[binx44]

I made it home for thanksgiving *though I think ours is on a different day* glad to see everyone has been busy. Sorry I haven't made it on long enough to type posts. But I've still been following every chance I get. :D
Miss you all... can't wait for next year to see what you've all done. Any new nifty experiments planned?

[KUXJ]

Biinxx,
You ol' seadog, your sure a sight for sore eyes, I sent you a pm to be the 400th poster because that's what the forum lead said (399), and here you're the 401, Damn! Sorry 'bout that!

I'll have ta have a talk with ben... Yea eddie, hold on ta you britches, eddie wants ta know if you ben cuttin' any those big trees again? Says it helps him to fly up there (His seein' ain't so good as it was.)

Gosh just look at you! All educated up, an lookin' at ease wit yourself, Here, here sid down, siddown, leit me get som vittles an drink an we'll have a talk...

[Just Dahlia]

You still have family, back in Illinois, right?

Make plans to see them during Thanksgiving or even Christmas :)

This was 400!

Sorry, can't fly back to snow, too scary:eek: I have to wait until there is no black ice.:D

HI Shelly!

[binx44]

k, it said 399 for me too buy its all good :). Yes I've cut more trees down. During my chain saw and spacing saw exams on Tuesday. Then had a computer applications exam. Today is math, dendrology and spelling... latin names fun fun :eek:

[KUXJ]

'bout the post count, see #'s 505, 506 odd-occurances-weird-goings

[KUXJ]

Hi! Everyone :)

News from the Bucket (nftb), October 25th, 2009 ~ Vol. I ~ Edition XXIV:

Well the temps climbed into the 70's for highs this week with Friday hitting 80°F ~ 26.7°C :)

Yesterday morning I was out in the yard at 7am edt, and the temp was 67°F ~ 19.4°C. Quite a change when just last week at the same time it bottomed out at 36°F ~ 2.2°C. The wide variations in weather are to be expected though, during the Fall, and Spring.

We were on the fringe of a 2% watch area for tornadoes, and there were a few radar signatures, but no sightings, and winds only gusted to 33mph ~ 53.1Kph.
This system that just went through postponed the MLB World Series in New York by a day, 7th game to be held on Monday if...

Rainfall for the week BBX 3.87” ~ KCXY 2.07” presently Overcast 50°F ~ 10°C
This weeks forecast, highs to the mid 60's lows to mid to lower 40's.

Speaking of Fall. Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour this Sunday morning at 2am. You wouldn't want to be late for church, now would you? ;)

Spring ahead, Fall back. For the Lands down under it'd be,. the same I reckon... :confused: eddie get a hold of shaz, and check that out....I'm on it.

Some history 'bout the change:
About Daylight Saving Time
List of Countries that participate:
Daylight Saving Time Around the World 2009

The yard, and garden are pretty much settled in for Winter. Going to try Solarizing the garden this year. It is an effective way to kill or suppress many fungi, nematodes, bacteria, weeds, and insects  57 Ways - 15. Solarize Soil

Gave the lawn its final cut of the season, and will be swappin' out the mower deck for the snow blade.

Have the Hibiscus, Mandavilla, and rose bush under cover/burlap, although, since this warm weather hit I uncovered the rose for a while, because I was concerned 'bout mold/mildew starting at its base, and felt it would be better if the air could circulate.

Still savin' seeds from this years flowers. The cuttings I made from our impatiens have already rooted, and the parent plants have taken to their new homes.
And, Anak BB is well, and has started setting fruit.

Update:
I'm going to shift the nftb newsletter from its usual time on Fridays to Sundays.
Sundays are quieter for me, and it allows me to reflect better on the previous weeks happenings.

May the peace of your Maker, be always with you.


See Ya 'round the compost pile!
K

[Just Dahlia]

I just came home from Thanksgiving and picked 8 small red toms! :) I'm going to throw some clear plastic over some plants (make shift green house) 'not touching the plants' and pick some of the green and bring inside. Experimenting:confused::rolleyes::D

[Sundial]

Hello to all the UDT thread followers. There's so many posts once I saw the tomatoes coming I decided to call the experiment a success. I have a question about a possible advantage of havint the growing, tender part of the plant on the bottom. I've noticed that the Tomato Horn Worm attacks at the top of the plant. I wonder if they'd be less likely to find the tender growth of UDTs? Any observations about this??

[Just Dahlia]

Hello to all the UDT thread followers. There's so many posts once I saw the tomatoes coming I decided to call the experiment a success. I have a question about a possible advantage of havint the growing, tender part of the plant on the bottom. I've noticed that the Tomato Horn Worm attacks at the top of the plant. I wonder if they'd be less likely to find the tender growth of UDTs? Any observations about this???

