My neighbor found a hornet nest the other day and we decided to deal with it Saturday morning when the temps were scheduled to be in the low 40’s. These hornets build their nests on the ground in jungle areas so the only way you can spot them is to observe the traffic pattern of the hornets. When we first moved here and were clearing the jungle, we found 4 such nests and dealt with them appropriately. This type of hornet is really aggressive and if you stumble onto a nest, you can be in real trouble. The cold weather makes them inactive so the trick is to identify the nest opening and then stay clear of the area until a cold, cold morning. On attack day, you get a 10’+ piece of PVC pipe, a funnel, and a couple gallons of gasoline. One member of the attack team gets in range and plunges the pipe into the entrance while the second member quickly pours the gas into the far end of the pipe. If you are accurate with the thrust and quick at pouring the gas, no problem. We hit it perfectly. Literally thousands of bees flew out from the nest but hovered within a foot or so of the body of the nest and basically dropped over quickly. I guess the fumes from the gasoline do them in. It’s hard to gauge the exact size of the nest since it’s underground but it’s possible that we’ll have to repeat the process a couple of times if more entrances and chambers than we’ve found do exist.

We have a new neighbor living in the mother-in-law cottage on George’s property. Rick moved out about a year ago and it’s been vacant ever since but they rented it to a young fellow they know from their church. Harley is about 20, a college student, and has his own lawn service company. He’s a polite young man, engaged to be married in June, and a total ball of energy. Reminds me a lot of Joey at that age – perpetual motion, eats like a horse with not an ounce of fat anywhere. If the sun’s up, he’s up and working. George and I get tired just watching him. The back yard of the property is dirt covered by oak leaves and pine needles. Just what you’d expect from a place in the woods. Harley isn’t happy with the “clutter” and decided to rake it all up and lay down winter rye seed for grass. He asked if it was ok to dump the leaves in the burn pile, which has been on fire, more or less, constantly for the two weeks he’s been here. I suggested that instead of burning them, he just bring them down by the garden and I’d chop them up in my leaf mulcher. I had no idea how many leaves that would involve. Check out the pictures. I started working on them Friday afternoon and got in a solid 3 hours. Then Saturday morning, after the bee business, got back to the leaves for 4 more hours. When he finally runs out of brush to burn, I’ll have a ton of wood ash to mix into the compost as well. I have a feeling that I’ll be in compost overload mode now for as long as he’s living next door. I’m going to have to learn to say, no I don’t need any more, just burn it. George and I work together on most projects at a 70+ year old pace so it’s hard to integrate Harley in at about 5 x our best effort but every once in a while we come up with a job that takes both of us and then some. He’ll be the “and then some” guy.

Had a great day Sunday. We were invited up to Gainesville to join Simon and Julia at an arts festival. The weather was perfect and the show was the right mix of low priced, mid priced and expensive arts and crafts. Lots of food and miscellaneous booths to spice it up a bit. We finally got to eat at Big Lou’s, one of their regular eating haunts but will have to wait until next time to hit Flocco’s – the Cuban sandwich superstore. It’s a great ride up there – no traffic and good scenery. Simon now lives in a dorm with a kitchen so he’s eating in more often than last year. The big loser in that arrangement turns out to be Joey. For the past 4-5 years, he got all the leftovers and special dishes from his mother. Guess who’s getting that stuff now – our trunk was loaded with goodies.

Spotted an otter in the lake. I thought I had seen one a few days back but it was a fleeting sighting and too far away to make a positive ID but today, I was up close and personal with a fairly large one. I had paddled on down toward the north end of the lake and heard the distinctive snorting of an Otter. Sure enough, he was heading directly toward me and got within 50′ when he dived. He stay submerged until he was well into the lily pads and only when I heard him snorting again, was I able to figure out where he was. Last year, just about this time, a pair showed up and were cavorting around for a couple of weeks before they disappeared. I figured they were looking for a nesting spot and decided there was too much kayak traffic to raise a family so they left. I hope they stay this year even though deep down inside I suspect they play hell with the spec population.

Who says we don’t have fall colors in Florida. Check out the pic. One day the leaves are green; the next day red; the next day gone.

Nancy headed out quilt shopping today so, after playing garden for an hour or so, I decided to bite the bullet and try the poke boat and a little fishing. I wasn’t sure how this would work out because you get into some weird body shapes getting in and out of the boat and then sit in a bit of an uncomfortable position. No problem. Got in and out just fine and paddled around for a while checking out the lake for the first time in months. No fish but still have the laser accurate casting that has made me a legend in my own mind. Bring on the spec’s.

