Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
We were only 57 yesterday morning. Nice! No A/C on. I love having the windows open.
Back in the nineties and not even think of opening windows. I am jealous.
It was 56 this morning. The afternoons are getting hot, but still no need for A/C. Yay!Ponds can be frustrating. I had a slow leak in my new pond that I couldn't find, so I put the waterfall feed way off to the right side to start testing to find out where it was. I had to leave it for 24 hours each time & once for 48 because the filter got dirty & that reduced the flow. Last night I moved it all the way back to its original position & when I checked this morning, the water level was fine. Not only is it a slow leak, but apparently it's intermittent? Maybe. I haven't put the ugly plastic waterfall back up & probably won't. I'm going to make or buy something else instead. There's this tall fairy princess I have my eye on, but I might see if I can't find a dragon...
That's been the way the whole week has gone. We were supposed to do an email upgrade, but the tech & I had a 'failure to communicate' so that's turned into a mess. Hopefully we'll do it next week.
I also haven't managed to get an adapter to use my acetylene regulator on a propane bottle. I've stopped by numerous stores & called a bunch too. Everyone says they should make one, but no one has it. I'm not the only person making the change. Quite a few are since the working time is so much better while only sacrificing a few hundred degrees in temperature.
We did get bushes for in front of the porch & one to replace the holly that died at the end of the lane. I replaced the last with a Wintergreen boxwood. 2 more of those & a Japanese holly are in front of the porch.
I've also wanted to get up to the tractor junkyard, but haven't had the time or the car & Marg's been keeping the truck hooked to the trailer. I could take my farm pickup, but its passenger seat & floor is full of stuff & I want to take my old neighbor along. He's 94 & an outing like that is kind of special to him. I guess I could let him drive me, but he does about 10mph everywhere in his Volkswagen Beetle. Not sure we'd make it on time.
;)
Jim, thank you for posting.
Lucky it's cool enough for you to get the things done.
Still hoping for rain before we hit ninety four degrees next Monday. We are almost four inches below normal so far this year and others are flooding.
Hope you will get some rain soon, Nina.
We're getting dry, too. I think it's supposed to rain on Sunday. Hot weekend, though.
I HATE SKUNKS! I was deep asleep at 1:15am & had a weird dream about a monster skunk strangling me by pouring down my throat & shaking me. I woke to the overwhelming reek of skunk & jumped out of bed. The dogs in bed with me scattered, but I'm not sure how many that was - 2 or 3. The room reeked. I had to pee. I could barely see.Sorting it all out was tough. Marg scrubbed Molly in her bathroom while I scrubbed Pip in mine. Lily & Jazz didn't stink. Amber, who had been sleeping with me was AWOL & Marg couldn't find her. I constantly smelled skunk, but staggered back to bed anyway to try to grab a little more sleep before I got up at 4:30.
Luckily, the weather has been nice so the windows are open, no A/C. I think Marg was planning to turn it on soon, though.
What an awful experience, Jim!
Skunks are a gift that keeps giving. The temp went into the 90s today so Marg had to turn on the A/C. Pip rolled on the carpet in couple of places, so the house reeks of Carpet Fresh with a skunk underlay. Not pleasant to walk into, but the nose quickly adjusts once we're in.
Years ago, I wanted a Death Wand for weeds; just pipe I could fill with herbicide that had wick at the end of it I could use to wipe herbicide on the leaves of weeds growing in tight quarters. I get a lot of briers & grass that grow in among tightly packed plants & their roots are impossible to pull. I searched all over & couldn't find one, so I made my own. It's OK, but the wick isn't all it could be - just a piece of 1/4" nylon rope sticking out of an old toilet supply line at the end. Sometimes it's too dry, other times too wet & no way to adjust save for the ratio of herbicide to water & that changes depending on the herbicides I mix.Anyway, I found something like it today, but it had 2 ends on it with the rope going between rather than just the tail end. That means it can't be targeted into tight quarters. It's more for using on weeds in a lawn. So I wrote them an email along with a picture of my solution & pointed out the issues with both.
