HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: twv@hpcss01.cup.hp.com (Terry Von Gease)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: TOULOUSE GEESE
Date: 9 Nov 92 15:56:12 GMT
Organization: the Lodi Home for the Bald

>/ hpcss01:misc.rural / streuer_d@cubldr.colorado.edu /  3:35 pm  Nov  6, 1992 /
...
>Anyway, two weeks later our male goose disappeared.  Now, they have roamed
>our rural development all summer and people were aware of them as they would
>walk along the ditch.  All I can think of is that the buyer of the kids came
>back to get they male.  (If I could only remember what sex of bird the
>auctioneer said a buyer was looking for.)
>
>We've looked in the fields and along the road for feathers to indicated he
>may have been hit, but found nothing.  This was between the hours of 7:00a
>and 3:00p and I'm not sure if a coyote would come down during the day.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas as to what could have happened to our big guy?
>----------

We've had geese for years.  Toulouse, Emden, Chinese, what have you.
When one turns up missing, we seldom find any evidence of anything.  No
feathers, nada.  We've had coyotes prowling at all hours of the day and
night.  A few months back, my wife chased one out of the yard at 2:00 in
the afternoon.  The coyote had all the geese cornered and was about to
make his selection.  Raccoons have also been known to carry off an odd
goose or duck.  Don't be so quick to suspect theft.  It's pretty hard to
surreptitiously purloin a mature goose.

If you're going to have geese then you really ought to learn how to tell
the males from the females.  You can tip them over and prowl through
their feathers but if you just wait for a few weeks it will become
apparent which are which.  At least 90 or so percent of the time.  The
ganders are larger and have a finer, longer neck.  The gooses have a
shorter, fatter neck, and tend to be smaller.  Hang around geese long
enough and it will become second nature.

Terry
From: waltervj@coos.dartmouth.edu (Walter V. Jeffries)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Problems heating with wood
Date: 9 Nov 92 23:41:15 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH


Bernie,
  Welcome to the joys of heating with wood.  Remember, with wood you are
warmed three times! (Cut, split, burn)  Some thoughts for you...

1. Fireplaces are not very good ways of burning wood for heat.  Too much
goes up the chimney, you can't control the burn rate very well, no
catalytic converter so more pollution, drafty, sooty... You might want
to look into a woodstove.  There are some very good ones available
that you'll be able to leave burning for a long time 12-24hrs and get
a lot of heat from.  We heat with wood using a wood furnace (bigger than
a stove and located in the basement) which with appropriate plenum and
house design also acts as our air circulation system (no fans so no
electric usage).  It takes up to three sections of 32" logs.  Fun to
toss in :-).  I would suggest something smaller than that but bigger
than what you have...

2. Splitting.  You got the right idea.  If the wood was cut well then the
ends should be pretty flat.  If not, use scraps to stablize it.  Having a
big short log (18" dia. 12" hight) to place the logs on for splitting can
make it a lit easier.  That way they are more stable, at a better hight,
and less of your energy gets absorbed by the ground and more gets used
to do the splitting.  There are two basic techniques.  With 16" reasonably
straight grain logs you might be better off using a splitting ax. (wider
than a normal ax at the blade.)  The other technique is using wedges and
a maul.  Wear glasses.  Chips can fly (of metal).  There is some technique
to the process of handling the maul/ax and you might want someone in the 
know to show you some tricks.  When it is cold the wood sometimes splits
more easily.  Definitely easier if it is dry wood...

3. Kindling you can make by splitting a log up to little pieces, or gathering
sticks and scrap lumber.  Do NOT burn plywood, railroad ties, or other treated
wood as there are some nasty chemicals given off that would be bad for your
and other people's health.  Pine makes good kindling because it burns fast 
and easily (dry pine).  Don't burn much pine or you'll get creosote buildup
in your chimney and risk a chimney/house fire.

4. Practice makes perfect.  It will take a while to get use to tending
your fires...

Good luck,

-Walter
From: marym@mpd.tandem.com (Mary Matejka)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: someone looking for handmade boots
Date: 11 Nov 92 19:16:55 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers (MPD) Austin, TX
Originator: marym@tzone.mpd.tandem.com

I lost the address of the person with whom I was corresponding.
And maybe this will interest someone else.

