Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We did get some rain. Looks like a bit under 1/4 inch. Gotta get out there and do my walking before the sun comes out. Very humid out. Plants like it, but me not so much.

 

[jvls1942]

went and sold $21.oo worth of aluminum cans.
then stopped at BIL to look at the 3/4 inch galvanized
pipes he tore out of his house and replaced all with
PEX.
I will take all of the old pipes and make bar clamps.
he also gave me a freezeless faucet. It is brand new,
but it has a tiny hole in the tube. I can solder that and
use the faucet . If I can't repair my old faucet.
had boiled dinner with smoked ham hocks for
lunch and supper. have enough left over for tomorrow.

 

[Callender Girl]

I'm impressed that you have the motivation and ability to get things done right now, Jim.
The oppressive heat is making me incredibly lazy. My biggest accomplishments are filling water dishes (with electrolyte and vitamin water) and tossing chilled grapes to the poultry.

Sorry you didn't get more rain, Lisa. If only we could wring the humidity out of the air and use it on our plants. My squashes were all sadly and terribly wilted yesterday. I felt much the same way.

 

[jvls1942]

I do my work outside in the morning before it gets up to 80 F.
this morning I tried again to get the faucet handle off. nope.
so I drilled the screw out. the handle was on too tight. it wouldn't
slip off. so I drilled it off. then there was a metal part that
wouldn't slip off. I fiddled with it until, the guts of the faucet
came out. Now there is water gushing. quick, turn off the pump.
look the situation over. run to Menard's , pick up a new faucet.
come home, twenty minutes later, all is done.
now on to my next screw up..
It sprinkled for a couple of minutes. not enough to even
get wet.

 

[Callender Girl]

It rained all day yesterday. The result was about a half inch of precipitation and a welcome cooling down. Instead of the predicted mid-90s, it never got above 85 degrees. Hallelujah!

Screw up, Jim? Nah, it's just a learning experience! I have so very many of those .

 

[jvls1942]

My brother in law was here yesterday.
I was telling him of some of the dumb things I
did in my life time. I never had anyone to mentor
me. My dad was not overly mechanically inclined.
So the first car engine I overhauled at the age of 15 ,
I was all on my own.
that was a ''learning experience''..
kind of a semi disaster..
We had rain last night. Lots of it. Two of the rain
barrels are half full. I suspect a lot of the water overflowed
the rain gutters.
There was strong wind, too. No hail here.
Annie was in town. They had half inch hail there.
just 6 miles away from here.
Lisa, I suspect you had some of that storm ?
Is your hay still lying in the field ?

 

[jvls1942]

at 11 AM it started raining hard again.
I just went out to see what is happening at the
rain barrels. the filler tube to the two auxiliary
barrels can't keep up with the downspout. so the
collection barrel is overflowing. I will have to
do some tweaking.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds like you have more than enough rain Jim. I'm glad you got some too Barb. Cooler is always better.

We got 1/2 inch last night. The worse of the storms skimmed the top of us, and than the rain gently slid in. Those storms looked pretty nasty, so I was happy we didn't get much. I see more coming for later today.

My corn is pretty tall in my boxes. It's been blown over twice, and recovered. Hopefully not again. I'm gonna need a ladder to harvest it.

 

[Callender Girl]

Be careful with that corn-harvesting ladder, Lisa The field corn next to my property looks to be at least 7 foot tall this year. It's almost creepy, to be honest. Like, it might be hiding something from a bad horror film.

Yesterday was mid-90s with Absolutely No Air Movement, but plenty of humidity. At one point, the county was under heat advisory, tornado watch, severe thunderstorm warning and large-hail alert. Thankfully, the heat broke overnight, and the rest passed by.

Keep tweaking that rain barrel, Jim. I bet it will work perfectly soon!

 

[jvls1942]

at 7 PM it started to rain hard. and it continued
to rain hard for 40 minutes without a let up.
then it was over.
I think I will empty all of the barrels and do some
drastic tweaking.
So far this summer there are not many mosquitoes.
but after all the rain, I think there will be a great hatch.