Yesterday we had a nice group of wild turkeys out in the pasture, I have seen quite a few lately.
For the last two weeks we have seen folks fishing along the Emory river near us. Apparently there is world class striped bass fishing nearby on the Clinch river system and it's tributaries. A friend also said that the state releases trout upstream of us near Frozen Head and they can be caught here also.
Yesterday Mary was out riding her horse and she came back with a skull she found in the upper pasture that had curved tusks sticking out from the upper jaw.
I know that there are wild hogs in the nearby Catoosa WMA, but we have not seen any on the farm. Mary said she did not see any other remains where she found the skull, so I'm not sure what it is or where it came from.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Plateau micro-creeking
A pretty little creek borders our farm and winds through the forest on it's path down stream to a river. Last night and today we received a fair bit of rain, so from our house you can easily hear the roar of the creek.
While going out to run errands today, Mary and I saw some vehicles and kayakers parked near the bottom of our driveway, so we went and talked to them. We often see kayakers in the area, but not at the bottom of our driveway.
It turns out that this group of kayakers came up from Chattanooga so that they could kayak the creek from our property down to the river, there is a nice parking area at the river where people often park to fish or kayak.
The group told us that they discovered this route and first kayaked it last year, and that it was a class 4+ rapids under these conditions.
These are some seriously skilled kayakers, and they were all friendly, happy, and having a great adventure.
Just upstream from us the Emory river becomes the Obed wild and scenic national park, and it is also popular with kayakers.
One of them posted this video online of them kayaking the creek:
https://vimeo.com/264891306
While going out to run errands today, Mary and I saw some vehicles and kayakers parked near the bottom of our driveway, so we went and talked to them. We often see kayakers in the area, but not at the bottom of our driveway.
It turns out that this group of kayakers came up from Chattanooga so that they could kayak the creek from our property down to the river, there is a nice parking area at the river where people often park to fish or kayak.
The group told us that they discovered this route and first kayaked it last year, and that it was a class 4+ rapids under these conditions.
These are some seriously skilled kayakers, and they were all friendly, happy, and having a great adventure.
Just upstream from us the Emory river becomes the Obed wild and scenic national park, and it is also popular with kayakers.
One of them posted this video online of them kayaking the creek:
https://vimeo.com/264891306
Monday, April 9, 2018
26 degrees F April 8, 2018
This weekend we had low morning temps, 27 degrees F on April 7 and 26 degrees F with a good bit of frost on April 8.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
4 degrees F (3.6) January 2, 2017
This morning at about 7:45 am the outside temperature reading at the farm was 3.6 degrees F. Coldest temp so far for the season. Clear moon lit night, clear blue sky today.
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
16 degrees F Dec 13, 2017
On Sunday December 10, 2017 the morning low dropped below 21 degrees F, it was 20 point something.
This morning, Wednesday December 13, 2017, the temp dropped into the teens for the first time for this year.
This morning, Wednesday December 13, 2017, the temp dropped into the teens for the first time for this year.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
24 degrees F November 20, 2017
On Monday morning November 20, 2017 the low temp was 24 degrees F at the farm.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Linux runs on the fastest 500 supercomputers in the world
Linux has been dominating the high performance computing space for a while.
Now, linux runs on the fastest 500 supercomputers in the world.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-totally-dominates-supercomputers
China has topped the US and now has more systems in the top500 list than any other country.
At ORNL we have the Titan supercomputer, now five years old, it has dropped to #5 in the rankings. A new supercomputer called Summit is being developed and installed at ORNL and is expected to take over the #1 spot on the top 500 list of supercomputers next year.
Switzerland has the #3 supercomputer.
www.top500.org
Monday, October 30, 2017
27 degrees F October 30, 2017
Definitely got some frost on the pumpkin this morning, coldest temp of the season so far, the temp hit 27 degrees F. Outside water drinkers froze, including the ones in the coops.
Last week one morning we hit 32 degrees F.
Last week one morning we hit 32 degrees F.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
October 19, 2017: 36 degrees F and first frost of season
This morning the low was 36 degrees F and there was ice on the windshield of my truck and light frost on the grass etc.
