That'll do it. It was 82° here today. What was it back home?
What's everybody doing today?
- Thread starter Grimm
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That'll do it. It was 82° here today. What was it back home?
About the same, low 80's, humidity building up. I took the scooter up to the high field early to make sure there were no glowing embers. This afternoon I rode over to check on the cows... My behind has been in my recliner the rest of the time.
It just quit raining again, so maybe I can get some subflooring put down. Maybe it won't get as hot today.
Hello everyone and hope you have had a good day 
. It has been raining here on and off all day so no work done in the gardens today but we are thankful for all the rain being around 16mm last night and today.
Started off the morning with DH hand watering the other half of the back lawn with saved grey water from our showers and washing machine and then we stripped and made the bed with fresh sheets.
Then we moved into the kitchen and made a double batch of magic mix from food storage which makes white sauces and puddings too and then we washed and diced up some tomatoes given to us by a friend to make 2 more meals for the freezer. DH then washed the dishes and cleaned the benches and I wiped them and put them away and then I swept the floors in the kitchen and cleaned behind , sides of the stove and the kitchen benches after DH pulled it away from the wall.
Just loaded the washing machine with some of a dark load that I will start on Monday morning if the weather is fine. Tonight's dinner was the other half of our homemade pizza and dessert was tinned pears with our magic mix chocolate pudding.
. It has been raining here on and off all day so no work done in the gardens today but we are thankful for all the rain being around 16mm last night and today.Started off the morning with DH hand watering the other half of the back lawn with saved grey water from our showers and washing machine and then we stripped and made the bed with fresh sheets.
Then we moved into the kitchen and made a double batch of magic mix from food storage which makes white sauces and puddings too and then we washed and diced up some tomatoes given to us by a friend to make 2 more meals for the freezer. DH then washed the dishes and cleaned the benches and I wiped them and put them away and then I swept the floors in the kitchen and cleaned behind , sides of the stove and the kitchen benches after DH pulled it away from the wall.
Just loaded the washing machine with some of a dark load that I will start on Monday morning if the weather is fine. Tonight's dinner was the other half of our homemade pizza and dessert was tinned pears with our magic mix chocolate pudding.
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Haven't thought about magic mix for awhile...I should make some. It's handy.
Yesterday was work, and then measuring outdoors with my son for our duck area planning. We'll be going to Lowes Sunday morning for all the supplies, and work crew of kids and grandkids arrive around lunchtime tomorrow. Yesterday was baking like a crazy woman for today's Tech Fest for ham radio. So off we go to handle registration and raffle and morning treats, and later assigned ordered box lunches. The speakers for the most part go over my head and ham ability, but I bring some embroidery to work on after the work part is done. It'll go all day today. I picked up 4 baby silkies at the feed store yesterday to bring to Kansas next month to add to my favorite cousins grandkids silkie army. There's nothing cuter than a baby silkie...no butt, pointed beak, and an extra furry toe.
Yesterday was work, and then measuring outdoors with my son for our duck area planning. We'll be going to Lowes Sunday morning for all the supplies, and work crew of kids and grandkids arrive around lunchtime tomorrow. Yesterday was baking like a crazy woman for today's Tech Fest for ham radio. So off we go to handle registration and raffle and morning treats, and later assigned ordered box lunches. The speakers for the most part go over my head and ham ability, but I bring some embroidery to work on after the work part is done. It'll go all day today. I picked up 4 baby silkies at the feed store yesterday to bring to Kansas next month to add to my favorite cousins grandkids silkie army. There's nothing cuter than a baby silkie...no butt, pointed beak, and an extra furry toe.
Orthene is the only thing we've found that kills the bed. Never stir the mound before you use it or anything else. That's because they go into "protect the Queen" mode and take her deeper out of reach. We quit the "natural" means awhile back. They even got into my coop area and killed my hatchlings. We had had to pull out the big guns.
Still working on the Ranger. Thought I'd have the back differential done yesterday.....WRONG!!!! Got to tear it all back apart and grind a little off the cross shaft so I can get the C-clips in.
