Good Morning!

[delcecchi]

Nope, totally different.  The terminal was a working man's bar from the old days when liquor licenses were very hard to get.  The North Star was what passed for a dive bar in Rochester.  But it had a liquor license and was in Rochester. 

[RebelSS]

That's about the same to me. North Star always been a working man's blue collar bar.....

[LindellProStaf]

Good heavens Dotch you mean she licked your whole body clean????  You are even much cooler than I thought.  And I admire you for that SIR!  AND what a perfect land lady.  I do not want to know any details involving her.  lolol

So you as the only real farmer on here, although LL sounds like a good student, and I am getting in line, can give me some advice.   I am enamored with this oats thing.  We have some "gullys".  I like that term.  My neighbor calls his "coulies".  Also a good term.  Well my wife buys wildflowers boxes and we have scattered them on the hills or sides of these gullys.  They are great and seem to  do good. I was thinking of doing the oats thing like the new farmer LL is doing.  Well this old farmer today that I talked to told me to do rye.  He said it will reseed better than oats.  Then another farmer told me that if we mix wild flowers with rye that the rye will kill the wildflowers whereas the oats will just be a good cover crop.  So what can you enlighten me with.  Oats and rye are both great looking plants.  Most people don't know this but a huge part of rye grass and blue grass and alfalfa seed comes from Lake of the Woods County.   There is huge fires every year burning off the residuals  to kill weed seeds.  Looks like atom bombs went off. 

[leechlake]

seems you're sewing enough wild oats already with the new rig.  My oats suck, the trees decided to go on steroids with leaf growth covering much of my needed sun in part of my oat pasture.  The rabbits love it though.  I may as well buy 30 hostas and plant them instead.  I'm growing something in there though.  Mushrooms maybe.

Curious on the rye/oats deal.  At this point we're stuck with two farmer's opinions and the lone horse would vote oats I'd bet.  When my kids were little I played "horse" with them all the time.  I most have carried them 100 miles on my back and I always made them fake feed me oats and apples first as payment for the ride.  

Wildflowers are cool.  It doesn't take many to make the landscape look nice and I never know what kind of flower I'm looking at unless it's a black eyed Susan.  Keep on chipping away at making your "draws" look nice and get the grass; oats or rye growing.  When the wind blows a bit it's beautiful.  

[Dotch]

Ya LPS, "Licker" was definitely interesting that way. She sure saved me a lot of money on the water bill though.  

The rye does have some herbicidal properties known as alleopathy. The percentage control depends somewhat on what's being planted behind it. It's used partially to control weeds in some of the "sustainable" systems. Have seen data indicating as high as 40% control on foxtail. If that's what qualifies as weed "control" I think most would be sadly disappointed. "Suppression" is more accurate but I digress. Oats would be a better choice. Wildflower seed isn't cheap as I recall from my CRP seeding days so you want  to get as much to grow as you can.

Funny you should mention the seed production in Lake of the Woods Co. Back when I was still squiring "Licker" around, I was working for the Soils Dept. at the U. We had some soil fertility plots with bluegrass and timothy not far from Roseau on the peat ground. Stayed at a place called The Chalet. One night another guy and I had their onion soup and Old Style beer. The resulting toxic gas nearly killed our boss.  He never went with us again after that. Smart man.   

[delcecchi]

You worked for Soils department?  My daughter got her masters in soil science and worked in a lab there, up on the hill behind the student center as I recall.  

[Dotch]

I worked for the Soils Dept. as an undergrad from '79 - spring of '81 when I graduated. We were on a travelling crew that established, maintained, and collected data on soil fertility plots all over MN. We worked with almost every crop grown in MN with the exception of that infamous "grass" crop, wild rice.   That was still in its infancy yet and they kept most of that work in house at Grand Rapids. We even got involved in some of the hort crops including the strawberries and blueberries at Becker. Between that and the potatoes, we were popular guys with the old ladies in the apartment down on Brewster where I lived for a couple years. The stuff couldn't be sold and was supposed to be dumped. We brought a lot home with us and gave it away. As a result we got all kinds of cookies, cake, and pie in addition to them being good sports about our partying. Wild but fun times. I don't know when your daughter might've been there but she probably knows a bunch of the same people I do. 

[delcecchi]

She was there in 90s. For a while she worked for some guy named Mike, as I recall. Some semi big dog, dept head, associate dean, something like that. Now she is in extension.  

[Dotch]

Possibly Mike Schmitt. Think he's Associate Dean of Extension now. He's my age and we used to dump garbage cans of water under his door every chance we got when he lived in the dorm.  

[delcecchi]

mike schmitt, that's the name, I think. 

[lovebigbluegills]

Third baseman for the phillies in the 80s??? 

