Sunday, June 29, 2003
11:25 p.m.
Busy, busy
The past two weeks have been whirlwinds of activity. I alluded in the previous entry to the holiday on the 19th. I moved the old shed on Thursday and spent most of Friday getting ready for a yard sale on Saturday. I moved a couple of trailer loads of 'merchandise' to my in-town location, where I set it all up on Saturday morning and sat around all day in heat & humidity only to sell $30 worth of stuff!
I was 'grousing' about this at work on Monday which caused folks to ask what I had for sale. The result, by Tuesday I had made an additional $75 in sales!
I mowed on Wednesday, picked vegetables on Thursday and was then out of town until this afternoon. I picked more vegetables this evening, the tomatoes are coming on strong - I'll be making the first batch of salsa of the season this coming weekend.
Sunday, June 22, 2003
11:19 p.m.
Out Buildings
So, I started last weekend knowing that the land had been sold to my neighbor but not knowing where I stood with the new land owner. What I did know was with the trailer gone my old shed which had been neatly tucked in behind the trailer was now standing right out front. Before I could take it down, I knew I had to make arrangements for the things I had stored there.
I started this weekend building new 'sheds' out of my old satellite dish. The dish was fiberglass and in two halves split across the diameter. I put three posts in the ground, forming a triangle. I nailed two by fours across the short legs of the triangle, raised a half dish onto this frame and nailed it in place. I did the same with the second dish half but with this one, I put some 'tin' roofing panels across the long side.
That was pretty much a day's work so I decided I would take down the old shed on the following day, (Sunday). I barely got started, though when I had to quit. There had been storms overnight (yeilding a quarter of an inch of rain) and I needed to stake some of the tomato cages that had blown over. While hammering the stakes, I put a pretty deep gash in my little finger and had to come back into town to properly clean and bandage it.
I didn't get the old shed taken down till the holiday on the 19th
but I did manage to eat plenty of good, 'healing' food this week - I had a couple of salads and the first 'mess' o' green beans from the garden!
Monday, June 16, 2003
12:29 p.m.
A roller coaster week
It's been an up and down week:
Had my first meal out of the garden - stir fried summer squash and boiled new potatoes, yum!
We had a good "Tuesday Night Music Club" session in The Outback and an even better time over a bottle of beer afterwards.
The landowners finally moved my old mobile home. I had recently installed a new 'service box' to give myself access to water and hopeing to keep the line from being run over when the trailer was moved. When I went by there at lunch time on moving day, I found the box smashed, the line broken and the box full of water. I thought I wasn't going to be able to water the garden till I was able to fix it myself but they fixed it before the day was over. We got a glorious 3 & 1/2 inches of rain later in the week so watering was no longer a concern.
I found out why they moved the trailer - the land was sold. This was scarey for a minute till I learned that my neighbors (good folks) had bought it. Walter told me he will let me finish out the garden season there for no charge AND he asked if they found something to put on the place, would I be interested in renting from them? You betcha! I offered to give him some Salsa but he refused. The following day he told me his wife had scolded him for the refusal so the next time I saw them, I gave them two pints.
Monday, June 9, 2003
01:05 a.m.
Fire but no smoke...
We've all heard, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." I learned this weekend that you can have fire even without smoke.
Saturday's morning chore was digging 'taters'. Even though I'd been delayed and this had stretched into mid-afternoon, it was a fairly cool day, so I decided to empty the fire barrel too, before quitting. I had not burned in it since getting rid of tons of old school papers for my son Tuesday It had quit smoking by Wednesday evening. I tipped over the barrel and shoveled the ashes into the wheelbarrow. I could feel some warmth coming from the ashes but there was no smoke. I took the ashes to one of my brush piles out in the woods and dumped the wheelbarrow. A cloud of light ash swirled up, looking like smoke but quickly dissapated in the breeze. The bottom of the wheelbarrow was warm (not hot) and I didn't give it another thought, until I returned that evening to mow.
Soon after pulling into the driveway, I noticed something white out in the woods. I thought it was just the sun shining on the sheetrock pieces I'd dumped on the brush pile. Then I saw orange and immediatly knew I had a fire on my hands. I grabbed a shovel and headed out to the pile - It was gone! This huge pile, 12 ft across and 6-8 feet high had completely burned leaving just a few smoking logs and a burned out ring about 40 feet across. There were several small fires burning around the outside of this ring.
