Good morning!!!!

[Buppies]

Roy I am a pack rack too every time I get rid of something I need it the following week.

Glad you are feeling better

 

[Thomas]

Never consider myself packrat just a collector future antiques.

 

[wngsprd]

54, going to 74 and rain likely this evening...none here yesterday, Buppies. Sorry your bear is back.

Mostly, I didn't ask them when they'd finish, but likely another 3 to 4 months.

Kyle, I didn't know about photinia leaves...thanks for the heads up. Nice looking tomatoes. Always loved hiking and mountains...when I was on that cliff Thursday, I thought, this is what retirement means...and then wondered if I had a cabin there, could I be happy living there forever? Probably would get old with no electricity or running water, knowing how 5 days after the ice storm felt.

Pink lady slippers are blooming in the woods now, and the wild azalea still strong. Went back there yesterday on the tractor and found a dead tree over the path...I had the chainsaw with me and had just put the grapple back on, so made clean up fast. I was back there to pick up some heavy 8 ft logs I had cut in the winter...from a couple of dead trees-cedar and pine...used them to rebuild my target backstop...a simple set-up of 3 sides on the side of the slope, backfilled with sand from the creek. Ken, also found a dead leaner, but didn't have my chains and tow straps, so left it for next time. I don't envy your clean up, although I do envy your firewood supply.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning.
It’s already 50 with a high of 65 as the clear skies turn to rain later this afternoon.

Yesterday’s fountain maintenance went well, would have been easier to do it before we put it in in the first place though.
Puttered around after that then met a friend for lunch and an aerial tour of the countryside. We saw smoke in the distance, so went to see what it was, turned out to be an old closed sawmill’s wood yard. We got there before the fire engines, by the time it was under control they lost a few buildings as well.

After I got home, helped the wife with the alpaca chores, and it was so nice that we took a walk and sat on the bench at the pond and just watched and listened to the fountain and wildlife. After we walked back to the house, it was decided that unloading her SUV with her farmers market wares would be todays chore.

Son wants me to come down with the grapple this morning and move some fallen trees and help cut them up. After that and unloading from the farmers market, I’ve got no other plans.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 67˚F, cloudy heading to the mid 80s with a 20% chance of rain this afternoon.

Worked on the new trail yesterday removing pokies and tripsies (little cedar stumps on the path). It should be ready for the old people in a week after we mulch the trail.

Kyle glad the EGO was self healing. You must have the magic touch. The wiring under the battery compartment did have a bunch of grass and dirt in it which I cleaned up but it was still unresponsive. I was getting about 10 minutes use on the old batteries also before it decided to go into a coma. I knew you could fix it. Now you can put a new 5Ah battery on your Father's Day/Birthday/Christmas list. Ace Hardware and Lowe's are authorized dealers. If I remember right Giddings Ace hardware sometimes had a 10% off sale a bag of merchandise. That would be the time to buy this one unless EGO is on the excluded fine print. They do cost a lot but I wonder what hour mark is the break even point since you are using no gasoline or oil or plugs or air/gas filters.

EGO 56V Power+ BA2800T 5 Ah Lithium-Ion Battery 1 pc Mfr# BA2800T - Ace Hardware

The EGO 56V 5.0Ah ARC Lithium Battery uses industry-leading technology to deliver Power Beyond Belief. It's patented ARC Lithium design keeps the battery from overheating by pushing heat away so your equipment runs longer at full power. It's durable, shock-resistant design protects batteries...

www.acehardware.com

Gasoline is going back up from it's Easter low of $3.599 to $3.799 yesterday.

 

[deserteagle71]

I suppose that it is only appropriate that, on the 1st day of May, we have fresh snow halfway down the mountainsides....

The Jackson Mountains, 50 miles away but visible from my window, also have a fresh cover of snow.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 50 going up to 73 and sunny!
Going out to do some less onerous tasks today, still tired from yesterdays 5+ hours of felling and bucking.
Will be a late night tonight as Dad is not arriving until at least 11pm.

Off to the kids team car wash in a bit. Truck can certainly use it.

BEF - great pictures - and you have done a great job with the landscaping and layout.
Wish I could get my son to do anything around the house. He will help, but I need to really really ask him

Kyle - That sounds like a painful exercise in tractor splitting for your friend. Hope not much else is found, did he at least get a price that allows this $ and still leaves him ahead?

Still need to mow the side lawns and trim out where the grass is growing in the planting areas, and spray the weeds , plant the garden and ............These dead ash trees are absorbing too much time! Wish I got the thumb sooner.

PopG- Oil change in the fountain, needs a new filter too? Must be a big fountain. Sad about the lumberyard fire, insurance and all it still takes time to recover. Do you ever use them ?

