Good morning!!!!

[sodamo]

For some reason, the prospect of getting a new computer and the work to get it configured just doesn't hold the allure or excitement of 20 years ago. I must be getting old

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[300UGUY]

Poured first cup of coffee. 65ｰ with mostly clear skies this morning. Heading to 83ｰ with plenty of sun. Off to a day at the clinic for wife's checkup.
txdon, nice crop of clover.
Irv, looks like weather is starting to improve around you. Tomorrow I can start planning our return trip.
Good Morning All.

I wouldn't rush it. We could still get some cold weather. April 20th, 2013, I still had ice under some pine branches in my yard. So it ain't over till it's over....

 

[dave1949]

Good Afternoon!

I slept past morning roll call today.

37F & cloudy. Probably won't get much warmer. 1-3 inches of snow this evening with temps right around freezing. We can't buy some spring weather here.

Nice looking crimson clover Don. Is that Whipper living out Tommy James & The Shondells dream?

Ya, a new computer sounds more like a chore than fun. I guess I'm over the techno hill too.

When I took commuter flights from Portland to NY I could see a slick of White Pine yellow pollen just off shore in the ocean along southern Maine. It's amazing how much pollen it must take to make that easily visible from the air.

Firehouse chores tonight. Have a good one.

 

[Depmandog]

Yea, I haven't quite figured that part out yet, but at least it is knee high. I need some sort of handled collector. I'm thinking of something like this but with a smaller rake part on the edge of the hoop. Amazon.com : {Factory Direct Sale} Convenient Labor Saving Practical Horticultural Useful Fruit Picker Gardening Apple Pear Peach Picking Tools New High Quality : Patio, Lawn & Garden

I think the traditional method is to pinch the stem below the dried flower and pull up, collecting the seeds in your closed hand. This separates the stem, seed and petals. You could use that device to drop the seeds in... But I don't think it's going to be much help in removing the stems from the seeds. I guess a person could snip the flower into that device, then hand grind with your fingers to separate.

Perhaps a curry comb to strip the seeds?

 

[Larro Darro]

I think the traditional method is to pinch the stem below the dried flower and pull up, collecting the seeds in your closed hand. This separates the stem, seed and petals. You could use that device to drop the seeds in... But I don't think it's going to be much help in removing the stems from the seeds. I guess a person could snip the flower into that device, then hand grind with your fingers to separate.

Perhaps a curry comb to strip the seeds?

We used to collect grass seed with a device we built using a sheet of tin. It was bent in such a way as to hold the seeds it cut. We bolted it on to the front of the tractor and would drive through the pastures really fast. You can get the edge pretty sharp with a file, but then grass stems are not as tough as red clover.

 

[daugen]

my day did not go as planned but so be it.
could not get the new LP finishing mower to hook up to the Quick Hitch. And it was on it before...
Over and over and over I tried.
I spent more than an hour on it and finally took the quick hitch off and the "quick hitch compatible" mower went on
just fine. Until the very last step. I could not, after more than 20 attempts, get the pto shaft collar on. I raised the mower, I lowered the mower, I moved it side to side, I turned the pto on four times to revolve the shaft, and finally covered in grease, I gave up. Carpenters are coming in tomorrow to finally put the rear sliding door on the barn and one of them has a tractor. I'll ask him to do it and it will probably slide on slicker than goose poop. Seriously aggravating but I've lost a lot of strength in my right hand and that is part of the problem.

So then I took the tractor up to the garage and gave it a good bath. And when the faded orangey Kubota paint looked rather poor, out came the cleaner wax and three coats of that later the paint looked much better. That oem Kubota paint really does oxidize, but at least it is all one color now. The hood and loader arms were the worst. I'm just not fanatical enough to get a ladder out and wax the roof...

checked on that fruit tree bloom. The one in the picture was not a gala apple but rather a Centurion crabapple. I planted two crabapple trees among the apple trees, which are supposed to act as super pollinators. And the flowers sure look pretty doing it... What I thought was a gala was in fact an Anna, a green apple, with white blooms after pink/red/white flowers.

at around 6pm last night, Easter, I hear a banging on my back door and my neighbor is there. Not the fireman neighbor but the seriously crocked farmer with the run down farm next to mine. The man is drunk most of the time, and he came over with a well worn Dixie cup into which he was extolling the virtues of a half gallon of cheap blended whiskey he got for under 20 bucks. Yummy.
He had gotten his John Deere tractor going, a very unloved poor thing, no hood, diesel, about 45hp, and with my telephoto, I scored a shot of him jump starting it with another ancient tractor. Real tobacco road stuff; hey, he raised tobacco plants so the saying fits. Most of his greenhouses were knocked down in the hurricane of about 7 years ago, and there is still junk strewn all over his farm. This guy is one of the reasons I am planting so many property line sight barrier trees. I don't want to look at his junky back yard, truly the rear end of his farm.

