Mask Less Shopping Yesterday

Yesterday was shopping day at Fleet Farm, Cub Foods, and Walmart.  There were a few items we needed from Fleet Farm, so I went on-line to see if they had the items in stock. There was a banner across their site stating that there was a 12 percent discount for all merchandise ordered on-line and picked up at their curbside pickup. So I ordered the items (plus a few more because of the discount 👦). That's a pretty hefty discount, so I'm wondering if they are experimenting with trying to lure more people into on-line shopping and curbside pickup. Their policy is:,  they verify your order by email &  they email when the order is ready for pickup. You just drive thru their outside entrance, the gate guard asks what your name is, he's radios into the store and tells them we are there for a pickup, we drive to the pickup area, the door goes up, I hit the back door van button, door goes up, he loads material, he says "thank you for the order", I hit the button again, van door goes down, and we drive back out, as we drive out the gate guard gives us a "thumbs up" and away we go.. They already have my credit card information so all I have to do at order time is enter the csv number. Pretty slick operation and really pretty secure as far as payment is concerned.

At Walmart Sherry just walks in with her mask on, tells them who the prescription is for and they hand Sherry the bag. No transaction information or signing needed any more. We could also have the prescription delivered to the van, but going in is faster. From the time Sherry leaves the van until she is back in, probably takes all of five minutes. Real "hardship" for having to wear a mask and protect other people...

Cub Foods we have been ordering our groceries on-line since last March, cost per order is $1.99. We were also ordering Sherry's moms groceries at the same time and that got to be kind of a hassle, so we set up another account and got her groceries on different days. She now goes to a little neighborhood grocery store and gets her groceries, but she already has it set up that when the weather gets bad, they will deliver her groceries to her.  Good deal..

So the process at Cub foods is, we go on-line and either search for the item, or go to the "your items listing" and just scroll thru the list which is all the items that we have purchased in the past. We can "shop" from either of our computers, so if there is an item we need, we just enter it and it will show up on our shopping list with a running total cost.  We can also list a substitute or just put a note "do not substitute".  Once we are done adding to the cart, we select a pickup time (either that day or the next day) and we are done. Transaction information is also in Cub's data base. When the employee starts "shopping" our order we get a text on my smartphone as the items are picked or substituted or removed from list. In some cases, if an item is going to be substituted, they text us a picture of the substitute item. When the order is completed they text us that order is completed. We go into the store and text them "we are here" and they bring our groceries out to the van.  All items are kept in a temperature controlled area, so the milk is cold and the frozen items are frozen.

Walmart's service is free for "any" item in the store. When we go by their pickup area there is normally cars waiting. Hy-Vee also has a similar service, but their cost is $9.99 a month or $99.00 per year with unlimited number of pickups. I'm not sure what the minimum order is.

These curbside pickups eliminates "contact time" with other people. I would imagine families with smaller children this would also be very handy. No trying to keep track of them, and no dress up they can go in their PJ's.. 👍

So that was our day of shopping. Will we go back to the "old days" of shopping, when the pandemic is over with, probably so. Sherry and I had a system for grocery shopping and we could be in and out of Cub foods in less than 30 minutes, unless they were busy.  There are also times that you just have to go into the store, as an example, we needed a new battery for the older van, and you need to take in the old battery for exchange. They probably have a way for handling that situation, but it's just easier to go in. The battery area is almost a "contact-less" area anyway.

So as you can probably surmise, Sherry and I pretty much live in our own little bubble. When we do go some place where there are other people we wear our masks out of respect for other people and reduce the risk somewhat of us getting the virus. In closing, I spent 4 years in the military and I DID NOT spend that time away from my family so people could go around saying it's my "right" not to wear a mask... What ever happened to the compassion for fellow human beings?

Stay Healthy..  Jim

Christmas Day

 Good Morning.. I just checked the temperature and it is -1.7 degrees.. Just a tad chilly outside. The sun was shining, but now it is overcast. We have a white Christmas, but the grass is kind peeking through the snow, so not much snow. 

The birds are busy at the feeder this morning, and by the looks of the suet feeder that is also going to have to be refilled too. We have the usual chickadees, woodpeckers, juncos and it seems we have more finches than we have had in the past. Right now there is a male cardinal at the feeder. There is nothing prettier than a male cardinal sitting on a branch in a evergreen tree covered with snow..

Well, I'll be darned!  Santa's backup crew just walked across the back yard. They all looked in pretty good shape and no one seemed to be limping from hitting a roof. Maybe Santa didn't need them this year.

