Not long after we moved to our current house 37 years ago, Husband and I planted some roses. At that time, hybrid tea roses were advertised as only hardy as far north as Zone 4. We knew we were pushing it a little given how close we were to Zone 3, but we put in about four hybrid tea roses on the south side of the house.
We did all the things that you are supposed to do regarding tea roses, putting cones on them in the fall to protect them from the cold, pruning appropriately, etc. They flourished. One in particular was our favorite, named Taboo.
We loved its intense color. About 20 years ago we even stopped putting cones on in the fall, and yet those roses on the south side of the house returned year after year. Within the last 5 years, though, most of them seemed to age out and die, but Taboo kept going until last summer, when all there were in its spot were dead branches.
Imagine my delight this weekend when I encountered some new rose shoots just a few inches away from the dead Taboo stems while I was weeding the south flowerbed. They look healthy. I hope we can have one last Taboo blossom before we move. Hybrid tea roses are now advertised as only hardy through Zone 5, and I don’t know how we did it, but what a lovely surprise!
Any pleasant surprises for you this last month, gardening or otherwise? What have you succeeded doing even when the odds were againt you?
When YA and I go to the zoo, we normally follow a particular pattern of what we see in what order. I’m not sure why, it’s just a habit we’ve fallen into.
There’s been a lot going at the new zoo (Minnesota Zoo – it will always be the new zoo to me – unless a third zoo opens up in Twin Cities – then I’ll have to revise). There is the sea lion show which has been getting good reviews, new Bennett’s wallabies from Australia, a new Black Water Monitor, the new Red Panda / Crane exhibit, the summer Llama Trek AND the bird show has moved outside for the summer.
You can’t just show up at the zoo and get in these days – you have to get reservations ahead of time (this is a post-covid thing) and you also have to get reservations for the sea lions and the bird show. No charge for these. For the sea lion show if there are still seats at 5 minutes before the show, you can get in without the reservation. For the bird show, YA and I were there fairly early to get the seats we wanted and to settle in and drink the pop we had just bought – if they were asking folks to show their reservations, we didn’t see it.
SO… with all this going on, we had an agenda and as the day went on, we adjusted as needed. First Tropics. This took longer than usual because the tapir had just gotten out of its pool and decided to do zoomies:
I’ve hardly ever seen a tapir walking around much less running. Clearly nobody else had either, judging by the crowd it was drawing. Even the two zoo staff were filming!
We had time to do the Minnesota trail before we headed over to the sea lion show. YA got some good photos of the coyote and the mountain lion.
Sea lion show was great and so was Llama Trek. It was almost as if the llamas had all had a “Photo Op” seminar over the winter:
The tiger waterfall was turned on and the bird show was very nice, ending with a flurry of beautiful macaws free-flying into and out of the exhibit. We got to everything we wanted and at the right times. Fabulous day at the zoo!
When was the last time you had to keep to a schedule?
Happy day after July 4! Everyone still got all their fingers and toes?
Corn and oats both made knee high.
It’s been a busy week for a lot of different reasons. Monday morning I got a call from the co-op asking if I could pull out a stuck sprayer. No, I couldn’t, I was about to head to town with daughter and I also had an appointment. They called neighbor Dave, and he ran right over. I was pretty sure where the sprayer was stuck: a field that was wet when I tried to plant it a month ago, and that was before we got 6 inches of rain. I talked to Dave later and he said all he did was get the sprayer more stuck. The sprayer driver had gotten out and looked before he drove into the field, and Dave agreed, it was dry on the top. But you broke through that crust and it was muck underneath. And he didn’t get more than about 10’ into the field. Heck, I didn’t even think that was the wet spot.
Eventually a tow truck was called to pull the sprayer out. This was one of those fields that neighbor K wanted for a deer food plot and it’s the first time it had been worked up in 20 some years. I kept telling the neighbor there’s a reason this field was put in the Conservation Reserve Program back then, but I don’t think he’s figured it out yet.