As of today, the garden is 100% planted – no space left. By the end of this month, some spots will open as the current crop is picked but the next event where I’ll have meaningful space is after the first frost. At that point all the peppers, tomatoes and eggplants will be history, freeing up about 150 SF, already fully accounted for in terms of ready to go seedlings. It’s not unusual to have a touch of frost in mid November – we did last night – but not a “killing” frost. The good news is that a frost will also kill off the mosquitoes, which have been the worst ever this year. And a frost will also sweeten the citrus. No way of telling for sure when, or even if, a freeze will happen but historically it’s in the middle of December. We’re having our first serious cold snap with the night time temps dipping into the 40’s so I’m going to make a dummy run on setting up the greenhouse for seriously cold weather in the offing. There’s a zipper door that I’ve never closed and several gallon jugs that I will fill with water and sun cook all day to become an overnight heat source inside the greenhouse.

One thing that’s neat is seeing the garden’s reaction to a cold snap. Up until today our typical daytime temp is about 80 but this morning it was in the upper 40’s. I did my standard morning garden check to see if any critters had attacked over night and was pleased to see how much the winter crops love the cool weather. The plants all look just fine at 80 degrees but at 50, they are popping – standing up straight, leaves all crisp with no sign of wimp or wilt. I’m fairly certain the, so called, chill factor has no affect on plants – at least I play it that way in terms of covering up plants but it sure has an impact on the farmer. I was in full winter gear – long pants, fleece shirt and down vest. Felt good at 7 AM but by 9AM, I was roasting.

I have a great idea for solving some of the California budget problems. Scale back about half the judicial system. You can’t miss the Lohan trials and tribulations in which she does pretty much what she wants, ignores whatever the court orders and spends a couple hours in jail every now and then. My idea is to adjust the head count in the judicial system to fit with the sentencing guidelines – avoid all the court costs and administrative costs associated with booking, debooking, and whatever other meaningless formalities they go through. If the jails are too crowded then why spend the money running people through the system at all? I would suggest a high tech solution. Give them home arrest with one of those ankle bracelets. My ankle bracelet would subject the violator to a million volt jolt if they left the confines of their home.

I really didn’t feel I could vote for Herman Cain (unless he was running against Obama) because of his tax plan but now that Gloria All Red is after him, I might have to support him through the primaries. I bounce back and forth between her and Nancy Pelosi as to which one is the real wicked witch of the west.

I’m feeling so confident about the planted crops surviving that I am giving away my store of spare plants. A couple of Nancy’s quilting buddies will plant the chard and Brussels I have left over. If I keep them, I’ll end up planting them which will give me an overload and take up space I could use for something different.

As hard as it is to believe, I am starting the next round of seeds for this cool season without picking any of the first round yet. We’ll be picking cabbages and probably some broccoli by the end of this month which starts to free up space for new stuff so the timing is critical. Since the plants actually make it to the garden 5-6 weeks from when I start the seeds, now’s the time to get those going. Lovin’ the green house! I started the real cool loving (or heat hating) lettuce today. Our favorite is a butterhead variety called Sylvesta and last year we added something called Flashy Oak. Both are really tender, tasty varieties. Another 20′ row of Snow peas goes in tomorrow and a beet patch the end of the week. This wave of planting will carry us through March with a continuous flow. Every month I pop in a few square feet of carrots, beets and onions.

I knew this was going to be a tough year for Gator fans but no idea it would be this bad. They managed to just squeak by Vanderbilt. Had they lost, it would have been the first time since Harry Truman was president. What I’m wondering is whether there are already some feelers out for a new coach. I suspect the pecking order will be to get rid of Weiss first. What were they thinking when they picked a Notre Dame reject. The good news is that the worst part of the schedule is behind them – I guess that’s good news. If you lose to Alabama or LSU this year, nobody thinks too much of it but a loss to one of these scruffs would be unforgivable.

I seem to be recovering ok from the recent surgery but have a big milestone ahead of me. Will I be able to sit comfortably in the poke boat for spec season? With the lake level so much below normal, I’m not expecting much of a fishing season but still, I want to be able to do my part. Getting in and out is tricky, made even more so in the cold weather.

