What a lacking of water uncovers

 We've had some rain this year, and even days of it recently, but we are still in a drought status that has carried over from previous years. But it hasn't been enough to prevent drought conditions that we can't always see (underground water table), but also what we can.

As Woodchuck was oiling and greasing up his tractor, I took a walk down to the pond and was shocked to see that the water had receded enough that I could walk in areas that had always been under water previously. I could see where the pond banks should be, I could see debris laying that would have normally been under water. I was geeking out! The thought of being able to stand on an area that would normally be under water is absolutely fascinating to me!

In this picture above, I am standing where there was a patch of black willow. We've been working on taking it down and getting it more under control. 

Muddy and squishy in spots, but I was able to walk out nearly to the waters edge.

In this picture above, you can clearly see now that there is a blueberry bush in the water. That tells us that this side of the pond has failed by several feet.

I had the thought that we should take the boat out. We struggled to find a good spot the first time we went out there to assess how bad the water quality was, and why pass this opportunity up? So, we grabbed the boat and started dragging it towards the water. One pudgy, gray mouse abandoned ship! They are nesting in the Styrofoam in the boat seats! And the smell! OMG. 🐁😵 Hubby drops the boat, kicks it, rocks it, and another pudgy, gray mouse jumps overboard. They were so cute though, I have to say! But I don't want them in the boat with me when we hit the water. Hubby drops the boat, again, we are now right at the water, and a larger, fat brown mouse jumps out! Hubby drops it and walks away to get the oars while I take over shaking it to see if there are anymore in it. I think it's safe to go in the water now. I didn't think to ask if the boat was water worthy until we were already on the water. Panic attack ensues.

Lots of little Kermits in the water, as usual! Lots of algae and watermeal too and between the stagnant smell of the pond water and the mouse piss smell in the boat, it was like being stranded on a tiny island that has a zoo on it!

Even the entry to the ditch had dried up and I was able to get down in there and walk around. SO overgrown, and many logs laying there. I'm wondering if the previous owner placed those in there? So much to learn!

While I don't want a drought to continue, us cleaning up and prepping up these ditches will be a whole lot easier and safer, for us if they aren't filled with water. All we can do is watch and wait until it's time for us to start working on them, and then we'll see what they look like then.

The monster multi-flora rose that I will be taking out has its rose hips now and I've been debating on harvesting them and utilizing them. I'm tired of making jelly and jam though, so I want to do something else with them, but can't decide on what. Adding it to the list....

We also had a creature recently on Das Zem! It was sitting quietly and patiently in the front CRP forest, ready to pounce and make us his own!

He sat and watched to see if we would just walk right by, but as soon as I noticed him I called to him and he came to us for some loving. We hadn't seen him before, and haven't seen him since 😞 He was a very sweet and loving boi! I've named him Shadow McGhee.

That's it for now! Our contractor is a few jobs behind schedule due to lack of workers, so we are working on all of the other things that we can in the meantime. Big changes are coming soon and I wish the pictures could capture better how it all looks! Stay tuned....

As 2021 keeps slipping away....

 What day is it? Where am I? Who am I? You are feeling it too, right? Time is flying by and I can't believe we are already in October! It's my favorite month, but honestly, I would like a little more Summer (minus the humidity). I'm already behind in this month too! I always like having my decors up BY the first of the month, so I get a good chunk of time with them, and so it feels worth all of the cleaning and decorating. I just started putting them up this past weekend and will continue to do so through Thursday when our son comes home from college for the weekend. I know he enjoys seeing the decors too!

We haven't been able to spend much time at Das Zem since the camping trip there, but we can feel it calling to us all of the time. We stopped there for a couple of hours just over a week ago so Woodchuck could mow and I continued to work on the honeysuckle removal. I was tempted just to spray them, but I refuse to use chemicals when I still have the capability to pull them. But that is waning, for sure! My plan to chop off the roots, black bag those and pile the rest of the plant for burning later, quickly fell to the wayside when I didn't have enough strength to use the loppers. So, I bagged the smallest ones and hung the others in the trees again. I don't think the trees like that, most of the piles from the trip before were on the ground.

Das Zem is beginning to put on a Fall show with the dropping of the leaves. We have never seen her in all of her Fall glory, so we are very anxious to see what it all looks like this year!

I finally remembered to get out by the blueberry bushes and tag the silky dogwood....only to see that there's more than one! I am not for certain, but think that they may have been planted there. The pattern seems to be alternating dogwoods and blueberries, but the overgrowth out there is still so bad, it's hard to get a good visual. Now I have to research if that is a good thing with that placement. Will the dogwoods shade out or out compete the blueberries? I have no freaking idea. Plus, I'll have to tag all of the other dogwoods too to make sure nobody picks those berries, mistaking them for blueberries. Add it to the list!

The lack of rain has the ditches dried up, but the weather forecast for the Fall is above average precipitation levels, so that may help. Hopefully we can burn the ditches first to get them cleared so the water can flow. I am always struck now by the delicate time schedule. You wait and wait and wait to do something and then all of a sudden that chance has passed. 

This picture above is of a spot on the front ditch, our deepest one. You can see how overgrown everything is, and that black stuff right in the center is the mud that is left at the bottom of it.

We also saw that something was utilizing the deer carcass again! That makes me happy! There were pieces of bone all over the path!

Woodchuck and I did our big art show of the year the last Saturday of September and did great! We have signed up for next year already and I'm hoping over the next couple of months to really hit the projects hard that we couldn't get ready for this year in time and then spend the Winter working on new ideas. We really waited too long this year to get started on things, but it all worked out.

 We have gotten the kitchen to a good place in the remodel now, and finished up a lot of little things yesterday. We were nearly talking ourselves into going to Das Zem for a few hours, but rain on and off and a big thunderstorm in the afternoon luckily kept us home. We really needed to stay here! We finished putting the cabinet handles on, he finished the seam between the kitchen and living room floors, put the door sweeps back on, hung the under-the-cabinet radio back up, I washed the cabinets again, and we switched out the kitchen table and chairs. Still things left to do, but we made a lot of progress for one day!

On Saturday, I finished making the last of the jelly from the grapes I picked and processed. 28 half pints!

 The last batch I made was a cran-grape flavor! What a gorgeous color! It used up the last of the grape and cranberry juices I had.

Last week we racked the peach wine, though were disappointed at the light peach flavor. It's more of a white wine with just a hint of peach at the back of your throat after you swallow. It was our first time making this flavor, so there was a big learning curve. This will now sit for about a month.

Yesterday we racked the grape wine, separating the must from the wine, rebottling it and now letting it set another couple of weeks before the next step.

And I can't remember if I posted this from before, but we also did our own grated horseradish root. I thought Woodchuck was going to keel over when he took a big taste of it! The longer you process it the hotter it gets!

We've been trying for a week to get a hold of the contractor who will be cutting in our driveway and removing trees from a couple of spots on the land. Most likely, the rest of October will be all about that, and the land will begin Its true transformation. Stay tuned! 💚