Good morning!!!!

[Thomas]

50F on/off showers steady rain arriving after dark.

Been so so day so far and this evening shaping up to be non interesting.

Enjoy your evening all.

 

[daugen]

busier afternoon than I expected.
Landlord showed up with handiman to replace a front slate in the walk way that had cracked in two.
She left, he had extra sand so he is filling in all the cracks of the whole thing. I'll wait until that settles, then will
do a top coat of that special sand.

wasn't careful where I was leaning in garage and knocked over shelf with all my gardening stuff on it. Not totally over but that big cardboard box,
the one where everything little got tossed, everything went flying. So I cleaned it all up knowing the landlady was coming, and lo and beyond, a whole little treasure of unused flower and veggie seeds. So for the next hour I planted four o clock seeds in little clumps all over. A very pretty flower. Seeds are like large peppercorns, easy to handle.
Put the rest of the seeds I just can't use into a baggie and will give to a friend who plants all my leftovers. Sometimes there are way too many seeds for even two or three years worth.
They are cheap and I'd rather see a friend plant them. Plus I know I'll get some pickled beets back, a real favorite of mine. They just didn't grow well here.

I used to save melon seeds from whole melons on farm in NC. Two hundred years ago, if you didn't save your seeds you'd go hungry.

 

[sodamo]

Drew I think that stool is gonna make more than 1 person happy.

 

[sodamo]

Roy, we have the Brinly Hardy poly cart from HD. It replaced the JD version we had that the wheels gave out. I still think some day I’ll get new wheel. Great carts. Wife usually pulls behind her mower but have also used the golf cart and Mule. Never used the tractor though. For us, the all metal body would just be waiting to rust out. Height works well as a portable work station with a piece of plywood on top.
Enjoy.

 

[sodamo]

Ken, take care of that leg. Be more careful.

 

[sodamo]

Great dinner pic, Rip

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

The wind finally calmed down late this afternoon.... good news.
Bad news... now the latest 7 day forecast shows wind for 5 out of the 7 days, some already having 'high wind warnings' !!!
I will seriously start my land /property search again....

The wifey said: "you're doing all this work for what? .... just to move?"
I replied: "well, I put it all up, I know how to take it down! Plus, 50% of the landscape plants are in big planters.... I have a tractor and a trailer.... piece of cake!"

I'll let you guys know when I get out of the hospital!....

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Seriously, I'm ok.... just trying to deal with this wind and arid conditions, I can only joke about it now.

There are a lot worse places with worse weather. On a good note, I KNOW that I built everything pretty strong... haven't lost anything to getting ripped apart.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The wind finally calmed down late this afternoon.... good news.
Bad news... now the latest 7 day forecast shows wind for 5 out of the 7 days, some already having 'high wind warnings' !!!
I will seriously start my land /property search again....

The wifey said: "you're doing all this work for what? .... just to move?"
I replied: "well, I put it all up, I know how to take it down! Plus, 50% of the landscape plants are in big planters.... I have a tractor and a trailer.... piece of cake!"

I'll let you guys know when I get out of the hospital!....

Lol, I said the same thing about some work I did. Told my wife I’ll put some builder grade cabinets in and take my homemade wood ones.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Now here's a sign of the tractor times...
Russians steal $5M worth of heavy JD ag equipment including combines from Ukrainian dealer.
Dealership contacts JD apparently and these units can be turned off remotely. Currently the Russians can't start any of it.
I wonder if all JD owners know this...

we were supposed to get a little rain but it seems to have fizzled out.
45 minutes left on online auction, I have to sit here and make sure no last minute Louise
snatches one of my items.

I need a day off tomorrow. Burpee finally sent me the order of a dozen mixed calladium bulbs. Need to plant them tomorrow in shady spot.
High end deer food.

I kind of wish JD would turn off all the tractors in Russia right now....and planes, tanks, missiles, and everything else they are using to commit war crimes. Actually, we should be praying for Putin's heart/mind to change. Not sure how long the whole world can tolerate the bully. I sent my tomato pic to my Polish friend that is now an American citizen, and asked him, "I wonder how they'll taste cooked by fission?"...I'm getting tired/mad for Russia to be threatening nuclear war every day. I am praying for Putin too.

