I bit the bullet and bought a new laser copier/scanner/fax machine today. The move to Windows 11 computers meant that the computers with the drivers for that model of printer were on the mothballed Windows 10 computers. It still functions as a "dumb" copier but we lost the scan/fax functionality and the "drivers" for that model of printer are no longer available.
Bummer!
Little trees vs big trees
Southern Belle wants some evergreens planted for a windbreak. I provided samples of species that have done well in our climate and SB and Handsome Hombre chose Eastern White Pine and Concolor Fir. Norway Spruce and Douglass Fir did not make the cut.
They have about 300 feet perimeter where they want to wrap the windbreak around the yard. At 6' between trees, that is fifty trees.
Young seedlings cost in the neighborhood of $1.25-to-$4.00 a stem for bare-root stock.
4' tall seedlings in containers run closer to $40 per stem.
The total cost of the plants for the project will be somewhere between $60 and $2000.
Time or money. That is the trade-off. I am not even sure that they will lose that much time but the larger trees will definitely create a greater visual barrier early on even if the smaller ones catch up with them on year 10 or 15.
Ear infections
I haven't had one in more than twenty years. Then I got one around Christmas and went to the Doc-n-a-Box on December 26. I was prescribed an antibiotic.
The infection went away.
Two weeks later, I had a relapse in the same ear. I went to my family doctor and was prescribed a different antibiotic and ear drops with steroids in them.
So, if I seem to be a little bit scattered and slow to respond, it is because I am not operating at 100%.
Pledge of Allegiance
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Those of us who grew up reciting this every day at the start of the school day knew that the United States was not a democracy. We knew it was a Republic and we knew what that meant.
We also believed that there was not a separate set of expectations for city kids vs country kids. It was one nation under one Constitution and while the wording of the laws might vary from state-to-state they still had to comply with the Constitution.
We also believed, naively in retrospect, that every citizen had God-given freedoms and liberty and that we were afforded due-process when accused and that criminals would be duly convicted and be sentenced to a proportional consequence.
What was not made clear to me when I was in second grade was the significance of flags.
Flags were the command-and-control technology on the battlefield before there were radios. Various units on the battlefield rallied beneath the flag of their leader. Atop a nearby hill, the overall commander had a signal corp with flags that corresponded to the units on the field. The commander coordinated the units on the field through the signal corps.
Pledging allegiance to the flag meant that you promised to play your part by following the flag even if we didn't understand the global significance of every command to march this way or that or dig breastworks there. The Pledge of Allegiance was a promise to trust our leaders and in turn demand that they be worthy of our trust.
There are some people who HATE the Pledge of Allegiance. Many of them have real problems submitting to any kind of external authority. They are virtually unemployable because they fight with the boss and they stir up conflict with other employees. They are agents of chaos.
My wife and I planted about 400 pine seedlings 10 feet apart at our farm 38 years ago. They are tall now and definitely help break the wind. But it took awhile. Hope you get over your infection. You will be in our prayers.---ken
ReplyDeleteJoe at our age ear infections is important. Did you complete your full regimen of antibiotics friend? Too often my wife has to remind me to take the full series because I "Felt Better" and "forget" to take the rest.
ReplyDeleteSomeone wiser than I said, "if it wasn't for good wives, good husbands would have a shorter lifespan".
The Bible speaks of angry people and foolish people. I wonder what agents of chaos would fall under? Possessed by demons perhaps? Some seem to act crazy enough.
I wish them luck keeping deee from rubbing and snapping off their windbreak. Also, I thought saplings were supposed to be healthier and grow faster than pots.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy and Republic are not mutually exclusive.
ReplyDeleteThe United States is a democracy, as well as a republic.
A democratic republic.
It may once have been. It’s not now. Pick a side.
DeleteNo. It’s a federal republic. Always has been.
DeleteQuite the comment hand grenade you tossed Gary.
DeleteThe founding father would disagree with your idea Gary. They were classically trained men for the most part. They KNEW EXACTLY what a Democracy was. They were QUITE aware of what Democracy LOOKED like in action with their studies of Greeks. As the writing of the Constitution took around 4 months of difficult wrangling, I'd give them credit they chose their words CAREFULLY.
Words matter eh? Then what does this mean Gary?
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Feel free to show us the "warmth of collectivism" as you explain how they are a Democratic Republic.
I'll wait, my table is over there with a pot of coffee.
Hey Michael, I usually have fun matching your tone - but I'll try to mix it up today.
DeleteDPRK is not a democratic republic. Same as NSDAP not being socialist. The patriot act not actually being patriotic, etc. I consider this part of the argument largely an unnecessary distraction.
This is really a semantic argument - which I generally don't see as productive or substantial. I'll concede these points:
- Democracy *can* refer to a technical system that the US does not meet *entirely*
- During the framing of the constitution, "democracy" was used differently than it is today
- Additionally, the number of people eligible to vote, and the scope of what they could vote on, was far more limited during the birth of the country
You might be willing to concede one or more of these points:
- Democracy *can also* refer to a broad idea that the US absolutely fits, especially today
- The pool of eligible voters and what the people can vote on directly has expanded, putting much more power in the hands of the people
- People can use terms like "communism" even though no state has ever fully met the complete technical definition of the system
My argument isn't that you can't argue the US might not fit a certain definition of the word "democracy", my argument is that it's ineffective communication to say "the US is not a democracy, it's a republic". Unless your intent is to provoke a semantic debate.
