Posted on 01/31/2026 6:26:44 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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I wonder if that view from Manhattan, KS, is from the hills just north of the town? There is a spot there called “Top of the World” and for Kansas, it is indeed a spot from which one can see in most directions a long way.
Not too far from our place now is another transition zone — where the glaciers stopped roughly along a line from Carbondale, IL to Shawneetown, IL.
War presently having our own little weather “border” of sorts. We were supposed to get about 1-1/2” of rain starting Friday late afternoon, and then continuing until noon or so today. However, most of the rain keeps advancing from the south and then fizzles as it crosses the KY-TN border, mostly dying by the time it gets to that last westward portion of the Ohio River B4 it joins the Mississippi. We’ve had less than 1/10th inch - not much relief for our overall dry start to 2026 (despite the heavy snow/sleet that despite the warm temperatures of the last few days, remnants still persist in a few shaded spots that got significant drifts.) NWS keeps insisting this present rain will move north, but even the 90% probability now comes with predicted amounts of only about another 1/10” of rain. It’s just enough to keep the top of the soil muddy, but general soil moisture, the aquifers, and my attempt to collect some rain water won’t benefit much. :-(
The good news is that some of the drought afflicted areas not too far from here will get some relief.
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More hilly than expected. I always think of corn and acres and acres of Sunflowers when I think of Kansas. :)
https://wichitamom.com/around-wichita/kansas-sunflower-fields/
They’ve started doing these as a tourist thing here in Wisconsin, too. Very popular!
You’re in! Welcome! :)
You’ve inspired me to start some things from Kitchen Scraps. I’m making a fresh bag of my lettuce mixes for supper tonight, so I will have both celery and Romain root stubs to work with. :)
15 Vegetables To Regrow From Scraps
What veggies to sprout and how to get started
https://www.harrowsmithmag.com/45004/how-to-regrow-vegetable-scraps
There used to be a small hog farm a mile or so to the southeast of us, and occasionally the fragrance would drift to us in surprisingly concentrated form. Luckily, we rarely get a light SE breeze.
Presently, a modest cattle operation, maybe 100 head or a few more, has gone in several miles down the road to the east of us. When the calves were young / small and didn’t decimate their main pasture area, all was well. But, they are just about to adult size now, and between their foraging and winter, the “pasture” is not so pleasant. My wife has been complaining about the smell when she passes by on the way to her job and back. I suggested an alternate route, but it takes several minutes more, and she, um, was not enthused. So, since the car’s car’s “recycle” air function does let a little outside air in... I gave her “optimized” instructions on when to turn the car’s “recycle” air function on and off, depending on wind direction... ;-)
I did not realize that the glaciers made it that far south in Illinois. Only the tip of Illinois escaped . There were several periods of Glaciation and they have different end points. That was one of the earlier and larger ones, the Laurentide ice sheet. We live along the same margin. It ended in NE Kansas about right where I am at the KS/MO border.
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The last ice sheet that ploughed down out of Canada was the Wisconsin Ice Sheet. It did not cover as much area as the Laurentian ice sheet
YouTube video Wisconsin Ice-Margin Positions (Laurentide Ice Sheet) UPDATED (Set of 43 maps showing the position of ice in Wisconsin, beginning at 31,500 years ago and ending at 11,000 years ago. Developed by David Mickelson and John Attig (Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, University of Wisconsin–Extension).
***Note...Sponsor of this thread, "Diana in the Driftless", is in one of those non glaciated zones in SW Wisconsin! (A beautiful area!)
Driftless Wisconsin: Your Outdoor Recreation Playground
(Ok...WI travelogue over!)
You can see little black dots all the way to the horizon, 15 to 20 miles away. (Cattle of a thousand fields!) Search "Kansas flat landscape with cattle". I would post one of them but they are mostly Getty images and they still do not get a sense of the size.
Here is a picture taken half a state from where I am, way to the southwest, but here is one of some Cattle on the Santa Fe trail. The local historical society has determined that the the KC end of the trail it passes within about 30 yards of my house but is all covered over with Tract Housing except for some ruts that still exist in a local park.)
Ok, enough Travelogue stuff! Most people know what the horizon looks like!
We had cloud cover but not enough for our portable LIDAR to give good data. #1 Homer Simpson Son has a line on a portable unit that's more powerful than the one he owns so he's going to check into borrowing that sometime soon.
