Melonade #8 by Twenty Twenty

May 1, 2025, 12:24

I will try the Melonade again. It's not tasty. Earth, chem, exhaust. A burnt sort of taste. There's Watermelon Zum Zum and Lemon Skunk in the lineage? Can't taste watermelon or lemon, that's for sure.

We'll wait and see what the effects are, though. Indigo Bunting at the feeder. Earlier, the bird sound app identified a Blackburnian Warbler, singing in the backyard, a thin, high-pitched whistle. I did not identify the bird visually. Northern Parula around. The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have been here for a week.

Dreary day. May first. The 91 Bacio was nice earlier, gave me the lift I needed. Smoking not drinking. Red-eyed vireos have popped up on the sound app, too.

The Wood Thrushes are still around. I didn't realize they also make a thrasher-like check of a call, short of a whippy sound, a little harsh. Their song is fluted, musical, lilting. It provided consolation during breaks of April rain or sometimes persisted despite a light rain. And there is a cuckoo around, knocking its dull chime-box. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the rain bird.

Three pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are here. The females are slightly larger than the males but they have a totally different color scheme. Whereas the males sport the eponymous rose breast with patches of white splashed on their black wings and back, black heads, and a belly of white under the bright pink/rose breast, the females are myriad shades of brown with a little cream around their eyes and carrying a large white beak shaped like a cardinal's.

The Melonade is doing the job. The sun is trying to, or— The sun is now finding a way through the clouds. I need some of that vitamin D. I'm not getting much done today but pen-to-paper feels good.

There's a steady "pilot light" behind the Melonade. A current, a buzz. It feels like an inner flame, or a motor. I don't think it's a caffeine buzz; I've only recently had half a cup. I will roll a few more joints. Or go outside into this newfound sun, while it's out. I had turned off the Cubs game a little while back to listen to the birds. Forgot about it until just now.

Smoking without drinking. Something I used to do as a matter of regular habit. Something I've thought for a while I need to get back to doing, more often. But the louder voice in my head says I need to have a few drinks before smoking because... because... I'm really not sure why. Because the smoke will make me anxious? Paranoid? A bad bite, something like a bad trip? Drinking some before smoking does smooth a sharp bite, and yes, I do want that.

Anyway. This is some of the longest, tidies, most composed prose penmanship I've jotted down the entire time here so far at Cougar Trails. This feels more like my Shrine writing from last year. Chipmunk. The plants and the animals are out for the sunlight, as am I.

Melonade, for the win. It is a prime example of bud that has very low jar appeal (dried out; no aroma) and unappealing smoke flavor on top of that while nonetheless delivering the psychoactive effects I am looking for when smoking. I am centered-enough to write. I'm actually writing words I have been thinking, saying to myself, getting them down onto paper so I can remember them and, one day, type up as part of a strain review for the cannabis flower known as Melonade as grown by Twenty Twenty, sold from the storefront Trinity dispensary in St. James, Missouri, USA.com.


Click here for the full review...

Root Beer MAC by Legacy

As night fell I was lounged out with the MAC on our chaise lounge under a skylight, blissin'. That's a pleasing outcome during a stressful time—no power, canceled plans, thrown-out food. The Root Beer MAC tastes pretty good, too. Menthol and spice with a hint of root beer or sarsaparilla.

This flower didn't sell well, as far as I could tell just by watching the menu of the Beyond Hello in Sauget, IL. It sat on the menu for a long time after I bought my bag. I've got no regrets and I'll be back for more, should it appear. But I'll be treating this smoke like an indica, an end-of-day lounger. It doesn't make me sleepy but it does make me day-dreamy. After I smoked it, all I wanted to do was lounge there in that chair and look up through the sky light as the sky lost its light and color.

Likewise, the Root Beer MAC should be an excellent choice for a smoke before settling in to watch a movie or sit out on the deck for a while. For year-old bud, it still has plenty of flavor. I rarely see Root Beer strains on menus, whether that be in Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, or Arizona. I have enjoyed Modified Root Beer both in Arizona and in Missouri.

The genetics of Root Beer draw from Headband, Hollywood Pure Kush, and Black Affie. Source: Seedfinder. In this case, the Root Beer is crossed with Miracle Alien Cookies (MAC #11). There is an article about this collaboration on the North Atlantic Seed Company site, link here...

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Honey Bun by Twenty Twenty

The Honey Bun is good. Solid base high leading at times to crazy zany but legitimate writing ideas/scenes/sketches.

