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Monday, December 2, 2013

Another Monday which I hate

My daughter was quite excited to spend a couple days with a friend who has moved to the next town. Well, the town next to the next town. Actually, the town next to that town. Well, lets just say 45 minutes or so away.
The worst thing happened at the sleep-over.
Everyone got sick!
So we went after her Sunday morning.
She is on the couch right now and I'm trying not to wake her up. I need to go out and finish the pig feed for Werner Von Braun (not his real German name) who didn't text me when he expects to arrive.
However, I suspect the scream of a three cylinder Detroit diesel and the roar of an unmuffled turbo-charged 806 International outside her window may wake her up.
She is going to be worried about missing school, since we are leaving soon for Florida. The cold part of Florida, where people used to say "Sheeeeeeee-it" a lot.
Perhaps some ideas for places to go?
I should get on NAT and see if I could get invited on some farm tours.
Where is the place where the Mermaids swim in the tank?
I want to go there...

3 comments:

  1. It's a better day to work than yesterday's weather. Wind in the 20+mph for a good portion and at least one gust was 32mph. Plus an inch & 1/4 of the wet stuff.
    Weeki Wachee Springs. One of Fla's oldest tourist traps.

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  2. Greetings from the Gulf Coast...I was once a mermaid who dwelt in the springs of Florida, now I am a creek swimming, Mississippi swamp Naiad with duck weed between her toes. Wakulla Springs, South of Tallahassee, is an old lodge with one of the largest output springs in the world. You can swim/freeze your tuckus off in the clear waters, or take a boat ride on the primeval river flowing out of the spring. The original Tarzan movies were filmed here, as well as a few B movies featuring swamp creatures and rubber dinosaurs. The lodge is classic 1920s Florida, including the mattresses. When I first stayed there in the early 80's, the lodge and grounds were owned by the Boy Scouts, and they had a live black bear on the property that had been rescued as a cub...I think something has been lost when it is no longer possible for children to play with large fanged wildlife (actually, the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores lets everyone, including my neighbor's twin 6 year old girls, play with the big cat cubs they hand raise every year - I don't mean patting them on the head through the bars of a cage, I mean they allow you and your youngsters to roll on the ground and wrestle with these cubs. Back to Wakulla - the property is now owned by the State, so things are much less spontaneously quirky than in the old days (old ladies working in the dining room who called you darlin' and honeychild and asked if you needed more buttah for those greeits), but it is still a magically funky piece of old Florida and well worth the trip.

    Our favorite swimming hole and beauty spot to visit while traversing I-10 is a beautiful little spring named Ponce de Leon, located near the village of the same name. It is a State day park, and a wonderful place to stop for lunch and a swim. You have to bring your own food, though - Ponce de Leon is almost literally a bump in the road and the only food is in the iceboxes of the locals. I swear that this spring has rejuvenating qualities; my husband and I are always taken to be ten years younger than the ageing farts we actually are.

    I found your blog while looking for information on encouraging annual rye grass to reseed in pasture. I seeded successfully last year and let a portion of the rye mature, but haven't yet seen any sign of voluntary rejuvenation. The fact that I don't quite know what I'm doing may have something to do with this.

    This has been fun, but it's getting light and I have to check on the horses. We have just had a night's long uncharacteristically cold Global Warming induced rain and one of my equines (ironically named Cool Rain) is a complete wuss who needs a blankie.

    I'll pass your blog on to another lazy farmer friend down the road...he has/had a plan to plant a you-pick-it blueberry field in a cleared meadow. Said meadow now has 20 foot pines on it, so now they have become the default retirement plan...laziness absolutely can pay.

    Best wishes for your Southern excursion!

    Mary on the SouthCoast

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    Replies
    1. Mary,
      Thanks for commenting and for the Florida advice. In my experience you always need more butta on your grits.
      As to annual ryegrass issues. The annual most likely won't come back unless it has gone to seed. Annual ryegrass has traditional been really cheap so you could just throw out another few bags of seed and call it good.
      There are different varieties of annual and some are more like a prennial or a tetraploid and will come back year after year.
      In Oregon if you plant annual there is a good chance it will just keep growing. Also if you cut it before it pollenates it can become more like a prennial.
      It gets complicated but basically, I think you are going to have to replant it every year till the point where the annual has dropped enough seed to reseed itself, then it becomes a weed.
      You could try a tetraploid type ryegrass which will last longer but still grow really fast.
      But, that is my opinion...

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