[leechlake]

Sunday paper was laying in a low spot at end of driveway and ended up marinating in rain water and a bonus worm was inside.  Can't complain since son had kids sleep over and the handi mailbox spot was boxed out by two vehicles that aren't supposed to be on the street at night in our neck of the woods.  A beating will commence when the boys wake up.  The main section of paper emerged pretty good but it seems the rest is a melded mess and there is a lot of purple ink in it.  Maybe some early Vikings coverage?  I will have to get my meat sales coverage from HSO.  Seems a lot of Country pigs have died lately since they are giving the Country Style ribs away lately.  They do nothing for me unfortunately.  

I came to the conclusion last night that steaks on the grill are no longer my preferred method.  Years of wasted time out perfecting the craft have been replaced by a low temp oven method followed by a quick sear in the cast iron.  The steak ends up a uniform medium rare.  It's a poor mans Sous Vide.  It was only me so it works fine.  Searing four steaks doesn't work well, even in the biggest pan.  I'd still do charcoal since I like that flavor but a gas grill steak doesn't compare to the oven method.  It's a sad truth.

A buddy of mine is getting stalked.  He's single and the gal really is stalking him.  Text stalking, showing up at his house at 630 am, following him in his car.  Yesterday she keyed his car and wrote on the windshield with lipstick.  He really hasn't done anything to provoke this and she has some issues.  He's divorced and when he has his kids he doesn't go on dates with her because of the kids and it drives her literally nuts.  He finally went to the cops yesterday.  They made him go to two separate jurisdictions because his house and work are in different towns.  

It's pretty impressive she shows up so early in the morning.  I always figured stalking would be a late night deal.  She's a stalker over achiever and she's pretty cute frankly.  I told him yesterday that I want to be stalked.  He laughed.  

 

 

[Dotch]

No LBBG, I think this Mike Schmitt played IM basketball, once his sneakers dried out anyway...

Gud dagen! About like Wild Kingdom around here this a.m. First the robins have started their silly LOUD 5 a.m. singing. No call for that. I went out to check the cutworm trap only to see the bunnies had already decided that they needed to prune some of the hazelnut whips I planted yesterday. Let's see, you have acres and acres of grass and other stuff to eat but no, you gotta mess with my new trees!  Keep it up and I'll feed them some lead.Then when we were doing chores, there was a loud "Bam!" outside when something suddenly hit the gable of the pole barn, hard. A fraction of second later a hen pheasant plummeted to the ground, deader than a mackerel. A windy day and she must've miscalculated the lift necessary to clear the building. Felt bad for her but not much I could do. Not the first time something like this has happened here. Doing chores one night in a snowstorm about 20 years ago, a hen hit the closed overhead door. That one I could understand because it was dark, it was snowing, and the door and building are white. About 5 years ago a rooster pheasant hit the side of our house and cracked the siding in broad daylight! He was also killed instantly. I showed my little fat sawed off Swedish carpenter buddy who happened to stop by and he just shook his head. Starting to think we're living on a kamikaze pheasant airport. 

 

[bobberineyes]

Morning gents,  the one Saturday a year I have to work was yesterday,  and it always seems to be a gorgeous day, why couldn't it be dreary like today.  Ya dotch it seems in the spring wildlife acts pretty funny,  I've seen mallards crash into chain link fences but the best one I saw was a flock of geese hit the high line wires at work, 3 were dead when I approached them the rest were dazed walking in circles.  After a few minutes they got there wits back and took off.

Anyhow the Mrs and I went for a power walk earlier and now I'm taking a power sit for a while before trekking down to menardos to get more seed since it's supposed to rain most of the week. Talk atchya later.

[LindellProStaf]

Ok oats it is.  Oh oh I see a starling in my new Martin house.  Very interesting your Buddy getting stalked.  Keep us updated LL. Ya I have heard that is a good way to cook a steak but haven't tried it yet.  Chicken quarters today on the pellet smoker grill.  Love that thing.  So easy.  I have a remote control so I can adjust it from my easy chair.  

I heard on KFAN that the hockey gurus don't think that starting these games so late effects the viewing much.  WRONG!  I am not a huge hockey fan but I would have liked to see these games but I am not even starting to watch something that I won't be able to watch complete.  I may get more interested in the sport if it was available to me.   I think it is at 2 today so that is when I will cook the chicken so I can watch.  Go WIld.  

[leechlake]

It doesn't effect the viewing because not many people watch hockey anyway.  I'm a big fan but it's a regional sport and for me to watch a whole game that starts at 830pm that actually starts around 845pm on a week night ain't happening.  The OT game the other night I didn't see the last half of the third period and the OT.  Also, you need to be prepared to find the games.  On Dtv the games are on channel 11, 220, 355 or Wild games 668.  The other night there was one on USA network which is about 247.  I'm just guessing but if you need to make a gigantic effort to find something on tv and the game times is around bed time viewership suffers.  The KFAN guys are early 30's and it's part of their job so their observations are like my observation that most people sit in deer stands the first Saturday around Nov 4th every year.  Go Oats!!!

