There are very few artists where you can throw a dart at a random collection of their work and the dart will hit a masterpiece. Shishkin is one of those artists. You can randomly choose anything he painted and it will look great on any wall in your house. Peder Mork Monsted is likely to be the only other artist who approaches Shishkin in this regard.
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Microwaves
Our old one died yesterday. It had been telegraphing that it was unhappy. Fortunately, Mrs ERJ had suggested that I purchase one ahead of time. It was a small matter to unplug the old one and install the new. I added a label indicating that it was put into service on Feb 2, 2026. I am curious to see how long a microwave works.
Eight years ago, yesterday
My brother went into hospice. Tough times.
I got a call from the property
A tree blew over and is leaning across the road. The top of the tree was caught in the branches of the tree on the other side.
I will call back and see if there is some place for me to park the truck. There is snow everywhere. Rust, rot, decay and gravity never sleep.
So, if I took a child surfing in heavy weather, took a child to a rave or to midnight street racing, I would likely lose custody of that child even if the child was not injured.
Given prior events, "a reasonable person" would likely conclude that tear-gas will be deployed if your buddies are trying to breach the perimeter fence of a Federal facility.
In my universe, the parent(s) are guilty of putting that child in harms-way. Blaming ICE for doing their job is to turn the children into human shields.
Many seeds require a period of cold, damp storage to break-down their dormancy requirements.
A typical sequence involves fully rehydrating the seeds with a twenty-four hour water soak. Since they are not metabolically active, there are no worries about "drowning" them in anaerobic conditions. Some types of seeds rehydrate better when soaked in warm or hot water.
Next, the seeds are combined with damp porous media that allows oxygen to reach the seeds and stored at 40F to 45F for sixty-to-ninety days.
It boggles the mind to think that May 1 is only 90 days (give or take a few) from today.
In addition to the acorns (Quercus rubra (Pennsylvania source), Q. macrocarpa (Missouri) and Q. macrocarpa x robur hybrids) and pecans (Kanza and Goosepond) I have in cold storage, I am rehydrating:
The links have pretty good descriptions of the species.
The picture in my head is to mold the treated seeds with clay (and maybe some bone meal) to make pellets that I can sling across the landscape with abandon.
Any leads on clumping bentonite or other appropriate clay will be much appreciated.
Native species
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| Native range of Eastern Redbud |
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| Native range of Northern Red Oak |
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| Native range Bur Oak |
Of all of the species listed, only the Eastern Redbud, Quercus rubra and Q. macrocarpa are considered "native" to Michigan. Pecan and persimmons are native to Indiana's Wabash River valley. Black Locust's native range is difficult to pin down but most "experts" concede that it is native to the northern-eastern half of the Ohio River valley. Some maps show Northern Bayberry being native as far west as Erie, Pennsylvania on the southern shore of Lake Erie
"Sunday is a day of rest".
I slept in until 6:00 a.m.
Mrs ERJ is still not fully recovered from the flu. I went to Mass today while she stayed home.
I took a nap once I got home.
Very little blog-worthy activity happened.
Bonus Images
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| Refrigerator Door Art. Quicksilver, age 3 |
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| Bur Oak twigs from a fire-ecology adapted strain |
I usually don't start off with the "negatives" of a video but will make an exception for this one.
If you ever feel compelled to post a video to social media, don't make your 15 year-old granddaughter the star. Don't include businesses with their phone-number on the buildings in the background. Don't take footage of unique memorials* that nerds can track down to exact GPS location.
Another thing about this channel is my perception that the grandmother (76 years-old) is profoundly unhealthy. Maybe readers who specialize in geriatric patients can tell me I am wrong, but she looks like she suffers from water-retention issues (congestive heart failure/kidney failure/high blood pressure/obesity) and might have a couple more years left on her clock...maybe.
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Finally, the dog. The girl seems to be a recent addition to the farm. Perhaps she was in a city getting bombed or was closer to the front. She brought her dog with her, probably for emotional support. An elderly, morbidly-obese
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| The farm equipment works around the islands with the trees. |
In this video the young woman and the grandmother collect walnuts and chestnuts from local trees. Presumably, a third person is running the camera, perhaps the young woman's mother.
In Michigan, this would be happening about October 1.
What I like about this video is that in the US we take great pains to NOT plant "messy" trees like fruit trees and nut trees. They are seen as a liability in terms of labor required to clean-up and the potential for litigation due to slips-and-falls and the potential for attracting stinging insects. That is the attitude of a wealthy country.
In a poor country, every item in the farm-yard is expected to contribute to the family economy.
As an aside, "economy", "ecology" and "ecosystem" share the same Greek root-word, "Oikos" (οἶκος) which means "home". The term "Home economics" is redundant.
Depending on the species, trees can be sources of:
This list kind of list is never complete. I listed the uses in roughly in the order of the "value" to a near-subsistence Oikos. Obviously, the order will vary depending on local circumstances.
If I compare the typical species found in a suburban, Michigan yard against the list of potential benefits:
Nuts
What is most intriguing about this video is that they collect the nuts to sell in town. That is, the nuts are a cash crop.
Later in the video, the young woman cracks walnuts for a dessert. If you look closely you will see that she is cracking the "seconds", that is, the nuts with the stained shells. They sold the bright "#1s" and kept the "#2" for personal use. That makes sense since the buyer was probably paying four times as much per kilo for the #1s.
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The young woman is very practical. She uses the money from selling the nuts to purchase a pair of winter boots and to buy a pole and line for fishing.
Transportation
The family relies very heavily on a repurposed roto-tiller as a source of traction. That seems silly to me as a guy who thinks it is trivial to move 80 pounds of cargo in a wheelbarrow. Key point, I am a guy and the two characters in this video are not.
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This is not a very efficient or stable means of transportation but it is a case of working with what you have. I suspect that the "tractor" is newly purchased, perhaps with funds from the Youtube channel.
The motor on the unit is identified as a "Bizon 170F". The internet seems to think that is a 211cc, 7hp gasoline engine manufactured in China.
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*I originally thought this was from the Ukraine but now think it is from Russia or Belarus. There is a very short sequence where a bust of Lenin is visible in a small, roadside park and there is a War Memorial park with static displays of a T-34 and a MiG-21.
Random fact: At one time, if you had $200k USD and the proper permissions you could purchase your very own, private MiG-21
