Smarties Bar & Grill #77

God bless you for relocating.

It was very hot this year before the rains started but I tell you it was better without the rain ( of course not for the water table and plant growth)

When the rains started, it was also hot as hell but now it was hot as hell and humid too!

 

Going here today. Going to launch the kayak from darst Park which is a nice little boat ramp park at a dead end back in a neighborhood. Quiet and very hidden.

Going to head to the left to get up under the interstate 75 bridge where it crosses the Peace River in Charlotte harbor. Bait will be small Frozen blue crab and shrimp and hopefully some live bait that I will cast net before arrival.

The idea is to catch a black drum on the blue crab or the shrimp. A 20 lb fish is not unusual and they really like to haunt the bridge pilings.

But all sorts of species are possible there and I am hoping that some large sheepshead may make an appearance. Not to be confused with the northern freshwater fish.... The saltwater sheep head is highly sought after particularly due to its edibility.... Thanks to its diet of almost exclusively crustaceans..... Barnacles oysters crabs shrimp...

Should be some River monsters.

If you look closely at the shoreline in the satellite photo, you can see there will be no getting out of the boat.
I may try to tie off to a bridge pylon if I can find one that isn't too large around.

If I can't then I must anchor, right now I have about 13 ft of anchor rope but I think I need to increase that to 20. I'm sure it's fairly deep under that bridge

 

Tell me about that…..it is so hot and the hot months are still out there. I can only imagine what they will bring.

 

Have you ever heard of Angels unaware? Just so you know they do exist!!!

 

Yup - you're about a month ahead of us here in Virginia. I've been advised to never plant tomatoes before Mother's Day (mid-May) and I've gotten burned ignoring that advice. This year I could have planted in mid-April but I played it safe and waited till the end of the first week of May - if I recall correctly I planted my first batch of tomatoes on May 8, then the succession batch got planted on June 10, which was right before the heat cranked up.

If you can grow watermelons you should be able to grow pumpkins. We get pretty hot and humid up here and I've had pretty good luck growing Blue Dolls (blue-gray eating/cooking pumpkin) and this year I'm growing a New Zealand variety (Jarrahdale, blue-gray cooking) that's supposed to be even more heat tolerant. This is the first time I've grown them and so far they're doing real good. I've grown other varieties in the past, such as Fairytale (aka Musquee de Provence, a brown cooking pumpkin) and Aladdin (classic orange jack o'lantern variety), but they were never as vigorous and productive as the Blue Dolls, although the Fairytales taste a bit sweeter and are better for making pies and cakes. The Blue Dolls are good in those two, but I like them even more in savory soups and dishes, such as this one:



This bake is awesome, provided you like blue cheese, and it's even better with some sage sausage in it.

The Jarrahdales I'm experimenting with this year are supposed to be very similar to the Blue Dolls, however it appears that you trade off a bit fo production for the higher heat tolerance. So far the Jarrahdale's I'm growing have been every bit as vigorous as the Blue Dolls, if not more, but they're just reaching the fruiting stage so their productivity is still in question.

I've never grown watermelons before, but I suspect they're somewhat similar to pumpkins. Every variety I've grown, except these Jarrahdales which have had the benefit of shade cover, have been real needy as far as water goes. During dry spells I had to water them in the morning and evening to keep them going strong. I've also kept the base of the plants covered until they were capable of shading that themselves. They're big feeders, too - I always plant them in manure-rich soil and they like to top-dressed or hit with a liquid fertilizer during the growing season (we've used both fish emulsion and the Miracle Gro made for tomatoes/vegetables). Another thing I've found out the hard way is if you're growing from seed it really makes a difference who you buy from. I've always gotten the best results from Harris Seeds

https://www.harrisseeds.com/collections/pumpkin

Incidentally, one of the reasons I switched to Jarrahdale pumpkins was cost. The price of Blue Doll seeds has gone through the roof, and Jarrahdale seeds are a fraction (1/4) of the cost. Another thing that appealed to me is the Jarrahdales are an heirloom variety whereas the Blue Dolls are a hybrid, so hopefully this will be the last time I have to buy pumpkin seeds.

 

It's been blazing up here in the Mid-Atlantic, too (high around 97 today). My wife was telling me that this is probably the hottest summer we've had in over 15 years (I seem to recall it was 1998 ). We're all praying the temps calm down and the rain keeps coming - Beryl is supposed to bring us our first heavy rainstorm in a month on Friday.

 

Well I have made it... Right now I am at anchor under the bridge fishing with a small blue crab for bait.

Not going to lie. It is a bit disturbing being out here by yourself knowing that there are bull sharks and alligators and the only thing between you and them is this little plastic boat

It's actually somewhat shallow here hundred or so yards under the bridge..... Only about 7 ft.

Some point I'll head out more towards the middle of the span see about some deeper water.

 

No worries - small boats are good....



"Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!!"

Have fun out there.

 

I'm about tired of being in this boat. I'm at anchor in about 15 ft of water right next to the boat channel.

There is a chop out this far and while I wouldn't say I'm getting seasick.... I know I am about tired of being in this boat. Lol..... Should have thought about that before I left dry land behind.

Plus I'm going to have to pee soon.... Beer goes in..... Processed beer must go out ! No worries, I did bring an empty gatorade bottle


Sure as hell not getting out of the boat for a swim around here

 

Don't mind that 14 foot Hammerhead circling your kayak. I've heard they're perfectly harmless....and fun to ride, too....



PS. Don't be afraid to get seasick. Puke makes for really good chum.

