Well, that sucks.

Bo'sun, next time leave me blissfully ignorant. Now I got two whole years to be POed

You might feel beat Marine, but you should be feeling proud for planting those 40 to 50 peach trees! I will pray that every one of them survives and puts out blossoms in the spring! How are you going to keep the weeds out of the orchard? I was wondering if there was grass around the trees or is it like out here in California where there is only soil around them? I only have one tree to plant in my back yard right now and I have decided on a tangarine tree. I have two avacado trees and one grapefruit tree.

CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE EARTH A MUCH NICER PLACE MARINE!

KT :valentine:

I think the last one also applies to Marine Staff NCOs too. We had a Gunnery Sergeant two doors down who was going to show his kids the worlds largest firecracker so he took a block of Gelamex and set it off in his back yard in a hole. Aside from a couple of cracked windows no one thought any harm done, until the Police SWAT team showed up. They never did figure out what made that KABOOM.

Evil computer, Pie? Do this to it and you'll have no choice but to invest in a new one!






We are expecting about 2-4 inches of snow...the storm will be dumping huge amounts points south.....glad we will escape the worst of it....poor Snuffy...she'll be doing a lot of snow removal..

It is easy when a farmer has kids. One doesn't break up a sweat telling the boys to go out an plant 50-60 peach trees and if they don't get it done in one day and get it done right, you are going to whip their ass.

All tolled, I planted 200 trees today. Keeping the weeds and grass out will require mowing until the trees get big enough to shade out any weeds or grass that sprout. In a commercial orchard, the trees are planted so at maturity the crowns merge so not much sunlight will reach the ground.

It's too cold here in North Texas to grow the kind of trees you mentioned.

Hope you are doing ok, things get better each day, don't they?

Maybe I could get my daughter to pry my two Grandsons away from the video games, eh? Fat chance.

Please tell me that you have a riding mower Marine! If you planted 200 trees today, you have a huge piece of property!

I am so proud of you!!!

KT :valentine:

I'm okay, you're okay! Life is great as long as you can get out there and dig in the dirt and plant something!

I'm not familiar with the seasons down there -- Do you have any frost risk left this year??

What do you use to prevent fungus? We had a few peach, plum, and apricot trees over the years but they didn't last too long because of fungal rot. I used to keep it suppressed with a lot of bordeaux mix but didn't last. 40- to 50 trees sounds like it could be a lot of fun and work

We used to have Alberta peaches. Made some unbelievable sauces, jellies and various experiments with canned peaches.

Things have probably changed. If i got any of my grandparents upset, they'd give me a whooping and then tell my parents about it who would then give me another whooping for making any of my grandparents give me a whooping.

Oh yeah, I know! Unfortunately for me 'tis even worse 'cause we're no longer eligible for TRICARE Prime, but have a real bastardized experimental version of it through Tufts Medical Plan. We pay the same annual enrollment as Prime and also copay $12 for each primary care and $25 for each specialist's appointment, plus a pharmaceutical copay equal to that in Standard. Yup yup yupper! Methinks somebody's gonna have fun gettin' to the barn to feed the wood stoves that keeps his piggies warm tonight, eh? 50mph winds and blowin' snow'd probably make me decide to let 'em chill out.Might be a real bad thing if the cord's hard wired, but if tis just a cord that runs between two plugs then methinks check and reseat your connectors real good, and if that don't work a new cord'll likely fix it. 'Course I know nuthin' 'bout them MAC things, maybe Noonan or Brookie can help, eh?

Right on! Nothing better than physical work...until the first crop
comes in. We're getting what ya'll had...made sure enough wood was
split...soup got started and the Jack Daniels was laid up...fire's roarin'.

My (Ga.) wife would make me plant the same if she reads your post.
Shuuuuuusssssssssh!

There's nothing more satisfying than a hard day's work on a farm.
It's hard as hell...but there ain't no better satisfaction...I'm
jealous as hell. It's what a man is supposed to do. The old
salt is still the salt of the earth. Hail farmers. Congrats Marine.
The bond with the land is the closest...nothing excluded.
When everything else goes to insanity the land remains...solid,
stable, nurishing....never lose it...it's God's gift...and life's labor.
I remember a poster I had in '72 "Trees are Monuments to Peace".
I'm glad you have peace on your land...may it produce a great bounty.

Yea, Marine ! Impressive day of work.
Hope your Sunday is calm, warm and restful.

How long until the trees will bear fruit ? (I should know this but I haven't a clue)
What variety ? - (I googled for some info but was overwhelmed and got lazy.)
IH will love your story- he is married to a Georgia Peach.


