A bit stranger was my experiments with tannic acid.  They were speculating that tannic acid rich waters in peat bogs could be used to bring out a pattern.  Not having a peat bog locally I sourced what I did have---loose leaf black tea.  So I boiled up a very strong mix of tea leaves and water and immersed a test blade in it overnight.  In the morning I went down and it looked furry---a build up of sludge on the blade.  "Well so much for that" I thought but when I took it to the sink and started to wash it off the sludge slipped off leaving the pattern visible in sort of a purple/blue/black shade; again no topo.  

I plan to do some more experiments with this as my rental has a pomegranate bush and so tannin rich pomegranate rinds are now available for experimentation---I'm trying to use items that mimic ones available in places and periods that I research.

Well this was supposed to be an answer to an IM from GottMitUns; but forbidden; sigh

Edited July 4, 201510 yr by ThomasPowers

IIRC acorn hulls have a high tannin content but I believe walnut shells do too. You might try composting leaves and grass till it's nice and dark then making tea from it. Composting leaves by type could make a difference. Hmmmm.

I'll be watching for the pics. . . .Where are the pics!?

Frosty The Lucky.

Grass?  NM hasn't legalized it yet.  I wonder about composting green tumbleweeds which is what grows in our yards + goatheads up in Socorro

Tumbleweed, is that what you smoke after a "roll in the hay" ? And Goathead is that like where the pips are on horny goat weed? Hey man , You like really know to use the groovy lingo I bet the chicks dig you brother!

well one at least does---31 years in about a month!  Goatheads are a nasty weed that produces tons of very aggressive vegetable caltrops in central NM.  I'd send you some seeds but I believe the UN has ruled that doing so would be a proper provocation for thermonuclear retaliation (And I already live about an hour away from the *first* atomic bomb test site.)

Congrats on 31 years , that is good but what is great about that is that is that she still digs you As I get to 'know 'you more and more( as well as one does with an internet persona)  the more I regret not meeting up with you in England.

As for my previous somewhat 'tongue in cheek' quip... goathead not specific to NM , I live very  close to the 'cradle of mankind ' and they are quite common here just we call them dubbelties so I suspect they were brought to you rather than sent here by 1) Aliens via area 51 2) by Giants/Nephalim after leaving their footprints in the Swaziland rocks prior to creating an empire across the USA. 3) Ancient hunter gatherers possibly stuck in a shoe as they migrated via the landbridge  in search of who knows what. 4) The Phoenicians after mining gold in Great Zimbabwe and via oak island looking for hidden gold in the NM hills

And as for the Nuclear stuff well 'ours' disappeared just prior to Nelson Mandela coming to power. Possibly someone somewhere didn't trust the ANC and 'the friends of Al Basher' with 'the moral high ground '  ????? Funny that!

 

This is a photo taken near a military base I was an instructor in for about 12 months in 79/80 so I also have a vague as to a tumbleweed as well

As kids in Southern California we "goat's heads" stickers. The plant is a big ground vine sort of thing, low growing with lots of branches ad almost impossible to kill. Before steel belted tires they'd work their way through the tread and flatten car tires. The ones I remember as a kid looked different from what Thomas posted but close enough to draw blood. I'm really REALLY glad we don't have the things here.

Frosty The Lucky.

I've seen the ones Thomas posted, they grow on very low, flat growing (about half an inch tall), spreading, ground cover that can get up to about 2 foot across (as far as I know), and can bear about a hundred clusters of 6 of the little buggers.

(he has seen them!)

(And I know their ouch/touch)

Oh, and apparently they can get 5 ft across.  They also take over empty lots and require next to nothing for water.

They are the reason there is a pair of sandles by each side of our bed; running into one in the middle of the night is not restful and the animals will spread them around the house when you are not looking.  Every door to our house has a piece of catwalk grating to scrub your shoes on before entering.

I'm getting mighty tired of being Forbidden! Then of course a gripe posts just fine and I can edit it.

Here's the web site devoted to "Puncture vine or any of it's other names."

http://www.goatheads.com/home/gh1/page_41

Just as an aside, at the bottom of every page is a link to Invision power, the company screwing up IFIs platform for us all. how about we complain to THEM. I found their forum by googling the name.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited July 7, 201510 yr by Frosty

So it is the same stuff.  As soon as I see those little flowers (the ones around here are usually purple) I pull them out by the roots.  Even then they come back for a few years.  After a few years though, they start getting thinner, and finally stop.  That only works if you are VERY thorough though.

I had a look at that link, its the same thing alright though their idea for how it go to you seems a bit mundane

I've always blamed a combination of the First Atomic Blast and the Aliens for the existence of goatheads

Thanks Thomas, I hadn't thought about boiled tea leaves, my wifes uncle told me about using that mixed with baby oil to get his perfect beach bum tan back in the 60's.  Since this post has gone on to things that poke I must add the ever popular weesatche tree to the list.

 

Russell

On things that prick South Africa has got some meanies acasia kaffara the translated name means ''wait-a-minute, nonbeliever " and one called "grab/hook and stab' trees with 3" thorns are quite common.

only 3 inches?  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/HoneyLocustThorn.JPG/170px-HoneyLocustThorn.JPG

Ok so maybe ours might not be scary  a boomslang in hiding!

Edited July 7, 201510 yr by ianinsa

least our rattlesnakes are ground based!

Honey locust, black locust....god blessed mesquite trees. Actually, mesquite trees is worth saying twice... Young pear trees. Devil's walking stick's nasty. The ubiquitous prickly pear....so many options. Goatheads are nasty too. You can toughen yer feet up all ya want, but when one of those hit's the webbing between your toes....

Nobody's said anything about the always loveable Cholla Cactus? Prickly Pear. . . yum. WE had a big bougainvillea growing around the kitchen window in California nasty thorns best leave it be. Sprinkler valves were under it, guess who got to handle sprinklers?

Frosty The Lucky.

Bougainvillea ain't bad. Try cleaning out ice plant though. I prefer the thorns...

Also whilst I'm thinking about it, another fun use for tannic acid, a soak in it will let woods that are low in tannins take a homemade tobacco stain (a very nice grey). Even tea works to a point. Could come in handy on scales or such.

Edited July 8, 201510 yr by Nobody Special

Tannic acid has been used in preparations for burns.  I have used a 1/2 gallon of cold unsweetened tea as a quench tank for self before.