The Old Folks Home

[pennyJo1960]

Well BF had a Dr appoinment 11:30 go in nope late they said 11 resecheduled to the 21st.
Still grey gloomy but no rain

 

[microchick]

True!

I was just thinking about the reality of it all. We'll get it stacked to get it out of the way. We still have a bunch of wood that needs to be split. That stuff will most likely get split before any new stuff.

We harvest green red oak all the time. It lays on the ground until we get around to splitting it usually when the pile gets large enough. We are running late this year but usually we have all the green wood split and piled by June. Newly harvested green wood gets tossed to one end of the barn. We start on the opposite side of the pile and work our way through to the end with the newest split green wood. We start burning each year with the left over wood from the previous season.

Our wood is piled in the south end of the barn and the doors are left open so that there is ample circulation of air through the wood. Yeah, the recent heavy rains overpowered the gutter going into the stock tank I use to water my birds.

For the past two years we have been harvesting dead standing and some dead fall wood trying to clean up our timber. We have to drop some small trees to make a fall zone for the dead standing that we are trying to harvest.

That newly split and piled green wood is dry and ready to burn if needed. Little if no smoke. No creosote build up. We usually reach that end of the wood pile by Feb or March.

And yes we have checked the moisture content.

So while not optimally dry, it is dry enough to keep you warm if you need it after 6+ months of curing if it is split and it's all you have.

 

[Sally PB]

Our wood is piled in the south end of the barn

That is an impressive pile!

 

[microchick]

Thanks Sally

We usually have 10 cords on hand just incase. Still trying to fill in the section to the west. We split wood this morning and have a little more to do but have to wait till the timber dries out before we harvest more. Right now I think we have about 7-8 cords processed with a lot to fill in. Usually the top reaches the hayloft. When I can climb the wood pile and get to the loft without using the ladder we know it's time to quit....yeah, I'll never grow up.

The wood closest to the right in the barn is left over from last year and will be the first that we burn. Mostly oak but there is a little hickory in it.

For the record, I hate splitting hickory, even with our splitter. Darned stuff is so tough and stringy it makes the splitter groan and it's a 28 ton splitter so it's putting out some power.

Every now and then we will harvest some locust and elm. We never thought elm would burn well but a friend gave us a load of it that he wanted to get rid of and it did burn better than we expected.

But around here Hickory and Oak rule.

 

[Sally PB]

Sally, I don't know about there, but here, just burying it up to the nearest pole, means the homeowner got it free, and didn't pay for the additional cable to tie it into the correct junction box. Other than that, there is no advantage.

Free was probably right up his alley. He skimped on several things that would have been nice to have.

I actually met him once; he came up to the house to show his girlfriend the houses he'd built (he built the neighbor's too). I was NOT impressed with the man. At all. I've since heard stories from other people that make me think the guy's lucky not to be in jail.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Had a upper GI exam yesterday, they did take a sample in one spot, but the doctor said it looked good over all.
Our weather here has been very hot with an occasional shower. Upper 90s.
I am working on setting this playhouse up for some grow out chickens. Need to snake proof it, because I have been finding big snakes about every other day. Last night one was in the polish coop and I saw it strike at one of my hens I have no doubt it would have squeezed her to death! Lucky I showed up to look for eggs at just the right time!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Crud could not handle more than the garter snakes out here blurb off google shows this but are harmless unless you corner them they will bite but not normal behavoir and the chickens kill them.
There is no difference between a garter snake and a garden snake. Both names refer to the same species, the Thamnophis sirtalis, which is the most common non-venomous reptile in North America. While they vary in color, garter snakes are easily recognizable for 3 lines that run through their bodies.

 

[microchick]

@CapricornFarm, hope the biopsy is clear.

They tell me I should have a colonoscopy to rule out inflammatory bowel disease and I just laugh at them and tell them to just consider that I do. Carp, I have everything else, lol.

Seriously though, the thought scares me. I know several people who had bad problems with them to the point that one of them died. The other two wound up in ICU with perforated bowels.

So I have a deal with my doctor that if I'm unconscious, he can do one on me. Until then......

I'm glad everything else went well for you. I've only seen one little snake this year so far and it was mostly dead. the chickens thought it was a delicious treat. Not seeing them worries me. Like cockroaches you just know they are there, hiding.

 

[getaclue]

So far, our snakes around here are black snakes, and they tend to stay out in the woodpile, and I think there's one in the pump house. The only one that stayed close to the house, was the one black snake, that got overly territorial. It was huge. It hissed, and snapped at me when I was trying to go out the patio screen door. I grabbed a big stick, and when it lunged to try to bite me, I whacked it hard with the big stick. I know it had a headache for a few days. It still hung around, but got out of my way, very quickly, after that.

I told Dh that if it didn't take off at a high speed to get out of my way, every time I went outside, I would kill it. I don't mind that we have snakes around here. I mind when it has lost it's fear of people, enough that it dared charge at a person to strike. He thought my attitude was awful. Especially since I was the one that made the rule that we don't kill black snakes. The black snakes keep the poisonous snakes away.

BUT, it came after my husband one day. He was sitting by the pool heater, fixing something on it, when the snake turned the corner around the back of the house, and saw him. It came charging. He's older, and overweight, not spry like he used to be, so he can't get up quickly, and here it comes at him lickety split. He had nothing to whack it with, but a couple tools. He began tossing tools at it. Finally, it got close enough, and he was scared enough, he tossed a tool, and made contact. It turned and took off fast.

We never had anymore trouble with it after that. It had regained a healthy fear of people, and would high tail it away if it saw anyone. That's the way it SHOULD be.

 

[CapricornFarm]

So far, our snakes around here are black snakes, and they tend to stay out in the woodpile, and I think there's one in the pump house. The only one that stayed close to the house, was the one black snake, that got overly territorial. It was huge. It hissed, and snapped at me when I was trying to go out the patio screen door. I grabbed a big stick, and when it lunged to try to bite me, I whacked it hard with the big stick. I know it had a headache for a few days. It still hung around, but got out of my way, very quickly, after that.

I told Dh that if it didn't take off at a high speed to get out of my way, every time I went outside, I would kill it. I don't mind that we have snakes around here. I mind when it has lost it's fear of people, enough that it dared charge at a person to strike. He thought my attitude was awful. Especially since I was the one that made the rule that we don't kill black snakes. The black snakes keep the poisonous snakes away.

BUT, it came after my husband one day. He was sitting by the pool heater, fixing something on it, when the snake turned the corner around the back of the house, and saw him. It came charging. He's older, and overweight, not spry like he used to be, so he can't get up quickly, and here it comes at him lickety split. He had nothing to whack it with, but a couple tools. He began tossing tools at it. Finally, it got close enough, and he was scared enough, he tossed a tool, and made contact. It turned and took off fast.

We never had anymore trouble with it after that. It had regained a healthy fear of people, and would high tail it away if it saw anyone. That's the way it SHOULD be.

Black Racers are nasty and do bite without provocation. Sometimes I can catch them before they lunge.