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bat flits, cat sits, rat shits    ey oop postin' pals, nae half measures today  Did some checking on plantings from years gone by- this maple was my first  Lots of murderflies around today, only managed a half decent shot of one though- many were high around the trees much like me lol  First main job was tidy out the caravan a bit, got all the foam cushions out and cleaned and aired out a bit and I disinfected them in sunshine and with the jeyes spray  full disclosure I could have folded and taken these boxes home to be recycled but they smelt like rat and ugh so I turned them into ashes and memory  Lunch was a canned chicken curry (hot) with rice and veg, served alfresco with one of my favourite views  Ah, a nice day out with friends    Well this part you saw before  This is new tho. This is my moisture meter. It's not a phaser. I didn't hunt and destroy a jem hadar strike team among the oaks. For real. For O'Brien!   Under 20% moisture is considered legally good for firewood for sale but I want to hit under 15%, and eventually around 10% for the least environmental impact. This particular wood is going into store anyway for a few more months so will be extra awesome by then    Well that's a wood delivery for my sister split and bagged and awaiting the car being brought in   This little gal was sat on a buttercup and I only noticed when she jumped to the underside- seems they were trying to predate on flies landing for a meal, she didn't care for my presence so I left them alone- would have loved to watch more. google lens says it's a goldenrod crab spider/flower spider   Fruit of all kinds is starting to appear- I'm not planning on netting anything again so the deer and birds will get the bulk  I didn't do before pictures of this part of the caravan and that was because the situation brought me shame and brought dishonour upon my house and also there was ratshit, but now I can take a photo and it even looks like somewhere nice to take a few minutes because you can't see the ratshit on the floor    goddamn, that was close to an honest days work! More! Soon!
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May 8, 2022 19:14
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Must be rewarding to see the [actual] fruits of your hard work... ... and the man himself! 
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May 8, 2022 19:27
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Lovely stuff!
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May 8, 2022 19:53
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 so here's just a teaser as I pack my bags with the relevant and necessary supplies for the next mission and assure you there will most certainly be more, soon spookygonk posted:Must be rewarding to see the [actual] fruits of your hard work... The eating is better  spookygonk posted:
will do full naked king of shoreditch recreation for enough of a donation to the tree fund, we can call it chubs for shrubs Dead Goon posted:Lovely stuff! Thanks- the whole place really feels like it's coming together
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May 12, 2022 14:45
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I'm inordinately pleased to see you do in fact bear a resemblance to Desperate Dan
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May 12, 2022 19:26
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Maugrim posted:I'm inordinately pleased to see you do in fact bear a resemblance to Desperate Dan I certainly didn't when I picked that handle for here so many years back tired rear end farmer, twenty four hours a day  Yo   I'm down here now, shitpostin' live, and I ain't leaving till I have been here for 24 hours. More? right fuckin soon! 
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May 13, 2022 12:59
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in it for the this live stream
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May 13, 2022 13:06
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Oh hell yeah, it's finally time
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May 13, 2022 13:49
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AKZ posted:in it for the this live stream Welcome aboard! Maugrim posted:Oh hell yeah, it's finally time A dozen times over by now! I gotta do this more often I keep pissing off the ducks on the pond by existing  It's fukken nice today  MOD ration pack today, the more modern type in a bag (boo)  Been working on a solar panel frame now I'm all unpacked  Now for some hunters chicken which I'm either gonna love or hate cause that's how anything marked "BBQ" goes with me More. Soon.
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May 13, 2022 14:27
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DesperateDan posted:
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May 13, 2022 16:16
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spookygonk posted:Where do you get these rations from? Army surplus stores? Ebay (there's quite a lot on ebay)? It was an army surplus place for that one- they seem to get sold off in batches, so if you see a lot now it probably means the MOD sold off a bunch recently that two stroke stench  It was alright- not really BBQ more of just a mild smoky flavour  Office shot  Assembled and fueled up to sit in the sun before a test run- it was left outside under a tarp at home all winter and I figure it's better off down here instead- if it works  Forgot the bolts I wanted to mount the panel with, debated going to buy some before just bodging it all together with scrapwood  caravan still points south- alternatively the south faces caravan  I was too low on wood and screws for a professional job here, most important is it's angled properly and secure  Coughed into life on the third pull, little rough at first but after a few minutes idle it settled down a bit- seems a bit late in the day to cut much now though  Unfortunately the screw shortage means I can't add a bit to the shelter roof, but it can wait. Currently catching my breath before I assemble my bedding, take a constitutional and then see what's for tea- more soon!
