After turning it on, we noticed better air on the first floor of the house. We've experienced a slight bit of smoky air outside during the past two days, due to forest fires in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
    
  • We enjoyed an outdoor pork loin roast until midnight. Mary made several deviled eggs that we also ate. Mary and Bill drank several beers that Bill brought with him. I had a little more than a bottle of homemade apple cider. We saw a night hawk, several bats and lightning bugs. Coyotes howled and resulted dogs barked at them. Otherwise, it was a quiet, nice night filled with conversation and stars.
    
    
• Friday, 5/19: Michigan Rummy
  
  • We experienced a cloudy day, with threatening rain that only amounted to a couple raindrops every few hours.
    
  • I cut and installed vinyl siding, flexible foam board, and aluminum tape to close off light and bug access around the living room air conditioner.
  • The pumpkin wine's yeast is fermenting very quickly, creating a loud fizz. The specific gravity at noon was 1.050 in the tall brew bucket and 1.044 in the wide bucket. By 8 p.m., it was 1.030 in the tall bucket and 1.025 in the wide bucket. It will need racking tomorrow.
    
  • Bill, Mary and I played Michigan Rummy for five hours. Mary won. Bill took second and I was in last place. Partway through, we enjoyed bowls of popcorn. It was fun.
    
    
• Saturday, 5/20: Racking Pumpkin Wine & Fishing
  
  • Bill and I racked the pumpkin wine into two 5-gallon carboys after I squeezed the nylon mesh bags, gaining about nine gallons of must. Both carboys have less than a gallon of headroom left. The specific gravity in both brew buckets was 1.000 and the pH remains at 3.5. There is an orange oil slick around the edges of the carboys. We think it's from the cinnamon sticks.
    
  • Mary, Bill and I went fishing for bass in Bass Pond. We took home nine fish and threw four back. Bill was the master fisherman. He caught fish on every lure he tried. Sizes included two at 9", three at 10.5", one at 10.75", four at 11", one at 12", one at 12.5" and one that was 14.5". I filleted them, then Mary fried them up. The meal included garlic toast and a spinach and radish salad. YUM!
    
  • Blackberry blossoms are thick, everywhere. We have a ton of black raspberries growing, too. A good rain will help both of these berries.
    
  • We watched the 2000 movie, Finding Forrester, which Bill picked out.
    
  • Marjorie texted this morning (5/21) that my Uncle John, her father, died today in MI. He was 96.

May 7-13, 2023

Weather | 5/7, 0.04" rain, 63°, 89° | 5/8, 0.68" rain, 57°, 75° | 5/9, 55°, 75° | 5/10, 58°, 81° | 5/11, 0.10" rain, 59°, 79° | 5/12, 0.08" rain, 65°, 81° | 5/13, 0.24" rain, 64°, 82° |

• Sunday, 5/7: July in May
  
  • I woke to wren racket prior to daybreak. Our springtime house wren was singing once every two seconds and with the bedroom window open, I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I moved to the north bedroom easy chair and slept there for a few winks.
    
  • We experienced a hot day with high humidity. It felt more like July, than May.
    
  • I cleaned the air conditioner for our bedroom. It took time to wash dried bug jerky out of the insides after disassembling it. I replaced four rusty screws, put it back together and installed the AC in our upstairs bedroom window after washing the outside of both bedroom windows. Then, I used packing tape on the inside to keep out bugs and air, along with packing foam in between the window panes.
    
  • Mary swept the house and washed the inside of all windows, washed the curtains, took the wood rack out to the machine shed, and baked a pumpkin cake.
  • I washed the outside of the kitchen window, including both sides of the storm window.
    
  • We enjoyed hard boiled eggs, toast, pots of loose-leaf tea, slices of a pumpkin cake while watching two movies...Thor: Ragnarok (2017), and Sabrina (1995).
    
  • Thunderstorms arrived as we went to bed. I fell asleep right away, but Mary, who stayed awake for awhile after we went to bed, said it rained very hard after we turned out the lights.
    
    
• Monday, 5/8: Spraying Fruit Trees
  
  • I sprayed the following items on these trees:
    
    • Copper on the two Bartlett pear trees to battle fire blight. I found two more branches on the big Bartlett tree with classic fire blight symptoms of black and curled leaves. I clipped them, threw them away and disinfected the clippers.
    • Immunox, a fungicide that best battles cedar apple rust, on the three new apple trees and Esopus. After the latest rain, the orange cedar apple rust goo is on most all cedar trees.
    • Captan, a fungicide good for apple scab, on the Empire, Esopus, Granny Smith, and McIntosh trees.
    • Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis, an organic pesticide for insect larvae, on Empire, Granny Smith, Grimes Golden, Esopus, and McIntosh.
  • I noticed larger tiny pears on branches where I culled pears off the big Bartlett tree. Thinning really helps.
  • Grimes Golden has developing apples, the first time, ever. Esopus and Empire are filled with tiny apples and need thinning.
  • I removed the bug traps to clean them and refill them, but ran out of daylight. I put them in the back of the pickup to keep marauding raccoons and opossums out of them.
  • Mary weeded the garlic and put fish fertilizer on the garlic, strawberries, and herbs.
  • Blossoms on black raspberry plants north of the Esopus apple tree and the west end of our clothesline are filled with all sizes of bumblebees.
  • We heard, for the first time this spring, songs of the common yellowthroat warbler, wood thrush, and catbirds. I also spotted a common nighthawk at dusk.
    
    
• Tuesday, 5/9: Onions & Spraying Surround
  
  • Mary weeded the onion bed and in the process, she discovered some onions that were planted three weeks ago are sprouting. She planted more onion seeds and announced that either we'll see onions coming up with uniform spacing, or we'll see a big thick mass of onions.
  • Mary also mowed, adding mulch to the far garden.
  • I sprayed Surround, or kaolin clay, on the apple producing trees (see photos below). The liquid Surround looks just like milk when mixed with water. After spraying it on in a 7-9 mph breeze, I looked like I was spraying white paint. I only had time to apply one coat on the Granny Smith, Empire, Esopus Spitzenburg, and Grimes Golden trees. Initially, it's supposed to go on in three coats. Predicted wind and rain might stretch the three coats out over extended days. That's fine. After a day of crawling up and down the step ladder while spraying, I could use a rest.
    
  • Mary made a big batch of chicken soup that tastes great.
  • Mary saw a Baltimore oriole that only had black on the wings. All the rest of the bird was bright orange. Most have black on the body, too. This one was exceptionally orange and quite noticeable.
    
  • We heard a bird call while walking dogs on their last outing that is a yellow-billed cuckoo, the first of the season. They're in danger of ending up on the threatened list. These birds love tent caterpillars and can eat 100 at a time. Our acreage creates a perfect home for them, but they're finding our kind of habitat hard to locate. We're lucky, because we notice them every year.

Granny (left) & Empire (right) coated in Surround.

Grimes (left) & Esopus (right) white with kaolin clay.

• Wednesday, 5/10: Mowing Lane & Surround on Trees
  
  • Mary weeded the parsnips. They keep popping through the ground, even though they were seeded over three weeks ago.
  • Mary mowed the lane. It was hot work, so she had to take a break in the middle of mowing.
    
  • I cleaned the fruit tree bug traps, refilled them, and hung them in the trees. In the past, high winds tossed and sloshed them about, so I went looking for some kind of weight to anchor them down. I found it in the form of old railroad spikes. They're probably from when Mary's Uncle Herman got railroad ties he used for fence posts. The ties came from a dismantled railroad built in 1878 that once ran through Lewistown. These spikes vary in length and were probably forged by hand. They are the perfect size for fitting across the bottom of a plastic gallon jug and heavy enough to keep the jug steady in the wind and useless enough that I don't know what the hell else to do with them!
    
  • Our cats were looking straight down through the north windows, so Mary peered out to see what they saw. There were two male white-crowned sparrows and an American goldfinch sharing a meal of dandelion seeds.
  • I sprayed the four producing apple trees with another coat of Surround. Grimes, the smallest tree, received two more coats for a total of four. I also put a third layer around the bottom of the Esopus tree. They're even whiter, now. This white kaolin clay not only keeps bugs away, it helps trees prosper during the high summer heat. While spraying, I noticed five dead caterpillar worms, probably nailed from the Bt insecticide I sprayed on Monday.
    
