Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Went out to the garden, and wound up pulling a whole section of grass between a couple of rows of potatoes... about 5 ft long, inbetween 3 rows... just grass that had grown up from where I had the roll of hay last year and it was pulling pretty easy so I kept going until I couldn't see what was grass and what was not. Got almost to the spiney stuff from the other end... so I did do something productive for about an hour. I will set the alarm to get up and going by 6 or so, tomorrow morning when it is "relatively cooler". Before the sun comes up over the trees and before the air starts to heat up more. The weather report is saying that 70 will be the low so it is not going to cool off much. Was practically dripping when I came in...
Looks like partly cloudy all morning, and then mostly cloudy with some "severe storms" with wind after 3 p.m.. I will take wind if it will bring some rain..... saying there could be some downpours... that's just fine.
If it is more clouds than sun, I might be able to get a few more things done tomorrow morning/mid-day. Depends on the heat index and the humidity...

Oh well, we will see. I would like to get in some of the green bean seeds. I see the wax (yellow) beans are just coming up through... saw a couple tonight. Need to look at the 2 spots I put the watermelon seeds in.

That's about it. Going to put some clothes in the washer... I go through alot with getting so sweaty... and I am NOT putting them back on... so lots of laundry... good thing is they dry so fast... It seems like by the time I get to the end of the basket full to hang, the first ones on the line are nearly dry!!!!

 

[farmerjan]

Wed morning. Already pushing 90 at 9 a.m. Only got down to 74 last night . Woke up during the night because I was hot so turned the ceiling fan up to high.... went back to sleep....
Sooooo, plans didn't go according to ... well, plans..... I never heard the alarm, but it was playing when I did get up at 7 or so... It was already getting hot, but there has been a decent breeze all morning so that has been a blessing for doing some stuff.

I got 2 short rows of green beans in, although the ground is getting "hard"... WHEN we get these showers coming through... notice not if but WHEN, I will put in 2 more rows. The rows are about 6-8 feet, so nice to pick some short rows, take a break, pick more... and they pollinate better when they are closer together and not looooong rows... and psychologically, you feel like you are getting somewhere when you get done with a couple rows that are shorter...then looking at the never ending long row.

Then I rolled up, moved, and rearranged where most of the hoses are and picked up and moved everything from around the outside edges of the garden .... boxes of rocks... these are gravel sized to about a pingpong ball size or so, of rocks I keep taking out of the garden as I plant etc... rocks that were piled at the ends of the rows as I planted so that I could pick up later...so got them picked up and into boxes for now... will get a couple buckets to take out there to get them moved.... got the netting moved so I can mow and then get it put up. It will go in the ground much better if it is not so rock hard.
The plans are now to go out and get the mower out and get the mowing all around the garden done .... scalp it without tearing up the mower...
The butternut squash are starting to put out runners, so want to mow the grass down short/short around where I have them to expand the area they can spread out... and then peel off some of the roll of hay and smother more of the grass to give them more room.
I forgot to look at where I planted the watermelon seeds... I see more of the yellow wax beans coming up this morning. Going to take the trap out too, since I forgot it last night when I got side tracked in the weeding at the other end. I also put a pair of gloves with the little box of seeds and stuff I take when I go out, so I can get going on those spiney weeds.... hopefully after we get some of the rain.

Radar looks like we will get cloudier as the morning goes on, and then some rain/showers/storms after 2 or 3... It is still pretty sunny out there now...

Took a break to come in and get a cold drink and ate a banana... Then will go out for some mowing...just some rearranging of the "plans for the day"....

 

[farmerjan]

It was hotter than the "hinges of he//" as my father used to say... whatever that meant... and I did not stay out in it as it was sweltering. Finally made some lunch and then it got cloudy... About 1:30-2, I went out. Got the car windows all closed, and moved the ranger pu so I could get in and out of the carport easier with the mower. Started doing some mowing, got a few passes made and was maneuvering around the couple of trees and stuff, doing some of the tall stuff that I had moved the netting away from ... and it started to sprinkle. I made another round and all of a sudden it got serious... so I drove it as fast as it would go to the carport and got the tarp over it as the rain was blowing everywhere. I got stuck in the carport as it poured down. I was wet but didn't really want to be soaking dripping wet, so stayed there. It started to let up, then poured a second time for a couple minutes. Then it blew through, and the sun came out bright, and the sky was blue.... CRAZY....

