Ducks Ragtag 2019 gardening

[flowerbug]

FB: that is what my ex painting contractor husband does for moldy walls outside. Cheap old bleach and a pressure washer. And old clothes and goggles please.

yes, good idea about the eye protection. i wear glasses so tend to not use safety glasses (my glasses are safety glasses).

the thing i should mention though is that some siding is not safe to be bleached, but most of the aluminum or vinyl will be ok with a weak bleach solution.

i don't have a pressure washer so can't say much about that.

 

[ducks4you]

We have been living through a terrible heat wave. I WANTED to garden, but I couldn't stand my horses standing around stomping at flies all day long. YES, I use Fly Predators. Yes, I use those jar flycatchers and maintain them, but I decided that my time would be best spent bathing my horses, treating under their eyes and treating their ears with SWAT
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/swat-original-fly-repellent-ointment-3494
and soaking them with flywipe. Somebody figured this out in the 1990's and the word has gotten around bc it keeps flies from landing around their eyes. You put it under their eyes like a football player so that it doesn't weep into their eyes.
I had gremlins on the property too. My sprayer broke and the spray part of the horse fly spray fell apart. I didn't have a 2nd hose sprayer so I just used the hose naked, and I had saved an empty Febreeze Fabric spray bottle for repuporsing to using to spray herbicide on small areas, so I poured the mix into that. Worked great! They mowed the inner sanctum for me and I loved watching NO TAIL SWISHING!!!...at least for one day.
It used to be much more colorful when SWAT only came in hot pink, but now you can buy it in white that fades to clear.

 

[thistlebloom]

Ducks, I just tried a new product called EcoVet. It's a fly repellent made from essential fatty acids that disorients flies so they don't know where the horse is, or something like that .
Some of the reviews said it had a horrible odor, but I didn't find it very objectionable, it had a sort of soapy odor to me. But it worked really well, especially for those hideous little gnats that fly in their ears and up your nose and in your eyes when you're working around them.

I appreciate that it isn't a poison since I'm all over the horses handling them constantly.
I stood back and watched the flies and they would head toward a horse then veer off and loop-de-loop around.

 

[ducks4you]

I need to look into that. Thanks!!

 

[ducks4you]

Finished mowing. One riding mower isn't running. The other needs to blade deck serviced. NEWEST push mower, with less that 5 hours under it's belt, is decommissioned bc I yanked to cord our of the engine and don't know how to reconnect it.
The other old push mower had gas left in the engine and won't start. My trusty old bag mower (that really needs a new bag), had to do the lion's share of tall and exTREMELY wet mowing. It has a Honda mini bike engine that just won't quit.
Most of the yard is done. My friend is gonna help me get the cord back on the newest push mower.
MEANwhile, I am a Trustee for the city of Longview, IL and we have just joined a law suit against ESL Wind Farm. 10 years ago they were planning to build a wind farm 7 miles from us, in the same county. That fell through bc Champaign County didn't want them there and now their intentions, since 2017, are to build south of us, and to build 5 of the 18 or so turbines LESS THAN 1.5 miles from our city limits, which takes them into the Douglas County. This is against current state law that demands turbines be no closer than 1.5 miles from a city limits, so they are willfully breaking the law. 25% of this company is owned by a Chinese investor, (maybe) 10% by a Portuguese investor.
AND...wait for it...
each tower will be just shy of the height of the St. Louis arch, which is 630 ft. I drove north yesterday just to see how far away you could see our water tower, some 80 ft tall. You could see this maybe 5 miles away. You can see the St. Louis Arch from a distance of 19 miles.
These would be MASSIVE structures, the size of those turbines now used in the ocean, and if they build where they want to the concrete structure and any movement would affect the cement that houses our city wells, which are located feet south of the county line road.
Don't want to bore you BUT, the next county over has had wind farm since 2014. IF you drive by the tiny towns or clusters of homes there are signs put up by the locals that will tell you about the physical harm of these tall turbines. Many people couldn't stay there bc of the noise and many homes have been abandoned.
Last night our new city attorney got permission to join a law suit with two small towns in Douglas County. They have been fighting this company for 2 years and the deadline to file is tomorrow.
My mowing problems are insignificant.

 

[flowerbug]

@ducks4you i am all for wind power but agree with you that it should not be near a city. good luck with the suit.

there are wind farms within this region and i hope more will come along because they site them within farm fields and it gives the farmer another source of income - the issue is if there are power lines around to route the power where it is being used.

too bad about all those mowers! if you were closer perhaps i could have redone your pull cord, i've had this one apart a few times to clean out the rust on the spring and give it some lube because Mom gets it wet at times with the hose. not an easy contraption to put back together with a spring that wants to go flying. make sure when taking apart you keep track of the parts and how they appear/interconnect. if you have a diagram that will help in case of trouble.

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks! They are dirty rotten scoundrels. ESL, the company, went to Springfield and greased palms with Michael Maddigan to change the zoning laws regarding township zoning. They have windfarms in NY and plan to change the laws THERE (and probably here, since money doesn't talk in Springfield, it Screams) to make the wind tubines personal property. THEREFORE, if that happens, which could be as soon as this Fall, all promised tax money vanishes.
If these are so great, why do you have to cheat?

 

[baymule]

I got all caught up, you have been busy! Wind farms, nobody wants them.

 

[ducks4you]

Weeded under my grape vines. Lots of good fruit getting ready for harvest. Cucumbers are taking off!! They pulled down part of my fencing and I had to pound in an extra metal fence post to help support them. I will evaluate after season, but putting my two fences very close together has meant that I have had to separate plants. The cucumbers are crowding out Some tomatoes, other tomates are thriving by growing very tall to compensate and I am finding growing green fruit lower, in the shade. Again, ALL tomatoes here I started from seed this year.
I harvested enough green beans yesterday for one meal. Taking my camera out today. Tomorrow I will be in DD's office preparing for a speech tomorrow night against wind farms in Douglas County. Stupid...I need to make sure that I don't slander them, lest I am sued. THEY come in to make THEIR money, and MY Freedom of Speech is impacted.
Is this really AMERICA?!?!?!?

 

[ducks4you]

Camera WILL be out tomorrow, bc I will be home all day. I have orange sunflowers, cosmos and okra straining at the sky against my south wall of my garage, which helps bc it is white. Starting to get cherry tomatoes. The green slicing beefsteak ones are teasing green as they just keep getting bigger, NOT red...yet. Harvested some okra, some cucumbers and green beans this morning. NEED to harvest my grapes tomorrow. Not a big crop, but nice big grapes anyway. Think I will prune the vines after harvest. LOTS to do tomorrow, nice and cool, in the low 80's, might rain a little. Sweet peppers that Were wilted perked up this afternoon after a very good soaking.