stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

i did get the livetrap set for the groundhog. i made sure to chain it to the fence so it won't get dragged away by something else (raccoons) or roll down into the water. not sure the groundhog will go for the bait with the change in habitat i did next to that spot where i placed the trap.

apple slices, peanut butter and carrots. i'll admit i ate some of those as i was putting them in the bait pan.

then the other part of the "behind the fence operation" got going. i needed to remove a honeysuckle bush and some grape vines. took about an hour for just the one bush and those grape vines and then i found another grape vine to trim and in the process of throwing all that over the fence and hauling it away and pulling some stalks off the rhubarb i found some poison ivy and when tying the fence door closed i noticed there was even more poison ivy right there, so perhaps now i know where Mom and i may have picked it up a few times and not known where it was coming from. so i pulled that out of there and came in and washed my hands and put all those clothes in the sink to wash with soap a few times before they go into the laundry. and now that i'm laying here and taking a break i think i forgot to close that gap in the fence well enough so i'll have to go back out there and do that when i get back up. i also found out the maximum number of times i'll wash my hands if i think there's poison ivy sap on them (13)...

am i going to get anything done for the onion patch i was hoping to plant tomorrow? the mystery continues... it's only 3pm, there's a chance...

p.s. working near the lilac tree and in the honeysuckle bush (both in bloom) really pissed off my lungs.

 

[flowerbug]

Feeding our flying friends has changed them rather quickly:

https://www.science.org/content/article/bird-feeders-have-caused-dramatic-evolution-california-hummingbirds

10 generations is quick...

now, without looking how long do you think hummingbirds have been around and where do scientists think they started out?


Answers which surprised me, 42 million years ago and in Europe.

Note though that there is still a lot that is not known so these answers may change if new fossil evidence comes along.

 

[flowerbug]

and then... i went out to close the fence to make sure the groundhog would not find yet another way to get into the garden and frontside of the fence areas. as i was walking up to the house i heard this crashing noise and saw two large deer trying to run through the fence out front near the far corner. that fence is around the cedar trees.

they eventually made it through. at the same time Mom just came home so perhaps she startled them into a panic and otherwise they'd have just gone out the gap where the driveway is at... ? anyways, dunno as i didn't see or hear them at all the whole time i was out there until right at the end when the noise happened.

based upon how the day started and continued i'm not sure i want to go out around dark to check on the trap... i may get et by a barrr...

 

[flowerbug]

to be more positive...

today when i went out to check on the peas and beans the killdeer back there were having conniptions so i thought that perhaps the babies had hatched and my timing was perfect. there was only one baby already running around and the other three were still in the nest just getting used to being hatched.

i took a few moments to talk to them and told them how beautiful they were and that i'd never hurt them. i do not want them to imprint on me, but i do want them to at least know me. based upon past experiences the birds that i've talked to are much nicer to be around and spend a lot less time wasting energy on doing things which will not help them survive. also based upon many years of dealing with the same bird it has managed to survive and come back for all of these years so i don't think i'm doing any harm by talking to them for a few moments.

the momma out front is still sitting on her eggs.

 

[flowerbug]

Rocky Raccoon was in the trap this morning. i'm not surprised. i let him go and then reset the trap - i hope i scared him enough that he'll stay out of trap now, but ... we'll see.

then we spent four hours fixing the fence where the deer went through, made a mess of things and i must say that chicken wire is not really deer fencing...

i did get some weeding done here or there because i did not want to let some bedstraw or some other weeds i was seeing get going even more than they already were. break time now, i'm probably done for the day, a nap would be a good idea if i had enough brain cells to accomplish that.

 

[flowerbug]

beautiful day outside and i'm actually getting some gardening done!

no critter in the trap.

watered peas, beans and garlic.

started weeding a garden so i can plant onions.

i even found a really tiny weed (Field Pennycress) which i brought in and took a picture of and since i needed a break i even got it edited and put on the website, but i still have to upload it... that might happen tonight.

i also added a few pics of a morel that popped up near the AC.

time to get back to work. too easy to spend time looking at the pretty weed flowers on-line. oh, another name for the speedwell here that i see a lot of (there's several) is corn speedwell - it is yet another weed that can flower even when it is very tiny.

 

[digitS']

Yes,

that speedwell is flowering here as well. Fortunately, it's an easy weed to pull and not like that dang oxalis.

USDA says that the pennycress is here there and everywhere so I will have to pay more attention to find it. I really tend to stop avoid thinking about weeds until they are right in my face. Interesting that over recent decades, researchers have been trying to find an avenue to develop pennycress as a seed oil crop.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

the speedwells have been a mess for me ever since they were introduced via wildflower seed mixes. the tiny ones are very hard to remove from the lowest growing creeping thyme that i like the best. the worse problem i have with them is that they make my sinuses run.

for the past few days and the next few the wind is out of the east or east northeast, which is exactly the wrong direction for me as that blows the wall of honeysuckle and lilac fumes right at me. i've been sneezing and dripping a lot. i really asked Mom to not plant any more honeysuckles (in areas to the south too) but she wants them and so they are...

various chickweeds have also been a lot of work as they have harder roots to get out. i've spent quite a few hours over the years trying to get them out of the north garden but they are very tenacious and my weeding of that garden is often late enough that those plants get to drop seeds.

the pennycress i pulled all of those plants yesterday, the roots are very simple and direct like a radish but narrower so they come out easy and knock the dirt off in a few bumps. since i always try to get those plants out of there before they drop seeds it is amazing to me how many still show up, but again, if i miss just a few tiny ones they make up for my efforts by being very prolific.

i'm not getting website uploaded this morning i can know that for sure. we have to head out to pick up the plants from the greenhouse and run a few other errands.

 

[flowerbug]

plants got picked up. onions got planted and watered.

i have an entire tray of Beaver Dam pepper plants. if i grow all of these plants i'm going to have to give a lot of them away!

 

[flowerbug]

went out to get a garden ready for planting tomatoes, spent up until a few minutes ago weeding that garden and then parts of two other gardens and still haven't gotten the tomato holes dug.

i haven't even checked the weather since this morning yet, so i'm going to do that now while i'm resting up and getting caught up on TEG a bit (behind...).

still has us down for showers after 5pm. i think i can get the holes dug and the plants put in by then.

9 plants in three hours is possible. these are not just dig a hole and put the plant in kinds of things i'm doing. i have two worm buckets i'll use up in those holes so they have to be big and deep enough for two layers of worm compost separated by some dirt and the tomatoes i plant down a bit so they're not tiny holes at all. and it takes time to scoop buckets out and get them in the holes and then placing the plants carefully.

if i get rained on a little that is probably going to be welcome by the time i get done... looks like the front is sliding by so i should have enough warning.

12 minute lunch and off we go...

later...

went pretty well as the ground in that garden is pretty good and soft compared to many of the rest. i had the holes dug and prepped for planting in an hour or so and finished planting and watering in another 45 minutes. also putzed around a bit moving some tulips.

later...

i did something different this year and i probably should not have, but we'll see how things turn out. the tomato plants were kept in a greenhouse and i did not harden them off at all before planting them out today. normally we'd leave them in the garage and take them out for the day and put them in some dappled shade and then gradually increase the light and also let the plants get used to it being cooler. not these plants. they're going cold turkey after being kept in the garage last night. tonight will be cool but not down too low in the 40sF and then we have one night in the forecast for this week down to 44F. where we are it is a ways away from the forcast station and we are also down in a dip in the land so it does often get cooler here than the forecast lows... we're going to see how tough these plants really are. transplant shock and temperature hits within a few days...