I started the brush pile while cleaning up from logging several years ago and since then the area around it had grown up quite a bit. I'd kept the side where I accessed it cleared but the rest was surrounded by a real briar patch. I had to fight through these briars to get to some of the small fires which were still expanding the burned area
outward. I got pretty scratched up but got all the blazes out.
After completing my mowing, I went back and had to extinguish more flare ups. It was a little easier to see the glowing 'hot spots' as the sun was setting - it was nearly 9pm.
It's been dry, we are probably just a week or two away from a burning ban if we don't get significant rainfall soon, so I went back out at midnight to make sure there were no more flare ups. There was one, so I was back in the briarer patch one last time.
I went out Sunday morning and was pleased to see there had been no further flareups. The remnants of the pile had cooled enough for me to get out into the burned area. I raked all the ash and smoldering bits into a pile at the center in hopes that this would provide a sufficient buffer against further spreading. By dusk Sunday night, the brush pile had pretty much burned itself out.
My fortune cookie Saturday night said, "You have a lot to be thankful for". Under the present conditions, I'm very thankful I was not responsible (and financially liable) for a wild fire!
The potato harvest was lackluster as it has been for 3 or 4 years straight. I plant 2-3 lbs. of seed potatoes and harvest 5-6 lbs. of potatoes. If I hadn't spent so much time tending fire, I'd have gotten to try some this weekend - I'm sure they are good, they most often are! I'm also picking bell & jalepeno peppers along with squash. Tomatoes are coming along nicely, too!
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
04:23 p.m.
Moving forward
Ahhh, a three day weekend, time enough to leisurely finish a few chores. On Saturday, I finished the mulching with hardwood bark mulch on the watermelon & cantelope hills and hay between them and the beans & peas. It's still quite dry (No rain this past week & just a quarter of an inch the week before) so I watered the potato/onion patch last Wednesday and after finishing the mulching I watered that area too. I also made some adjustments to how the satellite cables are hung and filled in around the new water service box. Monday, we finally got a decent rain (three quarters of an inch) and I moved my work indoors.
All the moving necessitated some rearrangeing of "The Outback". I hung a clothes rod (salvaged from the old trailer), put up new shelves and moved others to accomodate new/different things which are now stored there. I also wanted to clear enough area for our Tueasday night jam sessions to resume and allow Kris to have room to sort through his stuff. All this was accomplished and we are now ready to move forward.
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
01:56 p.m.
Return to routine
Late spring/early summer routines are taking shape and I'm glad to have most of the recent 'extra work' behind me. Dry weather has kept the need for mowing to a minimum but weeds continue to flourish. I thought my onions were not doing well until I got rid of all the weeds covering them. This activity also gave me the opportunity to scrape soil from around each onion bulb. I have been told this is the way to get larger bulbs and from what has become of the onions I did this to earlier, I think it may prove true! In addition to weeding the onions & potatoes this weekend, I also mowed, pulled up the old gas line, got the last few items out of the house and 'chunked' the old medicine cabinet and range hood back in.
Monday, May 12, 2003
10:19 a.m.
Mulching and watering...
If our choice was severe weather as the midwest has been getting this week or virtually no rain as we have had, I'll take what we are getting. Lack of rain put some urgency into my mulching efforts this past weekend. I bought the last 5 bags of mulch Kroger had on Saturday morning and spread them under peppers, cucumbers, squash and some of the purple hull peas. I also used hay to cover the space between the rows of peppers and tomatoes and set the drip hoses under them.
As the cool front that finally ended the week's intense storms moved through Sunday morning we missed a good chance for rain - we got just a trace. Sunday afternoon I got another 5 bags of mulch from Wal-Mart and finished mulching the peas and beans. I still have cantelopes and watermelon to mulch but they are not yet big enough to 'rise above' a useful bed of mulch.
Not counting on today's front to provide needed rain I restored operation of my outdoor faucet Saturday evening, hooked a hose and sprinkler to it Sunday afternoon and began watering. Now that I have restored access to water I can water my potted plants and once again begin to provide water for the cats.
