A World On A String

[Jericho Mile]

we dont have ground squierrles. we have regular old tree suqierels. I like to pick em off with my .22 air rifle. its running like 2500 ft/sec

fast as shit

Up until about 3yrs ago we had a huge population of Grays. For some reason they up and left or were wiped out by a plague. A few weeks ago I spotted one on my property...and saw another driving into town. The drought may have brought the scouts out seeking a water supply. Used to have a nest of them in one of my oak trees. Every morning they'd bark at me.

They can be annoying to the gardener (like Blue Jays)....but nothing like the hell ground squirrels unleash. I don't exterminate Grays...even though I've had my moments with one in my sights.

* we're having a bit of a skunk issue presently. Don't think their home is on my property...but they are stinking up the place. wakes me up at night. do not enjoy playing around with skunks...but my neighbor has trapped many of them over the years. he catches and releases else where. hoping he gets these ones..because i'm not doing it

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Once had ground squirrels strip a small orchard. They were pulling nectarines for the seed pits .... Left the fruit to rot on the ground. Shot over fifty of them in a two week period and they were still coming in out of the desert.

Raccoons were making a mess in my shop so I set a wire cage trap, and caught a skunk instead. Friend had told me that if you throw a sheet over the trap they won't spray.... He was wrong. Wanted to wad that sheet up and stuff it under the seat of his truck. At least it contained most of the spray. Only took a couple days until I could use the shop again. They make skunk traps now with a translucent plastic housing and a solid metal trap door. You can see what's in the trap without getting sprayed, then if it's a skunk, stand the trap on end and fill it with a hose. Who wants a skunk released on their property?

 

[Jericho Mile]

Once had ground squirrels strip a small orchard. They were pulling nectarines for the seed pits .... Left the fruit to rot on the ground. Shot over fifty of them in a two week period and they were still coming in out of the desert.

Raccoons were making a mess in my shop so I set a wire cage trap, and caught a skunk instead. Friend had told me that if you throw a sheet over the trap they won't spray.... He was wrong. Wanted to wad that sheet up and stuff it under the seat of his truck. At least it contained most of the spray. Only took a couple days until I could use the shop again. They make skunk traps now with a translucent plastic housing and a solid metal trap door. You can see what's in the trap without getting sprayed, then if it's a skunk, stand the trap on end and fill it with a hose. Who wants a skunk released on their property?

Cracks me up. I love the the smell of a skunky herb...but the real deal skunk aroma gets really disgusting. Like I said...it has been waking me up....and each morning when I'm out watering it keeps me engulfed until the sun comes over the ridge..and everything lifts with the heat.

Same thing. My neighbor catches them in a Have-A-Hart and throws a sheet over the cage. One time though....he had gently put the cage in the back of his pick up...all good...but when he stared the truck...the vibration made the skunk spray. Nasty bit of business. He releases them miles away on the National Forest.

Once in a while...I'll hear a rifle shot in the night...and know either a problem skunk or raccoon is being eliminated. In the 11 yrs I've lived here...I've never had issues with raccoons. I see them all the time on my property...but they leave me alone.

Having a great bat season. Every night I sit in a lawn chair and watch them work overtop of my garden beds. Tons of bats...big ones and small ones...probably up from Mex/Central/South America. I'm saying my sky gets filled up pretty good with them. They come right up and pass by my head sometimes. It's common to have them inches from head. I can hear them talking all night. Owls as well.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Veggies

Veggies



^ 3rd season asparagus. New shoots keep popping up. I eat them fresh and raw..as soon as...I cut them. bountiful harvesting.

* These are right in the heart of where I've been having my gopher issues..and indeed...the gophers' tunnels are all around them...but (knock on wood) they leave the asparagus alone. They could ruin 3yrs of cultivation in about 3 minutes...had they a mind to.



^ 4 of my home bred tomato plants. These are growing (like everything else) in my homemade plant compost. There are lots of worms involved here. The plants are in gopher cages and I added the bricks at their bases to keep the climbing gophers out. Going to grow these as bushes.



