-Though there were a few overcast periods, my sense of things (now that I reflect upon them) is that today was generally a pretty nice day. For the past few days the niceness of the days has been something of a surprise as the forecasts have frequently suggested either rain or overcast skies. The continuing inaccuracy of the forecasts frustrates me.
-It seems that I have not completely resolved my spider mite problem. This afternoon I noticed that a few of my pea plants seem to be enduring something of an infestation. Shortly after first observing the presence of these unwelcome guests I sprayed the plants with some pesticide. Tomorrow I may try to rinse them with water and move them outdoors (where the mites will also have to put up with harsh Halifax summers). What a bummer.
-When Rebecca returned from Montreal a few weeks ago she brought with her a copy of the game Power Grid. Though in the immediate aftermath of her return we weren't able to play the game we have finally be able to find the time to sneak a few games in. Not surprisingly, Neil has won most of the games we have played. What has been frustrating is not that I have been losing (something I am used), but that I can't seem to figure out a better strategy. That I have been unable to make progress with my gameplay has been frustrating.
-I have been doing quite a lot of reading this week. Assuming that things go as planned tomorrow I will continue along this trajectory tomorrow as well (and also throughout the weekend).
-The Association of Canadian Archivists are holding their annual conference in a hotel just about a block away from our apartment. At least two of my library school friends will be in attendance. I am hoping that I will get a chance to see both of them before they head out of town once the conference is over.
Showing posts with label Pesticides. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pesticides. Show all posts
Friday, June 11, 2010
Saturday, June 20, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 328
-Though much of today was somewhat overcast it was generally pleasant. The rain I expected to start at any time held off, though it may have lead to things being a little more humid that they would have been otherwise.
-I managed to get around to moving all of the plants from my windowsill. The area has now been cleaned and the plants sprayed with miticide. I also sprayed a few of the other plants that had been in my room. Over the next day or two I am hoping to spray most of the other house plants and completing a wash of one of the plant stands in the living room. Hopefully this more aggressive approach will be enough to take care of the spider mite problem for good (though I am hesitant to put too much hope in any of these solutions).
-I had roast potatoes and barbecued steaklets (small steaks) for dinner tonight. I really enjoyed the meal.
-This evening a friend came over and we played a few games of Monopoly Deal, a card game Neil purchased yesterday night while we were at the mall. Though the game allows for rather drastic swings from time to time, it was an overall pleasant experience and much faster than regular Monopoly. I think that we would all give it a thumbs up as a relatively relaxed multi-player game.
-Recently I have been talking about trying to grow some bean sprouts. At the moment I am in the midst of my first batch. So far things are going well. The only problem I have encountered so far is that the container I started with wasn't big enough so I had to move the operation to a larger container this evening. I am a little worried that this new container also won't be larger enough. Hopefully I will have a few pictures to post in a few days time, or whenever it is that I decide to harvest the sprouts.
-I managed to get around to moving all of the plants from my windowsill. The area has now been cleaned and the plants sprayed with miticide. I also sprayed a few of the other plants that had been in my room. Over the next day or two I am hoping to spray most of the other house plants and completing a wash of one of the plant stands in the living room. Hopefully this more aggressive approach will be enough to take care of the spider mite problem for good (though I am hesitant to put too much hope in any of these solutions).
-I had roast potatoes and barbecued steaklets (small steaks) for dinner tonight. I really enjoyed the meal.
-This evening a friend came over and we played a few games of Monopoly Deal, a card game Neil purchased yesterday night while we were at the mall. Though the game allows for rather drastic swings from time to time, it was an overall pleasant experience and much faster than regular Monopoly. I think that we would all give it a thumbs up as a relatively relaxed multi-player game.
-Recently I have been talking about trying to grow some bean sprouts. At the moment I am in the midst of my first batch. So far things are going well. The only problem I have encountered so far is that the container I started with wasn't big enough so I had to move the operation to a larger container this evening. I am a little worried that this new container also won't be larger enough. Hopefully I will have a few pictures to post in a few days time, or whenever it is that I decide to harvest the sprouts.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 327
-We had another beautiful day in Halifax. The sun was out, the temperature was pleasant, and it wasn't particularly windy.