There is a company in Stephenville Tx 
Carmen Allen Western Chaps
POB 392
Stephenville Tx 76401
817-965-6564

I saw some of his work at a local show. The boots were 
beautiful. He said he would be willing to work with someone
out of state. But call 1st and see what can be arranged.

Standard disclaimer.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for you are crunchy and taste good with catsup.
From: de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Pellet Stoves...
Date: 11 Nov 92 13:55:51 GMT
Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN

In article <1992Nov10.174158.11561@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com>, piety@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com (Bob Piety) writes:
>About 2 years ago, I compared the prices of fuels-- wood, propane,
>natural gas, coal, electricity and-- if I recall coreectly-- found:
>
>	Natural gas was the least expensive
>	Propane & wood were almost the same (~3x natural gas)
>	Coal was slightly higher than propane (10-20%)
>	electricity (resitance heating) was MUCH more expensive (4x?);
>
>These were based on San Francisco Bay Area costs at the time.
>
>So, given the above, I'd choose propane over wood, unless I had a
>free-- or cheaper-- source of it (I do).  So, I don't understand why
>one would want a pellet stove-- It seems that it would cost more than
>propane and be more hassle.  Please enlighten me.

Beats me, given the above.  But that was just one area of the country, and is
two years old now.  A decision such as this should be based upon the
historical and predicted relationships between the fuels in terms of price,
convenience, availability, reliability, etc.

The current issue of Harrowsmith has an article about the economics of wood
heat, including tables with the various price points at which wood heat
becomes economical.

-- 
Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov)           For every Bill Joy there is a Kirk McKusick.
Martin Marietta Energy Systems     For every Bill Gates there is a Richard
Workstation Support                Stallman.                     --Paul Graham
From: luden@lehigh.edu (Dean E. Nelson)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Inexpensive greenhouse
Date: 12 Nov 92 14:01:59 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University Computing Center

I am interested in building a small greenhouse out of pvc pipe and plastic.  
I would appreciate any ideas, experiences, pros and cons, etc. 

Dean Nelson den0@lehigh.edu
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: woods@cbnewsc.cb.att.com (Warren D. Swan)
Subject: Re: But Mom said not to play with my food!!
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 04:47:11 GMT

In article <1cbimbINNifm@trigger.ksu.ksu.edu> camelsho@trigger.ksu.ksu.edu (   James A Seymour) writes:
>In article <1cah7sINNb6t@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ag301@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tricia Schmidt) writes:
>>
>>
>>After we couldn't find a way to get across Green's property (it's 
>>got a white fence all around it (how did the cows get through??)), 
>>we walked up the road a ways. 
>
>My father had a very small grade C dairy when I was growing
>up...
>
>You would not beleive it unless you have seen it, but these 
>cows can jump when they really want to.  I have seen a
>full grown Holstein cow clear a fense over 4 feet high.
>
>I know that one bull we had cleared the top of a stock
>rack in the back end of a pickup...

Don't forget about the cow that jumped over the moon!

>Anyway, the cows probably just jumped the white fence.
>
>Believe it or dont.

In light of my earlier comment.  I guess I'll have to believe it. :-)
From: john@cirrus.com (John Wishneusky)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Pellet Stoves...
Summary: Will heating with wood save me money?
Date: 13 Nov 92 14:39:45 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Cirrus Logic Inc.  Fremont, California


In article <1992Nov11.065008.26347@mr.med.ge.com> hinz@picard.med.ge.com (David Hinz Mfg 4-6987) writes:
>
>If you buy oak for, say, $80 (US) per cord, at 32 million BTU/cord, how does
>that compare to the other means of heating?
>
I have an old pamphlet style publication that gives some information
on relative economics.  It's "Publication 1/78" of the Institute of
Man and Resources, 50 Water St, P.O. Box 2008, Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island.

It includes a table for wood of species heat content in millions of
Btu/cord:

    Sugar Maple		26.5
    Beech		25.8
    Yellow Birch	25.0
    White Ash		23.7
    Red Maple		22.1
    Tamarac		22.0
    White Birch		21.5
    Poplar		17.0
    Spruce-Hemlock	17.0
    Pine		16.6
    Fir			13.0

It also states that "on a dry-weight basis, all wood has approximately
the same heat content (8600 Btu per pound)..."

I'll also quote the paragraphs in the section titled:

  "Will Heating With Wood Save Me Money?"

