The War Path

[Canadian Eh]

Another day of hanging out in a roadside rest area pullout. Started early as almost always, fill the fuel truck with Jet fuel, drive up here, park, and wait. As the helicopters fighting fires approach, I start the truck, engage the PTO, pull out the hose, and fuel them. Record how much fuel I put into what heli by their tail number, roll up the hose, reset the meter to 0, recalculate my paperwork to reflect how much fuel is left, then kill time till the next helicopter needs fuel. Not bad work, just gets a little boring. When out of fuel, leave for another load, and drive back. Had so much spare time that the first few days i cleaned the inside of the cabinets, which have likely not been cleaned in years. Had the truck spotless in and out, greased it, read a magazine, caught up on some paperwork by bringing it with me. But now week 3 of this gig, makes me want to take up a new hobby. Maybe bring some dresses and high heels to work, and practice how to dress in drag? Almost anything to keep me from going stir crazy. Read 2 books, tired of reading already, thank God for satellite radio, texting , and a certain forum full of clowns and misfits.

 

[Canadian Eh]

I’ve never chained up a truck, have you?

Thousands of times so far, will probably be another thousand times before I retire.

 

[Injun]

That's awesome.

I've been reading a lot about vegetable gardening and looked up how to care for young trees too.

The lilacs my mom planted are old enough their roots should be too deep to be affected by nearby vegetation robbing nutrients from the surrounding soil but I've got two baby walnut trees that squirrels planted. (They bury nuts and forget where they put them.)

I pulled out all the grass from about a 2 foot radius, put down landscape fabric and covered it with wood chips.

The fabric lets water through but blocks the sunlight, and the wood chips help hold water and slow down evaporation after the rain so more water gets to the roots.

This should help the trees grow in their first year or two when their roots are still shallow because it won't have to share nutrients with grass and weeds.

Walnut tees have an interesting defense: They release tannins into the soil which prevents other plants from growing. There are some plants that aren't affected, but plants like tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, potatoes... best to put them somewhere other than by the walnut tree.

I hope they're in a place you're okay with. Walnuts don't transplant well. Enjoy them. They're gorgeous trees.

 

[389 Hood]

Another day of hanging out in a roadside rest area pullout. Started early as almost always, fill the fuel truck with Jet fuel, drive up here, park, and wait. As the helicopters fighting fires approach, I start the truck, engage the PTO, pull out the hose, and fuel them. Record how much fuel I put into what heli by their tail number, roll up the hose, reset the meter to 0, recalculate my paperwork to reflect how much fuel is left, then kill time till the next helicopter needs fuel. Not bad work, just gets a little boring. When out of fuel, leave for another load, and drive back. Had so much spare time that the first few days i cleaned the inside of the cabinets, which have likely not been cleaned in years. Had the truck spotless in and out, greased it, read a magazine, caught up on some paperwork by bringing it with me. But now week 3 of this gig, makes me want to take up a new hobby. Maybe bring some dresses and high heels to work, and practice how to dress in drag? Almost anything to keep me from going stir crazy. Read 2 books, tired of reading already, thank God for satellite radio, texting , and a certain forum full of clowns and misfits.

I get the same thing. The C-5 will be in at 3:00. Well, it's 07:00 and we're still out here for $100/hr demurrage time. Typical Military protocol, hurry up and wait. It's the coolest part about this job. The aircraft that 90% of the public will never even see and I get to sit in the cockpit. I've made many friends of the flight commanders.

 

[Duck]

Walnut tees have an interesting defense: They release tannins into the soil which prevents other plants from growing. There are some plants that aren't affected, but plants like tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, potatoes... best to put them somewhere other than by the walnut tree.

I hope they're in a place you're okay with. Walnuts don't transplant well. Enjoy them. They're gorgeous trees.

My lawnmower doesn't like the walnut trees. I have to raise the deck up when I get close to them or it hits the walnuts on the ground and makes a ton of noise.

I have one mature walnut tree in the front yard and two of them popped up way behind the barn, like 300 feet away. I saw their leaves sticking up when I was mowing one day after not mowing for like 3 weeks. I swerved out of the way and when I was done mowing I put cinder blocks by them as markers so I wouldn't chop them down. Today they're about 15 feet tall and the larger one has nuts on them.

They're black walnuts though. Really bitter but the squirrels like them.

There's a little one about 4 feet tall right on the west property line that I found last summer and put a block next to. I did the fabric and wood chips thing around it a few weeks ago.

I've also got a mulberry or something coming up about 15 ft from the house. If I determine that it's a mulberry I'm going to cut it down. I don't want purple bird shit everywhere. They also attract mice.

 

[Injun]

My neighbors up the hill decided they need to subject the whole neighborhood to an asshole dog that is aggressive, huge and barks at leaves blowing across the road.

