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.