Good morning!!!!

[masseyrider]

APOCALLYPSE LAST NIGHT.
I got up around 4AM for a pee and I heard them.
The local wind machines in the vineyards were running.
The closest to me is more than a mile away yet it still sounds like a helicopter in the backyard. Any Vietnam vets would be having PTSD flash backs.
For those unfamiliar, these wind mills are powered by big block V8s and are intended to move the cold air around so the frost doesn't settle on the grape buds.
I looked at my phone and the weather showed it was about 40F.
So I put shorts on and went outside. The frost on the windshield of my Mazda cx70 was solid.
Not just at freezing but hard to scratch significant frost. My outside thermometer showed aboot 26F.
So much for the weather station.
Those living close to these machines probably didn't get much ZZZZ time last night.
Won't know what the damage was to the apricots and other early blooming fruit until it starts to come out of it's shuck.
Life of a farmer I guess.
Glad I haven't played that game for a living in over 25 years.
Good day all.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning
56° and not going to change much. Grey and damp out there. On and off rain forecast all day. We already got 1-3/8” overnight. Not a good day for outside chores

Yesterday’s trip started out fine, took one passenger down to Fl. Got refueled, loaded 4 people, 4 dogs and lots of baggage into the plane, got fired up and taxied to the runway. We were about 6th in line for departure, I get to the front of the line-

And I get what is basically a “check engine light“. So we taxi back to the ramp and send the passengers back inside. We performed a reset procedure and the fault went away, we did a restart to be sure, before loading the passengers again.

Get everyone onboard, start both engines, get a taxi clearance, and before we can move, the light comes back on.
Unload everyone (and the baggage this time) and make arrangements for them to get to Philly.

Textron sent a mobile repair unit out to deal with it, they plug a laptop into it, determine what the fault was, clear it and run some tests.
They returned the plane to service, and everything was normal, until we were almost home, then the fault returned. We were able to continue to our destination, but I’m glad that we didn’t have the passengers, as we leave the cockpit doors open and they can see the annunciators.

Whenever there is a fault, we get a large flashing yellow or red light indicating there is a problem, which we can clear, and another indicator (idiot light) showing the specific problem.

The fault is in an engine control unit, are completely controlled by a computer. The thrust levers have no mechanical connection to the engine. The controls have 2 channels, one is for redundancy. Our issue is that one channel was dropping off line, so we lost the redundancy.

At any rate, I did make it home, Textron will have to come out and replace the engine control unit before it flies again.

It won’t be a good day to work outside today, but I’ll find something to keep me occupied.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 57 going to 61 and light rain, got maybe 1/4" of that.
Got some plants repotted.
Got the T-posts in for the corn area (only 20x10 so not a field).
Then saw I'm out of clips, so ordered some.
Will need to get the tractor out this weekend, rip up the dirt and roots in the area and plant the corn.

See peaches forming on older peach tree, new peach and apple trees have leafed out nicely.
Watered them yesterday, now glad I did.
Fig tree is leafing out everywhere, so happy, now with the airfryer/dehydrator I will finally be able to dry my own figs.
Pear tree that got hit by the big branch looks ok so far. We never get any real pears anyway.
The tree I transplanted where a root broke is doing well too.

RS - good to see you stopping by here. Can't wait to see your garden updates.

Will need to start "training" the tomato plants and plant the last one.
Lime tree is now in it's pot and hopefully will produce and not have the issues the last one had with bugs, but I am more prepared now that I know how to get them.

Popgadget - redundancy is good. Glad you made it home safe.

Be well,

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 60˚F, 0.03" rain last night. Only heading to the upper 70s with increasing cloud cover this afternoon.

Still have the gutters, fountain and the riverbed to work on and now another yard mowing is added to the list. I can finally see the end to the riverbed refurbishing just two or three more half day sessions of removing rock before the landscape fabric gets laid and all the rocks are returned.

Pool temp still dropping (71˚) with this N wind and cool nights.

Planted watermelon seeds in the back yard yesterday will see if they sprout.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

stayed awake last night just thinking about all the work that needed to get done, and now it's a cool damp morning, and don't feel like doing any of it.... 50 deg and 99% humidity.
maybe i'll rearrange more junk in the barn.

