All About Pocket Knives

jmh58 wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 9:57 pm I built 4 cars. I would rather do that than build a grill.
John

LOL Preach!!!!

jmh58 wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 9:38 pm Start to end. D79B6E4E-F52A-4098-BE98-5514AEAE8655.jpegA191D55A-D556-4373-AD6A-1BC262A269D5.jpeg

I’ve never built a car, but I’ll amen the not wanting to put together a grill part!

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 4:51 am Some artwork my daughter has completed recently. The dogs are done on commission. The German Shepherd was commissioned by some friends of ours of their grandchildren and the kids dog. The birds were done for my wife - she is a bird nut and really likes crows. The Chickadees are painted on a tray, and she gave it to my wife for Mother's day. We have another tray that she is going to paint a roadrunner on in the same "field notes" style. We have quite a few chickadees, crows, and roadrunners on our place.

Outstanding!

Unk wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 4:50 pm So you guys have seen the pictures of the rat snakes I posted. I joined a Facebook group yesterday - "What kind of snake is this? - North Texas Educational Group". After looking at some pictures on the site, I began to question whether the snake under my patio was a rat snake or a plain-bellied water snake. I posted some pics, and come to find out, he is not a rat snake at all. It's a Plain-Bellied water snake. (I have also seen some true rat snakes around here as well).

We have been calling him "Ratatouille" for the last couple of years, thinking he was a Rat Snake. So now we need to change his name. I like the name "Steve", but my wife prefers "Oh S^%@! A snake!"

But this is a Plain-Bellied Water Snake - Not a Rat snake:

We've got a Western Rat Snake living under the house. I usually see him lying in one of the south side flower beds. He's too fast for me to get my phone out of my pocket, security code punched in, camera app activated and pointed for me to get a good picture of before he retreats under the house through a silver dollar sized chink between the house siding and the beam foundation. He's at least 7 feet long because when he doubles over himself to reverse course, his doubled over length is nearly 4 feet long, based on reference weeds in the flower bed. I figure the more mice he eats under the house, the fewer that get into the house AND the fewer mice that are around to lure in rattlers.

I've caught 5 Western Diamondbacks between 4 feet and 6 feet long (47.5", 52.5", 57", 65" and 68.5") in live traps removing 56 skunks that tookup residence under the house over a 4 year period. Haven't caught a skunk from under the house in 2 years. I think I finally got all the skunk doors sealed over.

Unk wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 4:50 pm So you guys have seen the pictures of the rat snakes I posted. I joined a Facebook group yesterday - "What kind of snake is this? - North Texas Educational Group". After looking at some pictures on the site, I began to question whether the snake under my patio was a rat snake or a plain-bellied water snake. I posted some pics, and come to find out, he is not a rat snake at all. It's a Plain-Bellied water snake. (I have also seen some true rat snakes around here as well).

We have been calling him "Ratatouille" for the last couple of years, thinking he was a Rat Snake. So now we need to change his name. I like the name "Steve", but my wife prefers "Oh S^%@! A snake!"

But this is a Plain-Bellied Water Snake - Not a Rat snake:

Hi unk,
Your wife has the same name, I use when I see a snake.
I then say BANG! your dead...Ken ....

Never cared for winder washing, but that's just me.

bighomer wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:49 pm Never cared for winder washing, but that's just me.

That looks like a good job for trained volunteers from the "big house".

FRJ wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:56 pm

bighomer wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:49 pm Never cared for winder washing, but that's just me.

That looks like a good job for trained volunteers from the "big house".

Just like cleaning up litter along the highways should!!!!
John

zzyzzogeton wrote: ↑Sun May 15, 2022 6:19 pm


I've caught 5 Western Diamondbacks between 4 feet and 6 feet long (47.5", 52.5", 57", 65" and 68.5") in live traps removing 56 skunks that tookup residence under the house over a 4 year period. Haven't caught a skunk from under the house in 2 years. I think I finally got all the skunk doors sealed over.