Sunday afternoon Kelly and I had our usual Sunday Farm Gator Tour and we also found a wet spot in a field. Didn’t get stuck but close enough.
When I came home Monday afternoon there was another drone at the farm. neighbors Dave and Parm, who rent our pasture hired a company that uses a drone to spray for weeds. They used the drone to spray the wonderful crop of thistles. It was really pretty cool to watch. The pasture is so rugged, with so many gullies, and steep slopes, that you can’t drive it with a tractor and mower, so this was an absolutely perfect application for a drone. Talking with the operators, the drone will cost you about $25,000. They also have $75,000 in the spray trailer, complete with a 30 kW generator on the front, landing pad on the top, room for a second drone, chargers, chemical storage tanks, etc. Maybe we could all chip in and buy one. Then what should we do with it? Oh, you also need the drone operator’s license, which is fairly involved, and a license from the federal government allowing you to spray chemicals from a drone.
I did cut the grass on the sides of our road, and the one small field here in the front of the shed. I put the exhaust pipe and the new muffler on the 630 and used that for raking. That thing is as loud as ever. I never really thought about it before but evidently John Deere two cylinder tractors were not known for being quiet. I got it baled Wednesday afternoon. The baler worked perfect, never missing a knot on the bales, and my camera to watch the knots, is still slick to have.
Kelly’s tractor and the smoking wire I still haven’t completely diagnosed but I’ve ruled out a few things.I replaced a couple wires and I’ve disconnected both the rear light and the front lights and the wire still gets hot, so now I’m not sure if it’s the switch, or there’s something else wrong. I don’t really know what it could be, and adding to the mystery is a blown fuse on the dash. And if the fuse is blown, why is anything still working?
There’s a couple different places I order old tractor parts from. Lind Brothers included a bag of microwave popcorn in their box. It was really good popcorn. Steiner Tractor Parts always puts “Cow Tails“ candy in with their parts. When I order theatre stuff from Monkey Wrench, they throw a handful of candy in their boxes, usually something banana shaped. And Sweetwater, of course has to put candy in their box too. Can’t have a name like that and not include candy.
The padawans and I spent three days working on summer remodeling projects at the Rochester Repertory theatre. One day I painted the bottom of the balcony black.
We are adding a few more hanging racks in the costume room, and trying to remove an old boiler that was original to the building,1959. I asked a few plumbers how to get it out and they’d all groan and roll their eyes and say get a sledgehammer and a couple young men. Every day I bring a new Implement of destruction, we are working on it, and it’s slow going.
The big job will be insulating a north wall which is just concrete block. I have two by fours and blue insulation board and I’m bidding on a power actuated nail gun on an auction. It’s a “hammer“, that uses a 22 blank as a charge to drive a nail. I’ve seen them, never used one. Sounds like fun. I think that would be faster than trying to use cement screws. This is the auction that I took that old cultivator, running gear, and garage door to be sold. As of Friday the cultivator is at $41, the wagon is at $6 and the garage door at $7. Drifting off to sleep one night I bid on a really nice 26 foot cabin cruiser, and a mower. I need to not open the auction page as I’m falling asleep. Thankfully I was outbid on both within a day or two. The boat was gonna be a steel at $6! Kelly said I should at least go up to $10. It jumped to $96. We thought we could make a B&B out of it. Park it out on the lawn.
REMEMBER CRACKER JACK’S? WHAT SURPRISES WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET IN A BOX?
Yesterday YA had the day off so we decided to tackle a couple of outdoor projects first thing in the morning before the heat took over the day.
I started with putting some paving stones on the south side of the house under the water spigot. The pavers were left over from when we expanded the little patio two summers ago so I thought I’d put them to better use than just being stacked up in the garage. Unfortunately the ants didn’t think this was a grand project and it took a bit for them to give it up and I did get a couple of good bites out of it before they moved their party elsewhere.
