Good morning!!!!

[CajunRider]

Good morning.
Hot and humid down here.
Like Ed, my AC unit is acting up. Pressure swings wildly then the compressor shutdown. It's a new unit too. Grrr... Hopefully I can get some one to look at it this week.

Oh I forgot to add. We'll have 15 guests coming to the house this weekend and will stay a few days. I sure hope we got that AC fixed.

 

[daugen]

Good morning.
Hot and humid down here.
Like Ed, my AC unit is acting up. Pressure swings wildly then the compressor shutdown. It's a new unit too. Grrr... Hopefully I can get some one to look at it this week.

oh boy that doesn't sound good. Hope they come today. :thumbsup:

I sweat so much I have to get inside to get my body temp down. Would not be good to have a/c go down.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 62F @ 4:00AM. A good deal of sunshine. High 79F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Looking to the south yesterday afternoon I noticed a large dark cloud dumping rain, but it passed on to the east and left me high and dry. Just as well as I still have one last steep part of the upper meadow to cut along the driveway today.

Good news on the rain, Ted, and that you're learning to get along with your knee. I also worry about large hail, as my pickup still sits outside and would get nailed by anything approaching marble sized hail. Fingers crossed luck holds for everyone here this year. Spent a lot of time in Albuquerque and always wondered what the name of those pretty trees was. Thanks for telling us, but I probably won't remember for long as I don't ever seem out here..:laughing:

Glad to hear you're busy again at work, Kyle. Makes the day go faster, plus leaves you with a nice feeling of accomplishment.

My sympathies on the loss of your buddy, PJ. It really hits home how precious life is when you lose someone near your own age, or even younger.

That's very nice work from scrap, Cajun! I bet you do some very nice things with fresh lumber... :thumbsup:

Looks like the birds will have a bumper crop of Hawthorne berries this year, Eric!

Hope the pain in your leg lets up soon, Buppies. Your post reminded me that Highway 395 going south out of Reno was closed in both directions due to mud slides yesterday. Heavy afternoon thunderstorms dropped a ton of rain on burned out areas and the channeled water left more than two feet of the stuff in places. No real easy detour around it, and 395 is a major connector for that area to the south.

When my dad used to drag the family up to Canada, I always got nailed by the black flies. Never felt 'em bite until they left, then boy did it sting and I'd get a golf ball sized welt everywhere they got me. Prolly why I'm not much of a fisherman even to this day.:laughing:

Does Brogen get tick meds, Jay? The ones we used to use were a once a month kind of deal, but they were very effective.

One refinement I've picked up over the years for my spaghetti sauce is to sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil before adding them to the tomato puree and other herbs. Did I understand correctly that in Don's recipe, the sauté is done with vegetable broth? That would be a good way to eliminate another oil if that's right. Last night I just used balsamic vinegar and a bit of grated parmesan/ramano blend on my salad and didn't miss the oil at all.

After another three hours of steep mowing yesterday, I got the steel tubing pieces cut for the fender mounts on the neighbor's trailer. I should have cut a short piece off the 10' stick first, as it was darn near impossible to get the piece level and get a square cut. That meant truing each piece up in the mill, pleasant but time consuming work, but relaxing after a stressful tractor session.

Found an ad yesterday on Craig's List for an old BMW with a sidecar, very reasonably priced. Nearby, too, so I contacted the seller for more info. Got back a well worded reply, but something just didn't seem right. Googled "Senior Medic Sgt. Michelle Williams". This is what came up: Michelle Williams Scammer 23 Acura TL Type-S Just goes to show that if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.

I guess it's better that there are places like Friendly Politics where people can go and let off steam in a safe way, rather than do what a young man did here in Chico yesterday. Makes me wonder if perhaps we should have a Three Strikes law for judges.

5/22/2018: In 2013, Butte County Deputy DA Kurt Worley had a sick feeling about Adam Parsons and felt he was a risk to society ----

On August 23, 2013, Chico News and Review published an article titled 'Back at bat -- Third-strikers get a swing at sentence reduction' focusing on Proposition 36 passed in 2012 that allowed current prisoners whose third strike didn't qualify as serious or violent to retroactively appeal their sentencing.
This article discussed Adam Parsons, the Chico man who allegedly went on a rampage in Chico Monday night during which he allegedly forced a gas station clerk to give him $10.00 worth of gas while weilding an ax, broke into a home then tried to kill a man with a knife and hammer, stole a tow truck and rammed into a car causing injury to four people who were sent to the hospital via ambulance, fired shots towards police while leading them on a pursuit in the stolen tow truck, then foot-bailed and broke into a second occupied home where he was quickly detained.

