flyfisher51's Blog
flyfisher51's Blog
Last Post 19 hours Ago
Jul 4, 2008 | 9:44 AM PST
Tag: July 4th
I am trying something new. I am composing this on word and I will copy and paste it on my blog. If it works you will be able to read this. I type slow and normally will time out when doing my blog.
It is July 4th and I was going fishing today. We are having our first real rain since June 14th. We have had sprinkles but most of the rain goes north or south . It will occasionally evaporate right before it hits us. I will gladly trade fishing for a little rain. Accuweather says I have a 3 hour window this afternoon before we continue with thunderstorms. I fish 5 minutes away.
The night visitors finished the squirrel log. I am going to make a feeding station and put it up on the side of the shed where only the squirrels and chipmunks can get it. The chipmunks and squirrels eat the safflower seeds. I added hot sunflower seeds to the mix, that deters the squirrels, but it is a treat to the chipmunks. At the other feeder the week started with Cardinals bringing their new kids to the feeder for the hot sunflower seeds. The mother would fly to the feeder, get a seed , and fly back the pine and feed the baby. The female Downy woodpecker returned, the male showed up yesterday, and they were both out there today. I had a female Red Belly woodpecker yesterday. The Blue Jays are bringing their young to the feeder also. They look like their parents except are half the size. I still have my Black Capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse (only suddenly more numerous), House Finches, and Goldfinches coming to the feeder. I am ground feeding the doves. I have to take a birdhouse down. Part of the roof is off and on the ground. It was purchased and I just painted it. I think it is vacant. I believe the glue holding it together failed. I will replace or rebuild the roof, with nails.
The squash is doing well as far as growth, still no fruit. The tomatoes are also doing better. I saw Honey Bees yesterday. I haven’t seen them in two years. Maybee they’ll get around to the vegetable garden.
The flowers are moving along. They are not growing as fast as I would like, but I think I am impatient.
Hope everyone has a good Fourth of July . ------Gone Fishin'-----
Jun 29, 2008 | 5:57 PM PST
Tag: June 29th
The battle of the bird feeders has ended for now. I put hot sunflower seeds in the "squirrel proof" feeder to keep them out and added safflower seed to the other feeder. I am spreading sunflower seeds for the squirrels, the chipmunks, and the birds. I put out a compressed corn meal log for the gray and brown (with racing stripes) rodents only to have it eaten down 2/3rds over night. It was twisted to the side. The culprits were most likely raccoons but I will not rule out deer. Now I have to figure out how to keep critters out of my squirrel food.
The hops are almost all over 6 feet. The cascades are 10' long. I sprayed them today for whatever is eating the leaves. I hope it works. I finished mulching and have a nice seating area now.
The zucchini is doing great as far as growing foliage. I still do not have any fruit. I had to put the tomatoes in cages to get them back in the sunlight. I have tomatoes but they are still green. The spaghetti squash is growing vine and has a few flowers but it is more of a fall vegetable.
I fertilized yesterday. The flowers are just starting to pick up. We have ben short of rain the last two weeks, although we are still about 2 inches ahead for the month.
Hope everyone has a good week.!
Jun 22, 2008 | 5:28 PM PST
Tag: June 22nd
Back online.
Vegetable garden doing well. Zucchini plants are thriving, still no fruit. Have tomatoes, plants are still small. Winter squash is moving at its' own pace.
Brewed beer on Friday. Did an American Pale ale. I have ingredients for one more batch. Hopefully the batch after that will be with homegrown hops. That will not be before October.
Squirrels have breached the squirrel proof feeder, using the cone I installed to keep the chipmunks out. I moved the cone down, now I have to see if this works.
Jun 18, 2008 | 4:19 PM PST
Tag: June 18th
My computer crashed on May 27, so until we resolve this issue I will be offline. Although I am suffering from internet deprivation and have this huge empty spot in my life, I am using my time to garden, finish my small hop garden (the cascade hops are over 6feet long and I have 5 bines of northern brewer @ 4feet), fencing the veggie garden, FISHING, tying flies, canoeing, and home brewing. Iam using my youngest daughters' computer tonight. I hope everyones gardens are doing great. I hope to be back soon.
John
May 25, 2008 | 7:20 AM PST
Tag: Sunday May 25th
The Chipmonk is still hitting the squirrel proof bird feeder. He has chewed the opening he uses so he can fit his whole head in it. I am going to but a cone for blockage on the Shepards Hook and that will keep him from climbing up.