We have killed a few big diamond backs in the vicinity of our place - including one over 6 feet. They are putting in a new subdivision down the road, and I think they disturbed a snake den. But we haven't seen any ON our place. I am sure they are here, just haven't seen any since we moved in. We do have plenty of copperheads, though.

koldgold wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 8:33 am

Hi unk,
Your wife has the same name, I use when I see a snake.
I then say BANG! your dead...Ken ....
[/quote]

We kill all the copperheads and rattlesnakes, but pretty much leave the non-venomous ones alone.

Moon at the break of day.

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 2:34 pm Thanks you, guys. Here's another crow painting she made for my wife.

Good morning Mike. Your daughter is a very talented person. What does she like to use for paint ? My Wife has been painting for a number of years and has stayed with oil based paint . Your Daughters stuff is very appealing and well put together. That tray with the field notes is a great idea.
Thanks for sharing . Have a good one.

hi JP,

Your wife is very talented as well, nice work!

I asked my daughter your question, and she said her favorite medium/s were acrylics and also gouache. And colored pencils.
Here are some of her acrylics she did in High School. Her painting of the red-haired girl won a gold key in the Texas VASE competition, and was in an exhibit that toured several art museums around Texas. In the competition, the kids are interviewed about the meaning of their paintings and their inspiration. The items woven into the girls hair have meaning to my daughter. She is shown discussing her painting with the curator of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts while it was featured in a display there. She received her Art Education degree a few years ago and now teaches art at a local High School.

I'm a proud dad, in case you couldn't tell.

And you should be Mike!!
John

jmh58 wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 3:56 pm
And you should be Mike!!
John

Agree

Some brilliant talent on display here.

Ripster wrote: ↑Tue May 17, 2022 11:09 am

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 2:34 pm Thanks you, guys. Here's another crow painting she made for my wife.

Good morning Mike. Your daughter is a very talented person. What does she like to use for paint ? My Wife has been painting for a number of years and has stayed with oil based paint . Your Daughters stuff is very appealing and well put together. That tray with the field notes is a great idea.
Thanks for sharing . Have a good one.

Amazing work!!!

Unk wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 3:21 pm hi JP,

Your wife is very talented as well, nice work!

I asked my daughter your question, and she said her favorite medium/s were acrylics and also gouache. And colored pencils.
Here are some of her acrylics she did in High School. Her painting of the red-haired girl won a gold key in the Texas VASE competition, and was in an exhibit that toured several art museums around Texas. In the competition, the kids are interviewed about the meaning of their paintings and their inspiration. The items woven into the girls hair have meaning to my daughter. She is shown discussing her painting with the curator of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts while it was featured in a display there. She received her Art Education degree a few years ago and now teaches art at a local High School.

I'm a proud dad, in case you couldn't tell.

And these too also, wow!

A Spotted Tiger Beetle showed up on my patio, I normally only see them in the woods. Not that they are rare, but I was able to get a shot of the white mandibles showing, they aren't always noticeable if you happen to run across one of these fellas.

Ike,
Great pictures of a critter I’ve not encountered yet. ::
Treefarmer

treefarmer wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 11:13 pm Ike,
Great pictures of a critter I’ve not encountered yet. ::
Treefarmer

While common here in the Midwest, they evidently aren't found much further South......according to what I just read.

Ike, very fine photos of an interesting critter.

Had to go lawn tractor shopping last week. My 15 yo box store 22 hp John Deere L120 just would go up a hill anymore and didn't see any point to dropping more into this. Big surprise, there were none to be had, new, anywhere local. Check with all the usual suspects. Ended up with a lightly used Cub Cadet with a 26 horse Kohler engine, 54 inch fabricated deck. The hill is no problem now. Tickled with this one. And the neighbor is lending me his sweeping attachment.

It looks new and I like the color.