Help from Linda and Ben

Joan asked Linda to come out to the farm to help get the cabin arranged and decorated with the new room addition.  Joan also ordered a new king size Tempurpedic bed for our room and it was to be delivered on Friday evening.  So we loaded the Expedition up (3 people, two dogs, coolers, groceries, bedding, suitcases, etc), stopped in Norwood to pick up new window blinds, dropped Aunt Karen at the Cincinnati airport, and headed out to the farm.  Shortly after arriving, Ben and Linda arrived and so did the new bed.

The new bed and Sydney seems to think that it is just fine.

Ben and I made a tour and checked all of the cameras before heading in for dinner and March Madness.

On Saturday, we all toured the property and collected a few clippings of redbud.  Linda has plans to incorporate them into some arrangements back in Mason.

Ben and I hung the window blinds in the new room while the girls went shopping - Joan wanted some new furniture to fill the new room.  We are probably going to need a new tv too.

Linda had a brainstorm  to use some of the shed antlers as tie-backs for the curtains.  Ben ground the bases flat and then mounted them in the window frames. Pretty cool.

So now we have a new loveseat and a new recliner.  It took all my energy to reserve the wallspace for future taxidermy mounts.  Joan has a tendency to immediatelly fill empty space.

The old living room has the old furniture and the really old furniture got exiled to the barn.

We have this buck lamp that had a broken antler.  Ben worked hard to re-attach the antler with superglue.  After Ben and Linda left, Joan wanted the table moved.  While moving the table, I knocked over the lamp, caught it before dropping it, and broke off both antlers.  Oops.  Looks better as a doe and fawn anyway.

We moved a bench next to the new windows and Joan showed the dogs how to get up on it.

Sydney now sits up there by herself and watches out the window. 

While I was out spraying fields today, Sydney disappeared and Joan was getting frantic.  She finally called me in to help her find her.  We found her - sound asleep under a bed in the guest bedroom.

The fields that I'm planting this year were still too wet for disking but the weeds were getting pretty thick.  I decided to spray them with Roundup to prevent the weeds from getting too well established.

I also did some bush-hogging.  I try to get all the fields cut at least once per year.

One half of one of the cherry trees was completely dead.  I cut it off and hauled it to the firepit.  I hope that we get a few cherries this year but it isn't looking too likely.

The clover plots that I sprayed last week were looking a little distressed.  I hope that they come back strong - they have in the past. 

The 2,4,D herbicide looked like it was doing its job onthe broadleaf weeds.

It's never too soon to start supplementing the minerals for the pregnant does and the bucks. 

Thanks to Linda and Ben for helping out this weekend.  We had fun and I'm glad to have someone to share my elk burgers.  And the chocolate cake is great (just finished another piece).

Flowering Trees - Spring has Sprung

It has been unseasonably warm and the trees have all popped.  I took some photos both at the farm and in Lexington this week.  This really is a pretty time of year.  Joan's sister Karen was up for a visit from Florida and she got to see all the buds.

At the farm, the pear trees are past the peak, the redbuds are approaching peak, and the apples & dogwoods are just starting to flower.

This is a crabapple that is just starting to really blossom. 

In the orchard, the pears are pretty well done, the cherries are blooming (on their last legs), and the apples haven't quite popped yet.  We're supposed to have a freeze on Monday night - I hope it doesn't ruin the fruit crop.

Last week was georgeous in Lexington.  This is what it usually looks like in mid-April.

I just took a walk one evening near my apartment and this is what the streets looked like.

Turkeys and Trailcams

I think the gobblers have started early this year.  I hope that there's still some action when the season finally opens on April 23.  I saw a couple of hens out in the barn field on Saturday morning.  They do seem to like the clover on the hill tops.

This crazy fox comes to the deer mineral lick each week and lays down it to roll around.  What's that about?

A predatory feline on the hunt.

I am surprised how thin some of the deer look even after this exceptionally mild winter.  Maybe the population is still too high?