Central Ohio News, Opinion or Whatever

#LivePD is must watch TV

Posted on 07/26/2017 | Comments Off

LivePD TV show Weekend TV is pretty bleak but I now have a new fun show to watch on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s on A&E and is “Live PD“. I’m sure I’m late to party in finding this show. Just in case you haven’t watched it, Dan Abrams and others follow law enforcement officers in several cities/states. Greenville, SC and Phoenix seem to have the weirdest people. What makes this a fun show to watch are the tweets using #LivePD. Some of the comments are hilarious as they comment on people’s clothes or the lack thereof. Flex, one of the K9s, is a superstar of the show. He loves to bite the bad guys and barks continuously when he’s held back. Bad guys are more afraid of Flex than they are of the cops.

It’s a good show to highlight the terrible, disgusting people and things that LEOs have to put up with. So many perps actually fight with the officers for no reason. Often it takes several officers to hold them down to put the cuffs on. Another really disgusting things is when the officers do a pat-down for weapons and drugs. Most druggies hide their stash in or near their genitals. One guy even had a syringe in his rectum, which the LEO had to remove. Some of the women are just as vicious as the men. People that claim “police brutality” are LYING! It’s the perp that starts it. If they didn’t resist, they wouldn’t be manhandled!

The other surprise to me, is the number of folks who have some sort of drug in their cars. The officers may stop them for a broken tail light then find a bunch of drugs or an outstanding warrant or they’re driving on a suspended license. That’s unnerving knowing I’m might be sharing the road with them.

If you want a fun time at 9:00pm on Friday and Saturday nights, I recommend watching the show. People tweet that they watch it with the whole family to have a good laugh at people’s stupidity. Click here to read more about this TV phenom.

Coppertina Ninebark – Buyer Beware!

Posted on 07/13/2017 | Comments Off

Click to enlarge

In May 2015 I wrote about a new landscape bed which I put in that contained 2 Coppertina Ninebark plants. The first year I really liked them. The changing copper colors were quite attractive. But as the year went on I began to notice a problem with powdery mildew. I cut out the affected leaves then sprayed with a fungicide. As time went on the fungicide seemed to have no effect, so I sprayed again when we would have several rain-free days. Still no control of the mildew.

This spring the powdery mildew came back with a vengeance. I checked Google to see if there was a known problem for this type of plant and found several articles on the subject. It seems powdery mildew and Witch’s Brooms are a genetic problem with Ninebarks although some varieties are less damaged by the disease. None of the suggestions for control were very effective. The stems where the Witch’s Broom occur soon turn black as do the leaves.

One of the two plants was smaller and less attractive since it has had more powdery mildew problems than the other one. I don’t want to have to mess with pruning off the affected leaves and black stems every couple weeks OR have to weekly spray a fungicide that really doesn’t work, so I removed the smaller plant. I’m really disappointed since the plant is or could be very attractive but this genetic issue makes them a questionable purchase. Be advised!

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Landscape

Tagged Coppertina Ninebark, powdery mildew

Kids were tough back then!

Posted on 07/07/2017 | Comments Off

A guy posted this old historic photo on Twitter. It was noted that it was taken at Trinity Park in Dallas around 1900.
Trinity Park, Dallas TX (1900)

The tweet received a LOT of comments since it represents a much different playground than is allowed today. Some people noted that these were the kids that helped win WWI. (These kids were also the ones who walked to school in the snow, uphill both ways.) Today’s helicopter Moms would faint at the thought of their snowflakes playing in such an area. One skeptic noted that there’s a kid on the left that appears to be falling to his death. Not really! If you look carefully you can see he’s on a swing.

I grew up in the late 40s-50s. Our grade school had pretty tall swings that allowed us to swing “way up high” … and the seats were metal! We also had 2 sizes of slides – a shorter one and a very tall one. Amazingly we survived although broken arms were considered a right-of-passage. 🙂

We were allowed to be independent – learning to make decisions on our own. If we made mistakes we had to accept the consequences. When I think of the things I (and other kids) did when young I chuckle because kids today would never be allowed that freedom. I think that freedom made us better, stronger adults as a result.

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Posted in Commentary, Safety, Schools

Tagged Dallas TX, old-fashioned playgrounds, Trinity Park

ANTS, ANTS, ANTS in my PLANTS!

Posted on 05/30/2017 | Comments Off

The ants have been TERRIBLE this year. I’ve tried insecticide sprays and Diatomaceous Earth. However those treatments don’t kill the queen so the nest continues. Then someone recommended Terro Ant Baits. I’ve tried baits before without much success. Then a guy from North Carolina posted his photo on Twitter of using one style of Terro bait. So I checked YouTube for similar videos. Surprise! There’s a lot of such videos of ants going nuts over the sugary Borax mixture.

