Washingtonians

[jbear]

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RAREFEATHERS STOP IT!

ugh! Every time I see him I SO WANT HIM!! you mean evil woman... I really want geese, as you know, I am afraid they would be just too much for my neighbors.. what with the call duck girls and the ... i lost count ... roosters.

(also.. did you ever get your white calls???)

how did everyone fair with the wind?? we lost power about 9:30 and it came back on just in time for my son to 'style his hairs' this AM.. *whew* dramatics averted. hahah....


haven't been on in awhile.. nice to see all the new faces

Welcome!

 

[Chickielady]

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That is cute, but too small for me.
I also have several pumps and low watt-usage pond pumps and wooden tanks with pond liner sides left over from the koi farm we had in NorCal.
I had long filter boxes for each pond, measuring about 8 feet long by 3 feet wide by about 3 to 4 feet high.
A submersible pump sucks off the pond bottom and shoots it out in a filter pad made of quilted quilt batting...removeing the big crud and the water then flows through the rest of this big filter box that is full of pond filter material, which resembles a big 4 foot wide roll of pot scrubber material.
This allows good bacteria to colonize and remove the nitrifying crud that builds up from fish waste and is excreted from their gills.
So I wanted to get those floaty rock wool panels, and float them on top of this tank to further remove any more ammonia and nitrates...but never did try it...I do want to do it though.
Is yours in a green house or out in the weather ?
OK in the basement ?
And cool idea about the oats...I have a bag of whole oats and may plant some, but the mousies and ratikins love the oatsies too !!! So maybe better not.
We got our box rat/mouse traps today from Bugspray.com, awesome little traps the critters follow around the walls and run into and snap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, all is so quite today.
I am on restriction from work, even though I have lots to do I can barely lift a cup of tea...which is OH SO DELISH with Mr & Mrs Rustler HONEY in it thanks you !!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

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wow !

It was no where near that bad here !

 

[ReiMiraa]

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wow !

It was no where near that bad here !

Its still windy here, but not as bad, but still gusty.
I saw some WSU ground maintenance crew ppl raking up the leaves and street sweeping. i was about to ask them whats the point of controlling the leaves in the wind if more are going to blow down. then i looked at the trees..... yeah after last night all the trees are naked, no more leaves. so i didn't say anything. raking isn't bad. but using a leaf blower in the wind still seems pointless to me....
apparently the power is out in the greek row area..... glad i am not them. and many cars met their end with trees. i am sure insurance companies phones will be busy for the next week...... i have yet to check on my car... i will have to do that when i return to my dorm......

 

[DIYSeattle]

You could use those koi filters for flood and drain using a bell drain (same concept as a toilet). I have almost a dozen buckets, and about 15 net pots. They take up as much soom as that many buckets do. The nutrients are easier for the plants to utilize so you can cram plants in together without worrying about them competing for fertilizers. The cute little buckets have fish in them too to create nitrogen, to eat algae, and to help the cycling. Even with adding chemical ferttilizers the fish are still fine. The plants either use it fast or the bio system converts it fast. Regardless most plants grow twice as fast and twice as big. I do not buy commercial hydro fertilizers, I make my own or use Peters 20,20,20. I was considering using a more organic fertilizer but have to experiment on it. Chicken fertilizer is ammonia rich and has to be composted for dirt. I dont know what I could get away with in a hydro setup, seeing how it processes commercial fertiliizer and I know that it is high in ammonia and nitrogen.

 

[pongoid]

Lake Tapps area also had a lot of wind. Power out at 9:30 and back on at 3:30. I didn't feel any quake. Wish I had, would have been the first time.

Lots of Fir boughs down in the driveway this morning.

Woke up late for the train because of alarm clock issues. Went to the train station and couldn't find parking so I drove to work....made it in record time.

 

[justbugged]

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DH and I have kept fresh water fish since we were both kids. So I understand what is happening with aquarium biology. I am though still trying to understand most of the rest of the details about Hydroponics. I still have tomato plants in the greenhouse. I never did get them planted in the ground this year. I just left them all in 1 gallon pots in the greenhouse. I had planted the seeds later than I should have, and of course there wasn't any summer this year. I did get 5 or 6 little tomatoes that ripened. I wasn't that impressed with the harvest. I am fairly sure that nothing more will happen with the plants, given that there just isn't enough heat for them to ripen. I have lights on in the GH, and also in my kitchen garden window. I bought the florescent light bars at the Hydroponics store. They aren't high end, but seem to make a big difference in how the plants grow. I just can't remember if the lights are blues or red. I know that I have both colors of bulbs. So as long as I can remember to keep all the plants watered, all the plants thrive beautifully. Unfortunately I have brain farts about that watering thing. I think it is because the plants rarely ever make any noise, or beg for what they need. Dogs and cats are much better at reminding me than plants are.

 

[justbugged]

Even with all the wind here, Larry the hummingbird is out there chowing down on the sugar water. I don't know how that scary little bird manages sometimes. He is quite remarkable. I would love him, but he keeps calling me names and cussing at me. I am going to have to replace a panel that finally blew out. The panel was cracked before this storm, but it is now time to replace it because now it no longer usable. So here I go to Home Depot again. Teddie loves to shop at HD. He thinks it is a man dog store, and he is a man dog.

 

[Chickielady]

OK I am on the sick side tonight, exhausted and in pai n and cannot take muscle relaxers cuz of the celiac disease so ...we suffer each in our own way, BUTT I did find a coupla photos of some of the many Koi spawning and rearing tanks we had.
This is just an example, we had many that were shallow for raisong fry (try filtering that !!) We have also spent alot of time designing and following trough on fuctioning of, Koi ponds and their filters.
I am also the #1 breeder of Ishigaki ...........................

Beautiful Ishigaki !!!
This is still one of my most favorite colors, the marigold sheen of my Ishigaki...in Japanese it translates to "stone wall" which is in referench to the fact that the fishes' scales are all of different sizes.
So, the Japanes refuse to judge such a koi, and will throw them out for dogs to eat.
But we Americans love the difference of the ishigaki and the sheen is spectacular........OK so I guess I bettter stop typing as my arm is numb............

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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GORGEOUS!!