Good evening all. 49ºFfor the start, mostly clear, light breeze. Light to moderate wind, mostly clear sky, and high temp was 81ºF, DP 47ºF. Chapel to start the day then made breakfast, then work on GPS routing for Katy trip, 217 miles in 5 days, no real hard days. Did get nap in. Tomorrow fish survey and carp removal cancelled due to thunderstorms in forecast., .5 inch rain forecast.
Kyle sorry about the tractor issue four friend has. Nice progress on EGO mower. I thought shredder blades were not sharp as a matter of course. No dog bites yet , nice maters.

prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle's daughter/friend PT from Covid, /mom recovery and breathing, living alone, Bird/aging issues/, Don /mom's pipeline process, Randy/FIL living alone adjustments /MIL Covid /son's FIL death /new(2) cancer surgeries /cataract surgery, Roy /palpitations, /angina , Billy /wife fall, David(moss) /remodel /divorce, Buppies /3 new skin cancer spots and treatment, /wife head wound healing, Thomas/gout, Phil /reflux, /wife's eyes, Steppenwolfe/son-auto immune disorder, Grev/wife's eye, Ted/knee recovery/retirement, / passing out issues, /family issues, Doug and wife/health issues, /nerve and pain, / wife's heart /rib and back and torn bicep, Ken/aunt fall injuries, David(sadamo)/Sophie's new eye surgery recovery, Chris/neighbor's granddaughter and Covid issues, Scaredy/shoulder dislocation, Paul/ wife's disc issues /dog seizure, Gale and KY/ tornado victims, Mike /5 year plan, Dennis/ brother "alligallyitus" and improving, James /wife's fall and recovery, Drew /friend cancer diagnosis and recovery, Helogabals /wife's friend situation, Ukraine war, and Country.
stay safe and healthy you all.

Mostly, you can take my mom off of the prayer list, thank you. She is breathing well, and back to her regular life....she sure has to take a lot of meds.

My friend that got so badly alligator bit, (40 days in hospital, much of it on ventilator), still has only about 20% of his leg muscles that he can control. Fortunately, he can "lock" his knee, and walk again. Also, his ankle works, and he can drive and brake with the foot.

Thank you for al the prayers!

Went for a walk in the park today. 85˚F cloudy.
The town's Model A ford car club was there.
The yellow car had a built on wheel chair holder. Original owner?
The last pic was the ugly duckling that did not turn out to be a swan.

That "swan" needs some benzoyl peroxide. I was wondering how long a new battery would last. About how old are most of the batteries that showed up on my doorstep? Your grass looks lush. Did you say to pick potatoes, 100 days after blooming?

Nice thoughtful gift Drew.

LS4, mulched gardens look good. Hope the wind dies down. Been a stormy month for many.

Rip, nice pic of mommy fox and babies. Hope you don't have chickens.

Rs, a buddy has a wagon version similar to your garden scooter. He says he needs to put something like Slime in the tires, because they leak down in a month. (Same for my tractor supply 25 gallon sprayer trailer).

RNG, nice pics. That little yamaha has a gas tank big enough to drive nonstop from Juneau to Cabo. You might mount it on the front, so you don't pop any wheelies in the Vanagon. That's some mighty fast internet.

Ken, hope the leg gets better fast. Different angle on getting son to wash truck.

Phil, is that a pallet of wood pellets?

Prayers for our team, our country, the sick, and Ukraine.

 

[rswyan]

52F and "Fair" @ 22:00, sun came out as predicted - maybe even a little earlier - and the high today hit 68.4F. Was a pleasant afternoon.

Got the southern early-bearing blueberry bush all weeded and the soil acidifier applied and was about to start prepping the holes for the two new blueberry bushes when I discovered we were out of soil acidifier to do those. The Woman made the run over to The Depot to pick up another bag.

While she was gone I took a couple of rakes and the Stihl blower over to the east side bed with the Stella D'Oro's/hostas/coral bells planted in it and blew off the remaining leaves and cleaned up the edge of the bed which the deer had trampled. Pleased with how well the leaves I blew onto it last fall did at suppressing weed growth - it's not totally weed-free, but there's a lot less there than there would have been without anything on it. It will get weeded soon and have some additional plants added and then get mulched.

While I was over there I located a split-open seed pod from I think a redbud tree which still had 11 seeds stuck to it. So we'll be planting those and see what turns up.

When I went back over to the garden area, Mister and Missus Bluebird stopped by for a visit. They alternated between sitting on feeder cross bars, fence posts, and scavenging the ground below the suet feeders for the crumbs that fall off when the cakes get pecked at by other birds. Here is Mister Bluebird on a t-post, with a Red Bellied woodpecker on the feeder behind him:

Shortly after that he hopped down to the ground we'd been working and got a worm which he took back up to the top of the t-post and ate. Lucky him.

When The Woman got back we got the two new blueberry plants in the ground and I fashioned some cages out of poultry netting that will hope keep the deer and other critters from pulling them up or nipping them off until they have had a chance to root and get going:

5 foot spacing between all the blueberry plants ... which should allow us to sneak in some summer squash between them.