 

You know they say hammerheads are not responsible for a whole lot of human attacks but I did speak to a commercial fisherman when I got my boat back to the ramp and he told me there's plenty of 9 ft bull sharks out there as well as large Gators.

Back on dry land now and got the boat loaded up and going to a sports bar to belly up to some wings !

 

Where I went today is one place I will never go back to unless I have a real boat. Sitting there in a tiny boat being tossed by the waves knowing for sure that there are monsters swimming all around you.

There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity and sometimes I do kind of dumb things !

But I guarantee you there are not many people around that can tell you that they have been out there in a kayak.

 

Satellite picture of where I will be bright and early Thursday morning.... I say bright and early but after a 50-mile drive and launching the boat.... If I can be on this island by 9:00 a.m. I would be doing great.

This is out on the gulf more proper, shallow Blue water that is not near as disturbing as where I was earlier today.

You can see on the satellite photo that there was a boat parked at the time of the photo. It is a very small island probably less than one acre but it has a very large Beach. I can sit there all day and drink beer and fish.... Good Lord willing and the creek doesn't rise.... I shall probably spend at least 3 hours there Thursday

 

I usually go by the soil temperature when it comes to planting especially for sweet corn and melons. Witn over 200 frost free days I get some wiggle room. But sweet corn has a short window with yields dropping by the day if planted late. My water is all collected from runoff and I don't use household water for the garden. When my collected water is gone the plants go thirsty. I may try a few pumpkins next year. I bought some sweet corn seeds from Harris once.

 

Tax assessor hit me with a 25% increase in assessed value. Not happy right now about all that.

 

One of the things I like about these Jarrahdales is that they reach maturity (100 days) faster than all the other pumpkins I've grown, and if you plant your seeds in containers and then transplant you'll shorten their time and care in the field even further. Since I'm not growing pumpkins for Halloween, I like to get them in the ground as early as possible, too. Not only will that help them get strong before the peak heat of summer begins, it will enable them to mature and produce fruit before the squash bugs start on them. Getting on top of those pests before they get on top of your plants is critical - they will definitely wreck pumpkin plants.

 

That's outrageous. Our county is currently reassessing property for the first time in years, and while I expect our taxes to go up I don't think the increase will be that exorbitant.

 

I have used no pesticides on anything this year and production was less than optimum. But everything seems to taste good this year. After the melon harvest I will let the goats go on it. I planted some field peas with corn for the goats. They should eat the garden down by fall. I also have some flint corn beginning to tassel. It should be multi colored popcorn. I would plant pumpkin for Halloween. That should be a trick for an Alabama summer. I would like to grow them just to give them away. A few smaller ones and a few bigger ones.

 

I guess I should consider myself lucky since one of my sisters' went up 48%. I knew we were about to get fleeced because they did the unusual move of dropping the rate by a huge penny per hundred as a preemptive thing to claim they actually lowered taxes when people start getting these notices. Anyway, it is just bad timing to have to pay several hundred extra when I will be unemployed right before the next bills are due.

 

Did not get skunked yesterday like the last two trips.
Mangrove snapper and redfish. Fine eating.
Also caught about a 20-in snook on the island but I immediately turned it loose because you can't keep those this time of year. I did not get a picture of him because my phone wasn't handy and there was no one to take a picture and my hands were fishy so I just immediately released that one.



A picture of Little dog Island and The Sandbar coming off of the island where I caught the snook on the other side of.



Yours truly.

 

Got a ton of rain yesterday so hopefully it breaks the drought for awhile in my immediate area. It was pretty localized though apparently as people who live on the other side of the city got very little out of what was hours of rain on my side which I find odd. I guess it was slow moving and tracked along my side of the river.

 

Lots of rain in the last week off T-storms has my tomatoes bursting open before they are ripe.

Found a job for next year for when I lose my job this year. Not nearly as much money but something I will enjoy ten times as much so I will ride it out as long as I can. Since I am 100% out of debt except for my student loans, it won't bankrupt me. I really need to figure out a more enjoyable career path anyway.

 

Just got back from a few days at the end of the world or the far tip of Cornwall as it's also known.
As far away from where I live as you can go and still be in England. Over 10 hrs drive, the first half of which is mind-numbingly dull but with this old pile of rocks mid-way.

Didn't even have to stop and get out of the car as the road goes right beside it.


The main reason for my visit was to go sailing in my mate's new yacht.
A Sadler 25 for those interested in boats.
We wanted to go to the Isles of Scilly but the wind was against us so we settled for a short sail down the coast from Falmouth to the beautiful river Helsford where we spent the next day playing poker and drinking while it rained almost non-stop.

Then a nice sail back to Falmouth with the wind behind us.
Followed by a couple of days looking at 'old ****'.
First a trip to Pendennis castle. Built by Henry VIII to protect Falmouth from the sneaky Spanish.

A little modern for me, I like my castles to be 12th -14th century, before the age of gunpowder, so a 16th century one like Pendennis wouldn't normally get my juices going but it was still a good day out.


Next day we went for a walk to a remote Iron Age hillfort called Chun Castle. That was a bit older at around 2,500 years old.

Not a great deal left of it but a stunning bit of scenery on the walk up to it.
On the way to it we passed a Neolithic quoit which is an ancient burial mount consisting of a 3 or 4 ton rock balancing on some other rocks which had somehow managed to not fall off for around 4,500 years.


All in all a week well spent even accounting for the fact that 2 days were spent driving.

Oh yeah, one for @FatBack, we spotted this beauty on the walk back from the hillfort. An adder, our only venomous snake in the UK. Around 2 foot long and a more colourful green and yellow than the photo shows.