 

[rswyan]

50F and Sunny @ 10:15, calling for a high of only 58F for the day.

Refilled the hopper feeder, two tube feeders, and two suet feeders yesterday first thing. Also scattered some seed for the ground feeders.

Got some more clean up done out front, moving a Rubbermaid trash can on wheels around back and another one up to the shop plus gathered up some plastic containers/totes that the wind had blown over into the field.

Rearranged a bunch of stuff in the barn so I could get to the old 275 gallon IBC tote that I was using as a diesel storage tank.

Brought that over to the house and blew the leaves and dust off of it then moved it back over to the barn placing it just inside the overhead door on the north end where it is easy to get to.

I recently got a Chamberlain jack shaft door opener from a friend who replaced it with a traditional opener … so I made sure to leave enough room so I could get a ladder or the Baker scaffolding in there to put that up and get it installed.

Then I brought the van over and started pumping out the diesel from the 330 gallon tote into the 275. Pump started sucking air when I had pumped around 260 gallons out so I knocked off.

That should be enough that I can lift the 330 gallon tote with what remains in it out of the van with the Kubota and get it moved inside the barn.

Once that’s done, I’ll put the other 330 gallon tote - which is empty - into the van for the next diesel fuel pickup … which will hopefully be the last one. Although I certainly wouldn’t complain if there ends up being even more diesel fuel and I have to make a 3rd trip …

After I got the fuel transferred I ran over to a friend’s place and worked on sorting out some network issues he was having. Not resolved yet, but I think we’re well on the way to tracking down the problem.

Looks to be a tad bit on the cool side today, so probably put off any mowing until at least tomorrow … as the ground was still pretty wet yesterday.

Coming up on our average last day for a killing frost so getting plants set out is coming up fast.

Hope everyone is having a decent and productive day …

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Snagglepuss helping me piddle in the barn. Raining.
So far we found the ranger oil looks brand new, and is still the original.
Found skeleton of a bird in a bucket.
Can’t find my mud mixing pan

 

[rswyan]

RS good to see you back.

Thanks.

Hope the garden fence project will keep the deer away

I'm fairly sure it will ... although the Michigan state ag research station in the UP went with a 10' fence ... probably just in case ...

We have had no deer get into our garden after fencing 8 ft high. Used 60 6 inch posts with 4 inch wire net and did not electrify.

Deer are not the only issue here - we have a variety of other critters that would enjoy a garden buffet: skunks, possums, groundhogs, rabbits, and the very worst of the worst: ... raccoons.

For those that may be unfamiliar, while they will happily (partially) eat other things (squash, melons, pumpkins, etc) raccoons will absolutely devastate a corn patch practically overnight, climbing the stalks and pulling down every ear and taking a bite ... before moving onto the next stalk. Wash, rinse, repeat.

And they are very adept at climbing.

Around here, planting a (smaller) corn patch without electric fencing is a complete waste of time.

Also installed 16 ft and 8 ft gates that have held up very well with no rust after several years

Planning on doing two pairs of 3' wide double door gates with two 6' wide (total) openings. That will provide enough width to get the Kubota and Cub in ... if I ever need to.

Gate frames will be constructed out of 1 1/4" pvc pipe and wire meshed and electrified.

 

[sodamo]

67°F and .03 inches rain

My Dr appointment pretty much a non event. She simply took my blood pressure on each arm and each ankle. Elevated some.

Met our LA friends for early Mexican dinner. My fajitas were very good.

Looks like a great day ahead for mowing.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[rswyan]

Got the mostly empty IBC tote removed from the van along with the pump and hoses.

Leaving those set out in the sun, so the hose maybe will lose the memory curl in it.

Then I ran down to Menards and picked up the 6” x 12’ posts. Still got to get those unloaded.

Posts are pretty dry so they weren’t as heavy as they would’ve been if they had been wet.

A couple of them have more warp in them than I’d care to have - a problem with special ordering stuff like this - but fortunately on the one the warp is at one end … so that can be buried.

Plan is to coat at least the buried portion with asphalt-based roofing tar, although might just go ahead and do the entire post.

Filled up the fuel tank in the van on the way back.

Probably go check the ground after I get the posts unloaded and see how it’s looking.

Then air up the tires on the van and give it a once over.

Woman off renewing registration on her car.