I paid the final part of the property taxes this afternoon. May 31 is the final day for payment. I, along with a number of other people, wait till the last minute (why pay early?) so I had to stand in a short line. The guy in front of me and I chatted about credit cards and how the county now charges you an extra 3% if you pay your bill with a credit card. He said he recently has encountered a few businesses that have also started charging for credit card use.
I stopped at the post office to buy a stamp to mail a letter for a rebate. The post office employee felt my envelope and felt the 4 small upc cardboard pieces inside and wanted to charge me an extra 13 cents for a total of 52 cents. "What!?" He said thicker, stiffer envelopes cause problems with their automatic sorting machines so they charge extra. "I never heard of this before! I mailed lots of rebate envelopes with no extra charge." He relented and sold me a 39 cent stamp. Hmph!
I bought a cat. No, not a real one; a garden cat. Made of metal. He is standing and playing a large guitar. I put him by my north flower bed near the house entrance. I also got a big rock and set on his pedestal as I am sure a gust of wind would blow him over. Wouldn't want him to break his guitar or his tail.
On my bicycle ride home (the long way) I found a thick piece of plywood lying on the side of the road, mostly in the ditch. The size was: 2' x 4.5'. I was able to fasten it onto my bicycle rack as I had a bungee cord along. It was like the back of my bicycle had a wing. That is why I know it was a little breezy today - I didn't think there was much wind until I had my "wing" on the bicycle. 5 miles and I was home - without taking flight.
I checked the north pasture to see how the cattle were eating the grass down. Plenty left. Even though they were taking a siesta in the middle of the pasture, they got up and followed me to the river. I told them I didn't have anything for them but they still all followed me as a group.
I think I know how I would be as a parent. When a few heifers walked to and into the river to take a drink I got a little concerned. Are you being careful? Is that the best place to drink from? Why not drink over here where the water isn't moving fast? Don't go into the water very far!
They know what they're doing; they have had a few days now of doing this. Relax. Let them be.The river level is dropping. The flow is down to 831 CFS; and I can see the water level is lower. Even with the lower level the water is still moving fast. I saw a large log rush by. The musical chairs are still going on: the last of the two tree stumps in the middle of the river is now gone.
I finally remembered to bring the ant poison when checking pocket gopher traps. I dusted the holes in the tree I seen the ants on a few weeks ago. Lots of ant crawling on that tree. It seems as if the ants are attempting to chew more holes into the bark.
Sometimes it feels as if I am losing the battle as I keep seeing more and more weeds, pocket gopher and prairie gopher tunnels, and ants.
I dug the flower bed west of the house and planted a few packets of flower seeds. They were dad's seeds and therefore old. Odds are they won't come up. I added in some flower seeds I bought last year. Then I dug the area against the water well shed. I won't plant any more tomato plants there as it is shaded half the day. I will try flowers this year to see if they do better than the tomato plants.
Later when I returned from checking the pocket gopher traps I noticed a robin hopping along my flower bed's wall. He wasn't too concerned about me. I believe there is a robin nest in one of the two large patio trees as I always see a robin around the area and he/she tends not to fly off when I am around. I wonder if the robin had seen me planting the flower seeds earlier?
The garden is coming up. I see radish, lettuce, corn, string beans and peas. No sign of onions, beets, carrots or potatoes.
Last weekend when it was colder I was riding my bicycle after sundown I noticed a reddish glow coming from near the trailer on the bend up the road. I rode over to find the glow coming from a small wooden building in a yard, the size of a large shed. The glow looked to be as from a large furnace, or coal-fired train locomotive. What it was, were heat lamps to keep chickens warm.
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