Good morning!!!!

[lostcreekranch]

Good morning. It was 50° this morning, now 56° and going to 70° this afternoon.

Some rain chances today but will likely go north of the ranch. Maybe Kyle and Don will catch a shower or two. The Weather Channel is predicting 93° for next Thursday with several days in the high 80's. Groan ...

I took the Polaris Ranger to dealer yesterday for it first 100 hour service. They surprised me with a free, Polaris furnished, "wireless" control module and FOB for the winch. Even free installation to boot.

Today's plan is more yaupon and cedar removal. We still have a lifetime supply of both. I've got two new big piles of yaupon, tree limbs, cedar to burn but ..winds are too high and it's a bit dry to do so.

The middle tree lost its top in a wind storm and has many volunteer shoot at the top so .. it will eventually come down with all the yaupon.

I'm ready to spray fence lines and around two ponds but windy condition are holding that up too.

Everyone have a safe and peaceful Easter weekend.

Prayers to all.

 

[bmaverick]

Stateline is 50F in the sun and no wind. Take a step into the wind and it's in the low 40s. Plan to disc harrow the 5 garden plots. Run the Cub Cadet rear tiller machine on 2 gardens. Could take all afternoon. They are huge. And the DW and kids will be planting onions, carrots, spinach, and other things.

The other 3 gardens just turning the compost over and over till it blends in nicely. The long one will be only for potatoes. I need something on the YM2610 to make the trench and hills. Last year by hand was crazy. Heavy Hitch has a really nice product. I already have a SQ bar on the 3PT. So, just adding the other items would work.

Need more sun. Rains are coming too. Getting the compost turned prior really helps with the rains adding in the moisture and the nitrogen.

 

[rswyan]

43F and partly cloudy @ 11:15, headed up to high of 57F for the day.

Pileated drumming somewhere not all that far away, orange cat deeply purring on pull-out shelf next to me.

Got canister filter put back together yesterday with the new o-ring and put back on the upstairs tank ... thankfully no leaks ...

More paperwork sorting/filing, some kitchen cleanup, along with the rest of the usual stuff.

Was pretty chilly and windy yesterday so trip to Menards didn't happen ... probably do that later today. And stop by the local butcher shop for provisions.

Looks like at least one, possibly two, of the S. fryeri are holding eggs in their mouths after spawning in the last day or so. Will need to investigate that further.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe Easter weekend ...

 

[bmaverick]

Lots of Green and Red going by the farm house today! Deere's and Massey's. Love seeing that this time of year. 2019 was bad due to all the rains and flooding. 2020 was bad due to the C19 ordeal.

BTW, our state went maskless now. It's optional. The old normal is coming back. Made no sense to have mask, touch items in a store or pass items in a store within 2ft of each other. Germs more often get transmitted by touching, yet store employees since last Fall of 2020 no longer wipes down shopping carts or items on the shelves anymore. The plexi-panels in the sit down restaurants are gone too. Only see them now at the checkouts.

Looked at how the 1968-69 mask wearing went during that era for about the same thing. Bryan Adams song of, The Summer of 69, was to tell a story of how life finally got back to normal and people could move on with living once again. We are almost there. The paranoia has worn off in my region in the cities. There wasn't any in the rural areas.

 

[Rich B1]

Good morning! Was 19 when I woke up about 4:30, 43 now, supposed to get to 55.

Seems our Maine Coon cat decided he was hungry about 4 AM and started howling. Wife got up and fed the cats, I couldn’t go back to sleep. So been out of bed since 4:30. Hopefully this isn’t the start of new bad behavior from the big cat.

Finally got the coil for the chainsaw, gonna install that today, then decide what else I am gonna get into. There will be something I am sure.

Gonna make my first business trip since last November this coming week. Got a customer who was told by their engine dealer the engine is perfect, but it is a well known problem that our hydraulic pumps cause their perfect engine to lug excessively. The customer wanted us to support the change to a bigger engine. Funny how selling a bigger engine would magically fix it. As long as my company would support the change. No, and h£ll no were used several times in the conversation. Some colorful description of the engine dealer’s technical competence was involved too. So sales guy and I are going in to the customer’s site with our dealer sales and service and have a sit down with them before they get bent over by an incompetent engine dealer service department.

Everyone stay safe out there

 

[rswyan]

bmav,

Good to see you folks up in the Badger State are making good progress on getting the folks vaccinated ...

Hopefully this latest spike is just a little blip on the radar screen.

As COVID-19 cases rise, health officials recommend Wisconsin residents take caution with spring and summer gatherings

 

[daugen]

S. fryeri are holding eggs in their mouths after spawning in the last day or so.

RS, are they protecting them or eating them?

it's a fish eat fish world out there...

 

[sodamo]

63°F and 1.32 inches rain

Pretty good day yesterday. Mowing caught up for now. No pigs, they must have had enough excitement. Wild pigs are a nuisance here in spite of being actively hunted. Best we can do is fencing. We have about 6 acre area we try to keep the pigs out and the dogs in. On each side of that are several habitats permanently inhabited and produce new litters continuously. I fantasize fencing them off but know it won’t happen as long as they remain outside my inner fence. I think they like results of my mowing.

Also got a PO run and dump run. Ran into another vaccinated friend who said she and her Mom are anxious to have a small dinner get together.

Visited cottage tenants’ new house for an update. Plumber just finished rough in, electrician about to start. They are hoping another 4-5 months until move in. Still experiencing material delays like missing doors and windows. Workers at another site yesterday placing trusses. We visited there for John to get a drone shot.

Visited another friend ( who bought my DX35) just a bit further away to see their progress and wish Terri Happy Birthday.

Sure is nice to visit vaccinated friends

Our county has opened to vaccinating all 16+. POD scheduled in town today planning on 5k shots.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[sodamo]

Isn’t it great to get to hug your family again? I missed that.

Friends too, that seems to be the immediate comment after

 

[rswyan]

S. fryeri are holding eggs in their mouths after spawning in the last day or so.

RS, are they protecting them or eating them?

They're (harem) mouthbrooders - they pick up the eggs after they have been fertilized with milt from the male and hold them until they've hatched and usually for some time after that (total of 21 to 28 days) - the fry are free-swimming when they leave for good, free-swimming usually some time before that.

Sometimes, after they are free-swimming, they will leave and return to the mother's mouth for protection ... until she spits them for good.

it's a fish eat fish world out there...

Yup - and sometimes the eggs/fry do get eaten by the mother (3 weeks is a long time to go without a meal ... )

Since this species is a piscivore (fish eater) I will probably "strip" any females of eggs that they are still holding after 5 days or so and place the eggs in an egg-tumbler for them to hatch.

That involves netting the fish and placing it in small container, then grasping it with your one hand and prying the fish's mouth open and dumping the eggs out as shown in the video below: