Keeping track

I failed to post anything last weekend. I realized Sunday night and Monday morning I went through the familiar routine of toast and news, medicines, and out to do a bit of work before the heat started. Oh well.

During the past two weeks my early ripening plum – Methley – has turned color and a few have fallen. I need to get them off the tree before a big wind comes.

In 2013, I ordered 5 varieties via mail-order for a total cost of $105.97. Today, they want about $85 per tree, some 10$ less, some 10$ more.
Last year, from a place in Yakima, I got four more plum trees when the place {Roots Nursery} had a half-price sale.
I have miss-identified this tree for years. I planted the 5 trees in a row, from early to late ripening. The late one was called Damson and after a few years I mentally switched it and the Methley. The Damson was least protected from the wind (and not well shaped). It split and died without ever bearing plums – at least I don’t recall a harvest.
I have now figured out from searches on the web that the tree in the photo is a Methley – ripens early and has red flesh. The Damson ripens late and has yellow-green flesh. Settled science. Saturday morning I cut a few branches from the tree and took them over to Megan’s for her and daughter Lindie to complete the picking.
The background tree in the above photo is a Shiro that produces bright yellow fruit. They will be ripe in a week.
Daily, I’ve been cutting limps from Hawthorn trees. Even though they have long sharp thorns, the deer clean off the leaves and the clusters of berries.

The fruit is high in Vitamin C and can be used to make jams, jellies, and even wine. In addition, the leaves can be used as an herbal tea. I have never heard of anyone using the plant in these ways. I suspect the natives did and maybe still do. I’ll have to ask.
All I know is the deer browse around the thorns if I provide the opportunity.

Keeping Track
On the Naneum Fan
John

Wind speed picked up today at about 10 AM. Gusts have been to 40 mph, enough that the weather folks post a “Red Flag” warning – fast moving fires are a threat. So, it is a warning to not ignite anything. This will go on until early Sunday. Over the next 2 weeks the highest forecast temperature is 90° F. August is unknown at this time.

After the miserable experience with the Ford supplied scissor jack, I cleaned up another I had and put it in a box in the truck bed along with a few various sized wood blocks. Meanwhile, I was awaiting delivery of a floor jack that seems to have been warehoused in a facility in Bloomington, CA., about 50 miles east of LA. The next reports: Troutdale, OR. And Union Gap, WA. It was delivered here at 6:13 PM. I paid $109 with a deal – it is now listed at $144.

The yellow sticker says “team lift” and shows 2 people. Note the plastic straps. FedEx driver lifted it without help and then I put it in the garden cart. Claimed product weight is 66.1 pounds. I’ll make a ramp and add it to the truck.
I ordered a load of “screenings” from a local rock & gravel quarry. As the quarry proceeds to separate larger rocks from smaller and various sizes of gravel there are bits of rock and dirt that don’t fill many needs. The mixture gets its own category: screenings. The quarry is 15 miles away, so while this is an inexpensive material, the delivery charge is a hefty part of the total. I paid $289.38 for 15.49 tons (30,980 pounds; 93.4¢ per pound).

It is the brown material, not the gray pile in the distance. I work in the shade and move around as it does. I’ve spread about 1/3 of it and hope to finish it by Tuesday Noon, when I head to the Costco Store and a meeting with Suzy and Bob.
The least crowded times to shop at Costco are typically on weekdays, especially Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. We’ll meet about 1:45 for lunch and then I’ll get a few things before heading home.

The doe and her fawn will eat leaves of the cherry and apple trees. For about a week I’ve, daily, cut a branch for them. If they are nearby, they will come with me still there. There were a dozen deer in the Alfalfa field across Naneum Road today but we didn’t let them know about the cherry leaf treat. People driving on the road will slow and sometimes stop to view the deer and I can hear and see the action there if I’m out that way.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

I managed to remember to put the Flag out by the County highway. With imagination and squinting it soon looked like this!

The year – 1990 – after moving to here the wind seemed to blow relentlessly. This year is a repeat. I only remember the year because I remember the year we moved to this location.
There other things I wish I knew the dates of. For instance, I took a photo of a doe and her fawn this week. It seems a little late in the year, but I really don’t know. Information on the internet claims birthing begins in late April to early May with peaks during the summer months.
Thus, seeing a new fawn in late June should be expected. So much for my thoughts! This is an iPhone 12 photo and not of great quality, but the attentiveness of the mother impresses me.