By the time I was done, YA had made a good start on edging our northern “garden” with bricks that we inherited from our neighbor who just moved. She asked which of the jobs I wanted – digging or placing the bricks. While placing the bricks seemed like the easier of the two jobs, I know my daughter well. If I placed the bricks, she would eventually come behind me and “fix” what I had done. I admit freely that she is more patient with a lot of home projects and therefore does an overall better job. This made it an easy choice – I dug and let her place the bricks. It was a great decision. As I dug I watched her running her hands along the bricks to make sure they were even and using her finger as a measurement tool to make sure they were all the same depth. I would not have thought to do either of these steps.
We didn’t finish yesterday. It got a bit too steamy so we knocked off about half way through and vowed to finish in a couple days when it’s a bit cooler. Looks good so far.
My guess is that I’m more aware of post offices and postal boxes than the average person. As you know, cards are my thing and I figure I send out over 400 cards a year: I spend a lot of time stopping by post offices during my regular errands.
About a month ago, I noticed that one of the two postal boxes outside my Nicollet post office was gone. I didn’t give it much thought. Then two weeks ago, I swung by the Edina post office. For years they’ve had a “go around” that had four postal boxes – now there is just one. I still didn’t think too much about it. Then as I was going to the drive-through at the Richfield branch last week, there was a massive truck in the parking lot and it looked like one of the six boxes was being hoisted onto the truck by two big burly guys. Shy isn’t a word that applies to me so I walked over to ask them what they were doing. They were really nice and told me that they were removing postal boxes as part of the “reduce redundancy” strategy that the USPS is going through. They said they were taking five of the six boxes; luckily it’s the drive-by box that remains. Phew!
I couldn’t stop thinking about it though and had to do some math (and a bit of research). I’m being pretty conservative with these numbers, also rounding down. 31,000 post offices in the U.S. Wild speculation that the average number of boxes per post office is two. Then I’m figuring 3 minutes per box to unlock it, get the mail out and re-lock it. Times 2 boxes per post office, times 4 for how many times a day they clean out the box. Times 6 days a week brings us to 4,464,000 minutes or 74,400 hours per week, 3,868,800 hours per year. The average postal workers wage is $25,000 which means we’re talking $96,720,000 to keep these postal boxes cleaned out. So by removing all the extras, USPS is saving $48,360,000 – $1,560 per box. Sounds like impressive savings except for one thing. It was a massive truck taking away the boxes. And if I had to guess, those two big burley guys make more money than the average postal worker. I can’t imagine how much money is really being saved in the end, but my guess is that it’s significantly less than $48 million. I suppose if you add up future years it will eventually be worthwhile. Here’s the actual math if you want to scrutinize my work:
On the phone with my friend Pat last week, she reminded me of the following story.
This was about 20 years ago. Cell phones were a thing but not the ubiquitous kind of thing they are today. In a department meeting, Lydia’s cell phone (names changed to protect the innocent) buzzed in her pocket. When she looked at it, she got a funny look and zipped out of the meeting room. About 5 minutes later she came back in and announced to all of us that she needed to leave. I don’t know about anybody else, but all kinds of dark thoughts jumped right into my brain. Sick kids, husband in car accident, mother fallen down steps… that kind of thing.
Apparently her dog had gotten out of the yard and wandered several blocks over to a local gas/convenience store. He headed straight over to the bread section and proceeded to help himself to a couple packages of hot dog buns before anybody noticed him. Luckily Lydia and her family had a chip so the local animal control was able to get hold of them pretty quickly.
After she rushed off, the meeting broke down completely. Apparently we had all thought the same kinds of horrible scenarios and were really relieved that it was a funny story instead of a tragic one.
The next morning when Lydia showed up, her desk was covered in packages of hot dog buns. I can’t say whose idea that was, but I do remember who did the leg work with a handful of collected cash!
YA works in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Occasionally she also goes into the office on a Monday or a Friday. When she has a big project, she likes the quiet of the office as well as the big screen on her desk.
There is a fairly complicated (from my perspective) process for her to get ready for work. During her junior high and high school years she started wearing make-up and taught herself how to apply it. As part of her beauty routine, she has a massive number of products, from masks to foundations to mascara to eyelash curlers to lip glosses. Massive. She can sit at her make-up table for upwards of 30 minutes some mornings. It’s exhausting just to watch.