Monday, May 5, 2003
10:13 a.m.
Out, damn weeds!
Despite a notable lack of rain, weeds are vigorously propagating across both my 'patches' - that is what weeds do best! It may not be what I do best, but I whacked away at them this weekend. I hoed and raked them out of the 'gourd patch' and tilled them under between the rows of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and onions. As dry as it's getting, more mulching is now the priority.
Monday, April 28, 2003
10:23 a.m.
Cleanup continues...
Beans and peas have begun to sprout in the garden along with many plants on the 'gourd hills'. That's what I like about planting with the moon and using good seed - these plants broke ground within a week of their planting!
We had a beautiful weekend here and I took advantage of it to do some further cleaning up from the April 6th storm. I started the day Saturday burning the remaining sticks & pine needles along with the burnable debris from the house. Then I proceeded to mowing. Just about the whole place was past needing it! It was slow going at first as I was using the last of last season's gas - things picked up after I added fresh gas, some STP and cleaned the spark plug. I got the whole place mowed in about 4 hours. Sunday I finished the job of removing all my stuff from the outside of the house, moved the potted plants outside, re-built an old table and moved a desk from "The Outback" to the new house.
Monday, April 21, 2003
8:30 p.m.
Back to the garden (reprise)
I planned to do my gardening on Sunday but as it rained off and on all day and today was a holiday I had forgotten about, I just stayed home and worked in the new house. There is still a lot to be done but I made a lot of progress. One accomplishment was to get a Humming Bird feeder hung and a platform to hold bird seed put up. This morning, with the rain softened soil, I was able to weed the potatoes, onions, peppers and tomatoes in a couple of hours. This evening I mulched the tomatoes (and a few of the larger peppers) and got the cages put around all the tomato plants. Gardening is now officially back on track and appearently none the worse for a few weeks of neglect.
Saturday, April 19, 2003
10:21 p.m.
It mows!
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise have been pretty busy with the aftermath of the 4/6 storm. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
This morning I worked on straightening the deck and wheels of the mower that had been bent by the weight of the trailer. To my amazement they pretty much straightened right out and then the mower started right up - cool. After mowing I went on garbage detail, seeing what we had thrown out the night of the storm that might actually be salvagable and sorting the rest into burnable, recycleable and garbage for the dump.In the afternoon I began the process of removing all my attachments to the outside of the old mobile home. I determined that the satellite cables will reach to "The Outback" so I should be able to set up a recording station out there for the things I don't/can't get in town.
Friday, April 18, 2003
9:07 p.m.
An unanticipated half day off!
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise have been pretty busy with the aftermath of the 4/6 storm. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
The Governor gave all state employees a half day off today for Good Friday! I came to terms with the Landlady this week to allow me to rent both places. Both are for sale so I could still be forced out prematurely but my hope is to get to keep "The Farm" until I can get the garden in this year and get some salsa made.
Among my obligations at "The Farm" will be to keep the place mowed which might have been a problem since my mower was trapped under the west end of the trailer. The trailer is equipped with a screw jack so I wondered if it might not be fairly easy to jack up. The attached jack was not going to be any good as it had sat out in the weather and not moved in 25 years but I decided to give my car jack a try this afternoon. She lifted right up and with a little digging I got the lawnmover out. I tried the pull start just to see if the engine would spin - it did but the pull rope failed to return. A little inspection revealed that the housing was mashed down and a little prying with a screwdriver remedied that, a fair day's accomplishment, I thought.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
11:21 p.m.
...back to the garden
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise have been pretty busy with the aftermath of the 4/6 storm. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
Today was another (and my final) full day off work for personal projects. I had marked the 15th & 16th as planting days as I made my garden plan with this years almanac. I started this day by washing some more dishes then, as I felt the need for some seed, I went to the seed store. I picked up cucumber, cantelope, watermelon, squash, pole beans and purple hull peas then headed out to "The Farm" to plant them.
In the afternoon I put the old refrigerator back in the mobile home and bagged up loads for recycling and donating to Goodwill. Getting that refrigerator (and eventually a desk) out of "The Outback" will free up a lot of space.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
11:20 p.m.