Stay safe and be well,

So this bird house is about 1 year old and completely destroyed due to being out in the elements.
A bird house that can only survive indoors, who would have thought.

 

[rswyan]

65F and cloudy @ 12:00, thunder boomers rolled through a couple of hours ago before I got up ... 0.18" in rain gauge so far for the day. Sun now making an attempt at an appearance, supposedly headed up to a high of 73F for the day.

Hopper feeder needs refilled, hear the mourning doves cooing.

Made the run down to Menards yesterday and picked up order, also placed/paid for the additional mulch order which I will pick up later. Searched for the one item they claimed to be out of and we could not find it, they will call when it comes in.

Stopped by the local hardware on the way back and picked up another two packets each of Burpee's Stringless Bush and Cherokee Yellow Wax Beans.

After I got back I unloaded the van and threw a pan of soil in the oven to sterilize. Then I started mowing down here around the house and got most of the west side done before it started spitting rain at me.

Didn't look like it was going to be much, so I started working on assembling the latest "acquisition" under the overhang of the garage. It's a "Scoot-N-Slide" rolling garden seat from Menards:

Got it all put together, but still need to tighten up some of the bolts. Looks like with the seat in the lowest position it will be perfect for me to easily bend over and reach the ground to work on things. Due to back issues I can cannot stand and bend over for any length of time, and kneeling isn't an option for the same reason.

When I was looking at similar products The Woman gave the "By all means, go ahead and get that if it will allow you to not have to bend over while standing" approval. She sat on it with the seat almost all the way up and wasn't impressed. Will need to have Her try it with the seat lowered. (She has very little trouble bending over and reaching the ground to work for extended periods of time ... I honestly don't see how She does it)

Once I had that together, I went back to mowing, finished up on the west side and got just about all of the back and east side done.

Found a place over in Indiana a while back that appeared to have even better prices on plants so the day before yesterday I went ahead placed an order, to give them a try. Ordered seeds for cauliflower, broccoli, some yellow tomatoes (which I love), cabbage, and vine peaches. Got another 25 Earliglow strawberry and 10 "King Kong" June-bearing strawberry plants, 20 more asparagus plants, and 6 more rhubarb plants.

On the flower end, 8 Shasta Daisies (looks like the deer got the one I picked up on closeout last year at Menards), and 6 Blue Barlow Double Columbine.

Plus an ounce of Catgrass seed for the kitties.

After filling the hopper feeder today, I'll probably work on planting more seeds. I have an ounce of French Marigold seed and an ounce+ of Zinnia seeds and a couple of 72-hole starter trays. Will probably hold off on the Zinnias for now, as being from Mexico they really like warm temps and having the Marigolds planted around will hopefully keep the chipmunks at bay.

Woman's dahlias continue to make progress - with 6 or 7 (of 10) up now:

Along with the banana tree and cucumber plants:

​

Probably should move the cukes outside today to start hardening them off. Think there might be another one in the other tray I need to re-pot as well.

The Squeak just pulled the door open to the hall linen closet and headed in for a nap. Probably a good time to get started if I want to avoid excessive un-asked for "help" with planting ...

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday ...

 

[sodamo]

68°F and .49 inches rain and coming down. Thunder storm predicted.

May Day is Lei Day here in Hawaii

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[rswyan]

I never thought about planting hostas around trees like that, I like it.

Thanks ... don't recall where I originally saw it, but I liked it too.

Tends to work out well if there's a decent amount of shade.

The hosta we removed from the west side of the shop got "full sun" and they were not thriving. They would look decent in the spring but by mid-summer they were looking pretty ugly.

 

[daugen]

Popgadget and DesertEagle, great pics.
that lumber fire is a "surround and drown" event for sure, let it burn out.

Ken, that's a doll house that they sprayed a coat or two of something on, which clearly does not
have enough UV additives in it. Maybe it would work under an eave or some place protected.
You'd better hose it down with something or it will fall apart. Shame.

My first set of bird houses were all painted. Some were white pine and beautiful colors and
just looked lovely lined up inside. But a year later at my friends and family I saw peeling paint,
went from nice to horrible in one year. Clearly not the right kind of paint.
I learned from that embarrassment to build out of cedar and pay attention to zero maintenance.

so maybe those complicated mansions either have to come with their own big umbrella or
they need to find shade. That area has some shade though. Perhaps that bric a brac needs to be made out of brown plastic or metal.
Bird claws can rip a lot of stuff up pretty well. Still looks pretty nice though. Perhaps time for a refresh, trip to the bench...

 

[rswyan]

RS, have you always been an avid gardener or did you get bit by the bug?