She learned none of this from me. Not one smidge. I think I’ve told the story of when I quit wearing make-up; it was well before she was born. Even when I DID put on make-up it wasn’t anything as robust as YA’s routine.
Every now and then, when she is in a rush (usually when we’re going some place on the weekend or if she’s gotten up really late), she can cut the time down but very very rarely goes without. On work mornings, I don’t usually pay that much attention. I have my morning stuff to do (feed animals, make bed, eat breakfast, gym, errands, etc.)
Last week on Friday, she came rushing down and out the door before I even had a chance to look up. After 15 minutes, our ring doorbell dinged my phone, which was in my pocket and as I was opening the app, I heard the front door open and YA’s footsteps running up the stairs. She didn’t come down for almost 10 minutes, way too long for a forgotten key card or computer mouse. When she was headed for the front door I asked what she had forgotten and she replied “I forgot to put on make-up.”
I’m still thinking about this. First off, how do you forget something that is so much a part of your every single day routine. And mostly, why get 10 minutes from the house (about half way to the office) and turn back to put on make-up when it’s Friday and there’s next to no one in the office? Her answer when I asked her later was “just in case”. When I asked “just in case what?” all I got was a shoulder shrug.
So, yet one more instance of my certainty that I live with an alien from another world!
Do you have anything that is an every-single-day-no-matter-what routines?
Yesterday we left the house at 7:15 am to drive to Medora. Our church bell choir had a gig at the Congregational Church there. Medora is a little town just outside Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the heart of the ND Badlands. It is full of tourists and tourist attractions. The church only has services in the summer now, with guest pastors each week. It is a small, one room church with about 20 pews.
On the way there, we saw a couple of Forest Service trucks on the side of the road near a deep ditch. There were about four guys there, along with a big bison. We gathered that the bison had somehow got through the very tall fence that marks the park boundary along the interstate. The fence is presumably high enough to keep the elk and bison from jumping over. I wouldn’t want to have the task of herding an angry bison, intent on roaming, back through the fence. They are fierce creatures. I don’t understand why any sane person would think they could walk up to one and pet it.
We encountered another wild creature once we made it to the church. The preacher for the day was a well-known local Lutheran minister, retired now, with a reputation for being a real character. The mild mannered librarian in our bell choir muttered “Oh s##t” when she saw his name in the bulletin. She has known him since she was a young adult and had him as a pastor for a while. He is a kind, gracious and well-intentiond man, but one who is all over the place in terms of his sermons and impulsive changes to the liturgy. He would be as hard to manage at a church council meeting as that bison in the ditch would be. He named several people sitting in the pews told and anecdotes about them and their familes (including the librarian) from years past, somehow connecting them to the theme of his sermon. His sermon didn’t run over the time allotted, though, and he only digressed from the order of service in the bulletin a couple of times.
On the drive home we saw the forest service trucks along with a Sherriff’s Department truck a mile or so west of where we saw them on the way to Medora. I guess the bison was still on the move. I hope they can get it back through the fence without anyone getting hurt.
What up close and personal experiences have you had with wildlife? Who are some characters in your life?
I was watching Luna’s ears the other day and got to thinking about how dog ears can move so much considering how thin they are. Down the rabbit hole I went. Dogs have eighteen muscles in their ears, humans have six. They are born deaf as the ear is sealed up for about the first three weeks. You can get dog hearing aids! I’ve always loved how soft a dogs ears are.