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May 13, 2022 18:22
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I'm not sure it counts as a constitutional when you've been working outdoors all day already. Beating the bounds maybe, if you want to feel like
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May 13, 2022 20:00
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Maugrim posted:I'm not sure it counts as a constitutional when you've been working outdoors all day already. Beating the bounds maybe, if you want to feel like I did take a real good quality piss on my favourite cherry tree Also I can't walk the bounds cause there's spiky plants there bats are over the pond    Bed raised and everything packed away for the night  It's pretty drat good with a little extra salt, could have just called it chile con carne tho  Decided to put together the bits for a fire even if I didn't need it, but once the sun was behind the trees the temp dropped and I was quickly glad of my prepwork Imgur is being a poo poo and images aren't uploading right, more soon hopefully
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May 13, 2022 21:36
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and now with images   Really liked having a fire around, stayed up awhile listening to the nightcrew and watching the flames  as mentioned the "beef burrito" was a chile con carne and it was pretty tasty after a little salt- had a nice level of spice to it  Watched the fire turn to embers as I drifted off, 10/10 would snuggle again  Had a pretty drat good night's sleep- sleeping bag was a little too warm at points but that's easier to sort than being cold- I'm sitting with a coffee, thinking about breakfast and which jobs I will take on before I leave- more soon! DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 07:33 on May 14, 2022 |
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May 14, 2022 07:30
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Man it's been a long time since I was camping. Sounds like you've got your setup nearly perfect now. That fire...place? looks fancy. Guess it's too early in the season to be getting eaten alive, which has to be a bonus
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May 14, 2022 08:22
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Maugrim posted:Man it's been a long time since I was camping. Sounds like you've got your setup nearly perfect now. That fire...place? looks fancy. I wanted to call it a firepit but the missus pointed out it's not actually in a pit I'm fairly happy with the setup but there's a fair bit of refinement to do- another logwall to cut the northern wind for a start Maugrim posted:Guess it's too early in the season to be getting eaten alive, which has to be a bonus Oh there's a fair few mosquitos about but I only got tagged once or twice before I put on the gently caress you strength DEET and then they hosed off porrage/porridge  I'm not seeing a gusset on this pouch, vestey foods limited  Not seeing a loving fill line on't inside either am I? You think I'm gonna walk 't loving caravan to find a measuring jug?  Tastes how it looks. I'm a regular porrage eating beast at home, and this saddens me. I ate it tho.   Gonna try and sort the solar charge controller out- if I have the right parts. More, soon
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May 14, 2022 08:43
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the finale  took a walk round to make sure no one else was taking a constitutional  aye no wonder the solar panels aren't doing great, fuckin state of that connection  I didn't have all the parts I needed to be finished (proper connections for the battery terminals) but the lovely cheap charge controller is now in place and working and I have high expectations of it  Gotta rest before you get tired  Fairly sure these are fresh oak gauls/galls- I don't think I have seen them quite this new and squishy looking    No place I would rather be  And I would have rather stayed right here. More, soon!
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May 14, 2022 13:14
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the hateful eight  still haven't seen that film, had it pirated for ages but I have such a backlog of poo poo to watch cues up the wire for yet another binge  These and the mora are my friends today   Took out over a dozen oak saplings first                 Rescued 8 of the 10 most heavily overgrown fruit bush emplacements- 7 out of those 8 healthy, 1 kiwi presumed dead but being monitored. Had hoped to get more done, but started feeling pretty beat up and the sun was at zenith so bailed out before stupidity got a chance to have a say  Buzzards were real active today- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPvMkqtQDfg Until the crows came and bullied them away and I uploaded it somewhere that doesn't suck! well... quite as much!  Took over a dozen bee shots and had poo poo luck with all of them, best was this blurry boi  Now that's a fightin' voltage    Well that was that and hopefully next time goes better and we clear up some more emplacements, sort the battery terminals and have some conversations with birds. More. Soon.
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May 17, 2022 16:21
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I finally got my non shitpostin' twitter account automated to throw out some pictures so if you want some nature pics on your twitter feed twice daily then please follow and share it around https://twitter.com/TheFiveAcres
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May 19, 2022 10:10
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You take a very nice photo, Dan.
