a good day for being outside

Yesterday I took my first bucket of pecans to the company that buys, sells, and cracks pecans here in town to be cracked. I took handfuls out of three different containers to see what, in general, the crop was like. I had a feeling that they were going to be good this year. Out of five pounds I only discarded 7 nuts that were either dried up or just didn't look that great and only one other that had two black spots. I attribute that to getting better at determining good from bad in the yard. I heft them in my hand and if they feel too light I'll crush them on the spot. Most the time I'm right but sometimes they do fool me and so perfectly good pecans are scattered around the yard for the critters. The shelled nuts look good and full this year. 

So far. Some years a third to half of a crop is lean, shriveled, or full of black spots. I still have 5 1/2 pounds of shelled nuts from last year that I want to get rid of so I plan to make some pralines and Marc has a recipe for spiced nuts he's going to try.

We had two nights in a row in the 40˚s but it's supposed to get up to 80˚ today, blue sky and no wind. I'll be out in the yard all day today getting more weeding done and getting the pansies in. I started a new little bed for them yesterday around the turret over the third septic tank that contains the pump that pumps the water out to the field lines. One of the bird baths sit on top and I've been planning it for years. I'm a little concerned that they won't get enough sun but that's because the trees still have their leaves. I think they'll do fine once the canopy is gone. We'll see anyway.

I need to get the garage rearranged soon too so that I can bring the tropicals in for the winter, something I usually wait til the last minute to do when the cold wind is screaming in advance of a freeze, but not today. The kiln is on, the heron box inside, fingers and toes crossed that the cracks heal with no visible scars and it stays intact and I don't want to move the kiln until this firing is over.

Later...

I picked up another 3+ gallons of pecans this morning. I lost track of how many I picked up yesterday. At least that many, maybe more. 

what I've gathered so far of the big hybrids

and the natives

I added dirt to the new bed for the pansies and got them planted. 

I had four left over so I put them in the large dish pot. Then I weeded another section of the long daylily bed, tossing pecans out into the yard. Every one I find and throw out is one less tree I have to dig up in the spring. Next I'll get the white and blue iris bulbs in that I dug up from behind the buddha last spring and I also need to get the oxblood lily bulbs in that I dug up last fall but first I need to get the rest of the weeding done. I'm mostly done with that, just have one more section of another flower bed to do. I quit a little after 4 PM. Starting about 3 PM the little dog was in my face, aren't you ready to go in yet?

Not yet little dog, not yet.