So, I am going to go back out in just a bit after the sun dries off the surface of the grass.... and try to mow some more. Would like to get more of it done along the edges of the garden, which takes a little time to carefully go along it... and I have to make another pass then can move the netting over and do the overgrown grass all along there... Radar is showing another batch coming through in an hour or so... looks to be more substantial... I hope so. With the breeze blowing, I figure another 15-20 minutes ought to be dried enough to be able to mow more... since I am mowing it down low... it will be wetter down near the ground.
Temps dropped from 91 down to 86... and the breeze was nice but the air is still "hot"...

 

[farmerjan]

Well, we drew the short straw... the rest of the showers/rain/t-storms stayed to the east of us. The other side of the Blue Ridge mtns... said Charlottesville and east towards Louisa and south of there got some severe lightning and downpours... They were moving fast so did not expect any flooding... gee whiz, they could have shared it with us a little bit... Oh well, I guess they needed it too... but they have gotten a couple that missed us.....
We got barely .15 of an inch in that quick rain that I got caught in when mowing earlier... I really really thought we would get another shower/storm....
Funny thing was the temps went up... we hit 92 and just north of here the feels like temps were right at 100... it felt like it here with the humidity.

So, I did go back out after the grass dried out a little. Got a bunch of mowing done around the garden, moved the netting around and got it all laid out, and all that. I hooked up the cart and pulled it over to put on some more junk that needs to go to the dumpster... old plastic buckets with cracked/broken bottoms... just stuff....will load on the ranger to go to the dumpster. Then I went over and started to set the fence up... I look up and here comes a groundhog from the lower side of the Christmas tree property... there is a real low spot and I guess it has a hole/holes as it was hanging around there...looks like it would be a small cave set into a hill there... It just watched me.... REALLY.... so then I go to turn around and there are 3 DA@# DEER... right near the property line... watching me put up the fence... one took several steps towards me and the netting/fence and then turned around and walked over near their driveway that comes in off the road... and just wandered around and were eating grass and stuff... Like they could care less about me being out there. 1 buck with velvet antlers growing, and looked like 2 does.... I found that they have eaten off nearly all the purple beans that were just starting to flower... and the cucumbers that were just reaching the cattle panel to climb it... DA@# them all anyway....It's not like there isn't plenty of grass and all sorts of other stuff out there.... NATURAL DEER and GROUNDHOG FOOD.....
So, the fence is partly up... starting about 1/2 way across the front near the road, where I wanted to start it for a "gate" to go in, down the side along the Christmas tree side, where the big pines are up in the corner...and along the side that is next to my "hay field".... Need to get the side that faces the house and around the corner to the "gate" section.... TOMORROW....
I also set the trap with some watermelon pieces that I cut off the ends of the round watermelon I got... right on the outside of the netting near where the purple beans, and the cucumber plants are eaten off. I hope I catch the s.o.b. but believe me, I will be taking the .22 with me to the garden now...

I was going to do some weeding until I started getting the fence up, so that will wait for tomorrow... the forecast if for it to be "cooler"... upper 80's instead of mid 90's. Just found out that the average HIGH temp for us this time of year, is 88.... we have been running about 5-10 degrees hotter than normal for the whole month of June...
Maybe I can get up earlier tomorrow and get out there to get more done, before the sun comes over the trees... Would like to get more mulch down while there are no weeds in the rest of the potato rows I just got planted... and then get on those spiney weeds. Plus get a couple more rows of the green beans planted since the ground is a little softer.... We'll see... I should not have to deal with the deer in the morning... and they may stay a little further away for a day or 2 since I have "changed" their "normal " .... and if I am lucky that ground hog will not be a problem for very much longer...

Need to call a couple of farms for testing for next week... forecast is still hot... POSSIBLE chance of some rain/storms this Friday... we really really need a good soaking with these high temps drying it out so fast. The end of last week's 1.1 inch total was a godsend... we could sure use another blessing like that. Please...

There are clothes in the washer that I will hang out tomorrow and do another load too, since it is going to be so nice out. Amazing how many clothes 1 person can get dirty and sweaty....

Going to go to bed here shortly....