I did a quick pass in the garden to make sure it survived the week I was gone. Other than a few armadillo digs in non critical spots, everything looked ok. I have a few hours work to bring it current but George has kept up with it just fine. I need to add the seaweed to the compost pile and turn it all, pull out the oldest two eggplants to make room for new cauliflower seedlings which are cramped a bit and ready for the big time, and do a bit of thinning.

Picked the first of the lettuce and some radishes – so we’re entering the salad season in style. I’d estimate that by the end of the month we’ll be at the front end of cole slaw season as well, which runs pretty much through April. The kale is pickable but not sure what to do with it. I grow it for two reasons – my neighbor likes it and it really dresses up the garden. I am a bit concerned because Nancy is talking about cooking it and I know I’ll hate it. Her mother used to make it and I can’t recall eating anything her mother made that really hit the spot with me.

Does anybody like this clock change thing? I hate it getting dark so early. Seems like a waste of good sunshine to have it happen at 6AM. If I’m elected I’ll have it get light at 7AM and dark at 7PM.

Since I can’t discuss the fishing, or lack thereof, the beach is the next best thing. I mentioned some time back that the beach had totally changed character from soft, coquina sand to gray, fine, hard packed sand – making Flagler Beach the same as Daytona. It’s been that way for about a year but this storm has brought back the soft, reddish sand. I had also mentioned that the surf, which had always featured two troughs running parallel to the waterline, had become a flat beach bottom far into the surf – again the same as Daytona. I’d like to say that the trough structures are back but the fact is I don’t know. Right now the surf is so big that the current low tide level is higher than what I’ve known as high tide in past years. I can only hope that the troughs are reforming but have no way of knowing. I had blamed the fine, hard packed, white sand for the demise of sand fleas and was sure that once that was replaced by soft, shell sand the sand fleas would return. So far that hasn’t happened. I have to get back over here once the weather calms the surf and see just what mother nature has done to my beach.

Thursday – the winds finally calmed, the ocean calmed and the blues were biting. I had a dozen or so finger mullet and a whiting that I had saved from last March and went through all that in a couple of hours. Not a single hit on the spoon but action galore on cut bait. I started a couple hours after the tide starting coming in and fished until nearly high when the weeds shut things down again and was into fish the whole time. I went through more tackle that I ever have – cut leaders, broken snaps,, bent hooks – these are strong fish with sharp teeth. I had to hit the local tackle shop – Big Al’s – to replenish my stock at the end of the day. The final count – 6 landed, more than that escaped by tearing up the tackle, and loads that banged the bait and escaped the hook. They were really not the big ones I had hoped for, which probably explains why the spoons didn’t score, but it was sure plenty of action and lots of fun. Not sure my body would have been up to a full week of this kind of fishing.

Friday – wind shifted to the NW which further calmed the surf and maybe fishing easier – not better but easier. Caught a few small blues and just generally enjoyed the sunshine and the salt air. I was thinking perhaps there could be a repeat of last year when on departure Saturday, all hell broke loose in the surf and I cleaned up on the blues. Not to be. It was blowing a gale directly out of the NE so the surf was as big as it was when we got here and flowing almost horizontal to the shore. So it was impossible to cast and even if I could, no way the bait could hold.

So all in all, this ended up a great week for R&R but not so great for fishing. Did learn one important factor. There’s a place on the beach called the Sea Turtle Cafe or maybe it’s the Green Turtle Cafe. We had noticed a fair number of cars parked there the other night on our way to the Pier restaurant and decided to give it a shot on our last night. Turned out to be good with maybe the best onion rings on the beach and perhaps in the County. We had nothing but seafood all week long and Nancy proclaimed these shrimp to be the best. I had Mahi tacos and they were for sure the best Mahi tacos I had on the beach – also the only mahi tacos I had. They had a very nice selection of draft beer so I can see an evening of onion rings and tall cool ones in my future. The place seats maybe a dozen and is decorated in early 50’s kitchen stuff. Nothing matched so your first impression was that the place was a bit dumpy. I got a clue when we walked past a table where the server was in a detailed discussion with a customer about the wine. It was one of those technical discussions that you’d expect to hear in a totally different environment. Then I noticed there was no Bud Light tap – another dead giveaway that this was going to be an ok place. That was cemented when they ordered an appetizer of onion rings and they brought out what would have been two meals for me. There were also 3/4 pound burgers on the menu.

