The Coffee House

[terri]

Today was a nice, sunny day. Did a fair amount of post-Winter cleanup work in the yard, but with every nice thing there comes a downside. I've been sneezing my head off all day long now. I planted both Major Wheeler honeysuckles in 5 gallon grow bags and have a flat top arbor on order that should arrive on Tuesday. I also transplanted a dwarf lemon cypress in a 5 gal. grow bag and transplanted a volunteer Korean Mulberry into a larger container. Planted Zinnia and Autumn Beauty sunflower seeds in some old planter boxes and cut back the purple salvia to allow for new growth, and added soil to the Butterfly Milkweed box. Also did a mow, scalping the back lawn where clover isn't growing yet, and overseeded with more clover and creeping thyme. Winter is officially behind us.

Nice! That's a full day's work. We'll need pictures of everything, especially the Major Wheeler honeysuckle!

Our signs of spring are still the pump sitting over the flow well, as we're in full spring thaw, and the crocus/hyacinth shoots coming up.

Oh, and my Mallard friends made a surprise visit to my backyard today. Seems way too early. They waddled around, tugging at available fescue, flew up to the garage roof and then back over to the golf course. Silly ducks.

 

[cgw]

Nice! That's a full day's work. We'll need pictures of everything, especially the Major Wheeler honeysuckle!

Our signs of spring are still the pump sitting over the flow well, as we're in full spring thaw, and the crocus/hyacinth shoots coming up.

Oh, and my Mallard friends made a surprise visit to my backyard today. Seems way too early. They waddled around, tugging at available fescue, flew up to the garage roof and then back over to the golf course. Silly ducks.

Canada geese are back and in their prelim stage of sighting often-impractical nesting sites. Pretty things but thick as two planks as my much-loved MIL would say!

 

[terri]

Canada geese are back and in their prelim stage of sighting often-impractical nesting sites. Pretty things but thick as two planks as my much-loved MIL would say!

Such is what I refer to as the arrogance of the goose. I don't find them particularly thick. I believe they really just don't give a crap what anyone thinks of any of their choices.

Disrupting traffic in a parking lot? "Hey! We're walking here!"

Impractical nesting site? "We happen to think it's perfect. Pound sand."

Arrogance. I think they're wonderful.

 

[snowbear]

The non-migratory ones in Maryland are considered invasive but I love them, too. I enjoy watching the chicks grow up.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Fortunately no damage at our home. It was odd that when the front came thru our area of Illinois, it looked like it split in two. We still had heavy winds and hail. Just North and South of us had large hail and heavy wind gusts. We were in the basement. Quincy was on the couch with me, Oscar was laying on my photography fake floor and puppy Oliver had the zoomies.

Sounds like everbody "here" got through it ok. That's good to hear!

This is a time lapse over the last night. The weather is essentially the "day after" the storm. Weather is still bouncing around seasonally cool to unusually warm. As I write this it's cloudy:

"250317 Sony a6400 20mmF2.8 Toronto Overnight Time Lapse"
""​

 

[smoke665]

Not a big fan of geese, they're loud, obnoxious and leave piles of crap on everything. Our old house was on the water with a cul-de-sac in front, wasn't unusual for the street to be covered with a layer of nasty crap. At our current lake retreat it's a constant battle keeping the docks clean, ad walking near the water is a dangerous minefield.

In other news- NWS confirmed 16 tornadoes touched down in our state on Saturday. Fortunately their paths were short and didn't have time to do much damage.

 

[snowbear]

Not a big fan of geese, they're loud, obnoxious and leave piles of crap on everything. Our old house was on the water with a cul-de-sac in front, wasn't unusual for the street to be covered with a layer of nasty crap. At our current lake retreat it's a constant battle keeping the docks clean, ad walking near the water is a dangerous minefield.

Like being around irresponsible dog owners. The manager at the storage place asked us to keep an eye oput for someone with a dog - they let the dog do their stuff and leave it in the building(s).

---

We got one of the storage bins cleared, yesterday. I almost filled the truck (16-foot) but I'm pretty much flat-loading. I didn't bring the EZ-Pass down with me because I thought I was going to be flying back up. ME, NH, and NJ have cash/ticket booths for tolls. I'm not sure about MA. MD and (I think) NY use video tolling if you don't have EZ-Pass, though that took a while to filter down to me with U-Haul; not sure about Pensky.