The man is living on 700 a month SS, and apparently is broke, likely consumed one half gallon at a time.
He then mentioned he'd like to sell me an acre of land next to mine. Not more, but an acre would be nice and no he didn't know what it was worth. I think he is broke and desperate. I don't want to take advantage of him, but I sure will buy an acre of land from him if it's reasonable. It's a farm field, not sure what to do with it. I'll go over and see him around lunchtime in a few days; that apparently is his golden sober hour and I'll see if he's still serious.

 

[dave1949]

Drew, welcome to rural America. That bottle story is oft repeated.

The trees look very healthy and off to a good start. You must have planted them well. I think I have push ring, pull ring, and a button type pto shafts. Some days they fight back.

 

[300UGUY]

my day did not go as planned but so be it.
could not get the new LP finishing mower to hook up to the Quick Hitch. And it was on it before...
Over and over and over I tried.
I spent more than an hour on it and finally took the quick hitch off and the "quick hitch compatible" mower went on
just fine. Until the very last step. I could not, after more than 20 attempts, get the pto shaft collar on. I raised the mower, I lowered the mower, I moved it side to side, I turned the pto on four times to revolve the shaft, and finally covered in grease, I gave up. Carpenters are coming in tomorrow to finally put the rear sliding door on the barn and one of them has a tractor. I'll ask him to do it and it will probably slide on slicker than goose poop. Seriously aggravating but I've lost a lot of strength in my right hand and that is part of the problem.

So then I took the tractor up to the garage and gave it a good bath. And when the faded orangey Kubota paint looked rather poor, out came the cleaner wax and three coats of that later the paint looked much better. That oem Kubota paint really does oxidize, but at least it is all one color now. The hood and loader arms were the worst. I'm just not fanatical enough to get a ladder out and wax the roof...

checked on that fruit tree bloom. The one in the picture was not a gala apple but rather a Centurion crabapple. I planted two crabapple trees among the apple trees, which are supposed to act as super pollinators. And the flowers sure look pretty doing it... What I thought was a gala was in fact an Anna, a green apple, with white blooms after pink/red/white flowers.

at around 6pm last night, Easter, I hear a banging on my back door and my neighbor is there. Not the fireman neighbor but the seriously crocked farmer with the run down farm next to mine. The man is drunk most of the time, and he came over with a well worn Dixie cup into which he was extolling the virtues of a half gallon of cheap blended whiskey he got for under 20 bucks. Yummy.
He had gotten his John Deere tractor going, a very unloved poor thing, no hood, diesel, about 45hp, and with my telephoto, I scored a shot of him jump starting it with another ancient tractor. Real tobacco road stuff; hey, he raised tobacco plants so the saying fits. Most of his greenhouses were knocked down in the hurricane of about 7 years ago, and there is still junk strewn all over his farm. This guy is one of the reasons I am planting so many property line sight barrier trees. I don't want to look at his junky back yard, truly the rear end of his farm.

The man is living on 700 a month SS, and apparently is broke, likely consumed one half gallon at a time.
He then mentioned he'd like to sell me an acre of land next to mine. Not more, but an acre would be nice and no he didn't know what it was worth. I think he is broke and desperate. I don't want to take advantage of him, but I sure will buy an acre of land from him if it's reasonable. It's a farm field, not sure what to do with it. I'll go over and see him around lunchtime in a few days; that apparently is his golden sober hour and I'll see if he's still serious.

tomorrow.

I'd go visit him tomorrow, before anybody else does. He might sell it to a relative that makes him look like a Mormon yuppie....

 

[Larro Darro]

tomorrow.

I'd go visit him tomorrow, before anybody else does. He might sell it to a relative that makes him look like a Mormon yuppie....

Very good advice. I missed out on 13 acres of land that had belonged to a great uncle by waiting a day too long. Now we have a family who raises deer hounds nearby. I can't see them, but I sure can hear them.

Larro

 

[wngsprd]

Yea, I haven't quite figured that part out yet, but at least it is knee high. I need some sort of handled collector.

I'm thinking of something like this but with a smaller rake part on the edge of the hoop.
Amazon.com : {Factory Direct Sale} Convenient Labor Saving Practical Horticultural Useful Fruit Picker Gardening Apple Pear Peach Picking Tools New High Quality : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Beautiful clover, Don. I grow crimson clover every year, but mine is just greening up with no blossoms yet. I believe I posted a picture of one field in the Food Plot sub forum a while back.

Some years I just bush hog the seeds back on top and they sprout and grow new plants.

As far as harvesting some seed, I decided to do that last June. Here's what I did: once the seeds were ready, and I was going to bush hog the field anyway, I ran the bucket of my FEL just a few inches off the ground turned up slightly as I bush hogged. Filled up my 6 foot bucket pretty quickly a couple of times, and transferred the seeds to old galvanized trash cans to store.

I then scattered them into another field in September, and they are growing great. The big problem was scattering the seeds...unlike the seeds I bought, my harvested seeds each had a cottony fluff around each seed, which makes them stick together some. I guess some sort of cotton gin device could be used to clean them.

Good luck with yours.