Here Is One Way To Tell You Don't Live In The Suburbs Anymore

 

What Your Woods Looked Like In The Past

 I just found out about this website where you can find information about what your woods looked like in the past. You can find historical photos of your property here. You can find land survey maps here. You can find title records of your land here. For example I learned that Helary Suchy purchased 142.6 acres in Ottertail County on December 1, 1876. By clicking on patent image I can see and download the original patent. Flowery and loopy handwriting was common back then. Most millennials couldn't read a document like that anymore. Ulysses S. Grant was president of our country when my great grandfather bought his property in Ottertail County. You can also explore Native American history of your property. This is very interesting information and is likely to keep a person up all night looking around at what used to be.

Yard Work

I have been helping Offspring #2 with a few outdoor projects. This involved digging out sod, moving sod, removing 5 inches of soil, leveling the ground, pouring paver base gravel, leveling the gravel, adding sand, leveling sand, installing pavers and sweeping paver locking sand between the pavers. The new patio looks great and is very level. We also installed a gutter hose across the long length of her house to a rain garden. And we installed a fire pit. All this lifting and shoveling and moving and bending is good for me. The pavers were heavy but I brought along my trusty two wheel dolly. That handy dolly got more use in these couple weeks than it did in the dozen or so years that I have owned it. Today we went back to the hardware store to buy $300 worth of cedar to make raised garden beds. Do you ever look at people leaving a hardware store with armloads of supplies and feel bad for all the work they have ahead of them?

Will Some Of The Flakes I Shovel Today Still Be Here In April or May?

I spent many hours shoveling snow this weekend. I think I shoveled five or six times. The heaviest shovel was the first one. That snow as so deep I could see the trail of my car's underbelly as I pulled into the garage. After that experience I decided to shovel after a couple inches instead of six. The snow at the road that the snow plow threw in was the heaviest. Some of those ice boulders were so heavy I had to pick them up by hand and toss them in the ditch. Mindlessly shoveling snow gave me a workout and time to think. How many pounds of snow have I shoveled in my lifetime? When I go a winter without shoveling snow, will I miss the experience? How was it when I was a kid and finished shoveling snow I had the energy to play in the snow when I was done? I know my childhood driveway was smaller than this one. I just don't feel like making snow angels anymore. When will be the last time I shovel snow? Will some of the flakes I shovel today still be here in April or May?

A Long Mow

Three weeks ago I used my lawn mower to bag up most of the leaves off the lawn. Before I started that chore I put in enough gas to get the job done. I always like to run the engine dry before I quit mowing for the season. Today I thought I would trim up the yard, even though it didn't need a trim, just to burn up that little bit of gasoline in the tank. Little bit of gasoline my foot. I mowed the back yard. I mowed the front yard. I mowed the driveway. I mowed all the paths in the woods. I mowed the back yard again. I mowed the front yard again. Just like Stega Nona and her never ending pot of pasta, this lawn mower gas never seemed to burn up. Why did I put so much gasoline in the tank last time? I mowed and mowed. I got tired and sat on a rock while holding the lawn mower handle to keep the engine running. That seemed silly so I mowed some more. In the back yard I cross hatched the lawn so it looked like a well groomed turf. By now it is getting dark. Trucks driving by have their headlights on. This lawn mower is still purring along without hesitation. I see many other things I could be doing as I walk around and around the yard.  Now that my house is for sale, this could be the last mowing I do here so I try to enjoy it. I mow the driveway again. Long grass in the driveway makes the first shoveling difficult. Finally I hear a hesitation in the engine. I mow up to the garage door. The sun has set and the chickens have gone to bed. Finally the engine dies and the job is done.

You Don't Eat The Antlers

This morning I was on a business related phone call. The  man asked, "Do you mind being on hold for a short three to four minutes?" I stifled my real feelings and said it was okay. While on hold some movement caught my eye to the south of my house. A doe was browsing on the path I mow. Five feet south of her was a big buck. This big fellow had ten points on his antlers. I watched him through the thick brush never able to get a good view of him. He was hiding from me. Me! A vegetarian armed with a camera and a slingshot! I thought of this buck throughout the day as reports from deer hunters came in. Like my father said today, "You don't eat the antlers." I guess a six point buck would be as tasty as a ten point buck.

Feathered Friends Pay A Call

Today is a blustery day. I have to keep looking out the window to make sure the chicken coop door doesn't blow shut again. This time I saw my two chicken had feathered friends come to pay a call. I saw five turkeys out there but of course they run and hide when they see me with a camera. I did manage to get a parting glimpse of these three turkeys. I am glad they come and visit my two chickens. I wonder if this happens daily.

Clemantis

Beautiful display this morning.

A Quiet Friday Evening At Home - Not

Hail this large is very loud and is disturbing my peace.

