Older Folks and Vaping Front Porch - Part 5

[FlamingoTutu]

So sad about the bats.
Like frogs, bats are a barometer of environmental health in an area.
Gods help us all

There are patches of healthy trees and we think the bats just relocated to those areas. Some other bats have been here lately but we can't hear them There was another species that we could hear making clicking sounds but they're gone to to the best of my knowledge.

I still miss our old friends from Flyby to Motormouth. Flyby would do just that, flyby with one squeak and not come back for a while. Motormouth would squeak, I'd whistle, and it would go into a tangent of squeaking which became faster and louder until it was out of breath. Another that used to like to like walking a good portion of the walk always did a double squeak. I hope they're safe and thriving

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Sorry for multiple posts, ECF being persnickety tonight.

Yes, that would be about the right time frame ... I think you were the guy in the bell bottoms ... I remember you.

Great pictures Spydro ... thanks so much for sharing you picture archives with us.

Indeed ... vast acres in Colorado have been destroyed just like in the pictures you posted. So sad.

We're having a 'localized' disaster here in SE Pennsylvania. An invasive species of the Spotted Lantern fly is destroying everything from trees to vineyards. It's have quite an economic impact. The collateral damage is our song birds and other small birds. There has been so much non-selective insecticide being sprayed by commercial businesses as well as home owners that the bird population is dying off.

We have notre seen any chickadees, nut hatches, cardinals, purple martins, etc all summer. This is damage to the bird population is well known to the ecologists and scientists trying to battle the damn Spotted Lantern fly but it doesn't halt the application of the insecticides as we've been told the 1st line of battle is to save the commercial destruction to the economy of the area. The dying off of the birds is being accepted as the price to pay for trying to control the infestation.

View attachment 844905

Holy ing . I don't think we're losing animals as in die-offs but that they are relocating in most instances. Last spring when we were visiting my parents in Portland and spring was in FULL bloom, we'd walk through acres of a particular park that ranged from landscaped flowerbeds, flowering trees and an insane amount of blooming weeds and we'd only find a couple of bees, as in less than five after specifically searching for them for an hour or more.

We asked locals and they were unanimously oblivious. Search of the news revealed they'd all been killed by pesticides. I assume many birds have also perished due to the bug kill there. There needs to be a better way, I feel terrible for the kids growing up today and the state of the world that has been left to them.

While growing up in the Rockies seeing massive tracts of forest trees under attack was fairly common. Mostly from beetles, fungus/bacterial blights or wildfires, but many years later when I lived there again for a while from Gypsy moths. As bad as they were they paled in comparison to the "let it burn" attitude the Forest Service took during the 1988 June to November fires in Yellowstone Nat'l Park, the Chief Joseph fires, and others in that area of the Rockies. In YNP alone nearly 800,000 acres burned (a little over 1/3 of the park). It destroyed or altered the infrastructure of the park, almost destroyed historic features (like Old Faithful Lodge) and altered some of the geothermal attractions there forever. But as if as a promise by the park to mend itself the following summer there was almost as many acres of fireweed in the burned to the ground places where the skeletons of some trees still stood. I wasn't in YNP during the fire, but my family did pass thru there the next three springs and summers on our way to and from the Absaroka Beathtooth Wilderness NE of the park where we spent weeks in our RV.

I don't have any of the slides I took in YNP then. So this is not in YNP, but it is a representative picture of fireweed in a burned out area that is the first plant to recolonize after a fire.
View attachment 844917

Let's get something clear right now, the USFS does NOT have jurisdiction in a NP. How do I know, I was a USFS wildland firefighter. We have a YNP also, it's called Yosemite National Park. I remember your fire but without going back and looking it up, I was disgusted with their response too. I didn't go into fire until a couple of years after that.

Do you know about mosaic burning and all that? It's vital for forest health. I've fought fires on NP land and one time it almost cost me my life three times in two days. NPs, USFS, state fire departments have all made horrible mistakes in forest management in the past but are stepping up to the plate more now, or not with national funding

We also get one heck of a wildfire bloom after a fire, mostly blue bells. They're quite the showboats.

Sad to hear. Collateral damage to other species is often much worse than the root problem. I can relate to what you are experiencing there as I was one of those who volunteered to do battle with the Gypsy Moths in part of the Rockies in the late 80's. A biological spray was used to kill them, but it also killed any other Lepidoptera species that was out and about at the time. So a group of us local Lepidopterists' collected and maintained/reared the other species in our homes before the spray was applied. Later we used them to reseed their colonies with after the spray had done its deed.

