OT Things to ponder

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy



The Mountain Chickadee is exactly like the ones we see here. The range shown for them should extend further east.

You're surrounded by flat farmland, but if they have those white eyebrows there's no doubt. Just to be sure, you're not seeing these are you?

I know a sparrow or two - no mixing them up with a chickadee. Note that I said I saw them mostly in the boreal forest, the edge of which is about forty miles from here. It extends all the way to the mountains and would be a very good environment for the mountain chickadee. Mixed evergreen and deciduous trees. Thick cover from predator birds. Loads of insects in summer, frozen berries in winter.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Well...

1. Web-footed booby
2. Yellow-breasted chat
3. Yellow-rumped warbler (called "butter-butts" by birdwatchers)
4. Tufted titmouse

I had a Tufted titmouse in the neighborhood for all of one day. Those little bitty birds are flipping loud. It went from tree to tree singing his heart out looking for a mate and found none. Next day, gone.

[MakeeLearn]

Virginia bluebells are breaking ground. Violets and some dandelion. Should have a bumper crop of stinging nettle.


Ever eat the flowers of redbuds? They have a peanut flavor.

[Canoerebel]

Oh, yeah. Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a member of the legume family. The flowers do have a distinct nutty flavor. Ten days ago, I hiked with a man who said he tried the succulent new seed pods one time. He didn't like them. Redbud is sometimes called Judas Tree, the legend being that a Eurasian species of the tree was the one used by Judas to hang himself. Hence, the story goes, the branches grow crooked and the tree is generally small.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Oh, yeah. Redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a member of the legume family. The flowers do have a distinct nutty flavor. Ten days ago, I hiked with a man who said he tried the succulent new seed pods one time. He didn't like them. Redbud is sometimes called Judas Tree, the legend being that a Eurasian species of the tree was the one used by Judas to hang himself. Hence, the story goes, the branches grow crooked and the tree is generally small.

People use to fritter them. Use to also dip them in egg white and sugar, back when they put real flowers on cakes.

ive been rereading Porcher's book. He was a unknown hero of the Confederacy and as vital as any soldier.

You missed my question in your AAR, so I will catch you here, What version are y'all playing? I was wanting to know outside of problems you were having. A mod of John3 based on official or unofficial?

[Canoerebel]

We're playing Reluctant Admiral 5.6 or something like that. That's all I know. Well, I do know it has stacking limits (a magnificent addition to the game) and enhanced AA (ditto).

[MakeeLearn]

From Porcher:


Cercis canadensis, L. Redbud ; Judas-tree. Swamps, vicinity of Charleston ; collected in St. John's. Fl. March. Shec. Flora Carol. 380. "The wood is of great value for mechanical purposes, as it polishes exceedingly well, and is admirably veined with black and green."

[geofflambert]

I'm trying to grow a red buckeye tree. It's a relative of chestnut trees but the fruit is unpalatable to humans, probably gorns as well, though squirrels apparently love them and I got squirrels. I planted it because it supposedly is a favorite of hummingbirds. I ordered it as a bare root tree with the roots wrapped in damp paper towels. The bud on the top of the trunk never showed any life so I pruned it off. A new one has appeared near the top and I have great hopes for it. But I would recommend never buying bare root trees, get them with the root ball in soil and burlap.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn
I was wanting to know outside of the rearming problems you were having.

Yeah, that's interesting. Tell us more about the rearming problems you were having outside of your AAR, Canoerebel. [:)]

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I'm trying to grow a red buckeye tree. It's a relative of chestnut trees but the fruit is unpalatable to humans, probably gorns as well, though squirrels apparently love them and I got squirrels. I planted it because it supposedly is a favorite of hummingbirds. I ordered it as a bare root tree with the roots wrapped in damp paper towels. The bud on the top of the trunk never showed any life so I pruned it off. A new one has appeared near the top and I have great hopes for it. But I would recommend never buying bare root trees, get them with the root ball in soil and burlap.

Ive got several Chinese chestnuts planted. there are several places in the US that have Chinese/American chestnuts planted in effort to bring back the American chestnut. I remember some are at Dollywood.

I planted 2 dawn redwood trees at the same time. They arrived bare root and doing great. Being one of the oldest species I imagine they are very hardy.

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn
I was wanting to know outside of the rearming problems you were having.

Yeah, that's interesting. Tell us more about the problems you were having outside of your AAR, Canoerebel. [:)]

OPPPs sorry about that. [X(] It was a minor, misunderstanding problem. It may even be in the Japanese Sigintel[;)]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn
OPPPs sorry about that. [X(] It was a minor, misunderstanding problem. It may even be in the Japanese Sigintel[;)]

A misunderstanding? About what aspect of rearmament?

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

We're playing Reluctant Admiral 5.6 or something like that. That's all I know. Well, I do know it has stacking limits (a magnificent addition to the game) and enhanced AA (ditto).

Is it the stacking limits that have caused you problems with rearmament? Perhaps that's related to base size?