"This will depend on the price of wood, the species, the wood moisture
content, the efficiency and installation of the wood burning
appliance, the price of the alternative fuel (for example, oil or
electricity), the efficiency with which the alternative is used, and
the standard to which your house is insulated."

"For air-dried hardwood burned in an air-tight stove under "average"
conditions, the break-even price for wood in dollars per full cord is
about equal to the price of oil in cents per gallon.  That is, wood at
$55 per cord is equivalent to oil at 55 cents per gallon."

"to compare wood with electricity, each cent per kilowatt hour is
equivalent to $30 per cord of air-dried hardwood burned in an
air-tight stove under "average" conditions.  So, electricity costing 5
cents per kilowatt hour is equivalent to wood at $150 (5 x $30) per
cord."

I'll add my current prices for electricity and heating oil here in
Massachusetts (no, I'm not really in California though I'm posting
from there).  Electricity costs me about 9 cents per kilowatthour
($.08996 last bill I looked at) equivalent to paying $270 per cord for
wood.  Heating oil is about 90 cents per gallon.  I see adds for
firewood at about $90 per cord green and $125 per cord seasoned, both
cut, split and delivered.

John
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: kpjone01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Subject: Agriculture software.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 03:39:34 GMT
Organization: University of Louisville

Does anyone know of any freeware/shareware/or commercial software that is made
specifically to help farmers with farmer-type problems?  I am looking for
something that will help with deciding how much feed to give various cows and
pigs.  Any help is appreciated.
 
Kevin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin Jones                                   KPJONE01@ULKYVX.CT.LOUISVILLE.EDU
Lab Supervisor                                KPJONE01@ULKYVX.LOUISVILLE.EDU
Computing and Telecommunications              PHONE:  502-588-6303
University of Louisville, KY                  FAX:    502-588-0150

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Newsgroups: misc.rural,rec.gardens
From: ron@mlfarm.com (Ronald Florence)
Subject: Vegetable Seeds (New England)
Organization: Maple Lawn Farm, Stonington, CT
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 12:36:35 GMT

I've lost the name and address of a seed company in Maine that sold
tasty vegetable varieties which were particularly suited for planting
in the Northeast.  I'd appreciate if anyone who has this name and
address (or phone number) could email it to me.  Thanks.
-- 

				Ronald Florence
				ron@mlfarm.com
From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: lambs
Date: 10 Nov 92 18:55:41 EST
Followup-To: misc.rural
Distribution: usa
Organization:  Wright State University 

In article <1992Nov9.225128.4958@webo.dg.com>, don@muff.webo.dg.com (Don Perkins) writes:
> In article <1992Nov05.145425.23829@rchland.ibm.com>, james@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (James White) writes:
> |> A question about sheep (and I am sorry if I offend
> |> the vegetarian people).  
> |> 
> |> I have just put two sheep in the freezer and wish to do
> |> something constructive with the hides.  I am currently 
> |> salting the hides to dry out all the oils.  Once I am done
> 
> The reason you salt the hides is to remove MOISTURE!
> You want to remove all the moisture from the hides as fast as
> possible to prevent bacteria from turning your potential
> shearling jacket or fuzzy slippers into a rotting stinking mess...
> 
> |> with that can I wash these hides to clean them up before
>                    ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^
> No, once your hides are nice and dry keep them that way until 
> you start the tanning process.
> 
> |> I send them to be tanned?  If so, what is the best way?
> |> 
> |> Thanks.
> |> -- 
> |> 
> |> James White 
> 
> --
> Don P.

Quite a few years ago, I learned how to tan deerskin using Indian method.
It's lots of fun, and best of all, doesn't need any nasty chemicals.  All
you need is a good scraper, a frame to stretch the hide on, an animal 
brain, a blunt stick and some time......

Sue
From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: TOULOUSE GEESE
Date: 7 Nov 92 13:23:09 EST
Organization:  Wright State University 

