The Old Folks Home

[chickisoup]

On the gun subject, could I go to jail for Mother Nature???
No kidding, they just posted a FROST ADVISORY for tomorrow night!!!!

Not like I'm not used to this and don't know how to deal with it. My toms and such are all grown in raised beds that gets them up above the settling cold air and keeps the roots warmer and lined with sand filled blocks to hold heat I have this huge wooden box next to the house filled with heavy blankets that I picked up from rummage sales years ago and a barrel near the field garden stuffed with more. It's just when you get this cold in the middle of July, everything shuts down even without getting actually hit by the frost, and by the time it gets kicked back into growing mode summer's over. We just haven't had a summer like this in more than 10 years (according to my records)that was this cold, wet,for this many days in a row with only one or two warm days then right back where we were and we are about to break another temperature record. It's hurting financially because I make money from my organic herbs and my harvests are way down but I really feel sorry for the cash crop farmers up here. One good friend is close to losing their complete income for the entire season. They may not manage to break even for all their hard work.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: I hear ya, me too!

 

[Cynthia12]

It's still hot out.

You aren't really hot up that way are you? We are supposed to hit 107 next week! We never hit 107. Yes, the 103 that is supposed to hit before the 107, but never do I remember that happening here. Wonder if it will change, for the better. South of us gets that hot. Not here. :/

 

[Lacy Blues]

Ugh! 107? Yuk!

We got 105 today so not much less than that but still!

I'm thankful it will be cooling down. One source says 102 tomorrow and another says 99 but both of them agree after that point that temps will drop one degree each day over the next 10 days.

 

[ozexpat]

we are expecting another 8-12 inches of rain this week. A cat2 typhoon is going to pass by North of us

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Not like I'm not used to this and don't know how to deal with it. My toms and such are all grown in raised beds that gets them up above the settling cold air and keeps the roots warmer and lined with sand filled blocks to hold heat I have this huge wooden box next to the house filled with heavy blankets that I picked up from rummage sales years ago and a barrel near the field garden stuffed with more. It's just when you get this cold in the middle of July, everything shuts down even without getting actually hit by the frost, and by the time it gets kicked back into growing mode summer's over. We just haven't had a summer like this in more than 10 years (according to my records)that was this cold, wet,for this many days in a row with only one or two warm days then right back where we were and we are about to break another temperature record. It's hurting financially because I make money from my organic herbs and my harvests are way down but I really feel sorry for the cash crop farmers up here. One good friend is close to losing their complete income for the entire season. They may not manage to break even for all their hard work.

I hear ya. Our growing season is about 90 days, and this year it was about 2 weeks shorter because it was too cold to plant in the beginning of June. My tomatoes are just now starting to set fruit, as are my cucurbits. If we get a cold snap, that's pretty much it for us. We can get frosts in August. No where near as bad as you've had, but demoralizing. I've been trying to grow melons up here for years, and have managed to get some small hybrid (yet tasty) cantaloupe, but that's it. Anything that takes over 80 days is pretty much toast.

You aren't really hot up that way are you? We are supposed to hit 107 next week! We never hit 107. Yes, the 103 that is supposed to hit before the 107, but never do I remember that happening here. Wonder if it will change, for the better. South of us gets that hot. Not here. :/

It's currently 70 and the humidity is 94%. So I guess it's not the heat, it's the humidity. I took a shower about 40 minutes ago and still haven't completely dried off. We don't have central air conditioning (we have a small unit for the bedroom) so I've just been panting and sweating. I have a massive zit on my face from all the sweating. It's fabulous. At least I look like I'm 17 again

 

[chickadoodles]

I wonder if this new weather is going to be the new normal for us all? If this is global warming it may be.

 

[ozexpat]

I have not said anything controversial for a good while. This is not meant to start a flaming debate on the 2ND amendment. Its just a different way of doing things in a country that did not have to take up arms for independence nor has animals that will eat you.

When I lived on a farm in Oz, We could own any sort of rifle or shotgun that was sold. The only semi-autos were .22 and shotguns in our state. Anything bigger was either bolt or lever action requiring deliberate intent to chamber a round. No hand guns unless you were a cop or military. In other states you could get semi-auto .223 and 7.62mm

In 1996 a single gunman killed 35 people and wounded 28 using AR-10, an AR-15 and a NATO issue FN FAL. The Port Arthur massacre is the deadliest by a single gunman in the English speaking world.

The country was in shock. Gun control laws became much tighter. All states banned and heavily restricted the legal ownership and use of self-loading rifles, self-loading and pump-action shotguns, and heavily tightened controls on their legal use. The government initiated a "buy-back" scheme with the owners paid according to a table of valuations. Some 643,000 firearms were handed in at a cost of $350 million.

Gun licenses are based on "genuine reason"

Primary Producers (farmers and graziers) are allowed to apply for a license with evidence of land lease or ownership. Licenses for hunting, vermin control and collecting are also available. Hand gun licenses are next to impossible.

The number of firearms authorized under a Category B license issued to a primary producer are limited to:
No more than one registered self-loading rim fire rifle with a magazine capacity of no more than 10 rounds, and
No more than one registered shotgun and
No more than one registered non self-loading center-fire rifle
Consideration may be given to increasing the number of firearms authorized under this license, if a special need exists, and has been established to the satisfaction of the Commissioner.
The special need could be the size of the rural property.

My father had 1000 acres and had a basic C license.

He sold back my 30-30 Winchester lever action, 2 single shot .22 rim fire rifles and a 410 single barrel single shot shotgun
He kept a 22-250 center fire bolt action 5 shot rifle, a .22 cal semi auto rim fire and a 12g double barrel shotgun.

His license required an inspection of the storage safe.

In 2010 Australia had 1.03 gun deaths per 100,000 people 0.13 were murders, 0.73 suicide the rest were accident/unintentional
In 2011 the USA had 9.43 gun deaths per 100,000 people 2.72 were murders, 6.3 suicide and 0.4 were accident/unintentional

You are 15 times more likely to die from murder by gun and 8 times more likely to kill yourself with a gun in the USA

Australia has not had a shooting massacre since Port Arthur 1996 but had 10 shooting massacres in the decade preceding.

The USA has had 30 separate school shootings this year.

America fights for its freedoms and bill of rights but as the adage says, freedom comes at a price.

 

[chickisoup]

MORNING!!!

You raise some very valid points Oz. Problem here IMHO is that the genie is already out of the bottle. We have too many enemies, both foreign and domestic, and borders that are too porous to control any influx of illegal arms. If we initiated stronger gun control laws, only the bad guys would have the guns. That said, we do need to figure out some way to keep guns out of the hands of children and those who are unstable. Bigger than that, it is a cultural problem. Something has went terribly wrong within a single generation where so many have lost respect for human life. How can we fix that with a law?

 

[chickisoup]

we are expecting another 8-12 inches of rain this week. A cat2 typhoon is going to pass by North of us

Wow!

and I was about to complain about the frost advisory for us tonight. Never mind.