There is not a lot to report.
Walnuts
A fine gentleman mailed me seven scion of Persian Walnuts (Juglans regia) that he just happened to have in his refrigerator. I grafted those onto likely Black Walnut seedlings which pop up around our yard without any input from me.
The four "North Platte" scion were grafted on two seedlings near Mrs ERJ's garden, one just east of the driveway and one seedling north of the wood-pile. I marked them with bright pink surveyor's tape.
The three Combe were grafted west of the collapsed barn, east of the standing barn and south of the drainfield. I marked them with a flag of "natural" colored masking tape.
I don't expect them to show signs of life for at least four weeks. Walnuts are like rattlesnakes, they really like heat. Not warmth: Heat.
A trip to the big-box store
I bit the bullet and drove to Lansing to visit the Menards on the west side of Lansing.
I came back with welded wire fence to make cages to protect newly planted seedlings from deer. I bought two hand-sprayers and some 5" round duct to protect various fruit trees from the predations of woodchucks and raccoons.
While I was there, I checked out their onion sets. They were plump and heavy, unlike the ones at Meijers (a grocery store). On a whim, I picked up three bags and will use them as markers to identify exactly where the rows of potatoes are. Onions come up much more quickly than potatoes do.
Grizzly Bears are no longer "Ursus horribilis"
They are now lumped in with the Eurasian Brown Bear and since the EBB binomial name Ursus arctos has seniority, it becomes the official, scientific name for the Grizzly Bear as well.
I was faked out for a bit. I looked at Ursus arctos and thought "Polar Bears???".
Definitely a Public Relations win for Yogi Bear.
Ducks
The ducks got a small wading pool for their enclosure.
It is partially submerged and has a ramp made from the dirt I removed to facilitate their getting in.
As stated at the top: Not much to report. Everything is fine except that we have too many ticks.
Buddy of mine has a couple geese, he uses a metal feed-trough from that big supply company in all the strip malls. Said the plastic pool only lasted a year. The metal one he is able to put a heater into and keep the water open year round.
ReplyDelete"Grizzly Bears are no longer "Ursus horribilis"
ReplyDeleteThat said, I am not going to the first one to suggest to a grizzly that it's very cool name has been "downgraded". I suspect that will not be a happy conversation...
My zoology profs were clumpers. Our elk, red deer and maral were basically the same animal with minor phenotypic differences. Eurasian brown bears, Kodiak or brown bears and interior grizzlies are basically the same bear. I do think the should have keep U. Horribilis. Interior grizzlies can be pretty pissy.
ReplyDeleteIn ten years the splitters will be in the majority and will subdivide the species into ten or twelve groups. They subdivided whitetail deer into a couple dozen sub groups. It cycles.