Derald wrote:
....
Yikes! Just walked through and noticed this hadn't been posted
yet. A little preoccupied, though. I'm told a storm is coming.

yep, i thought you were already gone.

the predicted track went back east and then has
gone west again.

i don't envy anyone in the path.

be safe.


songbird

On 9/8/2017 7:44 PM, songbird wrote:
Derald wrote:
...
Yikes! Just walked through and noticed this hadn't been posted
yet. A little preoccupied, though. I'm told a storm is coming.

yep, i thought you were already gone.

the predicted track went back east and then has
gone west again.

i don't envy anyone in the path.

be safe.


songbird

Isn't that strange, have lived on one coast or more for years on years,
rode out a few hurricanes, always bought houses on high ground. Harvey
just dropped about 50 inches of well-needed rain on us and ripped up
Houston proper. We never lost power, etc. through the whole storm. Then
along comes another one and it hit Florida. Probably another one will be
coming along.

We've always been lucky, none of our families has ever lost a house, not
much ever but a few trees. And a cow disappeared once upon a hurricane,
never found her again. I reckon a rustler got the cow or tornado in the
storm got her. At least I never had to get up early and milk her again.G

George

George Shirley wrote:
....
Isn't that strange, have lived on one coast or more for years on years,
rode out a few hurricanes, always bought houses on high ground. Harvey
just dropped about 50 inches of well-needed rain on us and ripped up
Houston proper. We never lost power, etc. through the whole storm. Then
along comes another one and it hit Florida. Probably another one will be
coming along.

eventually. Momma Nature isn't going to stop
cooking up storms. building and rebuilding
lowland structures is rather stupid, but people
are ... as long as they want to keep paying the
insurance and costs.


We've always been lucky, none of our families has ever lost a house, not
much ever but a few trees. And a cow disappeared once upon a hurricane,
never found her again. I reckon a rustler got the cow or tornado in the
storm got her. At least I never had to get up early and milk her again.G

do you have cold hands? mebbe it ran away?

what interested me the most with this one was
how the forecast first started with the storm
being further west, then it shifted quite a bit
east and then back to the west.

i just read an article about the forecast
models being worse than before. as usual complaints
of lack of funding. and not that i'm agreeing
entirely, but basic science should always be well
funded (and usually isn't).


songbird

On 9/9/2017 9:33 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
Isn't that strange, have lived on one coast or more for years on years,
rode out a few hurricanes, always bought houses on high ground. Harvey
just dropped about 50 inches of well-needed rain on us and ripped up
Houston proper. We never lost power, etc. through the whole storm. Then
along comes another one and it hit Florida. Probably another one will be
coming along.

eventually. Momma Nature isn't going to stop
cooking up storms. building and rebuilding
lowland structures is rather stupid, but people
are ... as long as they want to keep paying the
insurance and costs.


We've always been lucky, none of our families has ever lost a house, not
much ever but a few trees. And a cow disappeared once upon a hurricane,
never found her again. I reckon a rustler got the cow or tornado in the
storm got her. At least I never had to get up early and milk her again.G

do you have cold hands? mebbe it ran away?

what interested me the most with this one was
how the forecast first started with the storm
being further west, then it shifted quite a bit
east and then back to the west.

i just read an article about the forecast
models being worse than before. as usual complaints
of lack of funding. and not that i'm agreeing
entirely, but basic science should always be well
funded (and usually isn't).


songbird


There were plenty of people outside the US tracking it. EU models had
apparently appeared best. The climate change people make predictions 10
years out but weathermen are often wrong 2 days out.

I like the water but don't want to live where a 10 ft tide surge could
flood me. Even inland is at risk. Lower DE is coastal plane. I've
seen storm surge cross the road from the Atlantic ocean to the Rehoboth
bay. Lot of people live there and will eventually suffer. I like where
I live at about 300 ft above sea level in upper DE. A couple of years
ago, if hurricane Sandy had made the left turn a half hour sooner, DE
would have suffered the damage seen in NJ and NY.