In article <1992Nov6.163539.1@cubldr.colorado.edu>, streuer_d@cubldr.colorado.edu writes:
> I really enjoy this group, glad I found it.
> 
> We don't have a large piece of land, but we are not in a town either.
> Anyway, we raise geese, Toulouse, to be exact. Started with a sexed pair 
> who have produced two separate broods.  We usually sell off the kids
> after 4 months or so at a local livestock auction.  This year we went 
> to the auction with four of the kids to sell.  When asked what we were selling
> the auction owner asked if we had any (I can't rememeber which sex) male/
> females.  We didn't know as we had not sexed them.  When settlement was
> made on the sale, I had the buyer's name and she had ours.
> 
> Anyway, two weeks later our male goose disappeared.  Now, they have roamed
> our rural development all summer and people were aware of them as they would
> walk along the ditch.  All I can think of is that the buyer of the kids came
> back to get they male.  (If I could only remember what sex of bird the
> auctioneer said a buyer was looking for.)
> 
> We've looked in the fields and along the road for feathers to indicated he
> may have been hit, but found nothing.  This was between the hours of 7:00a
> and 3:00p and I'm not sure if a coyote would come down during the day.
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas as to what could have happened to our big guy?

I'd be inclined to take a trip over to the buyer's house and take a look
around.  

Sue
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: hinz@picard.med.ge.com (David Hinz Mfg 4-6987)
Subject: Re: Pellet Stoves...
Organization: GE Medical Systems, Magnetic Resonance
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 06:50:08 GMT

Bob Piety (piety@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com) wrote:
: About 2 years ago, I compared the prices of fuels-- wood, propane,
: natural gas, coal, electricity and-- if I recall coreectly-- found:
: 
: 	Natural gas was the least expensive
: 	
: 	Propane & wood were almost the same (~3x natural gas)
: 
: 	Coal was slightly higher than propane (10-20%)
: 	
: 	electricity (resitance heating) was MUCH more expensive (4x?);
: 
: 
: These were based on San Francisco Bay Area costs at the time.
: 
: So, given the above, I'd choose propane over wood, unless I had a
: free-- or cheaper-- source of it (I do).  So, I don't understand why
: one would want a pellet stove-- It seems that it would cost more than
: propane and be more hassle.  Please enlighten me.

So where does fuel oil come into this equation?  My "backup" furnace is
an oil burner (old, 1940's technology, 50% efficient?).  I would rather
burn wood because:

a> I have it
b> It's enjoyable to do the splitting & other work
c> I don't like BUYING fuel
d> (Misc. romantic reasons)

If you buy oak for, say, $80 (US) per cord, at 32 million BTU/cord, how does
that compare to the other means of heating?

--

Dave Hinz  -  Opinions expressed are mine, not my employer's.  Obviously.
Don't blame me; I voted for Perot!                hinzd@picard.med.ge.com 
SAAB - Because you get what you pay for.             Pherrets are Phun!!!
From: boldtp@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (SAME AS IT EVER WAS)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: sugar beets seeds, who's carries
Date: 10 Nov 92 18:32:17 GMT


  Could some one please tell me what varieties of sugar beets are commonly
 grown comercially.  I have a heavy soil, so if you know of a variety that
 does well in clay. ( I believe most sugar beets are grown in the eastern
 Dakotas and Colorado.  Are there any other requirements, High PH, dry
 climate, etc that are recommended for sugar beet culture? )

  And lastly, can you identify any seedsman that carry sugar beet seed?

thanks in advance
Pete Boldt
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay)
Subject: Re: Problems heating with wood
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 22:53:22 GMT

de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill) writes:

(lots of good advice on wood splitting and fires)
>Close.  First, I prefer the name "splitting axe" to "splitting maul".  It
>emphasizes the axe-nature of the tool.  You could split logs with a regular
>axe, but two features of the splitting axe make it much more efficient: the
>extra mass, and the shape of the head.  The advantage of the mass should be
>clear, but it's less obvious why the chopping axe's blade is inferior for
>splitting.  Stand a log on end (yes, it may require some fiddling and/or
>propping) and attempt to split it by driving a chopping axe down the center.

>What happened?  Most likely, if the axe was sharp and you hit the log well,
>the axe head is buried an inch or two into the log.  The thin, sharp blade
>cuts into log well, but doesn't do much to force the two halves apart.  Hence
>the splitting axe's thicker profile: the sharp blade acts as it does in the
>chopping axe to penetrate into the log, then the quickly thickening blade
>pushes outward on both sides encouraging the log to split.

