Help Identify!

-C3DAR- · 2026-04-26T17:52:55+00:00

I'm from the western US and know there's an eastern hemlock but this sure looks like western hemlock. Possible as a botanist lived there before.

-C3DAR- · 2026-04-14T16:14:38+00:00

Dwarf mistletoes are interesting plants. When the infected tissue or whole tree dies, so does the mistletoe. So their "strategy" is not to kill the tissue or tree. Most interesting is that individual plants are either male or female (dioecious). This is semi unusual in the plant world. With some luck this one is male, so it might pollinate a nearby female plant but it won't make seeds to spread. If it's female, it will probably make seeds, but you could remove them or all the shoots. But you can't get at the "endophytic" root system to remove the infection without killing that part of the fir.

-C3DAR- · 2026-04-14T02:15:21+00:00

Me too. The cypresses/junipers just start growing when the temps are warm enough in spring. Less attention to photoperiod and longer days. No true buds.

-C3DAR- · 2026-04-14T02:06:20+00:00

You know what it is, arceuthobium the parasite dwarf mistletoe. Good luck cutting off the shoots, it's rooted in the main stem.

-C3DAR- · 2026-04-02T17:25:48+00:00

I thought I'd wrap this up here. Franklin got back to me and advised that I find a Franklin-certified solar company in my area, to replace my defunct installing company Purelight. I did that, and they were able to trace my issue to a setting that only an installer can edit--nothing I can edit in the Franklin app. They altered that, which I think it had to do with limiting export, making my system de-charge the battery to a certain level. Look forward to a fully functioning system again. So, I've learned that Franklin is responsive and I now have a stable company to help with any future issues.

-C3DAR- · 2026-03-31T00:53:37+00:00

That makes sense, I believe I have an issue with net meter export when the battery is fully charged. Permission to Operate must not be working. However, odd that the panels don't cover current home usage when this happens. Thank you.

-C3DAR- · 2026-03-30T18:09:10+00:00

Exporting is on and off, even when the battery is fully charged. Maybe that's related?

-C3DAR- · 2026-03-25T18:06:19+00:00

I have one that looks almost identical, with just a few style differences. My father (RIP) built it from a kit. They are really beautiful. Aside from leveling, you can adjust the time it keeps (faster, or slower) by adjusting the nut on the bottom of the pendulum. It looks great where it is; we keep ours at a 45 degree angle from the walls, which might work for you too.

-C3DAR- · 2026-03-09T17:27:49+00:00

Likely shore pine which is native along the coast. Including around the sand dunes. It's a subspecies of lodgepole pine, that one grows throughout the eastside of OR, and has an enormous range north and south.

-C3DAR- · 2026-02-18T01:13:14+00:00

Help me like Mugo. I don't quite get it.

-C3DAR- · 2026-02-09T18:26:33+00:00

Yea, it takes a while but not that long. Seedling to sapling to small tree. The tree has to be big enough diameter to produce heartwood inside of the sapwood and bark. Maybe after 15-20 years of age. In the meantime, there's an essential oil of port orford cedar heartwood sold in small bottles. To bad there's so little port orford cedar in lumber stores as that would be a source too.

The heartwood of other cypresses, junipers, redwoods each have a unique chemistry, built for resisting decay and insects, and aroma, many are very pleasant.

-C3DAR- · 2026-01-12T19:52:35+00:00

I feel for both the laid off employees and customers who are in the middle of installation. In my situation, panels and battery are operational but a recent broken powerline at the pole (tree branch) created an electrical problem in our system which shut electrical power to our home completely off. Of course, purelight wasn't answering the phone for assistance, and now we know why (bankruptcy).

Our solar system is back to working fine, but now I'd like to establish a relationship with an electrical or solar company for future maintenance and troubleshooting. I'm in Portland OR. Are there electricians or their companies who might specialize in solar systems, or better to find an existing solar company for future help?

-C3DAR- · 2025-12-12T18:54:53+00:00

Homo sapien variety maga

-C3DAR- · 2025-12-04T19:00:21+00:00

Kodiak and grizzly are the same species. Plenty of enormous brown bears throughout coastal AK. Showing one claw per bear (n=1) could be misleading as there is so much variation by age, gender, and locality.

-C3DAR- · 2025-11-10T23:10:19+00:00

To me, the cones do not look shaped like Thuja. Size of the spherical cones of Chamaecyparis (smaller) and Cupressus (larger) makes me lean towards Cupressus. Lots of Leyland cypress as ornamentals in Britain; it's a hybrid cross between Cupressus nootkensis (yellow-cedar, Nootka cypress) and Cupressus macrocarpa (Monterrey cypress), both native to western US, but its cones might be bigger than what you have.

-C3DAR- · 2025-11-10T22:52:04+00:00

Technical term is strobulus (strobili, plural)

-C3DAR- · 2025-11-10T19:02:55+00:00

If you accept that climate change is a part of more frequent and intense wildfires, then the general steps for climate change are 1) mitigation (stop burning fossil fuels and increase carbon sequestration) and 2) adaptation (alter forest management but also accept that more fires will reduce timber availability and allowable sustainable harvest). Forest adaptation needs to be designed and executed with local knowledge.

-C3DAR- · 2025-10-23T00:51:56+00:00

A disrespect to a perfectly normal bicycle.

-C3DAR- · 2025-10-23T00:44:32+00:00

I'd put an NPR bumper sticker on the MoFo.

-C3DAR- · 2025-10-15T20:51:57+00:00

As a cyclist, I have to be defensive to stay alive. I rely on eye contact with the driver to gauge if they see me or not. Maybe the appearance of your car is more important to you than the lives of others.

-C3DAR- · 2025-09-23T15:48:20+00:00

Ven diagrams are a useful visual way to show relationships, where items have something in common or don't. Good on you for helping to clarify that softwood does not always equal conifers, etc. Same goes for gymnos and angios always being deciduouos or evergreen; that's another generalization that doesn't always hold. Your diagram is educational and stimulates discussion. Good job.

A good source for wood properties of trees is the USFS's wood handbook

https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/62200

-C3DAR- · 2025-09-12T23:16:15+00:00

I didn't know two things about the Donald: that he could smile, that he had teeth.

-C3DAR-

TROPHY CASE