Preparing for winter!

 Now is the time to get your food situation in shape for the winter months.  Farmer's markets are hopping and the fresh produce is wonderful.  It is so much fresher and cheaper that that found in supermarkets.  Ava and I went to the Corn Crib outside of Shawneetown and stocked up on sweet corn, tomatoes, Bell Peppers, turnips, okra, Jalapenos, Green beans and onions.  I also got a huge watermelon.  I was hankering some watermelon rind pickles.  I spent the afternoon blanching the okra and cutting the bell peppers and freezing them.  I froze the jalapenos whole.  I also stirred and fed my Herman sourdough starter.  Tomorrow I'll tackle canning. 

Busy day

Yesterday was a busy one.  It took a while to get going but Mulysa and I (along with Ava) finally took off to do some cemetery searching in southern Illinois.  We actually covered 4.5 cemeteries but called it quits at about 7 pm.  ATT users get screwed in southern Ill as there is little service.  Our phones and the GPS on the phones wouldn't work so we bumbled around a lot.  It was a fun day.  Saw some pretty country and beautiful nature scenery.  We finished up with some Gillio's pizza from Shawneetown and an episode of the 2nd season of "The Strain"  Here are some photos of the day.

Neglect

Wow.  I have really neglected my blog but I am going to try to do better.  Mulysa and I went to the farm yesterday to haul off brush and to look for a gravestone I knew was on the property.  I have known the grave was there for years but have never been able to find out anything about her.  Her name was Mary Cannon and she died in 1885.  Her stone had been broken off and leaned against a tree so I do not know where she is actually buried.  I have found no other gravestones.  I have searched Ancestry, Find a Grave, Census records and birth/death records.  Any help would be appreciated. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Uniontown City cemetery trying to find requested stones as listed on Find a Grave.  Amazingly, we had no luck but it was a beautiful day and a good day to explore history in a graveyard. 

07/23/13

Another day of disappointment.  I went to the farm intending to spray Johnson grass (my sworn enemy).  I had patched the crack in my sprayer tank so I thought I was ready.  I filled the tank with water (no leaks) and decided I should test it/flush it prior to adding Roundup.  I hooked to the battery and fired it up.  No pumping!  Not even a little.  My pump was shot.  Now I have to buy a new sprayer.  It is always something.  I mowed about an acre and called it quits.  I did take some pics of some of the wildflowers that are starting on my prairie plot!

Eurybia macrophylla

Verbascum thapsus

Rudbeckia hirta

07/16/13

Another day playing catch up.  After a full day at the office, I decided I needed to work some at the farm.  There is always cleanup or mowing to be done.  Today I worked on repairing food plots.  I have 3 distinct plots with clover as my base.  The one at the base of my son Will's stand looks the best.  All have weed problems so I mowed them about 6-8 inches high.  This will top out the weeds and allow the clover to thicken up.  I need to place salt blocks but that will be for later.  After I finished mowing plots, I cut a trail through the over growth to use as a deer highway.  It has been cut before and the deer really hit it.  Deer are lazy and will take the path of least resistance!  The final job of the day was to mow an isolated spot of Johnson grass.  I was going to spray but found a crack in my sprayer.  Only wildlife seen today was a turkey I jumped up. 

Well, it is time I put down some thoughts and start blogging.  I have meant to do this before but it has come to my attention that I don't have the same rights as other people.  My posts apparently could get me fired.  I will try to keep this site related to pretty benign things.

How did I come up with the title?  Latrology is just a fancy name for medical science.  I have used this name for various writings for years.  Initially I used it for a web page I ran back in the early 90s.  That page was a collection of links to guide people to topics of all things medical.  When the internet exploded, my page became obsolete so I shut it down.  Now I am just using it as a name because I am a doctor.

A little about me:  Born 12/02/1963 in Sturgis, Ky.  I am a family physician in Morganfield, Ky.  I have been involved in medicine all my adult life.  I started as an EMT on an ambulance service, graduated from RN school and worked as an RN while prepping for med school.  I graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1995.  I am board certified in Family Medicine though I have also worked many years as an ER physician.  I have settled into a slower pace of life.  Besides my busy practice, I am also the medical director for hospice in 2 counties.

I am married with a beautiful wife (Heather), 3 children and a multitude of pets.  My family keeps me on the straight and narrow and I would be lost without them.  My wife is my rock, soul mate and best friend.  

Hobbies:  I don't have many.  I love to hunt and fish.  I can't do as much as I'd like d/t my health.  I love to go work on my hobby farm.  I have 61 acres in Union County that gets most of my attention.  I would really like this blog to be about my efforts to change the property from rolling cattle pasture land to prairie and woodlands for wildlife usage.  This is an ongoing project.  I bought the property in 1996.  At that time it was used as a cattle farm.  I have since banned cattle and, through watchful neglect, have tried to let it revert to wildness.

I will not recount all the things I have done to the property up until now but will try to keep a running diary of what I am currently doing.  There is always work to be done.  I have planted hundreds of trees and shrubs but my thumb is not green.  I have killed fescue and planted prairie grasses and wildflowers only to be defeated by drought and Johnson grass.  I have managed to torch the property twice and in the process kill a large tulip poplar tree that I loved.

7/14/13 - Bush hogged front field in a criss-cross pattern.  It was fun.  The weeds and grasses were over the hood of my tractor so it was difficult to see in front of me.  I noticed patterns that looked like fish swimming in water though it was in the grass in front of me.  Every so often a fawn would burst into the open and scurry away.  They are certainly fleet and beautiful creatures.