I got a call back from a guy with a super thick southern accent who proceeded to tell me I'd invented just what his predecessor had in 1977. He then went in to how they'd developed just the right blend of materials for the wick & how they control the flow. He said he wished he'd known anyone wanted a single end like I described & told me I'd just need one of his ends & a wick which I could attach to my gadget. $5 for parts & the same for shipping.
Really nice guy, very instructive conversation. The company's site is here: http://rodgersinc.com/
You have to scroll almost all the way to the bottom since they mostly make these for tractors to pull.
Thank you for posting, Jim.
When I was a child there was a radio personality named "Mr. Inventor," and I loved listening to what he described as his daily invention. Jim, you remind me of him. Speaking of inventions; just watched a great movie, "The Man Who Invented Christmas," and yes, it really was Charles Dickens but that is not giving away the marvelous plot of this movie. See it; you won't be sorry.
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6225520/...
"The journey that led to Charles Dickens' creation of "A Christmas Carol," a timeless tale that would redefine Christmas. The journey that led to Charles Dickens' creation of "A Christmas Carol," a timeless tale that would redefine Christmas."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077MFZMB3?...
"The Man Who Invented Christmas tells the magical journey that led to the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and other classic characters from A Christmas Carol."
Starring: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce
Thanks for telling us about this, Nina.
Jim, My daughter who has four acres says moles are destroying her property. Do you have an suggestions for ridding her of them?
Nina, the only way to get rid of moles that I know of is to kill off the grubs they eat & that requires spreading a grub-killing pesticide on the entire area. I did it about 8 years ago & it worked, but there are some downsides. I think there is a certain time of year that is best, although I can't remember when. Makes sense since the grubs are most vulnerable in some stage of their life cycle. I'm not sure what else it kills, but some will kill earthworms. The one I bought said it wouldn't & didn't seem to, but I had to do a lot of research. I wish I could find what I bought, but I don't seem to have it. Well, it's been a long time & maybe there is something better.
I don't recall what brand I bought or what the active ingredient was. There are several, but some get into the grass & can be poisonous to horses grazing. I was trying to keep them out of our backyard & they seemed to tunnel under the fence, so I had to cover that area. As it was, we had one dog that was sensitive to tick & flea stuff. She wound up with a liver problem not long after I spread the stuff. I'm not positive the grub-killer was the problem, but the timing was suspicious.
Once it's spread, it needs a certain amount of rain or watering to drive it into the ground. We had a dry spell & had to water for a while, but then got a good rain. It was a pain, though.
After applying it once about 8 years ago, I haven't since. Moles didn't start showing back up for a few years & have gotten to be about as bad after 5 or 6. I'm just living with them now, though.
Sorry I couldn't be more help. They're a tough nuisance to deal with.
Thanks, JIm for your input. Sometimes as you said, you just have to live with the problem. Right now we are trying to do something to kill the worm infestation in my roses; fertilizing and spraying with instructions from our local nursery.
I have a couple of other pests like that I'm living with. Star of Bethlehem is a pretty little bulb flower that's poisonous to the grazing animals & it was spreading like crazy. To spray it I had to get licensed to even buy the herbicide since it has paraquat in it, so a year went by before I could spray it - only in the spring - & I had to fence the areas off for 40 days. I still have a lot of it around because I can't spray near the ponds nor keep the animals out in some areas around the woods, so I'm living with it in some areas.Coons & skunks are a couple more, but I lost almost all my hollyhocks to a rust that I couldn't kill. Had to change to a different variety of hollyhocks. A rust is a fungus & they're really tough to kill. Constant spraying with antifungicides & other remedies doesn't do the bees & such any good, so it wasn't worth trying to stamp out.
Jim, you could probably run your own plant nursery, with all your knowledge!
I'm not that good, Joy. Just know a few.I bought a fairy princess to replace the ugly plastic waterfall in my new pond.
I think I'm finally done.
