Posted on 05/01/2026 6:24:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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92° today, 59° tomorrow, 56° Friday. At least we’re supposed to get rain.
We have three types here. Them dog ticks are fast and yes, seed ticks are often in a group. They’re baby ticks and hang around where they hatch for a little while. And we have the Lone Star tick which is the Alpha-Gal tick. I got the allergy 20 years ago in Fl while cleaning up the mo-in-laws wooded property up by the GA line.
Been dealing with it ever since because I decided to buy a hunk of forest. I get the hives from mammalian meat for an hour at 1-2 am sometimes when I have it for dinner 5-6 hours earlier. Only delayed food allergy there is. All others are minutes.
Comes and goes because I will not stop eating beef. I’m not eating chicken and fish the rest of my life. I do stay away from ribeye though. Baby Back Ribs too. NY Strip is my limit as far as fattiness goes.
Took a bite of the son’s steak last night. Gawd it was good. Picanha - good alternative to NY Strip and nearly half the price. I’ll try 3-4 bites tonight. I just keep eating a little more all the time until I’m over it — until the next Lone Star bite sets me back again.
Been doing that for years and last year found a study or experiment a couple of Turkish doctors did on some alpha-gal afflicted patients. Started with tiny amount of beef extract(water that beef was boiled in), then went to small chunks and doubled the amount every couple of days. A Desensitization Protocol.
It’s been much better out here since I spread Sevin Granules. Need to get a couple more bags and expand the safe zone. Might be able to smoke some regular pork ribs soon. Eat one the first day, two the next and so on and do it on my days off because a reaction with hives wipes me out for the next day.
I have a good sized oak that’s dead as of this year, maybe earlier and I just noticed it this year. It’s leaning right over the road and it’s close to 2 foot in diameter. I’d have to fell it and then cut into four pieces small enough to drag out of the way.
Not a single leaf on the tree so I’ll wack it with a big hammer and see how it sounds. Hollow sounds hollow. Dull thud - maybe rotten. Good solid sound maybe good. I do have a long auger bit I could drill a hole with and see if it feels solid.
I hate cutting trees bigger in dia than my 18” saw. I’ll have to buy a new chain. I should have two anyway for quick swap instead of stop and sharpen.
On my radiator. It has leaked from behind a dent in the protective screen about 6” up from the bottom. It leaked from the very bottom once and of course has come out the overflow fitting on the neck where the cap goes. It was probably old school with a piece of tubing that just goes around and down the end of the radiator and shoots out on the ground. I see no place where an overflow tank went but might try to find a small one I can fit somewhere. They do make small universal tanks.
Coolant has stayed full though for a few weeks including mowing twice and grading. Proper fitting belt that can actually be tightened, plus a new thermostat once I discovered the old one was stuck, seems to have done the trick.
I have chronic hives .... why, I don’t know other than I am allergic to a lot of stuff. Sometimes I wake up with them. Sometimes my feet start itching & other times I get them on my thighs and/or around my knees.
I did some research a couple of years ago & ran across an obscure reference to Vitamin D for hives:
“Dr. Andrew Weil highlights a University of Nebraska Medical Center study showing that adding 4,000 IUs of vitamin D3 daily to standard allergy medication significantly reduces the severity of chronic hives. In the study, patients taking this higher dose experienced a further 40 percent decrease in symptom severity after three months, compared to those taking a lower 600 IU dose which saw no additional improvement after the first week.
Dr. Weil generally recommends 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily for general health, noting that deficiency is common due to limited sun exposure and sunscreen use, but specifically endorses the higher 4,000 IU dose for chronic urticaria based on the cited clinical trial.”
**********
I started at 4,000 IU, increased up to 5,000 IU, without the addition of ‘standard allergy medication’. I could tell the difference ... on days I took Vit D first thing, I rarely got hives. If I got hives & took Vit D promptly, often the hives would go away. If I had a really bad case, 1/2 to 1 fexofenadine antihistamine takes care of them. I have since gone to 10,000 IU per day (plus Vit K), more for general immunity purposes than specifically hives. Mom is on 10K as well & her Vit D level is 62 ng/ml which is pretty darn good for a 92 yo! The two of us rarely get sick & usually “kick” bugs to the curb in about 3 days. Another factor: neither of us got the immune system killer C19 jabs.
