so waht ya doin today?

[Bret4207]

Ladders and scaffolding, everyone must ave a story. I was maybe 18 yoa and working for a camp 14 miles down a dirt road. Really rich people with names like DuPont owned camps there, or what they called camps. Looked more like rustic mansions to me. If there is an actual tiger rug in the house from back when you were an Ambassador to "Inja", it's not a camp! Anyway, the caretakers home was a 3 story affair on a side hill. The chimney needed cleaning, so we go the barn and get a 3 section wooden extension ladder. Allegedly a 50 plus footer IIRC. I don't have any idea how old it was, but it was probably WW2 era or before. And it was loooooooong even before you extended it. We get it up against the house and then I find out I'm supposed to be the ladder climber! I wasn't afraid of heights, but the fall was a concern. Up I go and I get all the way to the 3rd section when it lets go! Not sure how far down I slid, but it definitely got my attn. Got down, extended the ladder again, made sure it was locked this time and up I went. Sheesh! Parris Island was lots less intimidating than that ladder.

Was helping a friend roof his mothers house. My first time on scaffolding. Not real high, maybe 20 feet. I get to a new section and start nailing on strapping and that's when I found the hornets nest. They seemed a bit put out with the noise and general commotion and decided my face was a good target. Like Fiver says, a claw hammer is a poor tool for fighting off hornets. The other 2 guys working with me tell me I did a few 360's and 180's while swinging wildly with the hammer. One claims I was pretty much walking on air a time or two. I don't recall exactly how I got down to ground level but I know I didn't fall. Levitation perhaps? More likely I scrambled down the side if the scaffolding, but I don't know for sure. I do know those stupid bugs chased me, and me alone, a good 150 feet before they got tired of their fun. The other guys got rid of the hornets and we went back to roofing.

We kept bees for a few years, until they decided we were lousy beekeepers and took off for parts unknown. Our first hives were populated by bees that could have been on a kids Care Bear type cartoon. You could pretty much work around them without a headnet or smoker any time. The next year we get a couple more hives and the Bees From Hell. These bees not only required a headnet and smoker, they required a whole bee jacket, gloves, duct tape on your pants legs, etc. You walk within 20 feet of the hive and you got hit. Trying to get them food in spring and fall was horrible. Some bees just don't care that you are trying to keep them alive! It was a glad day when they swarmed and took off.

 

[L Ross]

I've had better luck this year with wasps, hornets and bees and the motorcycle. Last year I got stung on 9 different occasions, one day twice in 5 minutes. There is a gap between the tombstone windshield and the head light nacelle on my Indian and they must hit the nacelle or the gap and tend to go right into the collar of my shirt. They are often slightly stunned and usually upset and start stinging me under my shirt as I try to find and pinch them into submission. Thus far this season in 6K miles I've only had one bumble bee get into my shirt and it did not sting me.
A few years ago my wife had one ricochet off me and drop right into her cleavage. So we pull over as she is fumbling with buttons and we haven't seen a car in a half hour. Off comes the shirt and she has two fingers in the cups when over the hill, right behind us, pops a County Deputy. He slowed down, evaluated, comprehended in about 5 seconds, waved and drove off. I hope he gets promoted, as he was a smart man.

 

[smokeywolf]

Bee stung only once. Never been stung by hornet or wasp. As we will be in AR permanently, come Saturday; probably only a matter of time now.

 

[Rick]

Bee stung only once. Never been stung by hornet or wasp. As we will be in AR permanently, come Saturday; probably only a matter of time now.

Why is that? I've been here 8 years, ain't been stung yet. John has been stung twice this year BUT john coddles them. He let's them build nests all over the outside of the house where ever they like. Not me . . . Chemical warfare is a good thing. I use wasp spray on any that even look like they are considering building a nest anywhere near the house or outbuildings. So far so good.

 

[JonB]

I dug all my Horseradish plants yesterday.
Yield: one 8' pickup box full of leaves and two 5 gallon buckets full of roots.

Today, I start grinding and crying.