I was headed to Plainview the other day, updating and getting quotes for a new farm insurance policy, and I had time so I took one of the scenic back roads. I don’t know if y’all have noticed these silhouette Bigfoot cut outs that are becoming popular. I see a few here and there, and I drove past one farm that must have a dozen of them. I frequently pass one farm that has one painted red, white, and blue, but for sheer volume this place was the winner. They have one life-size with two child size ones tagging behind, then there’s one in the yard carrying a couple of steel wheels, there’s another one by the shed, and there was a few others in the pasture. I guess we’ve just never got the appeal of yard art like that. We never had the bent over butts, although we have done the pink flamingos, and I do have an old road grader parked in the lawn now and mostly it’s just a pain to mow around. A friend of mine said he liked to put art in his yard because he didn’t have to mow the grass under it, which is a worthy point, but every couple of months I have to move this road grader to a different spot or the weeds get so bad you can’t see it amongst the weeds. I know we could do some landscaping around it. ‘It’s on my list’ ™.
The oats is heading out, a little area went down one day last week. And with the storms this week, more went down. It’s still green so that’s a little unusual.
Looks like some of the peas have started to be harvested by the canning companies. They sure make a mess when it’s raining like this. The canning companies don’t stop for weather. As I understand it, they have a schedule and they need to stick to it. Again, it’s all about those Growing Degree Units. Stop for the rain and they’re behind next week. We’re about 160 GDU’s over normal.
We got .8” of rain Wednesday, then 2.4” on Thursday. That makes over 6” in June. Ok, that’s enough, FOR NOW- I say that carefully. Down in our valley we can’t tell how windy it is. There have been two tornado warnings for us this week. Course I was standing in the machine shed door watching the rain come down. Ever been in a steel building while it’s raining? Rain on a steel roof is so loud you can’t talk over it. And it sounds much worse inside than it really is outside. But in my new shop, it’s quiet and cool and nice. Except for a few leaks… We’ve caulked all the roof nail heads, sealed all the joints and the sides and roof peak, and I still get drips.
After the first day of all three padawans, I split them up the next week. I’m better with them one at a time. Although it depends what’s happening. Next week we start some summer projects at the theater and I may be able to use all three.
We cut brush down around the barn and got rained out and did a bunch of stuff in the machine shed. Still working on that ‘to-do’ list. Finished a few odds and ends in the shop. Got plywood on the new pallet racking, took the battery out of the Farmall ‘C’ and found the smoking wire on that, literally. Working on the 630 and the new air cleaner, muffler, fan belt, radiator hose, throttle plate, ect. The four bolts that hold the muffler are all corroded (they’ve been there since 1959) and I believe I’m gonna have to drill and tap new holes for those. I did take the tractor down and power wash it.
Ordered parts for both tractors. And I thought before I get too far into this I better call a friend of mine that works on old tractors and get his opinion. He’ll be out one of these days.
The corn is a good knee high and just about canopied, meaning there shouldn’t be any weed pressure after this. And I can’t see the water standing between the rows now. The soybeans, the ones the deer haven’t eaten, yet, are looking good. They’re about 8 inches tall, but when you look across the field it looks very ragged and uneven and upon closer inspection it’s because the dang deer keep eating them right down to the ground. It’s so darn frustrating! The weed pressure is getting pretty bad on the beans and I know they need to be sprayed, and the co-op knows it, too. We need a little less rain and wind so they can do that.
We’ve let the little chicks out and they’re very happy about that.
WHAT PARTS OF YOUR BODY CAN YOU WIGGLE INTENTIONALLY?
I drive past the local college every day on my way to work. Yesterday I noticed quite a few school buses in the college parking lot, signs that the week long summer high school football camp was starting.
My agency used to be housed in a former dorm at the college, and the building overlooked the college practice field. We could watch and hear the 100 or so boys as they practiced their tackles and formations. I can’t imagine what the dorms and food service were like all week.
Our children attended music camps and Concordia Language Villages in the summer. We especially liked the Suzuki Camp our daughter attended in Montreal for a couple of summers, with an added benefit that we attended with her. I usually attended church camp a kid. Husband was a camp counselor for a couple of summers at a church camp near his home in Wisconsin. One highlight was the night the Grade 5 and Grade 6 boys in his cabin caught about 50 frogs and let them loose in the cabin. Ah, Youth!
Did you attend summer camp? How did you spend your time in the summer when you were a kid?
Trail Baboon 