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Kevin's Thoughts!

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7/17/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 18, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

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Last day…  posting this from our city house around 12:30am…

Cleaned out the sprayer in hopes of trying out the Pasture Gard on the oak sprouts.

Took the brush-hog, tractor, and 3-point hay spear to the welders in the morning.  Evia followed with the kids in the Kubota RTV.  It did fine for awhile, but overheated on the way back.  We paused about a mile from the house for abit, let it cool down, then proceeded.  When we made it back I sent an e-mail to the place we bought it from asking what their recommendation would be.

Dealt a bit with potential renters for our one open house and then talked with my boss for about an hour getting a proposal started.  (Yeah, vacation time is almost over.  Work is intruding… tis ok… its good to have work!)

We had a brief rain shower – lasted about 2 minutes, but at least the dots connected.  Started hand watering the trees.  Things are really dry.  How dry?  Every tree I watered with the hose running full created a puddle between 6 and 8 inches in diameter.  The water soaked in before the puddle could get any bigger… and that was after at least 2 minutes of watering per tree (call it 12-15 gallons of water).  I hit all the ones we had planted this year and anything with fruit on it.  Then worked my way down to the oak and paw-paw trees down by the bees.  When down, it was 4:30pm and Evia was still hard at it watering the berries. 

Decided the afternoon was still young and mixed up that Pasture Gard.  Frank and I headed out on the cooled down Kubota, after making sure the radiator and overflow were full, to see how far 25 gallons of this mix would go (kind of measured by field size, kind of measured by how long it would take the Kubota to overheat).  Found a lot more oak sprouts than I expected – basically got all of them in an 8 acre field (well, not likely, but got all that I spotted!) and a couple of patches in the field we had mown a few weeks before.  Actually, that should make for a decent test since the first field had sprouts up to a couple years old, the other field sprouts were new growth from just a few weeks ago.  Hopefully it will work on both but we shall see. 

The Kubota warmed up to its normal 75% on the heat gauge (about a 1/4″ below the red zone) in about 15 minutes.  After that it slowly got hotter, until right around 1 hour it touched the red zone.  We had run out of spray and were heading home.  Within 5 minutes, when I pulled it into the storage shed, it was boiling over again.  I sent an update e-mail to the dealer.  I figure either the thermostat needs replacing or the radiator needs a flush, but will see what they have to say.  I suppose the radiator could need a more forceful cleaning too – which I’ll try next time I’m up there.

We ended up leaving a bit after 7pm and made it home around 10:30pm.  Paid the bills, checked e-mail, worked on a rental house application, and am now making this post.

Oh, remember the blog post with the photo of the blue eggs?  Guess what hatched!  That is today’s photo!


7/16/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 16, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

Tired tired.  Ready to get back to regular work and rest up a bit… LOL.

Our geo-thermal heating/cooling system started acting up yesterday.  The system was holding the house about 3-4 degrees above the set point but the air felt really damp.  I reset all the breakers to the unit and it cooled down ONCE, then fell back to being a damp 3-4 degrees higher than set.

Call the HVAC guy out this morning.  He came, spent an hour, and was pretty stumped.  He saw that the system had turned itself off, reset it, and tested everything testable.  The drain stand that collects condensation was dry, the system was dropping the temperature 20 degrees, water pressures checked out, nothing showing on the diagnostic panel other than the system had self-limited itself.  About an hour into watching everything run fine, it shut itself down again!  This time, the first thing he checked ended up being the problem.  The drain stand was full and the limiter switch had clicked on, even though it was empty when he came in…  The actual problem was simple:  the drain had clogged with slime.  We shoved a wire down it, and freed things up, then used my wet-dry vac to suck the rest of the sludge out of the hose.  Apparently this basement house is cool enough that it only gets 3-4 degrees above our set point, but with all the humidity the outside air has when cooled by the surrounding earth.  What was happening was simply:  The drain would fill, the system would mostly shut down, and just run the fan.  Over a day or so, all the water would evaporate.  That is why it worked when I cycled all the breakers… once, and why it was dry after a night of the fan running.  About an hour service call.  Total bill?  $75.  Got to love the country.  Actually ends up the guy is not only a friend of my neighbor, but through my neighbor, had borrowed my trailer to give his little girl a donkey for Christmas!  Its a very small world out here.  How small?  The closest town, about 8 miles away, has a population of about 500 – when all the kids come home to visit.  Kirksville is the local “big” town, with about 24.000 people, and is about 15 miles away.  Columbia is the closest “city”, about 90 miles south of us.  Friends are good out here, but try not to make any enemies…