It’s Halloween and the ocean is going as a hurricane. It’s been windy but dry. Now it’s windy and rainy. The good thing is that while I’m out there fighting it, nobody else is on the beach laughing at the whack job going as a surf fisherman. I’m starting to think this is going to be a “try out new restaurants” trip.

It did finally stop raining and the wind abated just a bit so the surf became fishable, kinda! The rough water has stirred up the seaweed so it’s virtually impossible to pull a spoon through the surf without snagging seaweed. One calm day should fix that. Did pull something interesting out of the surf – two Publix crates. They were bobbing around between the beach and the surf a few hundred yards down from us and I had to go check it out. I retrieved the crates knowing I will be able to put them to good use sometime in the future. I might use them right away to gather sea weed for the compost pile. I’m thinking if I load them up with seaweed right away, that by Saturday, when we leave, it should be dried out. My problem them becomes getting them in the car which was fairly loaded on the way over without alerting Nancy that there are aliens with us.

Tuesday – stopped raining but the wind picked up. The news says it’s 20 mph with gusts over 30. That’s inland so I think you could conservatively add 5-10 mph to those numbers to fit the coast. Totally impossible to cast if you wanted to – which I don’t. Nancy is playing bridge in Palm Coast today so I am left to my own fancy. Normally I’d take a long walk on the beach but have to decide is it better to walk first with the wind to my back or into my face. If I walk into the wind, it will no doubt be a short walk; if I walk with it to my back, I might go so far, so fast that I can’t make it back. Maybe I’ll just get a book, pour a little red and find a sheltered spot to enjoy. Can’t stay in the house. I love watching the ospreys and pelicans either flying with or against the wind. Against the wind, the ospreys hover like helicopters; with the wind the pelicans approach jet speed.

The pic is the tangerine tree I’ve mentioned as being loaded with ripe fruit way early. I decided to try one, expecting it to be fairly sour, but surprise, it was pretty good. We can’t begin to keep up with them but this year I’m going to aggressively juice them. That uses lots of fruit which otherwise end up dropping, rotting, and eventually hitting the compost pile.

As of the end of October, the garden is planted out except for 20SF. There’s about 100 more SF that will be plantable by the end of next month or sooner if we had a surprise early frost that kills off the eggplant and peppers. I’m really feeling good about the season because there is a wide variety of veggies and lots of time spacing so the eating season will be much better than past seasons. It’s way too soon to opine the final count or quality but I still have small seedlings in the works for December planting so I should be able to keep the table full on through July. October has been more or less perfect in terms of temp and overcast skies so the percentage of transplants that made it is higher than usual.

First beach report – Saturday. Tom came up with us and basically moved all the stuff from the car up to the house. That made this the easiest trip ever. The surf is rough, the wind is blowing and the Gators lost. What else is there? Chicken was good at the Pantry. I can tell already I’m going to have to work hard at it – just getting the bait to sit still in the water is going to be a task. Bring it on.

Sunday AM – The surf is about as rough as I’ve seen it – right up to the berm and suds blowing face high. There is no “wading” in the surf and you have to keep one eye open for flotsam (or maybe it’s jetsam) ramming through the water. I made a few dozen casts to no avail. The wind is coming directly onshore at 25 mph at least So it’s really tough to get any distance at all. If this was an offshore breeze, I’d be casting to Portugal. I’m ok with the rough water so as soon as the wind abates, I’ll be pounding it hard. What you don’t want is your spoon hooking up on one of those flotsam guys. I know if I do hook a fish it will be a big one. Only a big one could swim in this surf.

Went to join the “Occupy Barberville” movement but there isn’t one. So I drove on to Pierson – nope. I don’t get it – are the people in Barberville and Pierson not concerned about the greedy whatevers? I wasn’t much concerned about greed but am really upset about the fact that the lake level is still too low and wanted to protest that. I was planning to expand the protest and join in with any group protesting greedy nematodes – nobody. I bet if I stood on the corner (the only corner) in Barbersville and had a big sign that said “Occupy Barberville” somebody (in a pickup truck) would stop and offer me a cold brew. Or maybe they’d drive by and throw the empty bottle at me. Too risky so I’m going to “Occupy the Dock” tomorrow.