This is Matt from Geo Model doing his thing. Super nice guy, very knowledgeable. He said that he has been surveying cemeteries with GPR for a little over 30 years. We've now got a clear picture of where the things that we don't want disturbed are located. I'm going back tomorrow to dig in foot stones for all of the identified graves that didn't previously have them. We found half a dozen graves that weren't marked at all so I'll be setting marker stones for those as well.
What a nice service you will be doing! Giant Kudos.
Here is our own 'un-glaciated' hillside this past fall. There IS pasture land in there - somewhere, LOL!
Every inch of our property, unless we've excavated and leveled it, is either UP or DOWN. Everyone around here has one leg slightly shorter than the other from 'walking hillside' all the time, LOL!
WOW! What’s the oldest headstone that’s still readable? We have some very old cemeteries in our state, too. Lots of Civil War markers for our Brave Boys. And they WERE just BOYS for the most part. :(
The only way IN is THROUGH...or something like that!
Finished set-up. Cleaned up, de-cluttered, de-junked and a place for everything!
Storage for long tools and trash.
The beautiful planting flats that Beau made for me. When items on the shelf below go outside for the season, I can easily fit up to 30 flats of stuff in here, now!
Water storage for spring seedlings, before the hoses get hooked up for the season.
Storage for flats and humidity trays and recycled starting pots.
Beau ran a rod across the top of the greenhouse for hanging storage of my gathering baskets and misc. items. I'm short, so I don't bump my head.
Potting area. Beau cut me a piece of plywood for a better potting surface. The storage below holds the HUGEMONGUS bag of Miracle Grow potting mix. The little 'greenhouse' to the left can hold 4 flats and is an upgrade from my bags-o-dirt and storage containers that I used in the past. With this double layer of protection, I should be able to start salad greens out there in March! Yippee!
Lastly, I have ONE bale of straw left over, so that's in there too until spring. I was thinking I'd find lots of mice and/or evidence, but I just found one mouse that had fallen into a bucket and couldn't get out.
ALL of my 16 beds are now cleaned out and mulched with straw and the tomato cages are back in the milk house where they are stored for the winter. I have pretty much a Clean Slate for Spring planting. And I am going to pay for this with sore muscles tomorrow, but that's what OTC Meds and Ben Gay are for, Right? LOL! So HAPPY to have had this blessing of warm weather to get this done!
Wowie Zowie I am so impressed. Looks great. Is that green cold frame the one your mom brought you? Very cool. That’s a real transformation. We have 8 days of warmth coming up. I hope to get a transformation done in the garage.
I planted all my spring/summer vegetables this weekend. Winter is over here.
Cantaloupe, cilantro, green onions, cherry tomatos, Beefsteak tomatos, jalapenos, poblanos, serranos and strawberries.
I have some blackberry plants that made it through the winter as well as carrots.
Augie; Is this on your property or your father’s?
Looks a little different than the pictures you have posted of the house and garden.
Just a little jealous - but we hit 63 today. I know we’ll be paying for it in more cold and snow to come, but this weekend and the upcoming week are Bonus Material for gardeners, for sure! :)
And with these temps we’re not as suicidal as we normally are this time of year up here on The Frozen Tundra, LOL!
Beau installed a brighter motion-sensor porch light for me today. I actually saw a MOTH last night when I let the dog out at 9pm. Very, VERY weird!
Yes, the cold frame was a surprise when I found it, still in the box, tucked into a corner. I think she just sneaked it in there. I put it together as best I could - it was kind of tricky and had a hundred pieces, but it should work well and I can always throw an old blanket over it at night if need be. I’ve got March 1st marked on the the calendar to get some spinach and lettuces in there. The greenhouse is pretty much too hot by the end of May, but I can use it again well into fall with the set up.
Hold me to keeping it neat and organized, OK? And I will find a way to keep puppies OUT if we end up with a litter this season - but I don’t think we’re having one. (Yay!)
A lot of the stuff that went to recycling was from Mom. She saves EVERY planting pot and tray when she buys annuals and them dumps them off on me. ;) She’s 88 - I don’t have a whole lot more time to complain about her. *HEART*
Her battles with the squirrels in her yard are EPIC, LOL!
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