Jay Angler

Jack mentions cutting the lawn high. This is not as easy as it sounds... I bought larger wheels for my mower, which raises the deck so the blades are higher from the ground.

It wasn't enough. We actually drilled new holes in the deck as well. The blades are now 4 inches from the ground which is a number I've seen recommended over and over.

When I was in a city, I had one neighbor who wasn't impressed, but he watered his lawn every day and mowed it twice a week, and it looked like a golf course. My lawn looked like a neat, but very thick carpet, I only watered it every second week if it needed it, and mowed it somewhere between 1-2 weeks, just to keep it looking neat. I had no weed growth because most weed seeds need sunlight to germinate and the 4" grass shaded them out.

Now I'm living in the country and I'm thrilled that my lawn is a bee friendly polyculture. Believe it or not, that poor mower is still hanging in there, but now I can wait even longer before mowing.

I suspect you may have to take a multi-pronged approach.

1. Yes, I do have chickens and ducks in the same shelter, but it requires much more attention to wet bedding. If the coop has a wooden floor, depending on the size, something like a bucket inside a small wading pool, might do. I would be hoping this was temporary night accommodation, with the ducks joining the Drake during the day so you're not just kicking the can down the road.

2. Yes, I generally find Mallard domesticated ducks both very high strung and very noisy. They are the very bottom of the food chain. If they were incubator hatched and raised, that will make it worse. I can remember one group we had that I *tried* to acclimatize to humans by bringing them duckweed every day. They adored the duckweed, and I would toss them bits and try gradually to get it to land closer and closer to me, but they never did learn to reliably take it from my hand.

3. Long term the only solution may be sound insulated night accommodation that makes them feel secure and in the dark and only let them out once the neighbors are awake. The noise may not bother the neighbors as much if it's not waking them at night.

4. If the Drake is chasing them, have you considered crating the Drake at night? Put the crate in with the girls, but not able to rile them up? He should be fine with no water or feed overnight.

Glenn Herbert wrote: This is probably not an issue for a cushion, as the bench surface should not be getting near those temperatures.

Is there any chance that the cushion is acting as insulation and increasing the temperature under it more than expected?

This is why I'd love to see and actual temperature measurement from under the cushion. If Tiffaney is finding it uncomfortably hot to sit on top of the cushion and if they saw signs of the foam "melting" before adding the wool blanket spacer, that still seems like the temp is too high for whatever reason.

and wrote:

it is a known issue that wood continuously exposed to high heat for a long time (months/years) will slowly break down and eventually be able to char at lower temperatures, like 200 F or so.

Does anyone know if repeated exposure to high heat affects wool the same way? I expect overheated wool isn't as toxic as overheated foam, but so many fabrics are treated with nasty chemicals these days, I worry that even if fire is no risk, could there be off-gassing that people wouldn't notice the smell of?

Judith, are you willing to change signs during the season?

A good spring one might be:

Ground birds nesting - please don't mow!

Most people are soft about killing birds with their mower. With a little research, you might be able to determine what birds in your region nest on the ground and name them or put up a picture. My climate's too different to yours.

(Sorry, I don't know what Burma Shave style means.)

Each Friday night after work, Bubba would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a venison steak. But all of Bubba's neighbors were Catholic....and since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating meat on Friday.

The delicious aroma from the grilled venison steaks was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their priest.

The Priest came to visit Bubba and suggested that he become a Catholic. After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass and as the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, 'You were born a Baptist, and raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic.'

Bubba's neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the wonderful aroma of grilled venison again filled the neighborhood. The Priest was called immediately by the neighbors and as he rushed into Bubba's yard clutching a rosary preparing to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.

There stood Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanted:

"You wuz born a deer, you wuz raised a deer, but now you is a catfish."

Tiffaney Dex wrote: If I was careful about folding them, Teresa, do you think I could actually use them as cushion cover filling?

I have certainly done this in the past. The cushions will be more firm and heavier.

What sort of sewing skills do you have? I have made cushions in the past. I could see making the bottom of the cushion out of wool blanket, and something pretty for the sides and top. I tend to use zippers to close the cover, as that allows you to do rearranging as needed. However, I have done a few with decorative buttons, or flaps.

This thread started 8 years ago and my library has made some big changes. Are they better or worse: we will wait and see.

The thermal imaging camera sounds like a great idea. It's not a 'today thing', so waiting on the reserve line wouldn't bother me.

But today I got *very* important news!!!

In just less than a week, I can go to the opening of their new seed library. The seeds will be free, but they are asking people to learn how to save seeds and donate them to them, so I will see if I have some that I labeled well!

I'm suspicious that they won't have much that isn't common like lettuce, easy to start like beans, or that is perennial. That's OK. Local permies can help it morph over time. I have no problem with them starting with a gateway drug seed.

I didn't feel like cooking tonight, so I made a sandwich for dinner...

I guess more just grain...

Distilled, fermented grain...

I had a whisky for dinner tonight.

Why do storms like to dance?

They have a lot of lightning moves.

There’s no halfway with a geologist—it’s all ore nothing.