Mar 5-6, '10

We stopped in Rogers on the way to look at Tibetan rugs sold by a Fayetteville church as a mission project -- the proceeds are put back into the Tibetan village. The rugs were in the very back of a very large warehouse, and Clay would pull out any we wanted to see and spread it on the floor. We bought one on the spot and I've added a couple of pictures to our Hickory Floors picasa site.

Finally some nice weather. Actually it was almost too warm for me with highs in the 60s. Amazingly there was still ice on the north facing cliffs.

Pond
We arrived fairly late, so no time for any big project. I wanted to check out the pond and ensure there were no sign of beaver, so I drove down with my loppers. Things were all clear! I lopped a few cedars, piled up some walnut limbs I had cut a few weeks before, and loaded the truck with the larger beaver sticks that I had accumulated at the culverts and below the dam. I took the limbs back to the house for camp fire wood.

Garden
Sally was working in the garden, so I joined in with the clean up by pulling weeds. The city didn't have any compost ready yet, but said probably the next week. I'll bring a load out and work it in and then we will be ready to plant.

Walk
Saturday morning I talked Sally into walking up into the back pasture versus going to the pond. I didn't remember all the limbs that were down next to the west edge of the pasture -- almost all hickory. On the way back she wanted to come down the creek. There was lots of water at first and so many trees down we had to work our way back and forth. I walked right over a large patch of hair where a deer had obviously died and been eaten, but Tender found something in it he decided to try and eat. I had to chase him down and pull something gross out of his mouth. Shortly after that the creek disappeared underground and Tender, in the lead, ran into this raccoon. Tender was just sniffing at him and he was just laying there, obviously sick or injured and close to death. As much as I hate them at our feeders, I felt sorry for the guy. All he seemed to be able to do was move his head.

Hickory Limbs
I decided to drive down and cut up some of those hickory limbs for Dave and Sarah. With the erosion on the dam from the beavers plugging the culverts and the water over topping it, I had made plans to begin driving across the creek versus over the dam. It worked out fine, though I hit a muddy spot near the giant hickory growing in the middle of the pasture and I had to back up and choose a different approach.

I took my McCulloch and Stihl. The McCullock started and cut great at first. But after a couple of large cuts I could tell the chain was already dull after only half a tank of gas. I did a quick field sharpening and got through the rest of the tank of gas, but it needs another good sharpening. And the oiler was working fine. That hickory is just damn hard. The Stihl did fine at first but also quickly got dull.

Sally helped me unload at the barn. The good thing was that the bigger pieces split just fine. The bad thing was that I thought I was cutting it 18-20 inches for D&S, but half or more of the pieces were a good 22" or more. I'm hoping they can use the 21" pieces, because I put them in their stack.