I mixed up another batch of 2-4-D, 2oz/gallon, and spent the afternoon spraying.  Evia finished weed whacking the fruit trees and worked around the berries.  Wish we had some rain, but that doesn’t appear to be going to happen anytime soon.  While I was out in the field, Evia called and mentioned she thought she saw Chuck following me.  Chuck was moved into the southern field last night, he shouldn’t have been in the field I was in.  Still, I turned around, and there on a hilltop he stood.  I suspect he jumped a fence to be with the ladies, didn’t find them where he left them (since I moved them last night too), and panicked.  He was VERY obviously happy to see me, since he came running down once I acknowledged him.  He then RACED ME back to where he felt he should be (about a 1/3rd of the way across the farm).  I always find it funny to see a cow galloping.  He seemed to be enjoying it too.  Alas, where he thought he should be and where I thought he should be were not quite a match.  With a bit of hand waving, he managed to get him across the temporary electric strand I put up yesterday, but we couldn’t get him to move out of the trees.  Well… it was pretty hot and he had just had a good run.  No problem, we figured we would work him later tonight.

We had planned on spending the evening with some close friends out here (as in “the godparents of Frank” close), but the misses wasn’t feeling good.  We ended up going out to dinner alone, up at Thousand Hills State Park – which just happens to have one of the best restaurants in the area – good food and a great view of the lake there.  Toured around a bit after dinner, stopped at a playground for a bit, then came home.  Oddly, my allergies were fine all day, but sitting in the trees at the playground got to me.  Sudafed came to the rescue.

When we pulled into our driveway, Chuck was standing at the gates separating him from the rest of the boys.  All we had to do was open the gates and let him through, which he eagerly did without any prompting.  Almost scary easy.  Almost too smart of a cow for something that is scheduled for slaughter in 3 weeks.

7/15/2013

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 15, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

Things are drawing to a close, only two more days.  We are planning on heading back Wednesday unless something delays us.

Its starting to get hot again. by 1pm its pretty nasty outside for anything strenuous, like involving walking <smile>.  It does get nice enough by 6ish and one can work until 8:30-9ish, 9:30 with lights.

This morning we managed to started the process of moving the girls to the north field and the boys to the south field.  We didn’t get very far once the sun came out from behind our 30% chance of rain clouds (no, it didn’t rain a drop, again…).  I did put up a temporary wire tape by the cooling pond after managing to get the boys on that side of the lower field. 

Went back out this evening and it was relatively easy to get the girls, then grazing in the cooling night air, to migrate over to the northern field.  I moved their salt over by the watering pond, so they are set.  Took a bit to get the boys to move.  No real hassle, just had to get one moving, then another followed.  They settled down but Larry and Moe showed up.  Hand feed a few pieces of cattle cubes, and they were hooked.  Both followed me into the coral area where I had set up their salt.  Of course, once Larry and Moe started moving, the original two steers came along.  4 down, 1 to go.  Closed the gate, gave Moe the last cubes from my pocket and started to walk back.  Almost 9:30pm, just a bit of evening afterglow to see by, but there was Curly, wondering where everyone went.  All I had to do was walk back to the other and open the gate, he followed the whole way and sprinted at the end to join everyone.  Gate closed.  Job done.  I’m sure they will find Duncan sometime tonight – he was the only one we managed to get into the southern pond field in the morning.  I suspect he is still there – they love that pond.

