Good Morning All. Clear and 42°, at least the wind is below 10 mph for a little while. Yesterday was an ultra high wind advisory day, with sustained NW winds of 35 mph all day long with gusts near 47 mph. Wasn't cold wind, temperature all afternoon stayed between 65° and 67°, just ferocious. More of the same today staying in the 20 mph range. Then tomorrow we get the same except the high winds will be from the south for five days with temperatures in the upper 80's. Maybe moderation by next Thursday.
Garden seems to be surviving despite the wind. I did do some hoeing yesterday, a pre-emergent weed operation. Also to break up the crust formed from that wind over the moist ground. Took a few pictures of the estate while walking around.
The redbud tree in full bloom.
Saturday, the neighbor's son prepared the hay field for planting.
Since he plowed it up then, it soaked up all 1.5" of rain Monday night and I had no run-off to add to my pond. It's still nearly 75% filled though.
The power company had a tree trimming service in the neighborhood this week, and I received two truckloads of shredded branches to use in the garden.
The pile on the left actually came from my own tree that I had removed last fall. It all has to age 18 months before using, but I have part of a fourth pile off to the right that was deposited in 2018 that I am still using. This stuff is real important and useful in breaking up my hard black clay soil. Some gets mixed in well every winter along with grass clippings to loosen things up.
Finally on my tour around the estate, we come to the "other" garden on the porch.
This is just some of the culinary herbs used daily when I am in the kitchen. Hard to distinguish here, but that's newly sprouted Basil on the right, Cilantro immediately left, Italian Parsley middle left, regular Parsley middle right and Sage in the back. Elsewhere is the Rosemary and Oregano in much bigger pots.
Grocery trek went well yesterday, prices are still slowly increasing except bacon which is rapidly increasing. All shelves were full and there were zero masks except for the janitor in the grocery store. I did see gasoline at Sam's Club for $3.47/gal., but it was mostly $3.59 at all other stations around town. Doesn't appear that I need to leave the house again until Tuesday for another damn doctor appointment.
Job interviews - I only went to one in my whole life. After filling out the application, the only question that they asked was "Can you start today?". I said no because I had to go home and tell my wife since we didn't have a phone then! I stayed there for 43 years. I hated interviewing people but I had to do hundreds of interviews over the years. Eventually HR took over most of the boring stuff and I hired only good qualified people which reduced the frequency of interviews. I only hired people who could do their jobs (and mine) without me being there to watch them.
Thanks to all who commented on or who reacted to the photos yesterday;
Smudge, Karl, James, Sherrel, Troy, Dave B, Tom O, Chad, Hughie, Patrick, Curt, Gary, Tom, Rick, IB Ken, Guy, Joe, OB Ken.
I did some more piddling around with the bungalow yesterday out in the train shed. I enhanced the flower pots with some Lupine plants.
Then I decided to add the Gentry sisters and their doggie.
That's dad keeping his eye on them over in the left side of the front window.
Tom O - That's quite an itinerary in just a few days. Hope that you were able to get out of NYC as planned. There's multiple quarter horse ranches along IH35 nearby, some marked, some not. Denton County TX is probably the #2 horse capital of the US, with almost 350 registered horse ranches here. Pretty sure that Lexington KY is the leader.
Sherrel - Good week so far, Kate in Tahiti, daughter made it to Okinawa, sprinkler valve fixed and you're still posting.
Greg - Yes, the garden is flourishing. I know that many of you up north cannot start until after Memorial Day, I am blessed that I can start this early because I like vegetable gardening as a hobby.
Prayer list is lengthy, but I haven't forgotten anyone yet; Troy's mom, Sherrel's MIL, Terry's wife Marie, Steve J and his knee, Curt & Wife.
Everybody have a great day.
. And her blood sugar is out of wack as well. I haven't been this excited to get a message reading "She Pooped!" since we were potty training the kid back in the 1990s.
