The Flat Wheel Cafe/Diner--Early Summer Edition

[Deggesty]

Modelcar

Another notch in my....hummmm, deleting tool.

Heavy duty tool. My usual deleting tool is the backspace or delete key; there's no room for notches on them.

Johnny

[Modelcar]

tree68

I now have this picture in my head of Quentin playing "Whack-a-Mole" in his yard...

Some truth to it all fellows......I hit {no pun}, it just right this morning....As I walked out back to have mole inspection....and with the "deleting" tool in hand....Sure enough, there it was.....The end of one of the tunnels was moving....but not for long.  Good by mole.  Another notch in my....hummmm, deleting tool.

[blownout cylinder]

Hello

Got all the running around for work done--then did the gardening that had to be done. We had no rain today as the clouds did not produce any---thankyouverymuch--

Currently sitting out in back deck with laptop and lemonaid---temperature is at 28C with humidity at 53%.

Catch y'all innabit----

[locomutt]

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Joe!!!! 

 

Brian, Very Nice Air Show shots!!

[JoeKoh]

Whew warm outside..well the amount of cars q 351 took out of willard the q 368 was taking back.Matt and I visited St. Joe indiana this afternoon.Thanks again for the birthday wishes.those strawberries taste good.Time to get cleaned up and head for work.

stay safe

Joe

[bubbajustin]

CW, BLT's are good!

Hi all! just got done mowing the yard. have a good evening!

[CNW 6000]

Happy Birthday Joe!  Many returns.

[mudchicken]

(now we know where Q got all those fancy dance moves from!)

[tree68]

I guess there's something to be said for having a yard of clay. 

I now have this picture in my head of Quentin playing "Whack-a-Mole" in his yard...

[Modelcar]

Mookie

Quentin - I don't think we have ever had a mole in any of our yards (and we have lived on some interesting yards!)  Haven't had ground squirrels, either

 

Jen, If you ever do get mole action in your yard, it will not be difficult to see the damage.....They bore a tunnel that raises up the ground even several inches, grass and all and that severs the grass roots and allows some grass to die, etc.....I really don't know how an animal that small can bore underground as effectivey as they can.....and as quickly.

[Modelcar]

mudchicken

Q: got any lye in the garage? (you don't need much)....I'd lend you 3 scotties, but then your neighbors would be looking at a scale reinactment of WW1 Verdun

 

I believe I'm starting to get the better of them......I do have a steel {spikes}, trap that one places over a "tunnel" and if they move thru that tunnel again, which they do....The cocked trap will spring and the mole underground will be impaled.  One need not even dig it up...Just flatten down the tunnel, take care of the grass and go on...

But recently I've had good luck in actually checking the area quite often and actually finding the ground moving as they bore forward....and that is curtains for them as they then get the action of my "deleting tool"....Which I was able to do this morning.  Moles generally are in "two's" or just by themselves in their operation.

I'm right against a golf course fairway with my back yard, but can't see that that would be a calling card for them to get "into" our yard.  Early on, I did try commerical liquids put down over the area with a garden hose, etc....but no luck with that.  Since I've used the two methods listed just above, we're doing a pretty good battle with them...I can etch about 4 hash marks {in the past 3 years or so}, on my trap and "deleting tool"....Mole victories...."0".  So far.

But I will say this:  If they get ahead of the game...{One not paying attention to a certain area}, they can do major damage to a yard quickly.  I am pleased how our yard looks and really pay attention to their potential.

I've seen them bore a "tunnel" of roughly, 25' in about an hour....!

[grampaw pettibone]

mudchicken

...and our travelling habits may be getting changed by the mothership after the GA mishap

Please clue me in about the mishap in Georgia. I haven't heard about it. Thanks

[cherokee woman]

Okay, I've got the BLTs ready, and to go along with them, your choice of fries, potato wedges or tater chips, garden salad.

And I've got the burgers and hot dogs in the fridge to start grilling about 5 p.m.  To go along with the burgers & dogs, we'll have green beans, your choice of cole slaw or garden salad, potato salad, macaroni salad and grilled 'baked taters' with plenty of butter, and sour cream.

Have the chocolate cake out of the oven, and just finished frosting the cake, a slicing strawberries to go on top. 

Joe, hope you're enjoying your birthday so far!  

We had a nice surprise this morning, about 8:30, 9:00:  a good downpour and thunder, lightning.  Now, it's really heating up outside.  If I go for a walk this afternoon, I'm going to spray my baseball cap before I put it on my head, to keep myself cool!  

 

[mudchicken]

Q: got any lye in the garage? (you don't need much)....I'd lend you 3 scotties, but then your neighbors would be looking at a scale reinactment of WW1 Verdun....They have found something that lives in the fieldstone wall in th backyard. Keeps 'em occupied for hours.