Back for a full (and final) day of moving
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
This morning, I went out and picked up another load of the boxes we packed on Saturday. In the afternoon I took down all the shelves, (I had nearly every available bit of wall space in this small house occupied with shelving) which was no small task and loaded all those along with the remaining boxes to virtually complete the move OUT. I suspect moving IN will go on for quite a while, still, I got a good sense of accomplishment and relief from having completed this task in just about a week!
Monday, April 14, 2003
11:18 p.m.
Work & play (little moving)
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
I didn't get much moving done today either, but then I had not expected to. This is the date of our monthly 'gig' at work. Several of us are in a volunteer band which performs at the school. I expected to work all day then play music from 6:30 to 8pm.
After yesterday, though I decided not to go in till after lunch. I woke early (5am) after sleeping most of the day yesterday and immediatly went to work on setting up my PC. All went well except for some brief confusion over mouse/keyboard ports and I then proceeded to filing my income tax return and filling out a change of address form from the post office. The cable guy showed up before I had to go to work so I was able to get a "Screen Savers" fix upon returning from our 'gig'. I was pretty sluggish by the end of the regular work day and was surprised that playing took a lot more effort and concentration than usual.
Sunday, April 13, 2003
11:17 p.m.
A day of rest (forced)
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
It started out with diarrhea at about 4am. After several bouts throughout the morning, vomiting was added. By the afternoon I was pretty much purged and had begun to be able to hold some things down again. There was really nothing in the pantry that appealed to me so Peg went to the store and got me some chicken broth and saltines, I tolerated both well and soon was up out of bed but still feeling pretty weak.
The day ended up as a total wash out workwise but if you consider the fact that the last 7 days had mostly been 16 - 18 hour, intensive work days, there is no doubt I needed at least a full day of rest!
Saturday, April 12, 2003
11:15 p.m.
Another full day, this time I had help all day
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
This morning I got the Amiga 1200 (my e-mail machine) set up so I am beginning to get reconnected. I started to wash a load of dishes when Peg pointed out that she could do that. I let here take over and went to the extra bedroom and did some 'heavy lifting', rearranging so we could fit some more stuff in there.
After lunch, we went out to the trailer and tackled boxing. We got all the books and loose little things in both the living room and computer room boxed up. By the end of the day we had about a dozen boxes lined up in the living room! I loaded up some of the boxes and moved them into the space I had cleared in the morning. We treated ourselves to a oriental meal from Szechuan's.
Friday, April 11, 2003
11:14 p.m.
Another half day's moving
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
I had to record a grievance hearing this morning so it was another half day at work and an afternoon & evenings moving (work, too). The phone company told me they would have the service transferred today but I was a bit surprised to find I had a dial tone before 7am! After the grievance hearing I came all the way back into town for lunch again and stopped by the cable company to order service, they said they would have it connected Monday.
Pegie had called to say she was coming over to help on the weekend so I spent some time this afternoon getting things ready for her to help me box. I then did some boxing and loaded the kitchen cart and video cabinet onto the trailer. Peg pulled up at the new place just as I was unloading the trailer I talked her into joining me for a late mexican supper
Thursday, April 10, 2003
11:13 p.m.
Half a day's moving
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
I had to go into work to edit some photos for our in-house newsletter. Today was the deadline and I knew I could get them done in just a few hours and devote the rest of the day to moving. I came all the way home for lunch so I decided to call about getting the phone service transferred, investigate cable TV options and check with the city about garbage collection. Somewhere on these rounds I managed to loose my spare keys to "The Outback" and my only key to the new place. I retraced my steps but they were not to be found. I had to have my neighbor (grandson of the former Landlady) get me the master and have some copies made. Finally got all the running around done and made it out to the mobile home about 4pm. I unhooked the computers, loaded them in the car, loaded the couch, my computer chair and my Altec Lansing speakers on the trailer. I also tried to strap my little TV to the couch but that didn't last long. Fortunately my friend Holly stopped by just as I was finishing the loading. She followed me into town and when I saw the TV was working loose, we were able to put it in her car. She also carried my dolly and one of the couch cushions and she helped guide me to the back porch where I could unload the trailer most easily. By the time I got all of this stuff unloaded, it was quite a long half day's moving!
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
11:11 p.m.