-I made another batch of bread this morning. Strangely, I seem to be more productive on days when I make bread. I think it has something to do with me needing to stay awake until the bread is out of the oven. If I can refrain from taking a nap this long I am likely to be able to get some work in before catching a few more minutes of sleep.
-For dinner tonight we had black beans that I prepared in the pressure cooker. I am really starting to like these pressure cooker prepared black beans. Not only are they relatively easy, they are tasty and low-cost.
-After dinner we made our way to the Halifax Shopping Centre (the mall) to run a few errands. Unfortunately, one of the items I was hoping to buy, garden mesh, didn't seem to be stocked in any of the stores we visited. Otherwise I think I would go so far as to call the trip a success.
One of the products I am particularly pleased to have purchased is a miticide, which I hope will help me on my seemingly unending battle against the omnipresent spider mites. This product should be a little more potent than the somewhat ineffectual insecticidal soap. The downside is that apparently one doesn't want to eat any food that has been sprayed with such products.
-On the subject of spider mites, just tonight I observed that my two corn plants were infested. This meant that the plants had to be destroyed, which is rather unfortunate as one of them was just showing the early signs of the development of an ear of corn. The only good news is that this will allow me to move all of my plants out of my bedroom window and disinfect the area. Hopefully when plants are returned to the windowsill in a few weeks the area will be spider mite free.
-To briefly return to our experience in the mall, at one point we were in the paper towel/tissue/toilet paper aisle of a store. As the three of us were making our way down the aisle we passed a middle-aged woman and an employee, who happened to be stocking the shelves. Just as we were passing these two individuals I heard the woman comment that the toilet paper claimed to be made from recycled paper and then, thinking that she really found a flaw in the system, asked the employee "How do they recycle toilet paper?" Amazingly, the employee kept his composure and simply replied that the recycle material that they use comes from other types of paper, not necessarily from toilet paper.
-Watson just made the money in a Pot-Limit Omaha tournament at the World Series of Poker. The WSOP people are providing pretty regular updates and somewhat regular chip counts. Watson is also providing Twitter updates during the breaks, if you are interested.
-I made another batch of bread this morning. Strangely, I seem to be more productive on days when I make bread. I think it has something to do with me needing to stay awake until the bread is out of the oven. If I can refrain from taking a nap this long I am likely to be able to get some work in before catching a few more minutes of sleep.
-For dinner tonight we had black beans that I prepared in the pressure cooker. I am really starting to like these pressure cooker prepared black beans. Not only are they relatively easy, they are tasty and low-cost.
-After dinner we made our way to the Halifax Shopping Centre (the mall) to run a few errands. Unfortunately, one of the items I was hoping to buy, garden mesh, didn't seem to be stocked in any of the stores we visited. Otherwise I think I would go so far as to call the trip a success.
One of the products I am particularly pleased to have purchased is a miticide, which I hope will help me on my seemingly unending battle against the omnipresent spider mites. This product should be a little more potent than the somewhat ineffectual insecticidal soap. The downside is that apparently one doesn't want to eat any food that has been sprayed with such products.
-On the subject of spider mites, just tonight I observed that my two corn plants were infested. This meant that the plants had to be destroyed, which is rather unfortunate as one of them was just showing the early signs of the development of an ear of corn. The only good news is that this will allow me to move all of my plants out of my bedroom window and disinfect the area. Hopefully when plants are returned to the windowsill in a few weeks the area will be spider mite free.
-To briefly return to our experience in the mall, at one point we were in the paper towel/tissue/toilet paper aisle of a store. As the three of us were making our way down the aisle we passed a middle-aged woman and an employee, who happened to be stocking the shelves. Just as we were passing these two individuals I heard the woman comment that the toilet paper claimed to be made from recycled paper and then, thinking that she really found a flaw in the system, asked the employee "How do they recycle toilet paper?" Amazingly, the employee kept his composure and simply replied that the recycle material that they use comes from other types of paper, not necessarily from toilet paper.
-Watson just made the money in a Pot-Limit Omaha tournament at the World Series of Poker. The WSOP people are providing pretty regular updates and somewhat regular chip counts. Watson is also providing Twitter updates during the breaks, if you are interested.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The return of the spider mites
After several weeks of mite free living I noticed that the pepper plant in my bedroom had quite a number of mites on one of its leaves, though only limited signs of leaf damage (indicating that the mites had not been there long).
