Bees, Creek, Annoyance, Wires in Pole Garden, Weeding, Horn, Capacitor, Popsicles - Thursday

almost 2 years ago (Edited)

Yesterday morning was a bit overcast to start with but by mid day it had become nice and sunny and mid 70s F.

After letting the birds out for the day I filled the bee syrup jars with the syrup I had made the night before. They were bone dry in the jars so I'm sure they were quite happy to have them refilled.

I had gone back to the house and it wasn't long before I heard the sounds of chainsaws which was coming from up on the hill. The tree trimmers were out to take down a tree that had a lean towards the power lines. The boys and I watched from the house as they dropped the tree in the most screwed up place which makes it super difficult for me to deal with easily. Obviously not the same crew that was out before who did a good clean job. These guys did a major hack job and put me in a rather piss poor mood for a good part of the morning.

I had to dislodge another lump of wood from the creek and after checking to make sure it went down stream I went to the larger tunnel to check the water flow. The output of the tunnel is completely full and thanks to the backup on the corner just down stream it has the whole section far to deep. I have to cut out the trees that are blocking the water but have to wait until the water level drop a lot.

R and I went up the hill to see the mess they left and this is how the tree is. They left it in the air without sectioning it or anything. Complete asshole job. The one guy climbed the tree but they didn't section it, instead they winched it back and just dropped it across the hillside. The least they could have done was drop it down hill. REALLY unimpressed with Assplunge.

Back down below I got even more frustrated trying to deal with the stupid wires in the pole garden. In order to till each year I have to pull the wires and putting the wires back up can be a major pain in the ass. This was one such time and I fought with the 3 rows I got setup.

After nearly an hour I managed to get 3 rows strung and tightened enough. I still have the other two rows but the cucumbers are nowhere near needing the lines yet.

The bulk of my afternoon was spent hunched over pulling weeds in the main garden rows. First I got through the tomato, cucumber, and a bean row where I fund a number of volunteer tomatoes that need to be moved to a row.

The sheep were super happy to have the load of fresh greens tossed into the hay cage.

I went to get the mail and stopped at the wormwood where I noticed the telltale signs of bugs in the tips. These are some of the ones that infest it. Others are black beetles.

My California Bay Laurel had turned a bit bad in the late winter with a bunch of the leaves browning but now with it outside it has exploded in new fresh growth. Every node has nice new leaves popping out and it should be pretty bushy by the time I have to bring it in for the winter.

As a small break from bending over weeding I set about taking apart the little squished metal horn I found in Montana. The mouth piece is still in good shape and after a session on the wire wheel it took most of the rust off. Amazingly the mouthpiece still makes sound. I began working on the other pieces and tried to desolder the flute from the curve but the meeting point had a pretty big tear. It will take some real concerted effort to get it into some semblance of working order. For now I have a working mouthpiece that makes the dog howl.

Another couple hours of weeding got me through about half the main garden. I have half the squash rows then most of the bean rows to deal with still.

UPS delivered and in it was the new start capacitor for the well pump. The swap was fast and easy and you can see the difference between the new and old. My temp fix worked long enough so I am pretty happy.

The boys had been hounding me about making popsicles and mid day I had pulled out a quart bag of frozen strawberries from the freezer to thaw. After 8 pm I got the boys in the kitchen and they tossed the strawberries into the blender and I added a bit of coconut creamer like half and half then some coconut milk and then water. Blended it all up and filled everyone of the Tupperware popsicle makers. I managed to find room in the freezers for them so they are ready for today which is to be 80 F. There is no sugar but the strawberries give it enough sweetness and the boys don't need more sugar.

Finally got out to soak but I had to be out by 9:30 to get the birds put to bed and to hook the trailer up to the truck for the grain run I did this morning.

I have been to town and back with a full load of 10 barrels of grain and got gas on the way home. I am getting gas every time I go to town to keep my tank topped off just in case the supply peters out. I have to now figure out somewhere to empty the barrels out at since the sheep pen is getting a bit murky from all the grain. I have more weeding in the gardens, weedeating by the studio, rocks to move to open the driving path to the studio, and I am going to be grilling tonight so need to have a fire going in the afternoon.