  • The owners of the land across the road are using a big backhoe to tear out all of the large oak trees surrounding that pond. They're hauling the wood off in a large wagon behind a farm tractor. Why does everyone hate trees so much?
    
    
• Thursday, 5/11: A Chat (Bird) & AC Cleaning
  
  • When Mary opened the west living room curtain, there sat a new bird, a yellow-breasted chat. Sitting next to it was a house wren that was constantly yelling at the chat. We have two house wrens that are usually yelling continuously. The chat is a pretty bird.
    
  • Mary did some cleaning and oiled the indoor stove pipe, running from the stove to the chimney in the living room.
    
  • I cleaned the upstairs north bedroom air conditioner. Rain started falling when I finished, so I didn't install it.
    
  • I rained in the morning, then in the afternoon, and again after dark. 
  • I was really depressed when I saw mostly green on the newly sprayed apple trees, thinking all of the kaolin clay was washed away. My spirits lifted after the trees dried and I saw white, again. The clay has amazing sticking properties, even though some of it gets washed away.
    
    
• Friday, 5/12: Loose Yearling Cattle to the East
  
  • Mary swept and mopped all of the floors in the house. 
  • She also took some house plants outside, gave them a trim, and put them in the woodshed for summer.
  • I checked fruit trees. There might be fire blight in the top of the big pear tree. Since it's at skyscraper level, I'm going to wait and see if it isn't just from strong wind gusts bashing the tips around. There are a ton of pears, cherries, and apples developing on all trees. I've got a big job ahead of me in culling small fruits. I noticed signs of deer or rabbit eating the lower branches of the sweet cherry tree and one branch sticking out of the new Calville apple tree was bit off by a bunny.
    
  • I jawboned with the neighbor to the east for awhile. He showed up to feed his this morning and said that all 13 of his yearling cattle were gone. His electric fence was strung out several feet on the ground where they stampeded through it. He found five of them about a mile south along Highway 156. When he got them home, it took an hour to get them back into his fenced area, because they were too spooked to go back in. He thinks the four dogs from the house southwest of us is the source of his problems. I agree. He searched all over trying to find the rest of his cattle and asked for me to contact him if I see them.
    
  • I found holes in one of the lettuce plants in my tubs. It's probably worms. I sprinkled diatomaceous earth on the lettuce.
  • I installed the air conditioner in the upstairs north bedroom and packing taped it into place. I started waterproofing the outside. I'm cutting up unused vinyl siding to form the outside water and bug barricade. I only got partway into that project. Finishing is high priority, since Bill is visiting for a week, starting tomorrow.
    
  • On a dog walk prior to the sun going down, we spotted a red slider turtle crossing the lane between the cedar trees and the Sargent crabapple tree.
    
    
• Saturday, 5/13: Early Mother's Day Flowers
  
  • Mary spotted a bluebird that flew out of a cherry tree next to the Empire apple tree with a two-inch long caterpillar. She also saw the orange flash of an oriole.
  • Katie sent two bouquets of flowers that arrived via FedEx Express. They look very nice. Each bouquet has a hen and chicks plant in the center. Mary went ahead and planted the hens and chicks in pots.
    
  • Bill showed up around noon. He was tired after a 55-hour work week. There are a lot of inventory projects at his workplace. He noticed three dead armadillos while driving north. They're inching closer to us. The furthest north one he saw was south of Bowling Green, MO, which is only 72 miles south of us...UGH!!!
    
  • Rain fell right after Bill arrived. We received almost a quarter inch.
    
  • Bill gave his mother an orchid. One of the many books she planned to donate involves how to handle orchids. She dug it out of the donation box and spent time reading up on orchid care. She discovered the orchid Bill gave her is a moth orchid.
  • Mary picked some spinach that she put on a taco dish that Mary calls taco bowls. It tasted great.
    
  • I spent the day building a rain and bug deflector for the upstairs north bedroom air conditioner. I cut pieces from old white vinyl siding, cleaned the pieces with a brush and a bucket of Lysol and water, shaped them with tin snips, and connected them with aluminum tape. It's more permanent and hopefully I can reuse this in the future.
  • Bill tried the apple cider and liked it. He says it's very lemony. We split a bottle of pumpkin wine.
  • We watched Encanto, a 2021 movie that Bill brought with him. We also watched Marry Me.
    

April 30-May 6, 2023

Weather | 4/30, 35°, 52° | 5/1, 40°, 63° | 5/2, 37°, 63° | 5/3, 35°, 66° | 5/4, 38°, 75° | 5/5, 0.01" rain, 45°, 72° | 5/6, 0.03" rain, 57°, 79° |

• Sunday, 4/30: Lots of Wind
  
  • We're getting high wind gusts day and night. Some of the northwest gusts are over 40 mph. Tree blossoms are getting blown out, though a few are still present in the Empire and Esopus apple trees and the top of the big pie cherry tree.
    
  • Mary made four loaves of bread. We had wonderful jam on freshly baked bread for our nighttime meal. My glucose reading was a little high, but the fresh bread was the finest!
    
  • I finished putting together the Stihl whacker. I had to move the carrying ring several times to get the machine to balance while I was wearing the harness.
  • After starting the trimmer, I removed grass and dandelions from under the bottom wire of the electric fence around the near garden. The new whacker is vastly better than the old one, which is obviously shot. The bike handle gives you much more control. It took about 2-3 hours to trim the near garden electric fence, with a break between cleaning the outside and the inside of the fence.
    
  • I hooked up feed wires from the electric fencer unit to the near garden. Then I unhooked wires going to the electric fences around the Esopus apple tree and the far garden and started the fencer. There was only one short. Once it was fixed, the fencer lights went to the top. It's now electric fence education time for chewing bunnies and deer. The snow peas are growing too high, green, and enticing for the rabbits.
    
  • There is a double strap harness available for the Stihl trimmer that is more comfortable than the single strap harness I currently use. I might get it.
  • I reviewed truss construction ideas online. I also watched game updates on nhl.com. The Seattle Kraken knocked out the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the playoffs. Yay! Seattle now plays Dallas (who defeated Minnesota) in the second round. The Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins. Boo! Florida now plays Toronto...go Leafs!
    
    
• Monday, 5/1: Endless Wind
  
  • Strong wind keeps howling through the trees, 24 hours a day. The same west winds blowing through here kicked up newly tilled fields south of Springfield, IL that resulted in a big vehicle pileup on I-55. It was in all of the national news sources. The bug trap in the Granny Smith apple tree is all brown, because the thin branches of this tree makes it dance in the wind and splash the molasses-filled mixture all over the inside of the plastic gallon jug. All new fruit tree leaves are getting a multi-day battering in these intense winds.
    
  • Mary mowed the lane. She said the mower kicked up a ton of dust near the gravel road at the end of the lane.
    
  • I used the new Stihl trimmer and whacked down grass, weeds, and small maple saplings in and around all fruit trees. This new trimmer, with just the trimmer line, munches right through old dead grass, new tall grass, and even thin saplings. I ran out of the second tanke of gas halfway around Esopus. All that's left is that tree and around Prairie Fire and McIntosh. My muscles say it's time for a rest for at least a day.
    
  • On a late afternoon dog walk, we saw several barn swallows playing in the wind blowing through the oaks surrounding Bluegill Pond. It's the first of these birds this season.
  • We enjoyed a bottle of 2022 Kieffer pear wine. This is tangier, with a sharper pear flavor, compared to Bartlett pear wine. Bottled Jan. 10th, this wine is too young and needs more aging. It's going to be quite good, though. Kieffer pear wine has a distinct orange color, compared to the lighter yellow color of Bartlett pear wine.
    
