The Latest Addition

 Joan and I shopped at Miller's last week.  It's a local Amish store.  We made an acquisition that was delivered this week.

The delivery was made by a Mennonite from Kentucky.

He had a custom built tilt trailer and he brought two of his daughters along as helpers.

They had it set up in no time.

 Now we just need some grandkids to visit.

 Tim was a pleasure to work with and it turns out that he is the manufacturer of the set.

 Once the work was done, I took them on a short tour.

 They seemed to enjoy it.

 There was quite a bit of rain this week.

Cleaning the bird poop out of the Bloomsky didn't improve its accuracy. Now it is reporting 400 inches of rain.

We were invited to a holiday cookout over at Dave's.  Dawn made cupcakes.

 They are "Chloe cupcakes".

 I think that these are blackberries.

And these are red raspberries.  Not quite ripe.

 This is the border of the prairie plot that I frost seeded in native warm season grass.

 I'm not sure if that's what I got or if this is just the old pasture coming back up.

 The prairie planting is colorful - not sure if it is the intended species or not.

 There's a fair amount of diversity.

 I'm no good at identification.

 This is honeysuckle vine.  I spent some time trying to prevent them from taking over the pine trees.

 The one plot that I have planted.  Supposed to be sunflower, soy beans, cowpeas, and millet.  I can see some of that in what's up.

 The one cherry tree is producing and is ripe early.  I picked a couple of cups worth of cherries.

 I encountered something behind one of my cameras.

 Turns out that it was a toad.

 Bucks progressing.

Sticker points on left base?

 Pregnant.

 Due soon.

 We saw lots of turkeys this weekend.

 On the prowl.

Last weekend - end of season.

End Of Turkey Season

Here's a couple of my friends that had a better season than me.

 This one was public land in Indiana.

I really only got about three good mornings in. It poured rain on the last day and I didn't even go out.  I was sitting at the table drinking coffee when Joan came out and noticed two jakes over my shoulder walking by just outside the window.  Typical.

Before the rain I got the deer exclusion tape up on the one annual plot that I have planted.  The objective is to keep the deer out of it until the plants can get established.

I'm starting early for the mule deer muzzleloader hunt that I signed up for in September. It's in Utah.

This gun absolutely needs cleaned after each shot or the next one won't seat.  And this is what the bolt looks like after about four shots.  I've got to try some different power - been using Triple 7 pellets.

My sight in target as I was making adjustments.

 Three shot group after I thought that I was done.  More work to do.  Not bad but can be better.

 Everything very wet but only 0.3" in the gauge.

 Bloomsky showed zero.  I found the rain funnel clogged with bird poop again.

 The prairie plot is looking a little bit like a prairie.

 I'm not sure how much is what I planted and how much is from the soil seedbank.

Definitely some of both.

 Last year I sprayed Roundup on an 8' band around the plot to try to suppress the fescue.  When I frost seeded the barespots with warm season grasses, I also seeded that band.  There is grass up and looking healthy - wonder if it is fescue or bluestem etc.

 I spot sprayed a couple of fields for grass control.  In this field it appears to have killed the clover and stimulated the grass.

A clover chicory field that also has a stripe that is unhappy.

 Bluebird and cardinal.  That bluebird has been trying to kill itself on our window for 6 weeks.

 Not as much turkey activity on cameras but still some.

 Replenishing the mineral sites.

 Starting to see some sprouting antlers.

 Bye.

Looking for poults or fawns.

 I don't see many skunks.

My best clover field - by the orchard.

 Things are really growing now.

 We bought a playset for the grandkids this week.  Hope to deliver next week.

And it will be time to plant pumpkins soon.