What I did today -instead- of Rocketry.

[Cape Byron]

I like goannas. I am still trying to catch a wild one. Have come close a few times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goanna
Saw a 2m perentie up in NSW a few years back. Scary big.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perentie

Don't get me wrong, I like goannas in their place - which is not the loungeroom. Perenties are amazing. Like being in Jurassic park, but for real.

Now you have giant lizards. What a place. Never a dull moment.

What, you didn't know we had giant lizards? Normally not aggressive, but keep moving. If you stand still they think you are a tree and run up your body. Many sutures required. Also, they eat carrion so their bites get badly infected really quickly. Nothing to fear: I regularly chase them out of the chicken pen in my pyjamas. But how a goanna got into my pyjamas I have no idea...

 

[Cape Byron]

Oh, and today's mouse total is 38. And counting...

 

[jqavins]

Trying a blend of 70% cocoa chocolate and cheese as a bait (instead of peanut butter). Three caught in the test trap in 12 minutes.

I will have to remember that one. I've tried cheese (or course) and a couple of other things, and never found better than peanut butter. I'll try the chocolate/cheese mixture the next time I need to set traps. Which may be in the fall.

[T]his little Barn Swallow found its way into our house & cost my wife and me several hours of our lives we’ll never get back.

I'd have just left the doors open and harassed it until it found its own way out. Done that once. Took a little while, not long.

Our most frequent 'inside' visiting critters are microbats.

The non-micro bat I had once did keep us busyer than just simple harassment, but still not too long. For that one we had to go about the house closing interior doors to keep it in a shrinking space. It went to ground in a fold of a curtain. I placed a towel over my hand (one does not want to be bitten by a bat. No vampirism; rabies) and picked it up. The plan had been to try to throw the towel over it, but it just froze, so I gently picked it up and carried it outside. Poor little thing was terrified.

Cute, however, is in the eye of the beholder. Those things are ugly. Wrinkled wads of leather with a deformed mouse in the middle. World record loads of ugle^*. For cute, give me that little barn swallow every time.

* If you're muddy, you have mud on you. If you're ugly...

 

[jd2cylman]

We used ground up sardines as mouse bait mixed with the poison. Every tin was empty in two days. The tins were placed in locations that only mice could get to.

 

[kuririn]

That's the one!

This is also called a Go-Anna! Still needs work...

View attachment 470844

Clever!

 

[GrouchoDuke]

I'd have just left the doors open and harassed it until it found its own way out. Done that once. Took a little while, not long.

Oh, we definitely did that. The main problem was it wanted to fly to the top of everywhere. Our entryway has a tall ceiling & he wouldn't descend to go out the door. We had poles, nets, sheets, towels & more trying to motivate it out the doors.

 

[Stretch]

Scored a 24-inch Starrett hight micrometer off ebay.......yea.= )

 

[Stretch]

Thanks for the heads up, Heada.....I'm going to assume that you actually know what that is. Most people don't. My profession is showing. = )

 

[heada]

Personally I have never done any machining or used a surface plate but I do follow a few machinists on YouTube and have seen similar used by them. Adam Booth (Abom79) and Keith Rucker (VintageMachinery.org)

 

[Stretch]

Personally I have never done any machining or used a surface plate but I do follow a few machinists on YouTube and have seen similar used by them. Adam Booth (Abom79) and Keith Rucker (VintageMachinery.org)

*smiles*.......Stick around. There's a new machinist, who also happens to be a rocket geek. = )

 

[OverTheTop]

Another machinist here BTW .

Surface plates and height verniers are great for marking out sheetmetal.

 

[Stretch]

Another machinist here BTW .

Surface plates and height verniers are great for marking out sheetmetal.

That'll work. = )

 

[Stretch]

Another machinist here BTW .

Surface plates and height verniers are great for marking out sheetmetal.

Hight micrometers you have to transfer dimensions. The thing actually reads directly in tenths......it's great for setting bore gages though. = )

 

[Cape Byron]

We used ground up sardines as mouse bait mixed with the poison. Every tin was empty in two days. The tins were placed in locations that only mice could get to.

Organic farm = no poisons allowed.

 

[jd2cylman]

Organic farm = no poisons allowed.

