Random crap with Uno.

[Buster's Uncle]

What's the medium of that mask?

[Unorthodox]

Ye olde latex cotton ball mix.  It’ll be an appliance. 

Debating how best to accent it and whether to do a lower jaw. 

[Spacy]

Wow, lot happened here.  Glad to see the halloween continue!

I am so sporadic on my internet for fun time between the 3 year old and the new boss at work (new boss in High School = lots of change for change sake, to prove who the new boss is). 

[Unorthodox]

Alright...

So last year, we tried the bush pumpkins.  Hand polinated, made damn sure there was no cross breeding, and saved seeds from the biggest one. 

These were advertised as heirloom.  Clearly...something's wrong. 

All seeds FROM THE SAME PUMPKIN this year: 

Our first pumpkin, Talia put her name on upside down...This is a slightly small, but typical example of what I expected from the bush pumpkins. 



At the other end of the spectrum, we have what appears closer to a spaghetti squash, yellow since birth.



Then there's these deformed suckers. 



We've got some making vines, some staying bush, assortment of shapes...  Now, some of that is due to some irregular soil conditions in the bed.  After the construction and sand for the path, there's some real variation and some areas are plain not good. But back where the better soil is that we haven't really explored the vegetation is so thick, we're seeing that same variety

 

So, I think I found the reason the bush pumpkin seeds are so damn hard to find:  They're not heirloom.  They're some unstable cross.  My attempt to plant them late to keep the plants alive into October failed miserably as well.  Variety just isn't going to work well. 

Debating whether to get a nice proven variety like Ol' Zebs or Neon for next year, or go off the rails and try for some 100 lb monsters or something for variety. 

[Rusty Edge]

"So, I think I found the reason the bush pumpkin seeds are so damn hard to find:  They're not heirloom.  They're some unstable cross"- Uno


As an ex farmer I endorse this theory based upon the evidence.

[Unorthodox]

Picture minus the watermark in the bottom right, and on a 6' wide banner...

[Unorthodox]

"So, I think I found the reason the bush pumpkin seeds are so damn hard to find:  They're not heirloom.  They're some unstable cross"- Uno


As an ex farmer I endorse this theory based upon the evidence.

I've found more varieties mixed in.

~ 8 perfect sized pumpkins.  I note they have much stronger stems than the mother bush pumpkin.  Their plants tended to vine just a touch/semi bush. 

2 Butternut type. (so far, I'm not harvesting just yet)  Stayed true bush habit. Doubtful for carving, novelty carving at best.  True bush habit. 

4 of those deformed/acorn type.  Large enough to carve, but odd shape will make placing odd.  True bush habit

~5 DEEP dark green things.  Big enough to carve, waiting to see if they're going to turn orange or not.  These vined like crazy. 

~6 of the spaghetti squash.  Vined like mad, funky leaves and blossoms, at least twice as many rotted on the vine.  Extremely unlikely to carve.  (*I WILL carve one ANYWAY just because, I just suspect it'll be a thin walled fruitless effort.)

I think we're going to try some Big Moose pumpkins next year.   Like a monstrous cinderella



Maybe some Atlantic giants and try to cross them as well.  Atlantic giants are the largest varieties, but they tend to make undefined lumps instead of pumpkins. 

[hEtErOdOx]

If the really turn out to be spaghetti squash, I want to roast and eat them. With your tomato basil cream sauce.

[Unorthodox]

So, I don't know that I've ever seen a flash flood warning go into place more than a few hours before the rain hits.  We're well over 24 hours before the expected hit of the rain coming our way.  And the warning is the whole state. 

Interesting.  Especially since I don't think we've had measurable rainfall since May. 
If the predicted numbers are even close, we'll get 10% of annual average precipitation in one storm. 

[Unorthodox]

So, the whole sky is falling we're all gonna drown make for the life boats flood hasn't materialized.  A rather normal thunderstorm yesterday, with a slightly heavy one scheduled tomorrow. 

[Geo]

If the predicted numbers are even close, we'll get 10% of annual average precipitation in one storm.

Maybe the warning center/meteo thought the soil wouldn't be able to absorb the predicted precipitation if you've been in a drought for a couple months.

[Unorthodox]

Try a decade, but I've seen an increasing tendency to make everything threat level midnight the last few years. 

[Geo]

The entire state has been in a drought for a decade?

[Unorthodox]

The entire state has been in a drought for a decade?

I can only find official numbers for the last 4 years. 



Over the course of 10 years, you'd see a couple month long stretches like the one in the graph where the state is not officially in a drought as those months had above average water.  For instance, we've hit October's average already, so it would be 0 on this chart.  Does that end a drought?  Not from the definitions I was brought up with.  In fact, we might have actually done additional harm as they were draining the reservoirs in anticipation of 2" plus rainfall, and we barely topped 1" total on the storms.   

Reservoirs and whatnot have made the growing/drinking manageable.  But, the great salt lake is disappearing, and the ground water is drying up due to this prolonged dry period, official drought or not. 

Numbers I've seen, it would take 3 years of above average water to restore the ground systems. 

[E_T]

Looks (sort of) like a kid's watercolor of the mountains...