Whatcha doing today?

[JBtheExplorer]

If you buy a log skidder, get a John Deere. They work the best.

That's actually my plan!

 

[JamieB]

Looking at flowers to get ideas for my painting, and suddenly I have a desire to grow some this year. Lol, I’ve got plenty of space, and they’ll be natural bird food next fall, feed the bees when they bloom, and could be really nice. Guess I’m getting spring fever already! Now I just need to be patient, and plan to start them around the end of next month inside. I think I’ll try some around the porch, and if enough seedlings survive, I’ll try and plant some along the fence, and by the mailbox.

 

[Tula]

I spent most of today watching the inaugural activities , then took a nice walk in the sun. We are having loads of male cardinals at our feeder and I'm so glad I left all my plantings in place over the winter, as I notice the birds rest on them while waiting to fly to the feeder

 

[Doctor mcboy]

Just watched a visitor to our bee hives walk through.View attachment 135940View attachment 135941

beehives- that is so cool , i wanna try that one day

 

[addy1]

beehives- that is so cool , i wanna try that one day

Be ready to beeeeeeeeeeee real busy! Make sure you take classes, understand the mites ow your hives will fail. It is fun also, you need to learn to read frames and think like a bee.

 

[JamieB]

I like bees, but as much as I want to set up a hive, I worry it would impact the wild hives nearby. I prefer to use honey as a medicine instead of as a sweetener, but I could do a lot with the wax. So unless things change around here, I’ll just let the wild bees do their thing. Although I would like to put out more plants for them, especially ones that help them fight the mites, if there are any. Sadly, I don’t have a green thumb, so I have to look for plants that don’t need much from me.

 

[addy1]

I don’t have a green thumb, so I have to look for plants that don’t need much from me.

Wild flower seeds do great!

I could do a lot with the wax.

You can buy bees wax on line amazon, ebay pretty cheap. I can not use it since it might carry american foul brood spores that would kill the hive. We would need to burn all the equipment if one of our hives got that.

 

[JamieB]

I just need to have the extra money to buy from local bee keepers. I still have the number for the folks who rescued the wild hive who’s tree fell about two years back. All our extra money went into much needed house work, and pond aquarium stuff!
I’ve got house work and yard work I need to knock out today. The pups figured out how to get out of their fence, I went out, identified 4 spots they might be using, blocked off two, need to remove branches pinning the other two, but will need help with those. Of the two I fixed (ish) one will need nailed down, the other is a gap between fence and wall I need to find a way to block semi permanently. The fence will be getting moved, hopefully this year, if we can muster man power and energy for it. But I also need to do a load of laundry and work on a deep clean of the kitchen, two of the cats keep getting on the counter, possibly going after mice. And we have gotten lazy this month, so it needs a full cleaning, sinks bleached, mop the floors, cabinets cleaned and rearranged, that kind of stuff.

 

[addy1]

doing taxes............................yuck

 

[JamieB]

Noticed the shrimp tank was a bit green, started to do a water change, decided to remove all the guppies, and rearrange the decorations. It’s 2/3 full now, waiting on water to settle, and decided to compare the tanks test results. The two aquariums are at 10ppm in nitrate, no nitrite, so they need more plants to pull the nitrate. Mini pond bog filter has it at 5 ppm nitrate. But the pothos and spider plants are growing well, I guess just not using enough nitrate.

 

[mrsclem]

doing taxes............................yuck

Did ours last week. Had to use hubbies laptop, mine runs Windows 7. Turbotax requires 8 now. Need the $$ for the new car but with IRS not even starting on this years return until Feb 12, it's going to be a long wait.

 

[j.w]

Since you brought it up @addy1 now I will think about doing mine someday

 

[addy1]

Did ours last week. Had to use hubbies laptop, mine runs Windows 7. Turbotax requires 8 now. Need the $$ for the new car but with IRS not even starting on this years return until Feb 12, it's going to be a long wait.

I get mine set up, our almost 1 inch work book, then send it off to Arizona for our CPA to do. It takes me about 2 weeks working off and on, I need to take brain breaks. With the rentals no way will I do our own taxes, way beyond me. Not cheap but we don't get audited. We sold three last year so they will drop off this next tax year. I have been using the firm for over 20 years now.

 

[JamieB]

I managed half the dishes, leaving pots and pans for hubby, did water changes, went to town for a few things we needed, ran into my sister. I’m going to try and remove the rest of the kitty litter substrate from the shrimp aquarium, while removing rocks I saw bubbles come up, so presumably I’ve got methane forming . I’ll end up using it as a topping over dirt, and use that as substrate in small planters for select plants. A few of the plants are showing symptoms of needing nutrients, which they aren’t getting, so I’ll set up diluted fertilizer and let them sit a day before I rinse then add them back in the new planters. I’m waiting on the water to finish cleaning up so I can get a good look and count of the shrimp. I don’t think they are breeding yet, I may have to research what they need to breed.

 

[JamieB]

Did research, thought I found the problem, temps too low, it’s been high 60s, low 79s, needs to be mid 70s, started removing the clay, found what I though was a clay covered shrimp, put back in the tank, and got a better glimpse with out the clay. It was a dragon fly nymph. So I have to remove that ASAP. I presume it’s been eating guppies over the shrimp, but that’s about to become a shrimp only tank. I’ll have to acclimate the nymph to cold water, and move it out. I don’t need it as an adult flying around the house, temptation though that is for the flies we get in warm weather.