Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Brian, it sounds like you're going to need a couple of those drones that send video back to the computer to monitor the fence line etc. You'll need the second one to find the first one you crashed

Ain't this the truth?
Reminds me of an old story about a Texan and a New Mexican working on a shared fence. New Mexican asks the Texan, "How much property do you have on your side of the fence? Texan says, " Let me put it this way, If I started out right here and drove my truck to the far fence, I wouldn't get there until after dark." New Mexican replied compassionately, "I have a truck just like that."

Thank you David.
I'm seeing that the ridiculous amount of sanding we did, really did pay off. I mean yeah, in multiple rooms of this scale we were bound to have a few spots which were overlooked, but I can count the blemishes on one hand, so we're ecstatic.

I may add lighting to the greenhouse this year so I can control the length of daylight hours to help keep plants from bolting. Except for around the channel plastic on the roof nothing froze last year, knock on wood. It stayed warm enough in the greenhouse we didn't close the French doors even on the coldest days and nights. I'm so grateful the earth-sheltered design works as well as the author of the book said it would I also attribute the warmth to a lifetime of forest work and having all the seasoned firewood we need to keep our shanty toasty warm.

Self leveling compound is probably needed at least in a few places where the wet concrete got rained on. I've been trying to figure out if I can get the laser level to show me where the high places are, but haven't come up with a way yet. It's little bits of gravel sticking up that create a pivot point that are messing this up. The floor itself is level. I've located a few pebbles that stick up and ground them down with a side grinder.
Nor have I decided where to start the tiles. I figure I need to get chalk lines laid out in every room so I have a better chance of keeping the tiles straight.
Winging it again...
Hoping my beginners luck doesn't run out when we're so close...

Pick a point of reference that gives you a benchmark and level and depending on how the laser is transmitted (nicer if line and not just a point) you can then measure down.

Just remember, farther from zero is a depression and closer is a rise. Then it is a guessing game of whether or not the trowel will give you some to bed the tile into.

It is one of those things you just have to do and hope for the best.

Also, you can feather out the few areas if it really bothers ya and if a neutral color, can touch up with paint if need be (being you like to paint soo much)

Adam

Thanks Adam. And yeah I do like to paint if it means no more sanding, otherwise I would rather be playing with our fish. There is a lot of enjoyable things to do when you have this beautiful country to do it in. I can and probably will spend the rest of my days right here on this property my parent's set up as a living trust. I just need my mobility to be returned to me somewhat intact
I got the most positive feedback from the rheumatologist after missing my appointment last week, the staff said "I needn't worry, they will get me in maybe as early as Monday." I hate it when people say I needn't worry. I calmly explained this mix up has caused a lot of worry. I wish I could have said I've had more worry this week than I had in the two years of waiting to get my first appointment. This week I had the worst inflammation flareup in a long time. My body can't wait any longer. My head feels spiritually broken. I was ready to say "I surrender."

Just hang in there.

Your addition comes a long nicely, good work.

Saturday morning huge turkeys in the field



Shot with Nikon D3300

hah they fooled you! They are not nearly as big as they look all puffed up! probably only 2/3 or maybe even 1/2 that size when their feathers aren't puffed up for show... but it has the effect they want, making them look bigger =)

got yourself a nice view there Brian... my kind of place having the nearest neighbor barely big enough to see them in the distance =)

Well, I have only seen hens with their young around here and the whole bird would be lucky to compare in size to a turkey leg from a fair or renaissance festival.

It is a beautiful view and very thankful to have seen the varying landscapes (in person or photos) NM has to offer.

Hope all goes well with getting you into see Dr. today.

Adam

Thanks guys.

Our Guinea fowl are getting pretty large as well. We need to go get some scratch for them as they don't like the pellets we bought last time. They still come right up to us when we feed them, but no, it isn't something they like, bummer. They always appear to be in a hurry to change locations too. Luckily this was a bumper crop season for wildflower seeds. Fun to watch them go after low lying sunflowers. Looks like Velociraptors in Jurassic Park moving through the tall vegas.


These images are from pre-dawn Sunday morning. I think it rained again last night. If this is an indication of what kind of snow we'll get this Winter, boy howdy!

Got pellets a time or two, and birds flat refuse to eat. However, they will eat crumble (some more readily than others) almost every time.

Flock raiser or Hi-pro (16-18%) is what you want for your Guineas.

Personal preference: I mix a 3:1 ratio of flock raiser:scratch during the colder months and go straight flock when bugs are out to be eaten.

We are down to just 5, but they are still a deadly squad with the male being almost 7 years old. His hens are probably all hatched on the ranch, but there might be one left over from the original batch.

Adam

Great thanks for the information. It is exactly what I need to know. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/purina-flock-raiser-crumbles-premium-poultry-feed-50-lb let me see if TCS has the other.

That is the stuff. All though don't go by just color of bag. Purina Flock raiser is easy = green bag.

If you shop at multiple locations, read the label to ensure you get what you want. Yes, TSC has hi-pro because flock raiser is normally out.

I have said hi-pro and gotten chick starter. Also gotten enhanced egg layer? (not really, as long as it is crumble)

When your guineas start laying, you'll see, if you eat the eggs, they do not need any shell fortification.

Last year I raised 4 turkeys that I bought as 3 day old or whatever from Family Farm & Home (not sure if it's national, but it's the new TSC copy cat that came to town on the other side of the road from our TSC... they have pretty much the same stuff but they do have better selection of birds in the spring...even though the birds come from the same farm no matter where we buy them here they are all from a farm about 2-3 hours north of here).

The turkeys I raised last year, the first one had something wrong with it, it was sick weakly looking thing when I turned them loose out of the brooder, it didn't seem to gain any more weight while the other 3 nearly doubled in size so I finally culled it. Then the first one we ate I butchered one for 4th of July cookout that we deep fried and turned out amazing. It was a 20lb bird before I butchered it, and it barely fit in the turkey fryer. The second one I butchered and we ate for Thanksgiving last year was a 30lb bird still turned out good. The final one I didn't butcher until he was 40lbs, he was tough... I cut it up in to small pieces / steaks etc. and tried cooking just little bits at a time but you can't chew it very well so we tried cooking it twice neither time was any good so the rest is in the freezer still, just pulled two packages out last night to thaw to feed to the dogs this week so I can start getting rid of it. I still have those huge carnival type of legs from him that are in the freezer.

Back to the original point, the turkeys all looked HUGE when they ruffled their feathers up, all three of the ones I raised were toms, but when their feathers weren't puffed up they were much smaller. They puff their feathers up for multiple reasons, for mating, for making predators think they are bigger than they are, or for showing dominance to other turkeys seem to be the reasons I could tell.

They were funny as hell to watch when I turned them loose then set my electronic caller out and put a turkey call on it... they ran around like crazy not knowing where to go or what to do...