We watched an interview on NationNews last night interviewing Santa. He had stopped at the North Pole to reload his sleigh. I guess he has quite a crew of elves, so it doesn't take long to reload and be back on his merry way. 

Sherry and I hope you had a nice Christmas Eve and that Christmas day will also be memorable.

Stay Healthy  Jim

Christmas Eve

Its has been quite a while since I entered a post. 

I am sitting here in my recliner with the laptop, watching the birds at the bird feeder, listening to Christmas music, watching the deer go across the backyard, (I think it's Santa's backup crew getting some exercise). You probably didn't know this, but Santa does have "backup's" in case one of the reindeer needs a break.. That stopping at each rooftop has got to be a real strain on those poor reindeer... 

Sherry is back in her quilting room and is on some sort of a new project. She said it's something she seen on Missouri Star Quilting tutorial yesterday. She told me it wouldn't make any sense until she got more done. I said OK and knew enough to let her be. 👨 

I am in the process of "trying" to get all of our digital picture (thousands). There may be some of you that have shoeboxes of pictures that need to be put in some sort of order, well, I'll tell you what, that's a lot easier that when you have multiple copies spread all over your computer.. I did break down and buy a software package that really does of good job of going through the pictures and finding the duplicates. The nice part about the program is that the same picture does not have to have the same name. Yes, I have pictures with the original camera name, and then I have renamed the picture.  Lets just say there are instances where the software program has come up with one picture having five different names.. This is a winter project, so hopefully I will have just one copy of each picture that I want to "keep". Yes, I "did" have over 100,000 pictures when I started, and now the count is around 25,000. Remember, this is a "winter project".. Oh, there are also many pictures that just have a file name like "image001, image002, etc that will need to be given some sort of a name that makes sense.. It's not a stressful project, because as I work on this I also just watch the birds at the feeder. I may have to go out and refill the feeder yet this afternoon. I just got 50 pounds of birdfeed, so we will be OK for a few weeks.

Well that's about it for now. I hope you were all good and wear your masks during this pandemic so Santa doesn't have to leave you any COAL.

Have a Very Merry Christmas and stay healthy and we can hope and pray that 2021 will be a far less stressful year. 

Sherry and I have very close friends that are going through very stressful times right now and they are in our thoughts and prayers. 

Jim

Now This Is An Interesting Concept..

 I recently read about this in Treehugger and thought what a cool way to stop the waste of food. I do know that in Rochester there is a system set up where they go around to certain restaurants on a daily basis and collect food in containers and then the food is taken to a church where it is repackaged and given to the needy.

Joe Powers, the owner of Canadian Honker, many years ago had catered a large gathering (I think over 900 meals.) and for some reason it was canceled. Well, Joe didn't want to have to throw away all this prepared food, so he made some fast contacts and the food was repackaged and given away. That's what started the program in Rochester. I'm not sure the program is now running because of the COVID-19 issue and the restaurants closed. 

This program they are talking about in Treehugger would be on an individual basis. I'm sure there would be some "kinks" in the program, but it sure would be a way for people to get good food for a very reasonable price.

A Surprise Phone Call

 I was working out in the breezeway this morning when Sherry shouted out to me: "your getting a phone call from Don Cummings!"  Well, I worked with Don in Germany back in the early 1960's. Don and his wife Linda and their daughter Dona lived in a German community close to where we worked. They stopped by to see me after I got out of the service, but that was the only time.

I asked him how he got my phone number. He said "well, I got your Christmas card today and it just so happened that my son was there and I said to him, see if you can find a phone number for this guy." He said in about 5 minutes he had both our landline phone number and my cell phone number. Don said he has never had a computer, so didn't know of any way to get a phone number. Don is 84 years old and has had some medical problems, but just keep plugging along.

It was really fun talking with him today, and we are both fortunate to have our memories yet.  He is going to ask his one daughter if it would be possible to set up a ZOOM session sometime. I guess she works from home and has a laptop. Anyway if that doesn't work, we plan on phoning each other again. It was really nice talking with him. Linda, his wife, passed away a few years ago so Don is living by himself. He said he does have a dog to keep him company.

A really nice early Christmas present...  Really brings back lots of memories...

Stay Healthy..  Jim

Ya Know!

