Rain again

Last two days we have gotten five inches of rain, the majority falling over the last 24 hours. Lots of flooding in the Houston area but not where we live. Lost power last night for about eight hours. Happens frequently where we live, I suspect either a bad transformer or a bad fuse. I finally turned all the electronics off last night to avoid catastrophic failure as the power was dropping on and off for about an hour, not the best thing to do to electronics.

The garden has thoroughly enjoyed the rain, seems as if all the plants doubled in size overnight. I suspect it was all the nitrogen brought down from the rain. Squash plants a week ago were four or five inches high, now they're over a foot high. Tomatoes, eggplant, and sweet chiles are covered with blooms. The pole beans, both lima and green, are climbing like lantana, fast. Cukes are finally starting to climb but as yet no blooms. The fig tree is setting fruit and I'm already seeing flower buds on the kumquat. The lonely two pears on our Tennousi pear are about the size of my thumb already.

We hoped for more pears but we had no bees at the time of bloom. We're seeing a few honey bees plus mason, carpenter, and bumble bees but not enough to do a good job of pollination. No bee flies as yet but I know they're around somewhere. The new subdivision going in behind us isn't helping as that was where most of our bees were coming from the now non-existent woods. No need to seek out a beekeeper as the dairy farm nearby has been spraying again by aircraft and we get the over spray. The damned farm is two miles away and we still get spray. I think I shall complain. In addition they plant rye grass every fall and we get that over flight too. It's a PITA to be digging rye grass out of the gardens and lawn. It does get into the composter though.

Otherwise it's a decent day, cool, overcast with a threat of more rain, which in Texas is never enough. It was only a few years ago that we were in severe drought conditions. Rain is a blessing we needed and will for some time as there are more and more restrictions on using ground water.

We're still harvesting lettuce, radishes, beets, spinach, chard, and other "winter" greenery and enjoying it. The Barbados dwarf cherries are in full bloom and all of about eighteen inches high. Make a good display in the front flower bed, backed by the perennial Bright Lights chard and, we might actually get some of the tiny, edible cherries.

Reply to
George Shirley
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for the expensive electronics always a good idea to have a UPS in the circuit if your power company is flaky. unplugging or surge protectors can help but i don't think either is worth it if you can afford a few $ for the UPS instead.

i'm jealous and envious... :) it was a beautiful day out here with rains forecast for most of the week. still i don't believe it until i see it. Saturday we were supposed to have a 70% chance of rain and it ended up being four sprinkles of not much at all. we have had some rain so it isn't as dry as the folks out west, and i would not mind another nice week of fairly dry weather so i can get a few more gardens ready for planting and get some other weeding or goofing around done. nothing beats a nice early spring day for getting stuff done that didn't get done last fall and so it is good to me.

yesterday we went back and pulled some trash out of the ditch, one large garbage container we can't get and so i said we could wait until the water warms up enough that i can go in after it.

i've never heard of seeding rye grass by plane before...

hope things out west start coming around too. it's been a tough stretch for them.

:)

the harvest here recently has been weeds/grasses i want to get out of some gardens before it takes over and some bulbs we want to move and even if it isn't the best time to do it, it is getting done anyways. none of them are the only ones we have so they can take a year or two to bounce back and we won't be out any major blooms.

some fresh garlic would be good if i had something to cook... i may have to process the garlic i have in the garage as it looks to be starting to sprout. keeping it out there and well covered has kept it a few months longer than i had been able to keep it before. i'm sure a fair amount of it will not be that good any longer, but if i can get a few jars of prepared garlic in the freezer then they make good gifts for others and Ma will use them in the winter months for her cooking.

still no catbirds this spring, hope they will come back, i always enjoy their songs.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

There's a UPS for the office but not for the tv's, etc. We have a whole house surge protector that, so far, has worked well.

Fairly common in Texas, particularly if the farmer has a large property, gets it done quicker and cheaper than tractor sowing. Eons ago I spread Pensacola Bahia over ten acres with a hand cranked spreader, ended up with sore arms but the critters were happy when it came up. Most homes here have St. Augustine grass, which is a runner grass but is not drouth tolerant at all.