I don't know, I believe we didn't have any problems with Hornworms this year. I personally didn't have any on any of the plants, and previous years I have always had them.:confused:

KUXJ would know for sure, but he is out for a little while, maybe he'll answer when he gets back.:)

[KUXJ]

Hi! Sundial, welcome to AMHD :) Hi! JD, I'm still under the weather a bit, but hangin' in there.

Now to answer Sundials Thesis...

Hello to all the UDT thread followers. There's so many posts once I saw the tomatoes coming I decided to call the experiment a success. I have a question about a possible advantage of havint the growing, tender part of the plant on the bottom. I've noticed that the Tomato Horn Worm attacks at the top of the plant. I wonder if they'd be less likely to find the tender growth of UDTs? Any observations about this???

The tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata).

LIFE CYCLE... Borrowed from;Tomato Hornworms in Home Gardens
Moths emerge from overwintering sites in spring. After mating, females deposit oval, smooth, light green eggs singly on lower and upper leaf surfaces. Caterpillars hatch, begin to feed and are full grown in three to four weeks. The mature caterpillars drop off plants and burrow into the soil to pupate.
Moths emerge in two weeks to begin a second generation, during mid summer. Second generation moths deposit eggs on host plants, such as tomato. The caterpillars feed until late summer or early fall and then pupate. The pupae remain in the soil through the winter.

Most moths, will overwinter in the ground, and when the temperature of the ground rises, the metamorphosed pupae (new moths) have a propensity to fly into an updraft, that in turn creates lift. This raises them to the tops of the plants they are looking for, by smell.
Once they find their tender feast the destruction begins.

In this link it discusses Upwind Flight and Reproductive Physiology:
Behavioral responses of adult female tobacco hornworms, Manduca sexta, to hostplant volatiles change with age and mating status
At the top of the page where it says "abstract" in the green bar, go to the right where it says other sections and click for the drop-box and pick discussions.
In that section it talks 'bout upwind flight an reproduction.

So in a nutshell I would say that growing their source of food in an area that they aren't accustom to searching, would offer some protection.

But don't forget, they use odor's too...

Courtesy of; Behavioral responses of adult female tobacco hornworms, Manduca sexta, to hostplant volatiles change with age and mating status
olfactory cues provide information about biologically relevant resources such as food, mates, and oviposition sites

More on Hornworms:
Tomato Hornworms in Home Gardens

As with JD I didn't have any myself this year.
I hope that helps guide you.

k

I don't know, I believe we didn't have any problems with Hornworms this year. I personally didn't have any on any of the plants, and previous years I have always had them.:confused:

KUXJ would know for sure, but he is out for a little while, maybe he'll answer when he gets back.:)

JD, I'll be back every now an then, I'm better than a month ago. ( the meds are working now, and I'm getting around better).
I have Fibromyalgia, disk, and spine damage.

I did want to put out a News From The Bucket Edition, to let everyone know what's up, but just answering my email can be a chore.

I'll try to get an edition out soon... k

[Just Dahlia]

KUXJ
Hearing from you made me smile and I really needed it:)

[KUXJ]

Hi! Everyone :)
News from the Bucket (nftb), Saturday February 6th, 2010 ~ Vol. II ~ Edition I:

Yes it has been a while since I last posted nftb (Post #406 page 41 October 25th, 2009)

I had cervical, and lumbar problems that needed addressed, and I pretty much shutdown all internet activities. I'm now in physical therapy three times a week, and my prognosis looks good. So far I'm able to stay away from having surgery.

With that, and Winter slowing things down I had to get my house in order. I hope you understand. I did ask eddie if he would like to keep things going, but he declined... Somthin' 'bout “durn computers”

Okay!

Good thing Winter was coming, and the yard, and garden was in hibernation not too much to tell there, just routine maintenance.
It was a pretty normal Winter here in the Harrisburg, Pa. area with only 15” of snow... Up until today...

Since last weekend the forecaster's were calling for a big snow to hit this weekend... Well, yesterday it started at 2:50pm est (7:50pm UTC) and this morning 17hours later at 8am we had 18”. It's supposed to stop around 4pm this afternoon :eek:

Here are before


And 8am pix:


Don't forget your pets!

When I was out at 8, I saw that our faithful feline (Candy Pester) had a hankerin' to go out also (Bathroom break), but when I pushed open the door and she saw how deep it was She wanted no parts of it. Eventually, after I made a path out to her “usual” area she did come out and was able to relieve herself.