 

[SageHill]

deer

 

[Baymule]

I’m so glad that you got some rain! Of course then you get the steam bath when the sun comes out. I hear you on the laundry. I have a bunch of sweaty dirty clothes from this past week. I usually change clothes twice or three times a day. I’ve been draping them over the bathtub to dry so they wouldn’t sour and stink. Got the first load in the washer now. YEE-HAW!!!! I have electricity!

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm getting rain -- totally not in forecast 2 days ago . So maybe you'll get some there

Yeah went from .01 estimate to getting .17 before I got up...overcast, muggy & now saying .75 more later today. . Who knows.

 

[farmerjan]

How about you just get out the heavy duty fan and blow those rain clouds over to the west, with enough UMPH to get them over the Blue Ridge Mtns and into the Shenandoah Valley @Mini Horses ....

The radar shows it all sticking over by you along the coast. Nothing here today, and just hoping that the front will push west enough, that is stalling out over the coastal areas, tomorrow, so that we get some showers from it. Possible also for Sat morning... then the temps rise and we are looking at the potential for temps to hit 100 Mon and Tuesday....

Had a good morning. Didn't get out as soon as I wanted but... got more hay down in the garden between the potato rows... about 2/3 to 3/4 done so getting closer to the end. Then took the weed eater and scalped the ground in places I didn't get close enough with the mower... and got the butternut squash and cantaloupe section mulched out a bit further around the plants... so they can spread. They are starting to put out runners now.
This is where I want to plant the asparagus next year, and make a permanent bed for them. I had run the mower down along the patch of tiger lily plants that the previous owners' mom used to like to look at. I want to cut them all off... and eventually get all the "pretty" , different lily plants I have, planted in there. These "tiger lily" plants are the kind that grow wild every where and they bloom for a day or 2 and that is it. Problem is that they are getting "played out" and maybe a quarter of them had blooms this year...lots of weeds coming up in the patch too. The "bed" needs regenerating... and I may keep a couple on one end, but I want them cleaned out and some more "ornamental" type plants in there. I can intersperse with irises that I have also...maybe planting them along the edge on one side.....some of the irises are "rebloomers" so will get some more blooms this fall. Maybe put some of the peonies in there and just make a nice spring blooming garden there... Then the 2 "beds" will be next to each other and it might make taking care of them easier... will leave at least a mower's width, plus a little, between them, so I can make 2 passes down and keep the grass cut between them.

Mulched between the green beans I planted the other day also. Then got the weed eating around the dogwood tree and all along the garden near the rose-a-sharon tree all weed eated. Came up along the deck and did some there until I ran the batteries down. Unfortunately, I had not put the other 2 batteries on charge so all 4 are dead. Put 2 on the chargers, and will swap them out later today.

The batteries on the mower were also run out...late yesterday; so put 4 on charge yesterday, and put the 2 - 6 amp ones in the mower to pull the cart around and get all the stuff I wanted in the cart to bring to the house so I can load it in the truck to go to the dumpster. Charged the last 2 last night, so they are all ready to go back in the mower and then will top off the 2 other ones again.

Didn't take the phone out with me, and of course DS had been trying to get me... seems he decided to go get the one bull, and switch them out like we are trying to do...rotate them to different pastures so that if one should not be doing his job, those cows do not wind up open.... and the cows got out and went down the driveway out at that pasture and he had a he// of a time... they got in the hayfield and down out on the road... it was a circus I guess... But he hadn't said anything about doing it this morning, and I get tired of taking the phone out in my pocket at the garden... this pair of jeans has crappy "shallow" pockets and everything falls out of them... not the brand I prefer, but one of the cheap pairs that I got to wear around for crappy work.
So then he got the 3 cows and the "new bull" to go out to this pasture, in at the barn, and didn't have any blackleg to give the calves shots. One is a wild little witch; all 3 calves are heifers... He had put the bull in there the other day in anticipation of moving them, then they didn't come down in the alley, so left them. They came down and were right near the gate so he got them across the driveway.