Glad the nor'easter will miss Amy.

How cold is it supposed to get there tonight?
Do you need bonfires to protect 'em?

I'll come if ya need trees cut and fires set.
I sharpened teeth on two chainsaws today.

And, you gave me good advice to evacuate before Katrina...
although I didn't...need help...PM...I'm just that much a gypsy.

I am such a slow poster- five posts go up in the time it takes me to post one, eh ?
Knew IH would love Marine's peach trees, though !

QUOTE

Might be a real bad thing if the cord's hard wired, but if tis just a cord that runs between two plugs then methinks check and reseat your connectors real good, and if that don't work a new cord'll likely fix it. 'Course I know nuthin' 'bout them MAC things, maybe Noonan or Brookie can help, eh?

Must be hardwired, guessing from Teen's response. I do not know, as he has a corner computer desk under which this middle aged lady cannot crawl. Even if I could get down there and under it, I would not know what I was looking at, as Teen has 600,000 wires running to and fro, including the one I would be looking for that must run to the wedged-in dinosaur of an IBM monitor. And, if I did get down under, I would probably get stuck. This is the way kids trap you. Who, who, who is control ?

Bummer about everyone's insurance woes. It is not right.
(Well, it is not left- it is right wing.... never mind.) All vet's should get top of the line care at a very reasonable, if not free, cost.

I heard on a liberal radio show speculation that the administration will be trying to crank up war fever vs Syria prior to next election season. There was a disagreement whether it would be toward Iran or Syria---Wonder if that will start with some WMD talk we would be hearing. Hmm

Watched the USA / Switzerland game. This was excellent hockey--the top-level women's team has a lot team hockey finesse. One of the players works at a Home Depot near me in off season when she isn't coaching.

Buy some ink-jet cartridges from her. Better than 7.62 cartridges.

Dunno. I'll pass this one on to the kid, he should know the machine, much better than I can do from here Sorry.

Ok, I read where you've got an old monitor. We had the same set up when I had my work mini at home this summer. Maybe it is just a connection or adapter to get the two to work together.

My old sony Monitor is hard-wired in the back and I'd have to toss the whole thing if I had this problem.

A new flat screen monitor is not too expensive and the unit would appear to run faster since the chips inside the new monitors are faster.

Too dangerous for me either way

It pi$$es me off too; but, thankfully I can afford it without having give up something else.

And I am really, really happy...

Sometimes you just shouldn't know though!

BTW, thanks for your efforts to help feed the world... joe e

I went with CHAMPUS Standard (now TRICARE Standard) when I hung up my canoe-shoes in 1980, and have stayed with it. I also have a supplemental insurance policy that covers the remaining 25% of allowable charges.

I have had a few times where I thought about canceling it, but some of my medical problems have made it all worth while. An example is a $12,000.00 helicopter (ambulance) ride and a long stay in the hospital while recovering from a 13-day coma. Twenty-five percent of that would have put me into a third career just to pay for it.

But my bottom line on the TRICARE increase is similar to yours. I feel

joe e

Couldn't resist this one...

Good Night, All...

For those of you awaiting the snowstorm, since you can't stop it, you might as well enjoy it...


PS.....careful with the shoveling..... :cold: :snowflake:

Bowdoin 78, Williams 71




Guess I'm not driving up to Williams next weekend for a playoff game.

Good morning everyone!
(or what ever 'tis where ever you is, eh?)

What a day 'tis startin' out to be! Methinks we ain't got but maybe 6" of snow so far, but now they're sayin' we might be lookin' at well over a foot of it yet to come. The wind's blowin' like all get out, and visibility is pretty much nonexistant, eh?

My youngest and Tran's oldest hafta be to work at 6:00am, so methinks I'll wake 'em both up a little early and let 'em shovel out the driveway and clean off the minivan. No way I'm lettin' either one drive in this stuff!

At least 'tain't icy, eh? More I think of this methinks the more it seems like Brookie's right and a new monitor'll fix what's wrong. Bet you can pick up a reasonably good one for maybe a hundred bucks or so at Circuit City, CompUSA or Best Buy. I know you'd prefer Wal Mart, but doubt you'll get a good selection there, eh? Sorry! In our case it pisses me off, but at least we got coverage. Better'n them that got no coverage 'tall!

