Month: March 2022

went to town the other day to fill our drinking water jugs. while in town we got something to eat. we took our lunch to lake shawnee. we parked in the lot where the eagle nest is. it is on the other side of the water but it is visible. there are always people there that watch for the eagles.

while we were eating two of the eagles flew close over the parking lot. the white head and tail make it plain that they were bald eagles.  they flew awhile then one went back to the big nest in the tree across from us. the other landed in a tree near the nest. it was nice to watch the eagles as we ate. on the way home we seen another bald eagle. good mojo.

yesterday we went to renew our subscription to the county rag. it runs out next week. we paid for another years subscription of it. i read it every week for local news. one of the things i see in it is the arrest records of the county. i check to see if any of my relatives have been up to no good.

tomorrow i have to head back to town. i have to renew my drivers license. if i was younger i could do it online. but no, because i am an old guy i had to make an appointment to get it done in person.  i have to take my passport or birth certificate, a utility bill, proof of social security number and the card they sent me.

it has been as windy as a politician. i havent been able to burn off last years corn field. i fired up my tiller and tilled a path around it for a fire break. i wanna get it burned off before they come till the garden. if i can, i will ask if they can till that field too. i plan on putting in a ground cover there to add nutrients back into the ground. that will make it better to grow things next year.

i am two games closer to collecting on a payday. before the season started my son was in vegas.  i had him bet $30 on KU to win the ncaa championship. i got 18 to 1 odds. if KU wins it all i win $540. righteous bucks. i will be watching the game saturday and cheering for them to win. i still say that they havent played their best yet. when they play up to what they are capable of, they can beat anyone.

i aint getting caught up in buying final four t shirts. i have plenty of KU gear. i bought a KU jersey almost every year when i would go to the season opener. i dont think i missed an opener in 20 years. i have a handful of jerseys left. i would have more but my sons glommed onto them. they wont admit that though. i will wear KU colors while watching the game saturday.

gotta do more spring cleaning.

yesterday we went to lawrence to watch samuel play in his first soccer game. last week we went to watch andrew play in olathe. they both played well. we were glad to go support them. andrew has played a few years. he played goalie and made quite a few saves. samuel is just starting out but he played good.

after samuels game we stopped at an estate sale. i didnt buy anything. i thought the prices were kinda high. i look for bargains. i went to an estate sale in arizona when we visited wabenokwe. i didnt buy anything there either. thats two estate sales and i didnt find anything. maybe i am out of practice after not going to one since last fall.

after leaving the estate sale in lawrence i headed downtown. i like to drive down mass st. whenever i am in town. lawrence has a vibrant downtown. it will be packed tonight if the jayhawks win. i found a garage sale on the way. i bought 5 cds. instead of paying $1 for one song on the internet, i can buy a cd for the same money.  if my playlist ever gets zapped i can reload the music.

after i got home i fired up my tiller. i tilled a path around my garden spot to mark where i want it tilled. i burned the grass off. it isnt good to have alot of weeds catch up in the tiller. i could probably till the whole garden but the tractor will till it deeper and faster. this old man gotta let someone else do it.

i can still do it but why wear myself out when a tractor will do a better job. i can save my energy for planting and taking care of the garden. i like to work in the garden. whatever i raise will taste better than what grocery stores sell. yesterday the president said there may be food shortages. thats more reason to raise my own.

i tilled around last year’s corn field too. i want to burn it off when i get some help. the grass should green up soon and burning wont spread but i dont take any chances. i probably will plant a cover crop in that field. most likely it will be with clover. that will be tilled under next year before i plant.

i have noticed a big change to this website. in the past it wasnt unusual to get 1000 spam in one day. most likely i missed emails that i should have read. that is just too much spam to go thru every day. today i had 9 spam. that is manageable.

today the K.U. Jayhawks play miami florida in the elite eight. the winner goes on to the final four. I still think that KU hasnt played their best game yet. when they do they can beat anyone. when they dont, we have trouble getting past some teams. maybe they are saving their best for last. i hope so. i got some coin riding on them winning it all. rock chalk.

