St. Genevieve - 5/6

The miles we are currently on are very sparse in terms of Teasel and Knapweed.  Truth be told it has been a week since I saw any Knapweed—but that could be attributed to the fact that I am not that great at identifying it.  Teasel, on the other hand, I have started to call Nirnroot because, like the plant in the Elder Scrolls games, it is rare and it will often times be found near a water source.  This is not to say it is only found near water as we have found it covering entire hillsides, but in the past couple of days that is primarily where the menace has been found. 

Lili and I hiked about 3 miles before lunch and only found 3 Nirnroots in that stretch.  After our meal, we switched up the groups and I joined Will on the UTV.  I was able to point out 2 patches of the invasives for him to spray before we hit the half hour mark after our intended stopping time.  From what I hear the weeds will pick back up around Appleton, but until then I think we will need to decrease the amount of herbicide we are concocting since our contacts want it all sprayed out of the UTV by the day’s end.  Chemicals aren’t cheap! It would be best that we spray them on the threat rather than spray it all over as a preventative measure—but that’s just me thinking aloud.

Oh, another thing, it is HOT in Missouri! We are supposed to wear long shirts, pants, boots, gloves… basically our PPE when spraying chemical is to be completely covered up.  I don’t know how they do it overseas.  I felt like an oven.  I resorted to cheating a bit and rolling the sleeves up on my jacket.  Hopefully the sprinkles of chemical that drifted upon my person won’t have any lingering effects—unless those effects are super powers, then please by all means. 

Bed time!  I just finished watching our host’s puppy.  Daisy snuck over here when she was putting a load in the laundry and stayed with us for dinner.  I tried contacting Donna next door but knocking, door bell ringing, and even calling proved ineffective, so, I just played with the dog.  It’s never a bad time for a little pet therapy.  Anyways, I will catch you all later.