View attachment 844925 View attachment 844927

You raised those bugs to be released back into the wild? I throw myself to your feet and grovel there in gratitude and admiration. We do try to go above and beyond to keep our little community of wildlife afloat but wouldn't have a clue how to raise bugs. That's truly awesome, profound thank yous for your efforts.

 

[pwmeek]

it would go into a tangent of squeaking which became faster and louder until it was out of breath.

This is the sound profile of a bat homing in on an insect. As they get closer and closer to an insect they increase the rate of pulses to refine the location. The sudden stop is because they have a mouthful of insect.

Single chirps are "illuminating" pulses to detect whether there is any insect or obstacle out in front of them. Then they either avoid it (obstacle) or home in on it (insect).

As a side note, some species of moths have "learned" to make sudden, random zig-zags when they sense this homing sound. ("Learned" in an evolutionary way: more moths that did do this went on to lay more eggs and produce more "dodgers", eventually replacing the ones that didn't dodge.)

I'm not sure why a bat would respond to a whistle with a homing sequence but it's nice to think of bats as friendly. If you really like bats and want to help them (and learn more about them) consider joining BCI (Bat Conservation International) at BCI (I've been a contributing member since sometime in the 1980s and have put up bat houses on my property.

Putting up a bat house. Bat houses don't have to be this elaborate; I was building a house and had lots of help and machinery available. They can be put on a pole or the side wall of a house or barn. (Avoid trees; owls like to perch and wait for them to come out.) They need sun in northern climates and shade in hotter places. They should be within a half mile of some open water for best results. There is a lot of information on bat houses on the BCI site, including where to get them or how to build them.

 

[Spydro]

Sorry for multiple posts, ECF being persnickety tonight.



Holy ing . I don't think we're losing animals as in die-offs but that they are relocating in most instances. Last spring when we were visiting my parents in Portland and spring was in FULL bloom, we'd walk through acres of a particular park that ranged from landscaped flowerbeds, flowering trees and an insane amount of blooming weeds and we'd only find a couple of bees, as in less than five after specifically searching for them for an hour or more.

We asked locals and they were unanimously oblivious. Search of the news revealed they'd all been killed by pesticides. I assume many birds have also perished due to the bug kill there. There needs to be a better way, I feel terrible for the kids growing up today and the state of the world that has been left to them.



Let's get something clear right now, the USFS does NOT have jurisdiction in a NP. How do I know, I was a USFS wildland firefighter. We have a YNP also, it's called Yosemite National Park. I remember your fire but without going back and looking it up, I was disgusted with their response too. I didn't go into fire until a couple of years after that.

Do you know about mosaic burning and all that? It's vital for forest health. I've fought fires on NP land and one time it almost cost me my life three times in two days. NPs, USFS, state fire departments have all made horrible mistakes in forest management in the past but are stepping up to the plate more now, or not with national funding

We also get one heck of a wildfire bloom after a fire, mostly blue bells. They're quite the showboats.



You raised those bugs to be released back into the wild? I throw myself to your feet and grovel there in gratitude and admiration. We do try to go above and beyond to keep our little community of wildlife afloat but wouldn't have a clue how to raise bugs. That's truly awesome, profound thank yous for your efforts.

Ok, so slap my knuckles with a ruler for "lumping" the authority over our various public forest lands under the forest service moniker. Just writers prose. I know the NPS has it over the NP's, the USFS/USDA over NF's, about the BLM, etc, etc.

My contribution to the protection of our forests from wildland fires pales in comparison to yours. So thank you for your brave service. I have the ultimate respect for smokejumpers and wildland fire fighters.

For some years back in the mid 90's I was a near full time volunteer with the BLM and Dept of Ag that among many other duties was trained for wildfire duty and range patrol along the Arizonia Strip from the north rim of the Grand Canyon to the UT border, and wildland fires there and in southern Utah's Iron, Washington and Kane counties where lightning strike wildfires were common (especially in the vicinity of Zion NP/Cedar Mountains in UT). At wildland fires among my many other duties I drove a fully outfitted 4X4 rescue power wagon to support smokejumpers with needed gear on site and stood by for both non emergency and emergency blowup/firestorm evac. I dressed the dress with the same emergency gear as those fighting the fires for my own protection, but I was not supposed to get very far away from my vehicle because evac was my primary duty when on line. So helping some with backfires and firebreaks was my only contribution to actually helping extinguish the fires.

