August 31
Well, that’s it for the month. We are gaining on the weeds, thanks in no small part to the herbicide killing the purslane. In the past, I got the impression that it didn’t. Maybe it only appeared to not kill it because there was enough fresh sprouting to camouflage the treated purslane. That’s the only thing I can think of to explain my error. Anyway, we are getting it under control. Now if I could just get my front door from sticking.
August 28
Yesterday evening, while Rebecca and I lounged in front of the TV, Kari and Chris attended the Amarillo Chamber Orchestra/Amarillo Chorale performance of Missa Solemnis on tickets I gave Chris for his birthday. I’m told Bethoven considered this his defining work and usually performed only in large cities, our local folks have been working on it for five years. It was long, over two hours I think, but Kari said she didn’t have trouble staying awake. She said the performance was wonderful and fell squarely in the glad-I-saw-it-but-never-want-to-see-it-again category.
The chicken business is in full swing here on SA. Rebecca has just integrated the second batch of chickens into the chicken yard, and everybody seems to be getting along fine. That gives her 17 fowl, five roosters and 12 hens. She is trying to find a home for two or three of the roosters since two or three is company, five is a crowd. Sadly, a hen in the new batch, which was hatched with a mal formed beak, died recently. It was a sweet chicken that liked to be held but never really prospered.
I finally got some help with the weeds. I wouldn’t say I was losing the fight, but I didn’t seem to be winning either. I called my friend Doc to see if he would help me pull weeds. There was one large and a couple smaller patches of careless weed (mostly Russian thistle) and I needed some help getting them pulled. Doc wasn’t available but he sent a fellow that works with him some and Monday morning we got that patch cleared up. It only took an hour and a half, and we planned on working 9:00 to noon, so I had him do some mowing also. He came back Tuesday morning and we tackled the northeast lane and the easement. He mowed the lane and ran the weed trimmer over the easement. Meanwhile I sprayed weeds, purslane mostly, in the pasture. We didn’t quite finish so maybe I’ll have him come back next week to rake the easement and finish trimming under the trees in the northeast lane. It was a big boost to have two men working. Dennis is in his early 60’s and has arthritis in his hands but works hard and stays after it, which is all I ask.
August 20
It was a cool, clear morning Friday when Kari and I drove out to the Canadian River and hiked the Harbor Bay Loop trail. That trail follows the shoreline of Lake Meredith, going from about lake level all the way to the rim of the valley. The loop is about two miles long and narrow. Also, rocky in places but we had it all to ourselves and the views of the lake and valley from the trail are beautiful.
It was time for my quarterly Adopt-a-Loop visit, so I took advantage of the opportunity to hike a trail I had never hiked before. There are several others, and I will acquaint myself with those on future trips. It is nice that I have committed to keeping tabs on the Alibates Flint Quary trail, visiting it every season, because it is not easy to pull loose from SA. Since I have the flexibility within each season to go when I want to, I can pick times when the weather is pleasant, as I did for this trip. We got a break in the heat and took advantage of it to make this visit. It was nice to have a hiking buddy, too. We drove down to McBride Canyon for lunch, drove around that area some, then headed home in plenty of time for Kari to pick Rebecca up from school.
August 15
SA is very green from the rain we got late last month. It is much preferrable to the way it has looked all summer. Of course, part of the green is weeds. They benefitted from the rain as much or more than the grass. This morning I filled an empty dumpster with the weeds I collected on the north end, and I didn’t get all of them, not by a long shot. Thank goodness I cleaned up the easement along the east side before the weeds there could benefit from the July rain. It had gotten weedy last fall, so it took some effort over multiple days to get on top of them.
The purslane, on the other hand, is not under control. It has completely covered the old orchard and I’m trying to keep it contained there. Others are pitching in to remove it anywhere else it is encountered on the place, so it doesn’t do what it has done in the old orchard. According to what I have read, each plant is capable of producing 250 thousand seeds and the seeds can persist in the soil for as much as 40 years. If that is even close to correct, it explains what we are up against. I haven’t found that herbicide has any effect on it but recently read that 24D will kill it so I’ll try again spraying some and see if it has any effect. I also read that preemergent will help eliminate it but how does one know when to apply the preemergent. The dry weather we’ve had going back to last fall thins the grass out, so it doesn’t keep weeds from germinating. Then we get a lot of moisture all at once and the result is conditions purslane and other weeds, goatheads for instance, like and they are off to the races. Oh well, at least I don’t have to water as much for the time being, so I have more time to chase weeds.