spring flowers and good food

[Handstitched]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

I'm heading for the woods today so I'll be gone for a week or so.

Stay safe friend, and I look  forward to you making me  very envious when you get back  , lol 

HS

[Sheilajeanne]

Handstitched, I have a plug-in battery charger that will start my vehicle in a pinch. I actually needed it the other day, when I left an interior light on inside! I use it more often to start the lawn mower in the spring. 

And just about every Canadian has a set of jumper cables, and knows how to use them! I gave my niece a set as a Christmas gift, the year she moved to Manitoba to study at a college there!

Chuck, good luck with the hunt, and may there be no accidental shootings! 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Sheilajeanne

[fredk]

I used to have a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass built for Canada. It had a 5L diesel engine,  but the fuel instructions on it said not to use diesel fuel but, afair, to use Number 2 home heating oil. And the engine and auto gear box had built in heaters. Plug a cable into the mains supply and the heaters kept the oils and water at working temperature. I used the system a few times. Just had to remember to unplug and coil up the short engine bay cable before driving off

[Handstitched]

On 10/14/2023 at 5:30 PM, chuck123wapati said:

I'm heading for the woods today so I'll be gone for a week or so.

I take it you're back from your well earned break, hope you had a great time . The Elk sounds tasty  .  Summer has come early here  and well and truly kicked in . Days are hot, but the nights are cool-ish , for now. 

HS 

[chuck123wapati]

7 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I take it you're back from your well earned break, hope you had a great time . The Elk sounds tasty  .  Summer has come early here  and well and truly kicked in . Days are hot, but the nights are cool-ish , for now. 

HS 

nope i'm going back, just in town to wash up and make sick jokes lol. i'm going back out this morning. take care my friend.

 

[chuck123wapati]

well i brought in the camper still a few days to hunt but i'll be driving from home. everything was awesome but the heat, this year it was to warm but we brought in three wonderful cows to fill the freezer. Man it felt good to relax from the bullshit that the world is facing and just watch the fire and drink a beer or three lol. Sometimes i feel life is still pretty darn good to me.

[Sheilajeanne]

So, uh, whose cows did you shoot??    

[billybopp]

8 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

So, uh, whose cows did you shoot??    

 

[chuck123wapati]

10 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

So, uh, whose cows did you shoot??    

  Actually two of my daughters and my son shot theirs, Mine is still roaming the hills.

[Sheilajeanne]

billybop, big fan of Lehrer, but that's the first time I've heard that song! Thanks so much for sharing!  

Chuck, would be very hard to spot a cow...er... deer in a landscape like that! 

Oh, and here's my favourite hunting meme. Yes, alcohol was involved. But I'm doubtful that they actually tried driving the truck while wearing moose heads. Can't see that working if they actually wanted to survive!  Still it's damn funny...

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by Sheilajeanne

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

billybop, big fan of Lehrer, but that's the first time I've heard that song! Thanks so much for sharing!  

Chuck, would be very hard to spot a cow...er... deer in a landscape like that! 

Oh, and here's my favourite hunting meme. Yes, alcohol was involved. But I'm doubtful that they actually tried driving the truck while wearing moose heads. Can't see that working if they actually wanted to survive!  Still it's damn funny...

 

 "hold my beer and watch this" famous last words of the redneck. That reminds me i found a perfect set of Moose sheds i can turn into about a grand. We were hunting Elk a member of the deer family but the females are called cows the male Bulls unlike Deer which are called Bucks and Does and much larger, three filled our freezer and will last the year.

[Handstitched]

On 11/7/2023 at 9:24 PM, chuck123wapati said:

Man it felt good to relax from the bullshit that the world is facing and just watch the fire and drink a beer or three lol.

We'll make  an ' Aussie' out of you   yet , LOL   If only that was all you needed on your passport  to get into Australia . 

Something tells me you had a great time , the pics are awesome     

I've just been doing a few things in  the back garden, get it tidied up , put some ( annual)  plants in, re-planted all the hanging baskets with anuuals,  and even planted a heap of herbs in large pots ( ground is too hard and dry here)  . I know absolutely nothing about gardening , Mum was the expert on plants, so what I've planted is from what she told me , what she liked and  a good dose of guess work. I've remade all  the shade clothed areas ,  it gets incredibly  hot in the late afternoons in Summer, now its starting to look a bit like a tiny shade house .  A lot of my herbs, especially the Sage has gone nuts. I love using fresh herbs in cooking, taste better too.  I'll have Capsicums ( peppers) in  a few weeks , and strawberries in the next week or so. 

