Sorry to hear about the problems but it looks like you have taken them in
stride and handled them well.

I am sure things will go flawlessly next time out.


"Bryan" wrote in message
m...
So, I'm a believer now that the worst day with my boat is still better
than my best day at work.
It's the last day of summer before school starts, so I took my daughter
and a few of her friends to the lake.

The first thing I did was drag my skeg in my driveway; oh, you're supposed
to raise the prop before trailering?
The second thing I did was get whacked in the face with a bungee cord that
my daughter let fly. Blood everywhere, a knot on my cheek and a black
eye, broken sunglasses, and worst of all my daughter still feels rotten no
matter how many times I tell her it's ok.
Third, you know those trees I asked about in another thread, well, I ran
into one (no damage and I'm not even going to try to explain).
Then, remember that anchor I didn't want to lose to the trees, well, in a
treeless area I lost my brand new anchor. It just fell off the chain. I
dropped anchor in a treeless part of the lake so the kids could swim. We
kept drifting so I pulled the anchor up, actually just the rode and chain.
Well, that explained the lack of weight at the other end.
And still, I can't wait to go out again with the kids; darn this
interfering school stuff!

90 degrees or more with refreshing water temps and four 11 year old girls
having a great time at the lake. Saw some wildlife (woodpecker, squirrel)
and top-feeding bass; the girls loved it. This boating thing is
addictive! The worst day is better than a day at work.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"Bryan" wrote in message
. ..

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
No squirrels at home???


Rats. Mice. Opossum. Skunk. Crow. Geese. Pigeon. Dove. Egret.
That's our suburban backyard. Some call it wildlife. Some call it
suburban wildlife. With the exception of the egrets, I just call it
pests. The lake is a wilderness area compared to our suburban life, so
the kids aren't used to seeing animals in their natural habitat. Oh
yeah, and I haven't seen a squirrel in the 10 years I've lived here.


Where's "here"?


Sonoma County near Santa Rosa.

Hmm. An optimist, eh? Yeah, it will be better. Really, it will.

Thanks

"*JimH*" wrote in message
...
Sorry to hear about the problems but it looks like you have taken them in
stride and handled them well.

I am sure things will go flawlessly next time out.


"Bryan" wrote in message
m...
So, I'm a believer now that the worst day with my boat is still better
than my best day at work.
It's the last day of summer before school starts, so I took my daughter
and a few of her friends to the lake.

The first thing I did was drag my skeg in my driveway; oh, you're
supposed to raise the prop before trailering?
The second thing I did was get whacked in the face with a bungee cord
that my daughter let fly. Blood everywhere, a knot on my cheek and a
black eye, broken sunglasses, and worst of all my daughter still feels
rotten no matter how many times I tell her it's ok.
Third, you know those trees I asked about in another thread, well, I ran
into one (no damage and I'm not even going to try to explain).
Then, remember that anchor I didn't want to lose to the trees, well, in a
treeless area I lost my brand new anchor. It just fell off the chain. I
dropped anchor in a treeless part of the lake so the kids could swim. We
kept drifting so I pulled the anchor up, actually just the rode and
chain. Well, that explained the lack of weight at the other end.
And still, I can't wait to go out again with the kids; darn this
interfering school stuff!

90 degrees or more with refreshing water temps and four 11 year old girls
having a great time at the lake. Saw some wildlife (woodpecker,
squirrel) and top-feeding bass; the girls loved it. This boating thing
is addictive! The worst day is better than a day at work.

"Bryan" wrote in message
m...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"Bryan" wrote in message
. ..

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
No squirrels at home???


Rats. Mice. Opossum. Skunk. Crow. Geese. Pigeon. Dove. Egret.
That's our suburban backyard. Some call it wildlife. Some call it
suburban wildlife. With the exception of the egrets, I just call it
pests. The lake is a wilderness area compared to our suburban life, so
the kids aren't used to seeing animals in their natural habitat. Oh
yeah, and I haven't seen a squirrel in the 10 years I've lived here.


Where's "here"?


Sonoma County near Santa Rosa.


I could package up a few dozen squirrels for you, if you're interested. That
would leave me with a few thousand.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Bryan" wrote in message
m...
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Bryan" wrote in message
. ..
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
No squirrels at home???

