The chainsaw is back in operation. This video was very helpful. My chain-brake doesn't positively disengage so the clutch band wasn't dilated after I removed the clutch side-plate. The link to the video will take you to the method I used (although I used a 14mm wrench and it worked fine).
Planting update
Five apple trees and two pear trees top-worked (grafted) at Southern Belle's.
Five raspberry bushes planted. The ground was so laced with roots it was like trying to dig through Scotch-brite pads.
I also planted a peach tree. Mrs ERJ "advised" me to consult with SB regarding when SB wanted her peaches to ripen. I am strongly biased toward LATE in the season when the weather is cooler and the bugs less aggressive. SB, however, opted for early August ripening instead of late-August. Because it is about making the customer happy, I purchased a Red Haven that had not been in the plans.
Southern Belle asked me how long it would take for the roots of the brush to rot. If I had been at the top of my game I would have told her that she would be picking mushrooms for the next five or seven years.
Marco Pollo
Quicksilver likes to play Hide-and-Seek. She likes "clues". Southern Belle is also "drown-proofing" Quicksilver with swim lessons.
So, I thought I would teach Quicksilver the call-response "Marco", "Polo" for those times in our Hide-and-Seek games where she wants clues.
Did I mention Quicksilver is bilingual?
"Marco Polo" became "Marco Pollo". "Pollo", pronounced "PO-YO" means "chicken" in Spanish. Sounds like a great name for a rooster.
AI powered Fraud
AI is being used to mine personal data and mimic the voice of loved ones.
"Grandma, this is Nick. I am in jail in Columbus for coasting through a red-light and am going to miss my big job interview. Can you give my your credit card number...I only need $200 for bail..."
Yeah. Right.
I guess Nick is going to miss his job interview. Its on him. Everybody knows to not violate traffic laws in Ohio when you have Michigan plates on your vehicle. Guess Nick failed that job interview before it started.
The kids make fun of me for having no money apps and nothing in my wallet. The kids make fun of me for not having a QR reader app. Nor do I have any "store" or "media" apps.
A skinny target is hard to hit.
Making offers on unused equipment
Looking around a bit, I see unused hoop-houses in various back-yards. There they sit looking like the sun-rotted rib-cage of a beached whale, unused and unloved.
I don't have a good way to come up with a good offer. New, the cheapest ones seem to run about $3 a square-foot. Obviously, I would need to purchase a new cover.
What would a reasonable offer be for a 700 square-foot house? The answer might be "Just offer to remove it".
Any hints on what to look for if the owners let me look the skeleton over?
Isofucosterol
Isofucosterol was one of the missing links in creating "artificial pollen" to sustain honeybee colonies that are placed in crops that lack collectable pollen. The bees still visit the flowers to collect nectar but lack the protein and other nutrients needed to create replacement bees. Link.
Isofucosterol is found in marine sponges, which are endangered in many areas.
Quite by happenstance, it also happens to be found in variety of potato bred in the Netherland. That potato is called Désirée.
I will not be surprised to see a niche industry growing Désirée develop.
Hat-tip to Lucas for sending me the info about "artificial pollen for honeybee nutrition".
Looked at Desiree potato, I'm assuming it's the flowering stage that feeds the bees?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good potato to grow as a main crop potato.
Interesting.
"Isofucosterol is a type of sterol found in potato tubers, specifically in the cultivar Désirée, with a concentration of approximately 60 mg per kg as a free sterol" Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/isofucosterol
DeleteThanks for the link about the bee's, I had not seen that article. Hope it becomes a product I can purchase soon!
ReplyDeleteI would likewise suggest offering to take the hoop-house down for free. I've spied several similar setups and been tempted to approach the home and politely knock and ask. It appears in every case it just was abandoned several years ago and left to rot.
ERJ I got our greenhouse after seeing it for several months driving past it on a route to a job site. Without going into detail I let the gentleman price it to me and paid what he asked. It had been his wife's pride and joy and she had become ill and could no longer maintain it. It was older but still in reasonably good shape and now sits on the North end of our raised bed garden.
ReplyDeleteI got the cover from Farmplasticsupply. *** You can put your dimensions in their calculator and they will cut a custom cover for you, and they have good stuff, our cover has far outlasted it's best by date.
Neck
I'm not familiar with anywhere that you'll get arrested for running a red light (by itself; I can see it with additional misbehavior).
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a new twist on the old call for help to a grandparent where the scammers talks a name out of them and then uses it.
It also sounds to me like the scammer is from one of the countries where traffic violations have criminal penalties - like the scams that say the cops will come for the money you owe (which they do in parts of Africa).
Jonathan
The bees here in middle of America get the Majority of their pollen from trees, oaks, hickory, locust, beech, ash etc. from early to mid summer they start getting more from grasses and wildflowers, corn etc.
ReplyDeleteWRT Hide-and-Seek with grandkids - I bought a bunch of glass marbles cheap online and casually drop them around the property for the grandkids to find. Keeps them busy and they seem to continue to enjoy it even into early teens (although they sort of deny it, of course.) No rewards other than 'look how many I found!'
ReplyDeleteI love my offspring and grand-offspring.
ReplyDeleteHowever: the one time I accepted a collect call asking for bail $ was for a buddy of mine. IIRC, he never paid me back.
Sorry, offspring, not getting burned again. Tough love and all that.
Seriously though, if a loved one needed bail, I would certainly consider it...after googling the phone number of the alleged jurisdiction and confirming his/her sorry butt is indeed incarcerated. I have zero compassion for scammers...
Marco Pollo: hahaha! I love it.
Hey Joe, One of the Pear trees I planted last year, mauled by dear, did not make it. There are sprouts from the root stock. Is it viable to cut the dead off, limit the number of spouts and attempt to graft from the surviving tree perhaps next year depending on the rate of developement on the sprout from the root stock? I am pretty sure I would need to go buy a third tree hoping for a different variety. I was told having different ones helped productivity. Same with Blue Berries. Roger.
ReplyDeleteGrafting or budding on a sprout from the roots is a viable option.
DeleteOne advantage of budding is that you can do it during the growing season. Another advantage is that you can bud a half dozen buds onto one sprout and if any of them take off the next growing season you are in business.
A couple of days after a good rain is often a good time to bud. The tree should be growing strongly and the bark should be "slipping", that is, in an active state of growth. The bud should heal-in quickly under those circumstances.
Thank you.
DeleteI can’t tell you how much a new hoop house like mine would cost, I have two 12’ x24’ built with a bender I purchased from Johnny’s select seed. Each hoop consists of two twelve foot lengths of chain link fence top rail inserted in half of a six foot post set in the ground. Hoops are on four foot centers and the tops are tied together with top rail.mine have 2 x12’s along the bottom attaching twenty foot wide green house plastic and plywood ends with roll up tarp doors. I get about seven years out of a cover. Probably cheaper to buy a used one but the ones I have are really rugged. They have other benders with different profilrs.
ReplyDeleteI used 1" PVC pipe for the ribs, inserting the ends into 12" lengths of plumbing pipe driven into earth. My need was not so much for retaining heat, but for protection from too much sun and cats who enjoyed the facilities for their bodily functions. I used plastic construction fencing (ugly bright orange was found for less $$$).
DeleteThis material allowed enough light to project through but protect the plants from too much sunlight. Feline problems were gone and another unanticipated side benefit - high winds went right through the material, preventing the shell from kiting off. UV damage - Longevity was over 15 years.