It's Arbor Day Somewhere

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When we first bought our three acre parcel up in Lewis County, our neighbor came over and welcomed us to the "Hole", the nickname for the riverside community of fifty or so parcels of land that drops down off the prairie above. One three mile road in and no other way out, except the river.
Anyway, our neighbor gave us a big bag of Grand Fir saplings (Abies grandis) of about one hundred that were only a few inches long. As I soon learned, these were Christmas trees that can grow to three hundred feet tall over time, of which I don't have enough of.
How does that saying go. "Civilization advances when a man plants a tree that he knows he will never sit in the shade of". Someone here had that as a byline.
H/T to you for that.
But I decided they would make great replacement trees for the junk maples and mature cedar trees.
The junk trees were growing out of old stumps that were harvested maybe a hundred years ago as the maples have grown about seventy-five feet tall and are starting to "calf" off from lack of support. Out of each stump is growing a dozen thick treelets several inches thick and hanging out twenty feet, making them quite dangerous.
So, my plan was to get the Grand Firs going and slowly start whacking away at the maples and use them for firewood on a regular basis as the suckers are five to ten inches thick, which is perfect for campfires or fireplaces.
So I bought a hundred black gallon nursery pots to plant them in, and nurtured them for three years now, and they have grown root bound.
Ready to plant.
I started along the creek, a salmon spawning one that flows year round and borders my parcel. There is about seven hundred feet of frontage with a lot of really old mixed trees that are falling over or near the creek, some felled by beavers.
So far I've planted twenty two along half the frontage. and in the past three days another thirty along the south border of the farm.
Along the creek is the toughest part as I have to machete or chop my way in and clear enough wild growth and blackberry vines to give the new trees enough light and myself easier access for watering.
I've so many planted now that I had to rig up a fifty-five gallon plastic drum that is strapped in the bucket of the little Kubota and a small twelve-volt pump with a hose to water them all every few days, until they get acclimated and survive on their own.
Backbreaking work and I am sooooo sore right now.
Hosting an open thread is a welcome break today.
So go at it, what's on your mind?

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Can relate to your labor of love giving the new trees room to move.
Also share in the amount of effort it takes to maintain the various species.
We are fortunate to have many mature hardwoods which give us great
shade in the hotter months, flocks of birds to eat the bugs and tons of
leaves for mulch.

Guess one of the hot news items today is the Ukie destruction of a dam.
Under pressure from "the west" to make a show of force, therefore
justifying the immense capital outlay, the withering military is taking it
on the chin. What a waste.

Thanks for taking a break with us in the shade.

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9 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@QMS
Intertube service is spotty at the farm. Earthling2 informs that she doesn't get ads on her Solitaire app at the farm. Which leads me to believe tracking our phones would be problematic to TPTB.
Had to come home (suburbia) to water our modest garden here, catch up on news, post an OT, replenish funds, and take a breather from the phiz labor.
Turning 74 sucks!
Thanks for the Mayall tune.

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9 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Meanwhile I came across this.

This caused me to come up with an unprovable theory.

Is the CIA taking advantage of the alleged leaker to supply the Washington Post with misinformation to deflect from the US's destruction of Nord Stream pipelines.

This seems like pure fiction to me.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-06-06/us-had-intelligenc...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States had intelligence of a detailed Ukrainian plan to attack the Nord Stream pipeline three months before it was bombed, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing leaked information posted online.

The CIA learned last June, through a European spy agency, that a six-person team of Ukrainian special operations forces intended to blow up the Russia-to-Germany natural gas project, the newspaper reported.

The European intelligence reporting was shared on chat platform Discord, allegedly by Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira, who was recently charged in relation to the leak of sensitive U.S. documents. The Washington Post said it got a copy from one of Teixeira's online friends.

The intelligence report was based on information obtained from an individual in Ukraine, the Washington Post said, adding the CIA shared the report with Germany and other European countries last June.

The specific details included numbers of operatives and methods of attack, according to the Washington Post. It would mean that for nearly a year, Western allies had a basis to suspect Kyiv in the sabotage.

The newspaper said that officials in multiple countries had confirmed that the intelligence summary posted on Discord accurately stated what the European service told the CIA.

The Post added it had agreed to withhold the name of the European country as well as some aspects of the suspected plan at the request of government officials, citing risks to sources and operations.

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earthling1's picture

@humphrey
stumbled on the plot at the same time.
Whoa! Must be true then.
S/
Capital snark mark on that one.
TPTB are shaping the Battlefield America.
Thanks for the post.

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7 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

usefewersyllables's picture

@earthling1

certainly shelling the beaches of Battlefield America from offshore to soften them up, so to speak.

Now that they've conclusively established (in the minds of Joe and Mary Sixpack, anyway) that there is no such thing as truth, people will believe anything at all if it is shouted often enough and loudly enough.