I found this rather strange as I have been checking this plant for signs of infestation for the past number of weeks and it has always come up clean. Furthermore, the mites were on one of the highest leaves and seemed to have left most of the other leaves untouched. That the mites would have hit the top leaf and left the other leaves clean strikes me as odd. Wouldn't it have been easier to hit the leaves closer to the ground?
To mitigate the infestation I have removed the most infected leaf from the pepper plant, sprayed it with insecticidal soap, and moved it outdoors. I also moved a few more of the plants from the area (my bedroom windowsill) outdoors and cleaned the window area. I am little worried that some of the other plants in my room may now be susceptible to the infestation, which had previously not affected the plants in my window. Hopefully I caught things early enough to prevent a spread of the mites.
I am really hoping that by the end of this summer the mite problem will be resolved. If not, I really don't know what I will do with some of the plants which I presently have outside that I will need to bring indoors for the fall and winter (particularly the bay tree and the banana, but also the tomato and pepper plants). Anyway, I guess, minimally, I will have to keep an eye out for any new signs of infestation.
I found this rather strange as I have been checking this plant for signs of infestation for the past number of weeks and it has always come up clean. Furthermore, the mites were on one of the highest leaves and seemed to have left most of the other leaves untouched. That the mites would have hit the top leaf and left the other leaves clean strikes me as odd. Wouldn't it have been easier to hit the leaves closer to the ground?
To mitigate the infestation I have removed the most infected leaf from the pepper plant, sprayed it with insecticidal soap, and moved it outdoors. I also moved a few more of the plants from the area (my bedroom windowsill) outdoors and cleaned the window area. I am little worried that some of the other plants in my room may now be susceptible to the infestation, which had previously not affected the plants in my window. Hopefully I caught things early enough to prevent a spread of the mites.
I am really hoping that by the end of this summer the mite problem will be resolved. If not, I really don't know what I will do with some of the plants which I presently have outside that I will need to bring indoors for the fall and winter (particularly the bay tree and the banana, but also the tomato and pepper plants). Anyway, I guess, minimally, I will have to keep an eye out for any new signs of infestation.
Monday, May 04, 2009
A Few Quick Notes 312
-Today was a pretty nice day. My sense of things is that it was about 20 degrees and sunny in the downtown area for most of the day. It seems that things are forecast to be a little cooler and less pleasant for the rest of the week.
-A few days ago I removed the scarlet runner beans from my bedroom because they were showing signs of spider mite infestation. Though I didn't see any signs of mites, I also removed the two bean plants that were in my window.
Today I saw some specks on the corn plants that may be spider mites so I took most of the plants in my window outside for a quick wash with insecticidal soap. I will probably repeat this process again in a few days, whether I see signs of growth or not.
Unfortunately, while doing a little more reading I learned a little more about how unfortunate and difficult a spider mite infestation is to deal with. It seems that they are a particularly difficult pest to eradicate. One of the problems is that they have not natural predators inside human dwellings (aside from humans), and are apparently shockingly resistant to pesticides. Hopefully my dousing with soap and trips outside will work as I really am somewhat fond of these plants. It would be great if it was just a little warmer so that I could leave them outside around the clock.
-The up side of this all is that I was encouraged to harvest some of the thyme I have been growing since the fall. The idea of the harvest was that with a smaller plant the spider mites would be unable to use it to move from to plant.
The thyme is now hanging and drying in my bedroom. Presumably in some number of weeks I will be able to collect the dried thyme and add it to our previously existing stash. Given this abundance of thyme I really should start trying to find ways to use it a little more.
-It seems that I will be attending a Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni dinner in a few day. I really don't know what to expect, aside a talk from Gwynne Dyer and a meal. Apparently the post-talk question and answer session is to be moderated by the Chancellor of the university, Rick Hillier. I guess the idea is to allow Memorial graduates to get to know other graduates in the region, so I presumably should ready myself for networking and polite conversation related activities.