Golden currants are ripe and showy among all the green (when the Autumn Clematis isn’t smothering them.
https://www.pnwflowers.com/flower/ribes-aureum
On this site, if you click on “more photos” and then click on a photo it will expand with information, including the location. Photos are by Mark Turner. I took this one early this week.

Arriving soon – maybe Monday – is a SKIL table saw. Many years ago I had a very basic table saw. I loaned it to the man that was taking Brittanys for Nancy when she couldn’t go to a show. I no longer remember why he needed a saw, but it was in a shed that burned. I also do not remember if he offered to replace it. If he talked to me, I don’t remember. It was an inexpensive model and I guess that might have been when I bought the now deceased Craftsman radial arm saw. Anyway, it will be new here next week.

My weather has been benign (except for the wind) this week while the north central and eastern part of the Nation have been hot and stormy. Things change. For me, the NWS thinks Monday and Tuesday will go above 90°F. The south-center part of WA will likely go over 100 for those two days. Ouch! Summer is like this in WA.
I paid $4.46 for gasoline today. But Powerade was reduced from its regular $1.39 to 89¢. My favorite ice cream was $3.50, normally $6.95. I should mention WA’s gas tax goes up 6¢ per gallon on July 1. The fee on large Carbon Dioxide producers helps push WA’s average cost per gallon [$4.42] into the top five of the states. The lowest are Mississippi at $2.69 per gallon, followed by Louisiana at $2.79 and Texas at $2.80.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.

Locally, Summer started cool and damp. This hasn’t stopped some of the plants from putting up a show. Here are two, photos Sunday by John:

Syringa is the State Flower of Idaho. It is native and fire-adapted. When completely top-killed by fires, it will re-sprout from rhizomes and root crowns afterward. A fire that burns across the root system of clematis will burn the soft rope-like root system. Sagebrush is also killed by fire as it burns down into the roots.
The Autumn Clematis is an invasive plant that can look pretty while blooming but it is our Kudzu. That one is found in Texas and across the south and to the east and north.

When I wrote the check for the water pump replacement, I screwed up and did the numerical part and the written part differently. Banks use the written line. That had One thousand and should have had One thousand seven hundred (or seventeen hundred would do). I realized this on Saturday and called Kelly and left a message. A check for $700 will get mailed on Monday.
So far in 2025, that’s my dumbest stunt.

My 40-year-old (?) Craftsman Radial-Arm saw stopped last week. Several phone conversations later, I’m convinced it is not coming back to life. Unfortunately, the service desk person at a local shop said bring it in, so I built a ramp and managed to get it slid into the bed of the pickup. At the store, the head repair guy said “Oh, that’s an electrical tool and we don’t work on that sort of thing.”
Perhaps the first full-week of Summer will be better.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

It is not yet here. The few days of near 100 degrees in central Washington have reverted to 77 on Sat and 84 today – Sunday. The weather gurus think the airport temps are about 3 degrees too high – investigation is underway. Anyway, I set the house for 68° and slept with a sweatshirt on. This cooler period is expected to last, at least, to the 4th of July.

We had a game of Pétanque Wednesday and dinner at Phil & Audrey’s home in Quincy on Saturday.
Not much else this week.
On Monday, the new heat pump is to be installed.

There are native plants blooming. I will have photos next week. I hope.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

The motor (pump) in the well was replaced and this always causes stirring up of years of accumulated deposits of orangish “rust” – – bacterial cells, and slimy materials that stick to well casings, pumps, pipes, plumbing fixtures. With the well open and the new pump placed the standard plan is to pour a gallon of bleach into the hole and then pump a lot of water through an outside faucet {not into the house}. After many gallons of orange water has been pumped out and new water has seeped through the rocks the water will be cleaner. Then the valve to the inside house gets opened and filters replaced, and life begins to return to normal. With that done, I did a load of dishes and a load of laundry.
I had clean water stored in plastic bottles for cooking. While the “cleansing” was happening I carried water from the creek for flushing. Trees and flowers benefited from the dirty water, rather than just letting it run onto the ground.
But, there is always something.
I’ve been using an old Craftsman 10″ radial arm saw. I can’t find a date on it. The motor was made by Emerson in the USA. We moved to Troy Idaho in 1974, and I think the saw was bought shortly after that.
This week it stopped on an overload and hasn’t responded to the normal fix of cooling and pressing the red “reset” button.
Recently, I’ve been cutting small lengths of trees and tree limbs to firewood size, about 15 inches. Sometimes these are oddly shaped and twist and bind the blade and I have about a second to hit the stop button or the motor shuts off. This week a stop occurred, and the rest button doesn’t work.

