Sunday Reading - What a Crummy Day

 

I stopped blogging a few years back mostly because it looked like a good time to take a break with Trump in office as I could relax a bit but also because the daily maintenance and upkeep had finally grown to the point that it was eating up most of my time just to keep up with it..

It is hard to imagine the terrible shape this place was in when I first started fixing and cleaning it back up. I believe at the time I started with a shovel, a rake and a dream and that was about it. 

A saga I might revisit later on because even today I find it hard to believe how much work I have put into this place over the last 20 to 25 years and a few major projects that still need tackled even today. I am sure you will hear about it when I revisit it/them.

But today I am gonna whine about this specific point in time. 

Ever since the high 100+ degree heat broke The Small Hold has been getting pretty consistent rain. In late August. Unheard of. This means I been mowing like it is April or May again... In late August. I am not sure my Potato crop in the hay are surviving the moisture either, again another story. 

By this point I should be facing limited mowing and the beginning of a slower period of vehicle deliveries at work as the first round of the new models are gotten in by August...Usually.

Not this Messed up year apparently. 

I checked the forecast for the weekend and planned on getting my mowing done Saturday along with what I hope will be my last round of spot spraying for Buffalo Burr. Then I would mow the patches of Meadow Buttercup with a finish mower rather than a brush hog as the hog doesn't get low enough. The forecast called for scattered storms Saturday night late and then maybe more Sunday night also late so I would have a buffer time on Sunday to finish up if I needed.

Friday Night I went out and did get one field of Butter cup mowed and went for my evening Garden chores when it started raining. It stopped right after the Sun went down of course but at least I was a bit ahead on my to-do list even if a bit behind on the garden upkeep. One field done anyway.

Saturday morning I get a call because an undocumented delivery of F-150 Lightenings just happened to show up in the middle of the night and a couple of very important locally influential customers had been waiting months (of course) so they need them stocked in immediately. There went my Saturday morning. Which then became afternoon as the rain started falling (early) off and on again. 

As I was stuck inside I got to hear the Wife's conversation with a friend of hers about how I had promised to get rid of the wasp nest in the chicken coop for her but had not done it yet. Oh ya it is that time of year again isn't it?

Late August and September is when two things happen around the Small Hold. We get invaded by waves of Black Crickets and the wasp (and mud dubbers) begin making nests everywhere. The chickens do a fine job of defeating the cricket waves, mud dubbers don't bother me, but wasps nests? Well they are a problem. Especially since the Wife refuses to let me use any sort of spray in the chicken coop. 

So this morning it is already raining. Great. I think I can remove the wasp nest between rain storms and at least get something accomplished today. Once I got out there and open up the coop I figure out what she is trying to tell me. 

I swear the English language was NEVER designed for effected communication between Men and Women AT ALL!!! Someone should fix that.

I finally find the nest. Way up inside the coop wedged between a board and the roof crawling with the normal wasp sized yellow banded wasps. At least that was a bit of luck it wasn't the bigger meaner yellow stripped ones. After I finally found a sufficiently old three pronged hay fork I can bend around to fit and then contort myself on the ground looking up through the side door on the coop I can just manage to get it all positioned right to knock the wasp nest down.

I had closed the access ramp door to make sure there were no chickens inside the coop and my plan was to knock the nest down, vacate the area quickly until the wasps settle down and then go back and get the nest off the coop floor and dispose of it. That way no insect spray needed and no reason I need to listen to the Wife complain how it is not good for the chicken's health to use wasp spray within 3 miles of them.

No mention about my almost 60 year old ass laying on the ground like a teenage contortionist with an old pitch fork in his hands...health. either.. Not to mention I then have to spring up (I don't think I have sprang much at all the last few years) then run away from the now pissed off wasps carrying a pitchfork.

Well believe it or not I got it done. Twice. The first time half the nest got stuck to the board that was in the way so I had to wait and do it again. The second time I over compensated moving my old (and to be honest slightly heavier frame) gracefully and ended up swan diving after a few steps into the drive way. Better than the last time I dealt with a problem wasps nest and ended up swan diving into my post hole digger but no need to relive that adventure right now.

I did manage to not get stung, waited for the wasps to finally settle down and removed the old nest and let the chickens back in. I used the down time waiting on the wasps to settle down to pick the pea gravel out of my knee.

Something tells me I have not felt all the effects of this little adventure yet.

P.S. The Wife still hasn't said anything about my health either.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!