Bird
Rest in Peace
Had to turn the air-conditioner on in the pickup yesterday; first time in awhile.
Texas Fall/Winter thread!
- Thread starter Western
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EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I stoped at a church just south of Chandler TX on the way home last night to take a few pictures of their bell tower. It's right next to Lake *********, so I stuck around to see what the sun would do. Turned out to be a pretty good show and a great new place for me to try to be at in the evening when working in that area.
Eddie
txdon
Super Star Member
The Keyhole garden project (aka. soldier larva hatchery) was a success. Now I have to redo it right.
I removed soil and 1000+ rocks yesterday from my keyhole garden. This time they go back down with a cement base and with mortar.
The compost core in the middle never got more than 1/3 full with everyday (about 1/2 gallon a day) produce scraps. The soldier larva kept composting as fast as we could load it. Now that it's winter and the larva are dormant the center is up to 2/3 full. It will be interesting to see if they will catch up when the weather gets warm.
Notice how the soil shrunk (I filled it to the top 3 times) and the rotting cardboard exposes gaps in the rock.
I removed soil and 1000+ rocks yesterday from my keyhole garden. This time they go back down with a cement base and with mortar.
The compost core in the middle never got more than 1/3 full with everyday (about 1/2 gallon a day) produce scraps. The soldier larva kept composting as fast as we could load it. Now that it's winter and the larva are dormant the center is up to 2/3 full. It will be interesting to see if they will catch up when the weather gets warm.
Notice how the soil shrunk (I filled it to the top 3 times) and the rotting cardboard exposes gaps in the rock.
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NativeSon
Veteran Member
John I had a dead tree down on the fence that I fixed yesterday and started out needing a sweatshirt on, but came out of that pretty quick. With all the dead trees we have this battle may go on for ever.
Charlie
76* here yesterday, seemed I spent half my time putting on and taking off my welding shirt since it was so warm. Today is supposed to be warmer still.
Back to "normal" temps come Friday, which really isn't to bad (55*) but a slight chance of rain here so that will be welcome. I have allot of winter rye coming up I threw out prior to the last rain, it could use a little more water to keep it going. I wonder if this year will be like last year, most of our rain by May then a bad dry spell?
Back to "normal" temps come Friday, which really isn't to bad (55*) but a slight chance of rain here so that will be welcome. I have allot of winter rye coming up I threw out prior to the last rain, it could use a little more water to keep it going. I wonder if this year will be like last year, most of our rain by May then a bad dry spell?
texasjohn
Super Member
About 3/4 of my trees have died in the drought over the past 4 years...now, they are all coming down any time there is a reason...and sometimes when there is no reason....I am making the rounds with the tractor tugging on anything that looks like it might fall on the fence to see if I can get it down before it does fall on the fence. Big job. Lotsa trees along many fence lines.
Eddie..
Nice shots. Have you tried HDR on scenes like this? Over expose a couple stops, normal expose, and under expose a couple stops. Then blend the images for HDR.
Ron
Eddie..
Nice shots. Have you tried HDR on scenes like this? Over expose a couple stops, normal expose, and under expose a couple stops. Then blend the images for HDR.
Ron
NativeSon
Veteran Member
Is it already time to move to the "Texas Spring/ Summer" thread?
Charlie
Charlie
Bird
Rest in Peace
NWS says it only got to 78 in Denton. But I've been working outside a good bit the last two days and having a bit of a problem with "hay fever?" or some allergy that I'm not accustomed to having; sneezing, blowing my nose, and itching eyes. I've even taken a couple of Benadryl capsules and used Visine in my eyes.
jinman
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 21,059
- Location
- Texas - Wise County - Sunset
- Tractor
- NHTC45D, NH LB75B, Ford Jubilee
I used to have lots of allergy problems with mountain cedar, and my sinuses ran all night long making me wake up to clear my throat. I still have a mild problem, but my doctor suggested Cetirizine hcl. That's the generic form of Zyrtec and is OTC. A bottle of 100 is around $19 at Walmart and $14 at a small pharmacy right beside my clinic. My doctor told me she could write a prescription and I'd only have to pay the copay, but I could also get it OTC. I usually just buy it because it's less hassle than doing the prescription thing and 100 pills at one per day is well over a 3-month supply. Anyhow, the stuff has done a lot to help me. It hasn't cured all the drainage and throat clearing, but it's reduced it to a manageable level.
Charlie: I don't think we are ready for the spring/summer thread yet. We have February yet to go. You just can't trust February in Texas.
Charlie: I don't think we are ready for the spring/summer thread yet. We have February yet to go. You just can't trust February in Texas.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I don't think we are ready for the spring/summer thread yet. We have February yet to go. You just can't trust February in Texas.
So True!!!!! This is my parents first winter in Texas, and they didn't believe me how cold it can get. Now my mom is telling me that she doesn't think it's that bad and I tell her that Feburary is the month to be afraid of.
Eddie
Bird
Rest in Peace
Dennis, I expect that's right, but it never bothered me when I lived down there and had all those cedar trees everywhere.
