What are you up to today???

[brewmaster15]

Chuck, Happy Anniversary to both you and Ellen !!!!!

Al

[Charlyc11]

Thak you Danny and Al. Wonderful time at great restaurant.

[brewmaster15]

Had some storms roll through last night, insane amount of lighting over the house and crashing into the farm field. Across from me. We had a few power fluctuations but a little north of me got hammered, about 95,000 without power. Last year we got hammered with a devastating hail storm, this storm missed me on that but other areas saw incredible hail...





Hail like that destroyed my garden and farm across from me and dented the heck out of cars. I feel real bad for those hit by this hail storm.

We are largely ok here, got hit by a deluge which just ran like a river over my heat baked yard and gravel driveway. Have some branches down and topled garden plants but thankfully not much, just general cleanup. We were supposed to head out today to set up our summer campsite today but it's probably not going to happen now and the next few days are looking stormy. Gotta love it.... No rain when you need it and a deluge when you don't!

Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July !

[Second Hand Pat]

Glad you are ok Al. It rained here delaying the fireworks around us but once the rain stopped it was all flash and boom around us. The folks in Canaveral groves do like their fireworks. I give Angel some sleepy drugs and that seems to help her. Last year there were fireworks debris all over the car, front yard and even in the pool. It took a bit to clean up. This year is more cleaner. Only a little debris on the driveway.

Yesterday Tom and I watched the tall ships sail into New York. That was cool to see even on the tv.
Pat

[jeep]

Any and all fireworks are illegal in my city. It makes for quite a lackluster celebration, but they are fully legal in the neighboring city and boy do they take advantage! I sat out on my front porch for awhile with my attic cat listening to what sounded like D-day less than a mile form me. We had a very slow sprinkling rain all day long with zero wind, and the smoke from the fireworks blanketed the entire metro area. I couldn't see 30 feet from my porch. It was pretty cool though...

[jeep]

Well, it finally gave up. I just walked under this tree about an hour ago. I guess I'll break out the chain saw for my day off..

[chelltom]

wow ....

[jwcarlson]

Doesn't look like it missed the wires by much, Brian! And mother nature took care of the most dangerous part by the looks of it.

Had a fairly busy weekend. Butchered the roosters from the batch of chicks that we hatched in February. About 20 weeks old. They averaged 3.7 pounds (gutted and plucked) when I put them in the freezer last night.

I found a window to mow, but everything is still very wet. Mowed the whole ball of wax this time in preparation for mowing less when work gets crazy in a few weeks and my wife is likely to be doing the mowing. We don't mind letting it go, but it had been "too long" in a good portion of it. Ticks seemed to be on the uptick as well. Pun not intended. Finally got around to getting centralized watering setup for our rabbits. Something I took out for winter when we moved them into the hoophouse, but it's much faster maintenance not have to fill dishes twice a day. Got another part of the hoop house hardware cloth installed. I've got just the back wall to do now.

Did another round of wild parsnip digging as well. It is getting overwhelming... seems like there's the same number of flowering plants every time I go to dig them. I am hoping I can do one more round before the end of July when the work schedule goes crazy. Then it will basically have to be enough at this point. I might break out the spray again as there's quite a few large rosettes that I can dig, but digging hundreds of plants is very time consuming. There's also a handful of hemlock that is still hanging out in one or two areas. I can dig that to some extent, but a lot of it is where it's been forestry mulched which makes it really hard to get a shovel in to lift the plants.

[brewmaster15]

Well, it finally gave up. I just walked under this tree about an hour ago. I guess I'll break out the chain saw for my day off..

Glad you weren't under it! Well looks like you haveore garden space now.

[brewmaster15]

I wanted rain and mother nature more than obliged.. got several inches over the last 2 days and it's rained non stop now since last night. They are calling for 4+ inches by tomorrow morning.... Thankfully it's been a steady soaker.. not the kind that bashes everything to the ground, though a bunch of garden plants will need some propping up tomorrow . Just made spaghetti and red clam sauce with fresh bread for dinner.. It's been a lazy day here, I almost feel guilty I did practically nothing today ... Almost...lol

.

[Second Hand Pat]

Wow Brian, that tree appears to be rotting at it's base?
Pat

[jeep]

It wasn't rotting, it snapped. It grew up near a huge walnut tree and light was scarce on one side so it grew at an angle. The walnut tree is gone now, and I thought it may be able to balance itself out with the proper trimming but it was too far gone. It's been tilting more and more each day. I had removed about 30 feet off the top a couple of months ago but I guess with the hickory nuts growing, it was adding too much weight.

I don't mind losing the tree. I have plans to move my garden to that area anyway, but the timing sucks. Cutting down a tree is last place on my priority list right now, lol...

[jwcarlson]

After work I got a couple of tanks worth of spraying invasive weeds done. I think it's finally starting to appear like I'm thinning them out. Then got a drain valve installed on my goose "pond" livestock tank. Got all of that done about 730. Took a shower and got cleaned up. Then my phone reminded me that I needed to treat my bees. So, it was back out to do that. Thankfully, it went well this time and there wasn't a multi-inch rain event out of nowhere like there was five days ago. Not horrible for a Tuesday evening.

[danotaylor]

Was does “treat my bees” mean mate? Treat them for what & with what, and how often?

[jwcarlson]

Was does “treat my bees” mean mate? Treat them for what & with what, and how often?

For varroa mites.
With oxalic acid vapor.
Every five days for five treatments. But I usually do six.

Will reassess at that time and see. Though work is going to be insane by that time. So... we'll see.