The sky was clear, beautiful and starry last night.
A pack of coyotes came up fairly close last night, the dogs kept things under control.
The sky was clear, beautiful and starry last night.
A pack of coyotes came up fairly close last night, the dogs kept things under control.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Saturday, September 9, 2017
47, 46, 47 degrees F, September 7 - 9, 2017
Beautiful weather the last three days with cool morning low temps of 47, 46, and 47 degrees F.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
That's something I've never seen before ...
September 3, 2017:
Outside doing evening chores, I saw a group of at least 20 night hawks, with the distinctive pointed wing shape similar to gulls, with a very visible white spot on the bottom of each wing, they were flying mostly above the field in between the house and the bee hives, and they remained for 30 minutes or so, feeding up above on insects. Again, the chickens and pigeons completely ignored them. Very interesting.
September 5, 2015:
I was outside just before dark this evening and saw something I don't recall ever seeing before. I saw a couple of large predator type birds flying about 100 feet over the pigeon / chicken / duck / rabbit / peacock area.
Uh oh I thought, this could be trouble. However, the chickens et al did not seem bothered by the presence of these birds overhead. Then I noticed these birds were darting about in the sky, much like bats feeding on insects. Could they be large bats?
These birds had pointy wings with a white mark visible on the underside of each wing. I searched online and found that these were common nighthawks, which today are not that common.
Outside doing evening chores, I saw a group of at least 20 night hawks, with the distinctive pointed wing shape similar to gulls, with a very visible white spot on the bottom of each wing, they were flying mostly above the field in between the house and the bee hives, and they remained for 30 minutes or so, feeding up above on insects. Again, the chickens and pigeons completely ignored them. Very interesting.
September 5, 2015:
I was outside just before dark this evening and saw something I don't recall ever seeing before. I saw a couple of large predator type birds flying about 100 feet over the pigeon / chicken / duck / rabbit / peacock area.
Uh oh I thought, this could be trouble. However, the chickens et al did not seem bothered by the presence of these birds overhead. Then I noticed these birds were darting about in the sky, much like bats feeding on insects. Could they be large bats?
These birds had pointy wings with a white mark visible on the underside of each wing. I searched online and found that these were common nighthawks, which today are not that common.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Big rain event Friday July 14, 2017
Last Friday afternoon July 14, 2017 we had a big rain event, it was localized and embedded near the farm. Just a few miles away it did not rain at all.
We lost power at the farm for a couple of hours, there were branches down in the road.
My next door farm neighbor has a pond that overflowed across Clifty Creek road, something I have not seen happen before, you could slowly drive through with a truck or SUV but you would not want to attempt with a lower / smaller vehicle.
Another neighbor had all of the rock and gravel washed away leaving a bare metal culvert pipe exposed at the entrance to his gravel access road.
At all of the water locations on the farm you can see where heavy water flow flattened the vegetation. In the wildlife pond the water flow plowed open and folded over two sections of thick sod, I saw it and it took me a little while to figure out what it was and what had happened.
I have a swale or dip near the bottom of the driveway to divert water and that dip was almost filled up with rock/gravel/sediment.
We lost power at the farm for a couple of hours, there were branches down in the road.
My next door farm neighbor has a pond that overflowed across Clifty Creek road, something I have not seen happen before, you could slowly drive through with a truck or SUV but you would not want to attempt with a lower / smaller vehicle.
Another neighbor had all of the rock and gravel washed away leaving a bare metal culvert pipe exposed at the entrance to his gravel access road.
At all of the water locations on the farm you can see where heavy water flow flattened the vegetation. In the wildlife pond the water flow plowed open and folded over two sections of thick sod, I saw it and it took me a little while to figure out what it was and what had happened.
I have a swale or dip near the bottom of the driveway to divert water and that dip was almost filled up with rock/gravel/sediment.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
49 degrees F June 28, 2017
Another beautiful clear cool night with a morning low temperature of 49 degrees F.
Monday, June 26, 2017
49 degrees June 26, 2017
Beautiful evening last night followed by a cool morning, 49 degrees F at 6am today.
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