Another thing is need to work on is business attire, which is what I am supposed to wear to the event. Hopefully I own something that can pass as business attire. I am starting to think that maybe I should have brought my suit and dress shoes with me to Halifax.
-Moments ago when I was trying to type 'shoes' I accidently typed 'shews.' I guess some of my childhood spelling problems are still present. Though now that I think about it I don't know if switching to phonetic spellings was my common approach to spelling errors, I will have to check with my parents.
Such mistakes confirm my feelings towards spell-checking programs. I really don't know how I would have managed to make it through university without such programs. Presumably my functional vocabulary would have been much smaller, and my syntax more convoluted so that the same opinions could be expressed with a smaller number of words.
-A few days ago I removed the scarlet runner beans from my bedroom because they were showing signs of spider mite infestation. Though I didn't see any signs of mites, I also removed the two bean plants that were in my window.
Today I saw some specks on the corn plants that may be spider mites so I took most of the plants in my window outside for a quick wash with insecticidal soap. I will probably repeat this process again in a few days, whether I see signs of growth or not.
Unfortunately, while doing a little more reading I learned a little more about how unfortunate and difficult a spider mite infestation is to deal with. It seems that they are a particularly difficult pest to eradicate. One of the problems is that they have not natural predators inside human dwellings (aside from humans), and are apparently shockingly resistant to pesticides. Hopefully my dousing with soap and trips outside will work as I really am somewhat fond of these plants. It would be great if it was just a little warmer so that I could leave them outside around the clock.
-The up side of this all is that I was encouraged to harvest some of the thyme I have been growing since the fall. The idea of the harvest was that with a smaller plant the spider mites would be unable to use it to move from to plant.
The thyme is now hanging and drying in my bedroom. Presumably in some number of weeks I will be able to collect the dried thyme and add it to our previously existing stash. Given this abundance of thyme I really should start trying to find ways to use it a little more.
-It seems that I will be attending a Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni dinner in a few day. I really don't know what to expect, aside a talk from Gwynne Dyer and a meal. Apparently the post-talk question and answer session is to be moderated by the Chancellor of the university, Rick Hillier. I guess the idea is to allow Memorial graduates to get to know other graduates in the region, so I presumably should ready myself for networking and polite conversation related activities.
Another thing is need to work on is business attire, which is what I am supposed to wear to the event. Hopefully I own something that can pass as business attire. I am starting to think that maybe I should have brought my suit and dress shoes with me to Halifax.
-Moments ago when I was trying to type 'shoes' I accidently typed 'shews.' I guess some of my childhood spelling problems are still present. Though now that I think about it I don't know if switching to phonetic spellings was my common approach to spelling errors, I will have to check with my parents.
Such mistakes confirm my feelings towards spell-checking programs. I really don't know how I would have managed to make it through university without such programs. Presumably my functional vocabulary would have been much smaller, and my syntax more convoluted so that the same opinions could be expressed with a smaller number of words.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
New growth and more
I guess I have been a little distracted these past few days so I haven't had a chance to document the continuing growth of some of my plants.
Not surprisingly, given that we are in the midst of spring, most of the plants are continuing to grow quite nicely.
Unfortunately, it seems that one of the bean plants (the plants to the right of the photo) seems to be approaching death. This surprises me as it seemed to be doing quite well these past few weeks. Maybe it has just reached the end of its life-cycle.
The scarlet runner beans seem to have really come into their own in the past few days. Not only are the original shoots growing more quickly than they have since they were planted, but some of the plants have sprouted new shoots that are also growing quite quickly. Interestingly, I still see now signs of flowers.
A few scarlet runner beans that I planted in the living room a few days ago had to be removed today. It seems that the spider mite problem that I had a few weeks ago is still present. The spider mites moved onto these plants quite quickly and were able to inflict damage just as quickly. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to control this problem in the very near future. I guess I might have to move up to a more potent pesticide and maybe disassemble and was the shelving unit.
Not surprisingly, given that we are in the midst of spring, most of the plants are continuing to grow quite nicely.
Unfortunately, it seems that one of the bean plants (the plants to the right of the photo) seems to be approaching death. This surprises me as it seemed to be doing quite well these past few weeks. Maybe it has just reached the end of its life-cycle.
