Last weekend I started mowing the fields on Sunday. When I cut for the hay season if there were a lot of weeds or cheat grass in spots I left them and did not cut them down. The cows and sheep have been working on eating those spots down but they are still don’t knock it down all of the way. I anticipated having to mow for a few hours and I would be done. Yeah, that is not going to happen. I spent all day Sunday mowing and I have 1-2 more days of mowing left.

I did hook up the old mower that the Gingerman and I fixed and gave it its first time out work up. It was a little rough for the first two hours. The new blades kept hitting something I had welded back in place. I figured that would eventually go away if they hit the same spot enough. I was correct, the second half of the day was much quieter than the first. I even got the mower back in next to the dry creek bed in field one. I don’t believe I had been in there for around three years. The weeds were 6-8 feet high! I ran into the missing disc set when I was mowing around the broken walnut tree! I took the time to pull the disc set out of the weeds and into the field. I will get it down to the house eventually. We have been looking for that thing for the last two years. I knew it was on the property I just could not remember where I left it last.

I mowed those tall weeds and then went along the second bank to clear out the weeds between the two banks. This was incredibly thick and I ended up overheating the tractor even though the outside temperature was only 50 F. We weed seeds get caught on the radiator and prevent air movement. I had to clean out the radiator and then wait for the fan to cool down the engine. The bees that the Gingerman put up there have a hive full of honey and are doing well. We cannot move them down to the house as it is not 2-3 miles away and the bees will get confused. No one wants that. I am also running low on farm diesel and am dreading getting the tank filled but I am going to have no choice but to call for a refill and just pay the price whatever it may be.

I have had a couple of people come out to hunt pheasants and I am encouraging them to shoot the pigeons and ring neck doves (invasive species). So far it does not look like everyone is making much of a dent in either population. I am going to have to start going out and blasting away on a more regular basis. We cannot go into spring with 100 pigeons. We will have 500 pigeons by next fall if we do. The Ring neck doves drive off the mourning doves (native species) from the food supply.

The wife wants me to defrost the freezer and fix the rubber seal. It is probably time to address the leaky seal.