Tuesday Morning Walkabout June 14 2016

June 13, 2016

Up at 12.30 am; slept in chair another 2 hours.

This is the morning to take the truck into Springfield at 8 AM to get the two small dings fixed (trailer came loose, broken something or other). The small dings came to almost $2,000 half of which will be our to pay.

Traffic was unbelievable at that time with all the going-to-work people but was very light coming home at 9:00 AM. We made a quick stop at Murfins to get the items Max didn't get when he took his Mother on her errands. After breakfast, we both took a short nap.

By then it was way too hot to work outside.

Another small shower yesterday evening.

Tuesday June 14, 2016

I took a Zyrtec (generic) and so got a good night's sleep. The grass is way too wet for the trimmer, so I took advantage of the inside time and by 6 AM had a rack of baby back ribs going in the oven. I opened a window and shut up he kitchen to contain the heat. I am almost ready to turn the oven off.

The only good time to bake in this weather is in the wee hours of the morning when I am up anyway.

I just opened the ribs and spread barbecue sauce over them and left the foil off so they could crisp up.

I am using Sweet Baby Ray's on advice of my Sis. I think I am going to love it!

Morning Walk About

This is another seedling peach tree, maybe a Red Haven. Sadly the heavy load of fruit beyond my reach combined with the rain cause a large limb to break.  Peach trees are notoriously susceptible  to breaking.

If  I can defeat the groundhog, I should still get enough peaches.

and then there is the Japanese beetle that is now munching on the blackberry leaves beneath the peaches...he is waiting until they are a bit riper......

I still have Seckel pears.....

I forgot to take a picture of the blackberries.  They are just getting a red cast....should be ripe around  the 4th of July this year.

I see something tried to dig under the garden gate........

and the last of the lilies on the last of the Harlow Carr clematis,

June 12, 2013, Wednesday

We trimmed a couple of trees and Max loaded the trailer with limbs. He also cleaned all the debris and old dog house out of Sugar's pen.

I mulched the tomatoes.

We had a very unsatisfactory frozen Microwave Healthy Choice lunch! No more of that for us.

In the afternoon, I made bagels. When they were in the oven for a while, I checked and noticed the oven was just warm.......they were not cooking. I tried the counter top oven but it was too late. The are now soaking in water for the chickens.

I scheduled a service call...can't come until Monday. We can limp along but it is bread making time so we will have to revert to 'store bought'.

Got a new Kindle Paperwhite today; Max wants my old one....he gets a used Kindle for Father's

Day....poor thing.

After charging it fully I managed to get it working.....I am still getting used to the 'touch' thing but have ordered some books from the library and Amazon and all went well. There is a bit of a learning curve with it.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Up at 3:45AM.

It is cooler this morning.

Went out early and finished mulching the rest of the tomato row and hoed out the west onion rows.

Tilled the middle where the hills of squash are and will be ready to mulch it all once I water it well.

I should take pictures; it is the first and probably last time my garden will be this tidy!

Forgot to mention that I tested the oven this morning and, voila!, it seems to be working. I even made hamburger buns and Max's two loaves of white bread this afternoon and it went very well.

The service people called to reschedule me for tomorrow and I told her my story of the oven.....I have canceled the service call and will still keep my fingers crossed and be nervous for some time.

The stove is only 3 years old but I have terrible luck with appliances..........I do have the small counter top oven that we could get by with for a few days.

By 2 PM, bread is done and so am I!

June 14-15

For those who want to know:  My only secret to  bread making is:  King Arthur Flour and SAF yeast!

I watered the garden even though they predicted rain (it came but has just been ¼ inch so far). I vowed to take a picture of the garden while it was almost weed free; so I did.

 

This is taken from the west end looking east (the other was the reverse).

This little white tags are hills of squash.  If the borers don't get them, I will be overrun for the first time in a few years.  I do have a hill of Butternut for keeping over winter for pies.

This is the east end where I have replanted corn amid  the spotty patch.  

 

I hope now to cover all with straw mulch.  We are still getting a light shower.  Some places in the area are flooded but not us.

Yesterday morning I finished planting some rudbeckia and vinca so all flats are now empty.  I know it is getting late but I intend to sow some  more annual seeds and hope  for late bloom.

The poppies have been outstanding this year and the seed pods are huge on some.  I got a full tablespoon of seeds from one pod yesterday.

I noticed that the bees are enjoying them too.  There were 4 in this one bloom,

 

From poppies 2013

Lilies are now blooming:

 

This clump is the only trumpets I have left.  

Happy Father's Day!  Hope you all have a wonderful day. 

The Sale Barn Again - a Rainy Day-Clematis and Lilies

Day before yesterday we got another 1/2 inch of rain.....on my recently tilled and dry garden.  A wonderful gift.

That meant yesterday was too wet to work outside in the garden so I made bagels....it doesn't take much to get me  cooking.  I am having two small ones with cream cheese with my coffee  right now.

From Blog May 2012

I was right at the stage of putting the dough in the bucket to raise when DH popped in the back door slightly wet from the showers and asked if I was  ready to go....Go where?  He had loaded a cow we wanted to sell and was sitting in the drive to go to the sale barn.  He always wants me to go with him. At first I thought I couldn't and then decided we could get  there and back in about an hour....the rise time.

Well, we almost made it.  The dough was just pushing the lid off the bucket  when we got back. It didn't hurt a thing.

Part of farm life is getting rid of animals that don't pay their way.....this heifer calved last year and we had to have the vet  with her.  He suggested then that she was probably damaged by the difficult delivery and we should move her on.....we did.  Mondays are Cow and Bull sale  day so off we went.  Next project will be rounding up more calves.

This is the first day of our 'cool down' and the high is supposed to be 70°.  A perfect day to work outside.
DH has promised to put up cattle panels in the new garden/orchard area and I will put the tomatoes back there.

I have all of the backyard garden tilled and will put peppers there.  I will also put pole beans and sweet corn  out....not all on one day!  but hopefully, this week.

I need to harvest the self-seeded cilantro and freeze for later salsa.  I also found several self-seeded basil plants and tomato plants.  That saves me some work.

Colorado Potato  Beetles showed up overnight on the potatoes.....I resorted to Sevin dust.  I suppose it is all washed off....I need to keep a close eye on that.  They can strip the plants quickly.  I wish I felt safe going completely au naturel, but certain pests are more than I know how to handle.

I am still fighting fireblight....cutting more limbs off the two trees most affected.   Now I see some of the papaver somniferums(poppies, annual) are curling over and turning black....looks exactly the same as the trees.  I am leaning heavily toward the idea of cutting down the pear tree that is so bad.

Flowers

The first of the lilies are blooming.  This one was recently rescued from being surrounded by weeds in the driveway bed.  It is Dani Arifin.



I see I missed a little cheet (on the right with the seed heads).

and the clematis, Harlow Carr,



This is a wonderful, vigorous clem.  The picture was taken on the garden side of the fence.  Most of the flowers on the garden fence bloom the most on the north side of the fence , the garden side, because the sun comes up and hits the fence first.  At first, I fought it and tried to tie various things to the other side, but it was a losing battle...then I thought OK, I can just enjoy the fence when I am gardening and sometimes that is a pretty long time.  I get to see dark pink roses and white and purple clems and soon white lilies while working which is very nice.  I think there are also two pink clems. 


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