Fan Art

[Atomic]

OK -- the definitely rates a giggle-snort!

[shadowinthelight]

Once again using Google to try to write in a language I don't actually speak but I'm hoping it is close enough to be understood. A cookie to the first person to figure it out. Yes, this is Shelly.

[jwhouk]

"Stay strong"?

NOOOOOOO! I'm having WAPSI WITHDRAWAL!

[kingklash]

Oh crap, they're back.
vampervs.png
The Vampervs will never get old. (literally, they're immortal)

"Bird years?!?"

don't know how it works for larger avians, but according to the unit conversion function (age mode) of Mario Calculator on my DSi, 15 human years equals 0.7 parakeet years. Going the other way, 15 parakeet equals 115.2 human.

[shadowinthelight]

"Stay strong"?

It's been almost 24hrs so I guess I can give the answer. It's as close to a classic Wapsi line as I could get not actually speaking the language and the limited information I was able to find. Definitely didn't find find out if it is possible to verb nouns in Comanche like in English.
I couldn't find the word by itself but what I was able to get from some translations of whole phrases nii = I. And according to Urban Dictionary, at least in Oklahoma, bisu is Comanche slang for fart.

[AnotherFairportfan]

So, today, i was driving somewhere for some reason which wound up being futile, so once i got home i ordered a new smartphone and a used lens for the Nikon). And, out of the i-forget-how-many gigs of MP3 files i have on a USB stick plugged into the stereo, the song "Witch" from Bob Johnson & Pete Knight's folk/rock/blues adaptation of Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter cycled up.

For some reason, a couple of Paul's pages/drawings cycled through my mind.

This is the one i settled on:



===========

Aside from the title (and modifying the contrast range a bit) i only made one alteration to the original art...

[Atomic]

A little something from days past:



And yes, I'm still working on that other thing....

[Dave]

A little something from days past:

Very nice! From the color scheme you chose, it looks as if Bud's lawn is a mix of chewings fescue and some Kentucky bluegrass... but I think I see a bit of nutsedge over in the corner that she should really exhale some plasma towards (nothing less will kill the damned stuff).

[Atomic]

A little something from days past:

Very nice! From the color scheme you chose, it looks as if Bud's lawn is a mix of chewings fescue and some Kentucky bluegrass... but I think I see a bit of nutsedge over in the corner that she should really exhale some plasma towards (nothing less will kill the damned stuff).

Really? I thought it was just a combination of random hue speckle and speed blur!

[MerchManDan]

A little something from days past

Oooh, I like a lot!!

[shadowinthelight]

Those were interesting times to say the least...

[DinkyInky]

A little something from days past:

Very nice! From the color scheme you chose, it looks as if Bud's lawn is a mix of chewings fescue and some Kentucky bluegrass... but I think I see a bit of nutsedge over in the corner that she should really exhale some plasma towards (nothing less will kill the damned stuff).

Know how to kill Wild rhubarb that somehow managed to be in my bag of Bluegrass seed? It's only growing in the area that has been seeded with that bag o' crap.

[Dave]

Know how to kill Wild rhubarb that somehow managed to be in my bag of Bluegrass seed? It's only growing in the area that has been seeded with that bag o' crap.

Oh, dear... you're burdened by burdock now? Bummer.

There seem to be a number of alternatives available to you, depending on how much of it you've got, how much damage you're willing to do to the lawn, and how you feel about chemicals.

Mechanical means are possible. It's a biennial and reportedly "does not tolerate cultivation". Farmers deal with it by plowing/cultivating their fields each year - this tears it up before it has a chance to set seed. Unlike nutsedge, it doesn't seem to re-sprout aggressively from the broken-up rhizomes.

So, you could plow your lawn, smooth it out, and re-seed. Pretty harsh. On a much smaller scale, if you've got only a limited number of burdock plants growing, you could used one of those "serrated fangs" sticks that are used to deal with dandelions, and tear 'em up individually.

Glyphosphate (Round-Up or the equivalent) is reported to give good control. If you have a small infestation you could treat the plants individually - "painting" the leaves with concentrate, or spot-spraying (the latter will probably kill patches of grass which will then need to be re-seeded). For a big and heavy infestation, you could do a full "burn-down" spraying with glyphosphate (kill the burdock and the grass), and then re-seed. I saw one report that over in ireland, they're dealing with the "giant rhubarb" variety by cutting off the stems and leaf rosettes, and then painting the cut-off stem ends with Roundup (I've used a similar approach on Boston ivy, and on unwanted eucalyptus saplings).

Another chemical approach would be to use a broadleaf herbicide which doesn't seriously affect grasses. 2,4-D is reported to be effective against burdock, and the folks in Kentucky say it's suitable for use on bluegrass lawns. The ester version is less hazardous to the eyes than the salt or acid versions. You could either spot-spray patches, or do a wide-area spraying of all of the areas that you had seeded with the bad seed. Should knock down the burdock in a few days. Home Depot seems to carry a 2,4-D concentrate that's gotten good reviews for effectiveness and cost.

You may have to repeat any of the above treatments once or more, as additional burdock sprouts - it may not all have germinated at once.

Solar sterilization would be another way to burn out everything. Water well, cover with a tarp, let the Texas sun shine on the soil for a few days, and pull up the tarp. This will kill the burdock (given long enough to cook the roots), the grass, and (with luck) the remaining burdock seed.

Dunno how well hosting a flock of goats on your land for a few days would do. They might eat more of the bluegrass than of the burdock.

If you use chemicals, ask the wee one to stay off of the lawn for a few days. While neither glyphosphate nor 2,4-D seems to be seriously toxic to humans and other mammals, there's no sense taking chances.