I love her. She can be your fairy Godmother. Your pond is really like a fairy tale. You should be proud.
Just watched another very good movie, "Goodby Christopher Robin," and I highly recommend it. I can still remember reading "Winnie the Pooh," to my girls and my son who took Latin in high school read the book,"Winnie Ile Pooh."
Thanks, Nina. I am. The pictures don't really do it justice.
Thanks for the pics, Jim. I love the Fairy Princess!
Nina wrote: "Just watched another very good movie, "Goodby Christopher Robin," and I highly recommend it. ..."Thanks, Nina.
"Goodbye Christopher Robin" (2017)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1653665/...
"A behind-the-scenes look at the life of author A.A. Milne and the creation of the Winnie the Pooh stories inspired by his son C.R. Milne. "
Back home late Monday from our trip to Clayton NY - 1000 Island area. Fantastic weather. Saw a great sunset and the sky changed colors which lasted for over an hour over the St Lawrence River. Just lovely. Saw a concert - our favorite band - swing revival group - The Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This is about the 6th time we've seen this group and we still enjoy their music and lively entertainment.
A memorable weekend.
Jim wrote: "I'm not that good, Joy. Just know a few.I bought a fairy princess to replace the ugly plastic waterfall in my new pond.
Jim, this is beautiful. My Mother loved fairies in her garden. Very warm and welcoming area.
Linda wrote: "Back home late Monday from our trip to Clayton NY - 1000 Island area. Fantastic weather. Saw a great sunset and the sky changed colors which lasted for over an hour over the St Lawrence River. Just..."Glad you had a good weekend, Linda.
Thanks, Linda. Glad you had a great weekend. The pond is a real joy to me, although it still has some issues. The big white goldfish is missing & we're down to just 4. I have a feeling a coon is fishing at night. That never happened before because the dogs have free run of the backyard & protected it. It's always something.
The fish are just feeder goldfish my son gave us when he moved. They were an inch or two long, but are now over 8" long & have been for years. They won't grow any bigger in the space they have now - a very neat feat of evolution. I'm going to put some more rocks in the pond to help the fish escape. I guess if they get fished out, I'll buy some more.
Jim, do you give names to your goldfish?
Can you tell them apart? (I never had fish as pets.)
They are all quite different since they're mutts. The prettiest one looked like a really fancy goldfish with very long fins & it was pure orange-gold, but it died while in the temporary tank. The biggest, the latest one to be missing, was mostly white with some orange spots & had rather short fins. One survivor is about 50/50, rather ugly. The other two are pure orange-gold, but don't have quite as fancy fins as the one did. They're also a lot smaller.
Jim wrote: "They are all quite different since they're mutts. ..."I see. I would be tempted to give each one a name! LOL
PS-I found the following web page with some ideas for names for pet fishes:https://www.thesprucepets.com/fish-na...
I copied and pasted the following fish names in literature and movies:
Cleo: Geppetto's goldfish in the Disney movie Pinnochio
Larry: a Shark from the movie Shark Tales
Bruce: a "friendly" shark from the movie Finding Nemo
Don Lino: a not-so-friendly shark from the movie Shark Tales
Dory: a little blue fish played by Ellen DeGeneres in the movie Finding Nemo and Finding Dory
Nemo: a little clownfish from the movie Finding Nemo
Marlin: Nemo's clownfish dad
Mr. Limpet: a man-turned-fish, played by Don Knotts in The Incredible Mr. Limpet
Mrs. Puff: Sponge Bob's hapless driving teacher
Otto: a goldfish that grows to tremendous size in the Dr. Seuss book A Fish Out of Water
Swimmy: the protagonist in the children's book of the same time
Rainbow Fish: the fish who gives away all her rainbow scales in the children's book The Rainbow Fish
Flounder: Ariel the Mermaid's close fish friend from the movie Little Mermaid
Jaws: the terrifying shark from the movie Jaws
Wanda: the luckless fish from the movie A Fish Called Wanda
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, or Blue Fish: from the Dr. Seuss book of the same name
FROM: https://www.thesprucepets.com/fish-na...