So I mention this to you because, although the cause of your hives is different than mine, Vitamin D just might help. I can’t imagine no red meat!
Might have to try it. Would be good on cloudy days like this when you can’t get Vit D from the sun. Haven’t seen the name Dr Andrew Weil in years but used to watch his talks.
Yeah I’m not big on fish that’s farmed in S America. Fish isn’t real filling either, at least not for long. Shellfish is pricey. After a few weeks of chicken, I get sick of it.
The alpha-gal test was pretty cheap last I knew. Doc takes a little blood and sends it off to VA which is where the medical scientists are that discovered it and patented the test for it. They charged $40 for the test but that was years ago.
You could try keeping track of the time between eating red meat and getting the hives. If it’s 5-8 hours, it’s probably alpha-gal.
The hives like the extremities and skin that never sees the sun. Under the arms, behind the legs, the butt, stomach. Usually starts with my hands/fingers.
I’ve been eating brats a lot lately and they haven’t affected me but it’s probably been good timing. I ate two beef hot dogs years back and got hives. Corned beef hash from the can as well.
X aka twitter is currently viral about alpha-gal syndrome like it’s something new. Got videos of farmers allegedly finding boxes of ticks on their property. People claiming Bill Gates is behind it and the ticks are being dropped by planes.
It’s taken 20 years to spread a distance of 1-2 states. Seems about right for tick walking speed. LOL
Where I am was just outside the map of known cases 15 years ago when we moved here. Had no issue for a few years but then it came back as ticks here started to carry it. Could it be a 20 year old science experiment that started on the East coast? Who knows.
I need chickens. They like ticks.
Now that it stopped raining on me, I got a LOT done, today!
12 broccoli plants are IN!
3 cherry tomatoes and two Jalapenos are in pots.
Did some needed weeding.
Finished mowing the garden area lawn.
No cucumber plants at Walmart and I have no cucumber seed on hand, so we’ll be cucumber-less this year. Gee. You can buy them 10 for a nickle all summer, LOL!
Draining frozen zucchini from the freezer to make Zucchini Bread.
Watered houseplants. Moved the Bay Laurel to the greenhouse where she’ll be much happier.
Found my soil thermometer. The soil is only at 60 degrees, so it needs to be 65-70 to get my bean seeds in, so another week should do it. Will be growing Lena Sisco Bird Egg beans for drying, Saychelles green pole, Good Mother Stollard pole beans for drying and Scarlet Runner Beans for the Hummingbirds. I also have a spot for some Ruby Moon Hyacinth Bean, but they’re also for the Hummers - not edible unless you process them a special way. Not risking DEATH over it!
Mom and friend Kathy are coming out on the 31st to help plant the tomatoes. I’ll get the sweet peppers in next week.
Harvested enough Asparagus to add to scrambled eggs in the morning. I’ll let the rest now go to frond.
Dumped the compost bucket.
Got newspapers ready to shred for composting use.
Next on the list is a shower, LOL! Then more clothes sorting and donating and getting the guest bedroom ready for Mick this Friday.
Still need to put in Gladiolus bulbs; I think I’ll do two long rows on either side of the new Asparagus bed - they won’t bother anything happening underground there. I’ll put a stake at each end and ‘string’ them up as they grow taller.
I still have a flat each of Zinnia and Marigolds to tuck in here and there when the tomatoes go in - they need to get a bit bigger.
I think that’s all. There’s probably more. ;)
I don’t have Alpha-gal (thank goodness)! Red meat doesn’t bother me at all.
Fish is problematic for me because if you look at origins, other than wild caught Alaska salmon, most are pond raised & the ponds aren’t that clean. I don’t eat Atlantic salmon because that’s usually warm water farmed salmon.