Tree: That's one tolerant Doxie....(my guys would be trying to lose the extra covering mui-pronto)

MookS: only if the radar had a 1 week delay in it...and our travelling habits may be getting changed by the mothership after the GA mishap. (We can only hope the mothership comes to its senses...not!)

 

[tree68]

Mookie

Tree - rain gear on dog?  Bubble wrap for mailing to other relatives? 

My son said something about "babyproofing" in the message on my cell phone... 

[Mookie]

Quentin - I don't think we have ever had a mole in any of our yards (and we have lived on some interesting yards!)  Haven't had ground squirrels, either......

Chicken alert!  I talked to the Driver at work.  He said they were watching the radar on a tv in the lounge and our rain cell was heading straight in from the west, down I-80.  Moving very fast and continued into Iowa on I-80 where it disappeared from radar.  (Probably hiding in tall grass)  Wonder if it was our beloved chicken? 

Tree - rain gear on dog?  Bubble wrap for mailing to other relatives? 

[Deggesty]

tree68

blhanel

One thing I found very annoying when trying to get shots at air shows- the auto focus seems to be very unreliable when pointing the lens at an object in the sky.  Have you noticed that, Larry or anyone else, or is it a problem with my lens/camera?

I did find that to be the case and did change to manual focus for the air show, even with the stock lens.  The rapid movement with little background reference is probably the problem.

My video camera has a phenomenal zoom - definitely tripod territory.

I'll check on the lens. 

Automatic-everything cameras apparently were not designed for capturing good images of distant objects that are moving. The automatic focus system has to see some fixed object, and it will not always take the right object (it can settle on a window screen when you want to record something that is outside your yard). I have been unhappy with some distant shots of steam engines and of trains because much detail is blurred since the focusing system seems to be looking for a reference point, and never settling on one.

Manual focus works better for distant shots, especially of moving objects--but be sure to return to automatic focus when it will give you what you want.

My camera? a Canonet that I bought in 1978; it still does what I want it to--but I at times forget to focus on the subject, especially when I have photographed something close up. My wife's camera? a Canon Powershot which she bought two years ago.

Johnny

[Modelcar]

Birthday greetings to Joe....

Overcast and in the last half hour, a bit of rain....I welcome it too.

I've been fighting a ground mole again in my yard including last evening after I found  a few short "tunnels" it just raised while I was mowing.  I thought I saw the ground move and went to get a "deleting tool", and by the time I returned to the site I couldn't pin point movement.

Now, this morning I went and checked, and sure enough...the ground was moving.....and I had my "deleting tool" in my hands {a large hammer}...So we believe one ground mole now has been deleted.   And...{about the rain}, I tramped down the "tunnels' and sowed grass seed.  So hoping the rain will tamp it {grass seed}, sort of into the loose ground I tamped down and grass will be replaced.  Those "tunnels" tear the roots loose and destroy the grass.

Those things can cause major damage to a yard in no time....I've fought them before.  Have a trap I've "deleted" some of them in the last few years.

I've heard of stories if one has his yard sprayed that is a deterrent to them, but It certainly does not always work....My yard has been treated for over 30 years, seasonally.  I've been lucky, only minimally have I been bothered with them, but one must really get on it quick or they will cause major damage in a short time......My morning  lesson.

[tree68]

Ms Mook - sounds like that little cell that dropped a wall cloud on us a week ago (pic over in the Lounge).

From my son - Looks like they had to babyproof the dog:

[Mookie]

Many happy returns of the day, Joe!  I bet you got another wrinkle in your birthday suit! 

Brian - we had a surprise about 7:45 this morning.  One tiny cell popped up out of nowhere and just inundated us with water for about 20 min.  It didn't really "storm" altho the wind did blow pretty hard, but we had that ominous, low, continuous rumble of thunder.  I checked radar and it is a tiny cell, all alone with only a speck of green north of it.  It is heading east pretty fast, will probably miss Omaha and race through central IA! 

It was a "Maverick!" 

Houston claims it is only humidity they are sending our way....

[blhanel]

, Joe!  After dodging severe thunderboomers and tornadoes last night, they're promising us a much quieter day for today, thank God.  Too bad it's going to be in the nineties with humidity to match...

Mook, I thought I told you to send this back to Houston.  I guess I shoulda told Willy instead?

[tree68]

Well, Happy Birthday, Joe! 

Definitely strawberry season - Strawberry Festivals are in full bloom, and even the wild strawberries along the railroad are bearing fruit!

Cool but dry here today. 

[blownout cylinder]

Happy Birthday JOE!!

