A seven month-old child gets hearing aids. Hears her father's voice. Reaction starts at the 14 second mark. 30 second run-time.
Today's work-tickets
Mow Southern Belle's orchard and go for a walk with her.
Go to the store and buy some non-perishable foods to top off our pantry for the winter. We are six jars of peanut butter and five jars of instant coffee shy of our "Max" storage target.
Visit a friend on Bellevue Hwy. I verbally committed to purchase an item from him, now I need to give him the money and take delivery.
Go for a walk with Mrs ERJ.
Keep working on the fence. Get a tub in the pasture to hold water.
Contact a neighbor and purchase two, big round-bales of hay.
Small bits-and-pieces
I need to get better at finding tasks that I can squeeze into five minute chunks of time. One of the consequences of Southern Belle's new job arrangement is that Quicksilver's drop-off time varies from day-to-day.
I need to put down the lap-top and do something productive, even if it is just putting away laundry.
I recently picked up the book Snaring for Survival by Newt Sterling. He briefly mentions firearms as being useful for dispatching animals that you captured but are still alive. Some of them are large enough to be a threat to life and limb. Others, like raccoons, can deliver painful bites and are potential carriers of rabies.
"A .22 rimfire rifle is an excellent survival tool
There are plenty of affordable, rugged single-shot bolt action rifles and the smaller, kid's models are short, light, and easy to carry and store. Bolt actions are the most dependable and easiest to maintain in rough situations....In my opinion, there is no need for a scope because you will be shooting at close range...
Rifles are much more accurate than handguns."
For example, the Savage Rascal is on sale now at Sportsman's Warehouse for $149. That price is comparable to the cost of the very cheapest Hi-Point handgun. It weighs 44 ounces, is 30.6" long has adjustable iron-sights and two attachment points for a sling. Even though it is marketed as a "kid's gun", it is a competent weapon in the hands of somebody who knows what they are doing.
I remember one night, around 1957 or so, when the dogs bayed a wild hog in the corner of our front yard. Our mother told me and my brother that if we could kill that hog, the family could eat for a week. I vividly remember the terror I felt as my brother rested the single-shot .22 against a porch support and aimed at that raging hog. He killed it with one shot. I don't know how long that hog fed us, but I do know we spent the rest of the night cleaning it. -Junior Doughty
...one of the largest grizzlies ever recorded was killed in 1953 with a single shot from a .22 rifle wielded by a tiny Canadian Cree grandmother named Bella Twin.Source
The dainty size means that you can pack it in a kayak or canoe or squirrel it away in the rafters of a garden shed. Pro-tip, put a piece of masking tape over the muzzle to keep dirt and bugs out of the barrel. The bolt-action and lack of a magazine means that you can fire "quiet" ammo like CB and .22 shorts and low-velocity .22LR with absolute reliability.
Even though the rifle is offered with stocks molded in many bright, vivid colors, the matte-black is less likely to attract attention.
There are other single-shot, bolt action rifles on the market. The Cricket is notable for offering a stainless steel barrel at almost exactly the same price-point and there are various used models on the market.
I am getting just slightly less than two pounds per 1/2 gallon jar.
It is gratifying to see these old war-horses (jars) put back into use.
I am using the pestle from the Squeezo strainer to pack the oatmeal in. I fill the jar about 2/3 full and then pack it. Then I fill it to the top and pack it again. Refill, one more pack. Then off to the vacuum pump.
Excitement last night
We had three sets of fire trucks go screaming past our house last night between 7:30 and 8:00 PM.
That means it was a call large enough to justify "mutual aid". I suspect a grass fire.
Weight
I lost seven pounds since mid-August. It is a combination of being busy and eating less. My belt is telling me that my body-composition is shifting as well.
Walking
One of the things that changed is that Southern Belle's job changed to much more from-home, screen-time. Mrs ERJ and I attempt to support her by going for a walk with her at mid-day. That gets SB some human contact, exercise, sunlight and perspective.
It also means that on the days one of us walks with SB, we get a double-dose of exercise because we also go for walks with each other.
On my last walk with SB, we flushed four pheasant and I chatted with one of her neighbors. She has two apple trees... I IDed them as Granny Smith.
Once I suggested that variety, her neighbor asked..."But why are the apples gray?"
The answer is that some varieties are susceptible to a skin condition called Apple Sooty Blotch. It does not affect the eating quality of the apple or its suitability for pies but it is unsightly. Granny seems to be more affected than most other varieties.
SB's neighbor favors sweet apples although her husband LOVES Granny Smiths. I sort-of volunteered to graft Melrose or some other sweet apple on one of SB's neighbor's trees.
Fertilizer and fence posts
I spread limestone and potash where the trees will be planted in the two, "Dacha" orchards. I saw a pretty nice buck run off while stomping around the north orchard. He was about 100 yards off when I noticed him and running directly away from me. It is nice to know that not all of the deer out there died.
I dug the holes and planted three wooden fence posts for the No Trespassing signs.
I am opting for simple black-and-white signs. The signs are sized to fit on a 3-by-4" cross-piece. Frequent commenter 10x25mm clued me in that the only two colors that are UV resistant (at least in the most common, commodity grade pigments) are black and white. I will add a couple turns of reflective tape to the post beneath the sign to make it more visible in low-light.
I did not have time to verify the cordless drills.
AI melting down
NASDAQ (a stock exchange) is down about 4% in the last five days.
The drop is due to various AI ventures collapsing. EVERYBODY knew there were too many players starting up but that didn't stop investors from piling into them. The FED has been pumping money into the economy to keep it juiced up. Those dollars had to land somewhere.
Vertical line is when Trump was sworn in. Biden dropped rates staring in July 2024 to juice up his chances of winning in November.
Do you see that tiny up-tick on the extreme right side of the chart? That is what is causing everybody to lose their minds. The AI "build-out" eats money and it is BORROWED money. Revenue is mostly somewhere in the distant future. Tiny twitches in the cost of borrowing money body-slams the NPV of AI investments. The house-of-cards is tumbling. AI valuations are the tent-poles holding up the tent (i.e. NASDAQ, S&P 500).
Ironically, the mainstream media is screaming for lower interest rates "because of the high cost of living". Historically, the only way to rein-in higher costs (of the physical item or service) is to reduce consumption via higher interest rates. Lowering interest rates means that Billy and Kaeshona can afford to buy more crap that they don't need and eat at restaurants more often...thus jacking up the prices.
This is a time for focus. Keep your priorities straight. Focus on those items that are most under your control. Don't get sucked into the frog-blender. If you have any critical items stored in a storage unit, this might be a good time to go and fetch them.
A lot will depend on how the police chiefs and mayors react if violence breaks out after the elections. Your city may be fine while another city 30 miles away will see businesses might shut-down due to vandalism and looting.
For those who read the Bible, Nehemiah 4:5-17 might be instructive.
I used a bowl of Wild Cherry Pepsi for bait. The first time I have purchased soda-pop in over a year. I coveted the 1-1/2l bottle.
R.O.U.S. stands for a Rodent Of Unusual Size.
Rabbits
I am still enjoying the videos (copied from T.V. series) on wartime cooking in U.K. during WWII. The series has an urban focus but they mention that rural people had a harder time getting tobacco and seafood than the city people. In turn, the rural people had more meat and they specifically mentioned "rabbit".
Snippets from a collection of essays Life on the Old Farm by Tom Quinn
"...starve half a sheep to the acre..." when the post-myxy virus planning numbers are about five-ewes-per-acre. Myzy entered the U.K. from the continent sometime in the very early 1950s.
There were literally hundreds of pounds of rabbits per acre living in the hedgerows and in tunnels beneath the stone fences that surrounded the fields.
I split some White Spruce rounds. I won't go out of my way to get any more. Many "pin" knots made the larger, older pieces very difficult to split.
I could not get the motor on the wood-splitter to start, not even with ether.
I had lunch with my siblings. I brought up the topic of caretakers for dementia patients. My sister reminded me that many dementia patients develop intense paranoia ("Hey! Who moved the bathroom?") and anger and anger directed at their caretakers. My sister also reminded me that as doctors retire or are replaced by a new set of specialists, they often look at drug choices and dosing and make changes based on their preference "Hey, we can titer that down to a level that will not require pre-approval from your insurance company" and the resulting train-wreck is blamed on dementia progressing.
Today's work-tickets
Verify the accuracy of my cordless drills.
Post "No Trespassing signs".
Question for my readers
Do you have any opinions on metal detectors? It could be valuable when looking for lost tools and fence wires buried beneath the tall grass. $100 now might be a good investment because of potential, future shortages of replacements.
Random photos
Interstem varieties in the foreground. Quince in the midground. MM106 in the background. Grafted trees on the right-rear.
In jolly, ol' England, words have been determined to be as violent as the actual event they depict. People are now incarcerated for speaking plainly and for writing words that "create ideation or incite violence".
England is belatedly repudiating one of the most prolific female mass-murderers in history. To show their sincerity, they are returning all taxes that were ever collected from this murderer's activities and gifting them to quaint native peoples (Picts, Celts, Saxons and so-on). But since there is no budget for the reparations, all government employees are to be assessed a reduction-in-pay until the reparations are paid.
The perpetrator of these murders was, of course, Agatha Christie, whose bodies (pun intended) of work are so vast that her fans are unable to agree on how many people she murdered over the course of her writing career. However, analysis of the Hercules Poirot series suggests that 82 people were murdered, committed suicide or were targets of attempted murder. And that was just ONE series from this prolific dealer-of-death.
Actual photo of the murderess. The top photo is a representation of one of her characters.
The following story was shared by a neighbor of mine. I have 95% confidence that something like this happened. I have 90% confidence that the major details are mostly correct.