^ Salvaged pepper plants. Had I not pulled them up and put them in containers....you'd be looking at hardly anything at all. There's also some cucumber sprouts coming up (I pulled the big cucumber plants that were growing there before)....don't have much hope for them...but you never know...maybe I get a crop. I'm out of pickles.

* less than a week ago...this little hothouse was the scene of great plant atrocities. so many gopher tunnels under it that you could fall through the earth. I also pulled out 2 trash can loads full of my compost mix...that I had about 8" deep as a base for growing my plants in. I used it to fill the containers...so that...the plants are still growing in the same mix. each of those 5 gal containers are mini worm farms. Plants handled the transplants perfect. They didn't miss a beat....perhaps in part to the rich medium and lower temps/more humid weather we're having. I feel blessed that I could salvage them...and it may pay off for me anyways..because I can get way more plants in the hothouse now.



^ The "protected" back bed. There's some carrots, lettuces, beets, and a few peppers. On the right side of the bed...I've planted 4 tomato plants to be grown out in a big tree fashion. There's still a big pile of compost in there...shit loads of worms in each shovel full throughout the entire bed. It's really a giant worm farm.

* the 1/2 of bed where the tomatoes now are...is where I grew my crop of garlic over the fall/winter/spring. The compost pile is about 1/2 as big as it was because I used the other 1/2 to refuel the area where the garlic was grown.

** I'm easing into the back bed. I already have more lettuce/salad than I can eat. The carrots/beets are getting there as well...but because they are for juicing...they go fast. I'm in no rush to plant anything in there now. When the wife gets home...we'll decide what needs to go in there.

*** I used a green bale of alfalfa for ground cover. My worms dig it. There's also places where you can see that I planted the lettuce and beets through sheets of cardboard. The worms dig cardboard.


>>> Since I pulled out all those plants I've seen no signs of the gophers. I must add that I did find some of their tunnels outside the garden beds and doused them heavily with poison pellets. I'm hopeful that they ate them all. hopeful...not confident.

 

[budman678]

>>> Since I pulled out all those plants I've seen no signs of the gophers. I must add that I did find some of their tunnels outside the garden beds and doused them heavily with poison pellets. I'm hopeful that they ate them all. hopeful...not confident.

have you tried the talaprid worms? they are 45bucks for 20 but apparently and from all accounts very effective.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

The Talapirid Worms are made to attract and poison moles. Moles have pointy noses, eat earthworms, and are related to shrews. Gophers are rodents, and eat plants.... They'll devastate your garden and leave you with nothing to eat. Moles just make dirt piles in people's lawns. Two very different animals.


Using cardboard sheets as a ground cover is a great idea. I have to try that. The sun just bakes the ground where I live.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do. I've put if off for as long as possible...hoping he'd just go on his own.

Going to have to put my dog down today. Doing it myself. Sucks.

It needs to be done. End of an era.

 

[unclefishstick]

that does suck,not an easy thing to do...

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

That's a tough one. Some people would rather have a paid assassin do it. But either way it was your decision.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Very tough. I'm having a hard time with it. Taking him to the vet isn't any easier. There's also a lady who will come to your house...but really..what's the difference?

anyways...watching him fall...fail...and wither away is worse than any of that. Thing is that he has still has good moments..but it's just that the bad moments are becoming much more frequent...and now he's been collapsing. He's hardly eating anything...totally refuses dog food. The only thing I can get him to eat is a corn tortilla quesadilla (almond cheese)....and that's it. One a day...for the last bunch of days. It's not enough to sustain him...so he weakens and fails. Starving himself. It's pretty sad.