I'm actually familiar with most of those. I consider the goldfish livestock. They have about as much personality as the calf I raised in 4H. I'm pretty sure I named him, but can't recall what it was, though. I still remember every dog & horse, though.
Yes, so true, Jim. I too remember the names of every dog we (or our kids) have ever owned.Queenie, Peppy, Toby, Spokey, Alice, Boogie, Baxter, jorji, Romeo.
PS-Oh, I forgot "Fetchie". :)
Good news! Apparently the fish have been hiding, not eaten. I still set up a trap for the coon since I'm tired of it tearing up my pond lily & knocking the rocks about, but I saw all of them while feeding tonight briefly.I will not bore you with a list of all the dogs & horses we've had. It's a long one. Dogs started out with Omar Khayyam who I don't remember, but heard a lot of stories of since he was my first defender - even from my aunt & grandmother unless Mom or Pop were there. Ulysses is the first one I remember. I was devastated when he died when I was 8. He practically raised me. Lily is my latest love & constant companion when I'm working around the farm.
Jim, I never find pet names boring.I used to collect boat names!
One of the best was on the back of a large cruiser down in Florida.
The name of it was "Mom's Money"!
PS-Glad you found the missing fish!
OK, you can add these to your list. Omar, Ulysses, & Achilles were all Doberman Pincers. Then we got Uncle Smiley & Maverick who were mutts out of a wild, Shepard mix bitch that used to come by to have a litter of pups occasionally. Mav's father was the Great Dane next door. I married Marg & her dog, Angie German Shorthair Pointer; a package deal. Since then we've had Max, Mac, & Katie along with Jack Russells Munchkin, Gypsy, Harely, Pixie, Amber, & Pip. The last 2 are still with us along with Lily, my English Pointer. The kids & Mom all had dogs too, but I'm not naming them although I could, but the list would be really long.Ponies were Lightening (Shetland), Fritz (Welsh), & Nubs (mutt). I rode Daisy, a Thoroughbred mare, out west. Except for Lightening, the rest were just semi-permanent loans for the duration.
Since we've been married we had Spice & her foal Nutmeg, feral Shetland ponies we caught & tamed. Other ponies were Sorroya & Briar Rose, both POA mares. Sam was a POA gelding, but I'm not sure what Patches was - a larger mutt than Nubs & even better, although that was a tough line to cross. I used to ride & even hunt Briar & Patches occasionally. Blue & Cutter were OTTBs. We also had Indy, a QH. Rascal, & Speedy were Welsh ponies.
We now have Pumpkin, Marg's current QH.
Topaz, Erin's old OTTB.
Tango, our new OTTB.
Chip, my App.
OTTB = Off the Track Thoroughbred
QH = Quarter Horse
App = Appoloosa
POA = Pony of Ameria, basically an App under 14h.
Great names! I like them all, but I especially get a kick out of the name "Patches"!
I always thought Uncle Smiley & Nubs were the most unique names.
They're good names too!
Greetings for far away Nebraska! In Omaha it was 82 degrees F before 9 am and headed for 100 today. Incredibly humid as well! And similar highs predicted for Saturday and Sunday!Not planning to go out at all today----way too hard on my heart.
Yuck. thank goodness for A/C. I'll be out mowing & even that gets awful hot this time of year. We've had enough rain that I need to both the lawn & the fields again.
Mary JL wrote: "Greetings for far away Nebraska! In Omaha it was 82 degrees F before 9 am and ..."Good to hear from you, Mary!
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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Only 53 degrees right now. Should get up to 70 degrees.
The Americade (motorcycle event) is in town this week. No driving through the town main street unless you 1) want to be outnumbered by motorcycles and 2) don't mind a long delay to get to your destination.
Americade brings in $$ for area, good viewings of dress up motorcycles and their riders, parades and more.
(Years ago we had a motorcycle and took an active part in the Americade.)