The Back of the 5th Street House

This is a follow-up on my post of July 23, 2011 where I wrote  of our move to the ''big house''. We have many happy memories associated with this house which are rekindled as we drive past it which we do frequently on our way up 5th street.  It is the only one of the 9 places we have lived during our married years that we see often. The fence was moved down from our "little house". It was made out of old plaster lath that came out of an old farm house that was being demolished. This picture was taken before Mr. Kemper built an arch-way for us that was placed over the walk between the house and the sidewalk and provided a support for climbing roses. While the front of the house was on 5th street, Lincoln was a narrow street on the side of the house.  It was a little used street as evidenced by having my Ford parked illegally. Driving past the old place brings back memories and so do pictures. Here is Carolyn with her 3 cakes for her 3rd birthday. The picture is also a reminder that Elaine still occasionally uses the tray that supports the cakes. 

Agressive Plants

I don't know the name of this vine but it has certainly been a "bright spot" in our back yard this summer. Carolyn gave it to Elaine for Mother's Day. I built a trellis attached to the clothesline post next to the deck. It was slow in "taking off" but during the past couple weeks, it has grown rapidly. Whether it's tentacles can reach out to the Finch feeder is still in question. Unseen on the picture are tentacles on their way down two of the four clothes line wires. Today it has many more flowers than show on the picture. I don't believe there has been a day when it hasn't had blooms. As desirable as it is, I can't help but wonder what it might  metamorphose into. Kudzu being a prime example but there are many others. Multiflora rose and Kudzu both were highly recommended by SCS as a way of controlling erosion and providing wildlife habitat. When I was a youngster, we ordered "Burning bush" from the Gurney Nursery in South Dakota. It is now well know as "tumble weed" though it is Kochia of the Goosefoot Family. Our "Nebraska Weeds" book refers to it as "... an escaped ornamental which has become a troublesome weed." After all we have domesticated many weeds into important plants so it's only appropriate that some of our plants become weeds. And, it has been said that a weed is just a plant growing out of place. 

Black Walnut Planting

With a break in the weather again today and some errands to run, we decided to drive up and look at the black walnut trees that we planted 2 years ago. We hadn't seen them since early spring when we planted a couple replacements. We were pleasantly surprised at the growth they had made, even the replacements. Of the 25 there is need for another replacement next spring but the rest look great. I still have 2-3 heeled in our back yard and will plan to plant the replacement early next spring. Elaine and I did the planting and a lot of watering the first year. The city has done a good job keeping the area mowed and other maintenance. Other volunteers also helped with the watering initially. There is a similar plot of hardy Pecan trees that Chuck planted the same spring across the way. They too looked like they made very good growth. This is on City land adjacent to the Plum Creek walking-biking trail and adds to the interest of that much used component of the City Park system. We certainly need to be planting more hardy trees as many of our pines are being destroyed by the pine bark beetle. 

Flowers, Rain & the National Debt

This has not been a good spring for annual flowers but our perennials have come through with their normal great colors. We do not expect to get to 90 degrees today which will break a 15 consecutive day run of temperatures over 90 and the heat index well over 100. We have only run our lawn sprinklers twice so far this summer, and we're very fortunate in receiving 0.40" of rain early yesterday morning and another 1.50" during last night. That amount of rain will help the farm crops considerably as well as our lawns and gardens in town. There was wind along with the rain last night which blew over the top half of a 45-year old Spruce tree at the golf course. There was also a trampoline blown on to the course from the adjoining residential area. We have had a busy day with playing golf, doing "Home Delivered Meals", visiting Carolyn to see her room redecorating, and attending the Potato Bake at the Senior Center. The mail brought the bi-monthly ARSCE (Association of Retired Soil Conservation Employees) newsletter which took over an hour to get through. A few minutes ago I had a call with an opportunity to join a discussion underway with Senator Johanns and Representative Fortenberry. After listening for a short while, I decided to write this blog sheet and not raise my stress level by "helping" them solve the national debt problem. That's what they're getting paid to do; to make decisions "For the Good of the Country".  

Bag Worms on our Blue Spruce

This picture was taken in our backyard 20 years ago. Granddaughter Julie and the Blue Spruce tree have both grown since then. Julie and her mother gave me the tree for Father's day when she was 3 years old and about the same height as the tree setting in it's pot. It continues to be a stalwart among the plantings in our back yard. The Red Dogwood that is visible behind the tree has long since been removed. I did plant a Japanese Maple to the right and its bright red leaves provide an attractive color contrast. The tree is now between 25-30 feet in height and the home of many nesting pairs of birds. Two years ago we noticed that some of the lower branches were missing needles and further inspection led us to Bag worms. It was September when we first noticed them and proceeded to pick off all that we could find. Last year we found only 4 or 5 which we picked off and thought we were rid of them. Now we find many more out there and have picked off 20-25. I learned this morning that they live in a 2-year cycle and are in the "bag" during the day and come out at night to feed. It may be necessary to spray for them but will plan to continue picking them off for a while to see if we can control them. I would appreciate hearing of any ones experience with them.  

Keystone XL Pipeline

During my days  with the Nebraska Natural Resources Commission in the 1980's we did a study on the Nebraska sandhills. We focused on Garfield and Wheeler Counties. Elaine was able to accompany me on some of our sojourns into the area. Our study was prompted partially by the conversion of the native vegetation to cultivated cropland. The area now faces the threat of the Keystone XL pipeline traversing the eastern region which would include the area of this picture. As a member of the Seward, NE City Council, we were very concerned a few years ago when Trans Canada laid a 30'' Keystone pipeline within the 5-year zone of influence of some of our city wells. We negotiated an agreement that provided the city as much protection as possible but were unable to change it's location even from it passing under some of our main water lines between our wells and the city. It did appear that Trans Canada did a "good construction job" in laying the pipeline through our area. As concerned as I, and many others would be, if an alternative route of the Keystone XL being placed parallel to and within the same easement of the existing line, I believe it to be less environmentally threatening to the State of Nebraska than the proposed sandhills route.

New Potatoes

    

It takes very little space to grow a bucket of potatoes. When we took some shrubs out from the south side of our house a couple years ago and found it was difficult to get grass growing, we went to potatoes. Elaine and I both grew up in the country and it was taken for granted that you raised your own potatoes, as well as much of the rest of your food. As a kid during the "hard times" a meal of new potatoes, creamed peas and fried chicken with home made bread, was a pretty standard meal. I just didn't realize how special it was; even though I had turned the "Daisy churn" to make the butter for the bread. We would put as much as 30-40 bushel of potatoes in the cave during the fall of the year, and they would last our family of 7 throughout the year. The difference between the self reliance of people in those days compared to today is frightening. I hope a resolution to the debt ceiling can be reached.