Whatcha Up To???

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
I know you keep very busy, but do you ever take time to just stop and watch your cattle for a while? As busy as i was on the Nursery, i still enjoyed just leaning on the fence once in a while watching the wool grow on my sheep. That was better than some of the TV that people watch.

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

Sure I do, whenever I take the dogs out & I spend 30 minutes with them every other day... They watch me constantly hoping that I come & feed them even more... LOL!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Ran out morning (ahead of the cold front) & got the potatoes in. It's in the 70s right now, however the forecast for the next couple of days is 41/34 & 45/39 with rain & then 4 days of highs only in the mid-50s.

Work on my cookbook.

 

[ErnieCopp]

60% chance of rain today, but just a few drops so far. Snowpack in the Sierras, where CA gets its water, is 12% of normal, and rainy season nearly over, and i have had less than 3 inches this season in my rain gauges. So, we may be picking Fried Green Tomatoes this year instead of raw red ones.

When i was building highways and not wanting it to rain, it seemed to rain all winter out here. Now that i am trying to grow stuff, not near enough. Someone is out of step here, but not sure if it is me or the weatherman.

Ernie

 

[45 ACP]

Planted potatoes last Thursday.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Going to be a boring day here... Yesterday at this time it was 70 degrees, today its 36 & the wind is howling, so we're sitting here in front of a fire twiddling our collective thumbs. I'm so ready for some steady warmer weather.

 

[wolffman]

Ha ha, yes this weather is a bummer. Planted some late garlic yesterday for the wife. She'll use it as green garlic in the spring.

Hey Ranch, if you're really bored go out in the garage and build one of these. I built this one a while back...

 

[w_r_ranch]

I have more than enough stripper clips ready to go... they're faster & even Mrs. Ranch can refill a magazine pretty quick.

​

 

[ErnieCopp]

We got a half inch of rain last night. Probably about $75.00 worth, not counting the labor it saved to move the rainbirds.

What do you fellows shoot at with so many bullets? For example, say you shoot at a deer or a pig, do you shoot once and wait to see if it hit in the right spot, or do you shoot until it falls, just to make sure?

I stopped hunting before guns like this became popular, and i have wondered about this for quite a while.

Thanks,
Ernie

 

[wolffman]

Ernie, I shoot a lot just to keep the skills sharp. Plus, it's good stress relief for me. Also, there's just something about that ammonia smell when dumping a 30 round magazine as fast as I can, hahaha.

 

[w_r_ranch]

One shot, one kill while hunting, you almost always have the luxury of timing... unless you are trying to put a bunch of hogs down.

Most are for personal protection/defense. We cannot count on law enforcement to be here if/when we need them (probably 30-45 minutes away). It is just a fact of life nowadays. We choose not to be victims.

 

[ErnieCopp]

They do look like a lot of fun, but never had the opportunity to shoot one. .

Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

Beautiful Spring day, Cool breeze blowing, fresh and crisp after yesterday's rain. I mowed the lawn and put some 15-15-15 on everything but the grass. I wish i had done that before the rain but did not expect anymore. I will have to run sprinklers to wash it in, as i doubt we will get much more rain this year.

I use liquid foliar fertilizer the rest of the year, since i irrigate with drip, and too many different systems to inject.

Ernie

 

[Mr_Yan]

It's cold. It's dark. It's cold. It's snowing. It's cold.

I grew up in a place that got a lot of snow. More years than not were over 100 inches a season and at least two years that I lived there we got over 200 inches in a season. But the town I grew up in stayed warm. It was rare that it got below zero F.

I'm tired of being cold and not even getting snow. It's currently 10° F out. Today's high was 16° F. Tomorrow's high is forecast at 11° F. Ten day forecast doesn't have us breaking the freezing point.

I just want to curl up and hibernate at this point.

Just think we'll be 90° F warmer in 6 months. Nothing like living somewhere that has 120° F seasonal swings.

 

[ErnieCopp]

I enjoy the comments about the weather, from all parts of the country. I have lived, and worked outside, at both extremes, from the low, humid CA deserts, the high, dry, CA deserts, as well as the Idaho mountains at 48' 30 degrees North, and the temperate coastal climates. And i have found it very interesting how we, as people, can adapt to whatever weather we happen to be living and working in.

I have heard there the area around Cuernavaca, Mexico, is the right distance from the equator and at the right elevation, that it is always Springtime climate there, and strawberries grow the year around. but i think, after i got tired of eating strawberries, that i would find that perfect temperature boring, and be wanting it to change once in a while.

And even in the most extreme climates i have lived in, there have always been some parts of the year that had delightful weather.

Ernie

 

[Mike]

Slowly, very slowly things are starting to finally melt around here. I'm so ready for spring, all this ice and snow is old news now.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Yep, we're tired of this cold too... up to 55 today after 3 nasty days/freezing nights. It's supposed to be below freezing again tonight.

Yesterday was spent grinding meat & making patties.

Today I had to take Mrs. Ranch for her drivers license renewal, to get the registration/new plates for my Jeep & do the weekly shopping. Then made bread when we got home.

Tomorrow the dogs get a road trip to the vets as Jake gets his stitches removed.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Today we made it up to 10° F. The afternoon was cloudless blue sky. The flags look like sheets of plywood.

Friday 6:42 AM
-12° F real temp. don't know if there's windchill or not on top of this.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Had some roasted beets and sauteed beet greens for dinner last night, First taste of Spring.

Bought a couple of flats of begonias, and three Big Bertha Sweet pepper plants. Showers forecast for this weekend, so will plant if it does not rain too much.

Sam, Wolff, did you see on the news that Obama is going to issue an execuitive order banning ammo for AR-?? guns?

Ernie

 

[w_r_ranch]

I saw it, however it is just one particular type of bullet & I have enough to last my lifetime & then some.

 

[wolffman]

Yeah, I saw that too Ernie. I'm with Ranch on this one, probably have about 6K of that type. I don't know what the big hype over them is anyway, they penetrate a little further, but aren't that accurate.

 

[w_r_ranch]

62gr. bullets stabilize better in a barrel with 1:7 twist rate... as with any barrel, accuracy also improves with barrel length. I personally prefer 55gr. myself. I'm not so worried about penetration... I'm going to take a head shot 99/100 regardless.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Sam,
I think you grow some of your melons on trellises, and i am going to try that this year to increase air circulation in the vines and hope to cut down on mildew and such.

My question is, how high up the trellis do different melons seem to want to climb, or how high can the different melons grow off the ground and still be supported by the vines?

I assume the heavier watermelons will have more of a problem than, say cantaloupes. but i have seen gourds pretty far above the ground.

Any of your wisdom on this that you can share would be appreciated, as i do not want to spend July standing out there holding up a watermelon to keep it from breaking the vine.

Ernie

 

[Mr_Yan]

@ErnieCopp I grow melons and squash up trellises and once they're off the ground the fruit need support. If the fruit is firmly attached like with butternut squash you can simply tie a cord around the fruit's stem to support it as the weight of the squash will kink the vine. For things like cantaloupe and icebox watermelon you need some type of sling or hammock to support the fruit. Smaller fruit like cucumbers and gourds don't need support.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Ernie, my cantaloupe & honey dew are on a 5' high bull panel. I have no idea how high they are capable of growing in a vertical format... I can only pick so high anyways. I also don't worry about supporting the fruit, I simply weave the vine through the panels as the grow (same as I so the spaghetti squash).

Watermelons are too heavy, they grow on the ground.