yesterday i went to town to buy some more rain barrels. this indian had some coin left after making two car payments with my per cap. i ended up buying 3 barrels. these had lids. i bought covers off the internet for my old barrels to keep leaves and bugs out.

i will connect two of the barrels to the ones i already have in place. i will put the other one by my screened in porch to catch rain on that corner of the house. i will use that rainwater in my box gardens. next i will buy some cinder blocks to set them on. 

i raise the barrels so i can use gravity flow to water the garden. my garden is on a slight decline away from the house. i can turn on the faucet of the rain barrel and the rainwater will flow to the garden.

a garden hose carries the water from the barrel to the garden. there it is hooked up to a soaker hose.  that allows the water to drip into the ground and soak in. i am proud of my set up. it wont rival the irrigation systems of the inca but it serves my needs.

when the rain barrels fill up, it will give me 385 gallons of rainwater. the rez is in a drought watch. that means we could go into a drought if we dont get enough rain this year. that is why i am trying to save what rainwater we do get. i will use it to grow food that i eat.

there is no federal law that says rainwater harvesting is illegal. water laws are handled on the state level. it is legal to collect rainwater in kansas. but if i was to use it for anything other than domestic purposes i would need a permit. i looked this up in case it comes up in a jeopardy question.

i was talking another rez guy that does alot of gardening. there arent many i can talk with that share this same interest. he was saying he put in an electric fence around his garden because the deer were eating his crops. i have the same problem. he said the fence seems to work.

i have gardened for mucho years but i am always open to learn something new. i ordered a solar powered electric fence energizer. i have tried many things to keep the deer out of my garden. not many of them have worked. i gotta try the electric fence. that may sound cruel but i am tired of the deer eating up my indian corn and squash. i depend on these foods.

i might try something else new to me this year. i will look into planting a cover crop in last years garden spot. a cover crop will put nutrients back in the soil. i havent tried that yet but i will do my research and see if i can do it.

been waiting all week to see KU play in the ncaa tourney. i will be watching tonight. KU is the only number 1 seed left. rock chalk.

it has been wet, cloudy and cool this past week. instead of building grow boxes i have been spring cleaning. i have been cleaning out my garage workshop. i need to find my tools and make more room to work in. then i can build the new grow boxes. i still have some time to plant my cool weather plants.

the wet weather has probably held up garden tilling too.  it is still early. the average last frost date around here is around april 15th. i plant warm weather plants in my field garden like corn, squash, tomatoes and indian beans.  i have time to get them in the ground when it warms up.

i cut up my seed potatoes. they havent healed over yet. if necessary i can till a coupla rows to plant potatoes in. i have planted them later and still got a good crop of potatoes. when i get onion plants i will put them in too.

i havent gone to town to buy a coupla more rain barrels yet. i ordered parts off the internet to connect them to my existing rain barrels. the parts were delivered to my front door yesterday. i will have 3 barrels on two different corners of the house. that will give me 330 gallons of rain water after each rain.

i will water my garden plants with that rain water. last year i used gravity flow from the rain barrels to irrigate my tomatoes. i get free water from nature.  rain water doesnt have the chemicals that are in rural tap water.  i want lotsa tomatoes to can. i want to make more hot sauce and salsa.

its way to early to think about mowing my yard. however i am thinking bout it now. we are gonna buy another riding mower. my 6 year old one probably got a few years left in it but an opportunity to buy a 2 year old john deere riding mower came up. i cant pass on that.

i have been wanting a john deere mower for some time. i will buy my sons john deere. he bought a zero turn machine and no longer needs the john deere. i can use it though.  he gave me a good deal on it. it has a 48 inch cut, my old one has a 42 inch cut.

i usually bought a craftsman mower because sears delivered. sears let me make monthly payments on it. sears, like disco, is dead now. no matter, i will finally get my john deere mower. dont know if i will pimp it out with indian decals like my current mower. maybe i will use my old mower to pull my garden cart for chores.

i have been wishing for maple sugar lately, especially the maple candies. i havent had any of them for some time. there were bout  4 or 5 dudes that were gonna hook me up with a source to score some. that didnt happen though. still wishing for maple candies.

gotta get back to spring cleaning.

