Pictures of Miscellaneous Stuff & Things

[1967redrider]

That’s cool Skip! Somebody else said this on here somewhere but I wish you could train a dog to sniff out morels!

Missed morel season last year due to other commitments and now this year it's looking like I won't get to travel up to the farm to hunt for them. But I have a wicked Morel, Leek & Potato soup recipe that I think is posted somewhere on this forum. Requires a white wine reduction with butter sauteed leeks when making, absolutely delicious.

I don’t know why it couldn’t be done. They train them to find drugs, explosives, and sheds.

Here’s my Lab, Purdy.

Ken

That is awesome, wish we had a dog at the farm who could do this.


I found this old R.R. utility pole insulator while hiking last weekend. Thought it would make a nice knife picture prop. Wish the glass was in better condition but it's at least 50 years old, since the railroad ended in the early 70s. The insulator post that was inside the cross beam was still pretty tight after all of this time.

[FRJ]

About 10 days ago there were frogs croaking in the pond and then it snowed.

[1967redrider]

Looks like a pretty substantial accumulation too. Wish we had gotten that a couple months ago here, would have loved to blow the dust off the XC skis.

[Waukonda]

About 10 days ago there were frogs croaking in the pond and then it snowed.

Nice sequence of photos, Joe. No snow here, but it has cooled off. However, it hasn't slowed down the Blue Eyed Mary that I just ran across.

[FRJ]

Ike, I like that Blue Eyed Mary. Never heard of that delicate little flower before. It is really beautiful.
There is also a Blue Bonnet down your way if I remember correctly.

[TPK]

About 10 days ago there were frogs croaking in the pond and then it snowed.

Nice sequence of photos, Joe. No snow here, but it has cooled off. However, it hasn't slowed down the Blue Eyed Mary that I just ran across.

Nice flowers Ike! Great picture!

[TPK]

About 10 days ago there were frogs croaking in the pond and then it snowed.

Cool frogs! Poor little fellows.

[Mumbleypeg]

That’s cool Skip! Somebody else said this on here somewhere but I wish you could train a dog to sniff out morels!

I don’t know why it couldn’t be done. They train them to find drugs, explosives, and sheds.

Here’s my Lab, Purdy.

Ken

That is awesome, wish we had a dog at the farm who could do this.

Training most dogs to find and fetch sheds should be easy. I think mushrooms would be more challenging but certainly possible. I say this because most dogs are naturally attracted to an antler, and if given one will chew it. In fact they are sold in pet stores for chew toys.

So to train a dog to find sheds just buy a couple of antler chews and give to your dog. Let pup chew on them a few days. Then throw the antler for them to retrieve, praise and reward them for fetching. Always praise and reward with a treat when pup brings it to you. NEVER yell at or scold pup while doing this activity - you’ll just confuse him. If pup doesn’t do what you want, after a few tries stop and try again later. If he still doesn’t get it he’s probably just not a good candidate - enjoy him for his other qualities.

Once they like antlers and will bring them to you, place some antlers out in the woods or a field you have access to. Take pup there and let him find them (make it easy for pup to have success). When pup finds an antler get him to bring it to you. When he brings it praise him and give him a reward, or a training treat, like you did before. (For some breeds like retrievers, throwing it so they can have a retrieve is a big reward itself, probably bigger than having a food treat. My labs love that).

Repeat this several times a few days apart, “planting” antlers, letting the dog find them, and rewarding him. Then when pup is reliably finding the planted antlers, take pup where you want to find sheds. Take a store bought antler along just in case though. The key thing especially in the beginning is to make sure pup has success, make it a fun game for pup and you. Before you know It you have a “shed dog”!

If in doubt there are videos on YouTube about teaching dogs to find sheds.

Ken

[1967redrider]

Thanks for the "tricks of the trade," Ken. We have a few new dogs at the farm, I'll have to get some antlers at PetSmart and start training them.

This is the only thing that might get a dog in trouble retrieving-

[Mumbleypeg]

Nice training!

Ken

[Stanwade]

Ken— I agree %100 with your training methods as they are mine as well .I almost bite my tongue off when I see someone trying to train their dog, get frustrated and yell or smack the dog ... not only do I want to punch them for smacking the dog, I want to tell them what an idiot they are for not knowing how to train a dog right . but anyway – – – I got Layla hoping to start bird hunting again but she is gun shy, thunder shy, firework shy etc. I’ve tried everything in the book, just can’t break her… So I might try to turn her into a mushroom dog this year! If I have success I will let you know…

John—

[WillyCamaro]

[Mumbleypeg]

That’s a tough one Ryan. Unfortunately most people don’t realize dogs ears are at least 4 times more sensitive than a human’s. What you and I can hear at 25 yards, our dog can hear at 100 yards. Plus the range of frequencies dogs can hear is greater. Sound is louder to a dog. Conditioning a dog to not be afraid of gunshots and other loud noises is part of the challenge. Best started when they are puppies but can be done later. https://www.gundogsupply.com/sws-gun-shy.html

Ken

[Stanwade]

