The Freeze Never Happened in our Area

Today, I turned the furnace own. The temperature in the house was 63 degrees.

I was working again cleaning around the greenhouses.  I keep finding trays all around the south door of house two.  I worked some there this morning and again in the late afternoon.  The germination trays can get extra heavy when it rains and if they out in the rain.  Rain was the forecast this afternoon.

While I was doing this Robert and Frank, Andrew, the furnace guy arrived about the same time. Andrew got the furnace going.  It didn't take him long.  The valve attached to the furnace would not turn for me.  It turned for him.  Isn't that the way it works.  He loosind one of the gas pipes to bleed out the air.  He tightened it up when he smelled the gas.  He lit the piolet light and turned up the thermostat.  The furnace worked.  I had him pick some tomatoes while I got the check book.  $15.00.

Robert and Frank removed a lot of tomato plants out of house seven.  The weight of the tomato plants hanging from the bows was putting some stress on them.  Robert and Frank picked peppers, tomatoes, The mature Italian squash and some watermelons.

I dug the onions before lunch.  They were laying on the black weed barrier.  After lunch Carol and I cut off the onion tops.  I put them in the garage for them to cure a little.   Later we drove to Fillmore from some groceries.  We got a roast and hamburger at Ashton Farms.  Eric, our son, called and wanted to know if the could visit us tomorrow.  That was the main purpose going to Fillmore.

I moved the compressor into house three to get it out of the rain.

It rained on the way home from Fillmore and it has rained quite a bit this evening.

No pictures today.  I got too busy to document the day with photos.

Comments and questions are welcome.

The Day Before the Freeze

Every time I go into house two I am faced with jalapeno peppers that have fallen out of the raised bed onto the ground.  I put off tying them up.  Except today I drove to four foot 1/2 " conduit into the ground.  I tied blue twine between the two conduits.  You see how it looks in the picture.

Made labels for some of the tomatoes in house one.  I attached a theme clip to the overhead wire with a hog tie.  I printed the name of the tomato plant on a sticky label.  Attached it to a card and then fastened it to the theme clip. I made labels of the following tomato plants.

I picked a couple of watermelons and a bunch of Topaz melons.

Below are the plastic tags on the ground which were replaced with a printed tag hanging from the overhead wire.

I am having a perennial plant sale a week from today and tomorrow.  I worked yesterday and today cleaning house two and three.  I removed weeds in house one.  I Sorted all the trays and flats.  The photo below shows the different stacks of trays and flats.

Carol and I went for a little ride.  When we got back we picked a half bushel of tomatoes.  It was cold.  It might freeze tonight.

The second to the last thing for the day is to removed the timers that turn on and off the water for Robert's garden.  I was a lot easier that what I thought.

I was deleting unimportant emails and spam this evening.  I found one email from the mother of a scout who was working on his Eagle project.  She wanted Bitter Brush, Sage Brush, and Curl-leaf Mahogany.  I have the Bitter Brush.

Comments and questions are welcome.

A Lot to Do

We had some cucumbers and tomatoes left over from yesterday.  Two of the cucumbers were quite large.  Carol took them to the display box at the post office.

There were two T-posts used to make a place for the ducks that we had several years ago.  I removed the plywood that was there which left the two posts.  I dug them up and was able to pull them out of the ground.

The furnace piolet light went out sometime yesterday afternoon.  I worked on it for over and hour this morning and could not get it lit.  I could not turn the valve to piolet.  finally I called Andrew Brown who is a furnace man.  He will come tomorrow afternoon.

I picked Anaheim peppers, jalapeno peppers and egg plants this morning.  I put them in separated totes.  One of our cats came by to get in the picture.

Here they are at the post office.   I made labels for each.

 With frost in the forecast, I moved the tender plants back to house two.  below is the pomegranate bush, three lemon trees, and three lantana plants in front.

Below is the Dracaena  that is nearly six feet tall.  I pulled up the geraniums that were growing around the base of the plants.  I used the ball and burlap cart to get it to house two.

The Dracaena would not stand up straight.  I blocked one side up so it will sit straight.

Yesterday, I picked a watermelon.  It is pretty much ripe, but seeds has not turned black.

Walking through the garden I took a picture of this crookneck squash plant that I have been training up a post.  It is over five feet tall.  This was planted in mid-July.

 I filled this clam-shell container with Sun Gold cherry tomatoes.  The weight was 2 1/4 pounds.

I worked for a little over an hour pulling weeds out of the pots.  The blossom from the Salvia pachyphylla plant looked pretty nice.  Here is the picture.  It is one of my favorite native perennial.

Below are the Round Leaf Buffalo berries.

 Fremont Barberry

 Bristle cone pine seedlings.

 Monroe Globe Mallow

Luffa sponge that finally produces fruit.  This one is about six inches long.  It should have been that size back in June.

 The next two photos are in house six.  The tomato plants have been neglected during the last month.  The weight of the vines have broken the twine that hooked to the overhead wire.  The are just laying on the ground.

Comments and questions are welcomed

A Cool, Jacket Wearing Morning

After breakfast this morning we picked the larger cucumber.  With frost looming in the wings Thursday night we decided to pick all of the cucumbers.  Carol did her visiting teaching this morning and some produce with her.  Later she took squash and cucumbers to other friends.

I picked a Topaz melon which had the lightest tint of being ripe.  I check the watermelons also most daily for ripeness.  I picked one today that had a dry tendril.

The gas company turned the gas back on yesterday.  I cut their seal and slowly turned the gas to flow into house two to the furnace.  I struggled lighting the piolet light.  I couldn't hold the plunger down with my finger  I used a lot of matches.  I got some clamps to hold it down.  That didn't work.  I got some small washers to put on top of the plunger.  The washer was too big.  Finally I cut a small pieces of wood which gave me a larger surface for my finger.  I lit the match and lit the piolet light.  I checked it after dark.  The light went out.  I think the wind blew it out.  The north door needs to be closed all the time.