We also got the second tarp pulled out of the woods and laid out and weighted down (left side of the above photo)

After using the Stihl FS 66 with cultivator head to do some tilling in the garden bed (which someone wanted done and can be a real treat in hard ground), I decided that I wouldn't be doing that again. Instead I'll just pull the t-posts (which are coming out anyways) and run up the sides of the plants with the Kubota and King Kutter tiller. Will be much easier.

Was going to mulch around the blueberries but decided to hold off until Wednesday. The mulch tends to come out of the bags wet and they suggest not placing it until you have (at least) 24 hours of dry weather to allow the biodegradable dye to dry.

This picture of the northeast planting bed shows an azalea in the center of the picture. The thicker green stalks surrounding it are Lilies of The Valley, which I got some starts for from a neighbor lady (now deceased) They have begun to spread and naturalize the area, from just a dozen or so planted right around the azalea:

The clumps of thinner stalks are either chives or wild onions - which we seem to have growing everywhere. They are kind of mixed blessing - I consider them unsightly ... but the deer (supposedly) hate the smell and avoid areas that have them.

After finishing up with the blueberry planting and maintenance, I hit the front lawn again in an effort to keep all the dandelions from going to seed until I can manage to spray them. Got it about half done.

Rightside mostly mowed, leftside not:

Final picture - the tulips and daffodils on the south end of the planting bed behind the house are fully in bloom, while the ones on the north end have begun to fade:

Didn't figure on that there would be that much of a difference in soil temps from one end of the bed to the other.

Hope everyone had a great day ...

 

[txdon]

About how old are most of the batteries that showed up on my doorstep? Your grass looks lush. Did you say to pick potatoes, 100 days after blooming?

One 5Ah battery is the original the other 2 years old but defective from Amazon. The other two 2.5 Ah are about 3 and 4 or years old. The manufacture date might be on the battery.

Pick red potatoes 100 days after planting, not blooming.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 63ºF for the start, partly sunny, light breeze, .8 inch in rain gauge. Wind light to brisk and gusty at time, sky variable cloudiness, and high temp was 82ºF, DP 67ºF. bike ride this morning wind was bad, then lunch then mow backyard. no nap today. Rain in forecast tonight about .5 inch. No progress on Katy trip.
Don great place to take a walk. Nice pics. what kind of duck is that?
RS Sounds like a lot done inspite of rain shower. I use the fire starter chimney on charcoal 15 minutes from match to ready. Nice pics
Randy(wag) thanks for the update.
Drew nice rain amount. enjoy your day off .
Bill hope the welders work
Mike good to hear from you Sorry about continued insurance woes. Good luck with man lift. Nice pic
Bird you got some rain! storms woke us up at 1:45am
Billy let me know how you do it, if it works
Ken sorry about the mishap with the leaner. Glad car wash was busy. hope the ice helps
Chris glad lawn looks good. Sorry about wife unhappy.
Paul busy day yesterday, hope the thermostat not broke Kroil migh free up the shaft over night, hope you hit it again. Hope shot works, and you get your dishwasher.
Phil nice setup and pics.
Roy glad you can work from home for a few days. Good to hear garage has been cleaned out some. Good luck with new cart assembly
Drew cool stool
PJ glad you missed out on the bad weather. Sounds like you have a we spot Dinner sounded delicious.
RNG glad van camping went well, still hoping you can track down all the issues. Glad you got Starlink up and running. Nice speed and pics
Dennis good to hear wife doing better.
Randy hope you get more rain. Really sorry about losing apple tree, it was not very old.
Ted sorry about the lack of rain, first 3 - 3 1/2 months were dry here, now getting more rain.
David congrats on another horizontal find !
RS weather has warmed up some. Hope the planting went well. Good luck with accountant.
Don that is impressive battery performance. Sorry about composter issue.
Thomas sorry about disappointing day.
Drew sorry about the mess but good find on the seeds.
Ted got a chuckle from the last line.
Kyle thanks for update on your mom. Putting a tube in cart tire may work better than slime.
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle's daughter/friend PT from Covid, Bird/aging issues/, Don /mom's pipeline process, Randy/FIL living alone adjustments /MIL Covid /son's FIL death /new(2) cancer surgeries /cataract surgery, Roy /palpitations, /angina , Billy /wife fall, David(moss) /remodel /divorce, Buppies /3 new skin cancer spots and treatment, /wife head wound healing, Thomas/gout, Phil /reflux, /wife's eyes, Steppenwolfe/son-auto immune disorder, Grev/wife's eye, Ted/knee recovery/retirement, / passing out issues, /family issues, Doug and wife/health issues, /nerve and pain, / wife's heart /rib and back and torn bicep, Ken/aunt fall injuries, David(sadamo)/Sophie's new eye surgery recovery, Chris/neighbor's granddaughter and Covid issues, Scaredy/shoulder dislocation, Paul/ wife's disc issues, Gale and KY/ tornado victims, Mike /5 year plan, Dennis/ brother "alligallyitus" and improving, James /wife's fall and recovery, Drew /friend cancer diagnosis and recovery, Helogabals /wife's friend situation, Ukraine war, and Country.
stay safe and healthy you all.