 When it's December 4th hardly any snow on the ground, sun is shining, temp is in the forties, and no wind. You just have to GIVE THANKS for this nice day. There is a lot of doom and gloom going on around us, but the good Lord just gave us a sign... 😇

Today

 Mostly a cold overcast day today. The sun did come out for a little while this afternoon. Sherry and I worked outside for about an hour and it was cold. Later this afternoon towards dusk "medium" deer strolled just outside the fence. I think he was heading down to get a drink of water, or he may have been on his way to have a late lunch.. (pumpkin)

Lunch Time!

 Remember me mentioning in an earlier blog about having three bucks going through our back yard that we had named "small" "medium" and "large.  Well yesterday afternoon "large" was next door having lunch eating some of the neighbors pumpkins. Beautiful creature..

Pictures are kind of grainy. This is when it would be nice to have a tele-photo lens on our "good" camera. OK camera buffs, what would be a good tele-photo lens for a 35mm camera?

It's Christmas Time!

 Well anyway that's what our Christmas cactus think... 

The Path(s)

I have mentioned on different occasions that we are going to redo the trails that went back to the pond. Well these pictures will give you a little idea of what we are up against.

This is part of the lower path. The "leaning tree" has to come down, even tho it is well anchored at the top. All of these types of trees are considered "widow makers" in my books. Trees either stand vertical, or they are on the ground.  You can see the tractor tracks, the first layer of brush has already been removed so we can at least walk on the path.

After about 6 passes with the landscape rake the path is pretty well cleaned of brush and buckthorn.

The landscape rake on the tractor can rip out buckthorn roots on buckthorn up to about 3 inches in diameter. It's nice to rip them out by the roots, then they are gone. If the roots are too big, I just rip them loose and use the rake to pull them the rest of the way out. I hate just cutting them off, because you have the stub of the buckthorn still showing and easy to trip on. Plus, they will grow back.

This shows a portion of the completed path. The path will be about 6 feet wide in most places. If there are big standing trees, the path will be narrow, or we might just go around the other side of the tree.  Yes, I/we have a new tractor. That will be a blog all by itself. Without it, this job would never have been started. 

Just a couple pictures to show some of the "stuff" that has to be cleared. I'm sure there are many of you that are thinking "why are they doing all that work!" Well, we both know what it use to be like and the enjoyment that we had walking the paths. Besides, it is good exercise and we are out in the woods and it really is quite relaxing. The deer/turkeys will like the cleared paths too.

Backyard

This is what I see from my chair. The deer normally walk behind the back building, sometimes they go between the fence and the back building. There are also a "few" that like to jump over the fence and have a few flowers on the way..

Lunch time! Our neighbors buy at least a 100 pumpkins for Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations. Well, deer also like pumpkins! This picture is taken out our dining room window. Notice there is also a bird feeder out here. To the left is also a heated bird waterer that is heavily used by all the wildlife during the winter (including the deer)

 

Deer Season

It is firearm deer season here now. I am sitting in my chair looking out the window and here comes one of the three bucks slowly walking across the back yard. The three bucks are named "small", "medium, and "large". As you can imagine, the names are in reference to the size of their racks. It is fun to watch them slowly stroll across our back yard, because that tells us that they aren't under stress. Oh, "medium" is the one that just went by.

Back in my younger years, when hunters came and asked my dad if they could hunt our 160 acres, his answer was: "no, the animals have to have a peaceful place to rest". Over time, I think the animals realized that they were safe on that 160 acres..

I have to ask my followers to sign up on the right hand side with their email address to follow this blog. I am getting concerned that my email address might get blocked because of the number of email addresses I am sending this to. (They might shut me down because they think I'm a Spammer.) So just type in your email address and you will get a verification that whenever I create a new blog, you will automatically receive a notification. So I will not be sending out anymore notifications via email.

Have a good day.  Jim

It's Time To Relax!

The election is over, no more commercials! The COVID-19 numbers are spiking all over the place. It's time to RELAX!

I subscribe to a daily newsletter called Treehugger that has interesting articles on anything and everything. There are some newsletters that I read and there are some that I just kind of skim over.  Well recently, there was an article that may be helpful to many of you. The article is named:  Everyone Needs a Special 'Sit Spot' in Nature  I found this article very interesting because it definitely applied to me! As I'm growing older (I'm now 79), I have been spending more and more time just "smelling the roses" and I guess day dreaming. I have learned to relax more so than I ever had in the past. In my younger years, I was definitely a "Type A" personality. In 1983 when I had my first heart attack (I have had 4.) and was laying in intensive care looking at the wall, I transformed from a Type A to a lower stress level. I had a cartologists once tell me "Jim the best thing you can do for your heart is reduce your stress level as much as possible..) Well, that is kind of easier said than done, and not something that can be done overnight. However, I can still remember the conversation, which means "It stuck in my mind." 