Rats. Mice. Opossum. Skunk. Crow. Geese. Pigeon. Dove. Egret.
That's our suburban backyard. Some call it wildlife. Some call it
suburban wildlife. With the exception of the egrets, I just call it
pests. The lake is a wilderness area compared to our suburban life,
so the kids aren't used to seeing animals in their natural habitat.
Oh yeah, and I haven't seen a squirrel in the 10 years I've lived
here.

Where's "here"?

Sonoma County near Santa Rosa.


I could package up a few dozen squirrels for you, if you're interested.
That would leave me with a few thousand.


My wife feeds the squirrels. Not close to the house, thankfully, but she
does put out their favorite seeds. She feeds all the other critters, too.
We have a couple of foxes that stop by for dinner at dusk. They really are
beautiful animals. One of our near neighbors has a pair of llamas, but
they are not roaming the forest.

Many gardeners would take your wife for a one-way boat ride. :-) Squirrels
can wreak havoc with seed beds. I like them, but there's no need to attract
them, and *definitely* no need to feed them. I've got my entire garden
caged, just so they won't dig around the various seedlings which are
sprouting all season long. Without cages, I'd never see lettuce, carrots, or
anything else.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Bryan" wrote in message
m...
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Bryan" wrote in message
. ..
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
No squirrels at home???

Rats. Mice. Opossum. Skunk. Crow. Geese. Pigeon. Dove.
Egret. That's our suburban backyard. Some call it wildlife. Some
call it suburban wildlife. With the exception of the egrets, I just
call it pests. The lake is a wilderness area compared to our
suburban life, so the kids aren't used to seeing animals in their
natural habitat. Oh yeah, and I haven't seen a squirrel in the 10
years I've lived here.

Where's "here"?

Sonoma County near Santa Rosa.

I could package up a few dozen squirrels for you, if you're interested.
That would leave me with a few thousand.

My wife feeds the squirrels. Not close to the house, thankfully, but she
does put out their favorite seeds. She feeds all the other critters,
too. We have a couple of foxes that stop by for dinner at dusk. They
really are beautiful animals. One of our near neighbors has a pair of
llamas, but they are not roaming the forest.

Many gardeners would take your wife for a one-way boat ride. :-)
Squirrels can wreak havoc with seed beds. I like them, but there's no
need to attract them, and *definitely* no need to feed them. I've got my
entire garden caged, just so they won't dig around the various seedlings
which are sprouting all season long. Without cages, I'd never see
lettuce, carrots, or anything else.


She feeds "her" critters at the edge of our woods, so so far they haven't
come looking for anything other than her offerings. Some of those
offerings ain't too shabby. I left some fishheads out one evening, and one
of the foxes carried them off, one at a time, and then came back for the
tinfoil pie plate.

We grow some container tomatoes and peppers, that's about it. All the
other produce we get from local farmers.

I do that for some stuff. But, at least a couple of time each summer, I have
to have Silver Queen corn, from plant to plate in less than 5 minutes.
Amazing.

It is detremental to wild animals to teach them to use humans as their
source of food. People have told Harry that this is not healthy for
wildlife, but he is not interested in what is best for wildlife, only what
is good for Harry. Only a self centered idiot would feed wild animals.

from: http://www.nps.gov/brca/feeding_wildlife.html

Feeding wildlife is actually a form of animal cruelty. Animals that are fed
by humans learn to frequent roadsides and parking lots, dramatically
increasing their chances of being run-over by a careless motorist. Most
animals have very specific natural diets and therefore specific kinds of
digestive bacteria. Being fed human food causes the wrong type of bacteria
to become dominant in the stomachs. Soon these animals are no longer able to
digest their natural foods. They end up starving to death with stomachs full
of what they should have been eating all along. What could be more cruel?

http://www.wildlifecareofventura.org...0Why%20Not.htm


Eight reasons why you should not feed wild animals:

Eight Good Reasons
....why you shouldn't feed wildlife

By Anne Muraski
reprinted from the "Quarterly Release,"
Friends of Monterey County Wildlife's newsletter

Wildlife Care of Ventura County volunteers see the ill effects of feeding
wild animals every day. Experts agree that this misplaced kindness is a
major threat to wildlife. Here are a few reasons why you should not feed
wild animals:

1.. Providing an artificial food source causes adults to produce large
families which the natural food supply can't support.
Overpopulation leads to starvation and epidemics of disease. Many of these
diseases are dangerous to humans: bubonic plague, salmonella, psittacosis,
and rabies, to name a few.
Feeding caused the overpopulation of Norway rats that colonized in Pacific
Grove's Lover's Point Park in recent years. The rats were attracted and
sustained by the abundant snacks left for ground squirrels by tourists. The
potential public health hazard prompted the county environmental health
director to order that the city actively enforce its non-feeding ordinance.