A few posts back I mentioned an experiment with a San Marzano, pruning it severely to give it a new start. It didn’t. So I yanked it out to see if nematodes had attacked the roots but they were clean so whatever got the plant was something different. I guess that’s partly good news. Basically all the Marzano’s in that cohort crashed with the same visible symptoms and they were spaced around the garden so it was either the weather or a flying critter that did the deed as opposed to a localized soil condition. Personally, I think I planted them just a month or so too early so they were maturing in the worst possible time – as it turns out.

I thinned the beets using the scissor technique described in an earlier post. Supposedly this is good for the remaining plants since their roots are not disturbed by pulling out adjacent plants. The timing on this was extremely critical. Nothing to do with the plants but rather getting the small scissors. Nancy, being a quilter, has a long position on scissors so you’d think me borrowing a pair for a good cause would be a no-brainer. Wrong – these scissors are not intended to clip beets. I know that these small beet stems are much, much softer than any thread and no way could this application have an adverse affect on the stainless steel blades but quilting tools are quilting tools and garden tools are garden tools. So I had to wait until she was out of the house for a while to pull it off with no controversy. If I visit the issue again, it will be when we’re eating the beets, and I’ll ease into the topic softly. In another week or so I’ll repeat the process on the carrots.

I mentioned a while back that O’Brians, one of our favorite breakfast spots, had closed and a sign forecasting the “Swamp Shack” was posted. I opined that this was going to be a juke joint but it looks like it might reopen as a restaurant. The sign says “swamp cuisine”. Maybe this is a clue as to where the missing bears and gators are ending up. I haven’t seen a drop off in the number of armadillos around so maybe that’s not classic swamp fare. I haven’t checked out the menu yet so this is all speculation but you have to know gator, turtle, and swamp cabbage would feature high on the entree list. How about a rack of raccoon; possum and squirrel stew?

Starting to get excited about our beach week coming up the first of November. I’m feeling better and positive I will be able to fish my little heart out. With the particular ailment I have, just wading a little deeper in the surf could make it all work out just fine. All the fishing reports say the blues have moved into the surf and are the biggest in years – lots of 5 and 7 pound fish being caught on spoons. I’m all over that. The weather guys are predicting a storm next weekend and I’m not sure how to feel about that. First these guys are wrong so often that a storm prediction could mean a likely chance of good weather. On the other hand, a storm usually roughs up the surf which is a good thing for blues. One thing for sure, I’ve dealt with it all before and have whatever tackle and fortitude it takes.

Tried a little internet research to determine whether Yeungling or a cheap, red cab was more likely a curative for an ailing prostate. Apparently there’s been no serious research on the subject so I guess that leaves it up to me. I’m still not 100%, using pre-surgery as the 100% mark. I’d say maybe I’m 75% and getting more comfortable every day. Still a little sore, nothing to slow me down, but you really don’t want to be far from a bathroom or equivalent – like alone in the jungle or wading in the surf. Right after the catheter was removed, I had maybe 2 seconds warning – not enough. At this point, with one week past, I have more like 15 seconds. Still not much but, if you move like lightning, ok. I have a close out meeting with the doc on the 27th and hope he tells me this is all transient.

I have a new, all time favorite pie. At the aforementioned birthday bash on Sunday, along with the carrot cake there was a rhubarb pie brought by Paul and Francesca. The carrot cake was cut and was all the dessert we could handle so the pie was cut and distributed for take home eating later. I’ve always known rhubarb pie existed but never tasted it – something about a veggie pie never appealed to me when sitting besides an apple or key lime pie. Last night I polished off the take home piece and can honestly say I’ve missed it all my life and need to make up for lost time. It had exactly that tartness that makes me a fan of cranberry and pomegranate anything.

One thing that has exceeded my expectations are the patio tomato plants. I planted 3 (in one planter) on a lark after getting a free packet of seeds and after the marigolds that had been growing there had played out. I think I’ll pick up another half dozen large planter boxes and use them for flowers early on and then switch to warm weather veggies next fall. It should be easy enough to use the hand truck and roll these guys in and out when the weather demands – usually we have half a dozen or so nights that get too cold. My thought is that green peppers would be ideal since they don’t get too tall and are something we use on, more or less, a continuous basis year round. That plus they get really expensive in January. Basil would be another candidate. You probably wonder why I don’t just go out and do it this year – simple, the planters have all been put away and replaced with Christmas goodies and won’t reappear on the shelves until next spring. Should I mention my plan to Nancy or just assume she’ll be ok when I wheel the planters into the living room? Yeah, she’ll be ok with it – why rock the boat now.