Another full day cleaning-up and moving
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
Today's order from chaos assignment was to clean up everything that had spilled from the shelves in the computer room. For some reason I couldn't begin to pack it up till I restored some semblance of its original order. Troy was off today too so we went to lunch at Yakofritz's, bought some boxes and then moved the refrigerator. Unlike yesterday, I went easy on him, I had the refrigerator pulled out and the dolly attached so all I had to do was ramp it down through the front door and on to the trailer. We loaded the recliner, too. At the new place I ramped the fridge on to the back poarch then into the kitchen. About all there was for Troy to do was watch the top and corners for me. I went back to the old place later and moved my chest of drawers.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
11:50 p.m.
more clean-up; more moving
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
I couldn't make my usual fresh ground coffee this morning but Brookshire Brothers provided a fair substitute. I moved my kitchen stuff this morning so I could make my own coffee from now on. All the kitchen stuff will have to be washed before it can be used. It's all covered with one or more of the following: dry wall material, particle board pieces, tree bark and tree sap.
I also cleared the other pile in "The Outback" this morning in my role as "Master of Order from Chaos". This afternoon, Troy helped with the entertainment center and all of it's associated electronics. My intention had been to have it ready to load on the trailer when he got there but packing up all the CDs and videos had taken longer than I expected. I thought if we moved it at about 4pm we could get back for the refrigerator today, too. It was after 6pm when we moved the entertainment center so we decided to postpone the refrigerator till tomorrow. Between his truck and my car, though we moved all the CDs, videos, electronics and a number of magazines from the livingroom, too.
With the entertainment center out of the way, the front door was clear to use to remove the rest of the stuff in the house - it was a relief to get over this big hurdle. Troy and I enjoyed a couple of "Orange Crush's" on the front stoop of the new house after our hard work. I washed a load of dishes before retiring - slept a few hours - tossed and turned the rest of the night.
Monday, April 7, 2003
11:35 p.m.
Clean-up continues; the move begins
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
Troy and Wanda put me up at their place last night - I didn't sleep much - way too much on my mind! I stopped by the Landlady's other offering this morning, it looks like an OK place - it'll do in a pinch and I'm definately in a pinch. I had to go to work today to check my schedule and see when I could be away and when I had to be back so I could figure out a moving schedule. As I left the old place at about 8:30am one of Ray's workers was pulling up with a truck and trailer - when I got back at 10am there was nothing left of the offending tree but a few bunches of pine needles!
Where to begin? I'm dubbing myself the "Master of Order from Chaos", starting the day going through one of the two piles we created in "The Outback" last evening. Put some things in the trash, hung wet cloths out to dry and made ordered piles of the rest. Packed up and moved bed & bath stuff so I could start living in the new place. Emptied the refigerator, too. We are faced with the possibility of frost tomorrow morning so I took a break from moving and covered the tomatoes and most of the peppers.
After I lost daylight I took the clothes I'd been drying to the washateria along with my regular wash which I had planned to do tonight anyway. I'm spending my first night in the new place. It's bright, there is a security light outside the bedroom and the blinds are not the 'darkening' kind
Sunday, April 6, 2003
11:58 p.m.
Love the rain - hate the storms!
I was disconnected for a bit and otherwise pretty busy with details and activities surrounding this incident. I'm adding these entries "after the fact"
For over 23 years I've lived in dread of severe storm winds ruining my mobile home. I always envisioned it rolling over in response to strong straight line winds from the west. I used to fear tornadoes which usually approach from the southwest but after seeing the effect of a nearby twister several years ago, I realized the forest behind me in that direction served as a buffer against the smaller tornadoes we generally have around here. Then they cut the forest.
So, when the top of a pine tree was blown onto the house this afternoon (by a west wind), I was quite surprised...
The house (which I rent, fortunately) didn't roll over but was knocked off it's supports. I was not at home when this happened (also fortunately!). The house moved as much as a foot and a half over and dropped about eight inches! Several limbs penetrated the roof, two of them extended to the back wall. It is a total loss. My Landlady has another place (in town - ugh!) to which she has given me the key. I'll check it out in the morning and most likely begin the process of moving.