I generally cook with garlic chives as they grow here year around and are easy to harvest when needed plus I freeze bags of them for later use. Used to grow elephant garlic and it was tasty and easy to grow as they produced corms to replant.

Bluebirds, mocking birds, swallows, etc. all working on nests. Haven't seen a hummingbird in years nor robins. Used to get painted and blue buntings in the backyard in Louisiana but haven't seen them since Hurricane Rita.

Reply to
George Shirley

If power is so flakey as to threaten robust protection already inside electronics, then the UPS is also at risk. And will connect that same flakey power direct to electronics. Then much later (after the bad stuff is done) it will switch to battery (if not already damaged).

Essential to even protect that UPS is the properly earthed 'whole house' protector. That actually does protect from anomalies so massive as to overwhelm protection inside all appliances.

That UPS may be $100 per protected appliance. A superior and well proven 'whole house' solution costs about $1 per. And is essential because most anomalies that cause damage occur long after any homeowner even considers disconnecting.

BTW, some of the 'dirtiest' power seen by an appliance comes from a UPS in battery backup mode. Power so 'dirty' as to be potentially harmful to motorized appliances. Due to robust protection already inside electronics, that 'dirty' power is also ideal power.

If you do not already have one, then please learn how it must be installed, why it works, and why is it the only solution found in even facility that cannot have damage. A useful recommend will also provide numbers necessary to obtain a minimally sufficient and superior solution. This solution is even more essential in rural environment.

Reply to
westom

George Shirley didn't write that, Songbird did. Read my original post and you will see that we have a whole house surge protector, that, indeed, has protected us. My UPS system is only connected to the computer and is only to allow me time to shut everything down properly versus allowing a power surge or outage to do the job.

Reply to
George Shirley

will peanuts naturalize in your environment?

songbird

Reply to
songbird

A UPS does nothing for power surges. Power surges are addressed by that 'whole house' protector. And only if that protector is properly earthed.

A UPS is temporary and 'dirty' power during a blackout to protect unsaved data. Blackouts do not harm appliances.

Surges do hardware damage in microseconds. A UPS typically takes 10 milliseconds to respond. A UPS is too slow to protect hardware.

Each device is for a different anomaly. Even a UPS needs protection provided by a properly earthed 'whole house' solution. That solution means nobody even knows if a surge existed. Again, this 'whole house' solution is strongly recommended in rural venues.

Reply to
westom

A UPS that does not shunt surges as well was designed by an idiot.

If the power is interrupted at all, then you don't have a UPS. You have a battery backup unit. That's what the "U" is -- "Uninterruptible."

Reply to
Drew Lawson

Some UPSes have tiny (near zero) protector parts so that na?ve consumers will recommend it as a protector. Destructive surges are hundreds of thousands of joules. An adjacent protector can only block or absorb that surge. How does its (near zero) hundreds of joules absorb a surge that is hundreds of thousands of joules? It doesn't. But at hundreds of joules, it can hype 100% surge protection in color glossy brochures for consumers who ignore numbers.

Surges must be earthed (shunted) before entering the building. A surge shunted at the appliance simply shunts that surge into the appliance. A completely different device, also called a surge protector, does protection from surges because it is at the service entrance.

A typical UPS provides temporary and 'dirty' power during blackouts. It also does nothing to 'clean' AC power. Therefore it costs much less money - compared to another device also called a UPS that is located at the service entrance.

Has this growing season started late due to cold?

Reply to
westom

Your UK wiring must be even more odd than I could have expected. Surges are diverted to the separate grounding path in the house wiring.

Surge protectors can be anywhere that has a ground connection. For any NEC compliant wiring in the US, that is just about anywhere.

You like to repeat that alot. It does not make it true.

Maybe UK UPSs deliver dirty power. I suppose it is a fitting substitute for leaking oil.

Reply to
Drew Lawson

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