Thoughts about retirement...

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I got 2.5 gallons of Glyphosate from Rural King last Friday. That is one of my weapons. The neighbors have been using gasoline.....not too successfully either. The Knotweed is located along a creek bed which empties into the Ohio river, so that limits the choice of "toxic agent."

Several US states have issued bulletins on Knotweed. Some outline the steps to removal. All seem to involve a long term solution to destroy the roots as the only means of success. I cut it all down last summer before I knew what it was and it only regrew thicker. I finished cutting it all down again yesterday and started spraying Glyphosate down each stalk to poison the roots. It seems that this method will work, but it may take a few years for a complete kill.

had you hauled over the test chamber to WV as well

All of that fun stuff belongs to Motorola. I left it 1200 miles behind me. They hired a young guy to replace me who has no clue how to run any of that stuff.

Blues runs deep in my veins.

I played a lot of blues a few years ago. I had this Kenny Wayne Shepherd thing for a year or two.
 
Yes, the roots have to be injected (with arsenic compound). ...I goggled around. No just kidding! Forget it about arsenic!

* Can you not move to Canada, and apply for a Canadian citizen ship; a sailing one, for the ocean. :)

Yeah, Blues rocks! It's the music of the soul, the deep pain, the desolation, the desperation, the lamentation, the depression, the breakdowns, all type of breakdowns; love, money, cigarettes, relation ships (sailing ones), broken hearts, burn down houses, tornadoes, hurricanes destruction, devastation, bleeding spirit, ...Blues truly rocks; it's the music of sadness, deep sorrow, divorces, car accidents, heroin addicts, ...and all that great apocalypse jazz...
 
I've heard of it, but I would like to reside with this: James Hardie: World Leader in Fiber Cement Siding and Backerboard

The main problem is that the aluminum siding on our house is about 50yrs old and hides 104yr old cedar shakes. The house is not as tight as I would like. So I'd like to take it down to the sheathing, insulate with an additional external layer of foam board, add house wrap and then install new, durable siding. Would also trim out the windows with it.

We have Hardie and so does a friend, please do the trim in Hardie or the extruded PVC our wood trim is a constant maintainence nightmare.

BTW this thread has become a whole pile of a different vibe, peace to all involved.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions guys. I got 2.5 gallons of Glyphosate from Rural King last Friday. That is one of my weapons. The neighbors have been using gasoline.....not too successfully either. The Knotweed is located along a creek bed which empties into the Ohio river, so that limits the choice of "toxic agent."

Several US states have issued bulletins on Knotweed. Some outline the steps to removal. All seem to involve a long term solution to destroy the roots as the only means of success. I cut it all down last summer before I knew what it was and it only regrew thicker. I finished cutting it all down again yesterday and started spraying Glyphosate down each stalk to poison the roots. It seems that this method will work, but it may take a few years for a complete kill.



All of that fun stuff belongs to Motorola. I left it 1200 miles behind me. They hired a young guy to replace me who has no clue how to run any of that stuff.



I played a lot of blues a few years ago. I had this Kenny Wayne Shepherd thing for a year or two.
How much of it do you have ? Which one do you have Bohemian knotweed (Polygonum x bohemicum)
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)
Giant knotweed (Polygonum sachalinense)
Himalayan knotweed (Polygonum polystachyum)
? Injecting the root ball with Glyphosate may be what you end up doing that will take a while and more than 2.5 gallons Good luck .
 
At a level of nuisance vastly less than tubelab's, we have a place with running bamboo on the edge of it. Very attractive in its own right, apparently a load of soil with bits of root were dumped in a property two away us, and it took off. When we moved here - we have a nice view looking out into the Blue Mountains - half of the outlook was obscured by 18 foot tall shoots ... but this was all tackled physically - chop it all down, dig up the bits of root, one by one. There's always just another little bit popping up, but easy to control now, not a bother - a dividing fence of this stuff to the neighbour works well; just have to keep on top of it, on a yearly basis.
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2012
I was going to have my house sprayed with Gunnite cement. Its exterior is all redwood but even that doesnt last forever. Then I found a painter who suggested a rubberized coating... normally used for masonary walls. It stretches/moves with the wood/temp without cracking. Goes on thick. Its been 12 years now. Next time around, i'll use the same stuff.

-RM
 
One of the nice things about being retired is you can come and go as you please and not just on holidays or employers' allotted vacation time. --- besides working on your favorite projects as much as you want. Go shopping between rush hours and mid-week when all is quiet, too. ;-)

-RM


Doesn't sound too bad! :D
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2012
Well...a quick update

So, two weeks later, they pulled the ng tube, IV's, etc. and sent me home to face the $150,000 bills from my cancer surgery that BC/BS refuses to pay because we left the state of KY. Seems the KY obamacare exchange insurance only covers IN-State medical care, except pre-authorized emergent care.

So. it's hard to believe that staying in shape could've prevented any of this. Luckily, I've done well on Wall Street, so I'll be able to cover the bills even if we don't prevail with Anthem, Obamacare, etc.

John L.

Hi John,

Sound pretty scary.... it helps to always be in present time.... you are still here now...get in some music listening time with us here and enjoy any projects you can do. My mother is still alive at 94 and though bed ridden and frail now, she is still in present time and still has her mind. I know people who are loosing their minds... body OK. I dont know.....