On 9/9/2017 8:33 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
Isn't that strange, have lived on one coast or more for years on years,
rode out a few hurricanes, always bought houses on high ground. Harvey
just dropped about 50 inches of well-needed rain on us and ripped up
Houston proper. We never lost power, etc. through the whole storm. Then
along comes another one and it hit Florida. Probably another one will be
coming along.

eventually. Momma Nature isn't going to stop
cooking up storms. building and rebuilding
lowland structures is rather stupid, but people
are ... as long as they want to keep paying the
insurance and costs.


We've always been lucky, none of our families has ever lost a house, not
much ever but a few trees. And a cow disappeared once upon a hurricane,
never found her again. I reckon a rustler got the cow or tornado in the
storm got her. At least I never had to get up early and milk her again.G

do you have cold hands? mebbe it ran away?
Nope, my Dad trained me properly, cold hands on a cow's bag could get
you kicked, at the least. Warmed them with hot water in the winter, just
used bare hands in the summer. Dad grew up on a four generation farm and
knew a bit about cows.

what interested me the most with this one was
how the forecast first started with the storm
being further west, then it shifted quite a bit
east and then back to the west.

i just read an article about the forecast
models being worse than before. as usual complaints
of lack of funding. and not that i'm agreeing
entirely, but basic science should always be well
funded (and usually isn't).


songbird

My wife's family, mostly men, worked for the gubmint for at least forty
years for the two that worked for the gubmit. Her Dad and second
brother, all the rest of the family had real jobs and had to work. My
FIL told me flat out when I asked for his eldest daughter, and all the
rest of her too, that don't work for the feds. Took him at his word,
even though I had a fairly good offer from DC as I was getting out of
the Navy. I never missed not going to work for the feds, but managed to
work 47 years at what I wanted to do. Now I just lay around watching TV,
fetching groceries when needed and loving the other three generations of
our family, all the ones from us. Two kids and families, five grands and
three of their families, and the great grands are best of all, hug
them,and tell their folks it's time to take them home. G

George

On 9/9/2017 10:40 AM, Frank wrote:
On 9/9/2017 9:33 AM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote:
...
Isn't that strange, have lived on one coast or more for years on years,
rode out a few hurricanes, always bought houses on high ground. Harvey
just dropped about 50 inches of well-needed rain on us and ripped up
Houston proper. We never lost power, etc. through the whole storm. Then
along comes another one and it hit Florida. Probably another one will be
coming along.

Â*Â* eventually.Â* Momma Nature isn't going to stop
cooking up storms.Â* building and rebuilding
lowland structures is rather stupid, but people
are ...Â* as long as they want to keep paying the
insurance and costs.


We've always been lucky, none of our families has ever lost a house, not
much ever but a few trees. And a cow disappeared once upon a hurricane,
never found her again. I reckon a rustler got the cow or tornado in the
storm got her. At least I never had to get up early and milk her
again.G

Â*Â* do you have cold hands?Â* mebbe it ran away?Â*

Â*Â* what interested me the most with this one was
how the forecast first started with the storm
being further west, then it shifted quite a bit
east and then back to the west.

Â*Â* i just read an article about the forecast
models being worse than before.Â* as usual complaints
of lack of funding.Â* and not that i'm agreeing
entirely, but basic science should always be well
funded (and usually isn't).


Â*Â* songbird


There were plenty of people outside the US tracking it.Â* EU models had
apparently appeared best.Â* The climate change people make predictions 10
years out but weathermen are often wrong 2 days out.

I like the water but don't want to live where a 10 ft tide surge could
flood me.Â* Even inland is at risk.Â* Lower DE is coastal plane.Â* I've
seen storm surge cross the road from the Atlantic ocean to the Rehoboth
bay.Â* Lot of people live there and will eventually suffer.Â* I like where
I live at about 300 ft above sea level in upper DE.Â* A couple of years
ago, if hurricane Sandy had made the left turn a half hour sooner, DE
would have suffered the damage seen in NJ and NY.
That's the beauty of hurricane's, lots of movement and makes people look
for the correct time and way before it eats their houses.