The good news is that comment about the salt being in the coral area.  This should get them use to being there, which should help come handling time.  We are also now relatively set should anyone want to purchase Larry, Moe, or Curly.

We heard NO complaint from any of the 2012 boys about being separated from their moms.  10 months appears to be just fine, I suspect we could have done so at 9.  Tulia, born in late November, stills follows her mom around and was a bit anxious this evening when she spotted Mom on the other side of the fence.  Oddly, the only animal that showed ANY serious seperation anxiety, beyond Tulia and of course Snowball (born at the end of April, so only a few months old), was Chuck – one of our mix breed, mostly Angus, year old steers.  He REALLY wanted to be with the ladies, so much so we were concerned he was going to jump a fence to get with them.  He was definitely checking them out.  Borka, our other mixed breed, shorthorn steer fascinates me.  His legs look like a horse’s and are longer than Duncan is tall.  Neither of the steers are as friendly as Larry or Moe, but will often be the first to come across a field to see us.  They just stop about 10 feet away awaiting whatever happens next.

Evia finished week whacking around the fruit trees this evening and has started along our berries.  One thing has become VERY clear – with plenty of rain, everything grows.  Her potatoes were looking good two weeks before we came on this trip, but now, three weeks later without any rain, and the weeds have overpowered them.  Given cultivated crops vs. weeds, weeds win the competition for the water.  We need a rain before I can spray the Clethodim – once that is done, at least the grass weeds will be out of the picture.

Speaking of chemicals, the 1oz 2-4-D per gallon mix has been effective against the honeylocust, given the multifloria rose a hard time, but hasn’t phased any thistle.  I was hoping it was just a bit slower acting, but its been several days now and nothing.  Will go back to a 2oz/gallon mix.  That sounds like a reasonable project for tomorrow daytime (no walking in the heat required).

7/14/2013

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 14, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

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Sunday!  Day of Rest!  I got up early to talk with Donnie about a new pass-through.  Ended up on the road about 8:30am and it was beautiful.  Put the Kubota in low, and just drove up and down the gravel road enjoying the quiet, checking out our fields, the neighbors fields, and Donnie’s new toy (an earth mover/scrapper hooked to a 220 HP tractor – he is a bulldozer man after all).  Ended up at Sonny’s house and chatted with him for a half hour or so, then went over to Donnie’s.  We chatted awhile, then headed over to our place to scope out the little project.  Donnie made a couple of good suggestions and I asked him to proceed at his leisure.

Donnie and I also chatted about our future lake project, the one we are just dreaming about.  He explained some of the mechanics too me, we went to look at a recent dam he built, and played around on some mapping software for awhile (ims.missouri.edu if I recall correctly).  I’ve sent Daniel Yagar, the NRCS specialist in Kirksville, several e-mails over the weekend about the lake.  It will prove interesting to see his replies.  Dan has special software that will accurately forecast the yards of dirt needing to be moved, and that is the bulk of the building cost.

Found myself back home about 1:30pm.  Evia, the kids, and our guest had spent the late morning on our older pond testing their luck.  They managed to catch one bass, but no sunfish – those were destined for our newer pond.  Still, catching one, even if released back into the old pond, made the effort worthwhile for them.

I took Katya’s daughter, Nastya (yeah, same name as our 18 year old) on a short tractor ride.  We moved a few fallen trees.  She enjoyed it, and I manage to get another job checked off the list.

