Thursday, June 29, 2017 – May Flies, Weed & Clean Vis. Ctr & Women’s Gdn, Lyon Drug, Dennis Sowards

Yesterday’s storm must have caused a lot of May Fly die off. This morning there were dead May Flies everywhere I looked. Most are dead but some are still alive on the sidewalks, in the gutters, near overnight lights, etc. May Fly season is only half over but there are dead May Flies everywhere.

Since we had a very strong storm blow through last night our first order of business was to clean up the mess at the Visitor’s Center and in the Women’s Garden. We not only blew the sidewalks and picked up downed limbs but we also finger weeded most of the flowerbeds. This time the finger weeding was much easier I think because we are keeping ahead of the weeds. The grounds and the gardens look GREAT!

On our way to our next weeding site we picked up lots of downed limbs on the grounds. The rest of our day, before and after lunch, was all at the Historic Lyon Drug & Herb Gardens. There, we are not ahead of the weeds. There are tons to pull and it took us most of the day.

 Overall, the Lyon Drug Herb Garden is looking great. Richard’s new arbor has gourds and other vines climbing the trellis works and they are all looking very good. At the rate these vines are growing the whole arbor will be covered soon. It’s going to look magnificent in another couple of weeks.

One bad thing we noticed in the Lyon Drug Herb Garden is all of the deer damage. The deer have not only been eating off the tops of many of the plants but they’ve also completely pulled the plants out of the ground as they’ve browsed their way around the garden. In one spot, a dozen plants were completely missing. Sis. Johnson was getting more and more angry as she continued to discover new damage. At one point I heard her exclaim, “I want a gun!”

Today we had another one of those unexpected meetings with dear friends we didn’t know were planning a trip to Nauvoo. This has happened to us a lot since we’ve been here and we love meeting and seeing our old friends. Our friend Dennis Sowards found us at the Lyon Drug while we were working today. Unfortunately, his wife Joan was under the weather and stayed at their accommodations today while the rest of the family visited the historic sites. Get well soon Joan, sorry we missed seeing you.