Blossoms, Bouldering Area Work, Climbing, PDC, Repairs, Flight Prep...

Nice bright sunny day yesterday had the flower glowing all around the farm. Things seem to be taking a bit longer to kick into gear this year. The hawthorn have now exploded in color.

And the plums are putting on a display. This gives me some hope that we WILL get a fruit harvest this year. The apple trees have popped now too but the cherry trees are languishing with few flowers and almost no set fruit.

Mid morning I gathered my things and headed up to the bouldering area to do some more work on cleaning and get in some bouldering. I cut back a bunch of bushes from the top outs and the down climbs.

Then I had to brush rocks a bunch to remove the dirt that I spread over the face when digging out the top.

After cleaning more problems of moss and lichen I got my shoes on and got some bouldering in. This problem has a lot of options for holds but I like to use the micro edges to make it as hard as possible since it is a bit lower angle.

These problems are fun short ones and have a lot of options for holds to use. I do laps on it since it is so short but it does require foot hold awareness.

The small corner next to it used to have a bird's nest on the ledge in the nook but it has long since been abandoned.

I got in a couple laps on the traverse before packing up and heading back to the farm. This is the roadside south boulders.

And this is the main face of the Roadside south boulders.

I was home in time to catch the PDC night 15 which it was surprising to see The Nuke lose 6-1 but Humphries went on to beat MVG for the win. I threw for a bit while the matches were on and managed a grouping of ton plus shots.

The word was put out that we are good for Tekoa this weekend so part of my day was spent working with my gear in preparation. I went to fill my water bladder and found that the rubber had cracked on the nozzle outlet. There is the crack you can just see on the side.

So I pulled out the trusty Gorilla glue epoxy and mixed up a small amount then coated the rubber to cover the crack completely. I'm hoping the epoxy will have enough elasticity to give and not be too hard and crack with the movement. I let it dry overnight and it seems to be good this morning. I will fill it in a while to see for sure.

The whole reason is that I am hoping to have an hour plus flight tomorrow and want to have water with me.

It's getting warmer now and the greenhouse needed to get the fans setup. I ran the extension cord along the top purlin and mounted the fan in the window.

The other fan pushes air from the door side towards the window side and I have them timed to come on mid morning to the afternoon.

The Camas is flowering en-mass around the farm which is what I had to cut around when mowing. They have been spreading quite nicely over the years and are growing in far larger numbers. Camas was used as a food by the native Americans.

Common camas bulbs were considered a delicacy by the Native American tribes within the range of the species including the Blackfoot, Cree, and Nez Perce. Bulbs would be steamed or pit cooked for one to three days breaking down complex carbohydrates into ample amounts of the sugar fructose. A full one third of a bulbs cooked weight becomes fructose when prepared in this fashion. Native Americans would dry out the cooked bulbs and grind them into a meal. The meal was used in variety of ways. At times it would be mixed with water to form a batter and then cooked like a pancake. Often the meal would be mixed with water and formed into large bricks and then cooked and stored for future use.

The Nez Perce at Weippe Praire, Idaho introduced Lewis and Clark to common camas in September 1805. At their first meeting, the Nez Perce gave members of the expedition buffalo meat, salmon and various roots including what the Nez Perce called quamash. Clark wrote that evening in his journal, “I find myself very unwell all the evening from eating the fish and roots to freely.” Lewis wrote a detailed description of the plant, one of the most detailed accounts of any plant he collected on the entire expedition, while camped at Weippe Prairie<

Mixed in we also have a slew of wild strawberries blooming.

While the NHL game was on I threw for a bit before Hive account@stryeyz got home and we figured out dinner.

I have all the batteries charged for my cameras, extra battery pack charged, the radio is charged, my Garmin watch is fully charged, and I think I have everything ready for tomorrow and flying.

Today PDC Euro tour is on this morning, I will pop open the hive to check on the bees when it is warmer, I'll go to the bouldering area again for a bit, ensure I have everything ready for flying, get the boys to and from school, run the weedeater around the farm, then get a fire going in the pit to grill for dinner this evening.