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May 19, 2022 10:48
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Dead Goon posted:You take a very nice photo, Dan. thanks pal, my secret is shooting lots, re-positioning a bit, refocusing and shooting more then repeating so I have lots of chances at everything lining up just right- if I post a dozen images on here I might have shot 40 or 50+ that were crap camera is loving sweet on the pixel phones too
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May 19, 2022 20:36
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bees and the buttercups    Been getting my arse utterly kicked, but figured if I was nearby anyway I could scrape enough energy for an hour or so  Ducks!  Decided to test the battery a bit by using it to charge a usb connected 18650- voltage dropped a lot which may mean the battery got more damaged than I thought, or it might need a better connection as the current clamps and cabling are shoddy- I also want to gently caress with the voltage cutoff settings a bit on both my box and the charge controller but that's for another time      buttercups doing a lot of trade today  I didn't know bumble bees hosed but that's apparently what they are doing on one of my raspberry canes here     Fruit doing good  Even as it gets snacked on  So there weren't 2 bush emplacements lost in here, but 4 (I think, if there's yet another row lost in there then lol)    1 survivor, a kiwi- I don't think it's to blame for the losses, but the plastic fencing on these went incredibly brittle and lovely in comparison with the others (some that are 2 years older and got a lot more UV feel fine) and I burnt a lot of my time picking bits out of the bramble   Dealt with a few dozen more saplings, mainly oaks and mainly on the edge of this hedgerow that now has our new apple tree as pride of place rather than being lost in the oaks   Well that was a little more than I thought I could do today done, so hurrah and hurray! More! Soon!
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May 21, 2022 17:18
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Even educated fleas do it, Dan 
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May 22, 2022 12:50
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Dan's got an actual mf duck pond.
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May 22, 2022 17:45
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Dead Goon posted:Even educated fleas do it, Dan I thought it worked like mermaids for those buzzy little bastards not gonna lie spookygonk posted:Dan's got an actual mf duck pond. Not just that, but some nice looking pond plants have re-emerged- either from dormant seeds or dropped ones- still need to source and import some more but first I want to get an idea of what happens with the water levels in summer now that treeline is a lot less restrictive
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May 23, 2022 13:59
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https://twitter.com/TheFiveAcres/status/1528826851203985414?t=i5cR03foyZppig1Y8U83AA&s=19 https://twitter.com/TheFiveAcres/status/1528796652273664000?t=67KLN-7SKlG1o-mq-1w1Gw&s=19 been working on the trailcam footage, two episodes qued up on yootoob for tomorrow if the uploads work, but I threw a few shorts on the twitter account just in case and there's others there like a jumpy badger
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May 23, 2022 23:13
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DesperateDan posted:there's others there like a jumpy badger Magpies are hilarious. I first ran across them in SD Black Hills and remembered thinking "that bird sounds like a malfunctioning modem." Any badger content A+ too, love those flat critters.
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May 24, 2022 00:23
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AKZ posted:Magpies are hilarious. I first ran across them in SD Black Hills and remembered thinking "that bird sounds like a malfunctioning modem." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt186G8m7xM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQMSXrk7ZpI There is both excellent badger and magpie action as well as buzzard, green woodpecker and kitties and much much more
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May 24, 2022 20:04
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bojack horseman is pretty good but goddamn the gut punches ooof           Life  And death. The squirrel remains were being pecked over by magpies, then this crow swooped down, picked up the whole thing and dragged it away from them like it didn't even weigh a gram  I know it probably doesn't look like much but I love how this bit of hedgerow is coming along- there's a bunch of stuff I planted in here and the diversity is really high and everything is doin' good    That dead tree that was dead and fell over didn't get the message about being dead and various bits of it are alive, guess I gotta locate and destroy the brain  Battery seemed a bit happier but that's real subjective cause we have very limited data and that's mostly based on my gut feel so we will have to wait and see- there's also some prominent branches that block a fair bit of light and face removal with extreme    Fruit is still coming along nice  Had a look at a few places I want to put pathways- this bramble is about 2.5 metres at peak   Objectives met   I'm off on holiday tomorrow for a week (hence the car is getting the nice treatment), then we can get back to things with the yearly state of the acres address which is late, so there will be more, soon! DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 15:23 on May 26, 2022 |
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May 26, 2022 15:20
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AKZ posted:Magpies are hilarious. I first ran across them in SD Black Hills and remembered thinking "that bird sounds like a malfunctioning modem." I think you've seen Lapwings, did it sound like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt83JPcWcHg
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May 27, 2022 10:03
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AceClown posted:I think you've seen Lapwings, did it sound like this? Nah definitely magpies. We could see the pair hanging out a bit from our camp site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxovFbvolkI&t=50s
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May 28, 2022 18:21
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AKZ posted:Nah definitely magpies. We could see the pair hanging out a bit from our camp site. ahh apologies, I was assuming UK magpies (ours don't make that noise)
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May 28, 2022 20:05
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DesperateDan posted:There is both excellent badger and magpie action as well as buzzard, green woodpecker and kitties and much much more Ah, oh yea you would have European badgers given where you're at. Awesome trail videos.