yesterday was the spring equinox.  it was the first day of astronomical spring and we are heading toward warmer days. soon it will be time to plant gardens.  i believe it is officially spring after we had our spring ceremonies.

last week i cleaned around the grow boxes. i dug up the ornamental grasses and transplanted them by the mailbox before it rained. it is supposed to rain again tonight. the grasses should start greening up and grow tall now.

i will repair and build grow boxes this week. it will keep me busy until it is time to plant. i could have done that last fall. i put it off because i dont need the boxes until planting time. that will be soon. it wont take me long to build them. i have done plenty of building in my life.

the seed potatoes i bought are developing shoots on them. i will cut them up this week. they will heal over in a few days. the nursery told me they didnt have any onions plants yet. there is wet weather in texas where the plants come from. i will go back later and check to see if the plants came in.

i bought some cabbage and kale plants at the nursery. i like growing both in my garden. a few plants of kale keeps us supplied for months.  i use them in juicing. we also make kale chips. i like fresh home grown cabbage. we make cole slaw with it or i use it in stews. gotta learn how to make egg rolls.

i also bought 25 more strawberry plants. the old berry vines may stop producing soon. i will transplant these ever berrying plants so i  have berries all season. the nursery lady told me to pinch off the flowers until fall. then i can have my first crop. the grandkids love strawberries. so do i.

i dont know when the pullets are coming. the feed store guy said they were gonna order them soon. i should get them in the next week or two. i fixed an area in the chicken house to keep them in. i have used it whenever i got new chicks. i have raised chickens for over 30 years because i gotta have fresh eggs.

we visited with the grandsons for the first time in two weeks. last week end they rode a train to the southwest to visit their relatives. we were in arizona the previous week end. this weekend we got together. i always miss my grand kids when i dont see them. even if its only for a few days.

we went to andrews’ soccer game yesterday. he went out for the coin toss because he is captain of the team. he played goalie. he made many stops while tending goal. they got beat by an older team but played them tough. he was happy misho and gramma got to see him play.

KU is in the sweet 16. cant wait til game time. rock chalk.

we are getting a light snow. the weather lady said it wont stick. the ground is too warm and temps will be 47 today. some of the snow will soak into the ground. thats good because our governor issued a drought emergency, warning or watch for all counties in kansas.

the counties on the southern border of the state are in a drought emergency. western kansas is in a drought warning. we are in the drought watch. hope we get enough snow and rain to keep out of a drought. i need water for my garden to grow.

i worked outside yesterday. the grand daughters were here so they came out and played while i worked. i dug up the two ornamental grass plants i had by my grow beds. they reached about 7 feet tall. it blocks my view of seeing my plants grow.

i separated the plants into 5 clumps that i transplanted by the mailbox. there is a slope there that is kinda steep for my riding mower. the grasses will grow on that slope and i wont have to drive the mower on it anymore. i will have to use the weed whacker around the grasses.

i moved the ornamental grasses because i am getting the grow boxes ready to plant. i gotta repair a coupla grow boxes and build some new ones. i will fence the area in to keep the dogs out of it. i will have a gate where i can walk into the area.

since it was gonna rain and/or snow i emptied the rain barrels. i wanted to clean them out. when they fill back up the water will be clean. i ordered some covers for the rain barrels to keep out leaves, mosquitos etc.  i will  get more rain barrels so i can have more rain water for my garden. i  ordered some links to connect the new rain barrels to the others.

i ordered the rhode island red pullets because the feed store was out of chicks. they got bought out. chicks wont lay eggs for about 4 or 5 months. the earlier you get the chicks the sooner you get eggs. i did better than that by ordering pullets. i will get eggs sooner. the price of chicks has gone up. during covid times more people were buying them.

my ncaa tourney bracket took a big hit by kentucky getting beat. i had them playing the jayhawks in the championship. wishful thinking. i wanted us to avenge our loss to them. dont care about the bracket but am happy kentucky got beat. with the talent they get, they should win every year.

we stayed up late watching KU play last night. they won as they should have. they subbed in alot so players wont be too tired in saturdays game. if the jayhawks play their game they should have the easiest bracket to the final four. they better hit their peak now. no time for an off game. if they have one they go home. and i wont cash in my ticket for a good payday.

gotta do my chores.