Later we picked the small and smaller cucumbers for a Manti Temple friend.  This afternoon they drove over from Fillmore with a small  bucket and plastic shopping bags.  They came out to house one and they filled the small bucket and two plastic shopping bags.  I filled a five gallon bucket with tomatoes.  They picked some cherry tomatoes.

Every time I water the native plants the weeds in the pots seem to mock me.  This afternoon I pulled the weeds, cut some of the larger ones, and used tweezers for the tiny ones.  Below are some Utah Agave, Fremont Barberry, and a few odd and ends.

Below are Round Leaf Buffaloberry plants in 5 1/2 inch square pots.  There were weeds there also.  Some the plants are dead.  I think they have been getting too much water.

There were three trays of Round Leaf Buffaloberry plants.  I pulled the weeds, removed dead plants, and sorted the small plants from the large healthy plants.

As I was taking pictures, I unintentionally got a couple of selfies.



Comments and questions are welcomed.

Lot of Picking

As soon as breakfast was over we started picking.  Carol began at the pole beans and I started in house one with the tomatoes.  I filled one bucket.  Dusty came over and she filled a half bushel box with tomatoes.  She went home and Carol and I picked tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash from our garden.  We filled two totes.

I picked more tomatoes and filled two buckets.  Carol prepared some produce for the Atkinsons who have four young foster girls.  I delivered the two bucket to the troseths and produce bag to the Atkinsons.

I picked a Topaz melon shown below which is beginning to come apart.  All of those that I have picked are too ripe.

Cut in half.

Some of the tomatoes are ripening in clusters.

We drove to Fillmore for a few groceries and mainly cat food.

After lunch I filled the tractor tires with air and attached the post hole digger.  The Stephens next had to put down their dog because of sickness.  They asked if I would make to hole for the grave.  I got the tractor working and helped them dig out the hole. They put the dog in and we filled the hole.

I put the post hole digger away and put the bucket back on.  I scooped up a little dirt and dumped it on the lawn next to the patio.

I mowed the lawn which hasn't been mowed for ten days.  I dumped the catch twice.

The pumpkin is beginning to turn orange as shown below.

Comments and questions are welcomed.

Las Vegas and Back in One Day

We were up early this morning.  We had breakfast and then began to load the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, Topaz melons, and cucumbers. These are what we took to the post office a couple of weeks ago but is reprehensive of what went to Carol's sister and her husband in Las Vegas.

We were on the road at 7:10 this morning.  It rained all the way to Cedar City, there were scattered showers to Moapa.

I checked my phone to see how many bars that I had somewhere near Cove Fort and discovered that I had my old IPhone instead of my new Samsung phone.  We needed the phone to find our way to Anne's house.  The car was full of gas when we left.  We gassed up again in St George and took a bathroom break.

We had an idea how to get there.  There is an I-215 that goes west which puts us about a mile way from Anne and Fred's home.  We got on the right street made a left turn and were just blocks away.  We turned down every road except one.  We stopped at a Drug store with the address in hand and asked one of the employees.  He found the address on his phone, and should use where the store was and told us the way to get there.  I had him come outside and point.  He told us to go back of US highway 95.  We did that and drove all around that area.  We didn't find it.  We stopped of a an insurance agency.  The receptionist was very helpful. She found the address on her computer and then had the directions printed.  The directions were accurate but took us in an unusual way to get there.  She turned the paper over and hand wrote a new set of directions by looking at the computer monitor which were very easy to follow.  I think that we drove around the area for forty-five minutes from the start until we ended up on Crooker Shell Ave.

We unloaded all of the vegetables, visited about and hour then headed for home.

It rained or had been raining part of the way back.  We stopped in Mosquiete for a late lunch at a Mexican fast food place.  It was really good.  We were filled an still had half left.  We put what was left in our cooler.

It started raining again as we approached Cedar city.  We chased a rainbow from Cedar city until Paragonah.  I took several pictures through the window, and the one below is the best that I could get.

The was light rain and then heavy rain all the way to Cove Fort.  There is a new building on the west side of I-15 at the north Cove Fort exit.  One the way home we drove to see what it might be.  It a place where they sell tobacco.

We were home a little before seven.  We had been on the road for nearly twelve hours which included the short stay with Anne and Fred.

All in all it has been a successful day.

Comments and questions are welcomed.

Rain Most of the Day!! What's Rain

I picked a few things for the vegie share at the post office.  Carol washed them and arranged them order.  They are in the photo below. Egg plant, Pimento peppers, and Romanian cucumbers.   Some were left over.  We are taking them to Las Vegas.

I did not get a before picture.  But the table saw was piled with junk.  To cut a board or move the fence, I would have to move junk.

I cleaned the workbench and the radial arm saw.  There is a small bench to the left of the saw which I also cleaned up and made a device to hold the hole saws.

I tied three more pepper plants to the overhead bar.

We hooked most of the overhead wires the header on both ends of house one.  The weight of the tomato plants pulled the right end of the header of its post.  I got several pipe clamps and a ladder and proceeded to pull it back into its original position.  It would not slide back on its post.  Using crowbar and I was able to lift it up to move it into position.  I wasn't able to take the crowbar out. I tried to block up the header with a half inch PVC Pipe.  It all came apart the header came towards me an knocked me off the ladder.  I was able to stem down.  A screw in the header hit my head a little to the right of my eye.  I dodged the bullet.

Finally I got it back together.  I mad 3/8 inch hole through the header and through the 2 by 4 on the outside.  I put a long bolt through the hole.  With a nut and washer I made it tight and was able to removed the clamps.