Today's project is to finish prepping the house for the real movers, then on the road tomorrow morning. The new Jeep Club (way up near the North Woods and Canada) is having a couple get-togethers. I'll try to get to the one on the 22nd; definitely get to the one on the 28th. I'll head back down in April to set up for mini-load (some boxes, yard tools and the lawn tractor). MLW is still working through April, so I need to be close when MD house renovations start. We will have one more big truck run to finish off what is in storage.

MLSIL is doing much better. She's going to drive herself to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully, the doc will schedule her next surgery, or at least give her a better idea when she will have it.

 

[smoke665]

@snowbear our climate is such that the migratory birds come south for the winter, and don't leave. Results in large flocks that cover wide swaths, contaminating water and ad surrounding shores. Opening a goose season has helped to move them on. The cormorants are a different story, they've become a serious problem on our waters especially during the spring crappie spawn.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Is AI Being Overused on YouTube?

I haven't done research on this, and I probably never will, but lately it seems that some "thumbnails" are looking very ugly like poor quality artwork. I don't know if they are AI made, but looking at how recent this trend is, it's my best guess. And then there's this new channel that has been posting clips lately. What bothers me is that they are generally badly edited posts that probably are mainly copied from channels like "The History Channel". In effect they are ripping off the Pros who probably aren't keeping track of their rights.

 

[snowbear]

@smoke665: on our first trip to ME, we went on a lighthouse cruise. We got to one area in Casco Bay snd a marker buoy was loaded with cormorants. “The funk knocked me to my knees” — Richard Pryor.

I read the permanent residents are descended from escapees from a farm back in the 1800’s I think.

Looking forward to possible loons on the ME pond.

 

[smoke665]

@snowbear in the spring of 23 & 24 they were really bad. The sheltered water in the bays where the fish spawn, would be black with huge swarms of cormorants. State & Federal Fish & Wildlife held numerous meetings where several options for dealing with them were discussed, but no real action was taken. This year there aren't many around our lake, not sure if migratory flight paths changed, or they found somewhere else to destroy.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

It's about 1:26 right now and about an hour ago I went out to grab some shots. I rarely get the moon, but this time I did. I celebrated by rotating the image slightly to fix the vertical:

 

[snowbear]

Back in Maine. Uneventful trip except having to go the "long way" around. The 12,300 pound gross vehicle weight rating does three things to keep me from going the usual way: near double tolls, must stop at weigh stations (a minor thing, really), and restricted roadways (can not use parkways or "No Trucks" roads.) I stopped in Kittery, ME for the night and poulled into my driveway this morning. The lighter cargo is unpacked but Lazy Lobster has a friend coming tomorrow to help out with the heavier things. They can also help us get the rocking chair and a console table upstairs. I'll end up turning the truck in a day early.

The pond is mostly unfozen, at least our end of it. Of course we are supposed to get 4" to 5" of snow next Monday so I won't be swimming. I may try some fishing next week, after I convert my driver's license and officially become a resident.

 

[terri]

@snowbear : Fun stuff - become a resident! Go fish!

Hopefully the snow won't stick around for long.

 

[snowbear]

LL's friend came yesterday, so the truck is unloaded. Lazy Lobster and I carried the console table upstairs yestrday, so we will get the rocker upstairs today. We'll also get a number of the boxes and tubs to the basement so they are out of the way, and the rest in a larger "L" shaped closet.

I have to get our new-to-us dresser in place and figure out where to put the other stuff. We are storing some furniture for son #1 (Okie). They are cherry Queen Anne reproductions my father made from kits. The style doesn't quite fit in with what we are using, so Okie will take them. He is also interested in the old china cabinet and dining room table from mom & dad's place. When he and his wife come to visit in May, they can verify they want thie furniture and we'll take it out to them.

I stopped at the post office on the way in to get the mail. I had flags there: the first Maine state flag (3'x5'), Ireland, and Italy (both 2'x3'). Now for a flagpole and mount (one on the way from MD).