One key to having longevity as a blogger is to share the struggles as well as the triumphs. Success is boring. Spectacular failures are...mesmerizing. Besides, we know that the people who claim to vault from one success to the next without a single misstep are liars.
Today's weather was spectacular. My plan was to catch-up to my planting plan, but it was not to be.
At least half of my sweetcorn and "field" corn had disappeared. Deer tracks and plants that were uprooted suggest that whitetail deer were the primary culprits. Deer are ruminants and most ruminants don't have incisors (cutting teeth) on their upper-jaw. They rely on their lower teeth and their tongue to grip and tear shoots and leaves from the plant.
So today's main task involved replanting the gaps in the rows. I added some pole-beans to most of the rows. Two rows were absolutely hammered, one on the south edge and one in the middle. I planted those to squash.
The good news is that the deer have been ignoring the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers.
I let some turnips go to seed and the pods are shattering. I bet that canola has not only been selected for low erucic acid (C22:1) but also for pods that don't shatter so easily.
I put in stakes to support Handsome Hombre's tomato plants.
I planted two-and-a-half rows of Sweet Sorghum (about 75 feet of row).
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| O.D. of hose quick-connect on motor |
I bought an outboard motor. It is a 5hp Gamefisher (Sears) manufactured by Mercury Marine and I am trying to figure out what kind of hose I need between the fuel tank and the motor. Any guidance from readers regarding the kind of hose I need will be much appreciated.
I already changed the lower-unit grease and ordered spark-plugs and purchased a 3 gallon gas tank on-line.
Did I NEED an outboard motor? No. But it was $100 and it came with two spare props, a stand and "muffs" that hook up to a hose to cool if I want to run it while on the stand and don't want to bother with a five gallon bucket. The rope pulled like it had decent compression. It is pretty hard to kill a water-cooled, two-stroke engine as long as you feed it clean gasoline with the correct oil and gas-oil ratio.
Search for: Chrysler/Force marine fuel connector 5/16 inch
ReplyDeleteEven Walmart carries them.
Deer and other night visitors were why Cherokee children guarded the 3 sisters plots. Loosing corn and dry beans was a hard winter of malnutrition.
ReplyDeleteNight guards might become needful again if food prices continue to climb.
Michael
It's a rotten shame that .GOV makes it hard to acquire a suppressor for quiet shooting. Also in the process of acquiring The gun muffler your name goes on to a list and we know what happens to people on the list when ugly things go bad.
ReplyDeleteCritters that feed on the garden should be turned into a protein source.
A pre-charged pneumatic .22 air rifle is sub-sonic, deadly, and silent, perfect for those garden pests, in my experience. No .gov permission needed.
DeleteStill requires someone with the tools and skillset to BE THERE at O dark thirty when the deer-groundhog and so on show up to eat the garden.
DeleteSnares
DeleteAs I've run a trap line friend, I can assure you that you cannot protect a garden fully with snares. Yes, you'll get some but damage PREVENTION is my point.
DeleteLosing half of your hard earned plantings to get a fat woodchuck or two seems a bad trade off.
When the grocery store is unavailable or too expensive, night guards will become a thing. If for nothing else to keep the 2 legged night predators out.
It's been a long time since I had anything to do with boats, but as I remember, they used a ready made hose setup that had snap connectors on both ends and a "primer" bulb in the hose to get the fuel started to the motor. I don't recall if they were brand specific, or universal, as all the motors I ever used were the same make.
ReplyDeleteMost of the tanks you could buy had a quick connect hose with a bulb in line for priming. And they were industry standard connectors, if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteSears has a robust parts catalog, enter model number here. Maybe it will help.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.searspartsdirect.com/
The catalog said "Parts no longer manufactured. Substitutes not available"
DeleteI am not sure that is entirely true, but that is what it said.
I've always run OMC and have very little knowledge of Merc but I did a quick check at ebay and they have a ton of connectors for everything I've ever heard of.
ReplyDeleteHere's an address for a 5hp game fisher connector.
Deletehttps://www.ebay.com/itm/225017096852?itmmeta=01HZD9140ATM8RPXJJMQWPYPE8&hash=item3464106a94:g:LsIAAOSw-oJim5Ka&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwK%2F9pTXY4VmZV4qhcnKKgN2xOI4VqaoMnZZ0ZXcLiFyRPjA4F0PznN%2F7MW4QykzWZL%2BDflS0HVRmrlSxRCqqTQ8yBbEG5MovQrvXdQQNSYKZjZ%2F8ateoiwo8PwE2ca%2B8oqKyKSe5WtNxchLyFerQrdxQR6sxEFCaLSFtnDDiLZp3VN%2FAYThhFPsgCbZPgLho3V3OiR9Zvty97Z%2BDcwwbr39GjTpQkvfhTbplB27sk%2BO%2FqNb0eVQg1zIXvXILUfihqg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR57AhKn7Yw
DeleteSorry that I made a mess of this. Switched from a tablet to a laptop and still trying to learn how to not do things.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it's true but I've always heard that spreading human hair around will deter critters. Supposedly pissing around the perimeter helps as well.
ReplyDelete