Tran and his family, as well as the other Katrina evacuees here were given coverage by the state under a medicaid like program called RI Care. So far they're happy with it.Nope! This is comin' from folks in the field that've been uncoverin' pieces of the puzzle for over a year. Methinks it'll get spun by ideologs on both sides for all 'tis worth, but 'twould seem the folks who've been findin' it are convinced 'tis real, eh?I like watchin' the women's game better'n the guys, they actually get to play a more entertainin' finesse game 'cause the rules don't allow the goon tactics that ruin the men's game. They're also all amatuers that're playin' 'cause they love the game, unlike the high paid pros in the men's game that just seem to go through the motions.


Well, here's hopin' the weather's good where ever y'all are at, or at least better'n here, eh? Enjoy the day, be safe, stay well and remember to play nice!

Hey Brookie, you do know not to use bordeaux once fruit sets, don't you? You will end up poisoning yourself if any residue ends up on the fruit and bordeaux is only effective on the spores anyways.

Use bordeaux only after leaf drop in the fall and before bud opening in the spring. You will be pretty much wasting your time and running the risk of poisoning yourself if you spray bordeaux after the buds open or fruit set. If you have severe fungal problems use chlorothalonil or lime sulfur. If you got to spray set fruit and leaves do the organic alternative and use a soap based anti-fungal agent.

Red Haven peach are the most resistant to fungal problems. You probably live in the city and most fungal problems come from being downwind of someone who hasn't a clue on caring for fruit trees.

I got a formula, I made it up myself; to get good pollination and the most pest and disease resistants. 5/8s of the trees are Red Haven, 1/4 is Elberta, and 1/8 is Belle of Georgia. Three years I will get a small crop and at four years they will be pretty much in full production.

No rest today, I got to keep the trees pretty wet for the first 10-14 days. I'm buying a about 400 feet more of hoses this morning and I'll wear out my shoe leather toting that many buckets of water.

Well, 'twould seem the Master Guns and me been the only visitors here yet this mornin', but I saw Snuffy and Noonan out stirrin' things up in other areas, eh? Everybody else must be sleepin' in.

BTW, methinks we might hit #500 today, but 'twon't be me! Don't even think 'bout settin'another trap, 'twon't work, eh?

The boy wanted juice at 0500 today. I've been up ever since.

Fixed some French Toast for when everybody else gets up, and have Meet the Press on in the background. Been emailing my union president about our Board meeting tomorrow night, could get pretty hot once we're done with our part of the program. Something along the lines of "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

I'm going to come crashing down shortly, which means the rest of the family is going to wake up. I wont be getting #500 either.

Doc called to see how we were doing, and said that maybe I should drop in here to say hi and let everyone know that we are fine, so I will.

Hi! We are fine!

I have been a little late with the bordeaux a couple times. We just ended up cutting down the peach trees. We only had 2 Elberta trees. We have a big cherry tree that is probably too far gone. I think the almond tree is still salvable---that is just ornamental d/t short growing season. My father used to use an antifungal on it (possibly chlorothalonil but probably something that is off the market).

My grandfather managed to keep big lemons and figs hardy through Massachusetts winter. He grew a lot of warm weather stuff. He kept the fig trees alive by burying them in a trench. I dont remember how he kept the lemons going, but they were huge.

His only pesticide was a spray made from soaking cigar butts.

I think we get such pervasive fungus because we sit on land that was abutting a big old abandoned orchard---a giant petri dish for fruit fungus.

Thanks for dropping by to let us know you are fine, Gunny ! Try to keep warm and I hope you guys do not get the possible foot more of snow. How are all the kids- at home and at school ?

Speaking of kids, wise decision for Doc not to let the teens drive to their jobs this morning. Sounds like transportation might get a little dicey and some experience is in order for the day.

Poor noonan- remember those days of 5am risings well. TeenPie did not sleep through the night until he was 3 1/2- he took "kitty cap naps"- would sleep for an hour or two, then be up and fully awake and wanting to play- then repeat, repeat, repeat. But, before you know it, your son will be a *teenager* and you will have trouble getting his fanny out of bed at all- he'll be wanting to sleep until noon ! BTW- kudos for fixing the family breakfast ... that is so sweet.

Thanks Brookie and noonan for your Mac advice. I am hoping the monitor holds out (it is being good so far today), and Fly is right- I will not be going to Wal-Mart to look for a replacement if one is needed. Trailerman dragged me there the other day to their supposedly "big"
camping parts section- then he left me there when he realized he'd forgotten his list.
What a nightmare of a place to be stuck- crowded and merchandize stacked to the ceiling. My only good find: the new huge zip lock bags with handles- they are great for storage and keeping the moisture out of stuff. 2 ft x 2ft size and a 2 ft x 3ft size. An organizers dream !

