Good morning!!!!

[daugen]

I can tell you Don the local Food Lion is not going to have hemp seeds...I've never seen them
as an ingredient.
otherwise, worth a try. Thanks

 

[Larro Darro]

Good Morning. 0845, sunny, 76F with 99% humidity. Forecast high of 86F with 60% chance of thunderstorms today, and a low of 72F tonight. I'm at work already. The Taekwondo class had a sleepover, so I stayed until 2030 last night, and was back at 0800 this morning. They had an extra Sausage biscuit with egg, so I put my nuts, seeds, berries, granola and yogurt away for now. I know the grease will make me feel like crap later, but it was good going down. {probably been a year or more since I have ate McFastFood}

Speaking of eating, I have got a family reunion and a baby shower today. There will be lots of good southern cooking on display.

I brought a bucket of peas to work to shell. Margie had just about finished hers when I left for work. Maybe some of the little old ladies at the reunion will feel sorry for me and help

You guys have a good one,

Larro

. . . . Got none of my planed activities done yesterday. Instead we went up on Sky Line Drive. It was just beautiful as always. Wild flowers line the road, the views of the valley below and we saw a she bear with two cubs. She was grazing beside the road and turning over rocks to look for (I guess) bugs. It was a peaceful time and mush enjoyed. . . . .

Ed

I remember that stretch of road fondly. Several of my Navy buddies and I went up there from Norfolk on a camping trip. The girls at the next site over needed tent pitching assistance, {or they pretended to} and one thing leading to another, {as it is wont to do} I spent the night in their tent, and started dating one of the girls when we got back on flat land. Me being without a car, my best friend on the ship would give me a ride up to Richmond to see her. The next spring she started college in Norfolk, so we were seeing a lot more of each other. Too much, in fact. We broke up and she married my best friend. Last I heard they were doing well.

 

[txdon]

I can tell you Don the local Food Lion is not going to have hemp seeds...I've never seen them
as an ingredient.
otherwise, worth a try. Thanks

I made mine without hemp seed because of availability also.

 

[rswyan]

77.5F and sunny @ 10:00 ... high today of 81F.

Got my running around done yesterday (barely) ... picked up the welding wire and materials for the Gilwood Slot Box bluebird houses.

Went a little over budget ... Menards had 2 of the newer Black and Decker Lithium 12v batteries on clearance for $19.99 each so I grabbed them up, since I've had trouble finding them locally and the one battery I have the charger says is bad. Went to charge the new ones and the charger indicates they are bad too ... won't take a charge ...

I'm thinking that the charger itself may be bad.

Managed to almost get two houses put together before I knocked off yesterday, one fully done and mounted on the old pole that another house was on that had been taken over by HOSP's. I used cedar and solid brass screws ... so hopefully they will last. Have a little bit of material left, either for the next round of blue bird house building or to modify the old boxes to slot boxes.

I snuck up last evening around dusk with a can of starting fluid to see if I could catch the females sitting on the eggs. At the first house I surprised the female and got a good shot of ether in the entrance hole ... but she managed to escape and fly off before I could cover the hole. Got the nest though, which had 4 eggs in it.

Did better at the second house ... managed to trap the female inside after I shot in the ether by plugging the entrance hole with the cap off the can of starting fluid and she was gone within a minute or so. Pulled the nest out with her and 5 eggs in it:

P. R. called around 09:00 and said he needs the scaffold to put up the inside portion of the mini-split ... so I'll run into town at some point and grab that and drop it off over at his place. But not before I dispatch and bury the raccoon that I got in the trap last night.

The tailpipe, catalytic converter, and muffler fell off the Sprinter yesterday on the way back home, just before I turned onto the street that our driveway runs off of. Fortunately, the bodies of the cat and the muffler look to be in fairly decent shape ... so I'm gonna to see if I can just replace the piping that is bad. Hopefully so, because the cat/muffler assembly is around $1700 alone ...

Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I made mine without hemp seed because of availability also.

For all you hemp seed heads out there:

Amazon.com: hemp seed

:laughing:

 

[rswyan]

I'm jealous; my portable ac in the barn woodshop is struggling to get down to 77 when it's in high 90's here. The small room is insulated but the whole setup is inefficient.

Know what ya mean ... the little AC unit I have up in the shop can't keep up on a hot, sunny day ... especially if I'm welding. It's an unshaded concrete block building with uninsulated walls ... so the heat gain is significant. And the overhead door don't seal all that tight.