You are one of the very few who can afford their own portion of the hospital bills... some people seem to think that only happens to a few or to the other guy.... and end up homeless.

Every day I wake up and find I am still above ground, is a good day.
:)


-Richard Marsh
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2012
Smart man. Yourself, I mean, :). Aboriginal art has gone from strength to strength, and Clifford was a major mover and shaker in that movement. Not too long ago I popped into a trendy art shop in the Rocks - the old part of Sydney - and there were some amazing works by newer painters of indigenous descent, two stories high, of tremendous richness of texture and colour - you could look at a piece for hours and not get tired of it ...

The art is mezmerizing. I bought the C,Possum in 1994 for 1000. A lot to me as it wasnt in my vacation plans. But a few months ago it sold at auction to an Australian for $110K. Thank you Clifford Possum - RIP. I have three more... loved them so much I bought 4 from that first original group of aboriginal painters. bought them all from Hank Ebbs.

One of the reasons I like to travel in retirement is to see the art. It is incredibly diverse and beautiful.

THx-RNMarsh
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2012
Right on Richard! ...Amazonian jungles, Asian jungles, small villages, ...Nepal, your two young girls, awesome man.

The travelling part is becoming harder with age.... but the places, people and things I see are amazing. But the last two weeks were island R&R from the adventure. Hanging with a young Danish women who took care of us and our place. We talked with her about many things and learned a lot from each other. She latched onto us right away.
Just keep moving and learning.

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BUT, try this only when you are retired and can be in present time.


-Richard
 
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One of the reasons I like to travel in retirement is to see the art. It is incredibly diverse and beautiful.

THx-RNMarsh

No need to travel you can spend your money on folk art right here, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Milwaukee no less. I've seen his chicken/turkey bone sculptures and tacky photos of his wife half nude in the best museums.

He met her at the state fair, the height of our summer season.

You could follow up with Henry Darger another US based "art brutist" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger
 
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We got a phone call this morning from one of the neighbors out at the property where we will be building a house. The demo crew had began tearing down the old house (grey building in previous pictures)....ahead of schedule. We threw on some dirty clothes and zipped out there, but the house was almost down. Everyone that lives out there had gathered since they did not know that we planned to demo it, and the few people who knew expected it to happen next week. (2 pictures)

How much of it do you have ? Which one do you have

We have an acre of land with about 220 feet of creek bed. The Knotweed was extremely dense for the 25 feet (by 220) closest to the creek. It became less dense as you moved further from the creek, becoming sporadic infestations once you are about 50 feet from the water. Some of the neighboring property has sporadic infestations and the adjacent property has 7 foot tall plants along about half of his creek bed. He refuses my help cutting them down. (picture)

Several people have identified our infestation as "Japanese Knotweed." That is the species known to be a problem in this area as the state was dumb enough to plant the stuff 70 years ago for erosion control. It worked about as well as the Melaleuca introduced to the Florida Everglades in the same time period. That boondoggle now needs a 7 BILLION dollar cleanup.

Last summer I bought a used "weed eater from Hell" that didn't run. I rebuilt the carburetor and used it to cut down ALL the Knotweed. Imagine a 7 horsepower weed eater mounted on wheels that used 0.155 inch thick line. It cuts down 1 inch diameter stalks without slowing down.....A whole bundle of them slows it down a bit. (picture)

About 10 days ago I cleaned out the carburetor again and spent a week of 12 hour days chopping it all down again. I took a pick axe and dug out as many of the large root balls that I could get out, and burned them. I then tried several Glyphosate experiments. I left some root balls (picture) in the ground and tried different levels of Glyphosate from zero to drowning them in undiluted Gly. I left some small infestations intact and sprayed the leaves with different amounts of Gly. It took about 3 days to do this. We took yesterday off and drove over to Cleveland to select flooring for the house.

Today I walked the property and surveyed the results of my experiments. The root balls left in the ground with zero Gly applied showed small sprouts on stuff cut 2 days ago, and 4 to 6 inch sprouts with full leaves on stuff cut down 5 days ago....cutting them down alone is futile. (picture of the regrowth on a small bundle cut down 5 days ago). There were some sprouts on the root balls sprayed with diluted Gly 5 days ago. They were malformed and brownish. None of the 2 and 3 day old stuff had sprouted. None of the stuff sprayed or injected with stronger Gly had sprouted. These areas were not disturbed and will be monitored for several more days. The intact plants that received Gly spray on their leaves seemed unharmed except for brown spots on the leaves of the plants that received undiluted spray. They were cut down and their root balls were drowned in Gly.

I see random fresh sprouts all over the back 50 feet of the property even in areas where there were few original plants. I plan to mow this area every few days and apply Gly every time I see sprouts for as long as it takes to stomp this stuff out.

The neighbor who doesn't want my help has tried to kill Knotweed with fire again.....picture enclosed. That clearly doesn't work but makes him feel like he accomplished something.

The neighbor who called me this morning showed me where the state originally planted the stuff and it has not been disturbed.....Its about 12 feet tall and so thick you can's see through it.....picture.
 

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