Geese on the Move

These baby geese are only a couple of days old and they have already walked over a quarter of a mile from Miner's pond to the pond near our cabin.



I'm not sure why the geese move between these two ponds, but they do it every year. The grass around our pond is taller than the baby geese.

Baby Geese

As I drove by Miner's pond this morning on my way to our cabin I noticed a couple of geese along the edge of the pond and one of them looked as if was on a nest. On my return trip I could see some newly hatched baby geese that the mother had been keeping warm.



The baby geese were soon in the water splashing behind their mother.

Tree Rings

I was doing some remodeling recently and was "re-purposing" some of the 2X4s that I removed in another project when I noticed one of the 2X4s was very hard to cut. When I checked the end grain of the 2X4 I found very tightly packed tree rings. This 2X4 was used in construction of our house over 40 years ago and must have come from some old growth timber.

Trees will add a new ring for each year of growth and I counted over 100 different tree rings within this 1.5 inch section of wood. Based upon the curvature of the tree rings this section of 2X4 was located about 16 inches from the center of the tree and the tree was therefore at least 3 feet in diameter.

This 2X4 must have come from a tree that was over a 1,000 years old.



Pine tree plantations in the South consider trees mature at 25-40 years old. Plantation trees are typically thinned when trees are 12-15 years old to promote the growth. These plantation grown trees have large gaps between the tree rings due to their rapid growth and the wood is much softer.

A close-up view of the tree rings.

Fruit Tree Grafting

Tree grafting is a technique to take a cutting from one tree and propagate it on another tree. Each spring I try my luck at grafting cuttings from my apple orchard onto wild (scrub) apples trees I find growing on our property.

This year I'm trying to propagate some of my neighbor's bartlett pears onto wild pear trees. There are several different grafting techniques, but this is a quick/easy one. First select the cuttings to propagate and trees to graft onto. I have selected a vertical branch on the wild pear tree, removed the top section and will use the base to receive the bartlett pear cuttings, known as scions.

After selecting a couple of 3 to 4 inch scions I taper about 1.5 inches of the bottom of each to form a wedge point.



Using a sharp knife I split the wild pear branch and insert the scions. To make a tree graft successful, the cambium cell layer of the scion must be in contact with the cambium cell layer of the receiving tree. The greenish layer of the scions is the cambium cell layer.



Press the scions in and align the cambium cell layers.



With the scions in place I secure them with cheap electrical tape (something that will deteriorate within a year). If the scion develops buds and leaves I will know the graft was successful and within a few years I will have some bartlett pears.

Deja Vu All Over Again

A couple of weeks ago I found two mourning doves trapped in my barn, twice since then I have removed more mourning doves from the barn. Maybe I should start banding the birds to see if it is the same birds.

Wildflower - Coltsfoot

The gray and brown landscape of early spring is starting to brighten with the appearance of the blooming wildflowers. It was easy to notice the bright yellow color of Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) blooming along the edge of Joyce Road. Coltsfoot is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the neighborhood.



Coltsfoot may look like a dandelion, but it is a member of the Aster family.

Spring Turkeys

In the spring, the hills are alive with the sounds of TURKEYS.

I watched from the window of our house as more than a dozen hen turkeys wandered across our lawn looking for a meal. A short distance behind the hens were these two gobblers, but they weren't looking for a meal.



This gobbler liked the area near my garlic bed to practice his dance moves.



While the gobblers were dancing, the hens continued to march across a field and into a wooded area. The gobblers soon realized the hens didn't stick around for the dancing and they were in a hurry to catch up.

Opossum or Possum?

Technically Opossums are found in the United States, while Possums are native to Australia. I found this young Opossum in a brushy area behind our barn. Opossums aren't known for their good looks, but this one is above average.

Mourning Doves

I went to our barn this afternoon to do some woodworking and found these two mourning dove trapped inside the barn. For some reason birds will fly inside the barn through an open 12 foot wide door but try to use a closed window for an exit. It was very easy to catch these two doves as they flapped against the window.

Garlic Sprouts

The snow has melted, the ground has thawed and my garlic has sprouted.



I planted this garlic bed last fall soon after I harvested last year's crop.

Damn Bears !!!

The weather is getting warmer and I decided I better get my apple trees pruned before the buds get too big. As I started pruning I noticed several of the trees had broken limbs along the main trunk; I thought this may have been snow damage or raccoons...



Then I saw the claw marks and knew it was a bear(s). These claw marks are 10 to 12 feet off the ground. Note the size of the broken limb in the upper right of the photo.



I'm not sure when this happened, but most of the damaged trees were the late winter apples that stay on the trees during the winter.



This may explain why one of the apple trees had fallen over. I had blamed the wind for the fallen tree, but it may have been a bear in the tree.

Neighborhood Deer

The neighborhood deer have had a mild winter and with the warmer spring weather we are seeing more deer searching for the first green grass shoots.

Early Garden

Soon after New Years the gardening catalogs started arriving in the mail and racks of vegetable seeds started to appear in stores. For us in the northeast this is way too early to start gardening ... or is it too early???

Back in January I took a couple of plastic tubs, filled them with potting soil and placed them in a sunny location. In the one tub I scattered beet seeds and in the second tub I scattered two types of lettuce and some spinach.



The beets are now ready to thin out ...



The lettuce and spinach is also ready to thin and we had our first salad from the garden today.

Snow Geese

On our recent trip to Iowa, while traveling on I-29 near the Nebraska City exit, we got to see tens of thousands of snow geese staging for their spring migration north to their breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra.

Change of Command Ceremony

We recently traveled to Topeka, Kansas for the Change of Command ceremony at the 190th Air Refueling Wing of Kansas Air National Guard.



Lt. Col. Robert (Chuck) Beebe and son Henry.



Chuck's wife Nikki and Henry.



Mr. Henry will soon be 1 year old and is dressed for the occasion.



Almost show time...



Chuck presented his daughter Myra with some flowers...



And Myra had to let everyone know who her Daddy was ...



Start of the Change of Command ceremony



Outgoing commander, Lt. Col. Beebe, transfers the unit flag and authority.



Family photo



The official mascot of the 190th Air Refueling Wing, Willie Coyote.