EHD, potatoes, squirrels and a few pictures

I got a call from my friend Jeff. He, his wife and a mutual friend named Jim were going to be in Eaton Rapids and he invited me to join them.

We chatted for about an hour. One of the things Linda, his wife, told me was that EHD is hammering the deer herd in Jackson County. Her sister lives on 80 acres and they have seen 25 dead deer on it. Her sister and B-i-L go for a walk every night and every night for the past two weeks there have been newly dead deer.

EHD is caused by a virus that is spread by a biting midge that incubates in water-saturated, highly organic bottom-lands and the bottoms of ditches. The levels typically grow through the warm months and is much more pronounced in years that are wet and in years when the autumn is warm. This year has been marked by both.

The die-off will stop after a killing-frost kills the adult midges. 

That much dead meat can be smelled from a long distance. 

On a related note, digging potatoes

The low temperature for next Thursday had been predicted to be 30F. That lit a fire under me and I started digging potatoes again.

I dug two rows yesterday. 

My intention is to dig another three rows today.

Squirrel guards

A view looking up from the bottom

I had installed a length of stove-pipe around a small oak tree. The trunk is probably about 3" in diameter. I also stuffed a swim-noodle into the gap between the stove-pipe and the trunk so they could not shinny up the tree inside of the guard.

A couple of days ago I harvested about 4 pounds of acorns from the tree. After picking the seed-nuts, I moved the step-ladder so it was about 6' away from the canopy.

A very short time later, I looked out the window and saw a fox-squirrel climb to the top of the ladder and then jump the six foot gap.

Conclusions:

• The squirrels were aware of the ripe acorns on the tree
• The fact that the squirrels had not stripped the tree before I picked acorns was not from lack of interest
• The combination of stove-pipe and swim-noodle was effective.
• Squirrels can jump a horizontal distance of six feet and still grab a slender twig. 

Random photos

Peppers.

Evidence of the little people.

Jim, the other person who was sitting at the table, shared a story of a four-year-old girl in his life. She is a tremendous mimic. She nails the tone and cadence perfectly.