Whirly Birds

The Baby Cauliflower Seedlings asked me to put this into the blog: Yesterday morning was one of the days the helicopter sprayed pesticides over the lettuce field just north of our cauliflower.

I personally don't think the spray is lethal to a person unless said person is in the field getting sprayed directly. I mean--who wants to find a worm or bugs in the middle of a head of lettuce that just cost $1.79 ? I could be wrong, of course.

A little later in the day, I saw a really nice sight. Maybe I can capture it later this week. A nearby artichoke field was being watered. The plants were all small enough to be seen individually.

Living on the Edge

Today Matt finished flattening the pile of woodchips. Then it was time to compact them. It was a good day to have two trucks in the family.

The 1984 GMC got the first shot at compacting, but it wasn't heavy enough. So Matt brought in the 1971 Chevy 3/4 ton. That worked much better. But Matt got just a leeetle too close to the edge of the field, a very wet 45-degree embankment. It's not a place for 3/4 ton vehicles to try to drive.

Well, the truck didn't fall on Matt. I did put in a request for his guardian angels to help when he dragged the hydraulic jack out. I still don't know how he was able to use it in the mud, but he did.

After a lot of work and tense moments, he finally was able to drive forward and get on the actual dirt drive area around the cauliflower field. Total time: close to an hour.

Workin' on the Wood Chips

So-- Today was the day to work on the pile of wood chips, just in case the "wood chip" lumberjack returns with more. I did my part with the rake.

How did all of this wood chip delivery develop? I just wish I'd started the blog when the deliveries / dumping began.

Let's just say, "It's all Carol's fault" or vision. Who knew it would go this far? More about Carol later.

Wood Chips

At 8:30 am yesterday a very large dump truck backed up into our backyard. Unannounced. I had heard that "they" might arrive, but thought maybe we'd get a call first.

"Matt! Wake up!" What a day to be sleeping in. Our '84 GMC truck was about to be blocked. I motioned to the Mexican worker to wait. "Just a minute!" Of course he didn't understand the English, but he got the message. Fortunately, Matt showed up & the GMC, a diesel, started on the first try (which it doesn't always do).

The owner of the tree service company is really a nice guy and true lumberjack, a cross between Paul Bunyan and the actor Karl Malden. Relaxed, polite, smart. His name is Frank. As he left, he invited Matt to come to his place & pick up all the wood he wanted.

So-- at 7:00 am today Matt went for wood. For once, he didn't overdo it. He was back in a little over an hour.

Seedlings

In the Field Next Door little seedlings of cauliflower are lined up in neat rows. Planted about 5 days ago, they were watered this morning for the second time. I always enjoy that. The watering looks and sounds happy & peaceful. The Salinas River is in the background.

The field supervisor, "Junior", is a nice guy who also lets the watering fall on our flowers & cypress trees. That's good, since we aren't naturals at gardening.

Junior is Filippino, heavy accent. He is 55 but looks 65 or older. Smokes Marlboro Light 100s. He likes apples which his wife also uses to make apple pie. We have one apple tree he shares with the local birds.

Junior is a Pisces, a water sign. He can often be seen walking through the field while it is being watered.