The scarlet runner beans seem to have really come into their own in the past few days. Not only are the original shoots growing more quickly than they have since they were planted, but some of the plants have sprouted new shoots that are also growing quite quickly. Interestingly, I still see now signs of flowers.
A few scarlet runner beans that I planted in the living room a few days ago had to be removed today. It seems that the spider mite problem that I had a few weeks ago is still present. The spider mites moved onto these plants quite quickly and were able to inflict damage just as quickly. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to control this problem in the very near future. I guess I might have to move up to a more potent pesticide and maybe disassemble and was the shelving unit.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
A dark day in Halifax
After a little reflection and further examination I came to the conclusion that the spider mite infestation merited rather drastic action, meaning I needed to do more that than simply spray the offending critters with some soap spray. Based on the resources I have available to me, and my desire to have mite-free plants in the near future, I decided to solve the problem by removing the infested plants.
Just moments before the plants were chopped down and emptied out, this is what the living room looked like.
It should be possible to see that some of the leaves are not doing particularly well.
In case the previous two pictures didn't give you a sense of the damage caused by the spider mites, this might be a little more illustrative of the problem.
The spider mites have also been on my pepper plants for some period of time. What may be most impressive is that though under siege for almost 6 months, these plants managed to survive, and continue to grow. I am now starting to think that this infestation may explain why none of the pepper plants ever managed to produce peppers, they had to devote their energies to fighting off the spider mite attack.
As you can see, the living room plant collection has been cut back significantly. The only plants on the wire stand that survived the carnage are the zebra aloe, the chives, the dill, the beets, and two african violets. Depending on how things go in the next few days even these plants may need to be re-assessed. Hopefully today's actions will significantly reduce the impact of the spider mite infestation.
I can't wait to get things going again.
Just moments before the plants were chopped down and emptied out, this is what the living room looked like.
It should be possible to see that some of the leaves are not doing particularly well.
In case the previous two pictures didn't give you a sense of the damage caused by the spider mites, this might be a little more illustrative of the problem.
The spider mites have also been on my pepper plants for some period of time. What may be most impressive is that though under siege for almost 6 months, these plants managed to survive, and continue to grow. I am now starting to think that this infestation may explain why none of the pepper plants ever managed to produce peppers, they had to devote their energies to fighting off the spider mite attack.
As you can see, the living room plant collection has been cut back significantly. The only plants on the wire stand that survived the carnage are the zebra aloe, the chives, the dill, the beets, and two african violets. Depending on how things go in the next few days even these plants may need to be re-assessed. Hopefully today's actions will significantly reduce the impact of the spider mite infestation.
I can't wait to get things going again.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Mighty Mites
After a number of months of complete inaction, I finally decided to try and figure out what was infesting some of my plants in the living room.
Based on the characteristics of the pests (small and web-casting) and their impacts (leaf discolouration and disfiguring) I was relatively quickly able to determine that I was dealing with spider mites. In some ways this was good news, as I now know what I have to face, and I now know that there are some pesticides that can take care of them.
The bad news is that these are apparently a rather hard pest to eliminate, particularly once they have spread to a number of plants, which seems to be my situation. Some sources seemed to indicate that you might as well just toss the plants and start again (which is drastic, but a move I might need to consider).
The other bad news is that it is likely not a coincidence that they are doing well on my watermelons and beans. I found at least two sources that discussed spider mites on these plants. Given the universe of plants and the universe of pests I don't take this to be a good sign.
The only nice thing is that they don't seem to be particularly interested in my chives or Zebra Aloe, nor, for that matter, the African violets.
Shortly after learning a little about spider mites and their pesky ways I decided to make my way to our local plant store to buy some pesticide and plant food. Interestingly, the store has moved across the street within the past day or so, so I may have been one of their first customers at the new location. Unfortunately I wasn't much of a customer as they didn't have plant food or pesticide.
As I was making my way home I stopped at the grocery store. Though I didn't expected to find much, I thought that I might as well check the store's floral/plant section. It turns out that they had one pesticide, a pesticide soap spray, which claimed a spider mite killing ability. Since I wasn't interested in traipsing all across town for other option I bought the bottle and have already applied my first dose. Obviously it is a little early to tell whether or not this spray is having the desired effect, but I am certainly hopeful that it will both kill the mites and allow the plants to regain their vitality.