My family had beach houses on the Bolivar Peninsula on the Texas coast
for fifty years or more. Eventually even the land they were on
disappeared too, no more beach houses since. Used to be fun taking the
kids down to the beach, do some swimming, some beach combing (odd stuff
washes ashore in Texas), and a lot of fishing and walking the beach in
the evening. It's been so long since we lost the last "camp" that I
can't even remember it. One aunt actually lived on the beach after her
husband retired and then they had to run and moved back to town.

A large part of my life I was a responder to many problems: storms,
fires, plants blowing up, injuries, and a few deaths. So goes the way of
an active safety professional. Three states, two foreign countries, and
lots of flight time. Now I'm retired but not bored, at least as long as
we have a library nearby. Old friends all say, "Aren't you bored?" Not
as long as I have a book nearby and my loved ones too. I don't have bad
dreams, have no regrets about a busy lifetime. Nowadays I can always
borrow a great grandkid and try to teach them something or, best of all,
just someone to hug regularly.

I will be 78 on 09/23/17 and am glad I'm still around to help the
younger crew.

George

Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:
Derald wrote:
...
Yikes! Just walked through and noticed this hadn't been posted
yet. A little preoccupied, though. I'm told a storm is coming.

yep, i thought you were already gone.

the predicted track went back east and then has
gone west again.

i don't envy anyone in the path.

be safe.

Well,hope you don't mind but I'll break protocol here and post a
portion of private correspondence he

no problem with me since nothing in there is
what i would consider private to me.


....
irresponsible but approaches reprehensible and definitely is a
disservice. The only, only, only tracking forecast that means anything
comes from the National Hurricane Center at 6-hour intervals.

that is all i actually have been following up until i
noticed the change from one direction back to the other.
it was "interesting"... i don't watch tv or the news
that much at all.


All of
that other bs like "european" and "spaghetti" models and "forecasts" and
multicolor zones of probability have nothing to do with reality or with
actually informing the public, IMO. I see them simply as additional
layers of "gee-whiz" technological eye candy intended to give the
station "public service" bragging rights and to keep the rubes tuned in
for the next commercial break. I mean, with enough garbage on the
screen, the more likely they are to be able to brag about their
"accuracy"; hah! I ask you, "What the hell good is a multicolor, moving
radar display that is 3-to-12 minutes behind reality?" I hope I don't
ever need radar to let me know it rained 6 minutes ago but I guess, "it
could happen".

as i've watched the local radar for many years
now i can say that it has helped a few times when
storms looked to be heading this way, but as you
know we have a lot of things that break up when
they get near so ... it is only for warning
purposes. i surely do watch the horizon here when
the weather seems potentially going to mess me up
or my plans for the day. now, what is funny is
that even with such things available it didn't do
any good the day when the small tornade came within
a few hundred yards of us. i happened to be busy
and didn't notice until afterwards that the neighbor's
garage was missing...


So there you have it, 'bird: The Full Monty.

....

my eyes! my eyes!

you know, i figured that container could be a
pretty safe space, but i would not want to get
"stuck" in there if some debris got wedged against
the door... if we don't hear from you in a week
or two i'll send someone to knock. you should
have enough food and water for that timeframe,
but air? got holes/winders?


songbird

Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:
Derald wrote:

[...hmmm, hope this doesn't show up twice, but something
odd happened when i tried to send this...]

...
Yikes! Just walked through and noticed this hadn't been posted
yet. A little preoccupied, though. I'm told a storm is coming.

yep, i thought you were already gone.

the predicted track went back east and then has
gone west again.

i don't envy anyone in the path.

be safe.

Well,hope you don't mind but I'll break protocol here and post a
portion of private correspondence he

no problem with me since nothing in there is
what i would consider private to me.