The BEST white fish, & I love it, is catfish, caught off the dock at our lake place. The lake is huge & very clean, used as a water source for several cities. The catfish range from 3 - 20*lbs, with most 5 - 10. Catch a couple of those, filet them out & deep fry catfish ‘chunks’ ... so good! Hush puppies to go along with the catfish is outstanding. My brother has started freezing a couple of pounds of raw fish for me since I don’t make it to the lake very often these days.
* There are much bigger catfish in the lake. The record was caught in 2020 & the fish weighed 121 pounds, 9 ounces, measured 60.5 inches in length, and had a girth of 40.5 inches. People post 60 - 80 lb. cats fairly frequently.
The rain has begun here. We had a gully washer T-storm about an hour ago. My rain app is saying we’ve had 1.12 inches in the last 24 hours. This doesn’t help the groundwater situation, but I don’t have to water my bushes.
Wow gorgeous tree!
.22LR is all we used
.22LR is my favorite ammo! I knew there were more reasons to like you. ;)
For smaller problems at modest range, the .22 pellet rifle is still my choice, due to it using much cheaper ammo and being quieter. If bigger problems turn up, like that aggressive boxer-pit bull mix I had to put down a few years ago, well, then heavier artillery* comes out. :-(
Actually, a single good shot with a .22LR round was what took out said dog, but, it didn't kill him as quickly as I'd have liked, and that was another factor in getting ammo for the .22 WMR my Dad gave me, instead of just leaving it stashed away as a momento. I've toyed with the idea of getting a 9 mm rifle, but, there is such a thing as too many small steps in capability - varied ammo for my yet heavier stuff is a better investment, I believe, and I'm ok there, I think...
Basically, I'm not a "guns person" or a collector, but I am a big believer in the right tool for the job, just not to the point of silliness. :-)
I wonder if sediment / rust has temporarily plugged the hole?
That reminds me of a lake in FL, Lake Jackson, that has sinkholes in the bottom: They plug up for a while, then one or more reopens and the lake drains. This now happens every few years. As it is one of the water supplies for Tallahassee, that’s a bit of a problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qQX8mLgst4
Catfish out of good water can be very good! The best I ever had were a couple blue cats and a flathead out of the middle Buffalo River, in Arkansas. All were in the 3-5 lb. range.
Also, a few years back, Devils Kitchen Lake in Southern IL was stocked with a few “extra” channel cats that IDNR came up with. That’s a very clean, clear lake too, tho’ mercury levels are a bit high due to natural sources. So, there, I’d definitely limit myself to fish not over 5 lbs. But, back when they were more like 2 lbs. I managed to catch a couple. Good eating!
Catfish out of more fertile waters, even if low pollution, can get a bit muddy tasting, but marinating in club soda or 7-Up (imparts a bit of a sweet taste) will take that out.
This big ol’ oak by our driveway entrance had better outlive me: It’s 118” circumference = 3.13’ diameter at the std. 4’6” measuring height for a normal trunk. The one on the east end of our property (which tree I don’t really have to worry about, as the entire area is “unused” woods) is much larger.
Don’t have to worry about noise where I am. Many nearby people target shoot in the evening plus there is a range nearby.
Devls Kitchen lake, swam and camped there.
For decades, all we caught were what we called “mud cats”. They were small, yellow/brown & expert at running under stumps & getting tangled up. We didn’t eat them.
Something happened 8 - 10 years ago & we started catching very large ‘blue’ catfish. My niece’s hubby would use old milk jugs & pieces of pool ‘noodles’ for floats & have a line attached to each. He had the kayak at the ready & when a float would start moving, he’d go out & get the fish.
Fishing directly off the dock is really good, too with weight ranges often 5- 10 lbs.
The lake was formed by damming a river & the dam is actually (barely) in sight of our dock. Just off our dock, 10 - 20 yards, is the old river channel. We don’t know what shifted/changed, but we’re not complaining about catching large catfish. They fight hard & the kids really get excited when they have one on their line.
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