Lava Rock

My point and click for sat night says lower 40's. Won't happen on our hilltop, but that's going to feel real frigid sunday morning most places.

3 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

74/68F.   My thunderstorm/shower deflector works yet again.    .00001" 

bummer. Lawn is starting to struggle again.

0.31" with the fropa.

7 minutes ago, MaineJayhawk said:

I don't even bother hitting the brakes or try to dodge them any longer.  Straight line and constant speed ... let their maker sort them out.

I've hit two this summer. I feel bad, but I'm not bobbing and weaving to avoid those rats.

18 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

Absolute full blown nudity this weekend. Those temps are going to feel amazing.

Just when it turns nice, we'll be off to Ireland on Sunday. Probably be damp and humid, lol.

Sad. I loved skiing there.

From what I understand there's no deal to save Saddleback. The deal with the non-profit is dead. There's been no new news on Sugarloaftoday.com regarding Saddleback for the last month.

From the paper
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/09/04/as-squirrel-population-booms-roadkills-surge/

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Good.

Major gut punch to summer later this week.

Seriously, how many ways can you make an IPA. I think it's getting old the number of breweries that have their "own" IPA. For me, its all starting to taste the same

Tree House is very good but not life changing. So far I've had Julius, Bright, and Hurricane with Hurricane being my favorite of the three. Best NE IPA I've ever had was from Other Half in Brooklyn and these don't top it. 

25 minutes ago, dendrite said:

I've never seen this much squirrel roadkill on the highway before. It's like 5/mile.

Maybe Jerry knows what it means.

Same here. Dead roadkill all over. Saw couple squirrels swimming in the lake last weekend. Didn't know they could do that.

Ugh. More of this crap next week

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Bunch of wuss bags

There it is, Springfield Schools just announced early dismissal for the first day of classes due to heat.  
#backinmyday

3 hours ago, tamarack said:

They'd have a hard time competing with the crabgrass. 
That Oak on Lava Rock is a good looking specimen tree.  I'd try some hostas  - many different species/colors/patterns available - in the spots that get the most shade, and blueberries probably would do okay in 6-8" soil if fertilized (Miracid or another formula for acid-loving plants), as they're somewhat drought resistant, though a dry season would limit fruit production.

I think we've finally made a decision as to what we'll do with the lawn. Going to add 8-10" topsoil/fill in area depicted and add some erosion type matting. Use small (1-2' high) boulders to outline, then plant some blueberries, perennials, creeping juniper. Top it off with mulch. We'll be careful not to backfill around the trunk of the oak. Total cost $3,000.

The only downside to the above is we don't have the money to fix and re-seed all the other bare and thin patches in the lawn. Will have to wait till Spring. The other option would be to skip the above and fix all of the lawn now including the area around oak, hydroseed and see how well it all takes, especially around the oak. While I understand the oak is partly responsible for the bare area around the tree, I think part of the lower bare area is due more to poor soil, insufficient depth. It's possible if we went ahead with this 2nd option, the area for which we'd have to put mulch and plants maybe much smaller if the new grass were able to "grow in" and establish on the slope.

4 minutes ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

I'd keep the tree. Have you consider using a combination of plants that do not require a lot of water along with rocks and/or mulch. They are pushing the wall because they are going to make a boatload of money off of the wall.  Home Depot sells outdoor wall kits. I'm not sure if they would work for you in that area. There is a lot you can do that will not set you back thousands. Have fun and experiment a bit. 

see my reply above yours. I was thinking of just what you suggested. Only issue might be being able to dig planting holes deep enough (typically 12-16") to drop new plants into. The granite isn't too far beneath the grass.

What about skipping the backfill, just putting in some boulders then planting a bunch of shrubs, blueberry bushes, then put down some mulch. Good or bad?

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48 minutes ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

That may possibly happen. I'd probably start by using a tiller to turn over the soil. And then add topsoil. And then overseed the area. Provided of course I wanted to have grass growing in that area. I'm not a big fan of hydroseeding. I know people who have hydroseeded their lawns and at first it looked great but over time(within a year) the lawns began to have issues

the tiller option was another consideration in combo with bringing in 4" loam. The landscape guys are pushing the rock wall because they believe that if we try and just put loam/grass around the oak, the grass will eventually die due to too much competition for nurtrients/water from the oak. The other concern is erosion again, althogh our lawn on the backside of house is much steeper and once the grass took hold there, there were never any erosion issues. I think most of it is due to the oak. Thought about cutting the oak down, but it's a nice tree, adds some character to the property and a bit of shade.