The smoke had a spicy menthol flavor; was a bit sweet maybe.

Jays. Carry. Zingy even now smoked...two hours ago? Maybe 90 minutes.

Is it the Nigerian in here? A la Velvet Glove, an Illinois "indica" by Columbia Care / Seed & Strain that buzzed me this way. Or Cresco's Rollins, which also draws its lineage from the Nigerian landrace. I have purchased two eighths of Rollins. One held some of the raciest sativa flower I've ever smoked, the other didn't get me all that high. You pays your money, and you takes your chances.

The only other strain I've smoked that I know has Nigerian landrace in its lineage is the BK Satellite from Alien/Connected in Arizona. When I first wrote this entry in the notebook, I had only tried the Satellite once or twice but I'm recently back from a trip to Tucson where I thought I had some BK Satellite in my stash. Only I couldn't find it; it wasn't there. That's what I call a disappearing eighth...


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Grandi Guava by Tales & Travels

Time to burn, let’s Grandi Guava—

More rain, thunder, April adds rain on top of more rain.

The worst storm of the spring was in March, mid-March, that wind. April has been frequent rain, cloud cover, persistent moisture. But also an incredible stream of birds, a panoply. Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Wood Thrushes, and Tennessee Warblers. The Grosbeaks visit the feeders. The Thrushes and Warblers are unseen but identifiable by sound with the help of the Merlin bird app.

The Grandi Guava has electrified me; got me buzzing. Flavor… menthol, maybe some creaminess, a little fruit. The joint burned clean through without any relighting. It was raining. I was under cover but it’s so damp. A dreary April! Humid. The most humid April I can remember. Dehumidifiers running nonstop. A natural history of the indoors.


I stepped out to take some photos to go along with this post but I went out there and didn’t take any. It’s 14:53. I don’t know when I wrote the first part of this. Three hours ago? At least two hours ago. Which is to say: The Grandi Guava is good fuel. I have been on my feet, working, doing.

I put a clay and rock “plug” in along one spot of our foundation, on the back patio. That was two hours ago. Rain, standing rain, water. It’s an area I’ve been addressing, trying to get to drain better, and not toward the house.

Guava is Gelato pheno #25. I can’t recall seeing Guava as a solo strain. Not like Gelato #33 (aka Larry Bird) or the most common pheno, Gelato #41, sometimes called Bacio Gelato. If you see Gelato on a menu simply called Gelato, it’s probably Gelato #41.

I am at my desk now. I cleaned all of the Gutter Guards of any debris. I’m wondering whether those gutter guards do more harm than good. The heavy downpours run right off, right over them. Not enough water actually seems to be going into the darn gutters.

15:05. The Grandi Guava is a three-hour smoke...


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Florida Jack by Grow Sciences

There’s some carry on that Florida Jack. Early on, it was a weeper. Let it flow. I welcome and appreciate any time cannabis makes me emotional. It’s part of the process. It’s part of the high. You have to be ready for it, especially if there are things on your mind worth crying about, worth getting out. Weed can be a very direct, effective, expeditious form of therapy.

I was emotional, but in a happy, satisfied, head-on kind of way. After that, I thought the effect of smoking Florida Jack was fading.

Then the effects unfurled their second act. This is an example of why I need to give each joint enough time to do it’s thing. And why I shouldn’t drink so damned much, ever—but especially when I’m trying to size up a new strain.

I suddenly found myself with nowhere I had to be. No company coming over. Nothing on the to-do list. Time was passing but I had a notebook and a pen and I was sitting on the edge of a hand-me-down twin bed in the back bedroom of this house my in-laws bought ten years ago in the desert. I was writing lyrics to a song no one was ever going to hear, not until now.

Eventually the Florida Jack yields a latent buzz, a pleasant buzz.

Talent neat nettle.

Mettle a molten lantern, this rental’s eternal...


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Orange Soda by Paul Bunyan

Orange Soda joint.

Idea for a new website: frontporchbirding.com

Took some of the laundry down. Saw the copperhead again, same spot. Then it went back under the low porch. That knocked my buzz; harshed me out a bit; not great.

I’m rallying back. I feel that Soda. It’s a great smoke, that buzz, an electricity. A body sativa; bit of a shaker.

If it were on a menu again, I’d snap it up. I’ve had a jar this year and I had a jar last year. Both were good to the last bud.

