Potting Camas

We mentioned last week the suprise we found of our Camas bulbs sprouting in the refrigerator...

The temp in there was 46*F, and the bulbs were in there since the 1st of July!

Here's a couple of them. Even the bulbs busted in half started to sprout.


So... what do you do with a bunch of bulbs? Try planting them!

Camas seems to be a difficult plant to domesticate and grow, so we wanted to see if we could at least get the bulbs going.

We potted these and they are responding well in the windowsil (inside). We also potted some, and will keep them out in the cold, indoors, and another pot outdoors, to see if anything happens.

In Feb/March, we'll also be planting seeds to see what they do. The seeds we planted back in July never did anything...

Alot of Ice

Wow - it has been a cold week! Beautiful, clear, and cold.

The ducks are having a tough time finding open water on the ponds...





This heron has changed color, expecting snow...








And the kids are having fun - as ever.

Alot of pipes bursting around the neighborhood, and unfortunately a fire. The weather has been fun, but we are not used to it so COLD in this part of the Pacific NW.

Glad to have the rain and 45*F weather again, though snow would be nice!

Making Movies... and FREE Software

After taking thousands of photos this year of all our adventures, this time of year we start putting together DVDs and movies to enjoy during the holidays.

The kids especially like having movies of all the photos of themselves.

I wrote this simple application to make it easy to create movie (AVI) files... its alot like the ezSlideShow application we released last spring, but simple, and a 1-time use.


Here is a screenshot - a very simple and unattractive GUI... but thats what we like.

Simply give a name for the new movie, then specify what Directory(s) your photos are in. Finally, tell it what WAV or MP3 file you want for the audio.

Simple!

The application will gather up the pictures, reshape them to all be a uniform size, and then builds the AVI movie.

There are a few options you can select for your movie: frames per second (FPS); how long to display each image (in seconds); what image size to make the movie; if you want compression or not (i.e. MP4, DivX, etc).

Simple!







There are alot of other packages out there to do this, but not for FREE or as simple.

We like FREE and simple.

Our previous webhost is no more... but you can download the application here:
http://www.roberttidwell.com/misc/ezMovieMaker.exe

Any feedback or input is appreciated. Positive, that is!

Spying on the Neighbors!

These neighbors only come out at night!

There has been a BIG buck deer out in our yard, and hanging out at the neighbor's apple trees at night. He is a dandy!

Another smaller 2-point has been running around, too. So... we got permission to put our cameras out by the neighbor's trees to snap a shot of them! We have great neighbors!

Less than 20 minutes after putting the cameras up, here they came! Oh yeah, the date and time are WAY off...

We left the cameras out for 4 days, and every night the deer were back. They especially liked it when we shook the tree so more apples were down.




We got alot of great pictures. Only problem is, none of them were of the bucks - just this doe and yearling.

If only we could find the old bottle of "doe in heat" urine. When we do we'll bait the tree to see if ole' mossy back wants to get his photo taken.





These game cameras are alot of fun. It is exciting to go out and see that the camera has 54 images on it! Alot of fun with the kids.

Almost as fun as hunting them, plus you can do it during the dark!

We've reloaded the batteries - the cameras are back out there for hopefully an antler shot. Stay tuned!

Keep on Cutting

We were on a roll, with all the woodcutting today, so when it was done... it was on to pruning the grapevines!

You can see they have canes all over. Pruning last year was so productive, we're going to do it every year.

Really isn't alot to it. We just clip off all except the main vine.



We have saved a bunch of the canes from the three best vines, and are eager to try rooting them in the spring.

We've rooted new green clippings, but never tried to root the wooden ones. They say this is the best way.




Here's the first vine after cliping - much cleaner! We left the longest canes, and began training them on the stair handrail.

All the other clippings are supposed to be saved for "decorations" and wreaths. Hmmm.





On most of the canes we left the first bud or two - where we wanted new canes to grow out in the spring.

We clipped the canes right off completely where we didn't want any additional growth.

It is amazing out tough and simple these vines are - especially when they produce so much sugar from sunlight. Grapes are alot of fun - especially here in the NorthWest, where the soil and sun are perfect.

Now we are excited to see what happens in the spring!

Working in a Wintery Woodland

After the Christmas Tree was in and up, we just kept on cutting.

There are a bunch of pines in the front of the house that need to go - they are getting too big, and some of them really were hammered in last years snow storm.

You can see these two leaning badly, and about dead.



It is great to have help! He dropped his tree much better than I did the first one, too.

We usually wait until winter for most of the wood cutting - it is great on a cold day to cut, split, and stack.

It is really a fun time for all of us working together, and it keeps the kids busy.


Timber!



Now the real work starts.





All the boys were a big help... even the little one. He sure liked being alongside us, loading branches onto the truck.


And he loved riding in the truck back to the burnpile.





We had 3 big loads of limbs to put on the burn pile. The pile is getting big again...

We had thought of burning it today, but wanted to get the tree up, instead.





Instead of burning the pile, the other kids practiced their fire-making skills some more.

They had a great time, and got alot of the leaves burned up too.

After the branches were done, we loaded up the wood to haul it back to the firewood piles.

Even with the cold, the boys loved riding in the back.

And finally it was done and cleaned up. The other trees look really ugly, though. We'll be cutting out most of the trees on the left eventually.

It is great how opened up it makes the front, and wonderful to have some good, physical work to do outside in the beautiful weather.

