Birthday month

July started off with a couple of nice rains. Half an inch fell during the afternoon of July 2nd followed by another 1.21 inches during the night on the 4th. It may be hard for people that don’t live in dry country to appreciate how uplifting a good rain is for us in dry country. This year’s 4th of July was one of the nicer ones weather-wise. Even though it was a Saturday I couldn’t help spending most of the morning annoying the weeds. Joyce and Janice had already canceled the 4th of July get together before we started getting rain a couple of weeks ago. The place is very green and the grass is growing enough to hide some of the weeds. There was much mowing when we got back from Red River.

Red River was a refreshing break from the High Plains heat, as is usually the case. Fortunately we got another inch plus rain a couple of nights before we headed for RR, so things were well watered in our absence. Joyce recruited Parker to water her garden and around our house and Chris watered around their house. Everything looked good when we got back in spite of triple digit temperatures.

Other than the pool at the Eisenhut where we stayed being closed by the governor, we didn’t encounter any problems on our trip. We had to wear masks when we went to the store, which we did every evening to load up on ice cream for the evening movie watching. There were fewer people in town so it was less crowded than other times we’ve been there. Arriving after the 4th of July had a lot to do with that. Sophia and Vivian are the only ones that can fish in the city pond restricted to people 12 years old and younger. Vivian caught a couple the first day but that was it for the trip. One day we went hiking instead of fishing. I went for an early morning stroll each day and on one of them I encountered a deer coming toward me down the Main Street sidewalk. It seemed comfortable enough with my presence but we did practice social distancing as we passed and went on our separate ways.

When we got home we found that the three male cats had been in a scuffle. Two of them had injuries consistent with a cat fight but the third has a gash in his side which seems more like something a dog would do rather than a cat. We don’t think the three were fighting among themselves. They are used to being around each now and other than the occasional half-hearted swat they get along okay. It would be very unlikely the three would have gotten into knockdown, drag out with each other which would result in their injuries. Maybe a cat biker gang from the next street over rode in and started a ruckus.

There was a thundering silence at 1911 on a recent Sunday morning. Jill and her crew left for home the day before, which might have had something to do with that. Just when I had gotten used to the chaos, sort of, they up and leave. Their excuse was that they missed their father. They were forced indoors much of the time by the heat. It was nice we got some rain to green up the place just before they got here.

With Abigail running the mower and me the trimmer, we got the south end mowed. Abigail was even able to start on the north end so we should have no problem getting that knocked out before July is over. If we don’t get rain soon the place will stayed mowed. We won’t lack for things to do, though. If it doesn’t rain soon we will have to start watering trees.

There has been a purslane outbreak. The last one was in 2011-2012. Apparently when we get rain after it has been very dry, that motivates the purslane to take off. Since the grass is green I have been able to use the weed burner to good effect. The area east of the shop where we planted fruit trees when we first moved back in 2003, which subsequently got wiped out by the drought in 2011 and in the past there was a garden, is where the purslane is really bad. I was able to go over that area with the burner right after it rained and before we left for Red River. I went over it again after we got back and have mostly eradicated the stuff. It is reduced to the point we can pull what little there is when we see it. That goes for spots we encounter here and there around the place. The trick is to keep it from seeding itself. If it does, it will expand exponentially, though the seeds can lie dormant for years before the right conditions come along. Apparently goatheads like the same conditions because there is a lot of that around. I have sprayed it with broadleaf weed killer and I hope that is effective. Neither Weed Be Gone nor Roundup will touch purslane.

We celebrated birthday weekend early with a nice rain shower. As I mentioned, the place was getting pretty dry, to the point I felt we needed to start watering trees. Before could start that, though, we got caught under what the weather folk call a popup shower. About midafternoon it started raining hard and blowing. We had had another afternoon shower a couple of days previous that amounted to a quarter inch but this one tallied over an inch. The weather on TV showed a video of Olsen Park Boulevard running curb to curb with runoff. Grandmother Rockwell said when her family briefly homesteaded in the area that is now Olsen Park, what is now Olsen Park Boulevard was a dry wash so naturally it will flood when there is a downpour now that it is a paved-over dry wash. Victoria Todd, director of Wildcat Bluff, lives on the south side of I-40 about a half a mile as the crow flies from SA. She said they got a lot of rain that afternoon, too, but the Bluff got maybe seven drops. For now SA is well-watered. The Abster and I will be back to mowing and trimming again soon.

Joyce and I grilled on the 25th and invited the neighbors up to partake. Janice and Max were in town and they joined us as well. Kari and Rebecca provided the BD cake and Chris and I cracked open the bottle of Chiripada wine Joyce and I bought last fall when we passed through the Taos area on our way back from Yellowstone. Both the cake and the wine were exceptional.

We have begun the process of mowing and trimming the place again. The recent rains really inspired the grass, and weeds of course. These frequent, but not too frequent, rains, if they continue, will restore the grass to a thick, weed-retarding cover and make SA maintenance easier. Here’s hoping.