Aerating with a golf course putting green aerator with aeration tines set on 2 inch centers works great for seed bed preparation. We like using turf tractors (w high flotation turf tires) and rear mounted 3 pt hitch cam driven aerifiers for at least two complete passes over the same areas. The first pass is set at 3" to 6 inch depth for root penetration, and a 2nd pass set at 1/2" to at most 1 inch tine depth. The wider the tine the better (7/8" wide are great!) These create protected seed pockets with GREAT TILTH, and hold moisture. These professional aerators roll and smooth simultaneously JUST BEFORE before this final tilth and subsequent seeding takes place. One major benefit to this system is that the ground remains firm enough to still move over it. It's as if the un-aerified soil between aeration holes acts as a soil "grid", further protecting the "seed pockets" between them. This in essence prevents the plugged seed pockets from being compacted or disturbed. This system can work for all new plantings, and when overseeding existing turf. It does an amazing job where existing turf is stripped off with a sod cutter, and then this system is applied. We've done it on projects ranging from entire golf courses, to sport fields, and small residential sites. This can also be combined with running sub-soiling "Mole Ploughs", and vertical lineal aerators like Graden and Turf Mach units. The P.G.A. and U.S.G.A. have researched it thoroughly on putting greens, and published an article entitled, "Core Aeration by the Numbers", (pdf via Michigan State University, Chris Hartwiger and Patrick O'Brien) Scott Buley, High Tech Turf & Trees

Hi all, As I said in a recent post, we've had 2 pair of Blues over-wintering here. They check our boxes and eat suet and peanuts and mealies everyday. Well recently we've been seeing a lot of activity with them entering the boxes... and today I caught a few shots of the males wing-waving too! They've been doing this for weeks: Today we saw this: We see 2 females and 2 males chasing each other about thruout the day.... and often perching in pairs like this: Spring is in the air, Kenn :)

Lol, that is so funny. This wasn't so much not paying attention as not understanding the law of gravity lol. My DF in his younger days was top fix-it guy around our house. My DGF decided to appoint himself as top fix-it guys helper one late fall afternoon and they were on a mission to take the swamp cooler out of the bedroom window on the second floor of our house. My DF "rigged" up a pulley system to the roof overhang above the swamp cooler to be removed and using a long rope secured the swamp cooler (otherwise known as heavy object ;0))to one end and my DGF on the ground to the other end. (You can see where this is going can't you?) My DF sat himself upon the bedroom floor, called to my DGF to be ready below and using his feet gently nudged the swamp cooler out the window. My DGF passed the swamp cooler somewhere in the middle of our two story house lol. He wasn't hurt but he did have to hang there a bit while top fix-it guy figured out how to quit laughing and get him down. Of course we kids were terribly worried about DGF after we quit rolling around on the ground and came to our senses, one or two of us still get hick-ups when we remember this event happening before our eyes ;0) lol.

Yes, I do. I love ours, but I was already a fan. When DH was stationed on Okinawa we bought some great stereo equipment and some Bose speakers which lasted about 20 years lol. We've had our BWMS about 5 years or so and to tell the truth it has better sound in a much smaller package. I like the fact that all the "sound around" comes at you from the two small speakers. If you really want to check it out see if you can find the movie "Top Gun" and have them play the first bit. If you can hear the music and the jet engines sweep around from one speaker to the other you know you've got a good system.