Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #132,322  
Good Morning!!!! 63F @ 5:15AM. A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 90F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

I've had good luck baiting yellow jackets with cat food laced with a few drops of Fipronil, Ken. Maybe your wasps would go for it, too. A few years ago I found a large nest of them under the protective cap of the propane tank. That was exciting, too.

Speaking of exciting, six feet of black snake in the face would also be exciting, Billy. Not sure how patient I'd be with an uninvited visitor like that.

And speaking of uninvited visitors, as the temperatures have risen, the deer have been moving into shady spots right next to the house. When I open a door or come around the corner, I get surprised with a hundred pounds of deer exploding away at arm's length. And last night I spotted a doe and her fawn laying under the solar panel array. Time to break out the deer repellent, and order a solar powered electric fence for the array. Drew, were you happy with the one you bought, and if so, what brand was it?

Bruce, the Atlas gloves do work with the iPhone touch screen. And I can also type fairly well while wearing them, too. I guess that makes them computer friendly...

The pole saw still wasn't running very well yesterday, then quit all together when I tried to use it. It got a ride to the Stihl dealer, and will be sold off after it gets picked up, just like the finicky 271 chainsaw. I think the problem is that both tools sit most of the year, then when spring comes around they have a hard time waking up. Even running them until they're empty and using E0 fuel, they still get crapped up. That's where a battery powered tool really shines, and that's what I'm shopping for now. Makita sure seems to have very good price controls, though. Some sources even try to sell at above retail. :oops:

After wasting an hour on the saw, I spent the rest of the morning going after what's left of the downed wood. Got most of the small stuff bucked with the Makita chainsaw, and will finish the rest of it with the larger Stihl this afternoon. This morning I'm going to start mowing. I've got some work to do on the mower first, a little love with the grease gun, then install the hydraulic lines on it, and swap out the Category 1 draw pins for Cat 2 versions. Then the best part is wrestling with the PTO coupler. IIRC, it's one of the push button types, with a really strong spring. And it probably needs a good dose of penetrating oil after sitting in the weather all year.

TGIF, gang!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,323  
48 watts at 12v is actually 4 amps, but 16 gauge is more than adequate for that. However, wire gauge should be determined by the size of the fuse or circuit breaker, as well as the load applied.
The reasoning is that if you have a short, you want the circuit protection to open rather than start a fire. So I would suggest using the same size wire as the existing, or add a 10 amp inline fuse where you connect the 16 to the 14.
That's a good idea...be easy to implement as well
Thank you!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,324  
I share your lack of passion for Canada geese, Eric. They stay all year here, and never seem to shut up. They honk while they're paddling around on the lake, they honk when they fly over the house at just above roof level, and they honk all night long. I'm not sure if there's a goose season here, but there should be if there's not.

As far as the rat goes, do you have a Have-a-heart trap? I'd loan you mine, but a neighbor borrowed it and can't seem to find the time to bring it back. I'd be using it right now to catch the cat that's been leaving prints on the truck and tractor.

2021-04-30Sunrise.jpg


Pretty sunrise this morning...
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,325  
Good morning all. 45 this morning, and then going downhill from there. Mid 20s tonight - below freezing again! It’s a good thing we didn’t fire up the waterlines yet on the rental property.

We do get aggressive wasps there, and I have been stung a couple of times. If I find their holes, either in the ground, or in the siding of the cottage, I squirted a bunch of wasp spray and that takes care of them. And yes, they are incredibly fast. One time I spotted one right at the tip of the roof of the cottage, and it must’ve been 20 or 30 feet away, and it launched itself towards me and stung me on the hand, but I saw it launch itself and by the time I took my right hand and slept over it on top of my left hand to squish it, had already stung me! And we are prolly talking a half a second here.

Too much rain to do anything outside, and anyway I have to finalize my taxes by midnight tonight, or face a 5% penalty on anything that we owe.

It turns out that their daughters boyfriend is quite the cook, and he salted up and prepared a leg of lamb last night for us to cook tonight, under his guidance. He did a real good job roasting a pork roast over an open fire, so I am looking forward to see how the lamb tastes!

Meanwhile, the two of them boiled down about 80 L of maple sap (about 4 gallons), right down to where it is now maple syrup. First time we have ever done this, so we’re quite pleased! It tastes really, really good, but it’s not very thick. In fact, the boyfriend used some of it on the pork roast the other night, after he put it inside of a cast-iron roaster after it was on the open fire for a while. It was just excellent!

