scott carle

carla murphy wrote:Wondering how I can import a snake or two into our 1/4 acre suburban backyard.  Any suggestions?  

This is easy.. just about every pet store in the country sells snakes. I would stick to native non poisonous snakes. Constrictors though great for this get large and can go after cats dogs and baby size stuff later in life.

Garter snakes and rat snakes would top the list of good snakes for this. Gopher snakes, king snakes are also good mousers.

here is an article about snakes for the garden that also list these snakes.

https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/these-3-snakes-are-your-gardens-best-friends/#:~:text=Garter%20snakes%20are%20beneficial%20because,variety%20of%20insects%20and%20rodents.

We had a mouse apocalypse in out house a couple years ago. aft 9 months and more than 50 dead mice caught we finely got it under control. I kept wanting to catch a couple rat snakes and turn them loose in house and attic but my wife just about melted down. However after dealing with the aftermath of the mice she told me she regrets saying no and would probably let me now. It was bad enough that my 9 and 12 year old that find baby rodents of all kinds uber cute are now when they see a mouse "DAD!! its a mouse!!! kill it! Kill it!" I was using sticky traps as well as snap traps and poison by the time we were done. For a bit early on I was taking the ones in sticky traps and getting them out and releasing them in the woods about 100 yards from the house. By the end I was a ruthless exterminator as mice in the house are an existential threat.

interesting concept. Not sure what the book will be like as it is sort of a twist on cookbooks but the description makes it sound interesting.

Better than a electric kettle is just get a good stainless one for on the stove and then purchase a pump pot/airpot that keeps the water hot in it. We do this and it allows hot water for tea or other hot drinks, instant oatmeal, etc to be available from 4 am till 2 or 3 pm when if needed we heat a second kettle of water to go in it for the evening. We also dump the still hot, or warm if overnight, water from the pump pot back into the kettle so that we don't have to heat totally cold water. Saves energy.

Ok.. in the interest of fairness I can see the electric kettle having a place in a lot of circumstances. Small apt without kitchen etc. I would still add the pump pot/airpot. I can also see where it wouldn't dump as much heat into the environment when heating the kettle as ours does on a gas stove top. In the summer I try to minimize that type of heat in the house to help the A/C.

If you drink hot drinks all day every day your pump pot will last about 5 years or so. Don't buy the glass lined ones from sam's they are subject to the inner liner breaking, If they don't break, the seal they use at the neck between the glass and outer liner breaks down and gets in the water over time. After trying many models and brands we have settled on one of Bunn's airpots. It seems to last the longest and hold the temperature of water the best. I think we get about 5 to 8 years life out of one. we haven't worn out the body of one yet but the plastic pump lever and the inner plastic fitting that has the pickup tube in it degrade over time and become brittle and break. Honestly I don't think it is even due to cheap parts but to the fact that ours has 220 to 180 degree F water in it all day every day all year round. Over time the heat makes the plastic brittle. In an industrial setting I think most people would be happy with an avg 7 year lifespan. You can get replacement fittings for some of it also though I thought them pricey. For the average person I think it would last 20 years or better if they just pulled it out for parties etc.. I wasn't happy to spend the 40is dollars for a new one after 7 years. I did though for how well it keeps the water hot and the energy efficiency and convenience of hot water on demand all day long. I just take it for granted that I have 180-220 degree water available all day long while only making 1 to 2 kettles of water depending on our usage.

Here is the specific bunn model we use. It is a slightly wider squatter unit than some and fits will under the overhead cabinets on the kitchen counter so you can use it without dragging it out from under the cabinets overhang.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FAMSFK/


Don't use tap water in your kettle. Filter it first. We have a RO filter under the sink and I can not clean our kettle for a  year and it is still shiny inside. Using tap water or even bottled water will end up with a film of minerals and other stuff to build up quickly. Though using very clean filtered water will ruin you for using water from other places for tea or coffee. It really messes with the flavor of most hot drinks after you get used to actually using clean water.

The kettle we currently use is my favorite one of all time, it is a large 2qt kitchen aid that is no longer made. If you can find one used I would jump on it. We have  been using ours for 10 years and is in better condition today than it was the day we got it. There is a story there We predominately have only used it on gas stoves. If you want to see a longer write up that I did years ago on these you can follow the very bottom link to it on my website. It is from when I was writing about using these on the boat we lived on at the time.

Kettle link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009U5MYK/

http://www.scottcarle.com/wordpress/?p=1066

I have a peach that was a put in at the same time as the one that died in another part of my yard that floods badly during hurricanes. It has a nectarine tree beside it  that was put in a few years after it. Both are about the same size now. Maybe 6 inches in diameter and 10 to 12 ft? A couple years ago during a hurricane the ground got really soft from the flooding and those two trees got blown over to about a 45 degree angle. Being the lazy person I am I didn't bother pulling them back up while the ground was still soft and staking them. Now they are funky leaning trees but both are just fine and healthy.

Lost a peach last year. Had grown about 14ft tall in the prior 4 years and the just started dying through the summer. By fall it was dead. No external issues showing. I haven't pulled it out of the ground yet to see if something in the roots is a issue.