Good friends, Troy, Wanda & Jimmi came to my aid picking up much that was scattered on the wet floors. Troy cut limbs and spread a tarp to help keep more rain from pouring in.(he's in the picture, above) I called the Landlady and her husband got a couple of his hands to work on getting the tree off. They got it completely off and tarps spread before the sun went down!
Monday, March 31, 2003
11:44 p.m.
Frost and Wildflowers - Spring in East Texas
My potato plants peeked their heads above the ground this week so the '03 garden is off to a good beginning! Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush have also begun to show up along the sides of the road. We had a frost on Saturday night so I covered all the new tomatoes and peppers instead of going to The Meat Eater's Ball. Frost threatened again last night so I covered the plants again but I don't think we got a frost this time.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
11:07 a.m.
Great weekend for gardening!
This past weekend I completed phase two of planting the '03 garden. We had just one half of an inch of rain during the previous week. I tilled the big patch again, set out 18 peppers (6 each - Texas A&M jalepenos, generic jalepenos and green bell peppers) and 18 tomato plants (6 each - Celebrity, Homestead & cherry tomatoes). I used my 'post hole' fertilization method again this year, digging a coffee can sized hole at each plant site and filling it with manure before setting the plants on top. I prepared 12 'gourd hills', placing fertilizer beneath each and setting a marigold (for insect control) in the center of each. I'll give the marigolds a month's head start before planting squash, cucumbers, cantelope and watermelon on the hills. Beyond that only pole beans, purple hull peas and sunflowers remain to be planted.
Elsewhere, 'spring greening' progresses rapidly. The red buds have about completed their blooming and the dogwoods are 'coming out' now! My rose bush is producing new foliage (yea) and mowing season looms (boo).
Monday, March 10, 2003
09:46 p.m.
Hunkered in her Bunker
One drawback to the start of a garden season is, you are sure to be out of shape, overdo and hurt yourself. This weekend was no exception, fortunately the damage was not severe - one splinter and one burst blister. My weekend accomplishments were not grand but I managed to get done what needed doing. I raked the leaves from where the winter winds had piled them along the fences, spread them over the large garden patch and tilled them in. I also turned the compost pile.
An amusing result of my work in the small patch two weeks ago was that I inadvertently created a bunker from which the cats can stalk the birds. My manure pile is just off to the side of the area under the bird feeders, where lots of seed is scattered and many a bird risks life to feed! My anal (so-to-speak) way of digging in the manure was to dig from one side of the mound toward the center leaving a sheer 'cliff' on the backside.
One morning last week, I looked out the window to see a kitty crouching behind this cliff, intently eyeing several feeding birds from less that three feet away. Unfortunately the blinds were down, the window was dirty and that angle would not satisfy another of my persnickety requirements so I didn't take a picture. Fortunately for the birds, the cat left her bunker and came a running when I went outside to feed her.
We had just a half of inch of rain last week
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
10:05 p.m.
In like a lamb
Last week was wet. Not as wet as the week before but this weeks rain came with the threat of freezing temps. For several days we flirted with the freezing mark but managed to stay above it. Areas north and west got inches of sleet/snow; we got by with an inch and a half of rain.
Monday, February 24, 2003
12:01 p.m.
2003 garden season begins...
When the rains set in Wednesday afternoon, I had to wonder if I would get my planting done as planned on Saturday. At that time the forcast called for a clear day on Saturday but would there be time enough for the ground to dry? As we completed the 1st 24 hours of rain the forcast changed to two clear days, Saturday & Sunday. That would ordinarily be sufficient to allow me to get into the garden and work, but we had gotten over 5 inches of rain by that time and another full day of rain was forcast. When the rain finally ended Friday evening we had a total of 7 inches. The wet weather was replaced by a sunny, mild Satuday with a brisk, DRY north wind. This weather did its work and a rapid drying commenced. I was optimistic enough to buy onion sets and seed potatoes on Saturday afternoon.
By Sunday morning the wind had swung back around to the south but the sunshine was still strong. As another front approached from the west clouds began to appear in the afternoon. I started my garden work just after 2pm. About an hour later, I got to observe a weather change first hand. The clouds began to grow large and gray, the strong southerly winds suddenly calmed then shifted ninety degrees and began to blow just as vigorously from the west. The clouds began to thin again and I finished my work. Later, I noticed the tops of large cumulo-nimbus clouds in the southeast. Looking at radar images on the weather channel I saw that we were right on the line where the front began to spawn showers as it moved into the warm, moist air the southerly winds had been bringing up from the Gulf of Mexico.