    
• Tuesday, 5/2: Yes...Even More Wind
  • Northwest wind blasts hit us throughout the day. I removed the bug trap from the Granny Smith apple tree that was brown from dried molasses splashes. Right at dusk, calmness reigned for a little bit. It was breezy after dark.
  • Mary baked two quiche egg pies, in an attempt to use up eggs. It didn't work. While closing up the hens, she collected 10 more eggs.
  • I nipped down persimmon saplings around the big Bartlett pear tree, two blueberry bushes, and the Prairie Fire crabapple tree. Cut a persimmon tree down with a one inch diameter trunk and by the next spring, five saplings are growing from that one stalk. Each big persimmon tree sends out hundreds, maybe even thousands of shoots in a huge radius. They're weeds.
  • Next, I trimmed grass growing up trunks and around protective cow panels of 10 fruit trees and a couple blueberry bushes (see photos, below). The trees look better than they have in years.
  • Mary dusted, cleaned, and sorted books, creating stacks of donated books. In the evening, I went through some books in the donated stacks and kept a couple.
  • On each nighttime dog walk, we hear whip-por-wills calling. It's a nice addition that we haven't heard in recent years.

Bartlett pear trees and blueberry bushes.

Liberty (right) and cherry trees (left).

Lilac flowers (right), trail, and sweet cherry (left).

A cherry chewed by a bunny that's now showing leaves!

Two cherry trees, Empire & Sargent (behind pole).

Three new apple trees.

Lots of leaves on Calville d'Hiver.

Granny Smith (left), Empire (right).

• Wednesday, 5/3: Planting, Mowing, Whacking & Nipping
  
  • Mary planted tomato and tomatillo seeds in Styrofoam cups filled with potting soil.
    
  • While she did this a ruby-throated hummingbird was attracted to her bright yellow shirt and buzzed just above her ear. It's the first hummingbird of the season.
    
  • Mary mowed the rest of the far garden and put grass mulch down in three different rows.
    
  • I cleaned the cooler that holds some blackberry and Kieffer pear wine, since I noticed a mold odor when I recently grabbed a bottle from it. I returned the bottles in the evening, layering newspaper between the bottles. Newspaper is good at soaking up funky odors.
    
  • I whacked grass and weeds surrounding the Esopus, Grimes, Mac apple trees and nipped grass growing around their trunks with the hand shears. All trees look like someone cares about them (I decided to spare everyone the chance of seeing more green tree photos).
    
  • Wind turned calm in the evening. I did a spray assessment. The only trees without blooms are pears, McIntosh and Grimes. It's eight days since the last fungicide spray and five days since the insecticide spray, which is too soon when the interval is 10-15 days on most sprays, so I decided to wait, even though wind conditions are perfect.
    
  • A deer snorted at me from the east as I stepped out on the porch this evening.
    
    
• Thursday, 5/4: Serbert, or Sherbet, the Cat
  
  • The small Porter's Perfection apple tree developed a lean after three days and nights of excessive northwest wind gusts, so I added a tie from the cow panel to the rebar steel stake to give the tree a more upright position.
  • After walking dogs to Wood Duck Pond, I picked 27 ticks off Amber. It's time to restrict dog walks to closer to home. Tick season is now in full bloom.
  • Mary mowed south and east lawns and put mulch in both gardens.
  • I culled tiny pears off the big Bartlett pear tree (see photo, below). There are a ton of pears and if left to grow, branches will break off the tree once the pears are fully developed. By dropping pear and apple numbers down to a fruit every six inches on each tree branch, it ensures bigger, fully-developed fruit and a crop every year, instead of every other year.
  • Since sometime last winter, a white and yellow cat took up residence in our machine shed. We see it everyday this spring. We decided to call it Serbert, if it's a male, and Serbet, if it's a female. Mary thinks it's a boy cat, due to its size. A lot of mice live in the machine shed, so the cat is probably well fed. It also might be knocking out small bunnies and maybe even hatchling birds. No, we're not adopting this cat. It stays outside.
  • The Mississippi Grill burned in West Quincy, MO. The restaurant closed in 1993 when the levy broke holding back the Mississippi River and all of West Quincy flooded. It's been used as storage for a limousine company. HERE is a link to a story of the fire.
    
  • Mary noticed that white-crowned and white-throated sparrows are still in our yard, even though they usually leave for the north long before now.
  • On our nighttime dog walk, a barred owl hooted just east of the lane from the tops of maple trees.

  

  One of two ice cream buckets of culled tiny pears.

• Friday, 5/5: First Fishing of 2023
  
  • I made a morning waffle breakfast.
  • I filled a five-gallon and a two-gallon can of gas in Lewistown and dropped off the health clinic payment while Mary filled out bills and figured another month of savings.
    
  • Mary and I went fishing at Bass Pond. We decided that the cooler temperatures predicted for today were better than hot temps predicted over the weekend. It was a tough day for Mary, who caught one 8.5-inch bass that was thrown back. I caught four fish that we kept (9, 10, 11.5 and 12 inches). I tried one of the flies I made at a fly tying clinic in January, but it was too light for me to do much on a spinning rod. The largest fish I caught hit a Hula Popper...that was really fun!
    
  • Rain started falling at the end of our fishing adventure and it rained while I cleaned the fish. Mary cooked up an amazing fish feast.
  • We enjoyed a bottle of blackberry wine while doing evening reading. The wine was really good.
    
    
• Saturday, 5/6: A Day Bookended by Storms
  
  • We woke to a storm approaching from the southwest. It only rained for a little bit this morning.
  • Mary made a chicken dinner with sweet potatoes for our midday meal. It was one of last year's barred rock chickens and it tasted wonderful. The sweet potato was a foot long, enough for the two of us, and in perfect shape. They store well. 
  • Later, Mary dusted and sorted books. We keep eliminating books, with over 100 winnowed out so far.
    
  • I culled more tiny pears off the big Bartlett pear tree. I'm about 3/4 to 7/8 around the tree at the eight-foot step ladder height. After I'm done with the step ladder, I will try the higher orchard ladder. There was one short branch that had fire blight on the end leaves. I trimmed it out and cleaned the tools with alcohol. As soon as I can spray, the pear trees get sprayed with copper.
    
  • I heard, then spotted a bird with a bright red breast and incorrectly identified it as an oriole. Mary got out the binoculars and tracked it down near the McIntosh apple tree. It was a rose-breasted grosbeak. They are striking. While putting chickens away, it tried attacking Mary through the hardware cloth covering the small northwest window of the chicken coop...silly bird!
    
  • We experienced the weirdest storm after dark. On the radar it possessed an ominous white center as it tracked across the state from above Kansas City. At dusk, we could hear thunder and the storm was about 110 miles away. It split west of us, creating two parts that looked like they were going around us. Then, Lewis County was put into a tornado watch. Around midnight the southern section took a 90-degree turn to the northeast and marched right for us. Loud and big, fat raindrops hit the south windows, but it was short-lived. On the last dog outing, the moon was out to the southeast and big clouds billowed up to the northeast silhouetted by a very active lightning display.
    
  • I looked at pricing for building a 10x10 foot shed. Siding pricing is stupidly high. An LP Smartside 4x8 foot sheet at a wimpy 3/8-inch thickness is $45. A 35"x8' sheet of metal siding is $28. It looks like the sheds will be metal, not wood.
    

April 23-29, 2023

Weather | 4/23, 29°, 57° | 4/24, 32°, 63° | 4/25, 44°, 64° | 4/26, 39°, 63° | 4/27, 39°, 70° | 4/28, 41°, 72° | 4/29, 0.14" rain, 47°, 63° |

• Sunday, 4/23: Light Frost
  • Frost covered parts of the ground in the morning, but it didn't harm fruit trees. We uncovered sheets and blankets from garden plants and they were fine, too.
    
  • I installed two fire alarms that I bought in 2019...nothing like getting them up right away! They replaced one in the kitchen and another in the upstairs north bedroom.
    
  • On a walk with the dogs on the north loop trail, both Amber and Plato trotted along very apprehensively, with their noses in the air, sniffing. I'm guessing they were sensing coyotes. I saw ripples in Bass Pond from fish surfacing.
    
  • A late afternoon fruit tree tour showed that all is well. I'm sure I saw a coddling moth in newest bug trap in the McIntosh tree.
    
  • Katie sent images of a newspaper in Mississippi, where she's pictured while working on an Air National Guard project (see below).
    
  • Before nightfall, we covered plants again, since we're under another freeze warning.
    
  • We watched the 2022 movie, Marry Me.

