Hobo Jungle

[rogruth]

Murph,

I well remember that kind of scene around my home town area in eastern Ohio.
It has been some time since I have been back to that area and I do NOT miss it.
I know that the industry is gone.What people in the upper Ohio valley do to make
a living now mystifys me.I do miss the hills.

I would like to make a trip back to Ohio and visit one last time the places in which
I lived and played.The same is true of Kentucky and Georgia.At least to drive
through the towns and see how they have changed.This is very unlikely
because it hurts to drive very far and my wife is not interested at all.

I envy the trip you just had to Kansas.

[John Webster]

A friend of mine models the Penn Central line that ran down the east side of the Penna./Ohio border.

He also does a "slide" presentation that shows many of the industries as they looked then and the vacant fields they are now. It will almost bring tears to your eyes.

His railroad is an excellent one to operate on with car cards, holding pockets for the cards with the industry names on them, work tables for the operators at convenient locations and maps of the area you are working in with the industries and specific tracks labelled.

Google Penn Central and look for ugly green HO cabeese operating in an "under construction" layout.

[Tramp]

Daisy wondered if any of you could identify this tree on our property.

[Mitch]

Tramp, try this:http://www.ehow.com/how_7951209_identify-tree-leaves.html


F%&#@*! Swimming Pools. Last year in the fall, it was another new winter cover and 3 bags of Supershock!. Monday, the tarp came off and you could see your fingers through the weave. Don't know if it was the ice underneath and the ice on top combo over the winter that ruined the cover, but when the tarp came off, the water was so friggin' green you couldn't see your hand 6" under water. Then the filter has to come apart and be well washed, then all the fingers of the filter had to be soaked overnight in muratic acid, then blasted with fresh water again and re-assembled. Mix up 2 quarts of algaecide and throw it in in various places. Run a half coffee can full of earth down through the skimmer, and instantly the inlet hose has 3 holes in the f&$%#r. Off to the pool place or hardware, and of course, both are closed. Next day, new hose, and the thru sidewall fitting is leakin' like a sieve. 2 new flat disc washers for that. Filter runs 3 hours and is plugged up. Shut off pump; shake the fingers down 20 times and restart. Runs overnight for two days. Pool is clearing up nicely, but filter is running with high pressure. Shut off pump; shake down fingers 20-30 times, then drain the filter and add new earth. Begin vacumming. Get 10 square feet done. Filter is plugged up again. Shut it off and let sit overnight. This morning, undo the hoses and take the filter apart again. The fingers are totally sealed off with algae. (Gonna need the acid soak again once all the vacumming is done). Blast judicously with the garden hose. Re-assemble and restart pump. Add 1 pint of granulated chlorine and run filter.
I'm tellin' ya, these friggin' pools are a bigger PITA and eat more money than a kid's dirt bike.

[rogruth]

We have an above ground pool that would make a nice flower garden.
My wife got the pool about 13 years ago.I have never been in it.Just
clean and repair it.It seems to be good for feeding dragonflies and
breeding mosquitos so the pump stays on all the time.

[Tramp]

Mitch, every book, every website, every expert has been stumped by this tree. I do not place it here carelessly. I hoped maybe Wayne (or someone) could unlock the mystery.

[webenda]

Tramps Mystery Tree

Ovate leaves
Dentate edges
Pinnate Arcuate venation
Even Pinnate leaf pattern
Eight leaves on a branch
Dark bark
Branches start low on trunk

Glossy Aspen leaves and Walnut trunk. What is it? Ash?

Typical Ash Leaf Pattern

Ash Tree Identification Guide.jpg (29.79 KiB) Viewed 1754 times

Nope, Ash has an Odd Pinnate leaf pattern with plane Pinnate venation.

Tramp has stumped the Wayne.

Maybe it is a hybrid. The owner of the hybrid patent will probably sue for millions of dollars if you did not pay royalty when you purchased the tree.

[Tramp]

Wayne, about every five to seven years it's covered in round black berries. Would more photos help? It's a VERY slow growing tree. Hasn't done much in the seventeen years I've tended it.

[webenda]

Photos supplied are excellent, show every thing one would need to know to identify the tree. If someone should identify the trunk, growth and leaf pattern with a known tree species, the round black berries clue is good for verifying correctness of identity. All good clues, thank you Tramp.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

..... the round black berries clue is good...

Yes.

Not a tree that I readily recognize......but then it blooms and what color are the flowers?

[webenda]

I found the correct leaf pattern and round purple berries on a beauty berry bush, but we are looking for a tree, darker berries and less venation on the leaf.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'm thinking that it might be some sort of elderberry.....

[webenda]

Tramp,

I also thought it might be Elder Berry. I found one image with a leaf like those on your tree.

Elderberry leaf.jpg (55.54 KiB) Viewed 1818 times

Reference: http://www.ehow.com/how_7020929_identif ... -bush.html

One problem with identifiying trees is that the same tree can grow leaves with different shapes. Your leaves are elliptical ovate and the one pointed to in the picture is obovate, but I am looking more at the vein pattern. I think the above image of elderberry leaves has one leaf that resembles the leaves on your tree.

Another problem with "elderberry" as identification is elderberry leaves have an odd pinnate pattern while yours is even. However, in the image above and at this reference site: http://www.ehow.com/how_7020929_identif ... -bush.html they show a leaf with even pennate pattern as representative of elderberry.

Pinnate.jpg (26.58 KiB) Viewed 1814 times

There is one more serious problem with the "elderberry" identification. Your tree leaflets have petiole and no elderberry leaflet has that feature.

Petiole.gif (50.13 KiB) Viewed 1811 times

So, "F" for me on that one.

Here is a description of elderberry:

Sambucus (elder or elderberry)contains between 5 and 30 species of deciduous shrubs, small trees and herbaceous perennial plants. Specifically yours looks like Sambucus canadensis (syn. S. nigra ssp canadensis; American Elder; eastern North America; with blue-black berries). It is a deciduous suckering shrub growing to 3 m or more tall (which explains its slow growth, it is almost full size now.) The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, pinnate with five to nine leaflets, the leaflets around 10 cm long and 5 cm broad. In summer, it bears large (20-30 cm diameter) corymbs of white flowers above the foliage, the individual flowers 5-6 mm diameter, with five petals.

The fruit is a dark purple to black berry 3-5 mm diameter, produced in drooping clusters in the fall. The berries and flowers are edible, but other parts of the plant are poisonous, containing toxic calcium oxalate crystals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambucus_canadensis

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Elderberry was an on the fly thought based on the berries - there are a lot of different elderberry.

[webenda]

- there are a lot of different elderberry.

Indeed, I have been trying to find one that matches Tramp's tree. Elderberry seems like such a good choice.