....
irresponsible but approaches reprehensible and definitely is a
disservice. The only, only, only tracking forecast that means anything
comes from the National Hurricane Center at 6-hour intervals.

that is all i actually have been following up until i
noticed the change from one direction back to the other.
it was "interesting"... i don't watch tv or the news
that much at all.


All of
that other bs like "european" and "spaghetti" models and "forecasts" and
multicolor zones of probability have nothing to do with reality or with
actually informing the public, IMO. I see them simply as additional
layers of "gee-whiz" technological eye candy intended to give the
station "public service" bragging rights and to keep the rubes tuned in
for the next commercial break. I mean, with enough garbage on the
screen, the more likely they are to be able to brag about their
"accuracy"; hah! I ask you, "What the hell good is a multicolor, moving
radar display that is 3-to-12 minutes behind reality?" I hope I don't
ever need radar to let me know it rained 6 minutes ago but I guess, "it
could happen".

as i've watched the local radar for many years
now i can say that it has helped a few times when
storms looked to be heading this way, but as you
know we have a lot of things that break up when
they get near so ... it is only for warning
purposes. i surely do watch the horizon here when
the weather seems potentially going to mess me up
or my plans for the day. now, what is funny is
that even with such things available it didn't do
any good the day when the small tornade came within
a few hundred yards of us. i happened to be busy
and didn't notice until afterwards that the neighbor's
garage was missing...


So there you have it, 'bird: The Full Monty.

....

my eyes! my eyes!

you know, i figured that container could be a
pretty safe space, but i would not want to get
"stuck" in there if some debris got wedged against
the door... if we don't hear from you in a week
or two i'll send someone to knock. you should
have enough food and water for that timeframe,
but air? got holes/winders?


songbird

On 9/5/2017 7:33 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 9/5/2017 5:02 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 9/5/2017 11:25 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 9/5/2017 10:43 AM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Those of you out there that don't have fire ants consider yourselves
blessed. We're in the progress of pouring boiling water down our
biggest
pest in the gardens home.
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*I've dealt with fire ants for 40+ years; good luck with that hot
water down the hole bs.Â* Just as with ground-nesting wasps, gasoline
and
fire work well but, unlike the wasps, surviving ants will re-establish
nets elsewhere.Â* In 20 years of "due diligence" at this place, I've got
them down to a few small outbreaks each year.Â* Of course, since this
land was "cleared" 60-70 years ago, it may be that nesting sites
(decaying subterranean wood, e.g. tree roots) have diminished but I
credit Amdro, IME, the only ant specific insecticide that works on
them.
Amdro is "fire and specific" only because many other types of ants
won't
eat the bait but those that do die.Â* Like the boiling water, any other
product that I've tried simply disperses them, resulting in a host of
satellite mounds, often at significant distance from the original
problem site.Â* They're a major pain but at least they're more easily
controlled than grasshoppers and locusts.
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Having said that, I must confess that a fragment of the familiar
colony persists (and has done for years) in and under the timber
retaining walls of one garden bed and I have the scars to prove it.Â* I
don't use any "chemicals" in the garden and I know of no predators or
pathology that'll take the little *******s out so I just deal with
****ed off ants injecting fire into my feet and lower legs several
times
each year.Â* I can't guess whether or for how long the toxin remains in
an AWG's body but I'm sure to be loaded.Â* It is possible to use the
ants' behavior pattern and tribal reaction to threats to minimize the
damage to ones self but I'm not telling.

