Good morning!!!!

[riptides]

Raining. Warm though. Came in and ready for a nap. May go hop in the pool while the water is warm too. Next couple of days I am sure the temperature will drop.

 

[riptides]

This is what I use on gophers, very effective.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Yard-Butler-Gopher-and-Mole-Bait-Applicator/21566451

This is the bait I use.

Gopher Bait 5 Strychnine | Solutions Pest & Lawn

My local feed store keeps it.

I will check it out. Thanks. I might try a smoke bomb or two. But read their tunnel system can cover 2000 feet. Yikes.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I will check it out. Thanks. I might try a smoke bomb or two. But read their tunnel system can cover 2000 feet. Yikes.

Rip, the yard butler and the bait are the only thing I’ve found to be almost 100% effective. After you treat each mound, wait a day, the rake them flat.

You don’t want to just smoke them out, to go build other tunnels and mounds. You want to kill and bury them in one operation.

 

[PJSprog]

68°F and partly cloudy this morning, going up to 85° today. Wind picked up about an hour ago, and dark clouds started blowing through. Nothing on radar or in the forecast, soooo ... sure looks like it might rain, though. Was supposed to get up to mid-90s yesterday, but my car display said 101° when I left work, and didn't drop to 99° until I got across the river into Illinois. Expecting 80s for the next week. Won't hate that.

Good to hear from you, Andrew.

Carpenter stopped by early this morning to take one more look at the roof. He's set to start on Tuesday morning. There are some definite soft spots on the house, and the well house will need complete replacement. Wife ordered the dumpster today ... and I was just starting to get used to not having one of those around.

I have a considerable honey-do list for this weekend, but I'm thinking I'll spend most of today in my studio.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Well, not happy today. I ordered the lathe and milling machine on June 13 the and the mill came in good time. They told me the lathe would be shipped in a week or 2. When I called back they said next week. When I called back they said we are getting them this week and will ship it next week, witch is this week. Got an e mail sent at closing time saying sorry they only have a more expensive lathe and I had to wait for another shipment with no date given. I went on Hobby Machinist as Precision Mathews has a forum on that sight. Said the above and that I felt misled. Today they have deleated my post and blocked me from Hobby Machinist sight compleatly. Wish I had not gotten the milling machine from them now. Will call monday and get my money back from the lathe.

If I disappear from Good Morning you will know what happened. Ed

 

[daugen]

Ed and Kyle, thank you. And ron and ?
I don't have a lot of room in the shop, in fact it's fairly small and narrow, converted horse tack room. No room for a table saw, for example, so I got a rolling Bosch saw which has worked nicely
but finding smaller higher quality band saws is challenging. Woodworking is something I will continue to do when I downsize so I don't mind spending a little more now for something
I'll be pleased with for a long time. I don't have a metal band saw, and couldn't justify one both for space and usage, but wood band saw continues to interest me. Actually the newer Wen version of what I own seems pretty well regarded at that price point. Also, I don't want to put a two hundred pound saw up on top of the existing work bench, which was converted from an existing structure and is not as heavy duty as I would like. The challenge is the alternative is a 30 pound saw which takes a fair amount of work to set up properly, if one can, due to sloppy tolerances. I'm thinking maybe a tabletop 10 inch throat. Though of course the next project will somehow need a 14 inch saw...anything that size needs a separate floor stand and now we're talking valuable real estate.

There are some definite soft spots on the house, and the well house will need complete replacement. Ouch PJ. May there be no new surprises. Better to fix before the water starts coming down on the dining room table at Sunday dinner...worse, on one of your guitars........

 

[daugen]

Ed, what a disappointment, sorry that happened. Sounds like bait and switch.

Very, very strange experience this morning. While showing the new Hispanic helper, who I hired, around we came to the garden and he pointed at the fence.
Unreal. A black snake had gotten caught in the plastic netting and had wrapped himself up in it, doing a real number on himself. Lost some scales for sure.
It took me almost a half hour to slowly cut all the plastic off the snake, who we first thought was a goner. Once the head was unwrapped, the tongue came out a little, then a whole inch,
and I still had a little more. So, sorry buddy, back went the foot on the snake to immobilize him, and he was very good, like somehow he knew I was helping him, particularly after part of him got free. I worked from the rear to the front and he never nipped at me. Once the last part was off him, using some garden veggie snippers I had right there, he took off for the wood line at top speed and seemed to be ok. My bad, need to replace that one small section where I ran out of the heavier duty fencing and used some cheap deer fencing. Bad for birds and bad apparently for snakes.

now the real question is.............
what was that snake doing trying to get in the garden?
what was it trying to eat?

