Random crap with Uno.

[Geo]

Sued 5 times in the 8 years I had that damn license, my favorite being the drunk neighbor that blew his own leg to shreds and sued me because he lost the leg.  Sure I saved his life, but ya know, that don't count.

Hope none of those five accusers won? Also, the drunk neighbor, he's still your neighbor? I hope not, with a shotgun in his possession.

[Unorthodox]

I think they all won, honestly.  Not against me personally, the personal ones were tossed, er rather in every case, the suit against me got tied into the suit on the responding ER, as my license made me a part of the health care system.  I believe the hospitals settled every case as it was cheaper than fighting, which is total BS. 

No, I don't live in that neighborhood anymore.  Between that guy and the drug house I turned in, can't imagine why I wanted to move...

[Geo]

Either stuff keeps happening in your life, or Utah is so messed up that where ever you move, you'll find nutcases. 

[Rusty Edge]

Yeah, how could I forget about the press?  I'm sure I read about all of that, except maybe the shotgun.

Well, like I said, I'm squeamish until the people stop screaming and the blood dries. That and I have a vivid imagination. So I try to forget the details. Maybe I deliberately forgot about the shotgun leg.

*********************

That being said, Unorthodox stories are one of the peaks of these gaming forums. I read them all, I love them all.
"How Uno became an Urban legend"  was a classic worth a re-read. Post #9
http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?5381-When-I-was-a-child&p=164609&highlight=Urban+legend#post164609

I'm ready for a fresh insect and slug report .

[Rusty Edge]

"It all started with the cub scouts." Post #29
http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?5381-When-I-was-a-child/page2&highlight=Urban+legend

This gives you insight into character, and persistence of vision.

[Rusty Edge]

Here's a mention of the murder/suicide & shotgun thing. Post#54

http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?3871-Do-you-own-a-gun-or-not&p=131777&highlight=suicide#post131777

[Unorthodox]

Picked the first tomato last night, picked the first corn tonight, my shocked son watching me shuck and eat it right there, raw, in the garden.  Anyone else like raw corn?

Took rather intensive look at the pumpkins while going through the corn.  The squash bugs don't seem to be getting worse between my egg crushing and the neem oil.  Probably 10-12 pumpkins have set.  Real confused on the french ones.  Pretty sure the one pictured earlier is a cinderella now, in which case my cinderellas are doing much better this year.  Look forward to eating them...

The musquee...them is some odd pumpkins.  The flower appears to be GREEN.  Or I got some odd hybrid something on one of my vines.   

Luminas seem to be struggling so far, but they were a little slow last year too.  The sugar...well, it's getting hard to tell them from the howden volunteers at this point. 

Additionally, we have 3 jack be little pumpkins, and half a dozen more ready to bloom, all on the same vine.  Planted for my daughter.  Apparently they don't follow the rule of thumb of one per vine at a time.  If the other 2 vines start producing, I could have a LOT of those.   

Tomatoes have EXPLODED with the heat.  The early girl is well taller than me, probably 7' normally they get about 4' here.  The romas have overgrown their trellis width wise, again, not normal for here.  Even my pepper plants are freakishly tall this year at near 4', but this had caused them to lay down, not normal either.  Notes for next year. 

[Rusty Edge]

Cool!

What of the aphid plague? Were generations of ladybugs able to defeat them?

[Unorthodox]

Plague levels are not present in the immediate area around the home, but I haven't gone for a walk to see how far it's extended. 

My parents' place (20 miles) saw a similar plague, so I think it's epidemic to northern utah.  She followed my lead in releasing a hoard of ladybugs, but the topography is much more difficult there, untended hillside behind them, much more foliage.  Still, their yard is at least mostly clear.

[JarlWolf]

You know I had a dream once of ladybugs used for de-infestation of aphids: I imagined the Aphid's were all a bunch of Saxon farmers or something similar, or just medieval farmers/fishermen living off the plants and then the LadyBugs released come on HandShips and then go plundering and murder, massacre the aphids like savage little vikings. It was quite hilarious, and frightful at the same time. When you imagine a ladybug wearing a 7th iron helmet wielding a battleaxe killing aphids brutally I think there is something wrong with you... haven't checked into a psychiatrist about it yet 


Also on the note of de-infestation, my neighbours have their own farms and one of them has a potato and cabbage patches and they like using spiders to help with that. Spiders are used quite a bit for farming here I notice, is it like that in your country/Utah?

[Unorthodox]

I wish.  Most of the useful spiders have been eradicated in the residential areas, thanks to the whole 'eek spider' sentiment.  They are not cultivated like ladybugs, lacewings, and various other beneficials, though. 

I am going to try to go round up some egg sacks in the fall and try to reintroduce some orb weavers to our property.   

[Buster's Uncle]

I don't comment much on the gardening stuff, not least because of some unfortunate childhood experiences, but:

It's really admirable that you take the trouble to learn about, and implement, a more natural balance in your gardening.  Manufactured chemicals are all around us to a very unhealthy degree, and ought to be a last resort in, at least, the production of food.

[JarlWolf]

Chemicals are a good short term solution: If you have a horde of locusts and a lack of natural predators in say a third world nation it is necessary to use mass scale pesticides to help turn the tide and help bolster your crop production. But once that is done you want to immediately start introducing some local, natural ways and local creatures (key term: Local, invasive species can just be as bad if not worse then over abundance of chemicals) to deal with pests the better; because eventually the pests start adapting to the toxins and we don't. Our health deteriorates and we have pests who are much harder to kill.

[Buster's Uncle]

Sure, and bugs, having somewhat shorter generation than we do, adapt to the poison a teeny bit faster.

[Unorthodox]

Scored a couple pumpkins with my kid's names, as I do each year.  These turn into scars as the thing grows. 



The Jack Be Littles climbing the fence.  One's hidden by the pipe there, but there's 4 and counting. 


One of the french pumpkins, I THINK this is a Musquee...


Which would make this the best cinderella we've ever grown.  But, honestly, I'm just guessing on the french ones.