Once again we have reached the part of summer where we are surrounded by a wall of corn. The fields in every direction are seven feet tall, obscuring most all the surrounding views of farmsteads and acreages, highways, poles and power lines. There is a small stretch of the road in front of our house visible to us, and the sky above, while the rest of our world is full of vertical green stalks. We have commented before that we have a growing privacy fence during the summer that eventually gives way to a harvest, which opens our vista again for miles in every direction during the fall, winter and early spring.

Our garden is currently as thus: tomato plants so-so, no pepper plants left, melon and cucumber plants taking over everything else. There are dozens of blooms on the vining monsters, and we are already struggling to eat and give away what we are harvesting from them. Admittedly, food abundance is a good problem to have. But this year it looks like it will mainly be cukes and melons.

I was sitting in the living room when I heard a huge THUMP against the dinning room window. Usually when a bird hits our house windows it is stunned for a minute, then gets up, shakes it off and flies away. I got up but did not see anything on the yard in front of the windows. The next day I was out weeding and came to the front of those same windows. There lay a most beautiful bird, tiny yellow feathers streaming from its tail, a hint of red on its cap. I didn’t know what species it was, but from the angle of its head, turned to the back, it was obvious this was the bird that hit our window the day before. I picked up the poor thing by its foot and examined it. So many colors, and it seemed to me like it could, if I really willed it, fly from my hand, alive and free again. I carried it it over to the hollyhocks starting to wither against the machine shed, and dropped it among the large, fading flowers.

Since we have lived out here on our acreage we have heard pheasants, usually living in the ditches along the road. This year they have been coming closer, squawking around our yard. I have yet to see one on our property, but by the sound they are very close. You never know what might strut, flit, crawl, slither, hop or scamper across your place out here.

The guy we hired to cut down our dead ash trees backed out, so while we look for someone else to do the job some woodpeckers are making good use of them.

I spoke with a DNR forest biologist about our white willow trees (the crowns are dying) and his conclusion was they will either get better, or they won’t. (!) He explained they might be coming to the end of their natural lifespans, could be suffering from disease or insect infestation, but probably were not dying of drought. He said we could hire an arborist to check them out, but most likely there is nothing to be done. So we will wait and see. I might consult an arborist, or just let nature take its course.

Our mulberry trees produced a fine crop this spring that we were able to enjoy until the robins discovered the berries and stripped the trees of the rest. The garden is coming along okay so far this year, but as usual there is always something struggling. This year it is the tomato plants and the green pepper plant. A volunteer tomato plant grew up right next to the pepper plant, and I think I will let them battle it out.

The dust control company finally came and sprayed the gravel road in front of our house. When the road is not treated with spray the wind will blow an incredible amount of dust across our acreage, making our place look like a civil war battlefield whenever a vehicle drives by. When treated it is much more enjoyable to work outside, and if the nights are cool we can open up the house.

Broken record alert: rabbits are again all over the place. As are the robins.

We have had two white willow trees fall over so far this spring, and the crowns of over half of them are dying. We don’t know if it is disease, insects or drought, but it is a major concern as we have over 50 of them on the acreage. I have already spoken with our local extension office about it, and they recommended talking with the DNR, which is my next move.

The garden is planted and herbs and flowers (mostly) potted. This spring there have been just a few butterflies, bees and wasps flying about, however there are thousands of biting flies, and tiny flea type bugs that insist on exploring your ears, eyes, nose and hair. Sometimes I can put up with those but the flies will send me inside everytime they attack, as many times they will draw blood with their bites.

As with other parts of the country we have been occasionally experiencing the drifting smoke from the fires out west. The only good thing about that are the spectacular orange sunsets the smoke helps create.