• Monday, 4/24: No Frost Damage
  
  • We took blankets and sheets off all of the garden plants, hopefully for the final time. There is no frost damage in the garden or on fruit trees. Mary also removed lace curtains off the peas that are up. Without these in place, robins yank the sprouting peas out of the ground.
    
  • We watched a turkey hen walk up the lane toward the house this morning. It wandered along, nipping at the tops of grass shoots. The turkey dodged into the grass and went east prior to getting to our front yard.
    
  • I talked to the nurse at the Lewistown Clinic to have them change the prescription for glucose monitor strips to me using them two times a day. When I called Sam's Club, they told me I can't get them paid by Medicare until May 20th. Last week, they said May 14th. In frustration, I said I will try someone else. The limitation is universal among all pharmacies. Online research gave me the answer. Medicare limits payment for the strips to 100 in 90 days for patients who do not take insulin, which is my case. Most people test more than this limitation allows and just pays full price for them when Medicare doesn't kick in, which is what I'll do, since I want to monitor it closer for a bit, yet.
    
  • Mary mowed between the woodshed and the machine shed and under the clothesline, then put grass mulch around pea plants, spinach and radishes in the near garden.
    
  • I finished tightening electric wires around the near garden.
    
  • I planted all of the rest of the Antonovka apple seeds. So far, I have two tiny trees growing.
    
    
• Tuesday, 4/25: Mulching Blueberries & Spraying Apple Trees
  
  • This morning after breakfast, Mary watched a male and a female bluebird, along with a phoebe. The bluebirds were on the clothesline post and the phoebe was on the 2x6 that forms the T of the clothesline post. They would grab huge caterpillars and then bash the huge worms on the top of the wood of the clothesline. They obviously got into a large cache of big caterpillars.
    
  • I called Sam's Club. The pharmacy put me back on the one-time-a-day prescription for strips. Buying 100 strips for my reader costs $79 without Medicare...YIPES! The pharmacy woman I talked to suggested I get a Sam's Club Member's Mark reader, strips, and lancets for when I want to take glucose readings more than once a day, because all of those items are only $25. That's what I'll do.
    
  • Mary mowed parts of the west lawn and put grass mulch on the blueberries.
    
  • She also put sulfur on blueberries.
  • I replaced the wooden sticks that solidify all three chicken wire gates in gardens with new persimmon sticks.
    
  • I pounded pieces of brick into the ground to solidified 8 metal posts supporting the fence around the Esopus apple tree.
    
  • I walked the puppies west to Bobcat Deer Blind. We went down the west hill from there and looked at the redbud tree blossoms (see photos, below).
    
  • I assessed all fruit trees and figured what needed spraying. It's too early to spray insecticide, because there are still blossoms on everything. Starting at sundown, or around 8 p.m., I sprayed most of the apple trees. I finished around 10:15.
    
  • While spraying, I heard two raccoons fighting one another to the east. A skunk walked by me somewhere to the northeast and boy, did it smell. Way off to the northeast, coyotes howled.

Pink red bud tree blossoms are tiny, like pea flowers.

• Wednesday, 4/26: Additional Glucometer
  • We heard a turkey call to the north, this morning. But it wasn't from an actual turkey. It was from what we call a tree monkey, or a human in a tree stand. That's because it's a constant call with no pauses.
    
  • Mary did a bunch of house cleaning, and in the process, tossed nine old acorn squash. That's pretty good, considering that we started last fall with over 50 squash.
    
  • I went to Quincy and bought a cheaper Member's Mark glucometer and strips from Sam's Club. It wasn't $25, like I was quoted over the phone, because their price tags aren't accurate to recent price hikes, but it was under $40. I can now make more than one blood glucose test a day without fussing about Medicare payments. I also picked up a couple food items at Aldi.
  • Traffic on the way home was insane. I was passed three times on Highway 6, because I was only driving the speed limit...how dare I be slow and fuddy-duddy in my beater pickup! Each pass was with a double solid center line while going uphill!
  • A fruit tree tour indicates a lot of pear fruit that will need culling from the Kieffer and Bartlett trees. Mr. McIntosh is almost done with blooming. Bug traps need replenishing.
  • Mary says we'll need to order more onion and lettuce seeds. This is the second year the initial onion planting is a failure. It's been too cold, even though the seeds went into the ground on a hot day.
    
    
• Thursday, 4/27: Bug Stew...Oh, Yummy!
  
  • Another Antonovka apple seed sprouted that I'll use as rootstock for grafting apple trees. Three have sprouted out of 14 seeds. They're supposed to have a 33% germination rate. Two more sprouts and I'll see 35%.
    
  • Mary weeded the far garden. She found cockle burr plants everywhere. We haven't noticed cockle burrs for several years.
    
  • She fish fertilized the garlic, strawberries, and herb plants.
  • Mary spotted purple finches, then noticed that all of the seeded-out dandelions growing under the bottom electric fence wire in the near garden had their seeds removed. Purple finches love dandelion seeds. They're on their way north. We also saw the first of a red-headed woodpecker for the season.
  • I cleaned up and refilled my five apple tree bug jugs with switchel. As the molasses/vinegar/water concoction dries up, what's left is a thick dead bug stew. The rinsed out bug stew went into the compost pile. I tied bottles into the trees with plastic baling twine in a new way that better centers the twine to the top of each bottle.
  • An assessment of Mr. McIntosh revealed a few blossoms, so spraying for insects is delayed so as to not kill pollinators.
    
  • I tied twine from cages to two of my newest apple trees. They were starting to lean.
    
  • While getting mail, I found a crunched up egg on our lane. It was large and white with gray spots. It turns out to be a wild turkey egg.
  • I also had two bob white quail fly away to the southeast while walking down the lane.
  • We enjoyed a bottle of pumpkin wine in the evening. It's very good. Mary reports that I need to make more pumpkin wine to make room in the freezer. There are 42 packages of frozen pumpkin meat. I used 17 packages to make my last batch and it was one cup shy of 9 gallons. I told Mary that I need to ask Bill to rent a cement truck in order to mix up our next creation of pumpkin wine. Heads up, Bill...guess what you're doing next time you visit here.

  

  Plato sniffing in newly emerging mayapples.

• Friday, 4/28: Chimney Swifts Arrive
  
  • I made a half-gallon container of EM-1. It brews for a few days in the heat of the sun. EM stands for essential micronutrients.
    
  • In the afternoon while Mary was hanging out laundered towels, she heard and saw the chimney swifts that arrived from the Amazon forests. The flying cigars were chittering about at dusk, too.
    
  • Mary mowed the south and middle parts of the far garden and put grass mulch in a couple rows in that garden.
    
  • I sprayed spinosad, an insecticide, on the McIntosh tree. When I finished, it was too late to start spraying Surround. It will have to wait, since gusty winds are predicted for several days.
    
  • Several dead moths are in the fruit tree bug traps. I suspect some are coddling moths, which put worms into apples.
    
  • There are still a couple blossoms in pear trees. All fruit trees are blooming for a very long time span this season.
    
  • I spooked a doe deer that ran across the lane near Bluegill Pond when I got the mail.
  • A motorized paraglider flew over our house near sunset (see photo, below). It's rather an odd site to see.

  

  A motorized paraglider flying over the house.

• Saturday, 4/29: Seeds & Trimmer Assembly
  
  • We ordered two types of onion seeds and a package of lettuce from Fedco. It's year two of the second attempt at germinating onion seeds.
    
  • Mary cooked up the last pumpkin that was harvested last fall and put two quart bags of pumpkin meat in the freezer. A New England pie pumpkin was tossed, but the Diablo pumpkins stored amazingly well.
    
  • I planted radish and lettuce seeds in two more winter greens tubs. By staggering plantings, we hope to have these two crops for a longer time frame.
    
  • I started putting together the new Stihl trimmer. It's taking longer than expected. Farm & Home, where I bought it, partially assembled it, but they did it wrong. They had the bicycle handle on backwards. That's probably because inside the manual, the drawings show it backwards. The front cover of the manual shows it installed correctly, as do online photos. Also, Farm & Home put the clip where the harness is attached below the bicycle handles, which would tangle the harness up into the handles. Rain drops halted assembly of the trimmer. I hauled it all inside and will finish putting it together tomorrow.
    
