We began on Wednesday afternoon, May 22 and quit late on May 26. Four hard days that began with cool mornings and as the sun rose it turn into a hot humid day that was ok in the shade. Then came to cool late afternoons that were as wonderful as the early mornings.
We were very curious/concerned about the foxes burying under the house and harming the foundation. So, the first morning I quietly peered out th
e living room window and saw an orange, long-eared, little dog sitting on the back edge of the front walkway, peering toward the street, looking back and forth. I quietly went out the kitchen door, and as soon as I tip toed around the corner he took off, ran across the road and along the fence line. We filled all the holes with concrete rubble and dirt. His returns on subsequent nights had to be disappointing.
We did the usual edging, trimming and hedging in the yard and that along with Ted Strange mowing it Thursday made the place look like a true country estate. All total we sprayed about 14 gallons of the generic equivalent of Roundup.
Friday, Driscoll Cotton Farms planted peanuts in the large field behind the house. Planted over 70 acres in 3.5 hours. That would have taken Dad and I at least three Saturdays. See separate post about this event with more photos.
Friday I set fire to the small pile of limbs and added more as the day went along. We hauled two loads of debris to the land fill on Cottage Hill Road run by Dirt Inc. When returning from the second trip we went to Theodore and bought new oil, fuel and air filter for the MF210. Installed all of it and she cranked and ran great. But, the clutch must sticking as it could not be shifted into gear.
Tried various things to break it free but no luck.
First thing Saturday morning while it was cool I installed a 1600 CFM exhaust fan on the roof near the fire place. Thermostat is set at 100-degrees. It came on about 11 AM and went off about 6PM. It should make a big difference in the power bill.
Saturday we hauled one more load and now the slab behind the carport is clean as well as much stuff from the barn and grain bin; i.e.: boards with nails; old feeder parts; plastic sheeting; PVC flex pipe; rusty sheet metal; buckets, can, jars, and such is gone. Sunday we raked out the barn, picking up nails, bolts, cans and other trash. Wood with no nails, leaves and limbs was burned.
Sunday we continued working around the house and barn. Power washed the front walk, walkway to the kitchen door, part of the carport and the extended slab from the carport. The carport needs to be emptied and the ceiling, brick and remainder of slab blasted. 
The walkways look much better. Even blasted the front of the house from the porch west, the west end over the kitchen and the carport gable. A lot of dirty water ran off and it looks a lot better.
Drove to the north field and was pleased to see the grove of tallow trees in mid-field west-end were dead. Was not pleased to see that there are many very small tallow trees coming up along the edges. There are many dead trees we sprayed along the south side next to the branch. Did not remember to look for kudzo but also did not notice it. We were distracted by this little guy trying to stand for the first time and have lunch.
Late in the cooler evening I sprayed Clear Pasture on machete chops in the yupon trees remaining on the east, back side of the barn. Also sprayed the three sweet gum trees that were growing there and were too close to the barn and pecan trees.
Also sprayed “Roundup” on the Jap Grass and briars along the garden/road fence line. Hopefully the sparser jap grass in the yard area is due to previous spraying and we can eventually get rid of it in that fence row.
A very productive week.