Well this year with the COVID-19 issue, Sherry and I have been very fortunate to live out in the country and have wildlife galore around us. This has really reduced our stress level and with it, anyway in my case, has really put me more in contact with nature. I can sit outside with a cup of coffee or a bottle of water and just watch what is going on around me. 

I have a bow and arrow deer hunter friend that made the comment: "You know, when I go deer hunting now, it really doesn't matter if I get a deer or not, I just enjoy sitting in my tree stand and watching nature". If you read the attached article, he has found "one" of his spots. I know he has more.. 😊 

I am in the process of reopening the path that we had to our pond (presently filled in by a heavy rain years ago). Along that path we had named different trees because of their shape or inhabitants. One tree was call the "slingshot tree" because it looked like a slingshot, one main trunk and then at about 15 feet it split into two trunks like a sling shot. Another tree was called the "raccoon tree" because a mother raccoon had decided that was a good place to raise a family. In early spring we would see her face looking out the opening and then later on we would see the little faces of the babies peeking out the hole. Sometimes she would cover up the whole hole with her body so all you seen was her back. Sadly, over the years, both trees have fallen down because of age.. So when I get the path done, there will be benches placed along the path for nature watching/day dreaming. Your all invited to come and do the same..

Stay healthy my friends.. Jim

Wabasha SeptOberFest

 On the 10th of October we met Sherry's cousin and her husband at Wabasha MN for the annual SeptOberFest. It is a monthly fest and there are many activities that are planned during this time. The city does an outstanding job decorating the downtown area during the festival. There are also many play activities for the little ones too. 

On our way to Wabasha, we have a place close to our place that is our "fall foliage" yearly picture. This area has never disappointed us over the years we have lived at our present place.

 

Just another view

This is one of the first decorations coming into Wabasha. Whoever does the decorating is very creative. The decorations change from year to year.

They also have a pumpkin growing contest. I wonder how many pies they could make from this one.  The number on the pumpkin is the weight in pounds.

Well, there always seems to be one larger, but this is the largest one this year. This one is almost a third larger than the one above. Hard to imagine that they can grow a pumpkin that big.

I don't know who makes these little characters, but they sure do a nice job. Very creative and made from common items.

Same template, but different painting.

This area is under the bridge that goes over the Mississippi. There is a stage on the other end, and on a normal year, they have musical groups play there on Friday nights.

This building is on the end of main street. You can see the National Eagle center behind this building. There are chairs there so you can sit down and have your picture taken with the decorations. Very popular place.

Just a little farther down the street. The National Eagle Center is just to the left. Beautiful day, temp was in the 60's.

"Welcome to Bugsville". This is one of two areas set aside for play!  It was pretty quiet at this time, but a little later there was a lot of laughing and screaming going on. There were quite a few adults that also turned into little kiddo's in this area too. Everyone was having a good time.

This picture was taken a little farther to the left. The COVID-19 problem has really reduced the size of the group, but there were still some that were having a good time. For a little while the virus issue was out of sight. I hope no one contacted the virus, because of lack of social distancing.. Adults were pretty good about wearing masks when they were close to other adults. Whenever anyone went into buildings, they wore masks. I didn't see any "non-maskers".

The people that create these play areas have some real creative ideas. The circles on the ground painted different colors are actually slabs cut from a tree. They use many old used tires that are painted different colors. It's kind of fun to just go around and see the different items that they used. Many of the items they used could easily be considered "junk".

This is the second Bugsville. National Eagle Center in the background. (to the left)

Got an old washtub, surprising what a little paint can do..

Sometimes you just need to take a break..

Or Two!

Bridge over the Mississippi. What a beautiful day..

Condo's next to Bugsville 2 and overlooking Mississippi. The owners on the river side have a beautiful view. You can see the bridge in the background. 

We topped the day off by stopping at Diary Queen, sitting outside and finishing our meal off with a sundae.. Good time was had by all.

If your ever in the Wabasha area, I strongly recommend you stop at the National Eagle Center https://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwit_8BRCoARIsAIx3Rj7RziMH-3PS6NAPJX6FNPZ8PR0b9fKIGHXEJxqwppSYL5UFQ0im7lQaApmeEALw_wcB. It is very informative and you can come within about 4 feet of "live" Eagles. They put on three programs daily on different aspects of the Eagles. Very child friendly programs.. (call, I'm not sure what their requirements are now)

I'm Back!