The whole province of Ontario is in lockdown until May 20, when our first renters come. I sure hope it doesn’t get extended, because we will have to start canceling reservations!

Have a good day everyone.
 
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   / Good morning!!!! #132,326  
Anyone care to take a guess on when there is likely to be the splish splash of tiny feet ?
May 24th.

Good morning! 64˚F misting cloudy. .07" rain so far today after a slow 1/2" yesterday.

Started my pantry garden in a jar today - broccoli sprouts.

They "help protect skin cells from sun damage", and we have plenty sun here in SunCity.

Buppies are you paying attention?
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,327  
50°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 77° today.

Wife made a big pot of chili for dinner yesterday. It was delicious, as usual. Looking forward to having more for lunch today.

We had a problem last year with bald faced hornets too, Ken. It seems they suddenly developed a taste for rotting peaches, and were swarming the ground under our trees. One of our dogs got stung, and her nose swelled up big time. I cut down that one tree in the back yard late last year, as well as another that wasn't doing so well anyway. We're now down to just one peach tree outside of the fenced in yard. Hopefully, we won't see a return of those pesky things this year. They were incredibly aggressive.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,328  
Popgadget, thanks for correcting my error. Context....context.

Wind is howling out, guys on roof bringing in new service, sounds like whole house is getting a root canal as they redo the meters outside. Going from two meters to one, and sounds like some carpentry going on. Good thing the painter comes next week.

working on laptop, then going back to my book.
Pollen count off the charts
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,329  
broccoli really is a wonder food..
We should all eat more of it.
At least once a week I buy a pound of chopped broccoli salad from deli,
easy way to get my vegetables. I use different salad dressings on it to mix it up.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,330  
RNG, thanks for the reco on the gloves. My wife has been using synthetic ones and swears by them, so just bought me a 10-pack of Wells Lamont polyester/rubber ones at Costco. I like them, great gardening and light duty, but my hands, which aren't normally sweaty, do heat up in them. They have antimicrobial foam latex. But, I like goat or cowhide when handling thorns or rough wood. Sorry you have had problems with your Stihl. I've never had anything but good performance. I checked out their battery pole saw yesterday while at the store...sweet and well balanced, but over $700, so gently put it back down.

The blacksnake is actually a welcome co-inhabitant of our place. I've temporarily left the door to the shed open for it, as well as the door under the house when I discovered it there (long enough for it to leave). Other than an occasional scare, it has only been a pest when it tried to steal the wren eggs out of the nest. There are two that roam around. They keep bad snakes away, and hopefully eat rodents. Good luck with your deer. Hunting pressure keeps them skittish in our area.

Eric, Canada geese are pretty cool to watch. We have migrating ones in our area, as well as those called resident geese, which can be a pain since they are so messy...used to be a very large hunting season on resident ones when they overpopulated, and the city of Richmond even began a practice of oiling their eggs to control them when they took over the James River whitewater rocks area. I used to be pretty decent at calling them, but my son got so good, I just left my calls at home. They are still a problem in some places along golf courses and around lakes. People pay for goose chasers (using trained dogs like border collies) to chase them away. They take about 4 weeks here to incubate, so you'll see puffballs floating on your pond by the end of May. I'll pick May 23.

Well, time to get back outside and see if I blow away.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,331  
RNG, thanks for the reco on the gloves. My wife has been using synthetic ones and swears by them, so just bought me a 10-pack of Wells Lamont polyester/rubber ones at Costco. I like them, great gardening and light duty, but my hands, which aren't normally sweaty, do heat up in them. They have antimicrobial foam latex. But, I like goat or cowhide when handling thorns or rough wood. Sorry you have had problems with your Stihl. I've never had anything but good performance. I checked out their battery pole saw yesterday while at the store...sweet and well balanced, but over $700, so gently put it back down.

The blacksnake is actually a welcome co-inhabitant of our place. I've temporarily left the door to the shed open for it, as well as the door under the house when I discovered it there (long enough for it to leave). Other than an occasional scare, it has only been a pest when it tried to steal the wren eggs out of the nest. There are two that roam around. They keep bad snakes away, and hopefully eat rodents. Good luck with your deer. Hunting pressure keeps them skittish in our area.