2 hours ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

Hi,

  Is the $2800 estimate for loam just for that area of your lawn? The area has potential to say the least. There is a lot that can be done with that area. Have you considered doing the project yourself? Home Depot and Lowes both sell plenty of items that would work in that area to make it look better. YouTube is a great resource for getting idea for home and garden projects.

The $2800 which is straight up 4" loam and no wall would be for ~7000sqft, so the entire yard, not just around the oak. I probably could do the wall myself but limited time is part of problem, plus not 100% confident in doing it right with proper drainage, etc. What kind of "items" are you referring to?

1 hour ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Did they break out labor & materials for the wall?  3' high boulders are not light.  That $4450 seems reasonable for a 40' rock wall.

The additional $3,600 seems steep. How large an area are we talking for that and how much loam (cubic yards) are they bringing in?  I know around here loam is $20/cuyd plus delivery.

The $4450 was not broken down, but includes the wall and backfill. The $3600 is for 5800sqft and includes anywhere from 1-4" loam and then hydroseed.

51 minutes ago, tamarack said:

If that backfill includes much of the ground around that oak, I fear you can kiss it goodbye, though if you really want to keep it, you could either exclude it from the fill or build a dry well around it.  Most trees have the vast majority of their fine roots, the water-nutrient gatherers, within the top 12" of soil, and they have a tough time if those roots are suddenly 2' or more underground.  (Not that anybody asked)

Never even thougtht about the death of the oak with the backfill. A few trees have died, mostly pines around our propoerty line from too much backfill when we built the house. I think the thought is they would taper the depth of the loam from ~4" at the base of the oak to as much as 36" to the edge of the wall. Of course, at the wall, not all will be loam; only the top 4".

So we got one of two estimates to install retaining wall, backfill and repair remaining lawn damaged ares. See pic. To install 40' retaining wall using natural 3' high boulders, backfill with clay, sand, then loam, they want $4450. Seems high. This doesn't include adding any shrubs or plants in the area. To fix remaining lawn damaged areas outside of the backfilled area is another $3600. Last year, I got a quote from our excavator guy for $2800 to bring in 4" loam and cover existing grass. For another $1000, they would hydroseed. I was ready to spend ~$3500 max, but no way to afford $8000+.

Couple maples along road are already turning

Down to 52 here. Getting close to having to turn the heat on! I noticed today that the trees are no longer the uniform deep green, and you can start seeing more muted greens and somewhat orangish hues mixed in on the tops. It's coming! 

Sebago

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I don't care how great the beer is, I'm not waiting an hour for a beer

I'm not sure Saturday is even their busiest day for cans since it's not a new release day but Kevin would know best. 
Just drive the 2.5 hours to Alchemist.  Better beer imho and no lines.

Are these dews pulling out today? Up to 71.

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Looks like some decent stuff moving in if it holds together

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Did the antenna come with amplifier?

So I got an antenna to supplement the channels I don’t get with YouTube tv. Antenna doesn’t pick up many channels, and does not get loca cbs (pats pre season).
Ive checked all streaming services and I am in the providence market for every one. I also can’t fudge the location since my billing adress is in Taunton.
Hopefully no issues once regular season rolls around. 

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Agreed, though I might leave out "much" for weeks, as I think the high-to-low ratios are less pronounced for that shorter period.  In my short-term (starting with June 1998) records, there have been runs of 6+ consecutive AN months several times and, without checking, I don't think there's been any that long for BN months.  (Have to check winter 2002-03 and shoulders, off-hand the best candidate.)

Edit:  Bad guess on my part.  I've had 4 BN streaks of 6+ (all are 8 months) and 4 AN (7,7,8,9.)  Take it with a bucketload of salt, however.  The nearby co-op has recorded temps during my period of record that run 1.2° milder (from 0.2 in June to 2.3 in January) than their 1981-2010 norms, so their AN-streak advantage would be considerably greater than mine.

She got lucky.  The poison in mushrooms will not tarnish silver.  People have died from this mistake

Had a friend who was a skilled mycologist (he's since deceased, but not from mushrooms), and his fungus-testing quip was, "Take a bite and wait 15 minutes.  If you begin to feel dizzy, don't eat any more."  That would work fine with some deadly species for which symptoms don't appear until 6+ hours after consumption.

are those shrooms in the lawn that look like puff balls and "smoke" when u step on them dangerous?