Great Basin Rye Grass Planting

Beware holes in the cattle guard

I rode my bicycle up to White Pine this morning before starting work.  A very muscular buck antelope ran next to me for a bit until he sprinted across the road in front of me.  We were doing about 40 mph.  I didn't see another animals on this trip.  The road was in significantly worse condition than the last time I rode here, though there is very fresh blacktop to the Fremont Lake overlook.  There is a large hole in one of the pipes on the cattle guard just before half moon lake turn off.  It has enough jagged metal to puncture a car tire, I think.



Completed Pergola

My mother and niece were working when I got back, putting new chicken wire around the trees to prevent the deer from devouring them and rubbing velvet off their antlers against them.  I ate a quick second breakfast and then my niece and I put up the lath for trellis.  Irregularities in post height and bowing in the lath provided several challenges in achieving uniformity in the trellis.  About halfway through this project, my brother and nephew arrived from Hawaii.  While my brother was napping, my nephew pounded all the protruding nail ends flat.  The pergola is now fully completed, though we are likely to add accoutrements like a flagstone floor and some sitting benches.  Of course, the most important part is the function of the pergola, so we will be transporting and planting some of the thriving hops plants just below the trellis.
 


Kian and Lilly add potting soil to the rye grass

After we finished the pergola, it was time to plant some Great Basin Rye Grass in front of the South Porch.  My niece, my nephew, and I took the truck to a spot where my mother had scouted out some wild rye grass, and we dug up several.  This grass should receive a lot of water as it is in the direct drip line off the steel roof.  Lilly transported the grass to the planting zone with TomTom and pulled out all the dirt we dug out.  Kian dug one of the grasses and planted it himself.  We took 2 trips to get grasses today, and we still need 1 more truckload.