The article reads --- regarding Parsons:

Though the DA’s office has successfully stopped reduced sentences for two out of three third-strike challenges, Deputy District Attorney Kurt Worley said he felt Judge Stephen E. Benson’s May 30 decision to let Parsons walk was a serious mistake.

Worley explained in a Tuesday (Aug. 20) phone interview that Parson’s past criminal convictions included assaults and armed robbery of a gas station in 1994 and 1995. His final felony—which does not meet the new Three Strikes criteria—was for escaping from the Butte County Jail prior to being sent to prison for other convictions.

Parsons’ prison record included 22 rules violations, eight of them major, with serious incidents occurring in 2011 and 2012. His initial sentence was for 13 years, plus 25-to-life for the third-strike escape.

After resentencing, he’d accrued so much credit on his new sentence of 14 years and four months that he walked free in mid-July with no probation or other oversight.

“I have a sick feeling we’ll be seeing him in court again very soon,” Worley said. “I feel he’s still a risk to society.”

“He was basically a poster child for why we had Three Strikes in the first place,” Butte County DA Ramsey added, also by phone, on Aug. 20. “He had a very violent and nasty record, and we feel the judge made a big mistake in releasing him.”

Read more: https://www.newsreview.com/chico/back-at-bat/content…

Butte County Fires, Accidents, Crimes (BCFAC) incident post regarding Parsons Monday night rampage: Josey Bones - Chico 5/21/218 @8:3-now 539 W. 11th... | Facebook

Listen to Chico PD dispatch talk with Chico PD officers during Parsons' Monday night rampage: 5/21/218: Chico, CA: Listen to the... - Butte County Fires, Accidents, Crimes BCFAC

May 11, 1994 Gridley Herald Butte County Crime Stoppers ad for Parsons after he escaped from Butte County Jail: Karla K Larsson - 5/21/218: May 11, 1994 Crimestoppers... | Facebook

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 74˚ cloudy.
My ac also was not cooling last week during the hottest day. It was low of about 2 pounds of freon.
Drew, I gave up on corn long ago. I could not keep the coons out.

RNG, yes saut駟ng is done with vegetable broth. The trick is to get the skillet hot enough, (a drop of liquid should bounce around not evaporate immediately), put in the onion and garlic, stir, when they start to turn brown and stick pour in a little vegetable broth to keep it from sticking.

No Oil Saute! - YouTube

 

[CWB Wyo]

It's 37* this morning, we had a few rain showers yesterday afternoon, it made it up in to high 60's. Dark clouds coming in from the southwest this morning. We have a 50% chance of rain today with a high in the low 60's.

I got the fence done yesterday only took about tree hours. If the wind doesn't blow it should be in good shape for awhile. I also got a few little things done around here.

I was thinking about playing around with the welder if it's going to rain most of the day.

Hope everyone has a nice day.
CWB.

 

[ronjhall]

Found an ad yesterday on Craig's List for an old BMW with a sidecar, very reasonably priced. Nearby, too, so I contacted the seller for more info. Got back a well worded reply, but something just didn't seem right. Googled "Senior Medic Sgt. Michelle Williams". This is what came up: Michelle Williams Scammer 23 Acura TL Type-S Just goes to show that if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.

My sister in AZ. had some items on Craig's list last fall. That's the same name that replied to her ad. My sister called to ask how you complete the sale. I told her you don't. Then my son texted me a couple months ago about a covered trailer he found on Craig's List. Same person.

 

[wngsprd]

Increasing chance of rain today. Already had a sprinkle.
Things dried out enough in some areas yesterday to mow with the zero turn...was worried that damp ground would get damaged, but went easy and worked great.

At dealership getting annual state inspection and tire rotation. How do the headlights get out of alignment in 30K miles???...and need $40 adjusting up? First time this dealership has me skeptical.

Real nice place and trees, LS.

Cajun, great job on that keyhole...and nice view.

Plan to stop by HF across the highway then the gym.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 52 this morning, still damp. There were a couple of brief light showers overnight. Still a good chance for more showers today.. We'll see, could use 2 weeks worth of rain and still not be out of the drought classification.

Eric, yes, mulch is probably the only way to preserve moisture. EVERYTHING gets mulched, even flower pots.

Everything has drip irrigation under the mulch. Last month used 6000 gals of water for the landscape plants. I think my timing with watering and then the warm temps allowed the trees to bloom as well as they did.

