Interlude; a dry day between rainy ones

 

I opened up the door to the duck-run. They now have access to the garden.

Happy Rich cut-and-come-again broccoli seedlings. Planted Sunday.

Twenty-five of the seedlings moved to 2"-by-2" cells.

I am making a major effort to not overproduce seedlings.

Grumble, grumble, grumble....

Armstrong fiberglass drop-ceiling panel, 24" x 48" x 5/8", Model Number: 404B

I have three of them in-stock in my garage. This is the unfaced side which is usually invisible when installed in a drop ceiling.

It cuts easily with a knife.

Fiberglass batting is generally considered difficult to ignite.

Note that what is often called "fiberglass" is a material that combines glass roving and a flammable resin. That kind of material IS flammable.

I installed the unfaced side closest to the 20 Watt heating mat. 

Price of fuel in Europe, Inflammatory comments and Fishing

The price of gasoline in Germany is reported to be $9/gallon (converted to units most of my readers can visualize). The price of diesel is $10 a gallon. Source

Eaton Rapids, we have ignition

Watching brush burn counts as light duty

Temperatures near the 20W heating mat

Concerns were raised in the comments of an earlier post about the potential for fires when using heating mats near cardboard.

The mats are 20" long by 10" wide. They are sized to sit beneath standard, nursery seedling trays. Twenty Watts spread over 200 square-inches is not a lot of power density.

The good news is that I have inexpensive ways to get data. That means that I don't have to rely opinions.

 

The temperature at the top of the potting soil.

The temperature of the heating mat directly beneath the pot.

The temperature of the cardboard directly beneath the heating mat where the previous image was measured.

In other, local news

I purchased my 2026 fishing license yesterday.

I went fishing at the mill pond just a few blocks away from where I purchased the license.

Panning from left-to-right across the pond

A little bit to the right of this image there was a goose who was sitting on a nest.

I did not have any bites from either from the fish or the goose.

Fiddly work and some garden pron

Thank-you to all of the readers who suggested ways I can deal with my joint pain. I have been on light-duty, stretching, taking additional Vitamin C and praying/meditating. I seem to be bouncing back.

I got three more hours time-on-task yesterday because the afternoon rains were a no-show.

The light-duty was to drive T-posts and to secure fruit trees to them. Unfortunately, the most productive rootstocks usually have brittle roots and are notorious for leaning over.

I used 1/2", polyester "pull tape" to tie the trees to the posts and was very happy with the material. The ends frayed rapidly, so I had a piezoelectric igniting, propane torch handy. I gently toasted the ends when I cut a piece from the spool.

It was slow, fiddly work. The good news is that it was not physically challenging.

I also moved some bags of cow poop from the truck to the Hill Orchard and I pruned a Northern Spy apple tree.

Bonus pictures

Planted in 2015. 

Stupice tomato seeds, planted Sunday afternoon. Picture taken early Wednesday morning

Crackerjack Marigold seeds planted Sunday afternoon

Happy Rich broccoli seeds planted Sunday afternoon

I was able to increase the soil temperatures by placing four layers of corrugated cardboard underneath the 20W heating mat. If insulation prevents most of the heat from going down, then it will go up.

We have lots of cardboard boxes.

Bonus video footage

 Allegedly recorded at a No Kings rally. One minute run-time.

Fat is a virtue...as long as I am fat...

 

Is it just me, or does it seem odd that all of these icons of "the equitable treatment of fat individuals" and "body positivity" and "fat acceptance" are now taking GLP-1 pharma shots/pills?

Suddenly, being morbidly obese is no longer a virtue. Oh, the miracles of chemistry and being able to afford high-end health insurance! 

Country-girls (sorry, no pictures)

Picture, if you will, your humble scribe driving west on M-50 to the grain elevator to purchase some asparagus crowns.

I was following a truck that had a fork-truck tucked into the rear. I was impressed that the turn signals on the fork-truck were slaved to the signals of the mother-truck. It was indicating that it was going to turn left off of M-50 and into Eaton Greens subdivision.

As it turned, four, 12' long, 6x6 timbers tumbled off of the deck of the mother-truck completely blocking the eastbound lane of M-50.

Well, that was an accident waiting to happen.

I pulled over, flipped on my hazard lights and parked.

I had the second one moved off the road when a truck pulled over and an itty-bitty woman hopped out. "Need help?" she asked. She was wearing a "MOO-ville" tee shirt, jeans and sneakers.

I suggested that she could move the stringers and strapping while I moved the last two big pieces.

I looked up after dumping the third piece on the grass and she was holding up one end of that last piece. "Let's go!" she encouraged me. "I see some traffic coming".

I hustled on over and grabbed the other end and we tossed that piece beside the other three. She dusted off her hands and hopped back into her truck, all 5'-0" of her. Then she drove off.

I, on the other hand, turned around and drove into the subdivision to find the driver of the truck who lost his load.

He was a big, young guy and pretty obviously from-the-city. I explained that he had lost his load and that I had seen a itty-bitty country-girl move the pieces from the center of M-50 and toss them into somebody's yard (which was absolutely true of the stringers and strapping and partially true for the big pieces).

I can only imagine his surprise when he latched a hold of one of the 6x6s to throw it back onto the deck of his truck. Those pieces weigh about 150 pounds each. Those itty-bitty country-girls are strong!

Worms

After learning that the asparagus crowns would not be ordered until mid-April, I drove over to Southern Belle's to dig a trench. The plan was to bury the corrugated drain tile that carried rain from her gutters away from the foundation.

Quicksilver supervised while I dug.

She also collected earthworms. She had quite a handful in short order.

I suggested that if she wanted to use both hands that she could hold the worms in her mouth. She thought that I was a very funny guy.

It turned out that she had a plan. After collecting a bunch of worms, she went over to the chickens and fed them treats. The chickens and Quicksilver were both delighted.

For my part, I was able to get 50' of tile buried in 69 minutes. I did not complete the back-filling but put enough on it so it wouldn't go floating off if we get rain today. Southern Belle and Handsome Hombre can finish filling.

It also looks like I have a fishing-buddy; a country-girl who likes worms. 

Fine Art Tuesday

 

Agony in the Garden I

Carl Bloch was a Danish artist who was born in 1834 and died in 1890.

He was commissioned to produce twenty-three paintings for the King's Chapel at Frederiksborg Castle which he painted between 1865 and 1879.

His wife died in 1886 leaving him with eight children to care for. He died four years later of cancer at the age of 55.

Suffer the Children come Unto Me

Agony in the Garden II

The Transfiguration

Peter's denials

The Crucifiction

The Burial of Jesus