/dev/mull

Lots of tomatoes have set.  Far more than last year at this time.  I think it is because it has been quite cool all the way through June and the first few days of July.  I'm expecting, and dreading, the arrival of very hot temperatures.  I still have lettuce in the garden!
The first okra will be ready tonight or tomorrow morning. 
Picked the first cucumber today, it was a pickling cucumber.   The lemon cucumber, which was planted quite late, has started blooming.  Meanwhile one of the Japanese thin skinned varieties, Shinto Kiwa has tiny fruit all over.  Somehow I planted two of that kind and both vines are growing vigorously.
I'm ready to pull out the "Smooth Criminal" yellow squash.  I don't like it's flavor or size.  Ditto another summer squash, Zucchinio.  Zuchinio is supposed to be both a summer squash and, if allowed to get big, a winter squash.  As a summer squash it just tastes like it is green, with no other redeeming qualities.  I'll replace it with another Butternut. 
This morning, pre-snake activities, I added some big logs to the bottom of the 6' tank.  Over the top of the wood is lots and lots of old potting soil and coconut coir mixed together. All that got wet down a little and then I added a nice layer of moisture holding, native soil that is rich in clay and mixed it in a little. Next: drip irrigation followed by planting, followed by horse manure for moisture retention.

This week there was an enormous rattlesnake IN THE GARDEN.  For TWO days.  Chena alerted us to the snake by barking at the garden. Sadly we didn't quite understand, so it wasn't until Donald rustled around getting ready to sit down in a chair and I heard it rattle that we realized what was up.  This is an old snake.  They live up to 30 years so I'm pretty sure this snake has been around for years.  It isn't aggressive despite the rattle we heard, it just wants to be left alone and will warn you away.  Still, it has no business in the garden.   I saw it the next day, under my Dahlia table, quietly hanging out.  It was partially coiled up, perhaps because I'd just sprayed water down there?  Later that day Chena woke up from a snooze in the driveway to bark at the woodshed.  M and I could see the snake moving through some wood in front of the shed, apparently heading away from the garden and house.  I'm really relieved that the dog will have NOTHING to do with the snake, and will alert us to it.  As a result of this I'm in massive cleanup mode. No more snake habitat at the shop, or near the woodshed.  It is going to be a long process. We have a big pickup load ready to go to the dump today. 
In other news, I rode Firefly last night, bareback, in a halter with reins and she was really good. Better than with the bridle.  She really hates the bit and is much better behaved with the halter. 
Sent Donald off on the buss yesterday.  Won't see him much for a while.   We do have a lovely weekend in Santa Cruz planned for the end of July and I will need to go to SF for another load of stuff from the garage soon. 

 

Some of you may remember that I have been at odds with the PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) company over PG&E's "vegetative management" program.  My Ranch is full of thick stands of young blue oak trees who are competing to outgrow their neighbors.  PG&E has no less than three power lines that cross my property. Two lines are high voltage transmission lines (one comes out of "The Geysers" hydrothermal power plant about 30 miles south of here).  In general the people working on those transmission lines are: actual PG&E employees or reputable companies.  The third line on my property is a distribution line that services houses, including mine.  Apparently some idiot in management decided to sign an exclusive contract with a slimy, unprofessional vegetative management contractor that is 100% all about trimming trees for the maximum profit possible.  This is NOT a good overall strategy for actually keeping the power lines clear.  For years I have demanded that any tree in need of a trim be cut down entirely, and for many years that company ignored both my Ranch policies and their own guidelines, trimming trees so that they would grow back quickly and need a new trim within a year or two.  I finally said they were not welcome on my Ranch, and I have really good reasons to deny them entrance; such as last time they were here they left the main gait to the highway open and unattended.  We were lucky that no cows or horses got out on the road.  Under California law it doesn't matter who leaves the gate open, I am liable for any damages caused by a car hitting an animal.  
The folks at PG&E and I have gone back and forth about this, they claim I am denying them access to do "vital" work, I say I'm not denying access at all, I'm ONLY denying one contractor access.  Any other contractor is acceptable.   A week ago  I was sent a letter saying they were going to come do the tree work and I couldn't stop them.  Which you shouldn't say to me.
Now, two of the trees in question were already cut down and on the ground.  That left four trees still standing.  All four trees were, in fact, leaning toward the wires and big enough to hit them.  All four had been "trimmed" in the past.  One of them had been trimmed for decades and was a grotesque 1/2 a tree about 40 feet tall.  Jose and Mark O came to help me. We all eyeballed the trees and discussed where the weight of the tree was,  which way was it leaning, and how do we pull it so it doesn't get near the wires as it falls? Jose did most of the cutting,  Mark wrangled the tractor.  I climbed trees with the help of an extension ladder for the first little way, and then shinnied up and tied my rope to a limb very high up.    Then the tractor would get into position with the other end of the rope attached to the bucket. The tractor backed up till there was no slack, Jose would start to cut the tree, making a good notch on the side we wanted it to fall toward.  When he was finished with the notch the tractor would back some more so there was tension on the rope.  I directed the tractor to back up further as the tree began to fall.  Nothing even got close to the wires.  We were lucky today, all the trees were oaks. Oak tells you when they are starting to fall.  You can see the tree start to tremble and sway, and you usually have a couple of seconds to act.  Two seconds is a long time.  Madrone isn't so nice.  One moment it is standing, the next it is falling. 
The last tree was the big one almost 3 feet in diameter.  It was crawling with red ants.  I climbed anyway.  Before cutting the whole tree down Jose and I dropped some minor branches to get them out of the way.  Once I was up the tree and had the rope tied  to an upper limb, I cut it and then tied to a second limb.  One limb was almost a foot in diameter, the other a little smaller.  The larger limb was actually leaning out over the wires.   Thank goodness for the tractor!   Even though that tree was pretty mutilated, it has been part of the landscape of around the house for decades. I'm sad to have cut it, but the tree wasn't healthy, limbs had started dying,  and that is the beginning of the end. 
We got all four trees down, now comes the hard work of cleaning up. Cutting the trunk and limbs up, and disposing of the brush.  It will be winter again before I'm done, I can't burn brush until at least November.  I'm very thankful that there were three of us, and that we could do this job safely.
Since PG&E, despite all their public posturing, doesn't want to actually communicate about issues, they have not actually provided a viable mailing address only a phone number that goes to voicemail;  I have a letter ready to go to the Public Utilities Commission.  The Commission needs to hear from people like me.