I'm thinking it might be time for a row of grudge trees. Female Black Cottonwood ought to do it.

 

[Rigjockey]

My neighbors up the hill decided they need to subject the whole neighborhood to an asshole dog that is aggressive, huge and barks at leaves blowing across the road.

I'm thinking it might be time for a row of grudge trees. Female Black Cottonwood ought to do it.

That might be a good idea. Like they say good fences make good neighbors.
or words to that effect.

 

[mndriver]

My neighbors up the hill decided they need to subject the whole neighborhood to an asshole dog that is aggressive, huge and barks at leaves blowing across the road.

I'm thinking it might be time for a row of grudge trees. Female Black Cottonwood ought to do it.

Russian olive tree

 

[Electric Chicken]

I like the species particlus boardus myself.

 

[BlackBart]

My neighbors up the hill decided they need to subject the whole neighborhood to an asshole dog that is aggressive, huge and barks at leaves blowing across the road.

I'm thinking it might be time for a row of grudge trees. Female Black Cottonwood ought to do it.

Might also be a good Idea to keep a shotty loaded with 00 buck handy in case Asshole gets too close

 

[Injun]

Russian olive tree

I'll look into this.

I like the species particlus boardus myself.

Not tall enough or irritating enough. I want something that will block their view to my house. They're up the hill from me. And something that will affect them at least a negatively as their 125 pound Anatolian Shepherd coming onto my property from their house 300 yards away, to treat me like an intruder, forcing me to wear a side-arm to mow my own yard, affects me.

I'm in it for the long game. Five years of growth should block their view to my house. Ten years, right about the time that dog passes from old age, those Cottonwoods should be around 60 feet tall and producing copious amounts of very lightweight, fibrous hair-like material that stays in the air for weeks and gets into evetything. The prevailing breeze runs toward their house from my property.

There's no way a fence can do all that.

 

[Rigjockey]

I'll look into this.


Not tall enough or irritating enough. I want something that will block their view to my house. They're up the hill from me. And something that will affect them at least a negatively as their 125 pound Anatolian Shepherd coming onto my property from their house 300 yards away, to treat me like an intruder, forcing me to wear a side-arm to mow my own yard, affects me.

I'm in it for the long game. Five years of growth should block their view to my house. Ten years, right about the time that dog passes from old age, those Cottonwoods should be around 60 feet tall and producing copious amounts of very lightweight, fibrous hair-like material that stays in the air for weeks and gets into evetything. The prevailing breeze runs toward their house from my property.

There's no way a fence can do all that.

You are a little bit evil...

 

[Electric Chicken]

You are a little bit evil...
View attachment 84678

Evil, female. Potato, tomahto.

 

[mndriver]

I'll look into this.

2” thorns. Thick enough rabbits won’t go into it.

also considered an invasive species by Washington state and others.

 

[Rigjockey]

I'm in it for the long game. Five years of growth should block their view to my house. Ten years, right about the time that dog passes from old age, those Cottonwoods should be around 60 feet tall and producing copious amounts of very lightweight, fibrous hair-like material that stays in the air for weeks and gets into evetything. The prevailing breeze runs toward their house from my property.

There's no way a fence can do all that.

In like a few year the trees should be producing so much lightweight, fibrous hair-like material that stays in the air for weeks and gets into everything, that they will be calling an Indian telemarketing office to ask for duct cleaning services.

 

[Injun]

In like a few year the trees should be producing so much lightweight, fibrous hair-like material that stays in the air for weeks and gets into everything, that they will be calling an Indian telemarketing office to ask for duct cleaning services.

 

[Duck]

Figure out what species of tree this is and plant some. They're in my friends back yard but he doesn't know what they're called.





His neighbor has one that's about 15 feet tall.

He says it has flowers all summer.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Figure out what species of tree this is and plant some. They're in my friends back yard but he doesn't know what they're called.

View attachment 84685

View attachment 84686

His neighbor has one that's about 15 feet tall.

He says it has flowers all summer.

Looks like it might be a kind of hibiscus.

 

[Injun]

Figure out what species of tree this is and plant some. They're in my friends back yard but he doesn't know what they're called.

View attachment 84685

View attachment 84686

His neighbor has one that's about 15 feet tall.

He says it has flowers all summer.

It's Common Hibiscus. My ground isn't cultivated enough for it yet. It wouldn't do well in my clay

 

[Injun]

2” thorns. Thick enough rabbits won’t go into it.

also considered an invasive species by Washington state and others.

I can't come up with a good enough excuse to plant that and it appears to hold the branches off the ground. Himalayan Blackberry makes a nice thicket and I can definitely say I like the fruit. Blackberry combined with wild rose can make a good barrier hedge.