Deluxestogie Grow Log 2019

[deluxestogie]

After a healthier, lower calorie, lower fat supper [the pancakes had little square dents filled with air all over them, and the 4 slices of bacon were only half-slices], I decided the time had come to instruct my tabaquitos in basic manners. "Nice plants don't shade their neighbors."

I'm usually not all that aggressive with the first haircut. The seedlings will get stockier and sturdier, and require more thorough clipping in another week or two. The plants are now about 5 weeks post germination. They'll have to live in close quarters for another 3 or 4 more weeks.

One of the benefits of regular clipping is that I end up with fewer runts, since the prodigies can't shade them out of the competition.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

One should treat their tobacco as they do roses - Mean! I always trim the heck out of my roses to get the best blooms and growth. When my wife and I first stated dating many moons ago, I bought her a rose bush to plant in her parent's yard. Her dad ran over it with the lawn mower. Best blooms ever! (I'm sure it wasn't on purpose.....)

 

[deluxestogie]

I had planned to wait a full 7 days since the 1st haircut to show how much sudden growth had occurred, but they needed to be watered today. Since I have to heft these four trays to a single location (on top of my clothes dryer) in order to clip them, I try to do that just prior to adding another 3 pounds of sloshy weight to each of the long, wobbly trays. So today was haircut number two. (I won't continue to document clipping for any more of this season.)

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

The National Weather Service says that I have to watch for tornadoes until 5:30 pm today. I've been sitting out on my front porch, carefully inspecting each cloud as it passes. I'm not sure if this will count toward my final grade. Fortunately, my 5 year old Dell laptop is tornado proof.

I'm smoking a curious cigar.

The filler is a blend of WLT Criollo 98 ligero, WLT Corojo 99 viso and Dutch (Ohio). Binder is WLT Vuelta Abajo binder, and the wrapper is WLT Arapiraca wrapper. While the blend is medium strength, the edgy wrapper adds a distinct black pepper sensation on my tongue.

Between the short bouts of rain, I managed to put in a short row of onion sets into the backyard bed.

I have to admit that it is a nuisance to unplug the laptop power every time I hear the slightest rumble of thunder. Oops! The temperature just dropped 9 degrees while I was typing this.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Be safe Bob! I had the dubious pleasure of watching a funnel pass directly over my house the other year. Was watching the radar and it indicated a tornado over my neighborhood. I thought - I don’t hear / see anything, the radar must be off. Went outside, looked up... and the radar was right! Just hadn’t touched down yet. Still gives me chills.

You’ve been making some interesting Cigars lately. Are these some of the upcoming goodies that Don hinted about coming to WLT?

 

[deluxestogie]

Are these some of the upcoming goodies

I have no inside information on what will be stocked. You'll just have to keep an eye out.

That storm does provide some scary stuff.

Not a tornado.

There have been several tornadoes in the region today, and a few stretches of 80 mph winds.

Bob

 

[ciennepi]

Probably the heat of yours smoke warm up the atmosphere enough to dissipate the tornado energy

 

[deluxestogie]

Everything is so sunny and green this morning, that I had to roll a green cigar. Birds are chirping, and scouring the wet ground for any desperate bugs that fled the rising water table. I watched as a robin repeatedly chased a sparrow away from its feasting patch, not by flying, but by charging its dinner rival on the ground, like a pair of playful goats.

The yard is so waterlogged that (shucks!) I won't be able to do any yard work today.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

I recently found a photo of me at age 16, and a photo of my maternal grandfather at about the same age.

Although I remember him well, he died when I was 4 years old. Like me now, he was bald on top. He walked with a cane, from an injury in the trenches of France during WWI, where he was also hit with mustard gas. He grew up in Worcester, MA.

Bob

 

[ciennepi]

Sometimes it's incredible how two people resemble themselve ever three generation far away. It's not only a genetic thing. It's a spiritual and cultural thing. The posture and the haircut are also the same.

 

[leverhead]

Worcester was a booming city then.

 

[deluxestogie]

The posture and the haircut are also the same.

But I never saw even a photo of him with hair until well after I was old and bald. If two people have generally the same hair growth pattern, hair density and hair texture, and the fashions of their respective epochs are not too divergent, then I would expect similarity in their hair appearance.

Of my three brothers, I'm the only one who bears such a strong resemblance. And my ~12 year old grandson does too.

I have an old US Naval history that shows a lad by the name of Roberts shipping out of Portsmouth, MA in 1798. He returned home safely after his tour in the Caribbean, during the "Quasi-war". I suspect it's the same family.

On my maternal grandmother's side (all from Kentucky), I did get to know my Great Grandmother, who was born during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant! She lived to be 99 years old.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

After heroically sawing and towing away the huge log-like branches that had fallen in my yard during the winter, I managed to mow the grass once (~1 week ago). Today, a windstorm came through with 60 mph gusts, and dropped two more branches from my huge maple tree. As you can see, the larger of the two, though completely broken off, is still suspended at the thick, upper end, and threatening to fall at any moment, and in a pretty random direction, since heavy branches at its tip form a multi-leg stand against the dirt.

From a distance, they don't look all that problematic, but the smaller of the two, the one lying in the grass, is at least 18 feet long, and over 8 inches in diameter at its thick end.

Once I've figured out a safe way to bring down the suspended one, I'll move on to the task of deciding how to remove them.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

They would make great firewood for next winter, and the small side branches perfect for bbq.

 

[deluxestogie]

They would make...

You mean, "Bob should saw and stack..."

Until the apocalypse, my home will be heated with electric heat. I have no fireplace and no chimney. As for barbecue, repeatedly going up and down my porch steps to turn a single piece of chicken doesn't hold as much charm for me as it used to.

I have a nice size stack of well-cured, cut "firewood" that I've accumulated over the past several years from the yard. I don't even know what to do with it any more. I'm afraid that more maple branches are just dangerous debris to be cleared.

Harrumph.

 

[GreenDragon]

LOL I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. If you don’t have a fireplace then no need for firewood. Not my intention to make more work for ya!

My Scottish ancestry takes hold sometimes meaning I automatically try to squeeze as much use out of everything and I assume others have a like mania. I spent today trimming my oak trees and red tips (red tips went from 20’ to 6’). Anything thicker than my thumb got turned into 8” sections for the fire pit. The leaves and tiny branches were put into flower beds as mulch, and smaller branches were taken to the local recycle center to be turned into mulch. The wife likes a good bonfire now and then, and I hate spending $15 for a small bundle of “firewood” from the grocery store.

 

[leverhead]

Once I've figured out a safe way to bring down the suspended one

Bob

I'll hold your beer and watch.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm grumpy today. Our forum has been "upgraded" to the newest version, which has to be done. It really does. But somehow the "newest" version makes numerous unnecessary and unfortunate changes to both the appearance and functionality of the forum. And my avatar has been ruined, because a summer intern at XenForo decided to fit my square peg into a round hole.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

And my avatar has been ruined, because a summer intern at XenForo decided to fit my square peg into a round hole.

Bob

Must have been an Apple fan-boy. They love circles; round avatars, round icons, round contacts, round "buttons"... Their just so darned cute! (yack)

Any positives from the update? New features, etc?

 

[leverhead]

The cop with doughnuts is appropriate, damn wannabees!