2.. It is illegal to feed wildlife.
Ventura County animal control ordinance prohibits feeding wild animals
except for the use of bird feeders. The Marine Mammal Protection Act imposes
hefty fines for persons who harass, disturb or interfere with the natural
behaviors of marine mammals such as whales, sea lions, harbor seals,
pelicans, etc. - this would include providing food to attract the animals or
encourage domesticity. It is also illegal to possess any native wildlife
without a permit: if you find an injured animal, you should call a licensed
rehabilitator in your area immediately.

3.. Wild animals have specialized diets and can die from the wrong foods.
Many people feed wildlife as a form of entertainment; but bread, popcorn,
French fries and picnic leftovers can cause disease, death, mouth injuries
and throat obstructions in animals adapted to eat other foods.
Feeding the wrong diet to a baby animal even for a day or two can
permanently damage developing muscles, bones and tissues, making survival
impossible. Even feeding supposedly "healthy" food is harmful because it
alters the animal's foraging patterns and can cause overpopulation which
ultimately leads to starvation.

4.. Feeding causes wildlife to lose their natural fear of humans.
These animals become easy targets for people who do not respect wildlife
and would hurt them intentionally. Also, there are many people who are
afraid of wildlife and may injure an animal in an attempt to defend
themselves against a mistaken "attack."

5.. You always risk injury when you do not keep a respectful distance from
wild animals who may misinterpret your actions.
Wild animals defend themselves with teeth, beaks, claws, talons, spines,
venom, and toxins to name a few adaptions. There is no guarantee that a wild
animal knows where the food stops and your fingers begin. Sadly, it is
usually the animal which loses when the person feeding complains of being
"attacked." For some reason, many people who would never consider petting a
stray dog will readily approach a wild animal.

6.. Providing food in residential areas often leads to property damage and
unwelcome wild "houseguests."
Wildlife Care of Ventura County receives hundreds of calls each year from
people complaining of damage and disruption to their homes and landscaping
from deer, raccoons and other wildlife. Often this is because someone is
attracting the animal with food either on purpose or inadvertently by
leaving out pet food or not securing garbage.

7.. Feeding changes behavior patterns, sometimes with catastrophic
results.
Such was the case in 1988 when vendors in Monterey were selling fish to
feed to the brown pelicans and sea lions. As a result, many of the birds did
not migrate and the reduced winter food supply couldn't support them. The
Monterey Wildlife Center received hundreds of pelicans sick from
erysphelatrix, a disease the birds contracted from eating the spoiled fish
they learned to scavenge from the wharf garbage bins. The starving pelicans
also were snatching at people's food with their sharp beaks.

8.. Feeding causes injuries and harmful interactions between wildlife
species.
For instance, when fishing operations discard leftover offal into the
ocean after fish cleaning, it forces confrontations between species who
otherwise would not interact. Suddenly, pelicans, who dive for fish near the
surface of the water, and harbor seals, who forage for food in the water
column and near the ocean floor, are forced to compete for food in the same
area, causing injuries which otherwise would not occur. Also, while many
marine mammals and birds eat whole fish, the skin and bones of fish by
itself is not easily digestible, has little caloric value, and can cause
choking and injuries. Fish bones can be very sharp, and Wildlife Care
volunteers have had to remove many fish skeletons from the delicate pouches
and throats of pelicans whose mouths are adapted to swallow whole fish, not
crunch bones. Punctures and lacerations are easily infected, causing a slow
death when animals cannot forage or swallow.

Remember: when people and wildlife interact, wildlife often ends up losing.
Always enjoy wildlife from a distance!



http://www.wildlifecareofventura.org...0Why%20Not.htm










"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Bryan" wrote in message
m...
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Bryan" wrote in message
. ..
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
No squirrels at home???