Home Depot only carried the flat indoor-style bait so I bought a box of that style and put them outside. I laid a rock on each to hold them in place. They worked very well as the liquid was depleted within a few days. I found the outdoor stake-style at another store and now have 8 of them in place around the outside of my home where I’ve seen ants. I made this short video of the last stake I put into place. The nest immediately attacked it! I installed the stake on Saturday. Today is Tuesday and I’m seeing only a few stragglers. This Terro bait really works!

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Posted in Central Ohio, Critters, Delaware County, Delaware Ohio, Homes, Landscape

Tagged Diatomaceous Earth, Terro Ant Bait

Trick to Weathering Wood Overnite

Posted on 05/14/2017 | Comments Off

I have a split-rail fence as required by my subdivision. It’s now 20 years old and was again in need of replacing some rotted fence posts and rails. When I’ve had this work done in years past, I had to live with a “new wood” look until it also aged over time. Because I had so many posts and rails replaced this time I went to Home Depot with the intent of finding a suitable “weathered” stain. One of the salesmen told me that stain wouldn’t really work well. Instead he showed me a YouTube video giving instructions on weathering using white vinegar and steel wood pads. Sounds odd but I found many such videos so apparently I’m the last to know this trick.

I bought a half-gallon of vinegar and used 4 steel wool pads. In one of the videos I watched, it was suggested that if a darker color was desired to make black tea and spray it on the wood first. I didn’t want to do that plus I had only regular tea so I put 7 tea bags in the vinegar mixture. I put a lid on the container then let it sit for 24 hrs. I poured the mix into an all-purpose spray bottle I had on hand then sprayed all the new wood. VOILA!

weathering new wood on old fence
fence post weathering
In the photo all the top rails are new and the post on the right is new. They look a little different than the 20-year old rails but look a whole lot less obvious than the new wood did. They turned this color within a few hours. The photo below shows another sprayed post as it compares to a leftover of a new wood post. Pretty amazing isn’t it!

I do have a couple cautions.

1) Wear gloves because the spray will stain your hands, nails & especially cuticles. It also can stain kitchen counters. Use Chlorox!

2) The fibers from the steel wool may periodically clog the spray bottle’s tube so you may need to check the bottom of the suction tube to remove the fibers.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Fix-ups, Homes, Landscape

Tagged how to weather new wood, Make fence posts look weathered, Vinegar & steel wool mix

Spring is for Transplanting

Posted on 05/01/2017 | Comments Off

This Spring I’ve been busy in the yard. There were plants that needed moved because they had overgrown their space or they weren’t doing well in their spot. I also had to replace a large Butterfly Bush that didn’t make it through the winter. Rather than move two large hostas I gave them to my insurance agent during a meeting I had with him. Actually I told him he could have them for his new home IF he came and dug them up. Spruce & Pear Trees

Last fall I had to have Davey Tree cut down one of my large spruce trees. The trees had been planted too closely and in an arc. The middle one of the 5 trees wasn’t getting enough sun anymore so it looked very bad. Removing it would allow the two trees beside it to get more sun and space. My wonderful neighbor volunteered to cut the stump out. It was an afternoon of really hard work and I certainly appreciated it.

Click to enlarge

The Ligularia that I planted 2 years ago had grown much larger than I thought they would plus they were in a spot where I had to walk by them to reach the garden hose and a bird feeder. The leaves are easily damaged so they needed to be moved to a spot where I didn’t walk by them. So I moved them to the empty space where the spruce tree was. So far they are doing great. Their tall daisy-like flowers should look very pretty in this mass display.

Click to enlarge

The Ligularia was originally planted next to the back of the house where the dead Butterfly Bush was. I wanted a tall plant to replace the Butterfly Bush so I chose a Vanilla Spice Summersweet shrub. It is to get up to 6 ft tall and wide. It has white fragrant flowers in late summer and is favored by butterflies and hummingbirds.

Click to enlarge

There were 3 Spireas in front of the Spruces which never did well so I moved them to another spot. In their place I put 5 Orangeade Potentillas. They’ve already started to bloom in the three weeks they’ve been in the ground. Whenever I plant flowers and shrubs I always use one of the types of Miracle-Gro soils and Miracle-Gro fertilizer so they have a good start. Butterflies are supposed to like Potentilla. We’ll see.

I’ve also divided some very large Hostas and put the divided portions within the Spruce bed and moved some dwarf Barberries in the front yard. I AM NOW DONE! (until I decide to do something else)

EDIT UPDATE: This is what the Orangeade Potentilla looks like 2 weeks later. Very pretty!