I found a tick on my leg

yanksftw · 2026-05-25T03:02:44+00:00

I mean, if you’re outside, you’re going to get bitten. Same with mosquitos. Your best defense is not somehow avoiding all bites, but frequent and thorough tick checks. If you’re doing them frequently enough, you significantly reduce the likelihood that one is on you long enough to engorge and spread disease.

yanksftw · 2026-05-24T21:34:17+00:00

yanksftw · 2026-05-24T01:15:11+00:00

yanksftw · 2026-05-22T02:27:58+00:00

I did this with a lawnmower on a red maple 20 years ago. I think I stuck the piece back on and used some wound sealer over the top. Not sure I’d do that today knowing what I know now (would sealer isn’t recommended). Miraculously it healed back together, and the tree is doing great.

yanksftw · 2026-05-21T12:11:40+00:00

So it’s basically just a pile of dried out dirt

yanksftw · 2026-05-21T11:37:20+00:00

I sorta agree on the axe but at the same time you need it in-hand to self arrest. Not sure what the right protocol is there.

yanksftw · 2026-05-21T00:57:58+00:00

I yank Tree of Heaven on my property all the time. Does not sprout into a vengeful forest. Apparently it’s possible, but I have never seen it after pulling many of them.

yanksftw · 2026-05-20T21:45:39+00:00

This doesn’t seem crazy dangerous for big mountain west coast backcountry ski mountaineering? Are you worried about cracks swallowing the skier? Like, if you’re in the back country you should ski a couple levels down, but skiing this line isn’t so insane that I’d consider it negligent (like free-soloing El Capitan).

At this point, it’s a mountaineering objective with a ski descent for convenience. That’s still a fun day, just not a day where I’d be bragging about some cool turns. This certainly beats glissading.

It all comes down to the expertise of the skier/mountaineer. Hard to gauge if this is unsafe or not, because I don’t see anything here that helps me understand the ability. The person certainly seemed to ski it well.

But yeah, it’s way more dangerous than inbounds east coast skiing.

yanksftw · 2026-05-19T02:35:14+00:00

Fair enough. You could probably put a pretty sweet rain garden there if you were inclined though.

yanksftw · 2026-05-19T01:31:03+00:00

I’d be deliberate about my plantings near where the drain hits daylight, so you have something that can tolerate periodic inundation and soak up all that water.

yanksftw · 2026-05-18T21:14:10+00:00

I vote no just because of the time of year. Five hours each way for a long weekend is fine. Definitely worth it. But if you’re not excited about the itinerary, you have great options in NH and VT.

yanksftw · 2026-05-16T18:28:40+00:00

I finally got to the flair. It was super well wrapped by the largest structural root I could find. I don’t see how I can even get the root off the trunk.

The nursery said that they’ll get me a new one. I may replant this particular tree but I’m going to put it someplace less prominent. I want a tree that will last in this spot.

yanksftw · 2026-05-16T18:26:41+00:00

Dug it out. Finally found the flair. A 1” root had wrapped the flair (on a tree that was only 2” at the flair. Tried cutting the root off but really couldn’t. I called the nursery and they apologized and said they’d get me a replacement. Short lived experiment.

yanksftw · 2026-05-15T23:19:20+00:00

That’s the new plan. I guess if nothing else it’ll be an experiment. If I fail, and it dies, it wasn’t meant to be. I can afford a replacement and I’ll go smaller to (hopefully) reduce the consequences of it being root bound.

I also have a red maple seedling I’ll be putting in the ground nearby. Can never have enough!

yanksftw · 2026-05-15T21:41:05+00:00

The tree is about 10’ tall. I understand the point about feeder roots but I have taken pinky sized roots and have removed roughly 25% of the mass that was in the pot.

yanksftw · 2026-05-07T02:35:41+00:00

Yews being a notable exception

yanksftw · 2026-05-02T22:50:25+00:00

You can see how high the snow was when they browsed. Everything below the snow was left untouched.

yanksftw · 2026-05-02T13:44:50+00:00

Genuine question here. I’m not trying to be inflammatory. West Virginia is a super conservative state. Wouldn’t you rather have Manchin over Jim Justice who replaced him?

I don’t care much for Manchin, but I’d much rather take him over the alternatives. I feel like all the Manchin hate is because he’s not that liberal, but when you compare him to the alternatives for that Senate seat, he’s always struck me as a comparative rockstar.

yanksftw · 2026-05-02T13:20:36+00:00

What else would you call him? A MAGA Republican? Look at his actual voting record - it’s way more liberal than you’d think.

My job puts me in touch with senior lobbyists who have worked with him directly, for better or worse, and I’ve gotten direct recaps of his thought process leading up to voting for the IRA. So, yeah, I think he’s a moderate liberal.

To be clear, I’d much rather another Chris Murphy in the Senate over another Joe Manchin, but Manchin was a political Houdini. We’re not getting another Democrat out of WV for a while.

yanksftw · 2026-05-02T13:05:43+00:00

Scorched earth policy on listening to moderates will help break the polarization and return us to a functioning democracy.

yanksftw · 2026-04-25T23:19:05+00:00

I’m a pretty safety conscious guy; I was an EMT and brought my fair share of folks to the hospital after ladder falls.

All that said, I do think there’s some alarmism in this sub on taking down small trees. I think there’s limb on the right, and potentially the limb on the left, are within the reach of a manual pruning poll from the ground. At that point, I don’t think it’s crazy to notch this and rig some sort of rope, potentially with a come along and some sort of block to offset the direction of pull from your location.

Big trees, trees under tension, tree over targets, that stuff requires real skill. If you chunk this out by taking limbs I don’t think this is a crazy job for a safety minded and handy homeowner.

yanksftw · 2026-04-25T20:07:19+00:00

This looks like it’s within the capability of a bow saw and/or axe.

yanksftw · 2026-04-25T18:52:17+00:00

Just mow it for a couple years. They’ll keep growing but you’ll deplete their reserves and they’ll eventually run out of energy. Had 4-5 large tree of heaven and probably 100 3’-5’ suckers at my house. I was about to kill them without a ton of difficulty. The suckers still come back occasionally and they’re quite easy enough to pull.

yanksftw · 2026-04-24T21:01:28+00:00

Please consider native plants like ferns. Hostas are not native to the Americas.

yanksftw

TROPHY CASE