This and that

Another three hours time-on-task at The Property, four-hours-by-the-clock.

Filling the trench involves skiving the edges and putting the shavings into the trench (foreground), then adding fill sand to bring it up to grade (background). Then after rain settles it, add topsoil and grass-seed.

Spraying weeds. Filling trenches. Toting fertilizer.

As I was getting ready to leave, one of the neighbors walked across the street to check his mail. He wanted to talk.

He doesn't have a lot of time left on the clock. His doctor strongly suggested that it was time for him to check into hospice/palliative care. He refused.

We shot-the-shit about the dangers of speaking poorly of others. I suggested that if nothing else, you can always admire the other fellow's dog. That got a wheezy chuckle out of him.

Last week, he got his Buick stuck and called me over. He REALLY wanted to get the car unstuck before his wife came home and gave him holy-hell for leaving the house. Between the two of us and six buckets of dry gravel, we got him unstuck although he left some outrageous ruts in his yard. As I got about the tasks I had on MY list, I looked across the road and saw him attempting to repair the damage to the grass.

The next time I was at The Property, the old-geezer's wife quizzed me. I denied all knowledge of said-geezer getting stuck (which I will have to confess). She knew I was lying but didn't seem too mad about it.

Quicksilver

Quicksilver accompanied me this morning as I prepared for today's work.

We had to buy donuts to fortify ourself for the strenuous activity. Quicksilver is fond of donuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. A gentleman always makes it his business to learn the lady's preferences.

Then we went to the landscape supply emporium to buy a half-yard (1200 pounds) of fill sand. Of course, she dazzled them with her charm but they still charged me full price.

Seeds

It is common knowledge that "root vegetables" do not respond well to being transplanted. The only exception(s) to this are beets and (maybe) daikon. The root of the beet is, apparently, as much a swollen stem as it is a root. So it doesn't matter if the tap-root is all folded up, it still forms a round ball of sweet goodness.

Another weird thing about beets is that each seed is usually multiple seeds, like string of firecrackers. You might think you planted one seed but five or eight plants pop up and you need to thin-out the surplus, otherwise they will all be stunted.

I have to admit that thinning the surplus seedlings from a seedling tray while sitting at a table is much more attractive than doing it while kneeling and bending over in the garden. I only planted 25 seeds (cv. "Merlin") but intend to plant another 25 in a couple of weeks.

Compared to the subsistence gardeners farming the Ukrainian dachas, I am a bumbling newbie. But maybe an old dog can learn some new tricks.

Muskellunge

Muskellunge or "Muskie" are apex predator, freshwater fish very similar to the south's Alligator Gar or the saltwater Barracuda.

While reading the Michigan DNR fishing guide, I learned that the Michigan DNR believes that monster Muskie inhabit one of the creeks near The Property. In fact, anglers are not allowed to keep Muskie from that creek that are shorter than 50 inches (1.27e+10 angstrom in metric). How close does that creek run to the property? According to Google, it comes within 729 feet of The Property.

Unfortunately, Michigan regulations do not allow "unattended lines" which means I am not legally able to set a rig and then go work on The Property and then check the line when I am done for the day. 

God is great, beer is good and people are crazy

 

Another day of phoning-in my performance.

Maybe something more profound than this song will come to my attention, but I doubt it. 

The outrage and victimhood is fake, too. They just want to get their rocks-off by inflicting pain.

 

Music, Fashion, Pictures and Murder...Who needs tabloids?

 

 Watching in full-screen mode is highly recommended

Just for fun. "Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm..."

Fashion is a form of ugly so hideous it must be changed every six months

In the past, the US Forest agency fined timber companies that did not cut closely enough to the ground. The companies claimed that they had to leave higher stumps on the trees growing on steep slopes but the USF agents pointed at the specifications in the contracts and accused the companies of "wasting" wood.

The timber companies groused about all of the trees that were drowned in reservoirs when they filled. Anglers were divided on the issue. Some cover is good. Too much cover means you lose a lot of lures.

Now the pendulum is swinging back the other way. This research out of Europe proposes that the "crappy trees" that are not economical to mill into lumber be topped out at 6'-to-13' and the tall-stumps be left in place to rot and provide nesting habitat. The plan for very-high latitude sites is to leave between 2 and 4 of these stubs per-acre.

Hat-tip to Tireless. 

Random pictures

Another wheelbarrow back "on-line".

Asparagus planted April 22 starting to pop up.

They look so peaceful when you can sneak up on them while they are sleeping. This one was inside the duck/garden enclosure. The "tell" were the fresh crumbles of soil at the mouth of the den.