[MakeeLearn]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn
OPPPs sorry about that. [X(] It was a minor, misunderstanding problem. It may even be in the Japanese Sigintel[;)]

A misunderstanding? About what aspect of rearmament?

Just a minor SNAFU......

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I'm trying to grow a red buckeye tree. It's a relative of chestnut trees but the fruit is unpalatable to humans, probably gorns as well, though squirrels apparently love them and I got squirrels. I planted it because it supposedly is a favorite of hummingbirds. I ordered it as a bare root tree with the roots wrapped in damp paper towels. The bud on the top of the trunk never showed any life so I pruned it off. A new one has appeared near the top and I have great hopes for it. But I would recommend never buying bare root trees, get them with the root ball in soil and burlap.

Geoff, this is completely wrong. Buckeye isn't related to chestnut. True buckeye is in the genus Aesculus while chestnut is in the genus Castanea (and the families are different also).

There is a non-native species of buckeye called horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) that is not related to the chestnut but it is a type of buckeye (if I remember correctly).

[geofflambert]

I'm on trees now. Across the street in someone's back yard there once were three Lombardy Poplars in a row. They were so beautiful. Some woman bought the place and let honeysuckle vines strangle the life out of those trees and then for a few years they were just corpses. Eventually cut down. They were just perfect for the location but a knuckle dragger didn't appreciate them.

[Canoerebel]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I'm trying to grow a red buckeye tree. It's a relative of chestnut trees but the fruit is unpalatable to humans, probably gorns as well, though squirrels apparently love them and I got squirrels. I planted it because it supposedly is a favorite of hummingbirds. I ordered it as a bare root tree with the roots wrapped in damp paper towels. The bud on the top of the trunk never showed any life so I pruned it off. A new one has appeared near the top and I have great hopes for it. But I would recommend never buying bare root trees, get them with the root ball in soil and burlap.

Ive got several Chinese chestnuts planted. there are several places in the US that have Chinese/American chestnuts planted in effort to bring back the American chestnut. I remember some are at Dollywood.

I planted 2 dawn redwood trees at the same time. They arrived bare root and doing great. Being one of the oldest species I imagine they are very hardy.

The American chestnut (Castanea dentate) is a magnificent tree that once comprised about 17% of the eastern American forest. The nuts are edible. The tree was nearly eradicated by a parasite fungus (Endothea parasitica) introduced into the United States at a New York botanical garden around 1904. The fungus is spread airborne. By the 1940s, essentially all American chestnuts had been killed. But the tree has a remarkable ability to re-sprout from it's root or lower trunk. It does so prolifically, but the sprouts are killed, in turn, by the fungus when they reach the size of about the thickness of a man's for-arm. Some of these sprouts are big enough to bear seeds.

Beginning some 30 years ago, scientists began crossbreading American chestnut with Chinese chenstnut (Castanea mollisima, if memory serves), which is resistant to the fungus. The hybrids have successfully incorporated the resistance at about 15/16ths American and 1/16th Chinese. These hybrids are being planted across the eastern US now.

Dawn redwood is a native of China and has the most lyrical scientific name ever: Metasequoia glyptostroboides.

P.S. I hold a BSFR (bachelors of science in forest resources) from the University of Georgia, 1983.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

I'm trying to grow a red buckeye tree. It's a relative of chestnut trees but the fruit is unpalatable to humans, probably gorns as well, though squirrels apparently love them and I got squirrels. I planted it because it supposedly is a favorite of hummingbirds. I ordered it as a bare root tree with the roots wrapped in damp paper towels. The bud on the top of the trunk never showed any life so I pruned it off. A new one has appeared near the top and I have great hopes for it. But I would recommend never buying bare root trees, get them with the root ball in soil and burlap.

Geoff, this is completely wrong. Buckeye isn't related to chestnut. True buckeye is in the genus Aesculus while chestnut is in the genus Castanea (and the families are different also).

There is a non-native species of buckeye called horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) that is not related to the chestnut but it is a type of buckeye (if I remember correctly).

Not related? Tell me about Cedars. Any tree name popular out there has examples that could not be more unrelated, like dinosaurs and mammals. Quercus is pretty solid but I have books telling me that Red Buckeyes are a sort of Chestnut. These books do not, however, recommend roasting red buckeye nuts on an open fire.

[MakeeLearn]

Red Buckeyes have been hybridized with horse chestnuts

[Canoerebel]

Buckeye isn't related to chestnut, though one variety of buckeye (horse chestnut) does bear that confusing name. Buckeye is in the family Sapindacea. Chestnut is in the family Fagaceae (making it a relative of the oak and the beech). If you have a book that says buckeye and chestnut are related, throw it away.

Buckeyes are not edible and horse chestnuts (again, a type of buckeye) are poisonous. Red buckeye is a very small tree with gorgeous displays of red flowers in April. Yellow buckeye is a massive tree of the eastern montane forests (and the inspiration for the Ohio Buckeyes).