tjm

In past years I have measured 2" in my yard and a neighbor 1/2 mile away with only a hill separating us got 1/2" and another time he got ~2 1/2" and I got zero. I've watched it pour on one side of a paved road and not a drop on the other side at least a dozen times. Rain happens where it happens. But again they show me at 2.55" and my measure is only about 1.7", so ... I'm at about 6.8 since Wednesday, I think. and still no runoff here, although there is some some where in NWA because L.Sugar is mildly flooded at 820 CFS after peaking at 1090 CFS about 4AM. Elk R still on the rise at only ~465 CFS.

Even fried potatoes got a shot of water and a lid. Frying in lard was for the browned flavor, and to have a base for gravy, the steam made it edible without grinding. When fork tender the lid comes off and any remaining steam/water dissipates quickly, most of the crisp comes back, but none of the tough. And my folks never used but about half a cup of water in the first go. How you can ever get chicken tender without a lid baffles me, unless it's a store bought baby bird.

Home rendered lard of course.

Probably any meat Mama "fried" was actually braised, perhaps 'steam-fried' or 'pressure-fried'; as heavy and tight fitting as that cast lid was. Do those canned meats count as part of the "possession limit"? I've been told that frozen game counts, but never was sure.

I'm at about 5.5" since Wednesday and no runoff, although the semi-permanent spring near the house has started to trickle again. Dry since June for the first time in decades. At this point another 2" would cause some flooding.

Enjoy.

When I was in high school, I killed a lot of squirrels and Mama got most of them tender in a cast skillet with a lid. But, she made them feed more people by cooking with dumplings on the days when I didn't get a limit. I don't recall her ever not getting the meat tender enough to eat, even roosters. I probably should have paid more attention to process. That said, I wouldn't compare squirrel to rabbit either. Each is unique in flavor and texture, just as pig is different than calf.

It did about 2" over night, I think. You can check https://www.raindrop.farm/rainfall-totals/zipcode (although as I mentioned they aren't always accurate) USGS Elk R. gage shows a total rainfall since Wednesday of ~3.6", they discontinued the rain gage on L.Sugar.

A rainfall app that estimates accumulated rainfall from multiple data sources says Bella Vista got 0.5"-0.6" over the last 24 hours, but I'm just ~5 miles north of BV and they show me having 0.76" and my measurements are only about half that, although it has rained a bit more since I looked. The grass has turned green again from the Wednesday night/Thursday morning rain, I looked out the window and it took a moment or three for me to figure out what was different about the yard. I suspect more rain west of I49 and less east of I49.

0.3" over 3 days hasn't caused any run off/flooding here at the farm, and it looks like the next 3 days has about 50-60% chance of getting another 1/2", Elk went over 100CFS this morning (~200CFS normal) and L.Sugar is up to ~45CFS from ~30, when normal is ~65CFS. I don't think the county burn ban is has been rescinded yet either.

So far, that forecast has been a bust; we got one lightning flash and three claps of thunder, even though the radar showed it raining hard here, it totals about .3 over the last 3 days.

yes!!! Actually, we got a welcome rain Wednesday night, ~2" and that was the first measurable rain here in about three (or four?) months. Somehow the past showers have forked around our place. Our last good rain may have been the spring floods. Elk R. is at ~93CFS now after a spell of ~65 or so. Biologist said it's been too low all summer to run a shocking inventory on. So, yeah another shower will be nice.

I always knew that gray fox could climb trees, but had ever realized how well until a number of years ago; on a trapping forum one of the members had been photographing bald eagles and in editing a photo of an eagle perched in a large tree discovered that just a few feet below the eagle was a gray fox asleep on a large limb. It must have been 30'-40' off the ground and looked comfortable there. My guess is that ability to climb is why they do better with coyotes than red fox do. Aided in climbing by their claws that are curved and I have read semi-retractable. I've also read that they can rotate their forearms to aid in climbing limbless tree trunks up to 50'.

Neither of those are mandated by the government. The whole world could operate very well on Zulu Time. Actually they did that in about half or two thirds of businesses when I was kid. But the Congressmen wanted to play golf after work and found it two much trouble to change session times when hired people could just reset the clocks. I recall though that one town near the Or/Id border had four times in use during the summer; MST, MDT, PST & PDT because the time zone line bisected the town. In construction we always started at 0630 or 0700 and season didn't matter that much as we were often using lights at both ends of the day. So if the DST has an advantage as you think, why not retain it year 'round? It would be impossible to calculate, but given several time pieces per person and dozens to hundreds in businesses and schools, I'd not be surprised if each seasonal change cost a $billion or three. Throw in the missed appointments by the million people that missed the bulletin and you have another few $billion.

No you can't. Nothing can be more pointless and at the same time more irksome.

But you know that there will be just as many daylight minutes regardless of the clock setting. Changing clocks seasonally is the silliest thing modern man does.

Not so sure about that, as I can think of several instances of bridges built adjacent to existing bridges and the roads being moved to the new bridge after completion. The location being at "Fishtrap Ford" implies there was an existing road nearby the proposed bridge, even if it was a narrow dirt road, as named fords only occurred where roads existed. I can even think of one place where the road bed for a US highway and bridge approaches was completed ~40-50 years ago and the bridge was never built, nor the road built. Elections change those kind of plans. And 1929 was the beginning of a decade of the "Great Depression" which along with the "Great Wars" gave my folks generation the moniker of "greatest generation". I think it's remarkable that they found funding to improve/build the road approaches in 1934, which was not only the middle of the depression but also the beginning of he dust bowl years.

Well it was poorly designed, it collapsed in the first major flood, and the inflation would bring the cost to ~$444,090 in today's money for a bridge on a dirt road; so not much has changed. I remember seeing that broken bridge the summer before the dam was built, and hearing the story. Mom's cousin took us down there for a day of touring the river from there to War Eagle for the last time. A long hot day over mostly gravel roads, must have been ~125-150 miles round trip, very scenic and lots of stops for pictures and rock collection as she was an amateur geologist and avid rockhound. I liked that river valley better as it was then than as it is now.

I couldn't stand being confined to a boat for half a day. So, my advise is to do what your friend will enjoy most, ask the guy, if he's not able to choose, skip the fishing trip. If his dementia is so advanced that he can't tell you what he'd like to do, then he probably won't enjoy doing it. Or remember doing afterwards.

Given that the ~80A next to me just sold for ~12 times what I could have bought it for 30 years ago, I'm not surprised at that price for the location, structures and business. $$$ just ain't worth much these days.

I've probably caught more stream bass on my fly rod than I have trout especially over the past 30 years, before that there weren't many stream bass where I lived. I know I've caught all my large smallmouth on flies. I prefer the fly rod for a few reasons, not least because I'm far too lazy to use a reel that has to be cranked on every cast. But then I know that some folks like to increase the difficulty of any undertaking, I got whupped enough times as a kid for doing things the easy way to ever forget that.

He lives near me and his mom taught my kids in school, long time ago. I used to stop into his shop a lot before the wind took it down. But, haven't seen him for a few years, I keep thinking I'll stop up there for a shoot, but then Sunday comes and I forget.

Doug is nice guy. Didn't realize he'd gotten so famous or so old looking.

Transitions are the sunglasses (photochromic lenses) that lighten up indoors and turn dark in bright sun. My son in law always buys those and they quit working after a few months.

Boil them longer, about an hour in they get softer.