  • We experienced a solid rain around 5:30 p.m. Delaying my application of the Surround kaolin clay spray on the McIntosh apple tree, yesterday, was the right decision.
    
  • We enjoyed two pots of loose leaf tea and popcorn while watching the 1996 movie, Twister and the 2013 movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
  • A couple barred owls and two or three whip-por-wills were calling all at the same time when we walked puppies on their last outing of the night.
    

April 16-22, 2023

Weather | 4/16, 0.03" rain, 37°, 43° | 4/17, 33°, 61° | 4/18, 39°, 66° | 4/19, 51°, 77° | 4/20, 0.11" rain, 57°, 72° | 4/21, 37°, 55° | 4/22, 32°, 43° |

• Sunday, 4/16: Rain, Mist, Wind Outside, Warmth & Turkey Dinner Inside
  
  • Light rain and mist filled most of the day. A nice, warm wood fire made all humans, dogs, and cats happy in our house. The only time we saw sun was at sunset, when tree tops were gold (see photo, below).
    
  • High winds are tough on fruit blossoms. Below is a photo and video of pear blossoms last week.
    
  • Mary fixed a turkey dinner. It was an extra turkey we didn't eat last year, because we thought we needed to save one in the freezer due to bird flu creating a possible turkey shortages. Well, we found turkeys in November, so this was an extra one. It tasted great, even though it was purchased November 2021.
  • I spent the day reviewing fruit tree disease and insect spraying schedules. I started a spraying diary, a spraying time table that includes limits and mixing amounts of each item, and a sheet listing trees that are susceptible to fireblight, apple scab, and cedar apple rust.

Golden tree tops from a setting sun.

Last week's Kieffer pear blossoms.

Kieffer pear blossoms taken Tuesday, 4-11-23. The tree is green, now.

• Monday, 4/17: Bug Traps With Switchel
  
  • I made gallon jug bug traps and hung them in the four main apple-producing trees. An upper portion is cut out opposite the handle. In goes water, vinegar, and molasses. I added sugar. It's an old-fashioned way to capture and kill codling moths and other bugs that fill apples with worms. The first jug I made I cut the hole too close to the bottom of the jug. I'll have to make a different one to replace that jug, that is in the Granny Smith tree. 
  • Mary and I took a tour of all trees in the evening. Apple blossoms are everywhere and seem to survive recent wind gusts. At dusk, several small flies were all over the jug trap hung in the McIntosh tree. That tree, which is big, needs more traps.
    
  • An interesting fact about the concoction in these traps. It tastes rather good. Mary looked it up. It's called switchel, a high-energy drink from the 18th Century given to farmers at harvest time, known as the original electrolyte drink. The switchel recipe was one gallon water, 2 cups raw or dark brown sugar, one cup molasses, one cup apple cider vinegar, one teaspoon fresh ginger.
    
  • All four corner fence posts of the near garden fence received broken chunks of brick that I punched into the ground near their base with a spud bar to solidify the posts. Spring thaws really soften the clay soil around them, making corner fence posts lean.
    
  • A strong west wind died at sunset, allowing me to spray trees. I dispersed a tankful of streptomycin on the two Bartlett pear trees, along with the Grimes, Esopus, and Granny Smith apple trees. Several tiny pears are showing in the big Bartlett tree. Coyotes howled a couple times while I sprayed.
    
    
• Tuesday, 4/18: Springtime Pleasures
  
  • The house wren came home. I heard it through our open bedroom window this morning.
    
  • I sharpened the lawnmower blade, using the bench grinder, followed by a hand file.
    
  • Mary mowed the lane.
  • I checked the switchel bug traps. They're full of fruit flies, so they seem to be working very well. I transferred distilled water into one of my glass jugs used for brewing wine and  made a new trap for the Granny Smith tree.
    
  • I sharpened two knives after Mary said there's be no more food cooked in this house if she didn't get sharp knives while hacking away on turkey meat two days ago. Plans are to work on a knife or two each day until they're all sharp.
    
  • I made a new batch of maple syrup using Mapleine extract, which is far superior to McCormick maple extract. I used an entire two ounce bottle of McCormick extract on the first tasteless batch. This time, I used just a half teaspoon of Mapleine. The new syrup tastes better and has a deeper color (see photo, below).
    
  • I walked the dogs on the north loop trail. We spooked up a deer. After returning, I picked 10 ticks off Amber and eight off Plato. Tick season is now official. Rubber boots and plenty of bug dope meant zero ticks on me.
    
  • Mary reports three peas popping through the ground and one radish sprouting in the near garden.
  • Mary and I toured the fruit trees. We saw several tiny pears on both Big Bart and Mr. Kieffer. Leaves are showing on Calville d'Hiver, a newly planted tree. Green buds are on Gold Rush, another new apple tree. Cherry blossoms are blasting open. Both crabapple trees are in bloom. Empire shows a nice amount of pink blossoms. Grimes Golden has the most blossoms since we planted it several years ago. Esopus is in half bloom. McIntosh has a healthy compliment of white blossoms. Spring is a pretty time when you own fruit trees.
  • I looked online and wrote down wildlife ideas for carving 3-D images into leather. Some include a mouse sitting next to a bluebell, mouse in toadstool house, mouse with mushroom umbrella, tree frog on a leaf, raccoon with an apple or eating a cherry, a mama deer licking a fawn, squirrels with acorns, ladybugs, dragonflies, and butterflies.

  

  Homemade syrup...old on left, new on right.

• Wednesday, 4/19: The Great Opossum Event
  
  • While returned home from walking dogs down the lane this morning, an opossum came sauntering toward us. Mary got both dogs to sit and we waited. Amber was shaking. Opossums don't see much further than 10 feet. It gnawed on a plant and slowly waddled from one side of the lane to the other. I walked up to it and persuaded Mr. Opossum to get to the side of the lane. Mary walked both dogs by and we were good. Plato and Amber obeyed Mary's commands so well that they both received two treats, each, for being such good puppies!
    
  • The newer syrup tasted much, much better on this morning's waffles. I used up the old stuff, then started on new syrup.
  • Mary started mowing the east lawn while I sharpened another knife. When she came inside and ate, because her own body ran out of gas, I went out and mowed. We bagged the grass and put mulch around the Esopus apple tree. After Mary finished the east and south lawns, she mowed the immediate north lawn.
  • While mowing around the Granny Smith and Empire apple trees, Mary caught whiffs of the bug traps. She said they smell sour, now.
  • I walked pups to the west. While going across the west field, I found a deer antler shed.
    
  • The wheel of the lawnmower ran over a small pie cherry plant east of the big cherry tree. Since the mower blade didn't chop it and because it is in a perfect location, she placed a tomato cage that's wrapped in chicken wire over the little tree. We don't have to transplant that tree.
  • I got out the small chainsaw and cut branches off several small persimmon trees that I cut a couple weeks ago near the blueberries and big Bartlett pear tree. The straightest persimmon poles I put in the machine shed. Crooked ones became firewood. I cut down a couple more persimmons to give us more room to run a tractor through to the west and I cut down a mulberry that was just west of the southwest corner of the chicken run. Firewood pieces went into a green wood stack in the machine shed. Poles went on the machine shed dirt floor and I moved branches to a pile that exists north next to the north woods. The next chore will be building an electric fence around blueberries and the Bartlett pear trees.
  • Mary made a shopping list, since we're shopping in Quincy tomorrow (4/20).
    
    
• Thursday, 4/20: Shopping Trip
  
  • We woke to an approaching thunderstorm, but we finished morning chores before it hit. After the front went through, strong wind gusts blasted the area.
    
  • Mary and I went on a long shopping trip to Quincy, IL. We left home at 9 a.m. and returned at 6 p.m. Our puppies bounced with joy when we got home.
  • We bought a new Stihl trimmer with a bike handle. I put a carb in the old trimmer last year and it still runs poorly. The estimated longevity is 10-12 years. We bought it in 2010, so we bit the bullet and got a new one. 
  • We also bought a new 3M respirator. I use it while cleaning the dusty chicken coop and we cannot find filters for the old one, whereas 3M filters are readily available.
  • Of course, we attended the Friends of the Library book sale at the Quincy Public Library. The place was packed with people...no book banning problems, here! We bought 32 inches of books at 50 cents an inch. It will come in handy when we downsize to a smaller and newer home. I contributed greatly to the new book finds.
  • We stopped at U.S. Cellular and changed our cell phone plans away from their highest plans to a cheaper fixed plan and added unlimited internet. It means our total bill goes down a few dollars, we stop using my phone as a hot spot, and we start using a router that can be accessed by phones, tablets, and the television. The router, which is usually $400 but is part of a soon-to-expire free promotion, is the size of a pencil case.
  • After evening chores, we settled down to several hours of reviewing the books we brought home.
    