I got two bunches of onions in the ground, one row of sweet, yellows and another of purple (red) ones. I also planted two rows of red potatoes. I weeded around my rose bush and applied a new mound of manure/fertilizer to it.
We had two 'sterling' days this weekend. The skies are overcast again today and there is a slight chance of freezing precipitation this evening. The weather cooperated grandly with my planting schedule this weekend, though and the 2003 garden season has begun.
Monday, February 10, 2003
02:32 p.m.
Typical winter weekend
This past was a more typical winter weekend for these parts. Chilly temps, rain, sleet and snow - no accumulation of the frozen stuff but we got between an inch and a quarter and an inch and a half, total precipitation. No hardware fell from the sky either but this weekend was noteable for Holly Lynn's 50th birthday party/jam at the Dead Dog Saloon in Cushing.
Thursday, February 6, 2003
02:22 p.m.
Digging roots under a 'falling sky'.
One quarter to one third of the north end of my garden is subject to severe drying in the summer. For several years I've been adding organic material to boost its moisture retention. It's helped a bit. Not long ago I decided to remove the tree roots that spread under this area. The first weekend in February promised to be wonderful for working outside - mild and breezy - and I planned several such chores. When the sky fell first thing Saturday morning, my plans changed. I finally tore away from the TV Saturday afternoon to tackle the tree roots. I spent a couple of hours digging a foot to foot and a half deep trench the full length of the north end of the garden. I then chopped out every root that crossed into the garden. None were a lot of trouble once they were exposed, except for a large Sweetgum root. This came to the edge of the trench then dove straight down about a foot before angling under the garden. It took some doing - ax, saw, wedges and sledge hammer - but I eventually put a two inch gap in the 4 to 5 inch diameter root.
I filled in the trench and hauled the root chunks to the brush pile then used the rest of that fine day (weatherwise) to finish the fall garden cleaning in preparation for the upcoming planting season. It wasn't until later that I realized I should have put down a mole barrier while I had the the trench open. I don't know if I was just focused on the roots to the exclusion of other needs or if I was distracted by the NASA press briefing that I was listening to on the radio. I had planned to complete nearly half a dozen chores on that beautiful February weekend. 'Root digging' was one of only two that got done and I didn't even make the most of that effort. The moles that approach the garden from that end are generally hard to trap so I guess I'll re-dig the trench and finish the job. At least there won't be any roots to deal with this time around!
One thing that made this weekend so good for outdoor work was how dry it had been - we got just a half of inch of rain the previous week.
Friday, January 24, 2003
10:34 p.m.
Keepin' out the cold
Late last winter a cold windy night froze my water supply. At the time I attributed the freeze to poor, old insulation over the supply valve and I replaced that. I also resolved to replace the old paper insulation that the landlord put on the supply pipe years ago. I was going to do this after the weather got warmer, then after it got hot I put it off till the weather cooled down again. Guess when I finally did it - just a week ago, the night before our first hard freeze of the year was forecast - at least I got to it before the fact. Between the two new insulations, things are going well, so far. We had hard freezes last weekend and last night, still the water flows. Of course we have not had a night with temps in the 20s and strong north winds, so there could still be surprises in store.
Monday, January 6, 2003
10:16 p.m.
Voracious winter feeding
It's aught three and I've turned a page! Got my almanac this past weekend and have marked my calendar with the best dates for planting onions & potatoes - Feb. 17-28.
The voracious winter bird feeding has begun. For about the past three weeks my 'wintering over' birds have been emptying the feeders every 2-3 days. Tonight, I measured how much that is - it's about 20 cups, 7-10 cups a day! They go at it dawn to dusk, keeping the woods around the house full of birds. Mostly Sparrows, Juncos, Thrashers, Jays, Cardinals and Finches. During the winter of 2000-2001 I noticed a pair of Doves, I didn't see them at all last year but now there are at least 3 pairs showing up nearly every day!
Rainfall last week was an inch and three quarters.
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