Moving Lime Stones

I wrote out a dozen things to do this weekend. Digging up these lime stones was not on the list. So naturally, after spending a sweaty hour at the task, I added it to the list and checked it off. These lime stones were there when I moved in and some of them had sunk to ten inches below the surface. Many bugs and worms and roots were displaced. I put some of the lower rocks on top dirty side up so the storm that is brewing today can wash them clean. I think they look better than they did before I started. Plus I got quite a few buck thorn, crab apple, elm, oak, red cedar and maple trees pulled out in the process.

Black Walnut Sap

Last night I decided to burn some brush that I have collected over the past year. I lit a fire and it took off quickly. I had a lot of small branches from my bridal veil bush, my crab apple trees, and various branches that fall down where I want to mow. In order to keep the small branches burning I weighed them down with a huge black walnut log. This photo is the black walnut log. The fire is red on the right side of the log. The black oval is the cut from the chain saw. The yellow bubbling fluid coming out of the log is walnut sap. There was a lot of sap coming out from beneath the bark of this black walnut log. I have read that you can tap black walnut trees and make syrup. Black walnut sap contains a lot of pectin so this can be a problem because the pectin will clog up the tubes and make it hard to filter. Am I sure I would like to taste black walnut syrup? Not really. I have seen what black walnuts have done to my skin when I harvested the nuts. My hands, even though I was wearing latex gloves over rubber gloves, turned a nasty shade of brown for two weeks.

Garden Planted

From the left is some red stemmed rhubarb (originally from my garden in Columbia Heights which I transplanted to North Minneapolis to Coon Rapids to here) followed by orange zinnias followed by two peony plants from a friend in Ham Lake and in front of those are some snap dragons followed by more orange zinnias and a basket of  impatiens.

Why No June Bugs?

This evening I was outside watering flowers and hostas with water from the rain barrel. I opened the door to come into the house and a moth flew by when a question struck me. Here it is, June 26, and I have not seen a single June bug this year. Normally June bugs are at my front door this time of year or banging against the window panes at night. Where are the June bugs?  Did all the grubs die off during this past beast of a winter?

Happy Summer Solstice

After supper tonight I took the stem of some red leaf lettuce out to the chickens for a treat. I grabbed my bottle of animal stop on my way out. I spray this nasty smelling spray on my hostas every week plus any other plants I want to protect from the deer munching. As I approach the chicken coop a deer stands there looking at me. She is standing at the crest of the hill on my mowed path just beyond my compost pile. I stop to look at her. She looks at me. I ask, "You looking at me?" She responds by stomping her left front leg. I move a pace closer. She stomps her right front leg. "Seriously?" I ask, "Are we having a stand off?" I consider spraying her with animal stop but refrain. I doubt the spray would go that far. I advance another stop. She stomps her left front leg. Unlike me she has very dainty ankles. Her hooves are black and shiny. I advance another pace. She stomps her right front leg. I say, "We could do this all night." She huffs a huff of air and bounces away with her white tail bobbing through the grass. She enters for forest behind my house. I suspect she is miffed with me.

Smell So Good!

The patch of lily of the valley in my front yard around my rain barrel are in bloom. I find the smell of these lilies to be so delightful. I pick six and set them in a jelly jar next to my bed. I pick another six for the bathroom and another six for the living room. They just smell so good I can hardly stand it. I walk around my yard with flowers under my nose muttering aloud, "Oh, they smell so good!"

Care For Some Garlic Mustard Red Squirrel?

I walked to my mailbox this morning and spied some garlic mustard. Darn, those invasive species are so invasive! I pulled one and threw it into the middle of the road where it would be run over and over and over. The smelly weed came out easily because of all the rain we have had. On my way back to the house I pulled out six more. I spied another patch and pulled out fifteen. I spied another spot and pulled out four. With my arms full of delicious smelling plants I tossed them into my garbage can. Later, washing my hands at the kitchen sink I spied a red squirrel crawl on top of the chicken run. The squirrel appeared to be trying to find a way inside the coop. I watched the red rodent try all the openings on the coop before it walked away and crawled on top of a fence post. Just at that moment a tree wren swooped down from the sky and hit the red squirrel on the back. The bird dive bombed the squirrel as it ran away. Oh, so that makes sense to me now. The squirrel tried to get into the bluebird house that the tree wren in subletting and take an egg or a baby. Now, if I could only talk the squirrel or the tree wren to eat all the garlic mustard I would be all set.

Atomic Number 25

I got a letter from my city today telling me that some of the city water is unfit for human consumption because it has too much manganese. Not all the city wells have too  much manganese, only four of the six wells have too much manganese. The other two wells do not have too much manganese. Too much manganese in the water can be a neurotoxin and lead to a condition called manganism. Manganism can present itself like Parkinson's disease. I do not have city water. I have my own well. The city doesn't have an answer to the problem yet.They might mix the water from the wells and use more water from the wells that do not have too much manganese. If they do that we are warned that the water will have more iron in it. The letter mentioned buying bottled water. Do I need to worry? Based on the fact that safer water has a lot of iron and the red ring I see in my toilet tank, I have no reason to worry. I also use a water softener and a Britta water filter. I think I will put the manganese problem on the back burner. I have more pressing concerns to occupy my mind than manganese.