    
• Friday, 4/21: Annoying St. Louis Neighbor Visit
  
  • Since flour tortillas contain so many carbs that they send my blood glucose levels skyrocketing, Mary experimented with making fajita bowls, similar to what we've ordered in the past from Qdoba. Of course, it was really good, quite filling, and didn't zonk my evening blood glucose reading.
    
  • Mary watered the near garden twice, due to strong west wind gusts that kept drying it out.
  • I checked my fruit trees. This year we have a lot of cherry blossoms on most all of our trees, even some of the small cherry trees. McIntosh is finishing up blooming and I'll soon need to spray it for bugs. All of the three new apple trees contain leaves, or buds. There are tons of tiny pears developing on Big Bartlett and the Kieffer pear trees.
    
  • I made another bug trap out of a plastic gallon jug and hung it in the McIntosh tree, so that tree holds two traps. Fruit flies and some moths are dead in the traps. Mary and I looked up coddling moths and I think I've trapped some in the Granny Smith and Esopus tree bug traps.
    
  • The neighbor who owns property west of us, Ben Woodruff, visited us to ask us one more time if we wanted to sell our land. He's obnoxious and continues to ask every year. Ben bought land northwest of our northwest corner, southwest of us and way south on Highway 156, where he's building, because as he put it, "I couldn't wait any longer to buy your property." He's proud of how there are no longer any "outfitters" putting out-of-state hunters on surrounding land. Mary explained to him that we welcomed the "outfitter," because having him and his hunters on land west to us eliminated the wild west show during deer season we experienced when we first took possession of our land. It's amusing that Ben and his friends are from St. Louis, while the "outfitter" is Travis Fleer, from Lewistown. Travis owns Lewistown Tire and is a county commissioner. Who is the outsider, here?
    
  • I set up the modem that we got from U.S. Cellular. It's high on the bookshelf above the TV. Internet service is excellent and fast. I watched part of PBS News Hour and several hockey highlights.
    
    
• Saturday, 4/22: Cold Gray Day
  
  • Strong west wind gusts and clouds kept temperatures down. After experiencing temperatures in the 70s and 80s, highs in the 40s seem downright cold for our southerly adapted blood.
    
  • Mary made cornbread with omelets for our midday meal. I had beans with just one flour tortilla in the evening, along with a big helping of fresh asparagus shoots from the asparagus bed. Blood glucose readings were in the 80s, so my diabetes meds and revised meal plans are working perfectly.
  • While Mary dusted books upstairs, I had a trial and error day getting things working on our TV connected to the new modem. It's taking a bit of time, but I'm figuring it out.
  • Due to predicted overnight frost, we covered outside garden items. A large sheet of plastic went over the winter greens bins, anchored by bricks. Mary put blankets over the strawberries and sheets over emerging sprouts in the near garden. I hauled several bricks in the wheelbarrow to Mary, who used them to anchor sheets.
  • A check of fruit trees indicated they all look great without any sign of disease. I almost stepped on a tiny bunny sitting on the trail between the cherry trees. I'm due to spray on a calm day Monday through Friday. We are too cold and windy right now for trying to spray trees.
    

April 9-15, 2023

Weather | 4/9, 39°, 69° | 4/10, 40°, 72° | 4/11, 49°, 77° | 4/12, 51°, 79° | 4/13, 47°, 79° | 4/14, 50°, 78° | 4/15, 0.71" rain, 60°, 75° |

• Sunday, 4/9: Easter Sunday
  
  • White pear blossoms started popping out on a sunny day. They are filled with several kinds of native pollinators, including nighttime moths. A strong southeast wind turned to calm after sunset.
  • A huge turkey gobbler fanned out his tail to show off his feathers while standing in the middle of the lane near Bluegill Pond. He was immense. We're guessing he was in the 35-40 pound range. After a couple show off displays, he walked to the pond.
  • I lit an outdoor fire and we roasted slices of pork loin on long wiener roasting sticks, while enjoying a bottle of 2021 autumn olive wine. The second course of our outdoor Easter feast was deviled eggs that Mary fixed earlier this morning. The third course was a cherry crisp, again, that Mary made this morning. An interesting point was how the wine's taste changed with each food item. With the pork, there was more of a raisin flavor. The deviled eggs brought out a citrus, cranberry taste. An alcohol flavor was more distinct with the sweet tasting cherry crisp. All told, autumn olive wine matches well with pork, but not dessert.
    
  • We don't let dogs out while we sit near an open fire, so they don't catch their butts on fire. So, after our outdoor meal, we took them on a walk to Wood Duck Pond. The edges of the pond were filled with bull frog tadpoles. Some had legs. In a couple weeks, they'll all be frogs that will "eep" at you when you walk near them.
    
  • First-of-the-year birds that Mary spotted today included a white-throated sparrow and a Carolina wren.
  • I watered newly-planted items. Some of the radishes I planted last week are emerging.

Roasting pork loin on an open fire.

Easter dinner of pork loin...yummy!

• Monday, 4/10: Pear Blossoms & Whip-poor-wills
  
  • I labeled the persimmon wine bottles, then rearranged all of my wine in various coolers to make room for the persimmon wine.
    
  • Mary gave the garlic and herbs a dose of fish fertilizer. She says the garlic looks better than its ever appeared at this time of the year. Mary attributes it to a double batch of compost and turning the soil well with the first layer of compost in place.
    
  • I installed a new spark plug in lawnmower.
  • I mowed the south end of the near garden and moved three wheelbarrow loads of grass to the three new apple trees and mulched the first layer of grass around them.
    
  • The pear trees are blossoming. Honey bees are in the Kieffer blossoms, while native bees buzz about in the Bartlett tree. The small Bartlett pear tree has one blossom, the first ever for that plant.
    
  • After dark, we heard the first whip-poor-will of the season. When Mary came outside to listen, we heard two calling. They're early in arriving. Now we need to be on the watch for chimney swifts.
    
    
• Tuesday, 4/11: We Freed the Strawberries!
  
  • The weather was beautiful, today. It was not too hot, just nice and warm.
    
  • I finished mowing the middle section of the far garden, then jumped over to the near garden after Mary cleared last year's dead garden plants and row marking sticks. Tall dead grass shattered to make the finest dust. I put two more wheelbarrow loads of grass mulch on each of the three new apple trees.
  • Mary spread compost on the two rows of the near garden.
    
  • Mary and I both moved tubs and buckets of strawberry plants into the near garden. Some plants were showing signs of dryness. We watered them well, then put old lace curtain panels over the strawberry plants to protect the young plants from sun scald.
    
  • We heard the sound of Henslow's sparrows for the first time this year.
  • In the evening, I finished looking up susceptibility of all of our apple trees to common fruit tree diseases.
    
    
• Wednesday, 4/12: New Fruit Sprays & Redbuds
  
  • Each morning, our cats enjoy the view out the north window (see photo, below).
    
  • After looking where to buy it, I ordered a 25-pound bag of Surround WP insecticide. This is a fine kaolin clay that when mixed with water and sprayed on fruit forms a barrier and causes irritation and confusion to feeding and egg-laying insects, thereby repelling them. It's not harmful to pollinators, which is a big plus. Some claim it even hides fruit from birds and squirrels, which I find hard to believe. I'm more interested in keeping bugs off without killing bees.
    
  • A 15-ounce bottle of Captan that I ordered earlier this week arrived in today's mail. This is the top fungicide for knocking out apple scab, cedar apple rust, sooty blotch and flyspeck on apples.
    