* I went ahead and signed up for the Chimera 100 Mile. November 14-15. I feel the need to race at 100 miles again. That race has been calling out to me for a long time now. I'm in.

well. I'll talk at you dudes later. I've got to get this guy ready for his journey. later

 

[redlaser]

Not an easy time at the end of a pets life. Putting them down yourself seems better timed than going through the vet to do it. Going through the vet seems to prolong the sadness.
On the other hand it's not easy to put a bullet in a friends head, even though it's a quick death and the animals health is so bad. Even so, I've done it a few times and don't regret the decision even though it's difficult.
Wish I wasn't in the same boat, mine is still eating but not getting around well and putting a rug doctor to use 2x daily.

 

[Jericho Mile]

It's been emotionally draining. Still not in a positive frame of mind. The wife has another week in Switzerland and he was his momma's boy. As soon as she left (the same day) is when he started messing on the floor and falling more often. She could always get him to eat...and I could not. I knew once she left that he'd be on his way out.

I'm growing prickly pear cactus over him....took cuttings off a couple of the bigger ones I have on the property.

My female pit is 11 this month. That's my girl. I do not want to go through this with her. She still has a few good years left...but after this..I pray she goes on her own..because I don't know if I can do it again...especially to this girl.

It's all out of mercy...though that fact doesn't make me feel any better. I'm here and I'm moving on.




* To clear my mind...to give resolution. I now have 3 big races to train for:

Noble canyon 50K: Sept 19 * needed to complete the Slam

Cuyamaca 100K: Oct 3 * needed to complete the Slam

Chimera 100M: Nov 14-15 * needed for no good reason..for my own selfish need

This Chimera race has 22,000' feet of elevation gain and a maximum field of only 150 (including pacers). It's advertised as one of the harder 100 mile races in the country. The course is located north of me on the Trabuco ranger district of the Cleveland N.F. (I live on the far south district....Descanso)...out in the Saddleback mountains.

I talked with a veteran racer (and a real off the wall kind of trail runner...kind of like myself..same vein of thoughts) about it at the SD 100M....and he told me that he thought the SD 100M was actually more difficult because it was more technical and held in the heat of June....but that yeah...the Chimera has a lot more hill. The Chimera course spends a lot of time on dirt fire roads (which out here are rocky and baked hard by full exposure to sun) but because of a fire from a year or so ago...it has been rerouted and now has 12 more miles of technical single track.

Anyways...there are more than a few races to the north and east of me that I've been looking at. The Angeles Crest 50 and 100M races...The Old Goat 50M..The Kodiak 100M...bunch of races in AZ....on and on and on. This racing thing has opened doors to...you got it...more races. It's quite insane. I could spend my entire year going from one race to the next...if I had the time/money and if my body would hold up.

I figure that 2016 will see me branching out further from home...racing away from my home trails. The Chimera...though not that far away...is on terrain I've yet to run....and should be an eye opener to me for what is to come. Completing the Chimera race will give me personal credibility (mostly to myself) that I'm able to race away from home. In that way...it's a groundbreaker

* Ultra legend..Scott Jurek is currently on pace to set the best known time on the Appalachian Trail (about 1/2 way there). That dude is out of fucking hand. To be able to run like that....wow....superman

 

[Madjag]

Your dog friend is still your friend.
Wherever you go you can touch his Spirit quickly using first your mind's eye, and then your heart.

As an older, wiser friend of mine says, "It's difficult living a human life".

I could have been such a good yogi if only I wasn't so attached......

 

[waveguide]

didn't read everything, training takes more conviction.

bacon you eat the travelling plum? saladitos and stuff. cut fruit, dry with salt and sugar and pepper.

ground squirrels are angels out here. gentle and friendly to people. our best friends.. they take little, and show us how to eat, eg. rolling the thorns off prickly fruit in sand.

neem around the munchy part of the stem worked for my muncher (or the cat or she had her babies). those prickly pear pads can make a barrier.

moth balls cheaper than fumigation?

 

[Jericho Mile]

Your dog friend is still your friend.
Wherever you go you can touch his Spirit quickly using first your mind's eye, and then your heart.

As an older, wiser friend of mine says, "It's difficult living a human life".

I could have been such a good yogi if only I wasn't so attached......

My wise friend.