Evia and I, and of course the kids, went out in the late afternoon and took photos of the 3 boys (Larry, Curly, and Moe) and Tulia – the girl we have for sale.  I came in and worked on the “For Sale” part of this website.  It had been 3 months since we posted photos, and all the boys are reaching a critical age – soon we will either have to sell them or cut them and add them to our meat program.  We noticed Rose (one of the 4 original sisters we purchased) was missing.  After dinner Evia went looking and noticed Noscha, our first calf, was getting a bit too much attention from Duncan.  At 8:30pm we found ourselves outside doing the separation we have been talking about all week and hadn’t accomplished.  An hour later it was done, although Rose is in the “wrong” field, kind of.  At least she ended up in an adjoining field we hadn’t intended.  That said, after we sorted the boys from the girls, we talked about how to keep them really separated, both physically and visually… at least to the best of our ability.  Cows can be headstrong when it comes to sex, that is how Noscha came into our world.  Her mom pushed through two barb wire fences and walked a half mile to find a herd of Donnie’s with bulls in it.  She did that THREE TIMES until we just gave up and left her there for a couple of months.  Once pregnant, she stayed put on our farm and hasn’t wondered since.  Apparently that is common for heifers (virgin female cows) – when they are ready, THEY ARE READY!   Add to that any bull worth anything wouldn’t let a single barb wire fence stop him from satisfying a pushy heifer.  Anyhow, we think we can use our southern most field with the new pond for the boys, and our northern most field for the girls.  Both were planned as hay fields, but such is life.  We just need to move both halves tomorrow.  Actually its not anticipated to be too bad a chore, but means we will postpone working on the bees yet again.

Running out of days… we are kind of planning on going back to the city on Wednesday.


7/13/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 13, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

Light day.  Spent some time online looking at topo maps to see where our big pond (4ish acres) might go – measuring dam length requirements using Google Earth.  Built a little spreadsheet to calculate cubic yards of dirt.

We tried to separate the cattle with no effect, other than them shifting a bit towards us.  Noticed them back around dusk and went and opened the gate – about half have come through.  It appears the older ladies will be easier to move than the boys, so we are thinking of doing a double move – get everyone to this side, then move the ladies back.  We need to official wean the boys, although we haven’t seen the nursing in over a month.  Also, the ladies are about due to start delivering this years crop.  More importantly, we need to get Chuck over in the front field so that we can get him in a pen for slaughtering.  No point in calling the butcher until we know we can move him.  Also need to get the boys in the pen area for castration, should we fail in selling them.

Oh, I’m not immune to the poison ivy, the blisters started appearing today on my hands and feet.  Noticed one on my belly this evening.  *sigh*

I did have to go into town to get the Stihl weed whacker fixed – I had tried to fix it with no impact.  Ended up being two problems – the throttle cable got knocked off its guide, but more significantly, the exhaust had a screen that was clogged.  Solution was simple:  use a screw driver to break the exhaust screen.  Tool works like new!  No charge for the fix.

Meeting with Donnie in the morning.  Will ask for a $/yard cost for creating the lake dam, although the primary purpose of the visit is to see if a new pass through can be cut that will allow me to square up a field.

Evia’s friend Katya and her daughter Nastya arrived this evening.  Took Katya for a tour, starting with a showing of Sonny’s 7./

Kevin

7/12/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 12, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

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Another day… took Frank for a trip with me into town – a bit of father/son time.  Just needed a bit of gas for the trimmer, and topped off the pickup (odd that an 8 gallon top-off for the truck is a full tank on the Prius…).  Stopped at MFA and bought some Volunteer (aka  Clethodim – the active ingredient in Select, Arrow, Tide, and undoubtedly other brands).  Got home and read the label (always read the label on farm chemicals) and discovered it needed to be mixed with Crop Oil and Ammonium Sulfate (AMS for farmers).  Fortunately Sonny was in town, so I called in an order to MFA and he picked it up for me.  Replenished my Remedy supply as well.  By the time I was done with the label (a 49 page booklet) I realized the grasses I wanted to kill needed to be growing.  Not a problem except we haven’t had any rain in a couple of weeks, so everything we are trimming is dormant.  One good rain and I can use the stuff.

Came home and attacked the staircase project.  With Evia’s help:  Mission Accomplished!  This staircase is 20′ long and rises a bit over 5 feet from the bottom step, about 6 feet to the base (there are two more “tier” steps at the base.  The top has a triple step “landing” which makes for it only being a few inches off the ground – and easy step up.  With a 3.25″ rise per step, both Evia and I find ourselves comfortably taking two at a time going up, but oddly one at a time coming down.

