Sally's GF3 thread

[pertnear09]

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This made me shriek when I saw it in the green house. Just the surprise of it. I don't mind snakes. Too much. A friend identified this as a corn snake.

Well, he needs to go out in the corn.

 

[Sally PB]

A friend identified this as a corn snake.

She said it might be a milk snake instead; they're related.

Either way, thank you, snake, for slithering the other direction. You weren't bothering me, so I didn't want to bother you.

Whatever is eating the plants in my garden, however... You are bothering the @#$%^& out of me!

 

[Sally PB]

Here's an interesting bit about cuss words.

The @#$%^& I typed above, as a stand in for cuss words? It has a name.

Grawlix is a term for the use of an unpronounceable string of punctuation in place of a curse word or other taboo term. It can also be called “obscenicon” (a portmanteau of “obscenity” and “emoticon”) or “symbol swearing.”
https://quillbot.com/blog/grawlix/#:~:text=Grawlix is a term for,) or “symbol swearing.”

"Grawlix" is definitely better than "obsenicon," and "symbol swearing" is just plain boring.

 

[Sally PB]

Really, really hoping for some rain today! The "amount" map they've showed on the news indicates we'll get about 1/8" and other places north and south could get up to an inch.

 

[Sally PB]

Anyone have an IBC tote? We have one that was given to us (they're about $450-600, depending).

I can't find the pictures I took. Dang. Anyway. Ours has about 200 gallons of water in it, by the uphill heavy soil garden. Yay!

It has an opening near the bottom, and I hold a pail underneath and use the pail to fill up the bucket to carry to garden to dipper out water to the plants. This is an improvement over hauling water up the hill from the house. It's too far to run a hose.

You'd think there would be a fitting to attach to a hose fitting to use a hose, right?

Hubby ordered one such thing, and it's slightly too small. I took the cover cap that came with the cube and the fitting to a hardware store. Or 3.

First one suggested getting into the cube and cutting a new hole at the bottom and installing a fitting. The opening in the top of the cube for filling it might be big enough to drop a newborn through.

Second one actually knew what I meant. But out of 3? 6? rows of plumbing fittings, they didn't have anything the right size. The right size, according to my caliper, is 2.48 or 2.46 (probably some wear on the male threads by now) and the thread pitch is .09.

According to some info someone gave me, that's a 2" Camlock male with either 2" BSP or 2 1/8" BSP thread. Nope, they didn't have anything like that, but maybe Grainger might.

Yeah, I confounded them too.

So hubby is going to order "the other fitting that was bigger" and we'll see if it works.

If anyone has any words of experience to offer... Really, I did not think this was going to be so difficult!

Big container of liquid. Liquid must come out in a controlled fashion, and it must go somewhere other than pouring onto the ground. What's the problem?

 

[Sally PB]

Tuesday, we had old fogey's dinner (4 pm) at a craft brewery we really like, Archival, in Comstock Park (MI). We've been there several times. This time, I ordered falafel and a quinoa side salad. I mistakenly got the full salad, their mistake, so I brought it home. I wondered why it was such a huge plate for a "side salad."

I had it for lunch today and, wow! is this stuff GOOD! I will be ordering it as my dinner entrée the next time we go.

We go with a couple of former coworkers we've kept in touch with. At 4 pm, it's not crowded, the servers are just coming on for the dinner rush, and they're still fresh. We have fun with them, they have fun with us, and we leave good tips.

We all worked at the same photo lab, so reminiscing about the good old darkroom days is always a topic. Hubby has set up his darkroom, and the enlarger is from one of the friends who was paring down his stuff. And the enlarger actually came from where we all worked.

 

[Sally PB]

A couple days ago, I saw part of a potato plant that was wilting. I assumed some critter had eaten some of the roots.

Today when I was doing my potato beetle/egg hunt, I saw some frass and a hole in the stem of that plant. Since it was small and a volunteer growing in the middle of something else, I pulled it up and pulled apart the stem. I would have sworn it was a vine borer inside the stem. Do they attack potatoes? I've never seen one do that before. I didn't get a picture, unfortunately. The worm/bug got squished.

The potato plant wasn't as wilted as it was a couple days ago; I saw the frass and then remembered the wilting issue.

 

[NanaK]

This is the first year I've grown potatoes in a long time. I mostly see Colorado Potato Beetles and maybe flea Beetles. I only saw a few this year.

I don't recall ever seeing the damage you describe. By the time I dig potatoes the foliage is looking rough so maybe I did not notice.

 

[Sally PB]

I don't recall ever seeing the damage you describe.

I don't either. This was new to me. I'll be on the lookout for it though.

 

[Sally PB]

I heard the buzzing out in the field that I *think* is Japanese Beetles coming out of the ground. Though I guess it could be cicadas. We'll know in a few days.

This would be about 2 weeks earlier than usual. Just like everything else this year!