When I first moved here in '92, it rained almost every afternoon during the "monsoon season", mid June through mid September. Everything was green, actually had to cut grass, normal summer stuff. It is reported that the weather patterns are cyclical on a 25 year cycle. We should be in a "wet" cycle now, I think Mother Nature is confused. Hopefully she has realized her forgetfulness and this is the start of the end to our drought.

Drew, wifey does container gardening w/o any chemical intervention. Usually looses about 40% to the critters/bugs. We gave up on trying to grow corn, melons, and berries.

Going to get the week whacking done today while it's damp...whole lot less dust. Then maybe work on taking down about 200' of 6' picket fence. No rush on that project though.

Hope those healing continue to do so without any problems. Prayers out for everyone. It's almost hump day!

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Cajunrider, nice build. Can you explain "keyhole garden"? I see that it looks like an old style lock/keyhole, but what is the purpose?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

OH, forgot to reply:

Drew, no, the 'purple robe' locust is thornless. It is a grafted tree, using the 'black locust' root stock. The trees a little further back in the one pic are black locust and have 1" to 1 1/2" thorns on them. They will rip you up in short order if you brush across them!

 

[PJSprog]

67°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 85° today. No rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, and the weekend rain has been pushed off until next Monday.

Nice looking trees, fellas. The cherry blossoms and hawthorn trees The Wife planted last year bloomed quite nice this Spring. There was a period during last Summer's hot and dry spell where we were resigned to the idea that they weren't going to make it. They all did, though, and we're looking forward to the yearly color treat along the front bank of the lake.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

RNG, sorry to hear about the crime increase and the lack of punishment by the judge. Wife and I were just talking this morning about similar criminal situations here. Seems that due to the jail systems not keeping up with the amount of convicted criminal (meaning lack of available space), it's easier to just release back into the general public. Only when a situation arises such as you describe, do the public officials stand up and say 'what's happening?'

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Morning all,

Raining again. Boys got the yard mowed yesterday. Too wet now to rake and bale it. I put rfm on the massey and mowed along creek and started to mow the field again.

Saw the ceo of jcp is going to lowes. That can't be good...

It's a shame the unfriendly politics drifts into the normal threads.

Was almost dry enough to plant more garden. Havent even planted potatos yet, and Drew is digging his.

 

[CajunRider]

Cajunrider, nice build. Can you explain "keyhole garden"? I see that it looks like an old style lock/keyhole, but what is the purpose?

With the keyhole garden I can reach anything I grow in the garden. I put a thick layer of cardboard at the bottom to kill all the weeds. On top of that is a layer of anything organic like leaves, sticks, wood chips etc.. Then I put a thick layer of composted cow manure then 8" of top soil on top. The soil at the center will be near the top of the compost barrel at the center of the key hole and sloped down to about 3 inch below the edge. The compost barrel has lots of holes so the gray water from the compost will water my garden. The method of planting was introduced to Africa and is now very popular there since it maximize the use of water and allow for continual composting and building up the soil. Turning over of the soil is only needed once every 5 years to replenish the organic material at the bottom. A keyhole garden the size of mine can give me all the veggies a small family needs except in my case where my lady would probably want me to just plant a lot of hot hot hot pepper! What I usually do is to cut off the bottom of celery, green onions, etc.. and simply stick them in the dirt and soon I'll have more than my lady and I can eat. The last time I did key hole garden, I put 2 slices of heirloom tomatoes in the ground and had so many tomatoes soon afterward.

Not seen in the picture is the door on the compost barrel. I can open the door and shovel out the compost near the bottom if the barrel gets too full.

I just looked up the price for keyhole garden Whooa! This one is $509 and is way smaller than mine.
Cedar Keyhole Garden | RaisedBeds.com

 

[hawkeye08]

Good morning all! Beautiful morning here, temps in 50s climbing to low 80s today.

Tuesday is garbage day (we haul our single garbage can about 1/2 mile to paved road for pickup). Our daughter takes it when she goes to work and picks the empty can up on her way home (if no one goes anywhere that day). We are the first address on our road that takes garbage so it is a battle each time we get our bill because they always put the excess trash on our bill, even though our account says we ONLY put out one can and nothing extra. My wife kindly does the calling each time and they eventually adjust bill, but they said they never add the charges to the rightful address. So our new neighbors past us on the road have been putting extra down every week almost. A couple of weeks ago, they put extra trash bags next to our can so it looked like ours. Of course when we got our recent bill, again had to call...