Eric, Canada geese are pretty cool to watch. We have migrating ones in our area, as well as those called resident geese, which can be a pain since they are so messy...used to be a very large hunting season on resident ones when they overpopulated, and the city of Richmond even began a practice of oiling their eggs to control them when they took over the James River whitewater rocks area. I used to be pretty decent at calling them, but my son got so good, I just left my calls at home. They are still a problem in some places along golf courses and around lakes. People pay for goose chasers (using trained dogs like border collies) to chase them away. They take about 4 weeks here to incubate, so you'll see puffballs floating on your pond by the end of May. I'll pick May 23.

Well, time to get back outside and see if I blow away.
No snakes allowed here, they eat chicken eggs.

Was glad to hear Coco is getting back to "her" normal. Hope things get better.

I need to mow today, still waiting on mower roller bearings for The Beast. I guess I will break out some other equipment if the fields are not too soft. We just got a decent shower for about 5 minutes.

Yucky story. So you remember me saying we still had cracks in the yard leftover from last year's drought? After the 3" rain we got last week, I was walking across the backyard and I saw what looked like a cherry colored bubble on the ground. It was a toad that had not got out of the crack in time as the clay swelled from the rain. Apparently, it had croaked before he had a chance to give his last proper croak. I saw another near him, and he was stuck. I got out my small shovel and freed him. Free the toads! The cat will probably do him in too. Mean cat.

Daughter and wifey will start Prom preparations tonight, doing toenail and fingernail painting....and practicing on the makeup.....again.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,332  
broccoli really is a wonder food..
We should all eat more of it.
At least once a week I buy a pound of chopped broccoli salad from deli,
easy way to get my vegetables. I use different salad dressings on it to mix it up.
i didn't know anything about it being a wonder food, but my wife and I both like it; cooked or raw. I like to buy the big bags at Sam's Club of broccoli, cauliflower, and little carrots together.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,333  
Kyle_in_Tex said, "No snakes allowed here, they eat chicken eggs."

I'm sure I'll never forget gathering the eggs one day and almost putting my hand in a nest before I noticed that big black snake in there. Needless to say, I always looked before reaching from then on.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,334  
broccoli really is a wonder food..
We should all eat more of it.
At least once a week I buy a pound of chopped broccoli salad from deli,
easy way to get my vegetables. I use different salad dressings on it to mix it up.

We eat lots of broccoli.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,335  
It was a toad that had not got out of the crack in time as the clay swelled from the rain. Apparently, it had croaked before he had a chance to give his last proper croak. I saw another near him, and he was stuck. I got out my small shovel and freed him. Free the toads!
Found a toad on the driveway yesterday morning. It was a long way from anything green, and since I had gloves on already, I picked it up and carried it over to where the weed patch starts. It didn't squirm or try to get away while it was in my hand; I think it liked the warmth. Dove into the weeds and disappeared when I let it go. So my toad karma got a boost, as I'm sure yours did as well, Kyle.

Oh, and the Atlas gloves are toad pee proof, too... 🤭
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,336  
67°F and .01 inches rain.

Off to Hilo town for weekly errands.

Guys won last night, but could have gone the other way.

The grilled chicken was excellent.

Mostly, the screws are self tapping and work well if you can get sufficient pressure. Predrilling avoids splitting the wood especially near the ends.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,337  
67°F and .01 inches rain.

Off to Hilo town for weekly errands.

Guys won last night, but could have gone the other way.

The grilled chicken was excellent.

Mostly, the screws are self tapping and work well if you can get sufficient pressure. Predrilling avoids splitting the wood especially near the ends.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day
So does that even the score between the guys and gals???
 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,338  
We eat lots of broccoli.
But do you eat broccoli sprouts.
I'm looking for the sulforaphane and with broccoli sprouts can have 20-40 times more sulforaphane than mature broccoli. That makes it the clear winner in getting sulforaphane into your body.

Sulforaphane

 
   / Good morning!!!! #132,339  
71 with a few gusts over 30. Mostly sunny.

We eat a lot of broccoli and Brussels sprouts, as well as the usual veggies.

We also have both resident and migrant geese, only time I really see them is spring and fall or if the land in the field across the road or if I have to wait for them to cross a street. Had a pair with four little ones cross in front of us yesterday , love to watch the little ones hop up on the curb.

We have several varieties of bees, wasps/hornets here, some more aggressive than others, but I’ve never really been able to establish a bond with any of them.

Stepp, I’ve been thinking about your family, wish there was more I could do.
 

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