  • I took the dogs on a hike to Bobcat Deer Blind. From there, I spotted several Eastern redbud trees in the little valley north of the blind. There's even a little redbud about 10 feet uphill from the blind. When I told Mary, she wanted to see the trees, so I took a second hike with her. Besides blooming spring beauties, we saw bluebells (see photo, below). On a deer trail crossing the west field, we found a new blackberry patch. While walking home, a tree fell with a big crash to the south of us.
    
  • I mowed the middle of the north side of the far garden and finished mulching around the three new apple trees.
  • Mary turned soil and raked it even in the near garden.
  • We watered the strawberries, new sod, salad veggies in the tubs, herbs and the new blueberry plant. All of the strawberries look good, except for one that dried up.
    
  • While walking the dogs in the evening, a barred owl hooting to the east of us added extra syllables to its normal call, which made us laugh. Toads are signing after dark, now.
    

Mocha (left) & Gandalf (right) enjoying the view.

Bluebells in the southwest woods.

• Thursday, 4/13: Katie's Birthday
  • We enjoyed a nice, sunny day. A light southerly wind blew, then died at sunset.
  • I called Skinny Raven, a sporting goods store in Anchorage that Katie frequents, to line up a birthday gift certificate for her. The woman I talked to said a morning snow just finished falling in Anchorage.
  • I charted specific sprays to use on our 11 apple and two pear trees based on each variety's susceptibility to diseases.
    
  • Mary planted snow peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes, today. She also turned over more soil in the near garden. Where sweet potatoes grew last year, the soil is nice and friable.
    
  • I mowed the rest of the north end of the far garden and put mulch on the two apple trees we planted last year. I also used rebar to stake up portions of the chicken wire trampled by deer this past winter.
    
  • Mary watered plants and performed the evening chores.
    
  • Around 6 p.m., the wind died, so I started spraying fruit trees, beginning with the McIntosh tree at 7 p.m. Due to specific needs, I had to alter tank mixes throughout the evening/night. Wind picked back up after I ate a couple sandwiches around 9 p.m., but I kept at it, since rain is predicted in a day or so and a 24-hour dry period is required. I finished at midnight. Critters that I noticed included eyes shining back at me from under the cedar trees in the east lawn (I suspect an opossum), a bunny in front of me when I walked to the Bartlett pear trees, a woodcock picking at mulch under the Empire apple tree that flew away when I climbed the ladder, and crashing noise through the brush (sounded like deer) when I climbed the ladder next to the large Bartlett pear.
    
    
• Friday, 4/14: A Quiet Gardening Day
  
  • While walking dogs first thing in the morning, we watched four deer run west from Bluegill Pond.
  • A strong southeast wind blew all day and overnight, taking out most of the pear blossoms.
    
  • Due to spraying trees late last night, I wasn't too active today.
  • Mary planted onions, shallots, and parsnips in the near garden. All of the early spring planting is finished.
  • She also removed the old lace curtain panels off the strawberries. Those plants look great.
  • I weeded the two tubs containing radishes and lettuce. They look great.
  • I walked dogs to Wood Duck Pond and back. I spotted a coyote trotting away from us in Rose Butt Field. It looked chunky and well fed. A deer bolted toward Bass Pond from the same area. On a fence between Rose Butt Field and Bass Pond is a blooming Chickasaw plum tree loaded with native bees.
    
  • On our last walk to Wood Duck, we spotted two Bradford pear trees in the area between Bass and Dove Ponds. I tied bright red surveyor's tape around their trunks, so we know which trees to remove, later. They require an herbicide application immediately after they're cut and a heavy movement of tree sap in spring negates the herbicide, so removing them is best during fall or early winter.
    
  • The bag of Surround arrived via UPS. I heard the rumble of a panel truck and made a quick check online to see that it was delivered, then walked a wheelbarrow down to the end of our lane to pick it up. UPS indicated the package was left at the front door. It was next to the cedar tree at the end of our lane, a quarter mile away from our house, but at least it was on our property. Later in the day, I poured the Surround kaolin clay powder into two cat litter buckets, labeled the buckets, and stored them under the shop bench in the machine shed.
  • Mary fixed a wonderful shrimp dinner that we enjoyed with a bottle of cherry wine (see photo, below).

  

  Shrimp, sauteed in garlic wine, plus cherry wine to drink.

• Saturday, 4/15: Hail & Wind
  
  • Hail hit us again. This time, it was pea and marble size hail from a thunderstorm that arrived from the southwest. It knocked petals and even branch tips off the Sargent crabapple tree. This storm interrupted our evening chores. Very strong nighttime wind gusts took more petals out of fruit trees.
  • I cleaned up and put away winemaking items in the west room while Mary swept throughout the house. I also vacuumed bugs, which we haven't done for several days.
  • Two of my Antonovka rootstock seeds are growing nicely, showing secondary leaves. The first seed that sprouted didn't shed its seed coating and died. I've learned to plant them deeper to help the small plant shed the seed husk upon emerging.
  • We watched the 2012 movie, Lincoln.
    

April 2-8, 2023

Weather | 4/2, 31°, 71° | 4/3, 43°, 74° | 4/4, 0.26" rain, 43°, 85° | 4/5, 0.20" rain, 41°, 49° | 4/6, 29°, 49° | 4/7, 30°, 62° | 4/8, 32°, 66° |

• Sunday, 4/2: Ticks & Yahtzee
  
  • Strong southeast wind gusts kept us from cooking outside.
  • Instead, Mary made a big batch of chicken noodle soup and a pumpkin cake.
  • She also dug thistles out of the yard.
  • After washing clothes, Bill took a hike and startled a great blue heron at Wood Duck Pond, and two wood ducks off Dove Pond. He noticed trees knocked down by spring winds.
    
  • I startled deer out of the west woods while walking the dogs on the south loop trail.
    
  • I removed wire from an old orchard fence and stacked persimmon trees that I cut down a few days ago.
    
  • After working outside, I came in and found 18 seed ticks on my clothes. It's time to spray bug dope and wear long socks on the outside of pant cuffs.
    
  • We played six games of Yahtzee. Mary won and was incredible at rolling the dice and getting yahtzees. One game, she got three of them. Between the three of us, there were 17 yahtzees in six games. On the "Player's Name" line, Bill  put Bingo, Mary called herself Mowgli, and I named myself Tick.
    
  • I enjoyed a half of a bottle of apple cider during the games. It's very mild, with just a hint of apple flavor. The cider is sour. The apple flavor comes out best at room temperature. Bill and Mary enjoyed a hazy pale ale that Bill brought with him. Beer is out of my consumption agenda, due to blood sugar concerns.
  • My blood sugar numbers are getting better, with occasional hiccups. Eat big meals and don't get exercise and the number gets too high. Lighter meals and work outside and they're better.
    
    
• Monday, 4/3: Bill Leaves & I Get Good Health News
  
  • I went to the Lewistown Clinic and gave them the list of two weeks of blood glucose readings that I recorded, paid the bill with them, and received a blood pressure check. It was 150/78...high, but better than it was on my first visit. The nurse told me the systolic, or high number, needs to be 140 or lower. She also told me my blood glucose numbers need to be under 100, and several of them are under that figure.
    
  • For our midday meal, we had smoked scrambled eggs with piccalilli, sweet potatoes, muskmelon, and pumpkin cake. Everything, including the pumpkin in the cake, was homegrown.
    
  • I received a call from the Lewistown clinic that my doctor said my blood glucose readings are great and to continue with the medications at the doses I'm currently using. I see him in three months.
  • Bill left for his apartment in St. Charles around 2 p.m.
    
  • I was concerned all day on whether the apple trees and blueberry plant would arrive, since we always seem to have problems with FedEx Ground home delivery. All ended well when a FedEx van arrived around 3:45 p.m.
  • The U.S. Weather Service is predicting a potential for severe thunderstorms and chances of tornadoes tomorrow, so we are holding off planting trees until Wednesday (4/5).
    
  • I removed the rest of the electric fence wire around the old orchard west of the chicken run. It involved three strands of wire that became buried under tall grass.
  • I signed up to attend a free pond management workshop presented by the Missouri Department of Conservation in Hannibal on Thursday (4/6) at 6-8 p.m.
    