More work to do yet, but one step at a time  

On 11/9/2023 at 3:06 AM, Sheilajeanne said:

Oh, and here's my favourite hunting meme. Yes, alcohol was involved.

That had me in stitches , f**k me   Alcohol was involved?? Never !!!!!  Why did they go to jail? Because the 'Moose' didn't have a drivers licence?  

HS

[Sheilajeanne]

Like I said, I really think the whole thing was a setup just for the sake of the photo. However, if it WAS real, it would have been illegal to have the man tied to the roof, and also illegal for the driver wearing the moose head to be driving with obstructed vision. Oh, and yeah, I'm sure they would have tested them with the breathalyzer, which may have resulted in an impaired driving charge!  

[chuck123wapati]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:59 PM, Handstitched said:

We'll make  an ' Aussie' out of you   yet , LOL   If only that was all you needed on your passport  to get into Australia . 

 

It was sooo quiet and not a cloud in the sky , you could see every star in the milky way at night, I love to watch the big dipper slowly circle the north star.

I've always wanted to play a digeridoo and check out that big rock you guys have out in desert.

we got to watch the mating dance of the sharp-tail grouse this is the one the native Americans imitate in one of their dances. the birds dance around in a circle for a few then take off chasing after a female, it was funny as all get out.

[Handstitched]

Howdy doody   friend  from a very hot Western Australia   

Harvesters across the district  have been busy before a harvest ban is in place , its been that hot. Not long ago that I was talking about the cooler weather, remember that? .  My deepest respect to Mother Nature  

What do you know about Almond trees?  ( we pronounce it ' Armond' delete the ' L'  ,, like I said, us  Aussies are weird,  lol )  

Anyway, we have a Flowering Almond  tree in the back garden,   only around  6-7 ' tall, and  in all the 10-15  years we've had it, its only ever produced  really nice pink flowers and thats it. Almonds are very heat and drought tolerant here in Oz thats why Mum got it .  However , this year I have noticed ( just  this arvo) that its started to produce Almond nuts . According some research, for a flowering Almond to produce( fruit)  nuts, it needs to be ' cross pollinated' , and some varieties are ' self pollinating (wha..?)  '  and they also  rely heavily on our best friends the  bees for pollination . Ever heard of flowering Almond trees  producing nuts? 

This tree has  changed , not complaining, I love Almonds, so hopefully by Christmas or the New Year I'll have Almonds to eat     So I'm guessing Mother Nature has done me a favor . 

I'll keep searching   

HS

[chuck123wapati]

12 degrees Fahrenheit this morning as I read this lol. Time for snow here my friend. I have no idea about almond trees but they sound beautiful all we have are scrub oak and pinion pines. But you sound like you have been blessed enjoy them! I'm in for the winter now with hunting season over the roads into the forest will be closed for the year. That means I'll be back at my bench working and watching from indoors the snow blowing by at 60 mph. 

[chuck123wapati]

Turkey day was awesome!!!!

roast turkey and stuffin an gravy along with, taters, cranberry relish, parmesan stuffed mushrooms, jalepeno poppers, relish tray, and fruit salad, sweet potatoes and pecan pie with vanilla ice cream.

We went way off our sugar free diet but I'm saying it was worth every bit of it lol. 

[Sheilajeanne]

Awesome photos, Chuck. You're blessed to live where there is such natural beauty.

Handstitched, my mom had a flowering almond bush in her backyard for many years. AFAIK, it is JUST an ornamental shrub/tree and is not meant to produce almonds. 

A quick Google search confirms that: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/shrub/flowering-almond/

Quote

Sometimes the flowers are followed by small round red fruit coveted by squirrels. 

Sorry! You're barking up the wrong tree if you expect to get nuts!   I looked up the actual almond tree, and they are much bigger and have simple flowers with only 5 petals, not fancy pink ones.

Edited November 25, 2023 by Sheilajeanne

[Handstitched]

11 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Handstitched, my mom had a flowering almond bush in her backyard for many years. AFAIK, it is JUST an ornamental shrub/tree and is not meant to produce almonds. 

I think it has a lot to do with the pollination . Flowering Almonds only produce flowers, like ours have done since we've had it. But now, nuts have appeared   .  Thank you Mother Nature

  Look forward to eating some fresh Almonds now  

12 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

Turkey day was awesome!!!!

Our Christmas will be different this year. I've got some Turkey drumsticks for Christmas Day for me and Dad, with a small ham etc. cook em slow in the oven,   and Turkey wings & salad  for Boxing Day , and a Christmas pudding, of course . 