This morning, I was sitting at my desk pondering my next task (I work from home) and saw the new neighbors drive by with the back of the pickup loaded with trash. I waited awhile and then went down to the trash pickup and moved our can so it was by itself, plain as day. I noticed the neighbor has a Waste Management trash can with number on it along with the extra boxes and trash had Amazon labels. It should not be hard to figure out who should get billed for the extra trash.

Rant over (mostly).

The new neighbors are likely very happy with the garbage service since they can put out unlimited trash and never get charged....

 

[sodamo]

66°F and another 1.92 inches rain last 24 hours, 1.23 of it since midnight.

Jay, overview of how our water catchment works:

Rain from roof collected by gutters.
First part of collection fills the self draining 1st flush pipes.
Remaining water passes thru my 3 phase prefilter consisting of a course plaster core, a nylon filter, panty hose, then a second like prefilter on way to 4 foodgrade poly tanks, 4K gal each.
Pumped from tanks to pressure tank then filtered
100 micron
20-5 micron
5 micron carbon
1 micron
UV sterilizer light

Pretty clean by time it gets to House.

Prayers for all in need

Be safe
Have a great day

 

[jbrumberg]

Good Afternoon Everyone. An overcast and drizzly morning in the low 50F's; still drizzling and in the low 60F's. It was a good morning for the weekly supply run.

Ted- I really like the pictures of your trees and landscaping.

Buppies- I hope your leg is in better shape today.

Drew- What you are doing organically with your garden is much more labor intensive than your neighbors' gardens, but the end product although nutritionally the same will have less chemical residues. I too am heat intolerant and need to take frequent breaks to cool off and hydrate when it get "hot;" the older I get the longer the breaks. I think that I sweat thinking about heat and/or physical activity. "Hot" to me would probably be "cool" for you Southerners. We only use organic methods for pest control. I used to spray the apple trees with dormant oil, burned tent caterpillars, etc. but the expenditure in time/energy was not reflected in production although the apples looked better. For leaf eating grubs we use Bacillus thuringiensis spray. It works really well, and although it tastes awful it is harmless to non grub leaf eating animals. I hand pick a lot of pests too.

Our "Garden Bible," a +40 year old How to Grow Vegetables and Fruits by the Organic Method J. I. Rodale, (10th printing, 1974) is dog-eared from heavy use.

RNG- Brogen gets Bravecto Flea and Tick pills every three months and Interceptor heart worm medication monthly. This stuff seems to work. I find no ticks on him; only me. At +150#'s he takes some big $$ "chewies." He's "suspicious" of all treats unless he "thinks" they're "safe" or pure meat. If he thinks it's a "pill" he will not eat it. He's pretty smart about recognizing "pills." He's a sucker for peanut butter. I am always saddened to read about the failures of the Judicial and Criminal Justice systems. CA and MA seem to have more than their fair share of "poor outcomes" for released "rehabilitated" criminals.

CjR- I like the concept of keyhole gardening. I have modified my planting practices since I read All New Square Foot Gardening, M. Bartholomew (1981). A civil engineer's approach to gardening had an appeal. I now use tape measures to plant seeds.:embarrassed: I do not have raised flower/garden beds, but I mulch heavily. I use brown cardboard as mulch as well and the earthworms love it. I was bringing home more broken down cardboard from the transfer station than the garbage I was taking. It's in high demand now; I rarely score any nowadays.

David- Thanks for the description of your water collection system. It's pretty elaborate I hope the acid rain/particulate matter does not mess up your system. I hope that you remain safe.

I hope that everyone is having a safe and decent day today and everyone mending continues mending and those healthy stay healthy.

 

[toppop52]

Warm and humid today with clouds and sun, no rain do far.
Finished mowing the back just in time for the rest to start needing it again. It’s only been two days so it’s gonna wait until Thursday or Friday so it looks good when the hoards arrive.

 

[daugen]

much to my surprise on very small plants, the beans are coming in.
A few Burpee standbys but also some "cool beans".
Borlatto Vigevano, colorful Italian beans definitely are pretty in the garden and on the plate.

First couple of tomatoes showed up also, plus picked another several pounds of peas.
Worked outside all day and thoroughly enjoyed it, the cloudy weather can be a blessing, except when I forgot my
hat and an hour later was frying. Back I went for it.

 

[daugen]

I mowed the fruit orchard today and need to spray all the trees tomorrow if the weather will cooperate.
Pleased to see, squirrels willing, I might get my first pears this year. Some apples, a few plums it looks like, can't see any peaches.
Third year, need to be patient.