In a small canyon in the Southern Cascades
Today was comfortably warm ( low 80s ) until about 1:30 pm when it became uncomfortably warm ( low 90s). The sun just seem stronger up at the canyon. You can still work outside but you have move slower and take breaks. As usual there were some repair jobs to do before I could start on what I had planned to do. ( The weed wacker needed its head taken apart, cleaned and put back together ) Below are photos of odds and ends worked on this day.
Today I measured the distance to the Creek, both ways to get there. See my post How Far Is It To The Creek? Also I did a bit of gardening and harvesting. I weeded the garlic patch, harvested some purple kale, It was in the 90’s today. Good by lovely spring! This week 105 is expected. Hello happy summer.
Well, today I measured it, with my trusty rolling tape measure!
From the light post by the YAHB, it is 1.33 miles to the Mermaid Rock by the main road and it is .95 miles to the Dipper Pond by the Old Forest Road and Juan’s Trail. It takes about 20 minutes to get to Dipper Pond and about 30 minutes to get to Mermaid Rock. This is a steady but unhurried pace. The trip back takes about the same amount of time! I was surprised because the trip back is quite steep as you know! I was walking easy, not pushing it going to the creek ( downhill ) and back to the Ranch ( uphill ).
Juan’s Trails is a narrow sidehill path just a bit wider than a deer trail. It slopes down to a single switch back and then that last 50 yards is a steep rock side hill with some exposure to falling so I have added a nylon safety rope to make the climb up and down much easier, and safer.
We leave a layer of needles to keep the soil covered.
Going up the road-trail behind the shop you will shortly enter a much healthier and welcoming grove of Ponderosa Pine where there is plenty of room to make a shaded tent site or two. Going just a few steps more you will come to this nice spot of the canyon that looks out over a grove of blue oaks. Very peaceful.
The various filter(s) in the water system need to be cleaned regularly. About once a week in the summer when more water is being used. If the filters are not cleaned they will clog up and slow the water to the irrigation way down, or clog it up completely.
Agave americana, common names sentry plant, century plant, maguey or American aloe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Mexico, and the United States in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Today, it is cultivated worldwide as an ornamental plant.WikipediaFamily: AsparagaceaeScientific name: Agave americanaRank: SpeciesOrder: AsparagalesKingdom: PlantaeHigher classification: Agave
Last year I collected a few “pups” from these plants and have planted them on the trail up the hill behind the shop that leads to the new Blue Oak Vista camp site. More on that in a new post!
So I have completed a garden shed that will keep garden tools and stuff handy! There are a lot fewer rattlesnakes the past few years. Drought? Also in the last few years, I have seen several king snakes!!! Connection? We have pulled back from automatically killing rattlesnakes. They are not really looking for trouble, and they do help hold down the gopher population. In this post, I have a photo of a king snake that is hanging around the house and garden. Last year I found one in the shop and picked it up and let it go outside. Also this year there was one stretched out across the road to the creek. Juan and I were on a “check up on the creek” trip and herded the beautiful looking fellow off the road.
This day I added a filter to the main water line to the sprinklers. I forgot to take photos so I will try to add another post when I have a photo of the filter to share.
I planted starts that I purchased in the morning at the Farms Market from the GRUB booth.
