Fortunately, we went into May with the soil almost saturated with water.
Alas, that water is now depleted and I am back to lugging water for the newly planted trees in the various orchards I am caring for.
Unexpected
The adult Khaki Campbell went broody and is sitting on her eggs. She is totally dedicated, but she is giving it the old college try.
I don't know what pushed-her-button but I expect it was the chirping of the new ducklings.
Khaki Campbell ducks are generally "not-broody" by nature.
Expected
The male Rouen duck became increasingly aggressive toward the four ducklings. He was keeping them away from the food and chasing them out of the enclosure. The ducklings would squeeze out between the door and the fence when the Rouen was chasing them.
I culled him with a pellet to the head.
Random thought
Many modern vehicles have a thermometer a short distance in front of the radiator that measures the temperature of the ambient air. They also have GPS.
Companies sell "data". It is revenue that they can harvest with very little incremental cost.
It would be interesting to collect strings of GPS data and the time and temperature associated with that data. A fellow could remove everything except the hour around sunrise and an hour in late afternoon and get an exceptionally high resolution picture of the actual temperatures. Perhaps even high enough resolution to map micro-climates.
Obviously, the data analyst would NOT consider data when the vehicle was stationary because the temperature would be polluted with recirculated air or it might be sitting in a garage.
Is Mr. Rouen going to reappear on the menu?
ReplyDeleteDUCK SOUP ! ! !
DeleteCar temperature data is mostly unusable for scientific purposes. The NOAA National Weather Service has very specific siting standards for temperature observations in 'NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INSTRUCTION 10-1302, REQUIREMENTS AND STANDARDS FOR NWS CLIMATE OBSERVATIONS':
ReplyDelete"Section 3.1.3 Air Temperature Siting Standards
Install the temperature instrument according to the following standards:
a. Over level terrain (earth or sod) typical of the area around the station, and, at least 100 feet from any extensive concrete or paved surface."
The deliberate failure of the NWS environmental wackos to abide by this standard is the primary reason for the deceitful 'hockey stick' global warming graph.
10x25mm is absolutely correct, but…. Storage space is cheap and /any/ data point, no matter how trivial can and will be collected, saved, and sold. The dark databases are insatiable.
ReplyDeleteAlan E.
culled him with a pellet to the head
ReplyDeleteBullying will not be tolerated..
Several youtube videos on that data being sold to your insurance company who adjust rates accordingly for you personally...usually up. Depending on your vehicle and how new it is, there are ways to stop that data from being sent.
ReplyDeleteOlder vehicles don't have transmitters, and very minimal data storage onboard (crash data logger). The XM radio and GPS/maps were a receive-only technology. The dealership can physically plug in and read the stored diagnostics, some newer vehicles have short-range 2.4gHz data as well.
DeleteAny new car which receives over-the-air updates or offers emergency SOS calling has the ability to transmit via a cellular/LTE radio, this is separate from the GPS receiver (but may share the antenna "fin") and is usually embedded in the infotainment module.
The presence of live traffic maps, weather, and XM radio does not necessarily indicate near-realtime transmit capabilities.
The solution to the transmitter concern is to find the cellular modem connector and insert a "dummy load" (resistor on a plug) to deafen/mute the cellular radio without triggering a trouble light or losing GPS. Pulling out the cellular module will often throw a trouble code, but just stopping it from seeing RF signals will not.
We once had a rooster growing up that was very aggressive to anyone entering the chicken yard. He quickly took a "trip" to my grandparents who dealt with such things.
ReplyDeleteJoe if you remember how much your Cambells cost to buy you'd rejoice you have a rare broody one.
ReplyDeleteI pay for my critters feed selling pullets and ducks ready for service.
I also find you can indeed breed by stewpot a milder duck drake and rooster.
Male ducks are psychopathic, nasty creatures. Female ducks aren't much better, but their eggs make good cornbread, and when cooked in gumbo, are right tasty.
ReplyDeleteWow you've had bad experiences with ducks.
DeleteMy grandkids wouldn't recognize your descriptions of their playthings the ducks.
Freezer camp IS a good way to thin the herd, so to speak! ;-)
ReplyDelete