 

[JonB]

Also, I just got an email saying my 4 custom windows (for the attic) have arrived at the store, and can pick up this afternoon.

 

[fiver]

that's a lot of horseradish.
I'd find a way to dispose of some of it.

 

[Winelover]

I dug all my Horseradish plants yesterday.
Yield: one 8' pickup box full of leaves and two 5 gallon buckets full of roots.

Today, I start grinding and crying.

 

[CZ93X62]

Chutes & Ladders.......LOTS of ladder stories, working at the feed mill. Up high on an elevator, unclogging a pivot head that some fool didn't lock down. The owners flipped out if "Their silage was corrupted"--barley got into oat bins, or some such transgression. I guess USDA gets twitchy about such things. Whatever. We did our best to keep the grains pristine, but some of that WWI-era machinery in its 50th-60th year of service just objected to running hard all day. Now that I am at such an age, I understand their sentiments. Of the machinery, that is. No bug issues, but as the Alice Cooper song relates--"Rats in battalions". Pigeons were almost as bad--flying rats, AFAIC.

Stinging bugs really haven't plagued me much. I recall a wasp sting as a child that did not impress me at all, and I have had a few bee stings over the years. I have A LOT of plant allergies, but thankfully not to bug stings. Deer and bees LOVE being around marijuana grows--the deer eat the stuff and get all messed up, the bees......well, I don't know why they hang around. They just do, probably the dripline water--free-standing water is none too common in August to October in this area. Gotta keep Epi-Pens on hand in case someone with sting allergies gets hit--and they will. Murphy's Law gets no plea bargains, and such things untreated are full-on emergencies. People with such allergies seem to attract bees to them.

For the last dozen years or so, feral or "Africanized" honey bees have been moving north from Mexico into California's southern deserts. A few years back, Buckshot--Gopher Slayer--and yours truly were conducting a training op well south of I-10 along Red Cloud Mine Road, about the area where the Kaiser Mine RR's tracks curved from straight southbound toward the west. (Followed out, this route takes you to a cool trestle that crosses Dos Palmas Canyon and an old connection to the SPRR (now UPRR) southern route mainline. If you watch "rail speeder" videos on Youtube, this closed route has lots of video on file.)

The training involved the release of heavy metal back to its natural environment in some quantity, and beeswax-based bullet lubes figured highly in this effort. The feral bees were NOT IMPRESSED. Memo to self--look for bees at shooting sites, or refrain from launching castings. Go jacketed.

 

[Bret4207]

A few years back I was using a bale spear on the back of a tractor to get a couple bales for the stock. I managed to spear not one, but TWO! wasp or hornets nests built in the bales. I've never seen them build nests in the bales before or since. No cabs on my tractors, so I got some nice stings from those .....(insert foul word of your choice here).

 

[JWFilips]

We have these white face hornets here! Dang things hold a grudge! They will chase you for a few hundred yards then when the get you they stick to you like glue! Just keep injecting hornet juice! Very painful! I have to say they are the worst of all the stingers in my area...( but none are fun!)
Humble Bees ( bumble) never sting that I know! I take them out of my pool by hand and dry them off by blowing on them until they can fly!

 

[Ian]

I sure got whacked by one once while picking Mustang grapes from a huge vine. I must have accidentally stepped on the nest or something, a few came after me and they were sure mad, I didnt blame them a bit 'cuz I would have been mad too if some monster stomped all over my abode.

Question for the pepper guys: My potted chili piquin bush died last winter but I have a jar full of the semi-dried fruits from the year before. I'd like to plant them in the spring on the property here and let them go wild. Do they need to be scarified somehow or just poke 'em in the dirt and add water?

 

[fiver]

just get them sprouted using the paper towel method, throw e'm in a pot for a few weeks, then turn e'm loose in various places, you'll see where they like it and can over plant another batch in that area.
once they get going they will drop their seeds [or you can broadcast the ones you harvest] and they'll be mostly self sustaining.
you just gotta find that spot they like.

 

[Ian]

There are a few spots they should like based on what I've seen in the wild in other places. They seem to like 3/4 shade under live oak trees where the frost plants grow.