She pretty reliable 'bout those matters, but you haveta be careful. If your pet holds tooo long they can end up with a bladder infection or worse. :(

You should have seen it you would have laughed. I wish I had the camera. Candy was spookin' around after she did her business, and I just happened to scrape the snow shovel on the concrete.

Well... She really spooked, didn't know where to hide, so she did a flyin' leap out into the fresh snow in the driveway, and immediately disappeared, all you saw in the hole she made was her hiner stickin' up just under the top of the snow. LMAO :p

She rouched around, and all I saw was her snow covered face peakin' out of the hole, jumped out and acted like nothing happened...

What's that eddie?. Oh well, eddie tells me the grader just came through, and the snow is now waist deep in front of the driveway, I guess I'd better get out there, I'll post some more pix when I get back.


See Ya 'round the compost pile!
K

[Just Dahlia]

I'm sorry for you and the kitty (but funny :D), but please keep the pics coming:) I love the snow, especially when some one else is shoveling;)

[KUXJ]

Well, JD that 6 to 12 I mentioned earlier turned out to be 14".
I was able to take 24 pix's with 'bout a half dozen of me snowblowin' taken by my DW
(behind every good man, there's a great woman, right? ;)), but there's one problem...

They total 6.5MB, and I don't think the admins would take kindly of me posting that amount. :rolleyes:
That's with even knockin' them back to 640x480 rez.

I also made a slide show with music, and that comes to 25MB, so I'm at a loss as to what to do.
I've been trying to upload the Show to my picasa web album, but it hangs part way there. :confused:

I thought we had a photo gallery here at AMHD, and I was gearing up to post them there, but I found out we don't. :(

So for now, I'll leave you with this one... :)

This was at 10:30am est this morning 02-10-10, 7:30 your time.



From the NWS:
A RECORD SNOWFALL OF 10.0 INCHES WAS SET AT HARRISBURG PA TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 5.2 SET IN 1970.

HARRISBURG /KMDT/ HAS OFFICIALLY REACHED 13.4 INCHES OF SNOWFALL FOR THIS STORM... MAKING THE MONTHLY TOTAL 34.5 INCHES. THIS SETS A NEW ALL-TIME FEBRUARY SNOWFALL RECORD... BREAKING THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 30.3 INCHES... SET BACK IN 1893.

Our average seasonal total is 35.5

[Just Dahlia]

Ohhh Wow:eek: Looks really cool (no pun intended) but scary:)

Hope everybody is OK. That's a lot of snow!

I'm picking Daffodils:o

[KUXJ]

Ohhh Wow:eek: Looks really cool (no pun intended) but scary:)

Hope everybody is OK. That's a lot of snow!

I'm picking Daffodils:o

Yes, everyone's okay, DW had off work today (her work was closed).

I forgot to mention, that's not fog in the new pix that's horizontal snow.

Daffydills, I'm jealous, I was watchin' some Daytona500 practice... Sunny and cool, yea, I'd wish it was in the mid 50's.

They are callin' for a freeze warning there tonight though. There goes the price of Citrus!

[binx44]

I'm used to that amount of snow occurring here.. At the college the rule for using snow shoes is when the snow hits 2 - 3 feet its manditory. But mind you I live in a place where snow is the norm. even if its spring.. We had snow on halloween one year. That's the end of October :O I've missed you all. A lot of things have changed. Any plans for more experiments this year? I won't have room for a garden at my new place (I'm moving on the 24th back out of Calgary AB and into Fredericton NB) Me and my new boyfriend (been together for around 6 months now) have gotten a 1 bedroom apartment for a decent price and are getting our internet and electricity hooked up at the end of this week. Living out of residence at the college will drop my tuition by almost 6000 dollars. And he's got a good paying job with J D Irving. How have you all been and how has winter been treating you both

[tickle]

Binny, great to see you again. I am so glad life is moving along so successfully for you. I have been pretty busy with my job, renovating a bit, etc. My son is back with me so he is a wonderful help to me and just takes over everything !

Give us up dates on you progress.

Tick

[KUXJ]

Hi! B :)

Winter's been great up until a week ago. I'm not used to cutting, splitting, and stacking 4cords of wood like you are. :D

You and your new boyfriend :confused:... eddie thought you swore off doze kind of critters, anyhow, Congratulations! :cool:
If you feed him right, he might just end up being the president of the company some day. ;)

Good hearing from you!

[binx44]

Yes K I did, but then I got to know him better... Hes nothing like anyone I've ever known, he treats me better, and I'm a ton happier. HAHA if I feed him right.. gwad love you :D
And its great to see you all are doing well