All the MSM is shouting "Russia did it!" in lockstep unison. That alone is enough to convince me that Russia didn't do it at this point. But that won't stop the neocons from ordering a first strike, if that's what they have in mind.

It reminds me of the Ewan Stewart spoken word sample from Pete Townshend's "Give Blood", off his White City solo album:

We're heading for the day of reckoning, I'm telling ya. It's all building up to something- something that can only be redeemed with fire!

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

earthling1's picture

@usefewersyllables
involved using marine mines floated downriver to hit the dam, which is why the Russians retreated from Kherson.
Simplicious has shown video of underwater detonations at the beaches with the blown damn in the background.
Pretty compelling evidence.

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5 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

from their prepared script.

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8 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@humphrey
emerges that Russia did not do it, all this talk of Crimes against Humanity will mysteriously disappear down the rabbit whole.
Only Russia can commit CaH. And maybe China.

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9 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

usefewersyllables's picture

@earthling1

Business as usual, during alterations. Nothing to see here. Now, how about them Red Sox, amirite?

And the sad thing is that it'll work.

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8 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

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OLinda's picture

What a project. Congratulations on the job done. I bet you are sore, and tired. Hope you have a leisurely and restful afternoon.

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earthling1's picture

@OLinda
Got about 30 more to do. Lotta clearing to do though.
Proceeding slowly now. Should be done with them by summers end, just in time for the new apple and nut trees.
Thanks for stopping by.

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7 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

WaPo Proved That Zelensky Lied When He Said That Russia Plotted To Blow Up The Kakhovka Dam

It’s now an indisputable fact that Western taxpayers have given approximately $100 billion to a regime that seriously considered an unprecedented environmental terrorist attack and then tried to mislead its public patrons by lying that Russia was allegedly plotting this. As it turns out, Russia was telling the truth when it warned about Kiev’s plot, which is another “politically incorrect” fact.

Who done the dam deal?
Maj. Gen. Andrey Kovalchuk who revealed that his side was actually the one that plotted to blow up the Kakhovka Dam and not Russia like was previously alleged.

https://korybko.substack.com/p/wapo-proved-that-zelensky-lied-when

It's not rocket surgery.

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earthling1's picture

@QMS
of environmental crimes grow with the rupturing of the Nordstream pipeline and spewing gas into the sea and atmosphere, spreading Depleted Uranium ammo throughout the most pristine farmlands in the world, and now, unprecedented destruction by flooding and washing untold numbers of active anti personnel mines downriver.
Monstrous leaders have we. Pardon the Yodaspeak.
Rocket surgery! Good one.

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8 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Tweet @CheburekiMan

Blowing a major dam is a "nuclear" option, the consequences are mass destruction and it can't be undone.

It's no coincidence that the sabotage followed three days of catastrophic counteroffensive battlefield losses for the AFU.

Ukraine was getting hammered in the press and on the battlefield, so it was a solution which accomplished two key things: freeing up Kherson resources to reinforce the failing counteroffensive effort, and; getting those failures out of the news cycle while pointing fingers at Russia.

The Western propaganda war is all about manipulating public opinion, necessary to maintain support for what is truly the worst shady neocon foreign policy debacle ever.

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Lookout's picture

Green Douglas fir where the waters cut through
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew
Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue
It's roll on, Columbia, roll on...

I'm trying to replant our lost American chestnuts here. So far so good...no fungus among us yet.

We've been here over 35 years and now have 30+ ft trees we planted when we started. It is a good feeling. Enjoy your plantings!

Thanks for the OT!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

earthling1's picture

@Lookout
of our American
Chestnuts was a great tragedy. Here we are, centuries later and there is still only limited recovery.
My hats off to you for your thoughtful effort.

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6 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

earthling1's picture

to get some muffler work done.
will return soon or post from the muffler shop.

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5 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

But then, the day I got 2 peach trees, my 85 yr old Dad came over to give me a little lesson.
He took the shovel from me. He dug down about 6 to 8 inches, then dug a trench around the middle of the hole, creating a mound. He said when planting a tree, set it high, allow the roots to drop down around the base of it.
Here we was, 85, bending over, delicately spreading the tree roots, handling them as precious living things.
I don't give a damn if I plant a tree and never see a it grow to fruition. It is for my soul. It is for my Dad.
Take good care, earthling! You "done good" this day.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

earthling1's picture

@on the cusp
It does feel good to the soul knowing in a few years, whether I'm still here or not, 75 young healthy trees will be inhaling co2 and spewing out precious oxygen to my grandchildren and all living things.

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4 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1 In one fell swoop. Makes it much easier to understand Mayan and Incan rituals for me.
The fruition of a plant is all a person could ask for to wonder why they were allowed to live.

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3 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981