Not always ... although I have had an interest in plants from an early age. When I was very young (< 8 years old) we had a planting bed on the south side of our house in the city. Have fond memories of spending time there with my dear mother.

There was a very large sage plant we used to gather the leaves from for seasoning, as well as red and white carnations and several peony plants. Good times.

When we moved out here, I helped quite a bit in planting various things (strawberries, blueberry plants, tulips, and rhododendendrons) around the property.

I ended up losing interest in gardening as a young teen when the Old Man decided he was going to "farm" ... like he did down on the farm and I was going to be his primary source of labor (probably a lesson there for parents who currently have children: be careful of what you enforce - if you don't want to kill off their natural affinity for a thing)

Tending the two hundred tomato plants and all the rest of it (plot was around an acre in size) day after day during the long hot summer became just a little much.

Regardless, it was a worthwhile experience ... from a number of different aspects.

Later, as an adult, I regained my interest in growing things and puttered with it over the years when I had the time.

I do have to say, that at this point, I do find working in the dirt thoroughly enjoyable ... and am glad my parents helped me find an appreciation for it.

You have done amazing things with that property, must be a real delight to look out and see things you planted bloom.

Or at least still be there and not munched...

Indeed ...

Hope the zooming went well and the pain isn't too bad.

 

[sodamo]

Roy I am a pack rack too every time I get rid of something I need it the following week.

Glad you are feeling better

Ditto

 

[buckeyefarmer]

RS, nice seat. I need something like that.

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

57° and raining.

I messed up a couple times today. Sound went off during live-streaming Bible class. Sound dropped at one point, I turned off speaker remote, and it made a load popping noise over the speaker system. It ended up being dead batteries in the mics, but since I replaced those last week I wasn’t expecting that. Well, several people told me later they thought it was gun fire when the speakers popped. . Then when minister started his sermon I forgot to switch to his slide deck on the screen as I was adjusting audio. But a good worship.

Wife still has bad cold.

 

[Looking4new]

I got the dump run done. Lifted up the trailer with the bucket on the tractor and lo and behold, the framework that the hitch bolts to is gone, like rotted right out. IF I can find an affordable welder I may be able to fix it...but is it really worth it? The trailer was built in 1992 by D.E.W. Industries (they had the contract for the MoD [Ministry of Defense]), this trailer is a direct copy of an American Army M416. It is called a M101CDN2. Only rated for 1/4 ton, but I have had a ton on it in the past. It has 9 leaves in the leaf springs.
Decisions, decisions.

 

[daugen]

happy to see the first bag potato popping up, concept proven.

thought the electric fence switch was off, tested system quite effectively by hitting my elbow on line,
zap, snap, yikes. Yup, it works just fine. Never did get that radish pulled, elbow felt like someone had hit
the "funny bone". Middle of the day, bright sun, that solar charger is pumping out a full charge for sure.

Unplanned tests aside, got the lawn mowed.
I mow at 2.5 inches; that's what I mowed at on the farm, and 2.25 inches in some spots where that Southern grass liked a closer shave.
This stuff is 1/3 weeds, overwhelmed by a variety of invasive weeds.

rain coming in around dinner time, continuing into tonight, about 1/4 inch. I watered everything anyway

 

[Thomas]

70F clear sky light breeze...good day for t shirt weather

Did some puttering and prep area for next winter wood I'll start this Friday...I was inform by the Mrs. no more than couple cords week...yup .

Time put chicken potatoes onions peppers on the grill enjoy and we enjoy the first dinner of the year on the deck.

Enjoy your evening all.

 

[toppop52]

Thanks ... don't recall where I originally saw it, but I liked it too.

Tends to work out well if there's a decent amount of shade.

The hosta we removed from the west side of the shop got "full sun" and they were not thriving. They would look decent in the spring but by mid-summer they were looking pretty ugly.

We had that problem last year behind the big deck, full morning sun pretty much did them in by July.

 

[toppop52]

Today was very busy with very few accomplishments. I had two jobs planned and a trip to HD. Guess which one got done?
I bought a DeWalt reciprocating saw. It’s an XR, whatever that means. 20v I caught a deal that included a 5 ah battery and charger for just about the price of the saw. I’d always had DeWalts until the fire five years ago. I bought a cheapie HF unit that actually worked ok, but three months later they stopped production and I couldn’t get batteries. I could have rebuild the battery I had but I didn’t tell my wife that, I wanted a shiny new one.
Upper 60s with clouds and sun, a 15 minute shower came through while we were in town at Outback. Got home and not a drop. My grass is starting to falter from lack of rain.
Have a good evening.

 

[daugen]

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.