Did side garden yesterday. The soil was finally dry enough to work. I put in Dalias, Marigolds, Cosmos, Gazania, Ageratum, Lobelia, and Dianthus. I bought these at our farm market. I put in several Morning Glory Plants that I started. My wife gave me a Salvia Plant and Violeta that she bought. I also planted the English Mint in the back section.
I also put Morning Glory in the Hop Garden, in the empty section, and Strawflowers on the outside edges.
I transplanted my Rosemary into a larger pot. Potted 3 more small Rosemary Plants and a Lavander Plant. Put my Pot Marigolds, that I started, into 3 hanging baskets. I pulled out a two foot section of English Thyme in the Herb Garden and planted the Sweet Basil I started.
Today we have company and tomorrow I hope to get fishing.
May 23, 2008 | 5:55 PM PST
Tag: Friday May 23rd
When I put up the squirrel proof feeder I always wondered about the chipmonks. They have discovered the feeder and it does not close with their weight. They stuff their cheeks with the black sunflower seed and run back to their dens and stock up for lean times. Their success has inspired one squirrel to hang from the sheppards hook that holds the feeder and try a weightless raid on the feeder. I don't know if he has been successful yet.
May 18, 2008 | 8:42 AM PST
Tag: Sunday MAy 18th.
It has rained the last three days and it is supposed to rain this afternoon.I got to watch the chipmonks scoot around the yard this morning. I watched one run up and goose a squirrel. The squrrel jumped a foot in the air. I have to think it was on purpose. Someone appears to be moving into one of the birdhouses. I think it's a house finch. Couldn't get a good look.
Because of the rain I'll futz around the house today. Catch up on my chores. I hope everyone has a good week.
May 10, 2008 | 5:11 PM PST
Tag: Saturday May 10th.
Herbs are doing with the exception of coriander. I am going to transplant them to larger pots.
Hops have broken ground and are about an inch high. I will probably string twine this week. I have four Northern brewer bines and one cascade.
I put a new suet out on Tuesday night. It was gone by Wednesday night. It was "hot" suet so I new it was birds. I put my last block out today at 8am and witnessed why it went so fast. It was swarmed by Starlings, up to four at a time on the feeder and another three picking up crumbs on the ground. Some of the birds came to the feeder with worms dangling from their beaks. Was the suet adding to a gourmet meal? They intimidated a Red Bellied Woodpecker once, he finally got in later for a short period when the Starlings got spooked by me moving past the window. We went out at 11am and when we returned at 6pm the suet was all gone. I think the Starlings intimidated the smaller birds away from my sunflower seed feeder. I later whitnessed a tufted titmouse fly to the seed feeder and grab one seed, fly up to a branch and proceed to peck the seed open to eat it. He did this a half dozen times.
I hope to plant the vegitable garden tomorrow. The zuchinni is starting to suffer being in a confined pot and the spagetti squash is just going wild. I wanted to have a barrier ready first to keep the deer out but I don't think I can get that done tomorrow as it is Mothers Day. I'll spray deer repellant untill I can get the fence up. I bought three tomato plants. I don't start seeds early enough to do tomatoes.
The landscaper removed my crab apple on Thursday. It has been battling the local cedears for about 10 years. They are sharing Cedar-Apple Rust disease and it near kills the crab apple each year. I could never spray enough to defeat the problem. This year the tree wasn't healthy enough to bloom. Maybee the cedars will lose the desease now. It hasn't affected my apple tree yet. I hope the variety is immune.
May 2, 2008 | 11:59 PM PST
I started seeds indoorsback in early April. The 10-14 days germanation for Burpee Summer Squash is a lie. Three days. My small greenhouse is being taken over by summer and winter(5 days) squash. I am hoping this weekend is the end for frost. I will plant them if it is. I turned the garden over last week.
I built a trellis for my hops and planted them last week. No activity yet.
I am down to one suet feeder, with hot suet. The birds are finishing it in a week.
The chipmonks came back in late March. They have pulled the steel wool from the gap in the front porch concrete for their summer home.
My wife has cleaned up the north and east gardens. The bulbs are active in our south garden, it's my turn to do some cleaning up.
We hired a landscaper to trim back the Spruces and cut the lawn. This should give me more time for the gardens, fishing, and canoeing.