Good Morning--

We are at 17C right now and sunny--it'll be sunny today with the high of 27C and it'll be clear tonight with the low at 16C. It will be the mix of sun/cloud with the high of 28C for tomorrow-----

Have some running around for work this afternoon then some more garden stuff as we're still shuffling things around out there. Maybe, if I'm lucky that is, I'll get to actually take some pix of some trains running through here and see whether I can do better on manual---I've been sorta brushin' up on my photography 'skills' ---

You all have a good one----

[JoeKoh]

Good Morning

Thanks for the birthday wishes.I also called my older sister(aka godmother) to wish her a happy birthday too.Mother nature is going to crank up the heat.Csx dispatcher is asking where a ballast train is going to dump their load.Its headed for Mark Center(between sherwood and hicksville).Cw as far as lunch just make some BLT sandwhiches.for supper fire up the grill for burgers and hot dogs.Cake?? well lets just stay with the chocolate cake and chocolate frosting with sliced strawberries on top.Talk about a sugar rush.

stay safe

joe

[grampaw pettibone]

Good morning, it's Monday! Moving right along, happy birthday, Joe and many happy returns. 70 and  clear in Carolina this morning, headed for 94, but no thunder forecast. I slept too much yesterday, so have been up most of the night messing with the computer and downloading wartime Navy magazines. Lots of interesting history there. Everybody take care, and maintain your cool

[cherokee woman]

Good Monday morning, and:  Happy Birthday, Joe!!!!! [day]

Coffee, juices, lemonade, and hot water for tea are ready, along with Gatorade, iced tea (sweetened & unsweetened).

For breakfast this morning:  turkey bacon, sausage links & patties, and pancakes:  blueberry, apple, and buttermilk pancakes.  There's also scrambled eggs, bagels and bear claws.

Joe, what do you want for your birthday lunch and supper?  And what flavor cake would you like for today?  I'm standing by to fix whatever you'd like for today.  

We have a very warm and muggy 79 degrees this morning.  When I woke up at 5 a.m., the temp was 80.  Supposed to get up to the mid 90s today, so guess we'll have to watch out for the pop up showers/storms.  

Everyone have a great morning, enjoy your breakfast, and Joe:  enjoy your birthday to the max!

 

[tree68]

blhanel

One thing I found very annoying when trying to get shots at air shows- the auto focus seems to be very unreliable when pointing the lens at an object in the sky.  Have you noticed that, Larry or anyone else, or is it a problem with my lens/camera?

I did find that to be the case and did change to manual focus for the air show, even with the stock lens.  The rapid movement with little background reference is probably the problem.

My video camera has a phenomenal zoom - definitely tripod territory.

I'll check on the lens. 

[blownout cylinder]

blhanel

EDIT:  One thing I found very annoying when trying to get shots at air shows- the auto focus seems to be very unreliable when pointing the lens at an object in the sky.  Have you noticed that, Larry or anyone else, or is it a problem with my lens/camera?

I get frustrated with mine---sometimes i get it spot on and everything works or I get a blurred something------if anyone has a method that works I sure would like to know myself---

 

[blhanel]

tree68

Brian - I'll be in the middle of our air show here next weekend - gotta keep an eye on the communications (and the acts).  This year I've got my digital video camera, too, so I might be able to get some pretty cool stuff.  Haven't gotten a long lens for the Rebel yet - some day....

Larry, I've got the EF 80-200 Zoom, which I picked up at Wal-Mart, IIRC, on sale for $150(?).  Anyhoo, those shots were taken with that lens cranked to the max in Tv Mode with the shutter speed set to 1/1000.  Who's headlining your air show?  Blue Angels?  Maybe you can try to match my shot...

EDIT:  One thing I found very annoying when trying to get shots at air shows- the auto focus seems to be very unreliable when pointing the lens at an object in the sky.  Have you noticed that, Larry or anyone else, or is it a problem with my lens/camera?

[tree68]

Brian - I'll be in the middle of our air show here next weekend - gotta keep an eye on the communications (and the acts).  This year I've got my digital video camera, too, so I might be able to get some pretty cool stuff.  Haven't gotten a long lens for the Rebel yet - some day....

Nice shots, at any rate.

Ms Mook - Daughter had a cooking assignment once when she was in middle school, I think.  We assembled the ingredients for chocolate mousse and found out why the servings are so small.  Talk about rich!

Kids were both elsewhere today (the new daddies enjoying their Father's Days.  Had to do some grocery shopping so I picked up a nice steak, along with some some of the great potato salad from our local convenience store, and treated my self to a barbeque.  It was even nice out at 7 PM so I enjoyed my repast in the back yard (with an interested Dalmatian at my side - "You aren't going to eat all of that steak, are you?").

Time to take the dog for a walk and start getting ready for work tomorrow.