Merge – Exit Madness is back for number 4 of south Florida crazy driving. A compilation of dangerous, stupid, selfish things drivers do merging and exiting I-95, I-75, the Florida Turnpike and other highways. Get ready for CRAZY!
Do-it-yourself
Worm bin notes: Life is good in the bin
Update 6 for bins 2 & 3. Bin 2 is progressing along nicely. The worms from bin 3 seem to help keep the balance so I can put an equal amount of waste in. It appears healthy and moist. I may add more worms from 3 later but am still watching the consumption rate.
Bin 3, doesn’t seem to have any noticeable difference in the consumption rate since I moved the worms. The soil is moist. There’s an abundance of the smaller insects that usually inhabit the bins. Everything seems to be fine.
I did notice a roach on the cardboard when I was editing the video and have yet to locate it. Here I go again with the roaches. I haven’t introduced anything questionable to the bin lately so there hasn’t been much to note. I’ll keep taking before/after stills and video to track the consumption rates, and when I introduce a questionable item that I haven’t filmed before. Time to hunt for roaches. -13
Video Update 6 Below
Dash Cam: Fisher Island Ferry
Fisher Island Ferry. It’s not exactly what I’d like it to be. Was hoping to get a front row seat but haven’t over the last several years. In this video we get a good view anyway. I’ve been surprised how difficult it is to get in front. It’s all about timing. There has been other footage but the water was so rough that when the playback speed was increased it made it impossible to watch.
In this video we get smooth water and a decent view. On the return trip there is I think a Netherlands flagged wood mast ship. I couldn’t figure out which ship is was and am hoping someone will be able to identify it and share it with us. Until we have better footage this will be it for the ferry. -13
Dash Cam: After Irma Part 1 & 2
South Florida Driving 101 has two videos that feature storm damage and after effects from Hurricane Irma. Downed trees and power lines, car size debris piles, repair crews, property damage and carnage. Not much in the way of stupid drivers but it does show driving difficulties presented after a storm by downed power lines and trees. They often block roadways making chainsaws and cable cutting equipment a necessity. -13
Dash Cam: Latest South Florida Crazy Videos
Here it is! After a very long break from the dash cam videos South Florida Driving 101 is now editing and posting videos. There have been multiple problems over the last few months. Most of the issues have been addressed. Been looking at cameras over the last week and cannot make up my mind yet. Going to watch more videos on YouTube before I decide. There were three Cobra CDR 840’s in rotation at the beginning now there is only one malfunctioning camera hanging by a thread. More in another video/blog post soon.
Drivers 72(below) contains hurricane Irma damage, metro mover, flying objects, pedestrian issues, Miami skyline at night, dangerous objects on the roadway and the usual bad driving habits.
Drivers 73(below) has the little Red Bull car, a guy takes a bike for a ride, pedestrians playing traffic-roulette, merge madness, selfish cut offs, jet passing by, drawbridge runner, driver can drive but can’t read the signs.
Drivers 74(below) is full of selfish drivers cutting off everyone or taking stupid risk to avoid turning around at the next exit, a jet takeoff, a night time reminder of why we dash cam.
Worm bin notes: More than I thought!
Update 4, Bin 1. Good news, roly polys are producing young, all look well. There are many more worms in the bin than I thought there were. Larger and smaller worms throughout. Surprisingly there were worms down in the section I’m not putting waste down on. They’re consuming the cardboard and getting inside like they usually do in the other bins.
I tried to record my moving substrate and waste to look for worms but it wasn’t working well. I think the yellow gloves are causing problems with focus and light reflection. I’ve also noticed that when I have a microphone on my lapel it is below where the lip of the bin is so it is mostly blocked when I’m speaking. Not sure how to deal with the glove issue but the mic issue is an easy one to solve.
As I moved the waste around I can see they need less waste. Not enough to handle anything but small amounts at this time. An example might be one mango or half of a cantaloupe rind lasting for about two weeks. It was exciting to see all the young worms. Not sure where they all came from as it did not seem like there were many to start with. Maybe there were eggs in the soil from the planter. Also noted with still images in the video is the size difference. When I placed them in the bin they were as small as the worms featured in the still image but the larger ones in the image is what I’ve been seeing the last few weeks since I first noted the change.
Thought I’d add the wheat/oat grass we grow for our cats. It last for several weeks then dies off so I add it to the bin as leaf litter. Seems like this bin has all it can handle for the next 2 or 3 weeks. I’ll monitor the conditions and maybe add something from the waste bin in small quantities until the population and mass size increases. Looking forward to seeing how this bin progresses over time. -13
Check out the video!