The staircase took most of the day.  I did manage to trim the suckers off the fruit trees.  We are having power problems with our weed trimmer – tomorrow morning I’ll play with the carburetor.  There are a LOT more weeds that need whacking!  Evia’s friend and her daughter are expected tomorrow evening.

The weather was nice, in the mid 80s – no need to take an afternoon break today.  Its suppose to be similar, perhaps a degree or two warmer, for the next several days.  A nice breeze helped a lot, although unusually, its been blowing from the east all day.

Brats and beer for dinner.  Skipped lunch (not unusual) and only a light breakfast.


7/11/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 11, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

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7/11?  Where is my slurpee?  Sorry… couldn’t resist.

OK – today didn’t go as planned, but that is ok.  This morning is was actually COOL outside.  We got up a bit earlier than usual, but end up puttering around inside for most of the morning.  Our Internet connection has been REALLY slow, like running at about 1/10th speed.  I played around with a few things, and finally gave our service provider an e-mail.  Great service – within a few hours all was well, slightly before the serviceman arrived.  Apparently the lady in the office reset the port on their side and all the problems cleared.

At the same time the service guy showed up, Frank and Dave showed up.  They were curious how the fields they planted last spring were looking.  As is usual in small towns, of course they both knew the service guy as well, so they chatted for awhile.

Took Frank and Dave for a tour.  All is doing well.  We have a too much Queen Annes Lace.  In an ideal world, I’d wick that with roundup since its the tallest thing – but many things like the compass plants on coming on strong now.  That, and I don’t have a wick and don’t want to spent our last few days here building one.  After the tour was done we planted the two new plum trees, watered all the trees down by the beehives, then watered in the new plums.

Mixed up another 30 gallons of 46% 2-4-D, this time at half the strength I used last time (30oz in 30 gallons vs 60oz).  Also mixed up a 1/2 gallon of Remedy with 2 gallons of diesel (a fine oil carrier) in the hand pump sprayer.   Of we all went in search of locust sprouts, thistle plants, and multi-flora roses (for the 2-4-D), and honeylocust trees for the Remedy mix.  Ran out of Remedy and refilled (kiss goodbye about $80 worth of Remedy).

Found (2) huge locust trees making a total of three large ones on our property.  Alas, they are public enemy #1 and we have been making great progress over the past 5-6 years eradicating them from our farm.  Why are they a problem?  They sprout like crazy in our fields, if cut down, they just come back from the roots, and they have THORNS… BIG 4-6″ long thorns.  In clusters!  Tire puncturing thorns.  Die from punctures if the tree branches fall on you thorns.  Tear your clothing (and boots, and skin) if you rub against them thorns.  Very, very, mightily impressive thorns.  Don’t believe me, click on the photo in this post and check them out… and those are just the ones on the trunk – the entire tree is full of these!

Amazingly, basal spraying the Remedy mix will kill all but the largest trees.  Its almost scarey how little it takes and how well it works.  Basal spraying is quite simply spraying around the trunk of the tree.  Remedy is rated to work on trees up to about 4″ in diameter… I have found it works quite well on any size tree.  For the tree above, I used about a 1/2 gallon of spray to saturate a 4-5 foot ring around the tree.  With a typically 6-8″ diameter locust, a few ounces sprayed in a 1 foot band will generally kill it.  At least it does for me.  As will all Ag-Chemicals, use the required safety equipment and follow the label.  In about 2 weeks, I expect all the locust we sprayed to be yellowed out and well along the path of dying.  That said, for the 3 huge trees, I suspect it will take a couple of repeat treatments over a couple of years.  After all, even applying a 1/2 gallon of mix, that’s like a pint of Remedy, call it a cup of active ingredient, killing several thousand pounds of tree.

While we were searching for locust trees to kill, we were also spot spraying the 2-4-D.  Ran out of both chemicals about 8:30pm and headed in.