 Our climates are complete opposites , thats why I so love the changing of the seasons on both sides of the planet  .  Awesome pics too  

HS

[chuck123wapati]

20 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Awesome photos, Chuck. You're blessed to live where there is such natural beauty.

Handstitched, my mom had a flowering almond bush in her backyard for many years. AFAIK, it is JUST an ornamental shrub/tree and is not meant to produce almonds. 

A quick Google search confirms that: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/shrub/flowering-almond/

Sorry! You're barking up the wrong tree if you expect to get nuts!   I looked up the actual almond tree, and they are much bigger and have simple flowers with only 5 petals, not fancy pink ones.

I certainly am blessed, thank you, this is a beautiful area still relatively unknown by the masses, while millions stand in line in Yellowstone the majority of Wyoming remains virtually wilderness with very few outsiders exploring it. We have had some outside travelers however as they have created a new fad, walking the continental divide trail which runs directly through our county and town. I love to talk to them and ask about walking a good hundred mile plus trek through the high desert, it surprises them to no end and is a very dangerous part of the route. Many of them end up hitch hiking through this part lol.

[chuck123wapati]

9 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I think it has a lot to do with the pollination . Flowering Almonds only produce flowers, like ours have done since we've had it. But now, nuts have appeared   .  Thank you Mother Nature

  Look forward to eating some fresh Almonds now  

Our Christmas will be different this year. I've got some Turkey drumsticks for Christmas Day for me and Dad, with a small ham etc. cook em slow in the oven,   and Turkey wings & salad  for Boxing Day , and a Christmas pudding, of course . 

 Our climates are complete opposites , thats why I so love the changing of the seasons on both sides of the planet  .  Awesome pics too  

HS

Finishing off the turkey today, it was 21 pounds, with a big pot of turkey and home made noodles. My favorite The wife makes noodles as my mom taught her years ago.

[Handstitched]

Mother Nature at Her very  best again.

We have a bird nesting in one of our rose bushes right outside our family room window, Dad spotted her, flying back and forth making a nest . The bird is commonly known here  as a ' Willy Wag Tail', by name and nature, because of their long tail at the back and because of the way they move about    . The pic is a sample pic, pretty much the same outside our window,   I wouldn't dare try take a pic  of our guest myself as ' Dad' is very defensive . The nest is about the size of a small cup . The size of the bird is a bit bigger than the  palm of your hand , not very big , but  they are very territorial  . I tried to get a  closer look  the other day , but ' Dad' got really p*ssed off.  I now know their ' defensive' chirps and their 'happy'(?) chirps. 

HS

[Handstitched]

I forgot to mention that these tiny birds hate crows. There were a couple in our paddock just now, and ooooo'h boy !! these few crows were immediately  under attack , not just  by 'Dad' but from a few other Willy's in the area ...needless to say the crows flew away real quick , quite a sight to watch . These tiny birds don't take any sh**t.  They even fight against other predators mid flight. 

HS

[chuck123wapati]

3 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I forgot to mention that these tiny birds hate crows. There were a couple in our paddock just now, and ooooo'h boy !! these few crows were immediately  under attack , not just  by 'Dad' but from a few other Willy's in the area ...needless to say the crows flew away real quick , quite a sight to watch . These tiny birds don't take any sh**t.  They even fight against other predators mid flight. 

HS

lol they sound like the Finches we have in our yard, mean lil buggers indeed they run off every bird no matter the size and the squirrels too. I love to watch them there is a small hole in our green house the they can get in and they eat the rabbits food we keep inside during the winter. Birds are awesome to watch they are so intelligent we have tried unsuccessfully to plug that hole but they keep finding ways to get in.  

[Sheilajeanne]

There's a rest stop on the Interstate, not far from the Rainbow bridge. I've stopped there numerous times to use the facilities, grab a bite to eat and let the dogs have a walk. 

When i was walking the dogs one day, I noticed the English sparrows in the parking lot had an interesting feeding method. The had learned that the grills and bumpers of cars that have travelled long distances have a gourmet feast of dead bugs on them! It was really interesting to watch them picking the carcasses off the cars. They would wait until the passengers exited the cars before doing this , then fly away as soon as they came back.

I've had these sparrows nesting around several of the houses I've lived in over the years, and this is NOT normal behaviour for the ones living in suburban backyards! They prefer eating from my bird feeder, though they certainly won't turn up their noses at a passing insect!