I was raised in Orange County, Texas, where so it is said, that foreign
fire ants first came ashore. They finally found us after several years
at the old home place, right after I got out of the USN and married,
about 1961 if memory, very old memory, works. Here we have five feet of
gumbo clay under two inches of sand for our front and back yards. The
fire ants come up sporadically in the spring, usually by our raised bed
gardens. Right where, if you're working the garden, you get bitten.
Don't want the amdro or other things there as the plants pick it up too.
The boiling water, two pots full, are to kill the queens, generally the
rest of the ants, less queens, generally just die off as I have seen
before. Now we're waiting for two things, if the ants all die we got the
queens; if they start moving out, they've still got at least one queen
and they're all moving next door. Suits me.
Our poor dog has been covered up with fleas this summer.Â* We've treated
the yard where she roams, treated her with Advantax several times, and
evidently it has quit working altogether.Â* Next, we tried flea baths
with a flea collar, and no luck, either.Â* She ended up scratching and
biting herself so much she has very little fur on her tail, butt, and
parts of her legs.Â* We finally called the vet. He had a stronger flea
killer that is a pill. One was to kill all the fleas on her in 24 hours,
and the other is one pill a month. We have 3 months worth of it.

Our son suggested we bath her in dawn dish soap because it is gentle and
also kills fleas, so he did that this past Saturday.Â* He also suggested
we put out bowls of dawn water around the house as a trap for any indoor
fleas.Â* Speaking of which, we also treated the indoors for fleas too.

A week later from her original vet treatment, I don't see any fleas on
her body now, just the occasionally one that gets on her paws when being
outside.Â* Evidently, the indoor treatment is working, too, because we've
caught some fleas in the bowls, but really not too many. Initially, we
caught like 4 or 5 fleas in different parts of the house, and now we're
only catching 1 or 2 new fleas a day.

The vet said that everyone is having horrible problems with fleas around
here.Â* We didn't have much of a cold winter last year, so I guess that's
why.Â* Is anyone else having flea problems?


Â* It's been a bad summer for fleas and ticks both out here in The Holler
. I use frontline plus on Max , he still has a few fleas but not nearly
as bad as it could be . I spray his blanket (actually a handmade afghan
but I won't tell if you don't ...) regularly to keep it from getting
infested . Our house doesn't have carpet for them to hide in , a bonus .

AH! I can finally post again. (holds breath)

We are still battling the fleas, but it's not too bad, now. The dog is
still scratching from her skin healing up, so she has to wear the cone
of shame until her skin stops driving her bonkers. I have been giving
her benedryl tablets, like her vet recommended, and it seems to help some.


--
Maggie

On 9/10/2017 10:56 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 9/5/2017 7:33 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 9/5/2017 5:02 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 9/5/2017 11:25 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 9/5/2017 10:43 AM, Derald wrote:
George Shirley wrote:

Those of you out there that don't have fire ants consider yourselves
blessed. We're in the progress of pouring boiling water down our
biggest
pest in the gardens home.
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*I've dealt with fire ants for 40+ years; good luck with that hot
water down the hole bs.Â* Just as with ground-nesting wasps, gasoline
and
fire work well but, unlike the wasps, surviving ants will re-establish
nets elsewhere.Â* In 20 years of "due diligence" at this place, I've got
them down to a few small outbreaks each year.Â* Of course, since this
land was "cleared" 60-70 years ago, it may be that nesting sites
(decaying subterranean wood, e.g. tree roots) have diminished but I
credit Amdro, IME, the only ant specific insecticide that works on
them.
Amdro is "fire and specific" only because many other types of ants
won't
eat the bait but those that do die.Â* Like the boiling water, any other
product that I've tried simply disperses them, resulting in a host of
satellite mounds, often at significant distance from the original
problem site.Â* They're a major pain but at least they're more easily
controlled than grasshoppers and locusts.
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Having said that, I must confess that a fragment of the familiar
colony persists (and has done for years) in and under the timber
retaining walls of one garden bed and I have the scars to prove it.Â* I
don't use any "chemicals" in the garden and I know of no predators or
pathology that'll take the little *******s out so I just deal with
****ed off ants injecting fire into my feet and lower legs several
times
each year.Â* I can't guess whether or for how long the toxin remains in
an AWG's body but I'm sure to be loaded.Â* It is possible to use the
ants' behavior pattern and tribal reaction to threats to minimize the
damage to ones self but I'm not telling.

