jdmidwest

A friend of mine is worrying about his deer herd that he raises for profit. There is an abundance of the midge fly that is spreading the disease. Ponds are drying out and exposing lots of foul mud and stagnant water spreading the problem insect. Cattle are affected to.

Glad to see the okra is not just me. Part of mine got razed last night by a band of roving rabbits. Just some stems today. I will try the mustard greens. I have been planting turnips and radishes in the fall for ground cover.

While it has nothing to do with the thread, I would be interested in a civil way to know the answer to the question. Do you think the country is better than it was 4 years ago? Since you brought it up.

"Aside from the political poo in his tag line, J.D. has it right. " And you think the country is in good shape now under current leadership?

2 storm fronts have broke up so far and went north and south of me. I watered the garden anyhow to be safe.....

That was what I was looking for, this spring. I did rotate my tomatoes down a few rows into where I had been planting corn and they did better. But I think the fungus might be in mine also. You can order varieties of tomatoes that resist that from the seed catalogs. It did not really matter, the dry heat took more of a toll on everything anyhow. I am still trying to figure out what is going on with the okra, last 2 years it has only gotten about knee hi and not done anything. First time in 12 years that I have not picked a piece of okra out of the garden.

Good road hunting this fall then. As far as the ducks go, if it continues to stay dry, they will probably keep on flying instead of loafing around the area. No major bodies of water other than lakes and rivers. And no food. Wetlands are dry and did not produce much in the way of food. If they don't flood, they won't use them. Crops were poor and are going to be harvested early due to the dry weather, not much there either. Poor nut crops for the woodies. I actually think the waterfowl will keep on trucking to better water and food down south.

Not just a hobby, an adventure. When I set out at something, it is usually full bore. The net is a great place, lots of info and ideas. Local beekeepers are great resources too. I like to make stuff myself instead of buying it. Wood working is not a problem with me. It kills the time in the afternoons while I am watering the garden or wishing there was water in the streams to fish. And, Beekeeping is work. To be consistant, you need to open the hive up and check it during the warm summer days. If it is weak like mine, you have to work it to make it stronger, Winter is only a few months away. If they are not up to speed, I will end up with some fertilize for the garden in the spring. The nice thing is watching them work. They are a well organized, self sufficient colony for the most part. They carry out their dead and diseased bees. They scrub their cells and hive, meticulious cleaners. They patrol and repel invaders. They control the temperature of the hive with their wings and vibrations. They do a little dance and wiggle their butt to tell others where the good food is. Watching all that is going on inside of a creature with a brain the size of a pin head puts life into a perspective.

Snakes have been few and far between this summer. I think dry weather may have an adverse affect on them.

I have seen more young turkeys in the past month along county roads than I can ever recall. And they all seem to be healthy. Must have been a great hatch year.

Juice them and make some jelly. I gave a bunch a few years ago to a lady and they came back to me in jars of jelly.

But, the minnows sold in the bait store are not the minnows normally in the watershed that you are fishing. So if you toss them in and let them live, the technically become invasive if they survive and reproduce. I have noticed some signs at accesses that state you should kill your bait, no matter what, instead of letting it loose live into a watershed. I wonder if the Canadian Night Crawlers will overtake our crawlers some day

Driving through the countryside the past few weeks, I have notice something strange. Hen turkeys with large flocks of young turkeys. Seems like the dry spring and lack of flooding may have actually helped the turkey population. I rounded the corner on a gravel road in Perry Cty yesterday to find 2 mature hens with 20 healthy young turkeys standing in the road. Fall Season may be good this year. I have also noticed more than usual numbers of Bucks out working the bean fields in the daylight hours. I watched 3 nice ones grazing in one field yesterday. Drove about 2 fields and noticed a tan spot moving in a field of green soybeans. Binocs came out and I glassed a nice buck bedded, the tan was his velvet antlers. I have seen more quail this year along the gravel roads too. But, unless we get some water, Duck Season is gonna suck!