Edit: Apparently predatory mites are a pesticide-free spider mite control option. Given my present circumstances I am not really sure if this is a feasible option.
Based on the characteristics of the pests (small and web-casting) and their impacts (leaf discolouration and disfiguring) I was relatively quickly able to determine that I was dealing with spider mites. In some ways this was good news, as I now know what I have to face, and I now know that there are some pesticides that can take care of them.
The bad news is that these are apparently a rather hard pest to eliminate, particularly once they have spread to a number of plants, which seems to be my situation. Some sources seemed to indicate that you might as well just toss the plants and start again (which is drastic, but a move I might need to consider).
The other bad news is that it is likely not a coincidence that they are doing well on my watermelons and beans. I found at least two sources that discussed spider mites on these plants. Given the universe of plants and the universe of pests I don't take this to be a good sign.
The only nice thing is that they don't seem to be particularly interested in my chives or Zebra Aloe, nor, for that matter, the African violets.
Shortly after learning a little about spider mites and their pesky ways I decided to make my way to our local plant store to buy some pesticide and plant food. Interestingly, the store has moved across the street within the past day or so, so I may have been one of their first customers at the new location. Unfortunately I wasn't much of a customer as they didn't have plant food or pesticide.
As I was making my way home I stopped at the grocery store. Though I didn't expected to find much, I thought that I might as well check the store's floral/plant section. It turns out that they had one pesticide, a pesticide soap spray, which claimed a spider mite killing ability. Since I wasn't interested in traipsing all across town for other option I bought the bottle and have already applied my first dose. Obviously it is a little early to tell whether or not this spray is having the desired effect, but I am certainly hopeful that it will both kill the mites and allow the plants to regain their vitality.
Edit: Apparently predatory mites are a pesticide-free spider mite control option. Given my present circumstances I am not really sure if this is a feasible option.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
A Few Quick Notes 196
-It seems that today can be added to the nice weather streak. Some seem to even be hoping that such weather will make it all the way to the weekend.
Actually, I might go so far as to say that the weather is a little too warm. I know that I was really sweating by the time I made it to work this morning.
-The more I encounter them the more I realize that I am not a particularly big fan of the special Canadian subclasses that have been made to work like LCC subclasses. I can't say that my complaint is a fuller treatment of Canadian subjects, as this is something that is definitely needed in the LCC system. It must be my unrelenting attempt to stay within the lines (or rules) as they have been set out by some governing authority, in this case the Library of Congress. It may also because I haven't obtained copies of the Canadian subclasses so I don't ever know what is going on when I see them. I think it also may have to do with the concept of maintaining a pure LCC system, something that seems strangely attractive.
-Yesterday I was able to pick up my diploma from the post office. Fortunately McGill didn't make any spelling or capitalization mistakes in my name. I guess I now have to figure out what I want to do with it, which will probably be not much of anything.
-Last night at my house-sitting gig the cat and dog were antagonizing each other all night long, or, actually, only the portion of the night during which I was trying sleep. I would guess that their bickering cost me several hours of sleep, which was a bit of a blow and has certainly affected how I am feeling today.
On my walk with the dog today I learned that its stamina isn't quite what I would have expected for a greyhound. On really needs to take it slow otherwise the dog will overheat.
-It seems that my father and I may be taking our spraying show on the road. That friend that was helping us a few days ago is interested in having us spray his trees tonight. Hopefully we get going soon otherwise it will be dark before we finish.
Actually, I might go so far as to say that the weather is a little too warm. I know that I was really sweating by the time I made it to work this morning.
-The more I encounter them the more I realize that I am not a particularly big fan of the special Canadian subclasses that have been made to work like LCC subclasses. I can't say that my complaint is a fuller treatment of Canadian subjects, as this is something that is definitely needed in the LCC system. It must be my unrelenting attempt to stay within the lines (or rules) as they have been set out by some governing authority, in this case the Library of Congress. It may also because I haven't obtained copies of the Canadian subclasses so I don't ever know what is going on when I see them. I think it also may have to do with the concept of maintaining a pure LCC system, something that seems strangely attractive.