As for the bugs... I was a very serious amateur Lepidopterist and plant biologist for over 50 years that studied their life histories where they lived, in a RV with a lab and in a home lab. In part to help protect the habitats where they and endless other life forms occurred and the species that lived in them from extinction. So I (and my family) reared leps at home pretty much year round for decades that included hundreds of different species. Via a local society in the 80's/90's I was affiliated with two Natural History Museums and was a member of the International Lep Society that helped acquire/set up reserves/sanctuaries for them and their habitats worldwide. At one time I even held a Class A Nat'l Park Research & Collecting Permit when I did field work for GTNP. Unfortunately our government changed the game after I stopped doing the field work and made it nearly impossible for an unaffiliated/non professional to legally do the things with species that were not endangered that I always did legally at the time even with those species that occur right here in a no longer free America... let alone species from other countries. USFWSLE and State Ag Departments were the very easy to work with federal/state governing bodies that I dealt with for permits before AVIS changed the game.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Okay, you two are just awesome! Shame this comes up when I'm madly trying to finish packing and get the house in order so we can fly up and visit my parents tomorrow for my mother's 96th birthday. Apologies for the brevity of my reply.

This is the sound profile of a bat homing in on an insect. As they get closer and closer to an insect they increase the rate of pulses to refine the location. The sudden stop is because they have a mouthful of insect.

Single chirps are "illuminating" pulses to detect whether there is any insect or obstacle out in front of them. Then they either avoid it (obstacle) or home in on it (insect).

As a side note, some species of moths have "learned" to make sudden, random zig-zags when they sense this homing sound. ("Learned" in an evolutionary way: more moths that did do this went on to lay more eggs and produce more "dodgers", eventually replacing the ones that didn't dodge.)

I'm not sure why a bat would respond to a whistle with a homing sequence but it's nice to think of bats as friendly. If you really like bats and want to help them (and learn more about them) consider joining BCI (Bat Conservation International) at BCI (I've been a contributing member since sometime in the 1980s and have put up bat houses on my property.

Putting up a bat house. Bat houses don't have to be this elaborate; I was building a house and had lots of help and machinery available. They can be put on a pole or the side wall of a house or barn. (Avoid trees; owls like to perch and wait for them to come out.) They need sun in northern climates and shade in hotter places. They should be within a half mile of some open water for best results. There is a lot of information on bat houses on the BCI site, including where to get them or how to build them.

I'm sorry I don't know what kind of bats they were but this was a squeak they used and it was deliberately made two us. They'd come by and squeak, I'd whistle, they'd squeak however many more times as they circled us and then fly off a way and feed with no audible squeaks and usually circle back a little later.

I think what they were attracted to at first was the dog's lighted collar. We ended up sort of training each other to squeak/whistle. This went on for years and wasn't a one time fluke.

We leave the porch light on at night for the tree frogs to catch moths. Noticed the bats hanging around them and left on another light pointed out the window. Bats would, and the other ones still do,fly back and forth in front of the window every night catching moths. There are now very, very few moths here anymore. Less than 10% of what we've had over the last twenty-five years.

Going to try to get the neighbor to put up a bat house, out landlord doesn't want one near the house and I wouldn't trust him to leave it alone when we move.

Bookmarked the BCI website, thanks!

I said we pointed a light out the window for the bats. One used follow moths onto the window screen and the crawl along the screen to catch them occasionally. It was pretty funny. But at that same window I'd see a moth something drop like a rock and always assumed it was a reflex for them to evade the bats.

Ok, so slap my knuckles with a ruler for "lumping" the authority over our various public forest lands under the forest service moniker. Just writers prose. I know the NPS has it over the NP's, the USFS/USDA over NF's, about the BLM, etc, etc.

Good for you! And thank you for your service, Sir.

At this point I'm going to have to reply to you night after next since my husband and dog distracted me and I babbled on too long about the bats and moths.


And vaping related, I made a modest order of kicks and a gizmo you put on to of a mech to regulate it and the shipping cost just about doubled the bill. Since they were greatly reduced in price anyway and it was the oly place to get the topper thingies, I went for it. Today they decided to have free shipping on any order.