Busting Through the Ice

The trough froze over last night.

It was really thick - about 1" and tough to bust through.

You can see the ice was no match for a couple of 10 year olds, though.



Picture perfect.









We're convinced that the simplest toys keep the boys entertained the best. Some pieces of frozen water, and these guys were happy playing and busting it up for an hour.

Same with sticks. And I guess fire... they can play with that stuff, and its cheap.

Not the fire, though!

Cutting the Christmas Tree

Today was beautiful, clear, and cold out. And time to cut down a tree for Christmas.

We have several left in the pasture, but they are all getting tall. There are two Noble firs, and a handful of Grands.

This year we cut a Grand. Its time to plant new ones this spring.



Here's making the first cut. It wasn't clear which way this tree was leaning, or wanted to fall.








Glad it fell the right way!

They always look so BIG when they are laying on the ground!







It was great this year having someone to help me drag it all the way back to the house!








Here's the front room.

Perfect for a nice, big tree.







And here is the tree! It turned out really nice.

After the tree is up we let all the kids sleep under it. It is a fun tradition and they have a great time.

Now... on to decorating!

A Christmas, Camas Suprise!

While digging in the fridge, we found a real suprise - the camas bulbs we had dug up back in August have sprouted!

We'd put them in a plastic bag, and they looked like they had gotten soggy and rotten.

All of them have new shoots. We are excited to pot them for the spring!

Self-Plucking Chickens

All of our laying hens have molted during the last 3 weeks. Maybe after seeing all the feathers from the meat chickens, it got them in the mood?

Its been very dark, and they all stopped laying.

The good news is, that all except 2 are done molting, and they have nice, clean, silky feathers. Hopefully they start laying again!


Here's one of the ugly... hens.

Her feathers are starting to come in. They aren't very social when they are in this stage.

Then again, the Leghorns really aren't a social bunch.

Playin' With Our Food... and Fun

This weekend we started experimenting with Sturgeon again... This time of year is a good time for Science Projects - especially when fishing. The colder water usually makes for slower fishing, so having experiements and science to keep the kids interested always helps.

Plus it is fun. You might recall all the chemistry we did last winter and spring with fizzing sturgeon bombs... we're still working on those, but also want to learn more about the Ampullae of Lorenzini on the noses of these fish... and how to exploit them to the benefit of our freezer.

We've used video cameras in the deep to see what Sturgeon and Salmon are seeing, and below 30' deep, they aren't seeing much. Sturgeon eyes are very basic, light sensing devices that see little detail and mostly help navigate a dark world. The nose sensors and 'wiskers' must be doing more...

There is some very interesting reading in the library and web about these Ampullae - alot of research has been done on paddlefish in the midwest. Also some work on Sharks.

Paddlefish have the most Ampullae, followed by Sturgeon. Sharks come in third.

Having lots of teeth means you don't need as many sensors?

Hmmm.


Last few years they've discovered that Sharks are very sensitive to magnetic fields - especially strong ones from rare-earth magnets.

Some folks are trying to make magnetic 'barriers' to protect people from sharks.





They are also trying to find ways to save sharks from biting hooks and becoming by-catch.

Mmmm... looks tasty!









Besides magnets, we are also interested in seeing whatother baits can be effective for sturgeon.

Our favorites have been Smelt and Anchovies, but we also use Sand Shrimp, herring, squid, clams, and hot dogs.

Most research indicates Sturgeon eat alot of tubiflex worms... but try finding those in a store!




When snooping around for info about fish-n-magnets, we heard about this "Mako Magnet". Sounds pretty popular for shark fishermen, but it is actually a SOUND device - a speaker in the water putting out sound (vibration) of injured baitfish.

So, we're going to see what sturgeon think of sound.


The vibration idea is another we've been playing with for a while... but mostly using electrical devices and piezo-speakers underwater.

We are going to try some mechanical devices this year - with no electrical voltages to "muddy" the experimental waters.

We have noticed that live Sand Shrimp attract more attention (in terms of biting) than frozen ones - one thought is the "clicking" noises. Crabs seem attracted to the 'noise' of other crabs feeding, so we'll see.



This is a reported photo of a Mako attacking the "Mako Magnet".

Scary, but in a good way.

Vibration is linked in the scientific research to how the fish - especially the primative ones - feed and sense their world.



Finally, we'll do some experiments with voltages. The Ampullae are very sensitive to electrical fields, and we will see if we can "turn it on" for fishing.

Not a new idea for fishing - ProTroll has been using it for a while, and we have a "Black Box" that came with the boat when we bought it.

Never used the black box yet, but this winter may give opportunity.

Here is a simple device we will use also to try different voltage levels near out bait, to see if the fish have a preference.

The small resistors (with colored stripes) will be used to create different voltages from the battery, and we'll encase the battery to minimize its voltage in the water.

We're also going to make a "fluttering" voltage using a small microcontroller - so the voltages will randomly turn on/off and make an electrical "vibration" in the water... maybe like an injured baitfish?

Then again, maybe we'll be catching fish and never get around to all these experiments. We also hope to go back to the hatchery and play with their captive fish again like we did with the fizzy bombs. Its easier to watch the fish reactions on camera that way.

Lots of fun ideas to try. Hopefully the Winter Steelhead Fishing is so good we never get around to these, but they are waiting in the boat to try, and we'll post any new things we find... maybe!