I was raised in Orange County, Texas, where so it is said, that foreign
fire ants first came ashore. They finally found us after several years
at the old home place, right after I got out of the USN and married,
about 1961 if memory, very old memory, works. Here we have five feet of
gumbo clay under two inches of sand for our front and back yards. The
fire ants come up sporadically in the spring, usually by our raised bed
gardens. Right where, if you're working the garden, you get bitten.
Don't want the amdro or other things there as the plants pick it up too.
The boiling water, two pots full, are to kill the queens, generally the
rest of the ants, less queens, generally just die off as I have seen
before. Now we're waiting for two things, if the ants all die we got the
queens; if they start moving out, they've still got at least one queen
and they're all moving next door. Suits me.
Our poor dog has been covered up with fleas this summer.Â* We've treated
the yard where she roams, treated her with Advantax several times, and
evidently it has quit working altogether.Â* Next, we tried flea baths
with a flea collar, and no luck, either.Â* She ended up scratching and
biting herself so much she has very little fur on her tail, butt, and
parts of her legs.Â* We finally called the vet. He had a stronger flea
killer that is a pill. One was to kill all the fleas on her in 24 hours,
and the other is one pill a month. We have 3 months worth of it.

Our son suggested we bath her in dawn dish soap because it is gentle and
also kills fleas, so he did that this past Saturday.Â* He also suggested
we put out bowls of dawn water around the house as a trap for any indoor
fleas.Â* Speaking of which, we also treated the indoors for fleas too.

A week later from her original vet treatment, I don't see any fleas on
her body now, just the occasionally one that gets on her paws when being
outside.Â* Evidently, the indoor treatment is working, too, because we've
caught some fleas in the bowls, but really not too many. Initially, we
caught like 4 or 5 fleas in different parts of the house, and now we're
only catching 1 or 2 new fleas a day.

The vet said that everyone is having horrible problems with fleas around
here.Â* We didn't have much of a cold winter last year, so I guess that's
why.Â* Is anyone else having flea problems?


Â* It's been a bad summer for fleas and ticks both out here in The Holler
. I use frontline plus on Max , he still has a few fleas but not nearly
as bad as it could be . I spray his blanket (actually a handmade afghan
but I won't tell if you don't ...) regularly to keep it from getting
infested . Our house doesn't have carpet for them to hide in , a bonus .

AH! I can finally post again. (holds breath)

We are still battling the fleas, but it's not too bad, now. The dog is
still scratching from her skin healing up, so she has to wear the cone
of shame until her skin stops driving her bonkers. I have been giving
her benedryl tablets, like her vet recommended, and it seems to help some.


Many moons ago we had a dog who got loaded with fleas when a cur came up
the driveway (1/2 mile) and wanted to stay. Had to deflea both dogs and
then take them both to the vet. Both dogs turned out to be good dogs,
the new one even brought the cow up each morning to be milked. Figured
from that that some local farmer didn't want to mess with De-fleaing the
dog. The dog lasted a bit longer than the cow. As long as Miss Tilly
gets her flea and tick pill we haven't had a problem, once a month and
she's fine, even thinks her pill is a treat. G

George

Derald wrote:
....

he's written and said they are ok, but no power
yet.

*whew*


songbird

"songbird" wrote in message
...
Derald wrote:
...

he's written and said they are ok, but no power
yet.

*whew*



A real prepper would have had his wife pedalling on a bike to generate
enough power for the wifi?

Good to know he is safe. BUT I would like to see the house on the "prairie"

Mike

Derald wrote:
....
'bird, I'm probably finally going to dig that damned hole instead of
using an above ground pool but _shall_ have a mosquito hatchery in full
production RSN..

if you are only using the water for gardens and
flushing the emergency toilet you could put a screen
over it to keep the raccoonians out of there and
have a few black mollies, guppies or other surface
feeders to keep the skeeters down. or an even
finer mesh to keep them from getting in and laying
eggs. though to me the joy of keeping a pond would
be to be able to have a froggy or toad spot. i miss
the good old days when we had ponds to swim in out
back.