This depends very much on the wood, and to some degree the person doing the
splitting - we use mostly yellow box (Eucalyptus something or other), which is
fairly brittle, and I find the axe much quicker than the block splitter; on the
other hand, if I need to split apple box (Eucalyptus something or other else),
which is softer, the blocksplitter really comes into its own. On the other
hand, my wife prefers the block splitter for both - with the axe, she gets
the 'buried axe' syndrome all the time. My guess on that is that she can't get
enough force without taking a really big swing, and when she does that, she
loses the control necessary to hit the right spot in the log (I should have
mentioned that if you're splitting with an axe, it's important to hit at an
existing point of weakness in the wood - a good idea with the block splitter
as well, but less critical, if only because the area of impact of the block
splitter is so much greater that you don't have to be as accurate).

And one other hint - if you find woodsplitting a chore, save it up till you're
really mad about something: great therapy, and it gets done so much faster

     Cheers
       Bob McKay

-- 
Bob McKay		   	Phone:	+61 6 268 8169	    fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science		Internet:	rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au
ADFA, Northcott Dve 		UUCP:...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au!rim
Campbell ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA	ARPA:	rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay)
Subject: Re: Problems heating with wood
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 22:32:04 GMT

neilson@osf.org (Peter Neilson) writes:

A whole pile of great advice, including

>Try splitting with the maul first, but you won't necessarily have any
>luck on logs bigger than maybe a foot across.  Sometimes you can
>hammer the maul in, if it didn't work in one swell foop, but for
(love the spoonerism)
>ghods' sake be careful.  When the maul doesn't work, use the wedges.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Just wanted to second this and explain why: it's getting awfully close to
breaking the golden rule of working with hammers: NEVER hit two hard steel 
items together - the harder they are the more likely they are to shatter
(the effect can be quite similar to standing next to a hand grenade). Now
neither the sledge hammer nor the maul will be really hard steel, but they
are hard enough to be fairly dangerous. The back end of steel wedges are left
untempered for this reason, which is why they deform fairly rapidly. It's also
why you should replace wedges reasonably frequently, as all that hammering will
gradually work harden them to the stage where they may start spitting out 
high speed slivers (basically, when the back end starts to split, it's time to
replace them).


    Cheers
      Bob McKay

-- 
Bob McKay		   	Phone:	+61 6 268 8169	    fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science		Internet:	rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au
ADFA, Northcott Dve 		UUCP:...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au!rim
Campbell ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA	ARPA:	rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: hinz@picard.med.ge.com (David Hinz Mfg 4-6987)
Subject: Re: Possible return of gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A.
Organization: GE Medical Systems, Magnetic Resonance
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 06:57:42 GMT

Benjamin Ellsworth (ben@hpcvra.cv.hp.com) wrote:
: 
: My favorite factoid is that there have been no "unprovoked" bear
: attacks in the US.  Of course, merely camping somewhere in bear
: territory constitutes "provocation."
: 
: To the poster who mentioned "living by their rules."  If we "lived by
: their rules" we'd kill the bears any time there was a confrontation.
: That's what they do if they can.

Sorry, I had to respond to this one....

You answer your own statement.  "Living by the rules" means knowing how
the animal will behave, and STAYING THE HELL OUT OF ITS WAY.  If you
(food) hang around bears, you have a chance of getting eaten.  This
is the bear's set of rules.  If you have a problem with that, stay 
away from bear areas, and they won't getcha.  There is a vast difference
between a bear hunting for food and humans killing bears because the
bear might kill a person.  If this difference eludes you, there's not
much point in discussing it.

--

Dave Hinz  -  Opinions expressed are mine, not my employer's.  Obviously.
Don't blame me; I voted for Perot!                hinzd@picard.med.ge.com 
SAAB - Because you get what you pay for.             Pherrets are Phun!!!
Newsgroups: misc.wanted,misc.forsale.computers.printers,comp.periphs.printers
From: mzhao@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Min Zhao)
Subject: Help Wanted on  Star  Gemini-15 printer
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 03:22:25 GMT

 
 
   A friend of mine has a Star Gemini-15 printer, (it's pretty old, I believe,
it was used as a line printer on a Zilog-80000 system). It's parellel, it test 
prints okay, I think. But there is a problem. It will not print anything until
either the printer buffer is full or a whole page is sent to the printer. (I am
not sure which is the case, but anyway, it will not print small files that is 
less than a page).  
 
  Is there a way to make the printer print anything that is sent to it right 
away ? 
 
  And my friend wants to use it with WordPerfect, is there a printer driver for
this printer with Word Perfect ?  
 
  The printer is used on an IBM PC/XT.

Thanks for any suggestions