 

[Wagtail]

Good early arvo. Hard to think that it's late Autumn when the overnight temp was 13.1C... currently 21.5C, partly cloudy with a bit of wind.

Just got back from the Community Garden job. Seeing as my 'standard rate' (bottles of Pinot Noir) couldn't be justified on the Community Garden's financial books, I settled for a A$100 gift card from our local hardware shop. Normally I'd just let it slide but 'they' insisted.

Looking forward to a 'rain event' of up to 15mm+ this Thursday/Friday to help fill my house tank from last weeks pump issue. I'm doing OK for water as it's just me here... shudder to think what would happen if there was a female and/or teenagers living here.

Take care all.

 

[sodamo]

Mostly
Lei Day is Aloha with lots of beautiful flowers, Hula, etc

Lei Day - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[sodamo]

Have to agree, something special about having built your place yourself. Don’t think I have another one in me, so I aim to enjoy this one. Sophie does hint that we should retire one of these days.

 

[rswyan]

RS, nice seat. I need something like that.

Thanks.

I'm liking it well enough so far, suspect I will like it even more ... once I start using it on smoother ground.

Menard's has it on sale until 5/8 (if there's a trip west to Dad's in your future during the 14 day pickup window time frame) ... with the rebate ends up being $20 off the regular price.

Harbor Freight has a similar one for less money - but without the steerable front axle (as does Agri-Supply and Rural King)

I look at all those flower beds and think of the weeding that goes with it.

Yup - there is definitely some of that involved ... even with the mulching.

Woman says I convinced her on the mulching, after we did that northeast planting bed.

The only downsides are 1. it doesn't last forever and has to be replenished and 2. there is still some labor involved.

I guess going with stone would handle no. 1 ... but I'm not quite to that point yet, wood mulch still has some appeal.

My wife takes care of all of her flower beds and it’s non stop weeding. She does a lot of the gardening weeding also. Last year I bought a couple plastic seats my wife saw someone have, mine broke about the 2nd use, hers broke soon after.

Used to have a little plastic single step stool - like this:

... that I used until it broke. Really liked it.

After that it was plastic buckets - the shorter ones the Liquid Nails adhesive for FRP comes in. Maybe 3 1/2 gallon. Broke one of those either this year or last.

The idea of something that rolled (with me on it) was appealing. Steerable sealed the deal.

We'll see how it works out in practice ...

One thing I have noticed is that the steering handle could be a little longer for more leverage. Might be mod time. Already know I want to rig up a tow rope with handle for it.

Hope your wife is feeling/doing better ...

 

[Helogabals]

Good morning !

Today should be sunny day, up to 11 C. Nice.


Yesterday was much warmer, up to 16 C
So it was time to make grass nice again. First time this year.

Normally robot mower is in charge for this business. But season's first mowe I do with neighbor's rider. Just to be sure there grass is clean and robot will do the job

Now since I have new Yana, no need to bother neighbor.
So attached belly mower and made "maiden voyage".
Obviously my little backyard is much too small. Or lets say opposite - Yana can easily do much bigger places.
150 cm wide / ~ 10 km/h / 25 Hp. Nice ride on those big fat tires
Really fast and clean

Have nice day !

 

[rswyan]

RS... here is a pic of the marigold seeds we have collected.
View attachment 744361
This gallon bag is about half of what we collected last year. The bag weighs more than the seeds!

Yikes - that's a lot of seeds.

The cinder blocks bordering the bed are planted with marigolds,

Funny ... when I saw the last pictures of your beds I thought "That would be a great place for marigolds"

haven't seen any popping up yet.

4 to 14 days for germination from what I understand. I'll report when I see any action here.

Have seen just laying the seeds on top of the soil and then covering with a thin layer of vermiculite suggested. Not sure the would work too well with windy condition however.

BTW - Spreading 70 bags of mulch (in a day ? ) ... impressive ...

 

[RoyJackson]

2022-05-03, 0448

46° right now...high in the low 60's today

Busy day yesterday between work (my "real" job) and some work around the house. Stepdaughter is going to have to help me move the box with the tow-behind card...must weigh 200 lbs.! All I need is to move it far enough to get the pallet forks under it...about 3 feet.
Between my bad back and definitely reduced strength...well, I'm really feeling my age.
Up early for work, but after yesterday, I think I'll be working from home...