For reasons even more wildly off-topic, this storm has deepened my
resolve to avoid union-made products or services _and_ Walmart (a
gigantic predacious retailer) stores at (almost) any cost and has
convinced me that the "Walmart Shopper" is a distinct subspecies of
human being.

ok, well, i guess i'm that, but not often if it were
my own device/gumption and not Mom's i'm not sure how
much i would shop there as it is far enough away.


songbird

On 9/22/2017 3:40 AM, songbird wrote:
Derald wrote:
...
'bird, I'm probably finally going to dig that damned hole instead of
using an above ground pool but _shall_ have a mosquito hatchery in full
production RSN..

if you are only using the water for gardens and
flushing the emergency toilet you could put a screen
over it to keep the raccoonians out of there and
have a few black mollies, guppies or other surface
feeders to keep the skeeters down. or an even
finer mesh to keep them from getting in and laying
eggs. though to me the joy of keeping a pond would
be to be able to have a froggy or toad spot. i miss
the good old days when we had ponds to swim in out
back.


For reasons even more wildly off-topic, this storm has deepened my
resolve to avoid union-made products or services _and_ Walmart (a
gigantic predacious retailer) stores at (almost) any cost and has
convinced me that the "Walmart Shopper" is a distinct subspecies of
human being.

ok, well, i guess i'm that, but not often if it were
my own device/gumption and not Mom's i'm not sure how
much i would shop there as it is far enough away.


songbird

I seldom buy anything from Walmart, it seems that most of their items
are from some country I never heard of and the items have a less than 30
day lifetime. My wife buys cloth for sewing up stuff for the grands and
great grands so she stays happy with cheap stuff they have and the kids
don't keep the stuff long anyway. Heck, I have shirts and slacks that
are over 20 years old that still fit and aren't worn out as my daily
clothing is a pair of cheap shorts and a tee shirt that is about worn
out but feels good. I have good shoes that are older than some of my
grandchildren and no one knows the difference.

George, up early giving the dawg her meds, everyone in this household
has a bottle of something the doctors said was good for us. Tomorrow I
will be 78 years old and I don't expect any presents either. G I'm
aiming, eventually for 100 or more, yeah, that works, sure!

On 9/22/2017 12:54 PM, Derald wrote:
songbird wrote:

if you are only using the water for gardens and
flushing the emergency toilet you could put a screen
over it to keep the raccoonians out of there and
have a few black mollies, guppies or other surface
feeders to keep the skeeters down. or an even
finer mesh to keep them from getting in and laying
eggs. though to me the joy of keeping a pond would
be to be able to have a froggy or toad spot. i miss
the good old days when we had ponds to swim in out
back.
I'd introduce "mosquito fish" (as have done with another small
manmade "pond"), available free from a number of sources here in FL. Of
course, some shade would be necessary, most likely to be floating
aquatic "pad lilys" as is frequently done to shelter so-caled "goldfish"
carp. The rain barrels are screened and, in addition, we control
mosquitoes with Bt "dunks" and a little goes a long long way so that'll
continue. I have toads in the garden and frogs in another small pond.
The cats drink from it and the raccoons do visit it but do no harm.
They are not hostile, just mildly destructive nuisances. Anyone who can
tolerate a 4y/o child can tolerate raccoons and I don't begrudge them
the water access. Now, the wading pool put out there for the cats'
benefit or the watering stations in the garden are different stories.
The signs I put up don't do any good so I just live with it.

And coons are right tasty if you get all of the glands out of the
critter before cooking and eating. I don't know what a coon pelt sells
for today but, at around 12, I made a good bit of money selling the
pelts of the ones we ate and kept out of the chicken yard by shooting
them. I've seen a raccoon kill a dozen chickens just for the hell of it
and only eat the heads. I never had a raccoon mess up my garden, they
went for the chickens, pigeons, and even the caged rabbits. They may be
cute little bandits but they will scratch, bite, whatever they can do to
you. Be careful of them or maybe you have peaceful raccoons, ours fought
all the time.