I wonder about attachments some times. There are moments when I feel like I'm chained to everything....woman, property, dogs,....the entirety of the social expectations.

and then I'm looking like I'm detaching from many of those things...and that those things were never my things anyway. that's probably much closer to the truth....the attachments are the illusion or the product I've been sold. all of them can up and go away on their own whim...or on the whims of the wind

and I repeat to myself...my little training motto "don't be a pussy"

don't be afraid to let go. Because I still have a grip is why I must admit to being unenlightened...self centered and an egomaniac.

everything must revolve around me and my attachments. It's a sad state of affairs to have to realize that....but it's easily forgotten in the day to day

the only truth I know is that I have yet to find my way. still a dimwit

 

[Madjag]

 

[Critter]

Best wishes for you and the wife JM...
i had to put my girl down alittle over a year ago...not personally,

I cant image how hard that must be.
Just being next to mine while she went was really hard and i was a wreck

 

[Jericho Mile]

didn't read everything, training takes more conviction.

bacon you eat the travelling plum? saladitos and stuff. cut fruit, dry with salt and sugar and pepper.

ground squirrels are angels out here. gentle and friendly to people. our best friends.. they take little, and show us how to eat, eg. rolling the thorns off prickly fruit in sand.

neem around the munchy part of the stem worked for my muncher (or the cat or she had her babies). those prickly pear pads can make a barrier.

moth balls cheaper than fumigation?

On training and conviction. Absolutely the training is the conviction and the discipline. The races are formalities. It wasn't even until last year that I felt like I needed to race. I was way happy to keep going as I was. But...one must broaden their horizons even if they find out...it leads back to where they were all along. Racing is good for the logistics...marked/measured courses, aid stations, and medical aid if it all goes to hell.

* my wife thought I should start racing so I'd expand myself into the ultra culture/community. She had a solid point. Racing has done all that and helped me learn. To...I think she likes to show everyone that her guy is actually doing something valid...and not just running amuck for no good reason. Social media and all...somehow...friends and family know about the conquests. Doesn't bother me...happy she's happy.

I had to google the traveling plum. Never heard of that...don't believe I've had one. I train with Medjool dates (heavy in sugar), gels, and peanut butter Cliff bars (the only real vegan Cliff bar) currently. My grocery bill is not on the low end. Christ...I can drop $100 in one hand held basket...no problem. I'm (or wife) required to go to 3 different stores just to get all the stuff I consume on a daily bases. It's an affluent culture we live in. Southern California is out of hand...but makes it all available. I'd be fucked or have to change my diet if I lived about anywhere else....well...it would not be as easy.

I'll disagree on the ground squirrels. You can have them. They are no friend to the gardener.

I did...it seems...stop this last gopher campaign. I haven't seen any signs of them in many days now.

 

[Jericho Mile]

Getting out of my Funk

Getting out of my Funk

Went to town yesterday to get my hair cut. It's true about hairdressers. As I got my hair trimmed up...I blabbed away about all my recent hardships with the dog....and with her and another girl talked about running trails,ultra racing, diet, and social media. It's was pretty cool.

then..had to do some grocery shopping and go to the grow shop. Came home to a big old T-cell burst...about an hr's worth of rain...o sweet rain

and....last night I cut off over a year's worth of beard. I'm all clean shaven. Felt like I needed to end the chapter and change my appearance...yet again.

Gardened all morning. Going to keep fueling then go out for a long run. Feeling like I'll probably put in 20 miles today. I need a good stretching. Planning on training through the weekend...as I'm coming off several days of not training beyond stretching. Actually a bit sore from stretching with my shovel handle (I keep a new one just for stretching) last evening.

 

[unclefishstick]

yup,im hitting the trails tomorrow,maybe a camping trip on monday,probably ride a different set of trails over the weekend,but back at it,and back to the climbing,time to apply all this new power to the trails,or rather my enhanced ability to stay at one cadence and not over spin the gear im in and get my heart racing for no good reason...sometimes patience gets you up the hill quicker than trying to rush things...