I am still here

I have a couple of side projects going.

Water Locust

Water Locust (Gleditsia aquatica) is similar to wild-type Honey Locust in that the tree throws big balls (size of a football) of 2" long thorns that sprout directly from the trunk. It (supposedly) can fix nitrogen and the wood is very similar to Honey Locust...or Red Oak. The seeds are carried in pods that hold a single, 11mm diameter "button" shaped seed rather than a "bean" that can hold up to fifteen seeds.

As you can see, it grows as far north as St Louis or Terra Haut, Indiana.

Among this species's few virtues is that it can stand in water for extended periods and doesn't seem to be bothered by it. That might make it a useful niche-player. In my neck of the woods, 90% of the trees in "swamps" are Silver Maple. The ash have mostly died off. There are a few Swamp White Oak and a few Black Willow. Where it is just a freckle drier, American Elm and American Larch starts to show up but there are not a lot of choices for trees that will grow in swamps.

At the start of the soak. If you look closely, you can see two of them that were damaged and are significantly larger than the others.

 

Same container and zoom after soaking for 20 hours. I do believe that they absorbed some water! Four of them were still puny, so I am soaking them for another 8 hours.

The Water Locust seeds have an impermeable seed-coat that must be breached before the seed can absorb water. I used sand-paper to wear through the edge of the seed until I saw a lighter color. Then I soaked them in warm water...changing it as I remembered. After soaking for 20 hours, most had expanded from 11mm diameter to 15mm diameter. 

I will probably be cursed by future generations. Those thorns are the devil to rubber tires. 

The other "project"

The other project is hitting the gym to maintain my muscle-mass. 

After a warm-up at 135 and 185 pounds, I was able to complete four sets of 6 reps dead-lifting my body-weight. I expect to be sore tomorrow.