Deluxestogie Grow Log 2021

[deluxestogie]

Is there any way to know how big this is?

Besides the voodoo monkey method, I would guess, since this is not from the micro-imager, and is not Perseverance's typical rock in the distance that you can't quite see clearly, that the gargoyle size is between 6 and 18 inches high. (NASA has all kinds of reference images and badges appended to the exterior of the rover. And they know--they know--the size of this image field. But they're not talking.) I hadn't considered the fallen elephant theory.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Measuring things on Mars:



[https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/54C4/production/_120300712_gettyimages-1234872475.jpg]

 

[deluxestogie]

My brother's opinion of the gargoyle: "It is a polar bear carved by an ancient Eskimo tribe that mastered space flight."

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

¿Why monkey is so small?

 

[peterd]

It is just that the tortoise is very large

 

[Oldfella]

Measuring things on Mars

[https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/54C4/production/_120300712_gettyimages-1234872475.jpg]

Now we know. It's not an Elephant, it's a Turtle, Mars type.
Oldfella

 

[deluxestogie]

¿Why monkey is so small?

When all the Mars trees went away, Mars monkeys had to adapt, or go extinct. By shrinking in size, they are able to survive on teeny, tiny Mars bananas.

it's a Turtle

That's why they won't hire you at NASA! That is a Mars tortoise, not a Mars turtle. (Turtles swim. Tortoises sink like a stone. No water on Mars.)

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

*[Petrified Martian Footnote: In between truly meaningful activities today, I managed to stalk-cut my remaining MD 609, and hang them in the shed, process another load of fresh Basque peppers for drying (ouch!), harvest more Basque peppers and tomatoes, harvest several bunches of ripe grapes of both varieties, and pick about a pint of large blackberries.]

Bob

 

[Oldfella]

*[Petrified Martian Footnote: In between truly meaningful activities today, I managed to stalk-cut my remaining MD 609, and hang them in the shed, process another load of fresh Basque peppers for drying (ouch!), harvest more Basque peppers and tomatoes, harvest several bunches of ripe grapes of both varieties, and pick about a pint of large blackberries.]

Bob

Didn't want to work for NASA too lazy. Got the final harvest of my Virginia gold tucked away for ageing, so did achieve something.
Oldfella

 

[deluxestogie]

I watched this critter for a while. When it's making its usual racket, there is no perceptible motion, but as the noise crescendos to a frantic level, its entire body trembles as though it is about to explode (right before MacGyver cuts the fuse wire).

Bob

 

[peterd]

Cicadas are awesome. They follow a mathematical pattern whereby each different species of the Cicada emerge at different times to prevent different species being emergent and in the mating area at the same time. I found one that flew into the community pool and got in and got it out before it drowned and brought it to the edge of the pool for all the kids to see and learn from before taking it back to the trees. I use the pool after long wood chip work days to help the muscles stretch and cool down after a hard slot.

 

[deluxestogie]

I have one variety of large wasp and another of a large hornet in the vicinity. They are nice wasps and hornets. They never ever bother me (whew! They are huge.), and I see them only when cicadas are out and about.

Some years ago, while showing my brother about my garden, we were transfixed by a 2½" long cicada loudly chirping on one of the steel posts at the corners of my blackberry bramble. We were watching it from about a foot away. As we watched, an entirely black wasp that was half again as long as the cicada swooped down, grabbed the cicada in its legs, and immediately flew away with it. The two of us stood speechless for a moment.

Since then, I have seen the same wasps and similarly sized, yellow and black banded hornets (not "murder" hornets. Gracious no!) capture and carry away cicadas. No doubt, they also eat other bugs of various sizes. But I only see them in cicada season. I suppose they range farther from their nests to find those one-bug feasts.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

Imagine finally emerging after up to 17 years underground as larva, only to be picked up by a wasp.

 

[deluxestogie]

after up to 17 years

In Bleibtreu's The Parable of the Beast (1968), which is a non-philosophical discussion of the philosophy of time, the author contends that time passage is relative to the ticking of an experiential, event clock. If there are no recorded events, then no time passed. (Or the opposite: we can recall shocking catastrophe in slow motion, because so many of our micro-observations are profoundly memorable. The current pandemic seems like it has lasted longer than its actual duration.)

For seventeen years, each of us has recorded countless event ticks on our memory clocks, while the hibernating cicada recorded very few (clearly noting the major shifts of the seasons). The cicada essentially took a brief nap, woke up, looked around for a few hours ["Wow! So that's what sunshine is!"], and then was invited to dinner.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

Especially true for a grub with little or no experiential reference base.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Harvest done.

What remains of the tobacco in the field is my small experiment with a sucker crop. Contrary to my firm belief that suckers produce crappy tobacco, I've decided to allow several sucker stalks of Olor to grow. If they can mature enough to be harvested and to color-cure, prior to freezing, then I plan to cook them into Cavendish, just because...well just because.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

 

[Radagast]

Even your sucker crop has out-performed my regular crop this year.

 

[deluxestogie]

I may end up with nothing from the suckers. It depends on their maturation at this point.

Bob