November already

11/2/07 Friday
Well it’s November. Hard to believe it’s already here. Cherie spent most of yesterday at Steve and Janie’s where she cleaned house and mostly puppy sat. OOOOH, puppy sitting…what a tough job. Actually it did wear her out but it was a pleasure at the same time. I went to Don’s and mowed his lawn. Used the string (I’m not sure what to call it) part of the weed whacker the Sunday school class bought us for the first time. Up till now I’ve only used the heavier brush cutter. When I get the funds I want to buy the straight shaft version as the one that came with it has a curve making it shorter. With my six foot two inch frame it requires me to bend over a bit, hard on the back. Still it works well and did a fine job, just designed for shorter people I suppose.



This is the first full day I’ll be able to here. I’ve been doing cotton surveys with Cherie all week and have been worn out by the time I get home so haven’t gotten much done. I did manage to build this sifting screen for my compost. Saw one at the composting seminar we went to in Midland and will be an improvement over what I did before, I think. We have lots of the cotton picked for the survey that I will try to compost. Always experimenting and learning. I think I will rn the mower Wally gave us over the areas I already mowed. It has a grass catcher so I want to see if it will suck up any of the millions of grass burr stickers left on the ground from that. Right now I can’t walk without getting an inch thick layer of stickers on the bottom of my boots, and the poor puppies are constantly getting stuck.

I look forward to getting the tiller finished for then I’ll be able to churn up some soil and plant the Rye that should beat out these weeds. Another thing on the CRP check shopping list, set of rings for the tiller and three hundred pounds of Rye and Hairy Vetch seed. That’s enough to do the five acres we plan on gardening. First we’ve got to get that tilled and that will require a tractor. Can’t do it with the hand tiller. Janie said the farmer who offered to till our place would be getting in touch with us this week but odds are, with the cotton harvests happening, he’s pretty busy right now. If need be we will hire it out and pay for it out of the CRP check. That still hasn’t come in yet. Maybe I can rent a tractor and tiller and do the job myself. I also need to pull up the mesquite trees (They are bushes in size) that are growing on the five acre plot. A tractor will help with that. Otherwise I’ll try to use the pick up truck. Hope it won’t tear the bumper off. Getting a tractor is at the top of my list. It will pay for itself pretty quick I think.