 No excuses for not blogging. I received an email from a follower and he had asked if everything was OK since I hadn't been creating any blogs. Sherry and I are doing OK. We have been staying close to home and only going places if necessary. When I went to school to learn electronics, the instructor said "now that you understand electricity, respect it, but don't be afraid of it." That also holds true for the COVID-19 virus. We do not go to places of large gathering, social distance, and respect other people's health and wear masks. As far as "non-maskers" go, I have a special category for them...

This has been a very unusual summer. Never expected that there would be a time when a person would not be able to go and spend time with family/friends. We actually watched a funeral memorial service via ZOOM. I'm glad that I'm retired and not in the teaching profession. I really feel sorry for the educational system and how they are trying to do the best for their students. Then there are the medical profession. I can not imagine what many of the doctors and nurses are going though with all the virus people they are coming in contact with. I have a feeling that there will be a tremendous outbreak of PTSD among the doctors/nurses that are working in the ICU's in the hospitals.  Very trying times for many people...

Since we have been staying close to home, we have been doing lots of little projects around the place that needed doing. However, we took many breaks and enjoyed the summer weather. Mosquito population was almost nil and neither one of us seen a tick this summer. 

Normally this time of the year we would be in Branson, MO but because of the virus, we cancelled our reservations. We both agreed, that if we were to get sick, we wanted to be home.. Living 10 miles from the Mayo Clinic does have some advantages.. We may consider going down that way in Jan/Feb, but that will also depend on how things go. Right now, with the virus increases, I would say we won't be going.

On a positive note, we have had a great wildlife summer. Lots of birds visiting the feeders (we have gone thru over 100 pounds of birdseed this summer) and a small herd of deer that go across the back yard on a daily basis. The fawn population was down this year and there was only one single and one set of twins. It is fun to watch them grow from wobbly legs up to the point where the spots are all gone. There are two groups of coyote's that communicate back and forth during the evenings/nights.  There are also a couple owls that communicate back and forth often. So it's not like we are isolated, we have lots of wildlife and great neighbors to visit with. No problem social distancing out here.. One thing that was noticeable this summer was the decrease in the number of butterflies. We normally have many monarch butterfly's during the summer, but year, there were very few. I hope that isn't the trend.. 

So as we go into the colder/winter season, we will move from outside projects to inside projects. Believe me, we got plenty of those to do too.. So who knows, maybe I'll be better at writing this blog from now on. Maybe..

New Wildlife Sighting

Not one we normally see and not one that is really welcome.  We had a skunk mosey across the lawn this morning.  I hope "it" just keeps on a moseying...

We have baby Blue Birds.  Pretty small yet, eyes are still closed.  Dad has been busy feeding them.  Activity at the feeder hasn't been quite as intense.  I have a feeling most of the birds are nesting now, except for the finches, who won't nest until September.  They use thistle down for their nests..

More Wildllife

Well, our wildlife family increased again this afternoon.  A doe went across the driveway with at least one little fawn.  There were trees/brush between us so I couldn't see if there were two fawns.  Little fawn was really wobbly on it's legs so it isn't very old.  Just yesterday I asked Sherry when we usually see little fawns.  We both agreed that it usually is a little later. However, we normally see them when they are older because the mom hides them for a while.

Memories

On Facebook is a group I follow called "Farm Direct Minnesota". The purpose of this group is to get the word out about farmers who have items that they are advertising to sell direct to the people.  Well the other day there was an advertisement in there that was a little unique..  An elderly lady (probably about my age..) was willing to help clean chickens.  She was also willing to "show/teach" the younger generation how to do the process.  After I had read the notice I got to thinking.  There is a lot of talent in these nursing homes right now that could "teach" the younger generation what life is all about and how to survive. Remember the "Victory Gardens".  Give me a two foot chunk of log standing on end and a couple nails and a hatchet, and I'd be in business. 👦

The Scarlet Tanagers Are Here.