-Yesterday I was able to pick up my diploma from the post office. Fortunately McGill didn't make any spelling or capitalization mistakes in my name. I guess I now have to figure out what I want to do with it, which will probably be not much of anything.
-Last night at my house-sitting gig the cat and dog were antagonizing each other all night long, or, actually, only the portion of the night during which I was trying sleep. I would guess that their bickering cost me several hours of sleep, which was a bit of a blow and has certainly affected how I am feeling today.
On my walk with the dog today I learned that its stamina isn't quite what I would have expected for a greyhound. On really needs to take it slow otherwise the dog will overheat.
-It seems that my father and I may be taking our spraying show on the road. That friend that was helping us a few days ago is interested in having us spray his trees tonight. Hopefully we get going soon otherwise it will be dark before we finish.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Whales and Worms
Almost as soon as I returned home from work I learned that my mother had been planning on the three of us having dinner at Cape Spear. She hoped that we would be able to see some of the whales that CBC reported were there the day before.
After a few preparations (I had to make my sandwich among other things) we were ready to head out, that is after we picked up my father.
Soon enough we were making our way through Shea Heights and then along the final stretch to Cape Spear. Almost as soon as we pulled into the driveway we noticed that there was a CBC satellite truck and a fairly large number of cars.
As we made our way from the parking lot to the shore we noticed a fairly large number of groups eating picnic dinners, and many more just looking for whales. On our walk down we heard from a number of people that there were whales, but that they were around the headland.
Just about as soon as we moved to the far side of Cape Spear the temperature dropped and the wind became much colder. We eventually found a rock with a good view to sit on and eat our dinner.
Soon after we started eating my parents noticed a blow in the distance. Within a few minutes we started to see animals breaching in water a little nearer to shore. Eventually, typically after a few breaches, we saw what looked like mouths coming out of the water open. Presumably, the whales were eating capelin, or some other fish, that they had herded or stunned with their breaching.
Soon after we finished our meal we started to make our way back across Cape Spear. Soon after we entered the warmer part of the outcropping my parents ran into a couple that they recognized. As we were standing talking to the couple a number of whales became visible. These whales, which happened to be humpbacks, eventually came quite close to the shore, so close that we were able to see the white sections of their fins.
The couple also clued us into why CBC had been at Cape Spear. Instead of reporting on the presence of whales and sight-seers, it seems that they were there to report on a rescue that had just taken place. The story, as we heard it from this couple, was that a guy from Ontario (I think that was the province that they suggested), who claimed to be an experienced mountaineer, decided to climb down the a cliff but then realized that he couldn't get back up. A friend called for a rescue on his cell phone. The rescue crew then had to rappel down the side of the cliff to rescue the stranded expert. Apparently the entire process took about an hour and a half, all remnants of which were gone by the time we arrived. (CBC presents things a little differently in their version of the story).
Though several of the whales were still being quite active we had to make our way back to St. John's to get to the second exciting activity of the night: spraying for elm span worms.
Almost as soon as we returned home my father and I changed into spraying clothes (otherwise known as work clothes) and prepared our equipment. The main complication is that the spray has to be mixed in a buck and then syphoned to the power washer. If one is not careful the hose can fall out of the bucket or the bucket can run dry, both of which would cause the syphon to become non-functional.
Fortunately, just as we were about to start spraying some friends showed up. While one of them talked to my mother the other was able to help my father and I with the spraying process. While the friend was there to help I climbed up on the roof of the shed and then the roof of the house to hit some of the higher sections of a few of the trees.
Eventually our friends and my mother left. They were going to see the house that had recently been purchased and as of today come into the possession of our friends. This meant that we went from a three person operation to a two person operation, causing a noticeable effect on our efficiency.
Eventually we worked our way through our yard and the neighbours' yards, climbing to roofs when needed or just spraying from the ground when there wasn't a roof that would allow us to get a better angle.
At one point, while I was standing on the front porch roof, a woman stopped to ask if we could be hired. While my father indicated that we were just doing our own place he did suggest that if her husband was interested that we could help him do his own spraying. So I guess we should be hearing from him in a day or so and will possibly have to suit up sometime soon afterwards.