My spouse has abandoned me today and left me with most of the children. She is at the spa, then she is going out to lunch with a friend, then to a movie with another friend, then she has some shopping to day and then she is going over to yet another friend's house for dinner and ladies night (which really means they are doing something crafty). She told me a couple weeks ago that she feels like she has not seen her friends in a long time so I suggested she have a friends day.
Anyway I spent the morning intermittently cleaning house, playing with the kids and wrestling around with dogs. Once I get lunch on the table for the kiddos I am going to snow blow for the 4th time since Thursday night and then head down to the man cave to spend some time with my guns. Not sure after that. Might take the kids sledding and then home for some sugar free hot cocoa. We also have this place which is pretty much just one massive indoor trampoline, which is always fun. Pretty sure dinner is going to be take-out of some kind.
Anyway I spent the morning intermittently cleaning house, playing with the kids and wrestling around with dogs. Once I get lunch on the table for the kiddos I am going to snow blow for the 4th time since Thursday night and then head down to the man cave to spend some time with my guns. Not sure after that. Might take the kids sledding and then home for some sugar free hot cocoa. We also have this place which is pretty much just one massive indoor trampoline, which is always fun. Pretty sure dinner is going to be take-out of some kind.
I usually use Malathon concentrate mixed heavy! A gallon kills the whole mound.
Adopt me for a day?
Hahahaaahahaha! Whopeeeee!
Grumps, the orthene only takes a couple of tablespoons...
I knew there were a lot of ants in that field but after burning the dead grass off it is astonishing. According to Texas A&M data there are roughly 5000 ant beds in that field and roughly 68,000,000 million ants. I've never seen anything like it. I discovered we no longer have a county extension agent, we have a regional agent up in Florence AL. He sounded like he was about 15 years old on the phone.
I don't know if ya'll can see this picture clearly... every brown dot against the black burned grass is a fire ant bed...
I don't know if ya'll can see this picture clearly... every brown dot against the black burned grass is a fire ant bed...
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Good grief. Get the napalm!
Fireants! Not firearms! Auto correct doesn't recognize fire ant. City slicker phone!
@Peanut does the burning kill the fire ant nests ?, or do you have to now treat each mound with chemicals to kill the little suckers ?. Read on mother earth news to use sprinkle bicarb on the mound and pour vinegar into the mound works on them. I know the regular ants around here don't like vinegar. You are going to need an awful lot of vinegar.
by the looks of that infestation.
You can't use fire to get rid of ants. The heat and fumes don't get into the nest. If you live in a dry area you can use diatomaceous earth. It is a fine calcium product which contains the broken shells of diatoms. It cuts insects to pieces and won't harm other animals. Orthene will work if you get all the nests at the same time with a lethal dose but if you miss one they will be able to resist it in the future. The common ant poisons don't work on fire ants because they have adapted to them. Any disruption to the nests just make the ants move - and you never know which direction they will move. I suppose you could dig a ditch around the entire area , fill the ditch with concrete and then saturate the soil with Tri-Chlorinated Hydrocarbons or other nerve agents. It would require you to protect the area from winds for a week or so but it would sterilize the area and kill the ants. (that might be illegal)
I was on one side of the field while we were burning. I had a shovel and opened every nest I saw right in front of the flames. Hopefully I killed a couple of million that way but thats a drop in the bucket. The queen of each nest is about 2ft underground so the queens wouldn't have been killed only some of the workers.
Thanks for the tip on mother earth news... yep it'd take several thousand gallons of vinegar.
With chemicals there are two approaches. 1. Bait that is carried back into the nest that will kill the larva. It then takes a couple or 3 months for the living workers to die off naturally 2. Direct attack with a chemical poured into each nest. That hopefully kills the queen.
The county extension agent said he would email me a report put out by the state that listed the chemicals and techniques . He didn't do it late Friday so I'll call again monday.
By burning I've removed the food source for the ants out in the field. This will force them to move close to the edges. And they will be hungry. I'm thinking bait might be the way to go.
They aren't immune to orthene and DE doesn't work at all. I know, I have seen that first hand. It works for worms but not ants.