We woke up to a cold dreary morning and actually slept in a little later than we normally do.  Sherry comes back to the bedroom and says "The Scarlet Tanager is here!"  A very welcome site and such a striking bird with their bright red and pure black features.  I think we now have all our little wildlife friends back.  The big influx of finches we had have left and just the "locals" are still around. I would imagine the rest of them have headed farther north.  That's OK, because they were costing us about $5.00 in bird food. We only feed sunflower chips which are more expensive, but there is absolutely no waste.
New Subject: Medications
This morning I ordered some medications and one of them is not covered by insurance. So I called WalMart and told them that medication would be covered by GoodRX.  The normal cost for 90 days is $146.00.  With GoodRX the price is normally in the $60.00 range.  They told me the price now was $128.00 via GoodRX.  So I called GoodRX and to honestly say, I had one of the nicest/proficient people on the line that I have every had!  She called Walmart twice and me three times and finally got the price down to $69.00..  If there are any of you that have high priced medications, I recommend trying Good RX.  Over the years, I have saved 1,000's of dollars using GoodRX.  Don't ask me how it all works, all I know is that it is money in our checking account.  Sherry also has one med that she uses GoodRX with.  
Have a good day.. Jim

No Sun This Morning

Not the usual day, overcast and 59 degrees.  I checked the rain gauge and we had close to 2 inches of rain last night.  It was a nice gentle soaking rain.  When the sun comes out and the temperature goes back up, the grass is really going to grow. Gas up!

Sunny Morning

Nice sunny morning, light wind, and 63 degrees and rising.  As I sit here writing the blog this morning, the blue birds are sitting on the back fence, "many" birds at the bird feeder, and the deer are busy eating leaves on the trees/bushes on the neighbors property.  Today must be "leaf day" because normally they are grazing on the lawn out in back.  Oh, there are also birds taking a bath in the stream..
This stay at home has gotten to the point that one day just kind of blends into the next day.  If it wasn't for the fact that I have daily meds to take, I would have a hard time determining what day it is..
I think today I will "start" tackling the lean-to on the back of the shed out back. Ugh..  It is 32 feet long and 9 feet wide and has kind of been a catch all for quite a few years.  You would have a hard time walking through it now.. It will definitely NOT be a one day project..  Stay healthy everybody.  Jim
Late note:  When I went outside later on this morning, much to my surprise, there were 10 frogs in the pond!  So there is a lot of "croaking" going on.. 

Freddy The Frog Is Here!

I got so involved with the return of the birds that I forgot all about Freddy the Frog.  Well, Freddy showed up this afternoon. Usually we know by the croaking that he is here, but this year no noise..  However, by the size, this might be Freddy Jr. or he went on a diet during the winter.
The low last night was 23 degrees, kind of cold for any house plants/vegetables to be out.  Typical temperature swings for this time of the year.  I can remember many years ago, our neighbor across the creek, planted/replanted their tomato plants 4 times because of freezing weather. The sun is out, so it won't take long for the temperature to be up in the sixties.

It's Cold Outside!

We have had colder mornings than today (32 degrees), but it is overcast and some wind.  I think it will be a day to work inside.
I am slowly but surely getting my stuff moved out the back room and now Sherry has full use of all the tables.  So now she can sort through her different fabrics and also has a table to lay out projects.  It should work out well for her.
Our big excursion today was going to Walmart to get some medications and then to Eyota Kwik Trip and picked up some milk and ice cream.  It's nice to just be able to get out for a little while.
The temperature did get up to 60 degrees this afternoon, but there was a very cool breeze in the air.
As I'm writing this, the deer are grazing in the backyard, just stay outside the fence..

Happy Mothers Day

To all the mothers out there have a nice day. Hopefully many of you will be able to spend time with family members..
This morning the female Grosbeak has arrived.  So now just the Scarlet Tanagers are missing. 
We had a nice 1/2 inch rain during the night.  That will really help the crops that are already planted to have the moisture for good germination.

String Bean Prep

Today was a cool day (48 degrees) with a pretty strong NW wind.  So I worked on the south side of the garage in the sun.  It wasn't too bad.
I got the picnic table situated on the south side of the garage and two of the plastic tubes partially loaded with compost and soil.

The bottom half of the tub is filled with a combination of dirt and ground up leaves.  The leaves came from the early mowing of the lawn that was covered with oak tree leaves.  By mowing twice the leaves were pretty well pulverized and then I put them into the composer with about an equal amount of soil and mixed them up.

On top of the compost/dirt I put a couple more inches of dirt from last years plants.  This tub will be for the string beans and when I plant the string beans, I will use new soil from Menards that has some fertilizer in it.  When the beans are planted, the tub will be full to the top, but as the beans are watered and with rains, the soil will settle about 1/2 - 1 inch. There are holes on the side of the tub up about an inch that will be used for drainage in case we get a heavy rain. The distance below the drainage hole will act as a reservoir to help keep the soil moist.  I will be able to get a whole packet of bush beans planted in this tub.

So the tub is now prepped and the sun will now heat up the soil, so that when the beans are planted, they will be planted in nice warm soil. Now I need to go and buy some beans..