And I deleted your double post; that happens fairly frequently.
Bird
Rest in Peace
Eddie, I read a long time ago that January is our worst, or coldest, month, but like you, February always seemed the worst to me. Maybe it's just because by February we're tired of Winter.:laughing:
jinman
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 21,059
- Location
- Texas - Wise County - Sunset
- Tractor
- NHTC45D, NH LB75B, Ford Jubilee
THE GREAT ORANGE CONSPIRACY IS REAL!
. . . Just kiddin'.If this weren't so funny, I might really be mad. All I wanted was some darn Texas Navel Oranges. . .grrr! I looked online for a company that ships oranges. One of the biggest was Pittman & Davis out of Harlingen. Here's a link to their website where they describe their Texas Navel Oranges. Notice just to the right and under the photo it says, "Because of the climate oranges are available in Texas all year although the peak season for navel oranges is November through early May. During August and September the market tends to slow down although it is still possible to find an abundant supply of navel oranges in some places throughout the United States. Texas is only one of the four states that grows and harvests the oranges that are shipped to various states on both the east and west coasts." Does that or does it not sound like they ship navel oranges all year around?
So, after Brandi beat me up so badly
about not buying Texas fruit, I was sure gonna try to support my fellow Texans. Before Christmas, I ordered a half-bushel of Texas Navel Oranges from Pittman & Davis. Later, they sent me a link to their Tangelos and I decided to try a dozen of those also. Bear in mind that these two orders were three weeks apart. Last week, the mail carrier rolled up to my door with both boxes of fruit. I never expected them to both arrive on the same day, but at least they arrived in good order and superb packaging. The boxes are extremely heavy cardboard and banded. Inside there is a double layer of foam for the tangelos and the oranges were all wrapped individually in tissue and padded so no bruising would occur. When I unwrapped the first orange, right away I noticed there was no navel. You can't have a navel orange without a navel, can you? I peeled one and noticed the fruit was very light in color, just slightly more orange than a lemon. I put a section in my mouth to find out it was extremely sweet, but with very little orange taste and. . . A SEED! What?! Navel oranges are supposed to be seedless. In my two bushels of California Navels, not a single one had a seed. Right away, I decided they had screwed up and sent me Valencia oranges or some other type. On the other hand, the tangelos are very tangy, almost slightly bitter and not sweet at all. Maybe that's the "tang" in tangelo. I'm not sure because these are my first...and probably last.
Not being one to let them get away with this without raising a protest, I went to their Facebook page and posted my disappointment. Right away they said if I would send them an email with the order number, they'd correct their mistake. So, I wrote an email describing how I had ordered California Navels and given them in Christmas fruit baskets. I also told them how I "took heat" for not buying Texas Navels and supporting Texans. I assured them that I wanted Texas Navel Oranges to make a comparison to the ones from California. I even told them that they didn't have to send me the whole 1/2 bushel, just a sample would do.
So I get a response yesterday that they are "so sorry" and will be shipping me a replacement order of California Navels on February 5th. ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME?!! After all my explanation, they are sending me California Navels. So, this morning, I sent back another email and very nicely asked them if the California Navels was a typo. They responded that it was not a typo. Here is most of their response, "All of November and December we do ship our Texas Navel Oranges, then we switch to the California Navels." Well, that's exactly what the website says. . . NOT!!!
I went back to the FB page this morning and posted that I was not only disappointed, but now I'm fed up.:thumbdown:
So Brandi, I really tried to do Texas Navels, but a bunch of dummies down in the Valley are messin' with my head. . . and pocketbook. What do you think?
EDIT: What makes this all worse, is that I saw 10 lb bags of beautiful big navel oranges in Sam's Club last week for $5.98 a bag. That works out to about 1/4 per lb for what I paid for my Pittman & Davis 'mystery' oranges.
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Jim, Orange you still going to eat them? and why so adamant about getting naval oranges, just have your grandson draw anchors on them and you will have "naval" oranges!:flag-navy::laughing: yeah, I took medication today)
Brother you tried, just be glad Brandie cant put you in the "dog house":thumbsup: I was at Brookshires yesterday on the way home from Dallas, I had a taste for some Texas oranges, but the ones they had looked slightly "Green" in color. They had plenty of "purdy" Cali oranges but the ones I got last week where half peel???
and why so adamant about getting naval oranges, just have your grandson draw anchors on them and you will have "naval" oranges!:flag-navy::laughing: yeah, I took medication today) Brother you tried, just be glad Brandie cant put you in the "dog house":thumbsup: I was at Brookshires yesterday on the way home from Dallas, I had a taste for some Texas oranges, but the ones they had looked slightly "Green" in color. They had plenty of "purdy" Cali oranges but the ones I got last week where half peel???
Bird
Rest in Peace
Jim, I guess we all think of Texas, California, and/or Florida when we think of citrus, but we spent February, 1990, in Phoenix, AZ. Old friends who lived there had a fine crop of grapefruit in their yard, and neighbors in the RV park we stayed in gave us more grapefruit and oranges from their local trees than we could eat.