Technologies that were not available to consumers 20 years ago. I am still shocked when a "kid" scans a QR code, pushes a button and a service is paid for. Hat-tip to Tireless

Slow response times

I am embarrassed to report that I appear to be ghosting people due to my slow response time. Please give me the benefit of the doubt when I am slow to respond. Maybe things will slow down by June 10ish. Maybe.

One of my friends (who reads this blog) offered me some incredible batteries. They are industrial-quality lead-acid batteries that are used for critical infrastructure support and they are regularly changed out while they are well above 80% life-remaining.

I regretfully declined the offer because the assorted demands on my time (several of which I don't share on the blog) mean that I don't have time to integrate systems and dial them in. I need pre-engineered systems that are plug-and-play.

The opportunity cost of tinker-toying together a system with various parts means that I will not be controlling weeds in my orchard(s) and garden(s).

Murdersicles

I have a brother who loves motorcycles. Well, OK, I have two brothers who love motorcycles.

Link

But one of them is trying to get me excited about a Chinesium Enduro (street-legal) Commuter bike. I have to admit that the ability to commute to The Property and back (70 mile round trip) on a gallon of gas is enticing.

Given the specific power of the engine and a frame designed for dirt-biking, the bike should be able to run for 50 years as long as the cam-shaft was properly hardened and the owner changes the oil. 

Bonus video I

Bonus video eleven 

The ride that he picked out for me is a Honda clone with a 230cc, 4-stroke engine that makes 14hp and has a top speed of 65 mph. MSRP of about $1700 but cheaper if you shop around.

He candidly stated that his wife is not very keen on him buying another motorcycle, otherwise he would buy one...but she is fine if I buy one. My problem is that Mrs ERJ might not be too keen on me buying any motorcycle given my age and the slower reaction times and healing that goes with that.

As my dad once told me "There is no such thing as 'soft gravel'. There is loose gravel and there is packed gravel, but it is never soft gravel." 

Fine Art Tuesday

 

Charles Marion Russell was born in Missouri in 1864 and died in 1926. He produced an astounding 2000 cataloged works during his lifetime.

Even though many of his paintings seem "starved" for detail it is part of his technique for producing the dusty, barren feel of the desert in his paintings, that is, a thin (fast drying) wash of paint. The nubbly texture of the canvas adds a washed-out coarseness that simulates the cobble of the wind-scoured ground.

For example, from the picture above we have

Russell was also notable for his sympathetic but not overly romantic portrayal of Native Americans.

In his spare time, he also did sculpture.

Russell was blessed to live in a time that adored his work. Cowboy novels sold for a nickel or a dime each, Wild West Circus shows toured the east, and Teddy Roosevelt, the icon of a sickly eastern dude who had gone west and returned as a virile man, had done much to bring "The West" into the awareness of the average American.

A tip of the hat to the erudite 10x25mm for suggesting this artist. 

Can you see me now?

 

Can you see him. I didn't at first

I mowed the lawn. I secured the garden to keep the ducks in and to discourage rabbits, woodchucks and deer from entering. I did a few smaller, fiddly things like tilling half of the potato patch and planting some cucumber seeds inside. Four hours time-on-task.

Can you see him now? The cameras on phones are outstanding but still cannot compete with the human eye

Mrs ERJ made scrambled duck eggs with fresh asparagus and assorted vegetables from the refrigerator.

Can you see him now? Tree frogs are fairly active even when it is cold outside.

Today's work-tickets include watching Quicksilver, filling trenches, throwing around some fertilizer and planting some tree seeds. The trench filling should go fast since I will be able to shovel directly from the back of the truck.

This time of year I am a gardener who blogs rather than a blogger who gardens. 

First Rule of Flying: Fly the D@mned Plane, everything else can wait

 

2:30 run-time. Bird-strike at 1:11/1:12 mark. Underpants soiled. Propeller imbalanced.

I am curious as to why he picked THAT field. It looked like there were plenty of other candidates. Was he landing into the wind to reduce forward velocity? He landed in a puddle...is that good? 

Life goes on

I am working around the house today. Consequently, I am in-and-out of the house and you get more, shorter posts.

Two teenagers make a day-trip to the-big-city. They spend time at an amusement park. It is a very pleasant day. The park is not crowded. The Japanese Cherry trees are blooming. They play games, eat pizza, walk through a market. The link ports you into the video as they step off of the bus and they get back on the bus for the return trip at the 31 minute mark. It all seems very ordinary.

The amusement park is a scant 75 miles from "the front" in the current Urkaine/Russian war. Women outnumber men by about 4:1 and there are virtually no men walking around who don't have gray hair.

A big tip of the hat to Anon who was able to deduce the location of the amusement park. Many thanks!