Whatever you do, you should do it before it grown enough to set seed (second year, usually)... it sets a lot of seed.

Good luck!

[Dave]

Those were interesting times to say the least...

Yes, they were. I won't say that the decades past were necessarily either innocent times, or better times, but they definitely were interesting times.

I do wonder, though, whether the bees will ever forgive us. This is where "colony collapse disorder" comes from, you know. It has nothing to with pollution, or pesticides, or mites, or viruses, or genetic weakness. They've just decided that they can no longer live with the shame.

This is all your fault, shadowinthelight. I do hope you realize that. The narrative hook you left dangling there, gave me no choice at all other than to reevive the beehive.

[Atomic]

Why am I sorely tempted to add a wavy white stripe and a pair of bolts?

Applause!

[AnotherFairportfan]

Blue is a nice colour.

[shadowinthelight]

Yes, they were. I won't say that the decades past were necessarily either innocent times, or better times, but they definitely were interesting times.

I do wonder, though, whether the bees will ever forgive us. This is where "colony collapse disorder" comes from, you know. It has nothing to with pollution, or pesticides, or mites, or viruses, or genetic weakness. They've just decided that they can no longer live with the shame.

This is all your fault, shadowinthelight. I do hope you realize that. The narrative hook you left dangling there, gave me no choice at all other than to reevive the beehive.

http://users.lmi.net/dplatt/wapsi/Beehive.jpg

I think you overshot the 80s by a couple of decades. And for the love of chocolate chips, don't let Jabberwonky see this. Do we really want another epidemic like Tina's haircut?

[Dave]

Why am I sorely tempted to add a wavy white stripe and a pair of bolts?

Applause!

I did think about that possibility...

I think you overshot the 80s by a couple of decades.

Oh, definitely. I figured that Kath, being rather quirky and eccentric, might have been into retro-sardonic. The classics never truly go out of style...

And for the love of chocolate chips, don't let Jabberwonky see this. Do we really want another epidemic like Tina's haircut?

Maybe he'll give the guys equal time this time around? Kevin in a 'hive... the Federal Good Taste Enforcement Bureau would quarantine the whole forum...

[DinkyInky]

Know how to kill Wild rhubarb that somehow managed to be in my bag of Bluegrass seed? It's only growing in the area that has been seeded with that bag o' crap.

Oh, dear... you're burdened by burdock now? Bummer.

There seem to be a number of alternatives available to you, depending on how much of it you've got, how much damage you're willing to do to the lawn, and how you feel about chemicals.

Mechanical means are possible. It's a biennial and reportedly "does not tolerate cultivation". Farmers deal with it by plowing/cultivating their fields each year - this tears it up before it has a chance to set seed. Unlike nutsedge, it doesn't seem to re-sprout aggressively from the broken-up rhizomes.

So, you could plow your lawn, smooth it out, and re-seed. Pretty harsh. On a much smaller scale, if you've got only a limited number of burdock plants growing, you could used one of those "serrated fangs" sticks that are used to deal with dandelions, and tear 'em up individually.

Glyphosphate (Round-Up or the equivalent) is reported to give good control. If you have a small infestation you could treat the plants individually - "painting" the leaves with concentrate, or spot-spraying (the latter will probably kill patches of grass which will then need to be re-seeded). For a big and heavy infestation, you could do a full "burn-down" spraying with glyphosphate (kill the burdock and the grass), and then re-seed. I saw one report that over in ireland, they're dealing with the "giant rhubarb" variety by cutting off the stems and leaf rosettes, and then painting the cut-off stem ends with Roundup (I've used a similar approach on Boston ivy, and on unwanted eucalyptus saplings).

Another chemical approach would be to use a broadleaf herbicide which doesn't seriously affect grasses. 2,4-D is reported to be effective against burdock, and the folks in Kentucky say it's suitable for use on bluegrass lawns. The ester version is less hazardous to the eyes than the salt or acid versions. You could either spot-spray patches, or do a wide-area spraying of all of the areas that you had seeded with the bad seed. Should knock down the burdock in a few days. Home Depot seems to carry a 2,4-D concentrate that's gotten good reviews for effectiveness and cost.

You may have to repeat any of the above treatments once or more, as additional burdock sprouts - it may not all have germinated at once.

Solar sterilization would be another way to burn out everything. Water well, cover with a tarp, let the Texas sun shine on the soil for a few days, and pull up the tarp. This will kill the burdock (given long enough to cook the roots), the grass, and (with luck) the remaining burdock seed.

Dunno how well hosting a flock of goats on your land for a few days would do. They might eat more of the bluegrass than of the burdock.

If you use chemicals, ask the wee one to stay off of the lawn for a few days. While neither glyphosphate nor 2,4-D seems to be seriously toxic to humans and other mammals, there's no sense taking chances.

Whatever you do, you should do it before it grown enough to set seed (second year, usually)... it sets a lot of seed.

Good luck!

I've had it for years. I had no idea it was in the bag of seed I got, so tilling and picking out pieces then reseeding did not work. It laughs at Chemicals, I've dug it up, I don't live in Texas, so the sun thing? Yeah, that doesn't work either.

[Dave]

I've had it for years. I had no idea it was in the bag of seed I got, so tilling and picking out pieces then reseeding did not work. It laughs at Chemicals, I've dug it up, I don't live in Texas, so the sun thing? Yeah, that doesn't work either.

Ugh. Sounds as if there's enough seed in the soil that it's going to be resprouting indefinitely. Well, I guess you're down to just two alternatives... either have Bud burn your yard down to a sea of molten glass, or talk to these people.