"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[abbydaddy]

I'm used to seeing those smoky red skies out here in Oregon, but it is weird seeing them out East in June.

Here in Eugene we hit a grass pollen count of 1,301 yesterday, an all time record. The combination of a wet spring followed by hot dry weather has led to the wild grasses and the commercial grasses pollening out at the same time. Oregon grows 75% of the world's commercial grass seed, most of it here in the Willamette Valley, and the air layers and winds pull the pollen down to the southern end of the Valley (Eugene), where we are socked in on three sides by mountains. Even people who normally don't have allergies were suffering (before moving here, I never had allergies, but I have them in Eugene). In previous years the counts had reached as high as 1,200, but yesterday's count blew the old records out of the water. For reference, in the rest of the world, a grass pollen count of 200 particles per cubic foot is Very High.

 

[screened porch]

According to Kirsten at the farm, we're getting Canadian smoke in Michigan, even though the fires are east of us. Our wind is blowing backwards, out of the northeast. So much for the overcast I had hoped might be heralding rain.

 

[meako]

Same smoke/haze warning here in northwest PA. The news says people with asthma may be affected.

Watch out for old people too...during the 20/21 fire here my 70 something neighbour was up on his p itched roof attaching garden sprinklers to act as a as useful as tits on a bull...and frankly he was more at risk from falling off the roof than from the fire....

Is that the actual Bag End? Bilbo's house from the movie set? No but the only actual part of the set from the film remaining is Bag End..

 

[mitch13]

In 2020 this is what San Francisco looked like at midday from forest fires burning in Nor-Cal and Oregon. View attachment 2210298

It is a good pic though.
Had fog here this morning, just got back from walking the dog. Looks good in the trees. It was cold.

 

[meako]

I was sooo tempted to by this 1 ton hunk of Siberian Jade...but 1,000,000 nzd is bit of a budget blower....some of the carvings were astoundingly beautiful ...

 

[mbkr]

It appears that the emojis have been returned to their previous versions.
Bravo

 

[r8shell]

It appears that he emojis have been returned to their previous versions.
Bravo

Yay!

 

[Peregrin]

Wow! Lots of sharp stuff!
My wife decided to clean out a kitchen junk drawer this morning. Yikes! It's been awhile.
Found an old Made in Japan ss multi-blade, in amongst too many rubber bands! I have no idea where or when I got it.

A bunch of little screw drivers from companies I did business with.

Anyone need a box cutter? My youngest son worked at a drug store when he was in HS. He'd always bring home box cutters, not on purpose I'm sure. No body needs this many box cutters!

 

[RickHuf]

View attachment 2211469
I was sooo tempted to by this 1 ton hunk of Siberian Jade...but 1,000,000 nzd is bit of a budget blower....some of the carvings were astoundingly beautiful ...View attachment 2211469

Well... New Zealand.... alcohol and gum boots. You have it covered! I'd love to check out NZ someday. Have fun.


Since you visit Bag End, maybe visit Kiahoro? I wonder if they ever rebuilt after the invasion in the late 1980s.

 

[euroken]

Well... New Zealand.... alcohol and gum boots. You have it covered! I'd love to check out NZ someday. Have fun.


Since you visit Bag End, maybe visit Kiahoro? I wonder if they ever rebuilt after the invasion in the late 1980s.

What did I just watch? lol

 

[Jack Black]

It appears that he emojis have been returned to their previous versions.
Bravo

Yay!

Testing :grumpy:

Edit -

 

[RickHuf]

What did I just watch? lol

Peter Jackson's first movie. Hallmark classic!

This was sitting on a video rental store (remember those?) In the mid 90s. A buddy and I picked it up and probably watched it 1,000 times since then. B movie horror parody cult classic? I dunno but that sounds about right!

A far cry from LOR, eh?

 

[Just Tom.]

Mystery Critter

Starting maybe a month ago, I noticed that some sort of critter had been digging up chunks of turf in my yard and leaving them turned over. The past few days I noticed it has been digging in my garden, making a mess of the weed-control fabric and leaving holes everywhere. Today I noticed it had been digging along my house foundation, and also along the bricks I have bordering the vegetable garden.