 

[lostcreekranch]

Ed and Kyle, thank you. And ron and ?
I don't have a lot of room in the shop, in fact it's fairly small and narrow, converted horse tack room. No room for a table saw, for example, so I got a rolling Bosch saw which has worked nicely
but finding smaller higher quality band saws is challenging. Woodworking is something I will continue to do when I downsize so I don't mind spending a little more now for something
I'll be pleased with for a long time. I don't have a metal band saw, and couldn't justify one both for space and usage, but wood band saw continues to interest me. Actually the newer Wen version of what I own seems pretty well regarded at that price point. Also, I don't want to put a two hundred pound saw up on top of the existing work bench, which was converted from an existing structure and is not as heavy duty as I would like. The challenge is the alternative is a 30 pound saw which takes a fair amount of work to set up properly, if one can, due to sloppy tolerances. I'm thinking maybe a tabletop 10 inch throat. Though of course the next project will somehow need a 14 inch saw...anything that size needs a separate floor stand and now we're talking valuable real estate.

There are some definite soft spots on the house, and the well house will need complete replacement. Ouch PJ. May there be no new surprises. Better to fix before the water starts coming down on the dining room table at Sunday dinner...worse, on one of your guitars........

Drew, have you looked at the Rikon band saws? I have a 14” floor model and a 10” bench top model. Both are very good tools. If you have a Woodcraft Store in your area you can see them in person. I think you’d like their 10” saw.

1" Bench Top Bandsaw, Model 1-35

 

[daugen]

Drew, have you looked at the Rikon band saws? I have a 14” floor model and a 10” bench top model. Both are very good tools. If you have a Woodcraft Store in your area you can see them in person. I think you’d like their 10” saw.

1" Bench Top Bandsaw, Model 1-35

Rikon 1-35 Bandsaw With Fence, 1-Inch - Power Band Saws - Amazon.com
thanks Rick, funny, I was looking at exactly that saw on Amazon, and it looks exactly like the Wen/Craftsman, but with a better paint job, solid iron table instead of lighter aluminum, but
very much the identical design. Part of me has to laugh which of these Chinese manufacturers copied from whom.

Would be nice to have variable speed and not have to unbolt the motor on some of these to change speeds. Time for me to study some catalogs.

 

[riptides]

Rip, the yard butler and the bait are the only thing I’ve found to be almost 100% effective. After you treat each mound, wait a day, the rake them flat.

You don’t want to just smoke them out, to go build other tunnels and mounds. You want to kill and bury them in one operation.

Agreed!

 

[wngsprd]

Rain rain go away, come again another day!

5.03 inches so far today. My French Drains work great, but still were not enough to handle this volume. We are already over our average annual rainfall amount.

Ed, sorry you're having problems with what sounded like such a rewarding endeavor. Hope you can still make your plans work out.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Camping in a downpour. Camper roof leaking over the bed, but it's on her side... Lol
Came to "town" for supper.

 

[riptides]

First time ever my driveway flooded over. Probably didn't help that the neighbor decided to regrade his property 4 feet higher and install drainage from his neighbor into his pond.

 

[sodamo]

Ed, what a disappointment, sorry that happened. Sounds like bait and switch.

Very, very strange experience this morning. While showing the new Hispanic helper, who I hired, around we came to the garden and he pointed at the fence.
Unreal. A black snake had gotten caught in the plastic netting and had wrapped himself up in it, doing a real number on himself. Lost some scales for sure.
It took me almost a half hour to slowly cut all the plastic off the snake, who we first thought was a goner. Once the head was unwrapped, the tongue came out a little, then a whole inch,
and I still had a little more. So, sorry buddy, back went the foot on the snake to immobilize him, and he was very good, like somehow he knew I was helping him, particularly after part of him got free. I worked from the rear to the front and he never nipped at me. Once the last part was off him, using some garden veggie snippers I had right there, he took off for the wood line at top speed and seemed to be ok. My bad, need to replace that one small section where I ran out of the heavier duty fencing and used some cheap deer fencing. Bad for birds and bad apparently for snakes.

now the real question is.............
what was that snake doing trying to get in the garden?
what was it trying to eat?

Maybe a romantic interest in the red snake next to the fence?

 

[sodamo]

Ed, sorry to hear about the switch. Maybe they should offer the current one at what you paid?

 

[toppop52]

We only have 2.2 inches of rain so far. You guys in northern and central parts of Virginia and Maryland are getting the most. We are getting a lot of wind.

 

[sodamo]

We’ve surpassed 100 inches rain ytd.

 

[lostcreekranch]

We’ve surpassed 100 inches rain ytd.

We’ve surpassed ........ 18” YTD.

 

[toppop52]

We are around 25 inches YTD. 11 of them fell in about 10 days in the spring.

 

[lostcreekranch]

We are around 25 inches YTD. 11 of them fell in about 10 days in the spring.

With our sandy soil, here in the Texas Post Oak Savannah Eco region, I don’t need huge rains. I’m good with about 1” per week.

A 2-3” rain occasionally, to keep our tanks full, is always welcome.