    
• Tuesday, 4/4: Heat to Hail
  • Summer heat brewed up significant thunderstorms big enough to drop hail on us (see videos and photo, below). As Mary said, "We've lived here since 2009 and that was our first hail." Storms moving through us crossed the Mississippi River and developed into tornadoes in Illinois. HERE is a link to WGEM with weather spotter tornado photos.
    
  • I planted radish and lettuce seeds in two of the winter greens tubs of soil. The greens were a flop this past winter, due to subzero temperatures in December that instantly killed everything. While I lightly turned over the soil with a hand scratcher tool, a tiny frog jumped out.
    
  • I started removing autumn leaves from the strawberry plants stored in the machine shed. Plants are throwing out green leaves. I was cut short, when Mary arrived announcing that we needed to get evening chores done early due to storms approaching as shown on the radar.
    
  • We saw a ton of juncos in the cedars after the hail storm. We think they are moving through on their way north and dropped here, with the storm. High wind gusts prevailed after the two thunderstorms blew through. 
  • Bouncing hail, looking out east door.
    
  Hail falling, while looking to the northeast (no cars were harmed in the filming of this hailstorm).
  
  

  

  One of the larger pieces of hail.
  

  
  

• Wednesday, 4/5: Pre-Morning Storm
  
  • I woke at 3:30 a.m. with a crack of thunder, lightning flashing, and the roar of wind and rain. Gandolf, our largest cat, was on our bed, and Plato, who usually sleeps on a chair in the living room, was parked in the hallway just outside our bedroom. After running downstairs and unplugging appliances, I heard hail hitting the roof above the north entrance/freezer and laundry rooms. I looked online. The worst of a long line of storms, running from Texas into Canada, was beyond us, but ballooning up as it went east. This was the same storm that turned into a destructive tornado south of St. Louis. I was up for awhile, until things quieted down, and finally got to back to bed at 4:30 a.m. Mary slept through it all.
  • I went to Quincy and picked up glucose reader strips and a medication. I returned a wheelbarrow tire that was too small and bought a new pair of Stihl chainsaw pants. They're expensive, at $115, but are much less expensive than medical bills if a rotating chainsaw chain bites into your leg.
  • Mary made four loaves of bread. We enjoyed yummy slices of fresh bread with soup.
  • We watched the 1996 movie, Star Trek: First Contact, because today's date in 2063 is when earthlings make first contact with other beings in this movie.
    
    
• Thursday, 4/6: Pond Management Workshop
  
  • We were going to plant trees today, but got too late starting, so we put it off for another day.
  • Attempts to try to figure out effective fruit tree insecticides that aren't harmful to bees is proving frustrating. Every time I think I've got a good one, it turns out to be highly toxic to bees. Why use something that kills off your pollinators? It makes no sense to me.
  • While walking dogs on the north loop, we took a side route into the north woods and saw the start of spring beauties blooming.
    
  • I removed more leaves from strawberry containers. So far, 27 buckets and 3 tubs are uncovered. All have new growth, so this method of hibernating the strawberries really works.
    
  • I drove to Hannibal and attended a Missouri Department of Conservation pond management workshop. It was very informative and I took lots of notes. Things we need to do with our Bass Pond...1) catch a lot more bass, because the size of our fish is stunted due to too many fish; 2) keep records of the size of fish we catch; 3) add some plants for cover; 4) sink some oak trees or handmade items for minnows to hide in (pallets work really well); 5) add bluegills after bass numbers are reduced; 6) carefully remove trees from dam area so they don't create leaks. The guy who gave the presentation is a fish biologist who can visit our property to help solve any problem we might have. He specializes in assisting landowners.
  • Gas prices went up 20 cents in Hannibal last night. I went to three places listed on the phone app "Gas Buddy"  before finding a station selling gas at $2.99 a gallon.
  • Driving home in the dark reminded me of when I worked at Petco in Quincy and always drove home at night. I only saw only one deer as I got close to home. As I pulled in, next to the house, three bunnies hopped off to the west.
    
    
• Friday, 4/7: Three Apple Trees Planted
  
  • Mary and I spent all day planting three apple trees. The new trees are GoldRush, a disease-resistant variety from the PRI (Purdue, Rutgers and the University of Illinois) disease resistant apple breeding program, Calville Blanc d'Hiver, a 17th century tree from Normandy, France, with a name that means Calville white winter, and Roxbury Russet, known as the oldest U.S. cultivar dating back to the mid-17th century from Roxbury, MA. All of these are on Antonovka rootstock, which is the best for our clay soils. The blueberry variety is called Herbert.
    
  • I opened the box from Fedco. The trees and the potted blueberry bush were in excellent shape, with some green buds showing. We put the trees in buckets of water.
  • We sliced sod off three-foot wide circles around my pre-marked stakes. Then, we dug down deep enough so the roots would be covered, but not too deep to bury the grafted union. In one case, we had to build the soil back up to get the tree trunk high enough, so the graft was above ground.
  • Mary held the tree in place while I added a rebar stake to support the sapling. Chunks of sod turned upside down were put around the bottom of the hole. Then, two buckets of rotten wood bits went in followed by two buckets of topsoil, a third of a bucket of compost, a healthy scoop of sand, and the soil that we dug to make the hole.
  • I watered each tree with four gallons of water. Mary added plastic tree guards and I tied the tree guards to the stakes. We placed cow panels around each tree and wired them shut into a circle.
  • Mary put the remaining sod into depressions left in the lawn by the heavy lift we used when we replaced roofing shingles.
    
  • We didn't vacuum bugs for three days, straight, an event that hasn't happened all winter and spring.
  • I settled on spinosad as a fruit tree insecticide. It's derived from naturally-occuring bacteria discovered in soil from a defunct rum factory in the Virgin Islands. It can kill bees, but only when it's wet, so it is sprayed between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., when bees aren't active. I used some of it last year, but used it only once, when repeated spraying is necessary. 
  • I ordered some Captan fungicide, which is the best at controlling apple scab, a disease spread from the old McIntosh apple tree.
    
  • While walking dogs on their last walk, Plato sniffed out a tiny bunny at the base of a tree along the lane. He wouldn't touch it, just look at it. The rabbit stayed stock still.
  • Heavy labor significantly drops my blood glucose level. Tonight, it was at 73.
    
    
• Saturday, 4/8: Herbert, the Blueberry, Planted
  
  • Mary drew up a plan for the gardens.
  • We planted Herbert, which is the variety of blueberry we got from Fedco. While Mary removed sod and dug the hole, I gathered a bucket of rotten wood pieces from an old oak tree next to Frog Pond and topsoil from mole mounds near the house. I also uncovered two old tomato cages that Mary's Uncle Herman made years ago and put them over this blueberry bush and one planted last year. This will hopefully keep deer and rabbits from chewing on them until we can get a fence up around all blueberry bushes and the two Bartlett pear trees.
    
  • I watered blueberries, outdoor plants in pots and tubs, and the sod placed yesterday in old tire tracks in the lawn. I also cleaned up buckets and roofing tins left behind from planting trees, yesterday.
  • On a dog walk on the east loop trail, we stirred up a deer. Plato woofed at it when it ran off.
    
  • Our neighbors from across the gravel road visited. They're interested in buying chickens for meat. After telling them ours weren't for sale, we told them how we raise chicken meat. They looked at our existing chickens. Juan said he bought two young chickens and wants to get more. I don't know where he's putting them. There's no outdoor structure across the road for chickens.
  • I removed leaves from the rest of the buckets and tubs containing strawberries. We have 35 buckets and four tubs. Everything has green leaves showing.
    
  • I sprayed four trees that are susceptible to fireblight with streptomycin. The first two-gallon tank load went on the Sargent crabapple tree, Grimes Golden, and the bottom two-thirds of the Esopus Spitzenburg apple tree. After donning my hat light, I put the second tank load on the top of Esopus, and on the two Bartlett pear trees. A southeast wind blew all day, but quit at sundown. While I was spraying, between 7-9 p.m., it was perfectly still. I saw huge owl flying northeast to southwest when I stepped out of the house with my hat light.
  • Anytime Plato walked down the lane, today, he headed straight to the tree where he found a tiny bunny. It was still there this morning, but gone later in the day. He's okay with chasing and woofing at big rabbits, but seems to understand that baby bunnies are something you don't chase. It's as if he's concerned for the little guy.