Oh, two excitements today:  1)  The Kubota UTV got stuck, the earth collapsed at the entrance of an erosion area leaving the Kubota see-sawing on opposing wheels.  Long walk back to the house, brought the tractor over, and 30 seconds later all was well (used a chain and just pulled it out).  Almost a non-event except that the front right tire was a few feet off the ground.  2)  We raced home – Frank and I in the tractor, Evia and Gabby in the UTV.  Of course, the UTV is a lot faster, but I took a short cut through a ditch on the tractor and pulled out in front.  Gabby was NOT happy…

Today’s jeans and shirt are going into a special cleaning pile.  Under NO circumstances will I wear them again until they are thoroughly washed.  If I don’t come down with poison ivy from today’s activities its only because I’m temporarily immune do to my bought with it earlier this year.  Its seems that poison ivy is my most popular understory plant…


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This is the first large honey locust tree we found.  I think I sprayed it 2 years ago and we almost killed it, although I didn’t get all the way around it.  This time I worked my way down into the ravine it boarders to make sure I got all the way around it.  The root structure that has been exposed is quite impressive.  For reference, I’m guessing this is a 42″-48″ diameter trunk your looking at, maybe more.  You can see the dead center branch – suspect I got that last time.  When it dies, it will fall into the ravine and slow the water flow for a number of years.

7/10/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 10, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

Mixed day.  Forecast was for rain at 3 different times today.  Didn’t get a drop.  Did cool off a bit.

For those following the cat story, he stayed out until 5am.  Nice!

Started working on the back staircase.  We got the 6 support post in during the morning and carried the 20′ 2×12 runner boards down.  By then it was mid afternoon and hot.  Came in and ate a large lunch.

Sonny came by and wanted to show me a small (7.8 acre) parcel of land he is thinking of selling.  I took a few photos.  Its triangular, with the longest side running along the road.  Taxes are like $32/year…  It has public water, and power across the gravel street.  Has a nice building on it as well, not sure how big, maybe 24×24, maybe 30×30 – something like that. Hilly with a small watering pond.  Be perfect for a small house, cabin, or something similar with enough land to raise a couple of steers, goats, chickens, whatever.  Asking price of $20,000 which is VERY reasonable.

Went into town, bought a couple of half-off plum trees, milk, etc.  Didn’t need eggs – Sonny gave me a dozen that Warner had just given him.  Oh, for reference:  Sonny is my next door neighbor, around 70, and overall very nice guy.  Warner is the gent that lent us use of a spare house for a year while we were building ours, another very nice neighbor, but we don’t see him as much.  Anyhow, Warner has a few chickens…

Came back and it was cooling off nicely, down to 82F per the truck.  I replaced some garden hose that broke, taped up some more, helped Evia run a soaker hose around her strawberries, rigged a water supply for the soaker then decided to reverse it.  Cut into the supply line and T’ed off that to provide her water on the uphill side.  Did that via flashlight.  We did get the runner boards leveled and set as well, also with help of the flashlight.  Came in a 10pm and realized we were not particularly hungry, so might snack a bit, but are skipping dinner.  Big lunch helped.

Will plant the plum trees in the morning, than attack the staircase again.  We may have some Russian friends visit over the weekend, will see.

Oh, the bee stung hand is still swollen, but doesn’t hurt anymore.

Its officially getting dry out there.  Great for those haying (and many are), but we could use some rain.  Oohhh… tomorrow is suppose to be in the 70s, with highs in the low 80s!  Wonderful!!!  Not seeing any serious chance of rain in the next week.

7/9/13

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 9, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

Well, the cat is settling in – actually got a good nights sleep.

Took the bent support brace into J&J Welding today.  We agreed that something isn’t right with the brush hog, so I’m going to take the whole thing, plus the tractor in.  He will figure out whats wrong, and custom build me front hay fork for the tractor.  Sonny suggested I have him put heavier spears on the rear lift and officially gave it to me (I’ve only been using it for about 6 years…)  Will do that the last workday we are here.  Should be fun, Evia will get to follow me in the pickup – which she hates to drive.