The trees and bushes are sprouting and leafing, the grass is that very light but vivid green and the wind is blowing almost nonstop. We are still trying to clean up the acreage of all the winter-fall branches and sticks before the first mow of the season, which needs to happen soon. Because of the constant wind, some areas we have picked up five times now this spring. Dandelions are popping up all over the acreage, the Robins are either mating or already nesting and now there are baby bunnies hiding in the Iris beds or under the outbuildings. We hired a guy that works where our son does to cut down the seven dead ash trees that grew along the border of an old corn crib in the back of our yard. He works full time and does this on the side. Should be out to begin in a couple of weeks. Emerald Ash Borer has killed most all the ash trees in our area. We see the dead trees all around our county, big ones with branches hanging low, drooping and dropping, no buds or leaves, the bark sloughing off in big sheets. Today I took the freshly charged battery and some gas down to the shed where the lawnmower has rested for the cold months and it fired up first try! We had a very still day (hardly any wind) which is rare around here, and were able to burn a lot more sticks and branches. Our son came out and mowed for us while we tended the fire. A busy but good spring day.

Recently I had a most fantastic day. It was during late March, the temp in the upper forties and the sunshine coming down at mostly full force through a few strands of clouds. I had been raking leaves and doing other small clean-up jobs around the acreage when I eyed the poor, weather battered homemade chimes hanging limply among the trees and poles, some broken on the ground. For some reason collecting and fixing them became my instant focus. I gathered up some thin wire, needle nose pliers, some S hooks and a few other things I might need and sat on my bench in the sun, facing the south. I laid out my materials and tools around me and got to work. Two of the chimes needed to be completely rebuilt. There was a light breeze from the east, but not enough to bother or chill me. I took my time, cutting out old, disintegrating material and replacing it with new. Occasionally I would stop and lean my head back, eyes closed, and feel the early warm spring sun on my face. To do something enjoyable, without knowing beforehand we wanted to do it, might be one of our most rewarding experiences. That was how I was feeling. It was a bliss, after such a long, cold snowy winter, to be sitting outside in sunshine working on something.

The birds have been gradually returning to our place. So far I have seen mourning doves, sparrows, crows, finches, cardinals and of course the ubiquitous robins. There are some hawks in our area, and we will occasionally see a bald eagle. I have not heard the coyotes much so far this spring, nor have I seen the usual explosion of baby rabbits, but those could both change at any time.

Our road is starting to get a little busier with the farmers trucks and tractors coming and going, with planting right around the corner. We are coming to the time of year, as my Dad says, “when it’s time to start taking care of things again.”

It’s been one year since I wrote on this blog and I decided to start it up again. We have been doing well, riding out the ups and downs like everyone else.

During last summer I noticed one of our big ash trees had a huge, old wound in the trunk, which was obscured by lilac bushes growing around it. The wound penetrated at least two-thirds through the trunk. Looking at the lilt of the tree it appeared that if it were to fall it would most likely hit our house and then possibly crash down on our septic system. A tree trimmer we hired took it down for $2,400. While walking around our acreage we noticed most of the other ash trees were dead or dying. Emerald Ash Borer has hit our part of Iowa hard and most of the ash trees in our area are dead. There are around ten or so on our property, and all need to come down, except the biggest one, which I paid to have treated. For right now that was much cheaper than having it taken down.

Our garden last year was about the worst we have ever had, very few tomatoes or peppers, but gigantic zucchinis for some reason. It was a hot, dry summer.

Fall was very short-lived, turning cold early. Shelly and I were feeling pretty ill just before Thanksgiving, and we both tested positive for Covid-19. The worst of it continued for a couple of weeks, and we both experienced lasting effects such as headaches, weakness, coughing and shortness of breath. Things have mostly cleared up by now.

Winter came on strong and windy and snowy. I had never experienced a three-day blizzard until just before last Christmas. When it was over, on Christmas Eve day, there were some snow drifts 6 feet tall along the east side of the house, across the driveway, and two in the parking lot. The west side of the machine shed was buried up to the roof. Farmer Johnson drove up that day on his tractor equipped with a bucket loader on the front and a double auger snow thrower on the back, and he was able to scoop and blow out the driveway and parking lot for us. He is a generous man who never asks anything in return. We give him and his wife baked bread and goodies, as well as produce from our garden when we can. He always says “I don’t help you to earn goodies!” and we always reply “We know! This is just what we do!”

We are really looking forward to spring and warmer weather, which should be right around the corner…as could be another snow storm.

