The Old Folks Home

[Sally PB]

Yeah, I hate to see good wood go to waste. But we have enough to last us the rest of our lives here, I bet. Between taking down trees that have to go and storms and naturally dying trees, we have literally tons of firewood. Mostly oak, but some other stuff too.

 

[CSolis]

Morning OF, Coffee down the hatch, time to get moving. Baby Jay hasn't appeared yet for breakfast, he must be getting enough on his own now. I think he's a part of a group sitting up on the high wires near the elderberry patch.

 

[Sally PB]

Raining now. It sounds pretty. And it's singing to me... "You want to take a nap..."

 

[microchick]

Good morning everyone. Rain is about to start here with heavy rain all afternoon. Sigh. Hope my roosters can swim.

Yeah, I hate to see good wood go to waste. But we have enough to last us the rest of our lives here, I bet. Between taking down trees that have to go and storms and naturally dying trees, we have literally tons of firewood. Mostly oak, but some other stuff too.

Same here Sally. We have 29.5 acres and about 20 is prime hardwood timber. Oaks of all shapes and sizes, Hickory. Some poplar and elm and coveted black walnut which we leave alone.

The timber was heavily grazed when we bought the property and looked like a park. No undergrowth, the cattle had eaten down the young oak leaving the shag bark and smooth bark hickory to take over.

We decided to let the land turn into habitat. We cut trails that we maintain and let mother nature repair what man had almost destroyed. The oaks are now flourishing and new growth is popping up. We harvest mainly dead standing and deadfall wood for our heating needs and drop a few hickories to thin out the herd.

Like you we have enough to last a lifetime and beyond.

Morning OF, Coffee down the hatch, time to get moving. Baby Jay hasn't appeared yet for breakfast, he must be getting enough on his own now. I think he's a part of a group sitting up on the high wires near the elderberry patch.

So your little bird has flown the nest and discovered a group of peers to hang out with. Sounds like a normal teenager doesn't he?

You did a fantastic job rescuing and raising him. You both gave one another an amazing gift and experience.

How is Turtle Dove doing? By the pictures she looks completely healed.

Plans here for today. May split some wood but definitely inside work for the next few days.

 

[Sally PB]

coveted black walnut which we leave alone.

We actually have a fair amount of walnut. A friend said, "You're sitting on a fortune!" Well, if they ever got to timber size! They seem to get to 12-14" diameter... and die. Several that are 8" or so are standing dead.

Walnut makes great firewood, BTW. It is a PITA to split by hand. It's tough, stringy, and fights you all the way down. DH only splits it with the splitter now.

 

[microchick]

We actually have a fair amount of walnut. A friend said, "You're sitting on a fortune!" Well, if they ever got to timber size! They seem to get to 12-14" diameter... and die. Several that are 8" or so are standing dead.

Walnut makes great firewood, BTW. It is a PITA to split by hand. It's tough, stringy, and fights you all the way down. DH only splits it with the splitter now.

So is Hickory which is why we bought a heavy duty splitter. You can pound your self silly trying to split that stuff by hand and only get sore shoulders for your efforts.

We only harvest down Black Walnut. Ours here grow so slow. Ridge soil isn't the best quality but we have a good number of older Black Walnuts that aren't doing too badly. Like yours, ours is around 14 inches in diameter but what we do is go twenty foot around a nice Black Walnut and clear out all the competition so they have a chance to mature.

I don't think we will live long enough to harvest them but two years ago, the neighbor had somebody come in and harvest all his black walnut. The pile was impressive.

 

[getaclue]

I'm waiting for the power to possibly go down for a little while. According to my (good) neighbor, the power company is coming to replace the old transformer with a new one. To be honest, I'm dumb enough about it, that I don't really know if it will affect us, but suspect it will. I know that if the transformer by their house goes out, it doesn't impact us in any way. I'm not sure about the one out on the main road.

Usually, it doesn't take them long to change out a transformer at all, once they arrive with it, and get started. Dh, asked me how I could possibly know that. I've had 2 experiences with transformers blowing out.

One was at my parent's lake property. There was this curious raccoon. The resulting explosion was heard all around the lake. Once they got out there, I was surprised how quickly they changed it out, and got us up, and running again.

Two was at my Ex's house, in a small subdivision. Normally, when a squirrel got to messing around the transformer, it would get zapped, and fall down dead on the ground. BUT there was this one squirrel.... It got up there, and BOOM. The transformer exploded. Not only that, but the heat was so intense, it melted the wires. Everyone before that transformer still had power, but everyone past that transformer was without power, but my house was the last one before that transformer, so that line had power. I could hear it snaking around on my roof, hitting the ground, then bouncing back up to the roof. My neighbors saw what was going on, and called me. Yes, I was aware, but needed to get me, and the girls out of the house SAFELY, before it caught my roof on fire.

