I'm a Goin' to Oregon

It's that time of year to gather fruit tree scion wood. My friend Nick Botner says this has been one of his busiest years to date for scion wood requests. So I'm off to Oregon to help him fill his orders.

Home Sweet Home

After a month of traveling, I'm back home in Kansas. What a great, wonderful, scary, crazy, exciting, educational, at times lonely, at times freakin awesome, exhausting but super cool trip it has been. I'm glad I went. And now I'm glad to be home.

Yea, Buddy, Vacuuming the Yard

Ok, let me explain. Yes, I am vacuuming the yard. But there's a reason. My aunt and uncle's house in Louisville, Kentucky, is home to one of the biggest American persimmon tree I've ever seen. It had a bumper crop of fruit. Uncle Greg and Aunt Linda don't collect the fruit so it makes a mess under the tree. I offered to rake up the fallen fruit as a thank you for letting me stay at their house. Well, while I was raking I saw all sorts of persimmon seeds nestled in the grass. I love persimmon trees and want to plant more of them - which means I need seeds. Picking them up by hand takes FOREVER! But a shop vac does it real quick. It looks funny, and everybody who drove by did a double take but hey, whatever works I say. A combination of vacuuming, winnowing (using the exhaust from the shop vac), and rinsing ended up with 8 pounds of clean persimmon seeds, which are now tucked away in the fridge awaiting spring.

Headed East Again

Greg and Linda, my aunt and uncle, invited me to Louisville. So I'm headed east.

The Gateway to the West

Had the good fortune to spend the weekend in St. Louis with the family. Saturday night was spent cheering on cousin Nicki. She is the Director of Basketball Operations for the Richmond Women's Basketball Team. They crushed the St. Louis Bilikens - which is a mascot none us could figure out. Anywho. It was a fun weekend. The Arch is always amazing to see.

From Columbia TN to St. Louis

After traveling through the rolling hills of north Alabama and Tennessee, I veered northwest determined to see the Shawnee National Forest of southern Illinois. The Shawnee hills are a sliver of the ozark mountains cut off by the Mississippi River. Another interesting fact is that the hills are home to some of the most northerly occurring natural populations of bald cypress trees - a tree more emblematic of the deep south. It is a beautiful area. It is also, the home of Popeye the Sailor Man. In Chester Illinois you see all sorts of Popeye related artwork.

That night I drove into St. Louis. From all directions: north, south, east and west, various family members were getting together for the weekend. It was so good to see my parents, brother and Aunt Linda and Uncle Greg after nearly a month on the road.

Traveling North

After two wonderful fun days at Indian Pass, learning how to fish for Red Fish and throw a casting net, I packed up and headed north. It was a violent stormy day. I narrowly missed the worst of it. The silver lining on that cloud, was that the truck got a good washing. Eventually, I had to call it quits just south of Nashville, Tennessee. I was hungry and exhausted, it was dark and pouring rain. Enough travel for today.