Rats. Mice. Opossum. Skunk. Crow. Geese. Pigeon. Dove.
Egret.
That's our suburban backyard. Some call it wildlife. Some call it
suburban wildlife. With the exception of the egrets, I just call it
pests. The lake is a wilderness area compared to our suburban life,
so the kids aren't used to seeing animals in their natural habitat.
Oh yeah, and I haven't seen a squirrel in the 10 years I've lived
here.

Where's "here"?

Sonoma County near Santa Rosa.

I could package up a few dozen squirrels for you, if you're interested.
That would leave me with a few thousand.

My wife feeds the squirrels. Not close to the house, thankfully, but she
does put out their favorite seeds. She feeds all the other critters,
too.
We have a couple of foxes that stop by for dinner at dusk. They really
are
beautiful animals. One of our near neighbors has a pair of llamas, but
they are not roaming the forest.

Many gardeners would take your wife for a one-way boat ride. :-)
Squirrels
can wreak havoc with seed beds. I like them, but there's no need to
attract
them, and *definitely* no need to feed them. I've got my entire garden
caged, just so they won't dig around the various seedlings which are
sprouting all season long. Without cages, I'd never see lettuce, carrots,
or
anything else.




She feeds "her" critters at the edge of our woods, so so far they
haven't come looking for anything other than her offerings. Some of
those offerings ain't too shabby. I left some fishheads out one evening,
and one of the foxes carried them off, one at a time, and then came back
for the tinfoil pie plate.

We grow some container tomatoes and peppers, that's about it. All the
other produce we get from local farmers.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:11:40 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

Many gardeners would take your wife for a one-way boat ride. :-) Squirrels
can wreak havoc with seed beds. I like them, but there's no need to
attract
them, and *definitely* no need to feed them. I've got my entire garden
caged, just so they won't dig around the various seedlings which are
sprouting all season long. Without cages, I'd never see lettuce, carrots,
or
anything else.

I'm not a farmer type, although I have been known to have a vegetable
garden once or twice.

I just don't have the patience.

I don't either, but after 30 years, I have it down to a science. Other than
the initial creation of the garden, which is a bitch (because I don't like
rototillers), it's pretty easy, if you have the right tools. This week, I've
got mustard greens, baby-size, that were grown under some shade cloth so
they wouldn't get bitter. Holy smokes...delicious with a slightly sweet
dressing like raspberry vinaigrette. Next week, fresh arugula, collards,
swiss chard. I got eggplant like crazy, enough tomatoes to supply the whole
neighborhood, tarragon, oregano, parsley, sage, basil (pesto twice a week!),
corn, 3 kinds of lettuce, 4 kinds of peppers, lima beans, green beans.
Coming soon: Snow peas, pak choy, escarole, regular peas.

Next year, I'm gonna double the size. Gotta save up money for the fence,
though. Too many deer and woodchucks. Acquired a new kitten this weekend.
She's being trained to deal with the rabbits. Going to the mall to get a
very realistic stuffed bunny. I'm gonna open it up, add a few tablespoons of
catnip, sew it back up, and teach kitty that this is the reason for her
existence.

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:00:56 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

Next week, fresh arugula,

~~ snicker ~~

Doug said arugula.

Sorry...were the grandkids looking over your shoulder?

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...


A Bully of Bunnies!

What's your problem with rototillers? They make gardening much easier. You
can rent a commercial grade tiller down here for about $35 for a day, and
that's enough time to turn over the dirt for really large garden.


For a number of reasons.

1) You're not supposed to turn over the soil. The soil exists in definite
layers. The layer at the top BELONGS at the top, not buried or mixed with
the layer that's a foot deeper. It contains more of the microorganisms that
make organic gardening work so well. If you screw it up, it can take 2-3
seasons to recover, and there's NO way to speed up the process using soil
amendments.

2) If you're making new beds where there's now some lawn, the goal is to
remove the turf, not chop it into a million pieces and bury some of it like
a rototiller does. Otherwise, the grass will be popping up all over the
place a month later. You have to slice the turf into manageable pieces,
slide under it with a fork, and shake off the soil. It's easy if you get the
right spade & fork, like a Smith & Hawken or something like that. Sounds
like a lot of work, but you're gonna end up doing it anyway if you rototill.
At least with hand tools, you know you've gotten 99% of the grass because it
never gets hidden under the surface.

Once the garden's been prepared, it NEVER gets turned over - just loosened
slightly with a fork in the spring. I injured my shoulder back in March, but
I was able to do this job one-handed because the soil was perfect.