The Smell of Fresh Cut Grass

On my way home from work today I bought some fresh gasoline for my lawn mower. After bringing my things inside I attempted to start my lawnmower. I did the happy dance when the motor roared to life after the fifth pull. I set to work mowing the grass, the weeds, some buck thorn, some garlic mustard, some poison ivy, some black berry brambles and some branches. Oh, the smell of fresh cut grass. If the smell of fresh cut grass could be bottled I would certainly wear perfume again.

Cleaner or Dirtier?

Today was laundry day. Since the sun was shining I decided to hang my clothes out to dry on the deck.  As I walked by the deck door I saw a black capped chickadee land on my underwear (gray with blue polka dots). The chickadee picked a piece of thread or lint off my underwear and kept it in it's beak. Seriously? The chickadee flew away with my underwear lint and took it. Where did the chickadee take my thread or lint?  Off to the chickadee nest I guess.  My question is: Is my underwear cleaner or dirtier after a chickadee stood on it and pecked the lint off?

Multi-colored Snow

I was lucky enough to have my grand girls and their mother over to my house for a couple of days. I took a day off work because family is more important than work. I cleaned the house and prepared some Greek fava beans for lunch. Then I went outside to check out the driveway. It was a mess.  I had not shoveled the heavy wet snow. I backed my car out of the garage and drove to the street. I could feel the driveway trying to suck my car into the mud and snow but I made it out.  I drove back in the driveway and parked to one side so that my family could drive right in and park in the garage making it easier to get everyone in the house with all their stuff. Then I saw that the undercarriage of my car had left a mark in the snow. I knew her rental car was a low car too although probably not as low as mine. So I got out the shovel (AGAIN) and starting in to removing some of the snow. The snow was weird. On top was a gray layer of rain. Below that was a pinkish orange layer about an inch thick and below that was another three inches of pure white snow. I thought I was seeing things. Why was I shoveling snow that was multicolored? I took my glasses off and looked again. The snow was still striped with a pinkish/orange layer in the middle. I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded shoveling. I shoveled for an hour. That was my workout for the day. I went back into the house. When I got the text message that my guests were soon to arrive I went outside again. I stood by the mailbox. When the black car with Florida license plates arrived I told her to drive in fast and confidently and pull right into the garage. Yeah, no, that is not how it went. She got stuck by the third hack berry tree.  I got some pieces of wood and carpet and chicken grit and got her unstuck. She got stuck again by my elm tree. I was leaning my back against the trunk and pushing with my legs when she got unstuck and fell on my butt in the mud.  The third time she got stuck she suggested we just leave it here for now and I agreed. We bundled everybody and everything into the house and had a lunch of venison summer sausage, fava beans, crackers, vegies, hummus and fruit. After lunch I took the grandgirls outside to go sledding while their mother could have some time to herself. I got both kids in the blue power ranger sled I had in my garage. I told them to hang on. I pulled the sled forward around the corner of the house.  The oldest grandgirl was laughing.  I turned around to look and I saw the giggling girl in the sled and the younger grandgirl laying in the snow five feet back like a turtle on it's back.  I advised them to let me know when this happened.  I put her back in the sled.  The same thing happened three more times. The younger one fell out and laid there silently in the snow while the older one giggled. Finally I started walking backwards while pulling the sled so I could see what was going on.  I walked backward and we walked through the woods with both kids staying in the sled. We walked past the chicken coop and said hello to the chickens. I checked and found 3 eggs. I showed the eggs to the girls.  The youngest one said, "Kaka."  I agreed that there was kaka on these eggs. I told the girls to stay put while I ran the three eggs into the house. When I returned they were still there. I pulled them to the hill by the compost heap. I pushed them down the hill and they were happy to be sliding. I had to walk down and pick up the youngest girl while the older one pulled the sled back up. They went down the hill at least ten times. The youngest girl took off her mittens and her hat. I stuck them in the crab apple tree for safe keeping. While I did that the oldest girl slid down by herself. We let her do this three times before they both went down together. But now we had a problem because the oldest girl kept wanting to go down by herself. That wasn't fair. Fairness in the minds of children is a very strange concept. We had come to the point of the excursion where fairness was outweighing the enjoyment. I suggested we go inside and make cookies. Well, they were all for that. We went inside and we made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from scratch using the eggs we had just collected. Children are so much fun but by the time I went to bed that night I was completely and utterly exhausted. I had learned that the snow was multi-colored because of a dust storm in Texas.