A few weeks ago the power company showed up to replace a couple of utility poles on our road, one of which was next to our acreage. I had never seen this done so I watched them, off and on, for the couple of hours it took to do the job. There were two trucks with cherry pickers mounted on top on either side of the lines. There was a man in each of the buckets attached to the pickers, parallel with the power lines at the top of the pole. They disconnected the wires from the pole and held them suspended in place while the rest of the work below them went on. A new hole was dug next to the old pole with a large auger mounted on a crane attached to another truck. Then using the same crane they pushed on the old pole until it broke in two, the top crashing to the ground. The men in the cherry pickers continued to hold the lines in place. The rest of the pole was pulled out of the ground by a big hydraulic claw, which then grabbed the new pole and put it in the new hole. The base was filled in, the men above holding the lines attached them to the new pole, and they were done. All without us loosing power, and them working during during a windy day in below freezing temperatures.

Our first robins of the year were spotted here March 4^th, hopping around looking for food on the still frozen ground. Just a few days before that we were enjoying a small fire outside and heard the first flock of geese flying overhead. Spring approaches.

Here in our part of Iowa we have been enduring a cold snap since the last snowfall several weeks ago. The coldest night so far was 20 degrees below zero. The drought continues, with that previous snow being about the only measurable stuff we have had so far this winter. Large cracks in the soil have appeared all over our yard, it is so dry. The Old Farmers Almanac is predicting a warmer and wetter spring this year. We are hoping they are right. We are back up to at least two rabbits again as I have spotted them together in the driveway and the yard. Curious about gestation and liter sizes I consulted Wikipedia, which told me “The rabbit gestation period is short and ranges from 28 to 36 days with an average period of 31 days. A longer gestation period will generally yield a smaller litter while shorter gestation periods will give birth to a larger litter. The size of a single litter can range from four to 12 kits allowing a female to deliver up to 60 new kits a year. After birth, the female can become pregnant again as early as the next day.” We might just be in for a whirlwind of baby bunnies out here again. Finally, on kind of a strange note, we found a mouse in a trap in the garage upside down and backwards from how they are usually found. Meaning the mouse was on its back with the tail in the bait. This led to some speculation as to what in the world that critter was doing just before the fatal moment. Some things are best left undiscovered.

In the middle of December we were warned of a big rain storm coming our way from the west, and checking radar online we saw a vicious looking red streak sawing across the state, with us right in the way. That gave us plenty of time to prepare, with the accompanying long term dread of what might happen. Later we could see it coming off to the west, maybe 20 or more miles away, with big dark clouds and plenty of lighting. As it approached the streaking lightening fired up along with the strobe lighting, the tornado sirens began blaring and the wind was gusting at over 80 miles per hour. The rain was coming horizontally and dirt and debris were flying all around. We took the dogs to the basement and stayed there until the all clear, about 20 minutes later. The next couple of days revealed how close we came to a tornado, as about 15 miles to our east along Hwy 169 there were scattered parts of grains bins, out buildings, trees and some houses.

About a month later, in mid-January, the next winter storm hit us with snow this time, around 12 inches according to the local weather report, but it looked like around 6 inches to us. Plenty of 3 foot high drifts, though, after the 30 plus mph winds kicked in. The old John Deere 420 (with a snow thrower mounted on the front) fired up and took care of the mess again. Maybe this snow will help a little with the now two year old drought we have been experiencing. There were big cracks in the yard before this latest storm. I am not rooting for more snow, more like hoping for a rainy spring.

I mentioned back in September that our well was fixed but it turns out it was not just the pump that needed help. The water levels in our area have been dropping, most likely from the last two years of drought we have experienced. Our well man decided he would try to add two more sections of pipe to our well, which would put our pump at a depth of 320 feet, the maximum our one horsepower pump could handle. Early this month he very carefully and slowly lowered the system, adding the two lengths of pipe and additional wire. So far so good, we have had water since then. We are crossing our fingers that this problem that began in August is finally fixed.

Our first snow this season blew through this weekend, beginning with freezing rain, then snow and 30 plus mph winds. We only received one or two inches, but with the wind it left behind a few foot high drifts.

It was an uneventful month out here since I last updated, not much else to report on. We decorated for Christmas this week and are looking forward to celebrating with family on the big day.