 

[pwmeek]

Going to try to get the neighbor to put up a bat house, out landlord doesn't want one near the house and I wouldn't trust him to leave it alone when we move.

You might point out that the alternative might be for bats to find a way (a hole the size of a quarter) to get into the attic. Getting rid of them humanely is difficult. Getting rid of them at all is expensive. Leaving them there is a very bad idea.

Why not provide a MORE desirable place for the bats which are clearly already in the neighborhood?

x

We leave the porch light on at night for the tree frogs to catch moths.

We left our porch lights on (sunset to sunrise timer, but carefully designed to avoid light leaking into the sky - Dark Sky y'know) but we had three or four toads for every frog. The only downside was that they left little turds stuck to the stonework that had to be brushed away occasionally. The frogs (Peepers and Chorus Frogs) liked the door (varnished wood) better than the stone, and every so often someone would open the door and not notice a frog dropping off inside the house. After that they might end up anywhere that there was light

 

[Kenna]

Yes, bark beetles. Hadn't heard about NM butI think @MikeE3 said the same happened in Colorado. It's not just the loss of the trees but all that goes with it.

For example, we walk every night with our neighbors and look for satellites, meteors, etc. Every night we'd also have bats that would do a flyby or accompany us and squeak as they flew by. We'd whistle back to them. We actually got to know individuals by the way they squeaked and how many times. As the trees thinned out the moths diminished and so did the bats. There are none that "squeak" here now, just ones we can't hear their calls.

What it looks like here.

Correct, his daughter was on the news trying to warn other people about what happened. From what I saw, I don't know why somebody wasn't there to help him.

We were told power would be cut at midnight, then it was sometime in the morning, then it was noon, then it would be later... (They finally cut it when I tried to log onto ECF. [emoji38])You couldn't access their website because it was overwhelmed. For us it was nothing more than a needless inconvenience (since there was no wind) but for others it was a medical, financial or other type of emergency.

I'm sure the power cuts prevented fires but why hasn't PG&E properly maintain the lines? I have the answer, it's shareholders, I can give you the news links if you want.


Is everyone on here stocked up or what? I hope I am and just adding small things here and there, then wishing I'd gotten another Glovari. [emoji38] Just trying to keep it on topic.

I'm stocked except for flavoring 1. Just found out that Real Flavors has closed. They made one of the 2 flavors in my diy adv. Aged bourbon cream. Now I'm looking for their vendors that might still have some. Because I need 10 gallons of it.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

 

[Bunnykiller]

AAhhhh, the perfect place to ask this question... (Study group, a bunch of old people who have been vaping forever)
How many of yall have keeled over from vaping flavored juice?

 

[rosesense]

I'm stocked except for flavoring 1. Just found out that Real Flavors has closed. They made one of the 2 flavors in my diy adv. Aged bourbon cream. Now I'm looking for their vendors that might still have some. Because I need 10 gallons of it.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

RF has changed to corvexo one shots only but your aged bourbon cream is available here as a one shot:
You searched for aged bourbon cream - Flavorless Eliquid Solutions for Stores and Customers

It is still available at BCF, don't know for how long:
Aged Bourbon Cream-RF

 

[Kenna]

RF has changed to corvexo one shots only but your aged bourbon cream is available here as a one shot:
You searched for aged bourbon cream - Flavorless Eliquid Solutions for Stores and Customers

It is still available at BCF, don't know for how long:
Aged Bourbon Cream-RF

BCF is where I usually get mine. Just got a 16oz last year week, but they didn't have enough to get 2. They daid they'd be getting more but that was before RF announced they'd closed.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

 

[rosesense]

BCF is where I usually get mine. Just got a 16oz last year week, but they didn't have enough to get 2. They daid they'd be getting more but that was before RF announced they'd closed.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

Probably have to go with one shots. I doubt they will continue getting RF concentrates.

 

[Flowersoul]

Sure hope you get a substantial amount of that bourbon cream, @Kenna! I know how much you love that stuff!

I"ve been getting a LOT of the one shots.....makes it so much easier, and the flavors are wonderful.......caramel latte = Lucky Shot and Lotta Latte!