I’ve had other PTS/Paul Bunyan but the Orange Soda has been way better than anything else I’ve had from them. Papaya x Gelato wasn’t bad but Panama Mac was forgettable. Macnanna was just OK.

I bought this jar back in 2024. Held onto it for almost a year. It was still very good! I must have put a moisture pack in there to bring it back. It’s not the prettiest bud but they gave me 3.58 grams.

This was a disappearing eighth and it will also be a Strain of the Year candidate for 2025, despite it not appearing so far on the Beyond/Hello menu at any point this year. Maybe it’s up in Collinsville/Maryville/Edwardsville. Bring it back to Sauget, please...


Read the full post about this excellent sativa fuel…

Açaí Gelato x Sherb by Cannect

Another supposedly “extreme” rainfall event here in St. Louis County in the wet spring of 2025. When we keep getting heavy rains when do the extreme events begin to become the norm? I am becoming resigned to them.

The Açaí x Sherb is a representative Sherb/Gelato. There is some bite but I am catching a strong, heady high, and I’m enjoying myself despite the storms, despite water finding its way into the basement ductwork again. Alas, alackaday, amor.

(some unknown amount of time, perhaps an hour, elapses…)

It’s strong stuff. I’m still going. Can’t find my phone. That Açaí x Sherb from Cannect Wellness. It’s the best-ever high I’ve gotten from bud that dark, purple. I’ve smoked bud that looked like this but it’s always disappointed. I had begun to think it was a gimmick.

I have been planning for what must be the last hour to smoke again but I have not made any progress thus far. I’m ping-ponging. We’re going to hit three inches of rainfall today...

Read the full post about this strain of the year candidate here…

Cap Junky by Sinse

Nothing wrong with this Cap Junky. The smoke is thick, with a chemmy exhaust flavor. There is a slight note of mint. It’s been a little while now since I sparked a .37-gram of it. There is carry and the effects are pleasant, representative.

The high is surprisingly solid. I wasn’t sure what to think of the Sinse brand. It’s the Swade house brand but you see Sinse in just about every dispensary in the St. Louis area. I’m so pleased with the Cap Junky that I am increasingly interested in other Sinse flower.

It’s been raining again. Lots of rain yesterday, three inches in the rain gauge. A lot of it fell in ninety minutes. Deluge.

The French drain I installed on the northwest side of the house is still running with yesterday’s water. There is water in that same spot of the basement ductwork again but the level is going down quicker than it would have earlier this spring.

I’m not exactly sure when I sparked this joint. 17:00?

It’s 19:50 and I still feel the effects. Serious carry…


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Georgia Pie by Tales & Travels

6.3.25, 15:46: Last J

I will smoke my last Georgia Pie. I have flown through this eighth, written nothing about the effects thus far.

I smoked a roll of it last night, roughly .37 grams in the roll. The flower tasted of peaches last night and gave me a great run. I was looking at something from a different vantage. The effects were revelatory but I felt sensible, and “there.”

The lineage of Georgia Pie is Gelatti x Kush Mints. Source: Seedfinder, click here. Gelatti is Gelato x Biscotti. Kush Mints is Bubba Kush x Animal Mints. The strain is aka Sticky Buns. You’ve got Gelato and Kush on one side with Animal Mints and Kush on the other side.

The taste is like a peachy Gelato. I don’t want to oversell the peach flavor. I didn’t taste it with every roll. It’s not strong but it’s there. Sometimes while inhaling the smoke, sometimes on a spit.

I get the Gelato/Burma head rush blunted by the Kush. The bite is not too strong considering the amount of caffeine-like lift I get (without the caffeine sweats).

It’s a buzzy, high-deas kind of high. But I must have been so enamored with those high-deas that I did not bother to write any of them down…


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TK-91 by Cresco

Fourth Impression, 3 hr effect

May 30, 2025, 15:43.

TK-91 to start the Friday afternoon. The Cubs trying to come back versus the Reds in the ninth at Wrigley, 2 out, 6-2 Cincy.

The TK-91 is not tasty, not to me. Toasted flavor. Earthy, acrid. But it's got me buzzing around, gonna do some outside (deck) work. Gonna clean the toilet. I want to do something worth doing.

...some time passes, maybe an hour...

Did a lot more cleaning out deck boards than I imagined. Found a couple spots where the wood is rotting. I'm gonna sling a little Bondo. Then I'll have my first drink of the day. 17:46

18:42. It's been a functional effect. Still haven't finished my first drink. I also Bondoed a metal chair and put out a new suet cake...


Read the full strain review here...