Really hot today – temp in the mid 90s with similar humidity.  Its suppose to rain tonight and cool off, but the forecast is changing daily.  Per AccuWeather and TWC this morning, it should be raining now – but we are mostly clear skies.  Now they are claiming rain on and off tomorrow.  At least MyRadar is showing some good clouds in Kansas, unlike the blank skies I saw this morning, so maybe they are finally right.

Lumber for the rear staircase arrived mid-day – it wasn’t expected until late tomorrow.  Alas, I ordered plastic planking to build some raised beds with and they sent wood.  That went bad.  Some miss-communication at PEJepson Lumber – odd, normally they are great about delivering what I ask for.  All on account… free delivery… got to love some aspects of living in the country.

Noticed a burr oak we planted this spring was drying up.  Now that the water is working to the rear of the house (one of those projects completed this week), we gave it a good soaking.  Thinking that the other trees planted elsewhere were probably in similar shape, we stretched the hose down to the bee hive area where we planted most of them.  Could have sworn I left the lower portion of hose down there, but we couldn’t find it, and seem to have plenty up by the house, so we reconnected it.  While watering, one of the warrior bees figured I was getting to close.  He buzzed my ear as a warning and stupidly I swatted at him (thought it was a horse fly).  Moments later he suicided on the palm of my hand.  First bee sting of the year.  I was curious how I would react.  It seems to vary by year from a small welt to severe (but considered within the norm) swelling.  I couldn’t walk for 2 weeks one year, and wanted to cut my rings off another.  Some years its not a problem.  Doesn’t look that this is going to be one of those “no problem” years.  Took about 30 minutes before I saw the swelling start.  As I type (fortunately my finger tips work) about half of my palm is somewhat painfully swollen as is most of the back of my hand.  My Russian mother-in-law suggest Whiskey for bee stings.  I’m taking her advice.

Oh, before I finish my rather heavy dose of “medicine”, I should mention that I sunk the 6 post for the temporary handling corral down by the crossing.  Evia and I dragged 2 lengths of cattle panels down and affixed them.  I rigged the electric spring gate.  Need to scrounge two more panels – should be able to get them from the old barn somewhere.

Ok, whiskey is kicking in, and I’ve only drunk a quarter of it.  Think I’ll sign out…

Kevin

ps.  Early night, only worked until about 7pm, but my hand hurts…

Introduction to our photo blog

Posted by Kevin Carpenter on July 8, 2013
Posted in Still alive in 2019  | No Comments yet, please leave one

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I’m hoping to start a photo journal of the various plants we have in our restored native prairie fields.  The first 30 acres we converted a few years ago is struggling, the cool season grasses are dominate.  MDC has a plan to try and tip the balance on that field, but like all these projects it will take years.  There is a good diversity in that field (#2 in the photo to the side), but the CSG now represents perhaps 70% of the plant life.  Last spring (2012) we seeded fields 1A, 5, and 3.  Then it didn’t rain for 3 months.  This year (2013), field 1A has really come alive – I suspect it will be the primary source of photos.  Field 5 is really poor ground, but I’m looking forward to seeing what comes up in it.  Field 3 is planned as our ~2 acre forb garden, but we shall see how it does.  Its all northern facing slope, and home to our bee hives.  Although close to the house (that blue patch in the photo at the end of our 900′ driveway) it doesn’t get a lot of attention.

Oh, the header photo for this section is of field 1A, near the road, taken in late June of 2013.  The flowers are purple coneflowers – a very popular and showy native plant. The wide bladed grass just a bit right of center is Eastern Gamagrass.  The trees are across the gravel road on a neighbors property.  Photo’s are compliments of John Murphy, Private Land Conservationist with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

Oh, chances are somewhere between absolutely and positively absolutely that I will miss-identify many of the plants.  Please leave a comment and I’ll fix up the errors.