 

[rosesense]

BCF is where I usually get mine. Just got a 16oz last year week, but they didn't have enough to get 2. They daid they'd be getting more but that was before RF announced they'd closed.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

Found 2 more places but no idea how much shipping is. This one you can get up to 250ml, it is in Canada:
Aged Bourbon Cream by Real Flavors

Aged Bourbon Cream VG based by Real Flavors

 

[Kenna]

Sure hope you get a substantial amount of that bourbon cream, @Kenna! I know how much you love that stuff!

I"ve been getting a LOT of the one shots.....makes it so much easier, and the flavors are wonderful.......caramel latte = Lucky Shot and Lotta Latte!

Aged Bourbon Cream is an undiluted, zero nic flavoring to be as a recipe component. It's not a pre-made one shot mix of several flavors. The flavor is very special & I really doubt that it could be vaped by very many as a stand alone juice. I use it with Inawera's Custard to make my adv. I have idea what to use instead. I may put up an iso post in the buying & selling forum.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

 

[rosesense]

Aged Bourbon Cream is an undiluted, zero nic flavoring to be as a recipe component. It's not a pre-made one shot mix of several flavors. The flavor is very special & I really doubt that it could be vaped by very many as a stand alone juice. I use it with Inawera's Custard to make my adv. I have idea what to use instead. I may put up an iso post in the buying & selling forum.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

I could be wrong here but I think the new site for RF is listing one shots as a way around the regs and such. I don't use that flavor so I have no idea how it would be incorporated into a mix.

 

[DavidOck]

AAhhhh, the perfect place to ask this question... (Study group, a bunch of old people who have been vaping forever)
How many of yall have keeled over from vaping flavored juice?

I have yet to vape a flavor that knocks my socks off (although some of mine are pretty close ), let alone blows out my knees to make me keel over. Must be mixing wrong...

 

[JCinFLA]

@Kenna - Appears to be available in several sizes below:

Aged Bourbon Cream (RF)

Aged Bourbon Cream (RFSC)

 

[amoret]

I've been putting up bat houses since the 1980s, except for this place since the only spot that would work is near a big old oak with multiple owl families.

Close to 20 years ago we bought my dream house in in the country (lost it when Jim became disabled and the company I worked for closed down, not one of my better years) and it had an above ground swimming pool that I ended up liking way more than I'd thought I would. One of our evening rituals was watching the over the pool insect catchers shift change as the swallows left just as the bats arrived.

On a vaping note, I think I finally have my mixed mint recipe down. I was trying for something between the little pillow mints and Altoids, leaning slightly toward the latter. Since I knew exactly what I wanted and had some trouble getting there it ended up with 5 different mint flavors.

I probably should change the name though. I started it when unflavored started to be really boring (must not be an adult, right?) so I originally called it A Little Mint.

 

[DavidOck]

PentaMint?

 

[Spydro]

I'm stocked except for flavoring 1. Just found out that Real Flavors has closed. They made one of the 2 flavors in my diy adv. Aged bourbon cream. Now I'm looking for their vendors that might still have some. Because I need 10 gallons of it.

Sent from my LG-V700 using Tapatalk

Unfortuanately the flavor game can change without warning now days, mess up what was some of your perfect DIY vapes. That never seemed to happen in my early days of DIY. I have concentrates bought up to 6.5 years ago that are still viable and usable... but I also have had others that went bad and had to be tossed out.

I went through something similar to you around 10 months ago when a concentrate in my current army of preferred flavors was discontinued by Capella's (Egg Nog). I had bought the last two 30ml bottles of it I could find sometime before when I heard they were dropping it and was running very low. Someone discovered a 'stash' of it at Nicotine Giant being closed out and passed the info on to me. So naturally I bought up a bunch of it. Happy days was short lived as I was disappointed when it was received and still am. It was/is not even close to what it had always been before flavor wise (it is also in completely different packaging I had never seen before from Cap). FWIW the current stock of 30ml bottles of it still there (31) all these months later is exactly the same number of them that I didn't buy back then... IOW I assume they are still the same stuff. Anyway, long gone is the "original" version of it I had, and the new stash of whatever it is remains way in the back of my concentrates unused. It is still viable, so I might be able to come up with something new from it to use it for. But as a failed flavor from the past it is not a priority.

Even more on topic I had a similar experience with one from Real Flavors over a year ago, their Shamrock Shake. It not only had changed drastically, it didn't hold up as a concentrate or when mixed like it had before. I tossed it out.