 

that last snow we got is pretty much melted. some of it is soaked up in the ground where it is needed the most.  i turned my request in to have the gardened tilled. i cant wait until it is ready.  i wanna start gardening.

it is too early to plant most things. i can start by building my grow beds. i have enough 2×6 lumber to build a number of new grow boxes. i will use wood screws to hold them together. nails eventually come loose easier than screws. i have a few grow boxes to repair too.

my potatoes are forming shoots on them. soon i will cut them into smaller pieces. after they scab over they will be ready to plant. i gotta find some onion sets to plant. i like them better than onion bulbs. i cut the top third off to stimulate root growth before i plant the sets. i also soak them in root stimulator.

yesterday i ordered 15 rhode island red pullets. they cost slightly more than baby chicks. its worth it though because they are older than chicks and will lay eggs earlier. it isnt that much more work to feed a few more chickens. the added egg production will help pay for my feed.

i will fence off an area for the pullets until they get bigger. when they have grown more i will let them loose with the dozen hens i have. if i turned them loose now the older hens could peck the hell out of them. chicken yards are like a rez. there is a pecking order that must be maintained. i dont wanna lose any pullets.

wild onions are greening up. they are one of the first edible plants that are ready in the spring. i will pick some when they are. i havent have wild onion gravy for some time. i really like the taste of it. i want to dice up some wild onions and dry them to use later. i had a big supply of them but used them alot in stews and soups.

i remember the first time i learned what wild onions were. me and my brothers were playing in a ditch by the house. when we went back inside i told my mother it smelled like onions there. she said go back and dig them up. i did but didnt know to get all of the bulbs. it didnt matter. we had enough for mom to cook. i liked the taste of them.

i can spot wild onions growing easy now. or i can be walking in the timber and smell them before i see them. i heard once if a plant likes you, it will make itself available to you to find.

the winds we had the past year damaged a coupla my humming bird feeders. i will order some new ones to replace them. the birds will be returning in a few weeks. i like having the little birds around. i watch them from the kitchen window.

cant wait til tomorrow when KU plays.

my granddaughters came over for a visit yesterday. we havent seen them since before our trip to the southwest. they wanted to come see misho and gramma.  i got a big hug from both of them.

i filled out my ncaa tourney bracket. i dont get into pools anymore because i dont win them. i follow KU with a passion but i dont watch or follow other teams. i dont know what kind of teams they have until i see them play. i did a bracket for my amusement.

i usually pick KU to win it all. i back my favorite team because they are good every year. besides i got money riding on them. i bet $30 on them at 18-1 odds before the beginning of the season. if they win it all i collect $540. i would have to go to vegas to collect on it.

i was in town saturday. on a whim i went to the nursery i usually buy from. i bought seed potatoes. i bought norland red potatoes because i like reds. i also bought yukon gold because mary likes them. i know its early but it will be awhile before they get planted.

i will have about an 80 foot row of each one. i have the seed potatoes in a box in a dry place. when the shoots on them develop to about half an inch or so i will cut them up. when they scab over i will plant them.

as a diabetic i aint suppose to eat potatoes but i like them. if i die from eating them, they can say ‘at least he had his home grown potatoes’. i read that washing potatoes before cooking removes some of the starch or sugars. maybe a diabetic said that to justify eating them. anyway i will eat them in moderation.

i looked for onion sets and cabbage plants while at the nursery. they didnt have them yet. i will go back and look again after i get the garden tilled up. i have to build some new grow boxes by my house. the dogs broke a coupla them. thats okay i will just fix them. i will put a fence around the grow boxes this year though.

i got a request form to have my garden tilled. i will be happy to see the tractor that i helped get come to my yard and till my garden up. i am moving my garden spot back to the other side of the driveway. i will let my garden spot from last year lay fallow this year. i will trade garden spots every year.

i will add to my rain barrel set up this year. i have two barrels that are connected. when one is full the excess rain water flows into the next barrel. i will add a third barrel to each corner. i used the rain barrels to water my tomato plants last year. they are gravity feed so i dont use any energy except turning on the faucet to water my plants.