Ya, I get that. My brother's farm is the same. Just sayin, the little buggers loved dead stinky salty sushi... made the shop where we worked a little rosey for a day or two.

So, I'd vote for the one way trip into the pail o water... maybe if'n the horde is that big, it's time to switch to a 30 gal drum?

 

[Cape Byron]

Ya, I get that. My brother's farm is the same. Just sayin, the little buggers loved dead stinky salty sushi... made the shop where we worked a little rosey for a day or two.

So, I'd vote for the one way trip into the pail o water... maybe if'n the horde is that big, it's time to switch to a 30 gal drum?

We're using four different types of trap now. Switching trap styles and baits every few days seems to be helping. I figure there's only about 6.023 million on the property now...

 

[jd2cylman]

We're using four different types of trap now. Switching trap styles and baits every few days seems to be helping. I figure there's only about 6.023 million on the property now...

You need a sh!!t load of barn owls... And maybe a Flurkin...

 

[boatgeek]

We're using four different types of trap now. Switching trap styles and baits every few days seems to be helping. I figure there's only about 6.023 million on the property now...

Wait, wait, wait a minute here. I thought you had mice, not moles!

 

[Cape Byron]

Wait, wait, wait a minute here. I thought you had mice, not moles!

Is that an Avagadro joke?

I'm seriously impressed. I thought I was the only person who forgets their registration number but remembers that stuff.

 

[boatgeek]

Is that an Avagadro joke?

I'm seriously impressed. I thought I was the only person who forgets their registration number but remembers that stuff.

Yes, yes it was.

Project numbers from another job 24 years ago? Got it etched into permanent memory.
Avogadro’s number? Absolutely.
The name of the person I just met? Gone.

 

[heada]

Yes, yes it was.

Project numbers from another job 24 years ago? Got it etched into permanent memory.
Avogadro’s number? Absolutely.
The name of the person I just met? Gone.

Most of my family had the same Chemistry teacher in high school. We all celebrate Oct 23 as "Mole Day"

What do you get when you cut up an avacado into 6.02x10^23 bits? guaca-mole

 

[kuririn]

I figure there's only about 6.023 million on the property now...

Or maybe 62,734,873 and a baby.

 

[kuririn]

Why is Avogadro's constant so big?
Because it's making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

 

[Cape Byron]

Why is Avogadro's constant so big?
Because it's making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

Oh. Where's the groan smiley?

 

[Cape Byron]

You need a sh!!t load of barn owls... And maybe a Flurkin...

Yeah, barn owls in the house is a little problematic...

We have lots of owls, and even they can't keep the population of mice down ATM. Waiting for warmer weather when the snakes become more lively. Then the fun will start...

 

[kuririn]

Bing says dingos eat mice.
Just a matter of logistics I guess.

 

[Cape Byron]

Bing says dingos eat mice.
Just a matter of logistics I guess.

Dingoes also eat babies. Not a good family pet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Azaria_Chamberlain

 

[tsmith1315]

I've tried cheese (or course) and a couple of other things, and never found better than peanut butter.

Several years back, we saw a field mouse trying to escape the cat on the back patio. Both his back legs had been broken and he was still struggling to run. His determination was admirable and we felt bad for him. Having an empty aquarium, I brought him in. Peanut butter, served on a saltine brought him back around over time. His legs fully healed and he would get his hamster wheel spinning so fast that when he suddenly grabbed the wheel to stop, it would carry him around and around several times before it stopped. Over a couple of years, he escaped a few times, but had become fairly tame and wouldn't run from us.

We tried all kinds of different foods, sweet and savory. Of everything we tried, peanut butter remained his undisputed #1 choice. Cheese was totally ignored if PB was available. He was crazy about cotton bolls, first extracting the seeds in the middle, and then shredding the fiber for a nest. He had obviously seen them before. He also loved to hunt insects.

With that info, we've never bothered with cheese on a trap again. But I will definitely try @Cape Byron's trick this fall when they start running again!

 

[KC3KNM]

Speaking of machining… just finished this guy. Fixtured with masking tape and CA of course.

 

[jqavins]

Yes, yes it was.

And you only beat me to it by about 12 hours. Dang, I need better internet at home.