So yesterday the area was hit with rain - we got 1/2 inch. But south and west of us they had hail, straight line winds and a lot of damage. 5 buildings were blown down, 7-8,000 acres of crops destroyed beyond use. Sorry for those people.

Today again I worked on the trees. I have 5 rows that are completely free of thistles and trim right up to the trunk of the tree. I am working on 3 more rows and getting them closer.

I sprayed 5 rows on Thursday night and am waiting for the spray to work before I go in and attack the thistles. With luck I will have the whole thing cleaned up by the time of our annual picnic Aug. 16th.

It is hard physical work so I can only handle a little at a time - but also rewarding.

Tomorrow I will work some more on it while the guys are at an auction for the Wiota John Deere tractor club. Great social time for time.

Later...

from the sky

We finally have rain. Seems we got a lot more than other areas. Our rain gauge shows 2 inches. Most places on the TV were reporting less than 1/2 inch. Now we just need heat. I really don't want it hot because I am already hot but the crops and gardens need it. Theis summer has been strange, cool, dry.

Really need to get back to thistle clean up before the heat does come or I will have an even bigger mess.

on the run - laying low

The guys have spent a lot of time at the fair. Tractor pulls...today is the trailer races. This year they are just working the event rather than participating. That is probably good as we don't need anyone else hurt.
Not much new beyond that. We need rain. The grass seems to still grow fast even without the rain but I know that the crops and trees would love a drink.

Today was a busy one. I spent 3-4 hrs spraying the thistles among the rows of trees. Now once the spray works we will mow the rows better so we can find our trees. Dennie spent time fixing our larger mower. I then mowed the park and trimmed around the yard. I did some outside painting and staining. Things look nice. Boy our grass grows fast. We almost need to rake it but we will mow again in a few days to cut up the clippings along with a new cut. That is easier than raking. Tired tonight but feel good about what we have gotten done. Enjoy your weekend.

Finally getting more rain

It has been dry and we need the rain. We got some early this morning.
We have mowed between the rows of the trees but now need to work on cleaning up the actual row of thistle and grass. That way any moisture we get will go to the trees.

The yard continues to grow fast. I feel like we are always mowing. Trying to tidy up around there and get ready for the big picnic is August.

The guys are doing a little bit of vehicle work to get items ready for the fair.

Otherwise live as usual at Deere Hollow.

So over the last few days we have gotten 2 inches of rain. Not as much as the Blindermans in Milwaukee. They have water in their basement.
The rain has been needed.
I spent time on Saturday and Sunday making Grandpa Sauer proud. I PULLED thistles. He would have just chopped them off with the shovel, which I did some but I really tried to pull as many as I could so that I got the root as well.
We didn't get them sprayed earlier so now we have a lot of them. I am spraying some that are between the rows of trees and then in the rows either pulling or chopping them off before they flower.
We had conflicting opinions on whether we should keep the trees mowed. Some said leave it for the wind protection so we did for a while.
The problem with that is then we lost the trees. The grass grew so much faster. It is knee high. So we are now finding the trees again and trimming around them a little. We want to be sure that any moisture we get is going to the tree and not the grasses.
Headed to Richland Center Thur-Sun for Star Spangled Celebration. 3 days - 16 artist....music - people watching. We camp with Jeanette and Kevin.

Boy as Lynn says it, "Where does the time go?" With going on a vacation and all of the prep around the yard etc, time has flown by.

Anyway, Matt, Dennie and I took a road trip out across North Dakota, Montana, over the Bear Tooth Mountains, into Yellowstone National Park, hiked back into the Tetons to a water fall, down thru Idaho to Utah, saw the world's largest pit mine, into Colorado to take a jeep excursion on a ranch, ride in an open train car thru a mountain pass, white water rafted and finally rode 4 wheelers. Lastly we traveled home thru Nebraska surrounded by THREE (3) storm chasing teams....tornado season.

We had a good time, the ride was long.

Back to the old grind of work and yard work.

Enjoyed the time away but back to reality.

The trees have not required any attention. Great place to plant them with the free fertilizer in the old pasture but boy the thistle love that fertilizer. We have a field of thistles with some trees in the tall grass I think.

Anyway, until next time......ENJOY LIFE! Every day you wake up is a good day!