Wet apples

We went to Nampa yesterday to blow out the outside irrigation lines. Of course the water valve was under the apple tree in the mists of piles of rotten apples all over the groung. In trying to get the valve off, I broke it off. After shuffling between hardware stores and Lowes I finally cut the plastic nut off. I got a free on at the plumbing store but no fitting to attach the air hose. Maybe next week. The pond seems to drop its water at about 6 inches per day. Looks like a major leak. I won't get to that until spring.

Wet and Green

It has been raining most of the week. Sort of like Western Oregon. The newest grass is up but very short because of the cold weather. The fish has vanished again in the cloudy water. Next job is to dig a 2 foot deep trench for the electric cable and probably lay some water pipes too. Tomorrow we go to Nampa to blow out the irrigation lines of our rental.

Fish are back

Yesterday I drained about 1/2 of the pond. Neither Vurvian or I could see any fish. Today Vurvian went out and saw the fish so she refilled the pond. I guess they were hiding in the bottom of the pond. I fed them but they hardly ate. I guess they are going dormant. The new lawn is a faint green. Hopefully it will grow some more before snow.

No more fish?

The good news is that the water in the big pond is clearing. Ron Olsen also helped run some electricity back to the pond. The ?bad news? is that I can't see the fish. There are no signs of some animal (fish tails, heads, etc) laying around so I guess they are dormant and hiding. We'll see. I am spending Monday clearing out the garage so we can get both cars inside. There was a major frost today so I picked the last of the peppers.

Grapes, grapes, grapes

We had a good grape year. I put in some 7 foot steel posts which raised the grape vines up and made it easier to prune and separate the grape vines. We were too busy to can the juice so I just eat cluster of grapes every day. The concord grapes are very sweet but you have to chew and spit the skins, seed out. The green seedless grapes were very sweet and NO spitting out of skins, seeds. Hopefully next year we will get grape juice.

Faint Green?

Well, the grass was about 5 days late but there is a faint green fringe on the ground. It is growing slowly because of the cold weather. I just hope the electric meter reader man doesn't step on the ground when he comes to read the meter.

9PM and no grass

It is 9pm and still no grass. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe the cooler weather made the grass sprout slower?

Green today?

It has been a week since I planted the last section of grass. No green this AM. Hopefully it will green up today. The first lawn planted was mowed last Saturday.

I had problems with the pump bought Saturday. I can't find any fittings to attached the hoses to the pump. Hopefully today I will get some

green no more?

Yesterday we had the Geddes and Johansons over to thank them for the help with the pond. Jerry said that he had a pump that he was selling at a backyard sale on Saturday so I went today and bought the pump. Hopefully it will allow me to circulate the water in the pond through some filters and clear up the green algae.

The planted grass is up in one section. Hopefully the last section will come up today.

Green is coming

Some greem is coming up in the lawn I planted Saturday. Things look good for for the lawn next spring.

Wait...Wait...Wait

Well, the grass seed is planted. Now water daily and wait for green

Grass soon

Monday
I spent most of Monday hauling, leveling, picking up rocks, weeds. and..........Finally planting grass. I hope the season isn't too far gone for the grass to come up and get established. Well, we will see.


Doug

Grass tomorrow

Vurvian and I spent most of Saturday morning hauling the last of the dirt from the pile. Tomorrow we will have to spead the remainder of the dirt and plant grass. Hurrah.

No more dirt

Vurvian and I worked this morning trying to finish up the pile of dirt. Now there is only a slight rise in the ground. Hopefully we can distribute the dirt on Monday and level it out and then plant the grass.

More dirt

We worked hard to remove the pile of dirt to get ready for planting grass. We were able to move about 1/2 of the dirt. I guess the rest will have to remain until spring. Tomorrow we level out the ground that is done and plant grass. Rain on Saturday.

pile of dirt

Our family is trying to get rid of the pile of dirt from the digging of our pond. So far just Vurvian and I have been hauling dirt. We are trying to get the ground ready to replant grass this fall since the grass does so much better if planted in the fall.

Doug Linford