Ken– – the funny thing is she was absolutely fine around guns, fireworks, thunder and lightning, loud motorcycles up until when she was about a year and a half old and something snapped in her(I trained her right, from a pup,to gradually accept guns)… I don’t know if somebody scared her or something happened while I was at work and that she never got over it ? A few years back I bought a sound bar to go with my flatscreen TV and I had to send it back because with just a little bit more bass sound she always thought it was thundering in the distance… It took me two days to figure out what was wrong with her!..I’ve tried every trick in the book since — from professional advice to old wives tales and even considered witchcraft LOL but I’ve just come to accept that I’m her thunder buddy whenever it gets real bad! I put her thunder coat on and try to distract her with a ball or what not… She’s worth it

[Mumbleypeg]

Been maintaining “social distancing” by thinning fruit trees. Just me and the dogs. This year the double, Siamese twins, peaches are more prevalent, especially on one of the older trees.

I’ve read this is caused by lack of water during late summer when the tree is forming buds for next year’s fruit crop. My trees aren’t irrigated so that would make sense, but on one older tree there must be 50-60% doubles! Even has a few triples.

Ken

[TPK]

Been maintaining “social distancing” by thinning fruit trees. Just me and the dogs. This year the double, Siamese twins, peaches are more prevalent, especially on one of the older trees.
82003F2B-2F5C-4525-9F59-B2E18257A763.jpeg
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I’ve read this is caused by lack of water during late summer when the tree is forming buds for next year’s fruit crop. My trees aren’t irrigated so that would make sense, but on one older tree there must be 50-60% doubles! Even has a few triples.

Ken

So as I'm seeing, I guess you remove those?

Here is my Mirabelle plum tree in front of my house. Picture is from a couple of hrs. ago. The cat (Schnurry) is older.

[Steve Warden]

Nice pic Tom.

By the way, how's Angel doing?

[TPK]

Nice pic Tom.

By the way, how's Angel doing?

She is a bit weak and has gone blind but still our sweetheart! Don't know how long she will hold on but we do our best to take good care of her.

[Mumbleypeg]

Sorry Tom, I didn’t see your question. Yes you remove all those “Siamese twins”. They typically won’t make good peaches anyway and they rob the others of nutrients so the good ones won’t get as big.

Most peach trees set too many fruit and need to be thinned anyway, so it’s no big deal. I read an article by a Ph.D. horticulturalist saying a peach tree will bear the same total weight in fruit regardless how many peaches it has on it, so to have larger fruit you have to thin out half or more at least.

Using that logic maybe if I pick off all but one I could grow a fifty pound peach!

Ken

[TPK]

Sorry Tom, I didn’t see your question. Yes you remove all those “Siamese twins”. They typically won’t make good peaches anyway and they rob the others of nutrients so the good ones won’t get as big.

Most peach trees set too many fruit and need to be thinned anyway, so it’s no big deal. I read an article by a Ph.D. horticulturalist saying a peach tree will bear the same total weight in fruit regardless how many peaches it has on it, so to have larger fruit you have to thin out half or more at least.

Using that logic maybe if I pick off all but one I could grow a fifty pound peach!

Ken

Call it a "Pumpkin-Peach" ??? Pictures Please! And Thanks for the info. I have a mini peach tree with mini peaches. I'll see how many peaches it gets this spring and maybe take a couple off. It only had about 6 or 8 last year. They were about the size of a plum but good.

[Quick Steel]

The Easter Bunny has eluded quarantine.

[Stanwade]

Are they going to fine him??… Reminds me of a funny story (depending on your sense of humor) On Easter Sunday about eight years ago we were at my cousins for dinner and she invited a friend of the family who brought her dog… Right after grace was said , we hear a commotion outside, her dog got in my little cousins rabbit pen and killed her white rabbit… On Easter Sunday … Honest to goodness I can’t make this stuff up… I felt bad For my little cousin, but some of us laughed and said “only in our family does the Easter bunny get murdered on Easter by a friends dog” LOL… True story—-

Anyway —here is a buddy of mine with a huge musky he caught in Canada a few years back… The second picture is of it mounted and the guy who mounted it for him… He paid a lot of money to get it done but he figured “once in a lifetime” and he waited a long time to catch one that big… Just looking forward to fishing soon, thought I’d post a picture of my buddie’s huge musky

[TPK]

Wow! That is a "once in a lifetime fish"!

[Waukonda]

Roughly 30 years ago, I was walking back out of the woods from a springtime mushroom hunt. I was admiring some Prairie Trillium, probably my favorite spring wildflower, and decided I would try and transplant some. So, I dug out 3 or 4 plants, with whatever my EDC was at the time, and put them out on the North side of my house. I didn't really know what to expect, the soil is poor clay, not at all like the loose woodland soil from which they came.
Anyway, despite the poor soil, and being trampled by dogs and kids over the years, and damaged by errant use of the weedtrimmer.....I am still rewarded each spring. So, here are a couple of pics to illustrate my story.

[bighomer]

One on the left says product of Canada, on the right product of Mexico. Wonder why Kroger doesn't have any hydra phonic hot houses in the USA.