gonna sort porcupine hair today.

it was t-shirt weather while i was in the southwest. i got home and it snowed on the first night. i had to clear a path to the chicken house to feed the chickens. the dogs followed me out and played in the snow. i fed the chickens inside their house because their yard was full of snow.

there is a saying about the month of march ‘in like a lion, out like a lamb’. or vice versa. i dont know if this qualifies for the beginning of the month. if it does that means it will go out like a lamb. i will be able to get my gardening started. i will fill out forms to have my garden tilled up. i wouldnt know how to act if i didnt have a garden.

i still have to build new grow boxes. i bought the 2×6 lumber at a garage sale last summer. i will make the boxes with them. i will fence in my grow boxes this year to keep the dogs out. i will make a gate so i can walk in and down the middle of the grow boxes.

i am back home but not back to the grind. i am retired so there is no grind. i work on roaches but i do that whenever i want. i have walked on my treadmill the next day after i got home. we are keeping the woodstove going. i am feeding my critters.  and i am getting ready to start gardening. i guess i do have a routine.

a good thing about my trip was i finally read another book. i bought it before i left and read it while waiting at the airport and on the plane.  i finished it when we settled down for the night. it was almost 500 pages. i gotta get back to reading books instead of just the internet.

when flying to phoenix and back i had window seats. i like to look down and watch the landscape. i have had plenty of plane rides in my life. it is still amazing to look down and see mountains, rivers, towns etc. from high up in the air. it me think of an older guy saying ‘what will the chamok think of next’.

i watched the KU basketball game last night. yesterday i watched the texas game that was played while we were gone. my son recorded it because i wanted to see it. i bought tickets for that game before the season started. at that time they predicted texas would be a final four team. dont look like it now.

i did miss the second TCU game that was also played while i was gone. it was on espn+. they dont let you record it to watch later. bummer. they want my money but not my enjoyment of watching my team play.

i will watch the game tonight. i am hoping KU wins the Big 12 tournament. we already are in the ncaa tourney. we are playing for a higher seed now. cant wait for that.

we checked in with the airline yesterday. today we board the plane to fly home.  we spent alot of time with our daughter since we dont see her as much as we used to. her work takes her to many places around the country. we stayed at her place. we had most of our meals together. mary cooked breakfast but we ate at some nice restaurants for the rest of our meals. i dont do that much at home.

yesterday mary and i went for our first acupuncture session. we went to the lady that wabeno goes to. i have been wanting to try acupuncture for some time. when you get older you start to get ailments you never had. i have had to deal with back pain for years. i have tried everything for that. i go to sweats, soak in hot springs. get massages and exercise. now i have had acupuncture.

the lady that we went to knew her business. i didnt feel any pain or discomfort. i had 15 needles in me while i was on my back. i laid there quietly for some time. the lady came back and removed the needles. she had me roll onto my stomach and put 19 more needles in to me. at times i had them in my ears, back, ankle, chest and top of my head. my first time was a pleasant experience.

i had some pain in my ankle. maybe from the hike in sedona to see the cliff dwelling and rock art. that ankle has bothered me lately. after the acupuncture the ankle feels better. the same with my upper and lower back. it was worth going. i would go again to try acupuncture.

since my open heart surgery this past spring i have had so many needles stuck in me. getting my first tattoo and first acupuncture was a breeze after that. the needles didnt bother me.

while we were here we had facetime calls with the grand kids. i miss them but i know i will be back with them soon. we sent text messages to our kids. we have family texts often. we keep in touch with each other. thats good because i see families that dont communicate.

the weather has been nice here. in the summer it would be too hot for my tastes. the flannel shirt i wore as a jacket was adequate. temps were in the 60s and 70s. at night they were maybe 40s. cool but not cold. i heard we had sleet and snow at home. it will be gone by the time we get there.

i really enjoyed my trip to the southwest. i will miss seeing the cactus we seen every day. i dont know if i have ever been around this kind. i had to take pictures standing by them. it aint the first time i was off the rez but i enjoy seeing new places and things.

i am glad we have a direct flight home. we board here and get off in kansas city. it will be nice to be home after a good trip.