The line came off the pole at the front of the house. I had a neighbor on the cell phone, keeping watch, and telling me when it doubled back, and snaked towards the front, while me and the girls ran out the back. The line didn't reach to where we were, but with the yard being so small, we still weren't safe, if the house caught fire. We were trapped by the chain link fence. We didn't dare climb it, or we could get zapped it that line hit it. Fortunately, by then all my neighbors had gathered round, and 2 of the men got their power tools. The one keeping lookout, coordinated so they could take the bolts off the far back corner, where the fence connected in. When the live end would go on the roof, they unscrewed bolts. When the line would hit the ground, they'd stop. Shortly, they had the bolts free, the fence pushed back, so there was a big enough opening, and when it was safe, we escaped.

It took the power company over 40 minutes to show up, and cut the power to that line, knowing there was a woman, and 3 kids trapped in the house. When the neighbor called to report what was going on, they asked her address. When they asked where the downed line was, the operator put in the neighbor's address, instead of mine. Since the neighbor's address was out of power, they didn't take the report of a downed live wire as seriously. No power, no live wire, no threat, right?

When they finally did show up, the linemen freaked out. They got the power cut immediately. By then, my entire roof was covered in streaks of scorch marks where the live line had snaked across it.

It took longer for them to get there, than it took for them to replace the transformer, and restore power. Yeah, I do know a little about how long it takes for them to change the transformer.

 

[Sally PB]

So is Hickory which is why we bought a heavy duty splitter.

Yup, we invested in a 40 ton. Dh loves it, and it has proven itself to be worth the price tag. It will probably out last us too.

 

[getaclue]

micro, something a lot of people don't know.... You can gather the Hickory nuts from the ground, and put them in a big bag, or bucket. The night before you go to Bar-B-Q, put a bunch of them in a bucket of water, and soak them overnight. When your coals are ready to cook on, toss a handful or two of those wet Hickory nuts on the coals. Being wet, they smoke really well, and last awhile, while giveing off that wonderful Hickory flavor to whatever you cook. Add another handful as needed.

I don't have a Hickory tree, so when my friend let's me go gather the nuts from under her tree, it's as good as a Christmas present.

 

[Beer can]

We have copper heads, water moccasins and timber rattlers here. I'm okay with non venomous snakes hanging around as long as they don't threaten us, the dogs, the cats or the chickens but if they do they are out of here. Venomous snakes? The good thing here is that all Missouri's venomous snakes have 'cat eyes' vertical pupils so you can clearly tell them from non venomous at a glance.

Afternoon all. DH and I went out last night evening and picked wild blackberries. They are just starting to get ripe and there is a bumper crop this year. I was glad he felt like being out with me. MOHS yesterday on his face. No need to tell you guys to make sure and wear your sun screen out there. We wound up with a good quart of berries. Hopefully the weather will let us pick every 48 hours. Here is what we are facing:

• Tonight
  
  
  
  
  Partly Cloudy
  then Chance
  T-storms
  
  Low: 72 °F
• Thursday
  
  
  
  
  Showers
  Likely then
  Heavy Rain
  
  High: 81 °F
• Thursday
  Night
  
  
  
  T-storms
  Likely then
  Showers
  Likely
  Low: 66 °F
• Friday
  
  
  
  
  Chance
  T-storms
  
  
  High: 80 °F
• Friday
  Night
  
  
  
  Chance
  T-storms then
  Chance
  Showers
  Low: 65 °F
  
  
  The rooster coop is just trying to dry out. I would move them to my spare coop but frankly I don't want to go out and stand in ankle deep muck and pouring rain to feed and water them.
  
  
  @getaclue. We live in an area of ridges. Our house sits on top of a ridge that is lower than the ridge to the east and west. No sound travels. Neighbors a half a mile away say that they can hear our dogs when they howl but that is it.
  
  We are like you. We try to be good neighbors. But yeah, everybody makes noise every now and again.
  
  I remember living in the city and one day a neighbor came by and said he was throwing his daughter a graduation party on the next Saturday and he wanted to let everyone in the neighborhood know that there would probably be noise coming from his property as they were bringing in a band/dj the whole nine yards. Thought it was considerate of him to let everyone know and nobody minded. After all, your baby only graduates from high school once.
  
  BTW. My husband says he wants to see a picture of the duck boogying along with the music.