New Look to the Blog

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How is it?

I like it better than what I had before, but it seems to take a lot longer to load. My dashboard kept telling me it had something wonderful for me to try, but it was not working so wonderfully. The preview at the bottom never did load.

Not sure if it will stay this way, I was just playing with it.

Don't you love the Sweet Pea time of year?





We loaded up our 'tractor and trailer'. It's our giant rig, ready to take on the care and husbandry of our little corner of the great big creation.





First stop, planting some cukes and zuchs we got on sale at Lowe's, replacing the ones that have not grown. My cuke seeds from last year did not sprout at all, and the squash bugs have done in about half our zucchini plants.

I love these beds. You walk down, pull the mulch away, drop the plant in, and you are done. Cukes...





Putting in the zuchini...





Then it was down to the barn to give aid to the horses.

We let the chickens out in the barnyard. There are our two surviving chicks from the broody hen. We have too many eggs, so we didn't want many anyhow.





The face flies have been awful this year. Of course, now that I took the camera down the horses kept shaking their heads, so you can't see the hundreds of flies that cover their faces, encircling their eyes, and making them miserable. Here's Ginny, our very clever, mischievous, and trouble-making filly.





Bronco does not even make a dent! I put this on and if fifteen minutes the flies are back in full force.





So I bought the big guns. Well almost. I bought the medium guns, because the big guns are 30 dollars a bottle.

Here is a roll-on that is supposed to last for days. If I can keep the flies off their faces for a few days, even through sweat and rain, I'll be satisfied. The bottles are 10 dollars each.





We also bought these drop applicators. You dribble a few CCs here and there every couple of weeks and I believe the product enters their system, making them less tasty for pests. I've used it in the past and it was helpful. I think this package was about 25 dollars. It should last 6 weeks for the two of them.





The roll-on seemed to help right away. I'll let you know how it goes when I check them again. Time to change out the water.





Then it was time to prune and spray grapes. Michael took a break to bring the kiwi vines up across the arbor.









Whew! Need an iced tea break. It's hot, muggy and uncomfortable out here!





The black rot.









And we've got some sort of mold, mildew, fungus, or something. Front and back...









This meant a trip to the Ag Extension office. The Japanese beetles are all over, so we sprayed the grapes and fruit trees.





Lots of grapes. But will we get a harvest? I may rip them all out and plant Mars only. A blue seedless, resistant to black rot.





Thursday night we were back to our usual schedule.

Young people having fun before the guys head off to their class.





And the girls began a class for themselves.








We discovered that the game Mad Gab is remarkably similar to trying to communicate with a very persistant eighteen month old.

Hilarious!