January 20-21, 2012

This was another very pleasant mild winter weekend where we saw the mid 40s Friday and on up into the 50s Saturday (though it was a chilly 22 degrees Saturday morning). We also got to see a few eagles circling up above.

Transplanted Trees

I flagged all the volunteer trees coming up in the yard in town, and Sally is anxious for me to remove them. So I dug up 10 before coming out and planted a couple out back and the rest in the row next to the drive coming up to the house. They were all hickory and various oaks. I put this water oak (I believe) next to the oak Sally got free two years ago, but which has not done well -- I will be surprised if it survives. I filled in the row out front, but we'll have to see how many survive. The orange tags are the ones I planted this trip.

Lopped Cedars

With my little loppers, I finished Friday afternoon snipping 500+ cedars below and beyond the spring. Saturday morning I got another 1000+ above the spring. It was so cold I had to get my insulated gloves.

ODS Pilot

Friday evening the pilot on the main propane heater started misbehaving -- it was loud and the flame was standing far off the pilot itself. I tried cleaning it with compressed air Friday night, but that did not work and I left the heater off over night. In the morning I cleaned it with a cue tip and nail polish remover. Then it lit right up and was burning fine. Last year my pre-season cleaning lasted the whole winter. I'm not sure why this problem started so suddenly, but suspect something contaminated it.

Cut Ice Damaged Pines

I grew tired of looking at the dead and leaning pines to the left of the road coming in, so I took the Stihl to them. I also found a couple of larger cedars to cut.

Walk to Pond

We took Tender for an afternoon walk to the pond. The algae is looking awful. What to do, what to do.

We cut across the field on the way back so I could lop cedars along the way. I found this poor unfortunate bunny filleted and stuffed into this set of three little cedars. Coyote I presume. But it was a very clean job, and what would hide the carcass like this?

January 6-7, 2012

Oh what a beautiful weekend -- early January and it was clear and 65 Friday and 60 Saturday. Unbelievable! It was 55 in the house, normal for winter, so we needed to open the windows to warm it up.

Cracked Walnuts

I did about half a box, my second cracking of the season. There were a lot more bad nuts this time around, nothing like the ratio last year but many more than the 2 or 3 I found in the first cracking.

Puller Bear

I took this tree puller up to the top of the hill to see what it would do with all the hardwood stumps left after years of brush hogging. Not so good. Most just broke off where it clamped onto them. With just a few I was able to get the roots. And then there were those that I couldn't get up and wouldn't break. It did well with the cedars (but its easier to lop them) and the pines. The pines just keep coming back with wide low spreading limbs, so its nice to get the roots and all. Next I'll try this tool on the buck brush. If it doesn't get those by the roots I've likely wasted my money.

Cedars

I pulled lots of the cedars in front of the spring tank. They are small on top because they have been getting mowed, but under the ground they have been growing deep roots. This one I could only get up by twisting it about 30 times, and then this huge tap root came up.

Rake Tank

I took the rake to the tank to rake out some of the leaves and debris – and algae that is already growing. I haven't given up on the bacteria to eat the muck, but figure I will need to help it out. We will need much warmer weather before I can put out more of the bacteria.

Front Gate

This gate was never hung correctly (2.5 inch screws were used but couldn't be driven all the way in) and one side was hanging by one screw. I had to hack saw off some of the screws, raised both sides, and got it where it opened and latched nicely.

While I had the tools out I fixed the swing, tightened the screws in the adirondacks, and got the two gate closures in the back to nest nicely (they had been bugging me).

Trim Hollies

The holly inside the fence was really out of control, so I removed quit a bit of it. The other 2 had gotten eaten by the deer last winter when we had lots of snow, so they didn't need too much. I also clipped the rest of the obedience (some of it was still green) and the peonies.

Walk to Pond

With Tender's tender feet (recent yeast infection), we weren't comfortable walking him all the way to the pond, so we locked him in the house as we took an afternoon hike. I was really on the look out for antler sheds, but found none (we walked some pasture on the way down and a different section back). We did find a patch of about 20 thistles growing flush to the ground. I kicked them out, but need to watch this area in the summer. The algae is already growing and it looks like it will be another challenging year of pond management. Also found an armadillo shell -- belly up just like along the road.