It is a total weasel move to crap on somebody on the basis of your imaginary semantic distinction and then backpedal when when somebody calls you out on it and imply that the OTHER person's "...intent is to provoke a semantic debate."
DeleteMy wife has planted many, many trees at our property. Her practice now, after many trials, is to purchase 2-year seedlings - seems to be the sweet spot between low cost/tree and survivability
ReplyDeleteSteve O
NAPS2 (Not Another PDF Scanner) is free and open source scanner software which operates most major brands of scanners, including several which are no longer made or supported. It is an excellent bridge to a new computer and can also be used when scanner manufacturer software upgrades fail. Current version is 8.2.1.
ReplyDeleteI've got a property line along the road I wish to plant. I started cloning some of my own plants. Up to 70% survivability now, its a pretty simple and cheap thing to do. Rockwool cubes, warming mat, rooting hormone, plastic lid for the tray... definitely something in your wheelhouse. I make about 100 clones for 35 bucks, get 70 of them to 1yr stage.
ReplyDeleteSkypencil holly makes a great windbreak thats lower to the ground, and the bee's like the flowers. They grow fast, 5-7 years to maturity. They clone well, too!
But the US thrived perfectly well before the pledge of allegiance was forced on people. I've just googled and found "written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy". As a nonAmerican I may be more sensitive to the horrors of socialism in its different varieties than many Americans are. So I wasn't too surprised to find that the pledge was socialist. Who but a socialist would try to impose a pledge to liberty? Anyone else would just laugh at the paradox.
ReplyDeleteI was amused to find that when it was first introduced the children were required to make something awfully close to a Fascist salute - which was dropped, unsurprisingly, in WWII. Fascism is a variety of socialism too, you know.
I wanted a wind, view break across the front, with pocket house/ barns on property; no money for trees. Got permission to walk the edges of several farm fields as well trails on some hunting properties, pulled cedar saplings less than 8 in tall. Most yanked out, none of them dug out gracefully. Planted close to 70 on a 30 yard run, expected most to die off. Lost at most a dozen and now they all 6 ft or taller and waiting for me to get the time to thin them.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never planted trees, so no experience there. But most years I have tons of pine cones I could ship to you. Also a few small saplings, less than a foot high. Probably wouldn’t survive the trip!
ReplyDeleteSouthern NH
Chuckling, odd how when we buy and plant them, they are deer treats.
DeleteLooking at my garden and apple trees mostly here.
When they grow wildly I suppose we just ignore what the deer damage?
Looking at the abandoned apple trees around here.
Windbreaks are nice.
White pine has been a magnet for deer damage. Not just deer browsing the twigs but bucks seem to prefer white pine over all other species for polishing the velvet off of their antlers.
DeletePine trees grow from buds at the ends of twigs. A deer only needs to browse off an inch from the end of the vertical to really damage the tree. Species like Bald Cypress and Arborvitae are much more tolerant of being browsed by deer.
Thanks, Joe, for the information. What trees are you thinking about for that windbreak? Any multipurpose trees in the mix?
DeleteI think we've discussed coppicing for firewood, any thoughts about coppicing that windbreak? Fast growing wrist sized firewood makes easy almost no split harvesting.
Also, many tree species are quite good small livestock (rabbit and even chickens) fodder. Thus, a hedge windbreak can be quite useful when Purina Small furry herbivore food isn't available or cost effective.
Deletehttps://readysetfeast.com/can-rabbits-eat-tree-leaves/
I've fed both of my small livestock dried and dry stored tree hay for years. They seem to love beech and willow the most.
Tree Hay and Coppicing in Maine
Deletehttps://www.mofga.org/resources/livestock/tree-leaf-fodder-for-livestock/
Grandpa grew up saying the original 29-word pledge, before the words "under God" were shoehorned in. To his dying day he insisted the original wording flowed better and cursed Eisenhower for messing with the pledge.
ReplyDeleteThe early versions of the pledge all had "under God" in them. It was the DAR and K of C that insisted upon their restoration in the modern pledge. Michigan Congressman Charles Oakman actually drafted the bill restoring "under God".
DeleteWhy not pick up some pine cones and grow your own? In the grand scheme of things the couple of years you'll invest will pay off in the quantity of seedlings. And the trees will catch up rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteMI and other “up north” locations are like human petri dishes this time of year. I don’t miss that part of living in MI. Regarding ear infection…you may want to try pouring hydrogen peroxide into your ear while laying on your “good” side. It will tickle and seem really weird for a couple minutes. Let it bubble in there for about 15-20 minutes then turn over and lay on the “bad ear” side with a towel or wash rag under the ear to let any liquid and / or gunk drain out. To clean out any possible wax buildup I will then immediately follow up with flushing the ear out, using one of those squeeze bulb type thingies with a little liquid soap and warm water drawn up into it. Then squeeze the bejeezus out of it into the ear. I know, it’s like “Ewww” but health care isn’t always pretty😁
ReplyDeleteI am completely ignorant about planting trees, but if you go with the younger option would it make sense to seriously over plant them to assure more chance of enough surviving, and then when they get to say 5' to 8' sell the excess ones as Christmas trees?
ReplyDeleteI have had excellent results with Tea Tree Oil for ear infections over the years. Squirt a dropper full into the ear, and lie still long enough for it to work down into the eustachian canal.
ReplyDelete