My sister's new landscaping was getting demolished.
The landscaping consisted of a raised island of sandy-fill topped with top-soil. Her goal was to make the island well enough drained to plant Redbuds and Rose-of-Sharon. This island is a scant 50' from the edge of a lake.
She sweet-talked her husband into putting out some game-cams to identify the culprit which visited every night.
It turns out that the culprit is a raccoon and he/she seemed very interested in the eggs the turtles were burying in that beautiful, easy-to-dig loam and sand so very close to the edge of the lake. I didn't try to convince her that euthanizing the raccoon is the preferred option. She is set on trapping it and having her husband relocate it.
Deer damage in the fenced garden
Expected but not hoped for.
A potato plow
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| One of these came up for sale on Craigslist |
The gentleman volunteered, with no prompting "Being able to grow potatoes will be a good thing if the internet goes down and the trucks stop running."
Mrs ERJ (my navigator) asked for clarification.
He said "Most folks only have three days of food in their house. If the trucks stop running then you aren't going to want to be in the city." He is approximately 27 miles from the center of a metro area with a population of about 1.1 million people.
Obviously, he is a kindred spirit.
I asked why he was selling the plow.
He said that he had explored an equipment rental business that specialized in small-holding sized equipment. The dream died when his insurance company quoted the liability insurance premium.
Great business idea. It might be worth talking to a good attorney and exploring LLCs. Also having that attorney write up contracts that explicitly nullify liability if the user modifies the safety features in any way, shape or form.
I once paid a kid to mow my grass. After he was done, I went out and found that he had stripped all of the plastic "shielding" off of the mower.
When I asked why he had done that, he replied "We always do that. That shit always clogs up with grass and it slows me down when I have to stop and clean it out."
True story.
Anyway, if anybody knows of a ready-made, reverse cow-catcher for this kind of plow...I want to know about it. Potato diggers often have a weir or grating behind the foot of the plow. The weir allows the dirt to drop through and the potatoes are pushed along the length of the weir and drop on top of the dirt behind the unit where they are easy to pick up.
First day of digital news detox
Suddenly, it seems like I have three more hours of usable daylight.
And I have a wife. She seems to have a perfectly peachy personality. I am thankful for whoever arranged our marriage. I owe them a solid favor.
Unfortunately it's not possible to contractually negate legal risk via contracts. Courts and rogue judges routinely toss out such agreements. Contract law is now more of an informal agreement than a binding enforceable instrument. Judges have destroyed most of the legal framework this country was founded on.
ReplyDeleteI am always surprised how many people do not understand this.
DeleteThat we don't have more Luigi Mangione's is beyond me. There are so many vultures you'd think more of them would meet a certain fate...
DeleteClearly your marriage was arranged by Our Lord. ---ken
ReplyDeleteHow far away will the drive be to relocate a possible trapped racoon? Wrap the cage in a tarp to reduce urine/excrement discharge in the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteIn Alabama, it is against the law to transplant raccoons due to rabies. They must be released at teh site they were trapped, or killed.
DeleteI prefer kill. You should see what they can do to a corn patch. An orgy of destruction.
ED
I agree.
DeleteIf Karen traps a raccoon that is pushing through screened windows to get inside of a house, moving that animal is the same as siccing a destructive attack-dog at random people in the neighborhood where it is released.
Dropping it off in a park is not an answer. That park is already at carrying capacity for raccoons. Even if the 'coon stays in that park, it pushes one of them out.
I was looking forward to your getting a Colt Potato Digger.
ReplyDeleteDad was drafted in September of 1941 and he said that Colt Potato Diggers were still in various armories where he served.
I find the plow or "middle buster" is great for cutting rows for the seed potatoes. It also works for harvesting, however, about 10% of the crop will have cuts or other damage.
ReplyDeleteA disc cultivator or "hiller" is also a major labor saver: I can cover the seed potatoes in one pass and after they are 10-12 inches tall I can hill them in one pass.
I took the guards off of my tractor's PTO. I got sick of cutting my hand and pinching my fingers on the "safety device" every time I wanted to hook something up.
ReplyDelete