 

[Ian]

I just finished registering for nine ASE recertification tests. Apparently they're all electronic now and in the Gulag test centers they won't let us sign up for more than the estimated time's worth at once That sucks because it will now take two test sessions to recertify in all my categories where I used to take nine regular recert tests and one advanced recert test in a single four-hour block. The nine I signed up for are supposed to take six and a half hours now, I'm shaking my head.

 

[JonB]

I gave away one full bucket and half a bucket (of horseradish roots), to my farmer friend to plant.
I ground up about a pint jar full, and cleaned enough roots to do another couple pints...put them in the freezer and will grind them when needed.

I read up on how the process should go, for best results, and shelf life (in frig) of prepared horseradish is about 4 months, for best quality product. The whole roots will keep a year or so (they say) in the freezer.

I am not totally impressed with what I prepared, I'm thinking it needs a few days or weeks in the frig???

I tried preparing horseradish only once before (like ten years ago)...that was a failure...I didn't get it ground up enough.

 

[JonB]

It's funny how some plants will grow 'wild'.
One year I planted some Ground Cherry plants. Now, every spring they come up so thick, they choke out the weeds.

 

[fiver]

if your getting them under oak trees it's because of a couple things.
the oak trees and their roots modify the soil around them.
they make a fungus in the ground which alters the soil base [why some mushrooms are found near them]
the leaves themselves modify the soil too when they die and fall to the ground.[they enrich the soil]
the trees themselves add shade which helps retain water along with the leaf cover.

I was gonna get the boat out and go down bass fishing, then decided to go trout fishing instead.
mostly because I wanted to look up a canyon near there I have been thinking about Deer hunting in up by a small natural lake.
I have done some bird hunting up there before and I had the shotgun with me so maybe.
the wind was killing me and I was glad I didn't take the boat so I packed the fishing in after about an hour.

went up to the other lake and it was packed over with people from Utah and California bow hunting... well crap.
how did they even find this place it's like 90% private property?
I couldn't even park to go fishing for all the trucks and campers.

plan B.
I guess I will take the road up over the old cow camp road.
jeezus where did all these buttholes come from? I don't even dare get out of the truck to grouse hunt.
12 miles of dirt to the bottom of the next valley and nowhere to hunt?

 

[Ian]

Well that sucks. I bet all the foreigners will be gone in January though! Texas catches a lot of flak for its virtual lack of public hunting land, but one thing about it is there are plenty of places that will lease it to you pretty reasonably...and you don't have to worry about any other hunters if you get a private lease. You won't have your run of 2 million acres and about all there is to hunt away from the coast is whitetail, pigs, and doves (except for ranches that have exotics), but you don't have to wear body armor and blaze orange coveralls to keep some idiot from trying to make you his next wall mount, either.

 

[Bret4207]

Yesterday was an odd job day. Moved sheep fence (bunged up a knee thank you very much), tried some mechanic in a can sodium silicate for the little S10 with what I'm pretty sure is a cracked head (seems to be working somewhat), cleaned up the garage a bit, sharpened a pruning saw I got at auction for about $1.50. Been a long, long time since I filed a saw! Seems okay but not on par with a brand new Corona by far. Found out I'd completely overlooked paying last months power bill, had it in the register, but never paid it! Got a property tax refund check in the mail. $250 out of $5-6K, what a deal! Neighbor saw a bear out in the meadow near my sheep, so the whole area is abuzz with bear talk. Overgrown raccoons IME and just as much of a pest. Gordy got a nice 10 second video of a coyote on one of his trail cams, and multiple 10 second videos of our horses licking the trail cam, etc. Still haven't seen anything of my contractor for the barn roof/foundation. Pretty quiet day.

Did get a halfway decent shot of a front moving in yesterday and I missed a nice shot of 2 of my sheep dogs with the sheep and sunset in the background. One dog wandered off as I was fumbing with the phone. Have to see if I can post them for practice, still trying to get the hang of this phone-picture thing!