I don’t see anything resembling mole hills. I have seen muddy footprints on my back porch which looked like they belonged to a raccoon, but I have not seen raccoons dig like that before. I have never seen squirrels do anything like this, chipmunks just leave tidy little burrows, and neither eat grubs, which is what I assume this critter is after.

I am beginning to suspect maybe a skunk, but have not smelled anything. I just now set out an old humane trap I had in the shed, but I don’t think it’s big enough to trap anything bigger than a squirrel.

[EDIT: I removed the trap. If I manage to catch a skunk, what on earth am I going to do with it? ]

Anybody have any clues? I am in Maryland, so it won’t be anything exotic…

It’s hard to capture what the digging looks like in photos:

 

[RickHuf]

Mystery Critter

Starting maybe a month ago, I noticed that some sort of critter had been digging up chunks of turf in my yard and leaving them turned over. The past few days I noticed it has been digging in my garden, making a mess of the weed-control fabric and leaving holes everywhere. Today I noticed it had been digging along my house foundation, and also along the bricks I have bordering the vegetable garden.

I don’t see anything resembling mole hills. I have seen muddy footprints on my back porch which looked like they belonged to a raccoon, but I have not seen raccoons dig like that before. I have never seen squirrels do anything like this, chipmunks just leave tidy little burrows, and neither eat grubs, which is what I assume this critter is after.

I am beginning to suspect maybe a skunk, but have not smelled anything. I just now set out an old humane trap I had in the shed, but I don’t think it’s big enough to trap anything bigger than a squirrel.

Anybody have any clues? I am in Maryland, so it won’t be anything exotic…

It’s hard to capture what the digging looks like in photos:

Looks like a skunk to me. They dig around looking for grubs/bugs and such. We had one at my old place that tore up the yard and the garden

Maybe a groundhog but there would be an obvious giant hole somewhere and they don't seem to go to far from their burrows.

 

[Just Tom.]

Looks like a skunk to me. They dig around looking for grubs/bugs and such. We had one at my old place that tore up the yard and the garden

Maybe a groundhog but there would be an obvious giant hole somewhere and they don't seem to go to far from their burrows.

Thanks. I just edited my post above - it occurred to me that if it is a skunk, I really don’t want to trap it, so I removed the trap. I will try to find some sort of repellent instead…

 

[RickHuf]

occurred to me that if it is a skunk, I really don’t want to trap

That would be a bad situation!

 

[Just Tom.]

That would be a bad situation!

Catching a skunk by the snout would be like catching a tiger by the tail, but in reverse…

 

[mbkr]

Catching a skunk by the snout would be like catching a tiger by the tail, but in reverse…

At least the skunk won't eat you

 

[screened porch]

I think skunk also. Around here they tear up 2 or 3 inch snatches of turf. But I don't have much in the way of cultivation for them to dig in.
When my brother was having a chuck live-trapped, the pros put the live traps in waste baskets on their sides, to contain the spray if they caught a skunk.
I think a kill-trap is always best, where it's allowed. My brother's wife came around to that view eventually.

 

[5K Qs]

We've had skunks digging up the lawn in front and back yards in the past, but I never noticed any digging around foundations. They used to come from the west about 10 or 11pm and work their way through our back, then front yard, then across the street. About 4 or 5am they'd come through our yard again, moving in the opposite direction. I'm not sure where their home base was, or how far east they went before heading back. These nightly migrations happened in a period when we didn't have dogs for a while. Once we had dogs using the back yard again, even though the dogs didn't stay out there all night, the skunks moved their main path over to the next door neighbor's yard. I haven't seen or smelled skunks on our block for a few years now.

A friend from church claimed that he would trap skunks in his yard, and then throw a blanket over the trap before picking it up to transport in the back of his ancient Suburban to wherever he released his captives. I trust him, but I've never tried it.

- GT