Pellet heads!! What's up today?

Got back from Lake George car show today. Good time, it was humid up there too. Lots of walking and sweating. We took a scoot up to Plattsburgh along Lake George and Lake Champlain, then back down around Schroon Lake. 225 miles on Friday. Stopped at North End Harley and Adirondack Harley and saw the new Harley bikes and 107 cu.in. engine. Saw some great cars and great folks at the show. Managed to swill several IPAs to relieve the heat. Did rain briefly Saturday noon time and thunderstorm last night, but parade ran both Fri. and Sat. night. I picked up several bags of Hammers and Currans at Slaters on my way back down. I did see an Agway just north of me that had Easy Heats for $229 and an Agway pellet he said was Dry Creek for $259. Still looking to put a few tons in the Shelter Logic.

Doggy

 

46° here

 

Back in the late summer weather now and the next few days.

Forecasters fooling with maybe a bit of precip next weekend.

AC for the next several days.

Not terrible hot, maybe mid 80's F

No stove action at least for a week or better.

Still got outdoor stuff to do before the fall rains get here

 

Fall is in the air, place is going to the birds..

14 total in the brood - 3 adult females, 11 young'ns


All looked healthy.

 

That's too bad.

 

Rob...what kind of cameras do you have?

 

These pics are from the 1080p analog HD cameras mounted on the front of the wood shed:

Q-SEE QCA8050B/QCA8045B Grey 1080p Bullet Security Camera Night Vision Analog HD

 

Gotta give 'em a chance to fatten up a little Sub.. November's still a ways off, 'ya know.

 

Those are really nice and clear. How's the IR at night?

 

Not bad at all Steve, direct line-of-site is good for detail out to about 65 feet, but any kind of background ambient will enhance the image a lot, even low moon light makes a big difference - the 1080p cameras are very sensitive at night.

The 720p cameras, not so much - I think that has to do more w/ the image processor & noise reduction circuitry in the camera, more than anything else.

 

It's cool, if you take pellets, just leave Beer.

 

I might need a few, it's a long trip and I'll be a bit parched

 

Hard to think those poults will mature in time to be large enough to survive winter in NH.

 

Hi Larry,

This mixed flock has been around for the past few months, all poults have literally doubled in size in the past 30 days.

It looks like 5-6 are a late hatch this year.

We've been lucky here, with just enough rain each week to keep everything nice and green. * If the weather holds, I'm hoping they'll be ok.

The flock was all in the backyard / garden bed area for a good while before heading to the front of the house: with the exception of keeping the grass trimmed around the garden beds, and mowing a 20 x 40 foot sitting area, the rest of the yard has been left to grow wild, so plenty of feed choices in the back yard for them right now.

It's fun to watch the little ones exploring at the fern patch at the edge of the back yard, they're bee-bopping around & under the ferns, looks like they're having a good time back there.

Every time I've had the opportunity to mow in August, it's either rained, or the Honey Bees have been covering most of the back lawn, so I've been putting it off. *Best (wild) Honey Bee population here this year in the last 7-8 years, we're super Happy about that.

Back in 2009 - 2011 it was very concerning, very few Bees.. The Ice Storm of winter '08, and loss due to parasites really took their toll on the bee population here. Numbers have been steadily increasing each year, Thankfully.

Boss has said to hold off mowing until the garden beds are done, at that point I'll be brush-cutting the back lawn. That's fine by me.

 

So true about the honey bees. I don't think the general public appreciates how much at risk certain crops are when the bees are compromised. I used to have a couple hives, I also raised some turkeys. Wife doesn't want anything to do with either now because we are lucky to take care of our own needs. We have the turkeys here too, but not so many now that there are so many predators in the general area. Saw a couple broods on our dead end street. I really don't care to have them on our driveway or digging under the bird feeders. Very messy. We used to have phesants and woodcock here, but haven't seen them in several years, also no more rabbits. We do have coons, skunks, coyotes, bobcat, huge bird of prey, and fisher cats all seen from our house.

 

The predators are cyclic here, but the past few years have been good - the coyote population has been down (Hooray!), no sign of fisher cats, always have at least one large hawk circling overhead during the summer months. ( As long as they leave the cat alone, I'm ok with that. )

Bear have been scarce, which is a -big- change here. In years past, we've had several generations of bear that 'grew up' on the property.. Kinda miss seeing the cubs playing in the back yard. Sigh.

Deer have been prolific in our area: I've seen many more deer this summer (at night) vs. recent years, planning on armor-plating the car during Rut season.

It was a good summer here - lots of amphibians on the property: salamander, toad, turtle - a little strange, given the low amount of rain we've had here, although we do have a brook that borders the top side & back of the property, and have been very careful / have not used any pesticides this year, etc., so we must be doing something right.