Wednesday Wildlife, young and old

I did not get them to pose for this, it just lucked out that way.

These were taken about 10 days apart from the trail cams. With hunting season coming up, they better move on.

Wednesday wildlife - bees and thistles

No bees were harmed after taking this picture. I can't say the same for the thistle.

Get to work - planting 80 more trees

For Sunday's workday with the wife and #2 son helping out: with the forecast for rain, we planted the last of our black oak (61), the last two coffeetrees as well as a couple of white oak and 5 red maple. Another 10 chestnuts planted below the pond were added to the "grove."

The forecast changed a bit last night and we're looking at a lesser chance of rain over the next couple of days. I may be hauling water this week if my regular job will allow it.

We weeded the blackberries we planted this spring to round out a hot day for us.

Wednesday Wildlife - "two for one"

Twins racing towards their mother

15 minutes of weather - clouds rolling in

I heeded my instincts this time and decided to get to the truck before this hit us:

At the top of the hill (cutting weeds, of course) and looked up and it was coming in a little faster than I thought. I snapped a picture and ran down the hill to my truck in time. Not as bad of a storm front than a few weeks ago.

Wednesday Wildlife - Common Yellowthroat Warbler

The Common Yellowthroat Warbler captured my attention recently. This pair did not appreciate my presence recently and the two of them chipped at me as I tried to get a few pictures.

The female

And the male with his mask

These little insect eaters are welcome all summer long.

Keep track of the rivers and streams in Iowa

I was informed of a tool this weekend that provides a comprehensive look of the major rivers and streams around Iowa. Using data logging devices of their own and United States Geological Survey, the Iowa Flood Center is operated through the University of Iowa department of Hydroscience and Engineering.

You can get up-to-the-minute information at the Iowa Flood Information System or IFIS, Launch IFIS by clicking on the IFIS button on the upper right and you'll bring up a map of Iowa and the monitoring of the flood center.

Click on the radar symbol on the right of the display and you can add stream gauges, rain gauges and other sites of information throughout the state.

Click around the site for plenty of information such as precipitation levels over the past few days or weeks by clicking on the rain cloud.

This is a useful tool with the main site offering information on the application and you can download data to a delimited file or xml format. Mobile apps are under development (click on IFIS APPS button) although one is ready for Chrome browsers.

Get to work - trees and weeds (again)

As the war on weeds continues, I planted 36 more trees this weekend, bringing the total just shy of 200 planted so far this year. (I miscounted, otherwise we would have 200+).

These tiger lilies grace the lower driveway and will not be subjected to the blade of the weed trimmer:

These ubiquitous flowers are almost a requirement for every farm in Iowa. 

Wednesday Wildlife, new brood hatching

While cutting weeds on Sunday, I came across several nests of red-winged black birds in the small walnut trees. All were empty but one had three newly hatched young along with a fourth emerging from its egg.

 

Of course, the parents were none too happy with me and I moved on down the row after taking this snapshot. I hope I didn't disturb them too much as I'd like to hear their songs from the electric wire next year.

Notice the workmanship on the nest with its interwoven grasses. With that kind of quality, it should have withstood the wind and rain that hit the acreage on Monday.

North English River reaches 30 ft

The north fork of the English River reached the 30 foot range overnight, flooding bottom farmground and threatening Kalona.This is the highest the river has been since we purchased the farm three years ago.

Farm runoff endangered the shed at the acreage but came up a couple of feet from reaching it. With 4+ inches of rain on Monday, it took a lot of backtracking on my part after reaching closed bridges and washed out gravel roads.

I put my back to the shovel to dig ditches to drain standing water on the trees, shed and newly planted asparagus bed. After battling sump pump issues at the homestead on the Iowa River, it has been a long couple of days.