My Jim carries a container of orthene with him each time he mows and baits everyone he sees. We keep some close by to our coop and garage.
I buy DE in 50lb bags. It'll make a nest move sometime but thats about it. My problem is what is considered safe for a lawn usually isn't considered safe for where livestock graze. That's why I need the state report. It will have all that information.
I'm looking forward to hearing back from you when you get the report. I hate chemicals, but sometimes they have to be used. There was some study done a few years ago about some kind of fly large that was lethal to fire ants. I think it was tried in Texas. The fly would lay the larvae in the ant and the killed it from the inside out. The problem was that moisture was needed for the fly to survive.
It was in NC. I read their report about the flies at NC State U. Only a few survived more than a season.
No grand daughter today.
2 loads of laundry washed, dried, and put away.
Cleaned out dresser drawers, anything torn,ripped, or plain didn't wear or like.
Properly got ripped and put in rag sack.
Cleaned bathroom.
Washed dishes.
Cleaned off top of table,freezer.
Finished putting away groceries.
Took nap.
Ate Pizza Hut pizza, treat, oldest son paid for it.
Even though I don't charge to sit.
He tries to do something nice for me once in while.
Chunky, sassy and sleepy that's me tonight.
2 loads of laundry washed, dried, and put away.
Cleaned out dresser drawers, anything torn,ripped, or plain didn't wear or like.
Properly got ripped and put in rag sack.
Cleaned bathroom.
Washed dishes.
Cleaned off top of table,freezer.
Finished putting away groceries.
Took nap.
Ate Pizza Hut pizza, treat, oldest son paid for it.
Even though I don't charge to sit.
He tries to do something nice for me once in while.
Chunky, sassy and sleepy that's me tonight.
Bought a bunch of computer parts today - son#3 is tasked with building a computer for the schoolroom (my laptop isn't cutting it anymore).
So far so good on the build!
So far so good on the build!
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Survived another tech fest. I think I'm off the hook for ham registration till two big September events. Got to visit with some hams I haven't seen in awhile, which is a perk. Everyone has to stop by the registration table, and to collect their raffle ticket. Husband won a mug from the VLA. Came home to snap the twins into gear, but they are tuckered out...our youngest daughter took them on a 4 mile foothills hike. She's an avid hiker. Just fed all of the animals, and I should think about what to make for us human animals.
@Peanut as we are only just dealing with some areas of fire ants here in Australia I have not a lot of experience in the matter but I do know we have termite mounds and they are dealt with by most farmers by opening up the nest and pouring fuel in it and setting it alight. Probably would work if the section with the queen is not sealed off by the workers, something to look into anyway.
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Last week, I successfully defended my qualification exam (sometimes referred to as the "candidacy exam") for my doctoral program. This was the 2nd of 4 public defenses I have to do. The next will be defending my proposal later this spring or early summer, and then my final dissertation defense will hopefully done by Christmas 2019.
Hopefully with my qualification exam behind me, I'll be a little more active on here!
Hopefully with my qualification exam behind me, I'll be a little more active on here!
Got up and snowblew driveway for 2+ hours. Went and took in an equine Skijoring event, made supper, now I am going to go put new battery in the truck since the old one hates the cold and needs to be boosted or put on the trickle charger every time.
When we went to town yesterday we did a Costco run. Two carts, one for the B&B and the other personal. We each took a cart through a different cashier. Better part of $700 gone. I laughed though when I looked at the first few items on my receipt ... it was a mans cart
Battery $124
Core charge $10
Windshield wipers 3@ $9.99
Bacon $45
Dog toys $24
Now there really were items for the whole household in the cart, but when you start car parts, bacon, dog treats it’s a good guess that it is a man doing the shopping
When we went to town yesterday we did a Costco run. Two carts, one for the B&B and the other personal. We each took a cart through a different cashier. Better part of $700 gone. I laughed though when I looked at the first few items on my receipt ... it was a mans cart
Battery $124
Core charge $10
Windshield wipers 3@ $9.99
Bacon $45
Dog toys $24
Now there really were items for the whole household in the cart, but when you start car parts, bacon, dog treats it’s a good guess that it is a man doing the shopping