That mini split is the cat's meow, and if Samsung makes them as well as they do their tv's, I'd buy one.
Maybe next year...after I get a few more high electric bills on the barn meter. Will give me an idea what kind of ROI I'd get. But since I didn't spring for the fancy guy's garage, maybe I could cool the woodshop better. Large floor fan works fine most of the time where I'm working inside the barn. But sometimes you just get tired of the sweat running down your nose and you are overheated and it for sure is time to cool off. And 77 feels great. For a while...
And I also am going to want heat in there in the winter, when I build birdhouses during the slow times. So RS,
was the guy satisfied?

He hasn't got it installed yet, just picked it up yesterday.

I'll report back on how he likes it ... once he gets it hooked up and running.

 

[sodamo]

70° and .71 inches rain last 24 hours.

Bet that apple was awesome, Drew.

Hope to get some mowing today

Be safe
Have a great day

 

[RoyJackson]

2016-07-16, 0646

77 right now...
Plans are:
a) Bank to dispute the last charge on my hacked debit/credit card (about $26)
b) Haircut, while I'm up in Randolph
c) chip the last of the branches from that tree that fell in my field a couple, three weeks ago
d) mow and trim
e) drink beer
Not necessarily in that order, except the beer will be the last thing on the agenda

All done except for the haircut and chipping.
Had to go to another bank for the dispute, left no time for the haircut (barber closed at noon) and the neighbor had gathered up all the remaining branches for his fire pit...
So, that left item e)...and I'm working on that as I type this post!

 

[RedNeckGeek]

So, that left item e)...and I'm working on that as I type this post!

Headin' that way myself in a few hours, Roy. Save me a cold one, will ya? :drink:

 

[sodamo]

Drew - Solar
Yep, generators working fine.

As for your r situation some thoughts.
Might want to find some local expertise just for the thought process.
My own:
Not sure a PV system dedicated to your spa would be cost effective. Now if you could also run your barn AC and other things selectively maybe.
Perhaps a look at some sort of grid-tied hybrid with battery backup?

As for sizing:
To me it's about the watts, not the number of panels or safe. For me, if I wanted a 4kw array and feeding a 48vdc inverter and panel choices were 250 watts, 24 volts, I would 2 panels in series x 8 in parallel 16 total. Then I would look what is available, maybe even go with a 260 watt or larger based on the physical size.
Likely you need an hour inverter capable of handing 4kw plus surge as a min. And then you have to size the battery bank. Spa company might be helpful as to inverter size.
Could be a fun project, just don't let someone hook you with an undersized system that you have to upgrade. JMHO of course.

 

[rswyan]

Got it hung, inside and out:

He's still got to hook up the juice and charge it ... he'll probably have it running later today ... just in time for the hot weather later this week.

I came on home to mow the front lawns ...

 

[daugen]

Amazon.com : Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds, natural flavor, 1 Pound. : Cooking And Baking Seeds And Nuts : Grocery & Gourmet Food
and you can eat the insides like sunflowers. at 8 or 9 bucks a pound retail for the seeds, this looks like a lucrative farming opportunity.

16 solar panels, two stacked rows of 8. That wouldn't be too large. If I'm not in a high tax bracket anymore, I wonder if the tax savings
are relevant for me unless they are dollar one deducted from taxes due. I was also wondering how toyota was recycling all its Prius batteries after ten years.
Ten years is a long time for a battery though, unless the chemistry is very different from what we have now.

2 hours out in the hot sun sweating under zero breeze, watching this ballgame, the rain did not appear to save me...but at least they won, 11 to 1, and their first batter hit a home run. That was exciting. Good way to start the game. I think this is for the NC LittleLeague title in their age group. Some of these kids are so little when they step up to the bat, but some of the smallest ones have the best moves. The third pitcher on the other team was a young blonde girl with hair streaming out the back and boy could she fire that ball in. She was one tough competitor but her team was outplayed this day. And my friend's grandson ended the game by a sliding catch in outfield on his knees. And he held on to it. Yeah.
Standing for the American Anthem and holding my hand across my heart was strangely moving. Hadn't done that in a while. I guess I need to go to more ballgames.
Maybe in cooler weather...

 

[Larro Darro]

Amazon.com : Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds, natural flavor, 1 Pound. : Cooking And Baking Seeds And Nuts : Grocery & Gourmet Food
and you can eat the insides like sunflowers. at 8 or 9 bucks a pound retail for the seeds, this looks like a lucrative farming opportunity....

Hemp seeds are known as a super food. Back before Prohibition, they were widely used as an animal feed.

Pure Healing Foods

And it seems some folks got the idea of a hemp powered car before Willie.

