Vegetable seedlings, Rain, Turkeys and Figgy Duff

 

The roller-rack that Mrs ERJ suggested that I purchase for starting garden seeds. I have 5000 lumen shop-lights attached to the bottoms of two of the shelves.

30 Stupice tomatoes on the left side of the tray (pigmented stems) and 20 Rose de Bern on the right side.

25 broccoli seedlings in the back and 25 Federle tomato seedlings in the foreground

Some lovage seeds sulkily germinating. The articles on the internet say to expect 7-to-10 days before they show any signs of life.

Rain

We picked up another 2" of rain today for a seven-day total of 3.5" of rain. 

Turkey season

Kubota, alas, is a bird hunter. You do your best and try to guide your children in the paths of righteousness...and what do they do? 

$20 a shell. The economy shells are still $1.50 a shell

Wild Turkeys were hunted to the point of total expatriation extirpation in Michigan by farmers using 12 (1-1/4 oz), 16 (1 oz) and 20 gauge, (7/8 oz) paper-shelled shotgun loads of #6 shot fired through single-shot firearms with full chokes. Modern turkey are make of Kevlar and reactive armor and require exotic loads. Not.

The issue is that the 1930s farmer knew the range limitations of his weapon and ammo. It doesn't take rocket-science to put a turkey into the stew-pot if you restrict your maximum range to 30 yards. BUT...if you are shooting for long beards and want to reach out to 45 or 50 yards...yeah, you are going to have to drop the big dollars. 

From the Hodgdon Reloading website

I have some #5 shot, 3"Fiocchi hulls, Longshot powder and appropriate wads for 1-7/8oz loads (about 320 pellets of #5). 

I am feeling an urge to help Kubota out in the ammo department. It would be pretty cool to mimic the Federal Flitecontrol shells...they pattern very densely. Cool, but not necessary. He will be throwing twice as much mass downrange as a standard 20 gauge and (I think) he has a Red Dot scope so he should be able to center the pattern on the head with precision.

For what it is worth, he is in the market for a used semi-auto 12 gauge shotgun. Goose, duck and turkey loads have a lot of recoil and semi-autos take some of the bite out of them. Frankly, I think he should save a little bit longer and purchase a new Silver Eagle or similar product. But what do I know?
 

Bonus video

AI content 

This is for my four readers from Canada. One of you has a wife whose family came from the Maritime provinces. You might want to jump ahead to the 17:30 mark.

You cannot make this stuff up

"Why don't you look at me when I am talking?" Mrs ERJ asked as we walked around the track. We were walking our daily 40 minutes at a local track. We were going counter-clockwise and I was in the outside lane.

"I think I pulled a muscle in my neck or shoulder and cannot turn my head to the left" I replied.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

I pondered whether to share that information or not. Finally, I decided to share, pride-be-damned.

"I think I pull that muscle while I was napping" I replied.

"What???" Mrs ERJ said with surprise.

"I was dreaming that I was crossing a road and about to get hit by a bunch of cars. So I leaped toward the other side. Unfortunately, my right arm was trapped underneath me and didn't move" I summarized.

Bonus images

 

Dude(?) on left is the father in one of the videos Quicksilver was watching.

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!