Worm bin notes: Here today, gone next week
Bin 2, the addition of worms from bin 3 made a noticeable difference in how much bin 2 can handle as evidenced by the photos taken 8 days later. No noticeable odors or flying insects. Bin 3 had no noticeable difference in consumption, except for the cardboard. Doesn’t look like I moved any worms. The video shows how the worms start getting into the cardboard. Then it seems to disappear into the castings. I’ll have to add more waste over the next day or so. It is so amazing how fast they can consume what looks like to much at first. -13
Worm bin notes: The Woodlice move in
Bin 1. The progress of the bonus worms is moving along well. They’re at the top eating. Most look like they’re maybe an inch or so in length. There might be 20 or so in total. I did find 2 that were larger and think they must have been where I couldn’t see them. It looked like there might be a concentration of them in the soil I found them in so I’m surprised to see so few at this point.
I’m sure there is enough waste to feed on for several weeks and won’t add any until then. Considering the progress of waste consumption and number of worms I thought it would be good to move the potato skins over top of the old and newly added waste to act like leaf litter. It seems to work well for that. Helps keep up the moisture, provide shade from sunlight and edible waste.
As soon as that side is finished I’ll move the waste to the other half in an attempt to build it up. Curious about composting in general I’ve also tried to find information on the insects I find in my compost piles. One of those that seems to always be on-scene is the Armadillidium vulgare. Also known as role-poly, pill bug and others.
Recently I noticed pill bugs in a flower pot so I thought I’d add them to my experimental bin. I’d like to see how they influence and reproduce in a worm-bin setting. One of my thoughts was to see if they help keep house and eat other things like vegetable skins the worms don’t seem to have an interest in or have an difficult time consuming.
The video is little over 6 minutes with most of the details. I had recorded footage of the capture of the insects but cannot find it anywhere. So much for that. I’ll check the bin in 6-7 days then film an update. -13
Worm bin notes: Change of plans
Worm bin- 2, 3. Bin 2, most of the waste is slowly settling. The cleared side looks mostly cleaned out. No odor. Bin 3, recently added waste was settling into the compost, worms were in abundance.* No odor. Cleared off side is ready for more waste. Since the broccoli funk is gone I’ll add more waste to that side in both bins. Looks like I’ll need to add more to bin 3 since they’re eating at a rapid pace. They must be on a sugar rush from all the mangos.
Wanted to document the details in the video below.
*Bin 3, added worms from bin 1 several months ago. I had some cardboard that I use as a leaf litter substitute. At some point palmetto bugs had set up home in one piece. I missed it and introduced then into bin 1. Now I bake the cardboard before I introduce it to the bin to cook off and eggs or insects.
Worm bin notes: Spring cleaning
Quick follow up for bins 2 & 3. The video footage shows it clearly, things in the bin are getting back to normal. I was surprised to see how much they had cleared out. They ate the center of fresh cut potatoes that left what looked like over baked potato skins. Thought that was worth noting. Added cat hair about a month ago. Looks like I need to thin it out more.
Not a hint of foul odor from any of the bins. They usually don’t have much of an odor. I always find that interesting. The other surprise was the potato skins trying to grow.
They ate so much that I had to get mangos to feed both bins. I’ll check back in 5 days or so then post another video/blog. -13
Worm bin notes: No broccoli thank you!
After polluting the bins with broccoli I decided to document the clean up on video. Not all of it as the video is an afterthought. A few days have past and the clean up is working. Worms are moving throughout the bin and working. Looks like it’s mostly in the video. -13
Worm bin notes: Worms from Nowhere
Thought I’d make a video of the newly set up worm bin. It has been running for 2 plus weeks at this point. The bin was empty after I had introduced roaches into the bin on the cardboard I use to directly cover the substrate. I prefer it to shredded paper because I can quickly remove it and see/smell the condition when I want to.
The motivation to restart the bin came from finding infant size earth worm looking species in what I thought was sterile soil mixed last year stored in plastic bins. After counting 20 worms in a small area, I moved the small pile of soil and placed it on top of the moss prepared days before. Waited a few days then started to introduce vegetable waste.
The worms I found were at the top, mostly clustered in an old patch of oat and wheat grass I’d grown for our domestic cats munching on a mango. They had tripled in size. For now going to leave it as it is then add more wastes in a few weeks or so. -13
Unit-13 FREMSLT 