Driveway Project In Process

It's been a decade or so since we graveled our driveway.  It's about 0.4 miles long so it's a big job.  We are also putting a roundabout in by the barn and adding an RV parking spot.  My helper, Van worked all week on this project.

Van used the bobcat to cut out the sod and do some grading to soften the slopes.

We've had a dozen 20 ton loads of gravel so far and there's more to go to finish it next week.

This is the new roundabout looking back at the RV spot.  Van using his van to pack down the new gravel on the roundabout.

In the middle of that activity, I had the fuel tanks refilled.

Joan did some bush-hogging and mowing this weekend.  She parked the Kubota at the tanks on Saturday night and I fueled her up.  When she went to go out on Sunday morning, she found a flat tire.

I looked at it and thought It had enough air in it that I could drive it into the barn to the compressor.  I was wrong.  It immediately started to come off the rim.

So I parked it where it was, put the bucket down to lift it up, and took the tire off.  When I got the tire in the barn, I noticed that the valve was gone.  At that point I punted for Van to clean up my mess.

Speaking of messes that I leave for Van, here's another one.  Pull cord on weed-whacker didn't retract.

Joan also was out on the zero turn. She was happily cutting down toward the pond when she encountered a deep tractor rut obscured by grass.  It almost thru her off the machine.  It did throw her flip flops off her feet and she promptly ran over them and mowed them.

In between equipment follies, I got out the crossbow and sighted it in.

This is a 40 yard group.  I can live with that.

I also got the 30-06 out and got a few shots downrange with a couple different loads.  It's shooting respectably.  Only about 5 weeks till we head to New Mexico for elk.

So I ended up leaving the tractor (minus a wheel) in the middle of the work area where Van is trying to finish spreading gravel.  I'm sure that he will handle it.

Joan and I did the camera tour.

The plots are looking ok.  This is the brassica overseed in the soybeans.

My "no-till" plots have some green up.

It's a little unclear how much is what I planted and how well it will fill in.

The pumpkin patch is a weedy mess.  There are some orange pie pumpkins visible.

I spent some time on invasives this weekend.  This is Autumn Olive.

I'm trying cutting them down and spraying the stump with concentrated roundup.

The seek write up on this invader.

I also am finding a bit of Tree of Heaven.  I had pretty much eradicated this invader but it re-emerges whenever the ground is disturbed.

The neighbors did some timbering and they have quite a bloom of it going on.

This is a new one showing up.  Seek tells me it is Chinese Bushclover.

Meanwhile, the critters don't seem to care.

Twin fawns.

This doe doesn't look that healthy to me.

Predator in the tree.

Poults growing up.

And the usual suspects.

Coyote eating pears.

A few bucks.

No Drought This Year in August

Only about 1/2" of rain fell this week so I got a little time in the pumpkin patch while it was semi-dry.  Then it rained some more and another 1/2" fell.  I really just got some weed-whacking done around the edges of the patch. It's hard to tell whether there's any survivors out there in the chest high weeds and grass.  This is my zucchini row - about 1/2 of them have died off.

My harvest this week - not much from about 20 plants.

Where I can see things growing around the edges, all I see is evidence of somebody nibbling.

I think it must be a groundhog - seems like chisel teeth.

And then in the most random places, I find volunteer pumpkins.

Once the rain started, I moved onto other chores.  I got my 30-06 cleaned and adjusted the scope position.  I didn't get it re-zeroed yet.

I've been watching a YouTube channel called Whitetail Habitat Solutions.  One of the things that this guy really advocates is a "licking branch" that is a free-hanging piece of grapevine.  

I tried to hang one near each of our stands.

He doesn't believe in adding any scent - just let it happen naturally.

I guess it's worth a try.  My mock scrapes using purchased scent haven't been huge successes.

The prep for the roundabout and RV parking spot has progressed.  Van hopes to work on it during this week.

The goose flock made another appearance.

The plots that I no-till planted are showing some green.  

Hopefully it is what I planted and not just random weeds.

The brassica over-seed in the soybeans looks great - other than the spots that I must have missed with the broadcast spreader.

Joan was in Costco and saw this camera bundle for $135,  She didn't realize that it was a cell camera when she bought it for me.

I was glad to have it and these are the first customers.

Some more shots from the grandkid visit last week.

Charlie and I during the hike.

Lucy out for a walk while talking to her Dad on Facetime.

She decided that he should be on the blog too.

The fawns are still in spots.

They should start to fade in a month or so,

Sharing space with the turkeys.

I just liked the way the sun lit up her whiskers.

How about this shot - what bird of prey might this be?

And another one in a different spot.

The coyotes of course.

Lots of turkeys.

Including poults.

Sharing some corn with a buck.

And a few bucks making the rounds.