Just as the sun was starting to set we ran out of our bacterial soup, thus halting our spraying program for the evening. Actually, I think that we basically achieved all that we could have hoped. What was particularly impressive about the entire operation was that almost as soon as we started spraying a given tree the worms began to vacate the trees. In some cases several hundred worms began to dangle from certain trees, many times in places were leaf damage wasn't even particularly visible (yet). Presumably, if we had left the spraying much longer many of the trees would be well on their way to having serious leaf damage, something that can't be good for long term tree health.
After a few preparations (I had to make my sandwich among other things) we were ready to head out, that is after we picked up my father.
Soon enough we were making our way through Shea Heights and then along the final stretch to Cape Spear. Almost as soon as we pulled into the driveway we noticed that there was a CBC satellite truck and a fairly large number of cars.
As we made our way from the parking lot to the shore we noticed a fairly large number of groups eating picnic dinners, and many more just looking for whales. On our walk down we heard from a number of people that there were whales, but that they were around the headland.
Just about as soon as we moved to the far side of Cape Spear the temperature dropped and the wind became much colder. We eventually found a rock with a good view to sit on and eat our dinner.
Soon after we started eating my parents noticed a blow in the distance. Within a few minutes we started to see animals breaching in water a little nearer to shore. Eventually, typically after a few breaches, we saw what looked like mouths coming out of the water open. Presumably, the whales were eating capelin, or some other fish, that they had herded or stunned with their breaching.
Soon after we finished our meal we started to make our way back across Cape Spear. Soon after we entered the warmer part of the outcropping my parents ran into a couple that they recognized. As we were standing talking to the couple a number of whales became visible. These whales, which happened to be humpbacks, eventually came quite close to the shore, so close that we were able to see the white sections of their fins.
The couple also clued us into why CBC had been at Cape Spear. Instead of reporting on the presence of whales and sight-seers, it seems that they were there to report on a rescue that had just taken place. The story, as we heard it from this couple, was that a guy from Ontario (I think that was the province that they suggested), who claimed to be an experienced mountaineer, decided to climb down the a cliff but then realized that he couldn't get back up. A friend called for a rescue on his cell phone. The rescue crew then had to rappel down the side of the cliff to rescue the stranded expert. Apparently the entire process took about an hour and a half, all remnants of which were gone by the time we arrived. (CBC presents things a little differently in their version of the story).
Though several of the whales were still being quite active we had to make our way back to St. John's to get to the second exciting activity of the night: spraying for elm span worms.
Almost as soon as we returned home my father and I changed into spraying clothes (otherwise known as work clothes) and prepared our equipment. The main complication is that the spray has to be mixed in a buck and then syphoned to the power washer. If one is not careful the hose can fall out of the bucket or the bucket can run dry, both of which would cause the syphon to become non-functional.
Fortunately, just as we were about to start spraying some friends showed up. While one of them talked to my mother the other was able to help my father and I with the spraying process. While the friend was there to help I climbed up on the roof of the shed and then the roof of the house to hit some of the higher sections of a few of the trees.
Eventually our friends and my mother left. They were going to see the house that had recently been purchased and as of today come into the possession of our friends. This meant that we went from a three person operation to a two person operation, causing a noticeable effect on our efficiency.
Eventually we worked our way through our yard and the neighbours' yards, climbing to roofs when needed or just spraying from the ground when there wasn't a roof that would allow us to get a better angle.
At one point, while I was standing on the front porch roof, a woman stopped to ask if we could be hired. While my father indicated that we were just doing our own place he did suggest that if her husband was interested that we could help him do his own spraying. So I guess we should be hearing from him in a day or so and will possibly have to suit up sometime soon afterwards.
Just as the sun was starting to set we ran out of our bacterial soup, thus halting our spraying program for the evening. Actually, I think that we basically achieved all that we could have hoped. What was particularly impressive about the entire operation was that almost as soon as we started spraying a given tree the worms began to vacate the trees. In some cases several hundred worms began to dangle from certain trees, many times in places were leaf damage wasn't even particularly visible (yet). Presumably, if we had left the spraying much longer many of the trees would be well on their way to having serious leaf damage, something that can't be good for long term tree health.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)