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May 28, 2022 20:06
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AKZ posted:Ah, oh yea you would have European badgers given where you're at. Awesome trail videos. Thanks Generally on UK magpie sounds- the vast majority is rather harsh and aggressive calls or a little move i call the chak, which is a sound like "chak" (see I'm so drat smart) and they kinda puff the wings out a bit at the same time. However, they do have a really quiet but far more dulcet/calm tone they use with each other up close, just sometimes lowestoft revisited     Good place to be if you don't want to do much       Bit of an invasion of these brown tail moth caterpillars and also a lot of societal decay, unhinged street preachers and vape shops like any seaside town in the uk, but I'm sticking to nature this time round  Bonus dog  A few good books down and a lot of fine food eaten, and I'm ready to strap my boots and knife back on again- more, soon! DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Jun 2, 2022 |
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Jun 2, 2022 20:07
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DesperateDan posted:
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Jun 2, 2022 21:41
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good book, too!
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Jun 3, 2022 03:33
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spookygonk posted:That looks good down time. It was just what I needed AKZ posted:good book, too! Its loving formidable, unlike anything else I have read well this trip was easy, easy like    hello there   Lots of rain over the last day or so, everything was very wet  My legs got soaked pretty good, which soaked the top of my socks, which wicked down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjZfpOBc6M Here's a video of the walk in from the edge of the acres- need to do it again on a better day and with the camera on 4K but gently caress it posting it anyway  The bench has stayed dry, still going to extend the rain edge bit thing where the rain falls off the edge of the roof thing to be sure though  So I thought it might be wind that hosed this tarp up over this wood cage   fuckin foxes again I think  After gaining experience on my previous batches of firelighters (I made them too big, cottonwool burns good but smells unpleasant, pouring wax is messy and wasteful), I made some new ones to test out, specifically made to be easy to make and fit the tinderbox nicely       Had hoped for five minutes of flame (plenty of time to get some kindling going with it), got just under 14- will make them about half that height on the next batch and fit a double stack in   Cut a big branch out of the way of the solar panel/onion station  Just a quick trip today, next up we shall have the yearly state of the acres address and general update, there will be more, soon. DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 12:19 on Jun 5, 2022 |
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Jun 5, 2022 12:17
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Four Years, Five Acres Its been a long and tough year, but productive, and the whole place feels ready for the next stage- as do I. The next part I have frankly avoided thinking much about due to the circumstances behind it- the efforts on the acres have previously been a really low budget high effort affair due to my own low incomes and many expenditures. To put things plain, my dad is dying of cancer, and one day in the near future I will inherit a sum that could/should/can/will significantly change things over on the acres. I would rather this wasn't the case given the circumstances but it is what it is, he wants me to follow my dreams with it, and I have every intention of doing him proud. My aims for the next year are to improve access, equipment and infrastructure and to get me down on the acres with greater frequency and duration. There's a lot of things to consider carefully- I have a lot of study ahead, many diplomatic and legal questions to be solved, but the goal is a smallholding farm where I will live and raise chickens and pet cattes and grow vegetables badly for the rest of my days. That goal always felt like a pipedream, but now it's drifting into a bittersweet reality. The next year is to let me develop the plan that will carry things for the next five years after that- it won't go to plan of course, but the process will prove invaluable as always. And I'm gonna do a lot of shitposting about it, and I hope you, dear and constant reader, are around to see it. MORE. SOON.
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Jun 7, 2022 10:22
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 Looking forward to it.
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Jun 7, 2022 11:04
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Sorry about your dad.  Looking forward to great things for the Acres. You definitely seem to have the mindset and skillset for successful smallholding!
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Jun 7, 2022 14:00
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