Picture in your head four guys sitting in a backyard, drinking beers and watching a fire. It is about an hour before sunset on a Friday or Saturday evening.
The four buddies all work in concrete/masonry/paving or a related profession.
One of the men points to the east and asks "What the hell is that doing?"
The men's heads swivel. There is a medium-sized drone "eyeballing" the host's children's play structure. The structure is on stilts and has a castle-like enclosure on top. The drone is flitting from side-to-side and the camera is looking through the windows.
The drone departs.
The men, angry, follow in two vehicles.
The drone flies east and is apparently following the road to navigate.
The drone flies for approximately a half-mile and then lands in front of a garage.
The men pull into the drive.
A man comes out of the house.
The owner of the drone brandishes a firearm before the men say a word.
The man tells the four amigos to leave his property...and he discharges his firearm to demonstrate that he is serious.
Presumed pedophile is now in the hands of the justice system and facing charges of "Brandishing". Four witnesses vs. one accused.
Some of the backstory on the flier of the drone is that he had "involvement" with the justice system as a youth but that involvement is fire-walled off from his current, adult history.
My guess is that the peeping-Tom will be back in the community because the soft-hearted prosecutor will not want to send a (circumstantial evidence) pedophile to prison because it will not go well for him. Furthermore, by their own admission, the four men had enjoyed an adult-beverage or two before the encounter, a fact that will undoubtedly be brought up repeatedly by the drone-owner's defense.
The owner of the drone would be well advised to find another place to live.
The take-away is that reusable drones must fly home to be recharged. That is a finger pointing back at the operator.
Bonus video
A homesteader who uses a drone to check his fences and investigate when his driveway alarm chimes. You have to be a bit patient with this video. I port you into it when he starts talking about the security cameras...then he talks about his food dehydrator for a bit. Then at the 5:08 mark he starts talking about his drone.
He has programs that follow his fences. He has a program that runs up his driveway. He has a program that swings wide of his driveway and checks the road in front of his property. He has programs that checks his animals out in the pasture (agitated animals can be a clue).
I got the lube in the differential carrier topped off
Like a lot of things, the actual doing was much less of an issue than what I feared. The plug is on the back of the diffy-carrier and the back is flat enough that I did not need an extension. The 3/8" square drive on my standard ratchet inserted all the way into the female feature on the plug. A longer handle might have been nice, but it did not take a super-human amount of torque to get it out.
If I had to guess, I added 10-to-12 oz of fluid before it started bleeding out of the access port. Then, after wiping the plug clean, I reinserted and torqued to approximately the torque it took to remove it.
Work continues on the fence
I added an in-line surge suppressor on the power cord to the fence energizer.
I removed more weeds and replace damaged insulators.
I moved a salt-block out to the soon-to-be pasture. The best fences have feed, water and a salt block all on the same side of the fence as the animals.
Cleaning 1/2 gallon mason jars
They used to hold cider. Some kind of organic film deposited on the inside. Hard-water deposits on the outside.
I ran 16 of them through the dishwasher with "Iron-out" to remove the hard-water deposits.
I tried isopropyl alcohol but it did not dissolve the organic film.
Mrs ERJ suggested bleach-and-water. It worked like a charm. See! It pays to listen to your wife.
Picking persimmons
We picked a couple of grocery bags of Lehman's Delight persimmons yesterday. Quicksilver helped.
Quicksilver likes things to be "right". For instance, she tossed the ones that were ripe enough to be ready to eat right now because they were soft. She tossed the ones that had any spider-webbing on them. If a stick broke off with three or four persimmons on it, she insisted on peeling them off of the stick before putting them into her bag.
I picked them primarily to collect the seeds.
Lipstick mushrooms
We walked past a pile of woodchips after picking the persimmons and there were two colonies of "lipstick mushrooms" on it. They were rubbery and could be bent down and they almost went "Boing!" when released.
Quicksilver was intrigued.
Shopping
Two bags of duck food and one bag of potash fertilizer.
Five-year chart, price of DAP, a source of Phosphorous. Images added to address a question in comments about price history of fertilizers. Note that the bottom of the graph is NOT zero.
Morocco/Algeria is a major source of DAP and natural gas is used in the production of it.
Price of Potash a source of potassium. Canada is a major source of potas
Price of Urea. Urea is a common source of nitrogen and every major producer of natural gas (including Russia and the countries around the Persian Gulf) also produces urea.
Finding a misplaced tool
I found a sickle that I had absent-mindedly placed on a handy but out-of-the-way horizontal surface.
That made me happy for two reasons. For one, it is always nice to recover a tool that I have misplaced. The second reason is that I am no longer in fear of stepping on it and getting cut or hitting it with a mower.
I replaced the straw in the duck dormitory
Like adding lube to the diffy-carrier, the job was not that difficult in spite of the limited access.
Privacy film
Mrs ERJ asked me to install "privacy film" along the bottom of the windows in one of our rooms.
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