[LindellProStaf]

Good point LL.  I will search for it today.  Maybe...   

[smurfy]

morning gents!!!!! hit the ground runnin yesterday. planted the garden, helped the neighbor cut trees down. well helped clean up. he gave me all the wood I wanted for the campfire. maple, tough to split by hand. fertilized the lawn.

today rains then stops then rains. really need to mow before I leave wed. 

[bobberineyes]

Sure is fun going to the game though, TV is just gonna have to do today. Last week the Mrs and I talked about after the softball summer is done getting away from it all, just for 5 days anyhow.  She mentioned the keys, even though we've been to Florida many times and different ares but not the keys. So then we started looking at the west coast and sure enough I came back from menardos and she booked us a San Diego trip. I gave her a smooch and asked her if she ever heard of black beach, she said no, but I'm sure we could check out all the beaches . Pretty sure once she finds out its clothing optional we'll probably end up going to the zoo or something.  

[LindellProStaf]

Smurfy, at 10 every Sunday morning on Sportsman Channel there is a show called Brotherhood Outdoors.  Each week a hard working Union man is torn from his job and forced to hunt somewhere cool and is a good show.  I usually plan on having our Sunday brunch while watching.   

[bobberineyes]

Since the wild is sucking, think I'll stand out in drizzle and play with some thighs.  Kind of fitting though with all the bra talk, no clasp down yonder . Cold smoked fish and eggs yesterday afternoon,  eggs will be put in tater salad and paired with some naughty thighs..

[leechlake]

Bobber-  4-0, Stars scored with about 30 seconds left now the season's over, San Diego is great and the solo trips are always nice for mom and dad.   Don't have to let the dog out either which may be the biggest bonus.  I think you're only supposed to eat oysters that end in months with a Y but I'd do it anyway when I'm there.   If you go to the zoo we will put you in the cooking forum penalty box.  You don't have to got to DelBlack beach but the zoo is like a trip to the mall that has animals.  You sit on benches, as a guy, and wait.  If you don't have kids zoos aren't on the list

 

[bobberineyes]

It's looking pretty bleak for the wild at this point. Hopefully del chimes in soon to give me some pointers luring the ladies to bl beach, tinctures might help. Son a moose, 16 seconds 2 goals, don't need the golf clubs quite yet. Zoo, what zoo..   

[delcecchi]

2 hours ago, bobberineyes said:

It's looking pretty bleak for the wild at this point. Hopefully del chimes in soon to give me some pointers luring the ladies to bl beach, tinctures might help. Son a moose, 16 seconds 2 goals, don't need the golf clubs quite yet. Zoo, what zoo..   

OK, there are a couple of methods depending, among other things, on the tide and how much she likes to walk. 

Park at La Jolla Shores beach (free parking lot or street parking in the area depending on attendance) 

Plan 1, at low tide or reasonably close to it, go for a walk down the beach to the right/north.  Go under the Scripps pier and cross the big pile of rocks (the dike).   Marvel at the tram that some guy built down the face of the cliff to the beach very shortly before the coastline initiative took effect that would have prohibited it.   BTW a nice place to stay is la jolla shores hotel. 

Once you get across that point of rocks (tidepools if you want to look in them (another excuse)) it is nothing but sand for miles with bluffs on the land side of the beach.  This is blacks beach.  

The second, if you are up to a few miles of walking, is to take a hike from the shores beach up through the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.  You can go along the top of the bluffs and along roads until you get to the top by some old cottages on the campus.   There are benches and great views.  

Continue up the hill either through the trees and into a neighborhood or follow La Jolla Shores Blvd.   Turn left on La Jolla Farms rd.   follow the road (tour the biodiversity area and check out how a billionaire lives across the canyon if so inclined).  Walk further along the farms road and you will see a gate and a blacktop road that goes down to the beach.   It is public to walk down the road (blackgold rd).  You can also drive to la jolla farms road and park on the street in the vicinity of the gate or the biodiversity area.

Tell her it is a great place to watch surfers, which it is.   Act surprised when there are clothing optional people on the beach.

Personally I would skip the zoo.   Wild animal park and stone brewery in Escondido might be worth considering...

I have other suggestions if you want them.   

 

Continuing, if golf is your thing Torrey Pines where the big dogs play is a Public course, like any joe duggan can play.  You might need to book a tee time early though.

[ThunderLund78]

San Diego's amazing.  I echo Del's recommendations around La Jolla.  This time of year you can get pretty up-close and personal with Fur seals on the beach.  Torrey Pines, just a little bit further up the coast has some awesome trails to hike as well.  USS Midway is a must if you're at all a history and/or airplane geek like me. HAVE FUN!