Hemp powered vehicles

 

[Larro Darro]

. . . . . at 8 or 9 bucks a pound retail for the seeds, this looks like a lucrative farming opportunity.

I had to chuckle at this. The non-hemp seeds go for around $55 a ten pack. {five and a half bucks a seed} Let's do the math. Since this is TBN, we will go with a ten pack of Sour Diesel and a ten pack of New York City Diesel. That is $110 or so. Buy a few yards of soil for $500. Add amendments to the tune of another couple hundred. A couple grand for pots, caging, sprayers, fertilizer, etc, etc.

With any luck you will get 3 or 4 girls and 1 boy from each strain that show the traits you want to keep. You could do four different sets of seeds. Sd female X Sd male, NYCd female X NYCd male, Sd female X NYCd male, NYCd female X Sd male. With 6-8 fully seeded plants you could hope to make say 10,000 seeds. Even with the price cut in half to $2.75 per seed, you could retire on one crop. Just use the flowers in your fireplace this winter

It doesn't really work that way though. The breeder gets about 10% of the retail price, or 55 cent a seed. Still .55 times 10,000. . . . That would buy a lot of diesel. The kind for your tractor, not the other kind.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I had to chuckle at this. The non-hemp seeds go for around $55 a ten pack. {five and a half bucks a seed} Let's do the math...

It appears you've given this a great deal of thought, Larro. When ya gonna start on this new retirement plan? You could race Drew to the he pot (of Acapulco gold) at the end of the rainbow:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[txdon]

RS how is the sound, is it quiet?

 

[Larro Darro]

It appears you've given this a great deal of thought, Larro. When ya gonna start on this new retirement plan? You could race Drew to the he pot (of Acapulco gold) at the end of the rainbow:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

I'm waiting for the laws to change before I shop at the seed banks. Florida is going to have a Constitutional Amendment on the ballet concerning Medical this fall, but it doesn't allow for the folks to grow there own. There is 7 districts {I think} in the state with one grower per district. Sister works at one of the places that is in the running to be the official grower in this district. If they do get it, I bet security will improve a lot around there. {I've never had anyone break into my garden to steal tomatoes and cucumbers, but I bet someone will try getting in where ever the official grows are at}

But it looks like there will be some sort of national movement to soften the federal law in the next few years. The people are out in front of the government on this one. Almost ever time it comes to a vote, the folks choose flowers over pills. Washington isn't known for being too based on reality, but they will have to have a correction sooner or later. Then this gold rush that is going on in your neck of the woods will slow down. Prices will drop to where you could make a living, but not get rich overnight. I saw where towns in California were selling permits for 5 grand, then when they saw how much the growers were making, they added 2 bucks a square foot on to the fee for next year. Uncle Sugar will always get his.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 75F this morning, clear light wind. Made it to 96F wind stayed light and sky mostly clear. 50 mile ride this morning with the group, the 1 1/2 hour nap after lunch. Got the flywheel off on the B&S, points a little oily and worn, coil checks good and condenser seems to be working. Clean it all up and put it back together to see how it sparks. Also got some biking apparel repaired which will result in quieter rides.

 

[Eric Salop]

Don, I'm putting cat food on the grocery list. I was hoping that the foxes would earn their keep by keeping the voles in check, but I'm seeing more mounds this year than ever. So with their nasty pooping habits, the foxes have got to go. I've already got a spot picked out to let them go, nice open country with some woods and easy access to the river, so I'm hoping they won't find their way back anytime soon.

In England, the advice is that if you need to remove a fox, it is more humane to dispatch it immediately than to try and relocate. The law takes the same view, if I caught and then released a fox elsewhere, I could be prosecuted for an animal cruelty offence.

The reasoning behind this is that any area where a fox is released is almost certainly going to already have a resident fox population to match the available food and they will not look kindly on an intruder, so either the new one has a hard time, likely to end in slow starvation, or if the new one wins a fight for dominance, that will end badly for one or more of the others. The only happy ending (from the fox's point of view) is if either the original or the newly displaced fox is fortunate enough to find your place, as that will be about the only ground that is then underpopulated with foxes. :laughing:

Not sure if foxes behave the same in your part of the world, but it's perhaps worth considering.

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning all. Oh dear, I hope I didn't contribute towards your hemp seed shortage by mentioning they make a good fishing bait. :ashamed: .

If there is such as thing as "normal", that is what I'm now back to, after almost a week of taking things easy. If only the weeds could have taken it easy too, I can see more ragwort pushing up and flowering in the hay field, so pulling that will be top of my list for today.