On top of that , he went to the pasture with the open cows that we put out with their big calves, and got the biggest calves off them, and got that bull out also. So... he moved the bull from "augusta co" to Wimpy's (where the big calves were..), had the bull in at wimpys before he turned out the other one... brought the calves and the "Black Powder" bull (that was his name on his ear tag... we got him through a farm dispersal 7-8 years ago I guess).... back to doug's farm. Black Powder gets a rest, he has some age on him now.... Put the 16 calves in the barn lot, because he had already gotten the 3 cows and the "Limi" bull in the barn. Got the 3 calves in the chute, and then the calves he just brought back, in one side of the barn, playing musical "chairs" to move them from one pen and one side to the other... gave blackleg shots to the calves... which is what the last phone call was about at 10, because he needed to know if I had any black leg at the house for shots...He was out at the barn.... So I took it to the barn and heard all about his morning..... then we loaded the 3 cows/calves and the bull, and ran another cow that has not calved yet, back across the driveway to the field with the rest of the close to calving pregnant cows (and the 2 surprise calves that he saw the other day)..... I went down the long alley that leads up to the other gate, and let that cow up in there... she will find the other 5-6 cows that are in there.... and then DS took the 3 cows/calves and the bull to the "augusta county" pasture so there is a "new/different bull " in there.

He did say that the 3 cow/calf pairs at the other pasture, that were out the other day, and there were all the trees down along the fence line... are being a pain. The calves are out nearly everyday... so he is going to move the panels up there, and they are coming out. They are "to sell" cows, and I think they just need to go. There is the one heifer I would like to keep off my one cow,,, the other one has a crappy calf, and his cow is old and it is a steer calf so they will both get sold too. All 3 are open, and with the way prices are, they need to leave. Don't know if he is going to wean off his calf and see if it will match something else here... My one steer calf is just nothing special and needs to just go.
If the calves are that much of a problem, no sense of dealing with them. Once they find a way out, they will keep on doing it. They will walk right through the high tensile wire with no electric on it... it becomes a game to them and they are out in the road constantly.
We might take some other heifers there since there is still quite a bit of grass... we usually keep 4-6 cows and their calves there, so the 3 have not hurt the grass even with the dry conditions. But I want those couple of my cows gone... the one I would have kept and put back with a bull, but she can be a pita to keep in also... and I am DONE with pita cows. ESPECIALLY with the cull cow prices right now...

So, I am in the house for some late lunch. Temp staying right around 88-89... a nice relief from the past few days... No humidity either, so other than it is hot out in the direct sun, it is actually nice out for July.

One load of laundry hung and another load in the washer... will try to get that hung later on... it is jeans so they are soaking from all the testing.... cow manure/iodine/ smells/stains.... plus my sweaty self.... I need to get one more load of socks done also. I have been "culling out" some socks... getting some holes and such... guess it is time to go buy some more....

Tomorrow DS is taking the cow and 3 feeder calves of Fred's to the sale in the morning...and maybe our one bull if he has gotten him up to the barn.... and then we have to go to his milogram test.....

Stomach is revolting.. need to eat...

 

[farmerjan]

Went out and spent time in the garden, this evening; gloves and all, pulling the spiney weeds. Got about about half of the patch done I think. It was cooler this evening... and tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy with 40% chance of showers all day... At least if it does rain some, it will settle the hay I have down already... and make the ground softer to finish getting these spiney weeds out.
The volunteer dill is getting up to making heads... it smells good too.

DS said he may not take Fred's animals tomorrow with having to go to the dr appt for that testing. He said he is not feeling great this evening...guess he will see how he feels in the morning. He did say Fred's are coming in with our animals.. there are 3 cows of ours, in there and the rest are weaned calves from the pastures from a couple weeks ago... the ones he just brought home this morning, will stay separate for a couple days in the "better fenced" lot... until they get over their "missing momma" hollering. But at least Fred's animals are coming right in to feed in the bunk so it will make it easier to get them separated out to load them.

I hope he decides to take Fred's and quits feeding them... get them gone... but he has not gotten our bull to the barn yet... and we have to go get those 3 cows/calves from the other place where the calves won't stay in.

Hit 91 today, but there was a breeze and no humidity, so not miserable.. Tomorrow might only hit 80, all depending on the clouds/rain situation... hoping we get some of the rain. We will see.

 

[Mini Horses]

I am sorry it rained here, not there... We both know it's not under our control. Hope it rains there ALL DAY!! It did here yesterday, more at night. Overcast now. You have mountains that break things up. But I have ocean that attract hurricanes. Local farmers lucky enough to have corn tasseling are thrilled with this rain. Crop saved.

DS is having a real go at health issues. No doubt in my mind that the stress surrounding the last few months have added to it. But there may be more damage issues developing from the original injury -- after all this time. You know how a body changes.

Have a great rainy day!!