My hive of bees has finally made a turn for the better. Weekly inspection today revealed many new eggs and some new comb drawn on my Homemade Foundationless Frame. No beetles or moth worms. Most frames were being filled with nectar. The bees were feisty and flaring up at me when I tried to move them off frames. The past month has been depressing each time I opened them up for inspection. First it was the small hive beetles. Then there was the lack of brood. Last week I found a frame of comb being destroyed by wax moth larva. Then Saturday, I found Varroa Mites in one section of comb. All the major problems except for the biggie have been plaguing me. With advice from others, I condensed the hive down to one brood box. I started feeding sugar water and reduced the entrance so they could guard better. This weekend I took the boxes apart and painted all of the hive parts with a fresh new coat of paint. I dug wax moth cocoons out of all the crack and crevices. I made a new solid bottom to replace the screened hive bottom that came with the hive. I removed the last frame of odd comb that they had made and found where my queen may have been hiding. Instead of using the foundation material provided, they had built a new comb on one side of it and had brood on it. Since it was wedged between the foundation, it created a hiding spot for a lot of bees and bugs too. Since there was only space for one layer of bees in there, they were having a hard time cleaning and covering the brood causing them to be deformed. After some research, I decided to try a foundationless frame to replace the one I pulled out. Standard foundation comes as a sheet of beeswax imprinted with a standard cell size that they draw out. But in real life, bees make several size cells. Small ones for workers, bigger ones for drones, and a large one for a queen. So I made a foundationless frame and installed it Sunday. Today I pulled it out and they have drawn their first new comb since I moved them in. Pretty little white comb, all natural. It does not look like much, but it takes a lot of effort for them to produce the beeswax. I may go this route from now on in the brood box as it was a simple design, and all natural. I need to rotate out the old wax comb as it is getting dark and nasty looking. Wood frame, bamboo skewers, large craft sticks, and some 50 lb fishing line for support. Its obvious that they like to do it this way, they never attempted to draw any wax on the store bought foundation I put in there the first few weeks. Now we need some rain and some nice fall flowers. Nothing like a bunch of happy bees.

Mine are tied to the roof rack that is usually sufficient. I have left them at some accesses unattended with a bicycle chain thru the rack and some part of the yak. Of a night, piece of string tied to my toe and the boat usually does the trick. I have never had to use lethal force to get one back yet. Depending where you camp, you should not have any problems. Most state parks are friendly people and have rangers patrolling all night to keep people honest.

I have owned Winchesters since I was a kid, first shotgun was a 20 ga 1400. The SX series comes apart when you uncrew the magazine cap. 2 pins hold the trigger group in. You can take it apart in a blind, hose it out with Breakfree Cleaner, and be back in business in a few minutes if needed. The alloy receiver and Duracote finish are pretty tough. The old adage that the gun shoots better dirty is just another excuse to abuse a gun by not cleaning it properly. Just like washing the car and changing the oil, all equipment needs maint. to run properly. Duck hunting introduces seeds, bits of blind material, mud, and water into the guns internals that end up with rust and malfunction. Most modern shotguns break down to essential components quickly and there are wonderful aerosol cleaners to blast it out. I always stand my gun near a vent for several days to dry it out then clean it if it was not too bad. If I sit out all day in a rain or snow storm, I take it apart and clean it when I get home. The Super Black Eagle is a design that has been around for 20 years and works great. If I remember right, it is a recoil design instead of a gas piston action like the SX3. Gas pistons are sometimes more sensitive to lighter or heavier loads and can sometimes fail to cycle. The Vinci is a gas piston. It is a newer design that has only been out for a few years. Just because we have not seen any issues does not mean there are not any. Search the net for reviews.

I have others locally that have the same problem. Blooming at knee high and staying that way all summer. Except, mine is not blooming. I have planted Clemson Spineless and Dwarf Long Pod.

Justin, we have pretty good luck with them in the gunshop that I work at from time to time. No problems that I am aware of. Neat design and function, but top dollar. Kinda tricky to assemble till you get the hang of them. I have a Winchester SX2 and my hunting buddy bought a Winchester SX3 last year. Both shoot like a charm, soft recoil on 3". They eat everything I throw in them with no hiccups. I even shoot a few 3 1/2 inchers for geese and turkey. His Beretta Extrema froze up one morning a few years back while my SX2 kept chuggin in the minus 10 weather. He traded it off last season for the SX3. You can't go wrong with a Super Black Eagle either. I would probably go that route if I wanted a Benelli.

I think that was the one that was on. It popped up on one of the new channels that Dish throws out with Starz Cinemax package. But it was filmed wide screen, so the whole move was only about a foot tall on a 36" screen.

Wild plums. Flower is small and white in the spring. Bark on base of tree is slick and dark. Does not get very big and spreads like wildfire.in the yard with sprouts. More pit that fruit, big seed? Makes good jelly.

How about a pic. I have been looking for one to make a duck blind.

I have not eat a beet since I was a kid. Never acquired a taste for them. I did eat the pickled eggs that mom used to put in the beet pickle juice.

I watered all summer and have a nice bill to show for it. I have several big tomatoes but the possums are working them over. I have trapped 3 of them so far. We were out of town last weekend and the garden did not get water for 3 days and it was hot. I lost my cucumbers, squash, and a few tomatoes in the main garden. My okra is still knee high and has not bloomed. I don't know what has went wrong with it, it did the same thing last year. Fall squash and beans are coming along. I still get a few cucs off some vines shaded by the house. My patio tomatoes are just now putting on. They were some little frostbite plants that have struggled all summer. Peppers have not produced. I hope we get some rain this week, it has been a few weeks since we have had a drop. The yard greened up for a little while, now it is back to crunchy brown stuff.

That would probably work. I was thinking more of violins from him though.

Chief packs sticks and strings for self defense.