White oak update

One of the swamp white oaks that David gave us last fall.

It stands about 18 inches tall now. Although a little insect damage on a few leaves, this has good color and new growth as you can see on the top. The deer and rabbits have left this alone and I think we have a good start to this one.

Get to work - another 34 trees planted this weekend

With showers coming, we planted another 34 seedlings: red maple, hard maple, red oak, and white oak. We've had a cool, although dry, summer that's allowed us to plant seedlings in July and now August. Hauling water in the 80's is sure easier than hauling water while in the upper 90's.

That brings our seedling plantings at 317. With 184 acorns planted in the spring, we now have over 500 planted this year.  

And I got the chance to mow:

 

Too bad I didn't have shade like that the whole time I was mowing.

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.