An update will follow next weekend.

A few of the plum trees are dropping small fruits, or self-thinning. A good paper on this is from Purdue University.

Fruit Drop Thins Crop

The photo is of my dwarf Shiro Plum tree. My April 27th post started with a photo of this tree at the height of blossoming. Lots of flowers need lots of bees but the trees don’t want that much fruit. If I touch a small yellow one it will fall. They will naturally fall and wind helps.
How do they know to do that?

The high temperature in EBRG was 97° today Sunday. Likely similar on Monday and then by Thursday the NWS says 76°. I’m usually 2 to 3 degrees cooler. The atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean next to Washington is going to send a cooler and cloudy week or two our way. In fact, Monday may be the highest for the Month of June.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John

Episode #37 of “There is Always Something”

Thursday: A no water day! Pump and controller are 25 years old.
I had enough running water to make 8 oz of coffee this morning. [I do have a couple of gallons in plastic bottles.]
A worker, Dylan, for a local Pump etc. place came and replaced the controller on the wall but that didn’t solve the problem. We couldn’t lift the pump out of the well so momentarily I’m without running water. [I also had an appointment at the Ford dealer to have the truck serviced.] I was going to cancel that but when we discovered the pump was stuck 80 feet down, I went to town. Dylan and Kelly (well-guru and business owner), returned after supper and finished the job. However the water is the color of dark honey – colored by the oxidized iron and whatever else has accumulated. The well also got a gallon of bleach (this is called “shocking”) so until I pump 100+ gallons out onto the ground (near trees and flowers) and the color goes away – I don’t have running water in the house. House filters would clog in minutes with that water in the pipes. I went to the creek to get water for flushing and got my boots and pants wet. Uff da!
Submersible water pumps typically have an expected lifespan of around 8 to 15 years, although the manufacture often has a 5 year replacement guarantee. So. I guess I’m lucky this one lasted 25 years.
On a lighter note, Wednesday afternoon Geography had a food and awards party. A good time was had by all. I met the Nancy&John awardees and others. I brought home sandwiches, cookies, fruit, and chips that will feed me for three days. The weather was nice and waited until midnight to change to cool and windy with a trace of rain.
Next door to geography is a green house with a resident tortoise named Snorkel. Photo is from 2016. He is now 17 and weighs 120 pounds. I was early, so I stopped into the greenhouse and met one of his caretakers. She is named after Carl Linnaeus who created the system to classify living things. Her dad was a biologist and they named her Linnea.
Today, Friday, was warm (84o) with single digit wind. Saturday Noon that is expected to change. I won’t be cutting trees down this weekend.
Much of the world calls June 1st the beginning of Summer. So welcome to Summer.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan.
John

I did not realize that kissing pigs was a thing.

I’ve been “brushing out” around several dead trees that are destined for fuel for the wood stove. One of the plants is Western Choke Cherry that is near the end of its flowering. It looks like the photo on the left and in late summer will have black berries.
Folks with lots of time have been known to make jam.

These small trees, out in direct sun, seem to grow only about 10 feet tall. In shade the trunk doesn’t get much larger than 4-5 inches in diameter but the upper branches grow long and spindly. This makes for lots of clean-up for not much wood. Cut fresh, it has a high moisture content and seems heavy. After a year or two of drying about 30% of that weight will be gone and the remainder (10-12% moisture) will be ready for winter heat.
Two other common plants I have to deal with: Red Osier Dogwood and Washington Hawthorne. I leave the former and reduce the amount of the thorn tree. The Dogwood has white flowers and berries and red stems. The fruits of all three plants are utilized by birds and other animals.

My new toaster arrived to be tried Monday morning. The slots are such that a long slice – Seattle Sourdough – will fit. The photo on Amazon has tomatoes and an avocado beside the toaster. I’m not sure why. The brand is Mueller. I checked the local BiMart store but didn’t see anything comparable.

The airport’s high temperature on Sunday was 88°F.
The forecast for the next seven days doesn’t have anything that high nor any rain.

Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John