Sounds like Marine has a nice variety of peaches planted. Hoping you get some rain to help you out in the watering department... but once you get the hoses down, the actual watering can be relaxing. And good point about fungicides: they are dangerous ! I used some about three years ago, then a week or two later went to trimming what I sprayed. Not good- bad chem reaction and now I have a permanent problem with anything containing any type of fungicide. Would be nice to see some pictures of your new orchard ! Would allow us city dwellers live vicariously through your plantings.

QUOTE

Bowdoin 78, Williams 71

Sorry, Snuffjones.

Joe, your last cartoon was great. Makes one wonder why, why, why the people are putting up with all the nonsense.

Now, we think Redbird is in Mexico... but where is -P who has not made an appearance since her mystery picture attempt ? And skillet ? And heart ? ...

I'm here!

edit: and Redbird isn't leaving until next weekend, I think.

Marie is having too much fun to check in. Don't know about Heart.

Heart?

What was the last picture you posted supposed to be ?
Enquiring minds want to know.

BTW- Sandra has been silent for days...

Good for skillet !

If you had an adverse reaction it was probaly chlorothalonil. It's not a very pleasant chemical to be around and is the last choice to use and only when all else fails.

If there was any thing to see I'd post some pictures, right now it just looks like a big patch of bare ground with a bunch of pencil thick 2 foot long twigs stuck into the dirt.

PS for the ladies; I found a perfect Valentines day gift for my wife and she loves it. A sky blue 1947 Willys CJ-2 Jeep.

Ooooh, nice!

She really does ? Sounds like a guy getting himself something he wants and passing it off as a gift for her to me. But then I could be ever so wrong...

Sorry for suspicion after so many years of vacuum cleaners, can openers, and the like.

Wives can pull that trick too.

Really ? Since I am innocent of such endeavors, could you site a few examples that might come to mind ?

The Christmas presents 'we' have received from her parents every year since we've been married. Need I list them? I'm sure the rice cooker we got this year had my name on it.

Rice cooker ! May have you beat, though, noonan... I got him the grill the year after he got me one of these !

And all I got was a lousy Dust Buster.

I am curious as to what vet is going to get for that sweet grand daughter of his. Little girls love Valentine's Day.

If I was getting a jeep for myself it sure as hell wouldn't be sky blue.

While I am working on the peach orchard she had to either walk or ride the riding lawn mower back here, it's almost half a mile from the house. Either way it took her a while to get here.

She refuses to learn how to drive a tractor (out of fear I'll put her to work in the fields I think) and she thinks the atv is too undignified. My old truck can't ford the creek so I know her van wouldn't make it. So, it was something she needed. When I showed it to her she said it looked just like the Barbie doll jeep she had when she was a little girl.

We had been shopping for a gas powered golf cart for her a while and everyone we saw I thought was over priced. My daughter bought a used John Deere easy-go and it cost $500 more than this Jeep did. A new Kawasaki Mule cost $7,000 for a plain Jane model and if you wanted four wheel drive your talking 10 grand. She'll like the Jeep better anyways, it's street legal so if she wants to go to town in it she can.

Yeah, but I'd like a grill - ok, I like the one I have (my parents got it for us a couple years ago). But, then again, I like to cook, too.

Now you're talking ! This I can understand.
Good job, Marine.

noonan- the grill was the best thing I ever got for Mr. Here in FL we can use it all year around and it gets me (or him) out of the kitchen sooooo often.

See.

Peg likes it.

Methinks you're in the Central Time Zone. If so 'twould seem you and I were rollin' outa the rack 'bout the same time, eh?Yeah, but methinks you've been playin' in other kids' sand boxes too! Best be careful lest you run into nasty kids there, eh? Best let folks know which Marie you be referrin' to, lest we see the fur fly again, eh? Yo, heart!!! You're bein' paged!Yeah, smarter'n the rest of us 'twould seem.Another old romantic here, eh? 'Twill be a lovely present methinks, too bad you couldn't find it in a nice shade of green.What's wrong with vacuum cleaners? That's what I got for my birthday last year and I loved it!

Congratulations Noonan on gettin' #500!

We've 'bout a foot of snow so far, but the storm's just now gettin' into its most intense stage. Seein' winds up to 60mph, and you can't even tell I dug out the van to go pick up the kids at noon, eh? At least it should be over in 'bout five more hours, though we'll be seein' more snow 'til early tomorrow.