December 15-16, 2012

This was a quick solo trip, arriving late afternoon Saturday and leaving fairly early Sunday afternoon -- but a very rewarding trip! And yet another warm December weekend with highs in the upper 50s Saturday (cloudy) and just touching 60 Sunday afternoon (clear and gorgeous).

Expose Bluffs

I had been looking at all the unsightly under brush and small trees growing in front of the bluffs just above the spring, much of it growing up underneath the big cedars there. Plus the cedars, which had been trimmed up nicely at one time, had now put out new limbs growing back down toward the ground. Our bluffs are an attractive part of the place, and these were mostly hidden. So exposing them was my big project for the weekend. These first pictures are the before.

I lopped all I could Saturday and hauled one load of small trees and branches down to the pasture near one of the cedar groves where I had piled ice storm limbs (which I eventually burned). Now there is a new pile to eventually be burned (a great activity for some cold wet weekend -- if it ever gets wet again). Sunday morning I took the Poulan and cut all the larger trees, and began cutting out the lower cedar limbs. Eventually I had to get my step ladder to reach some of the cedar limbs I wanted removed. Balancing it on the step hill and using the chain saw was a bit tricky. Luckily I only fell once and just torked my knee a little.

I hauled 6 loads total down to the pasture. I had to strap the limbs down in order to keep from losing any on the way. Some of the longest ones had to be cut in half. The bulk of them are cedars. I now have a quite large burn pile.

The results, I must say, are very impressive. There is probably nothing I else I could have done to spruce the place up with an equivalent effort. I wish I could have gotten this done before the wedding. The trees I left will be reviewed after they leaf out, and any undesirables will go. I also need to paint the stumps with herbicide to keep new growth in check.

Riving Boards

I had talked to my dad last month about the struggle I was having trying to split off shakes from all my pine logs. I knew they had used pine for roofing. He said that as a boy that was one of his jobs, riving boards. I had never heard that term, so I looked it up and found it quite appropriate.

Rive:
verb (used with object)
1. to tear or rend apart: to rive meat from a bone.
2. to separate by striking; split; cleave.
3. to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).
4. to split (wood) radially from a log.
verb (used without object)
5. to become rent or split apart: stones that rive easily.

He didn't call the results shakes, but boards. He also said his were 2 to 3 feet long each (versus what I cut at 18 inches), since for roofing you had to overlap them three times.

I was anxious to tackle my pine logs again, and so with 30 minutes before time to leave I got this technique down which I videoed using my iPhone. Watch the video on Youtube -- Riving a Board (http://youtu.be/r23MV2_qbgw). I am sure this is not the proper technique for using a froe, but hey it works.

December 7-8, 2012

Warm weather has persisted well into December, as have the ticks. It was near 60 both days, gray and drizzling on the way out and extremely foggy Saturday morning. Luckily we had received a nice rain on Monday, I guessed about an inch. Regarding the ticks, I picked one off of me and Tender continues to pick them up. We should not have stopped his Advantix II for the winter.

Lopping

We were late getting out, so I had little daylight left Friday. I took my loppers and cut 100+ cedars below the barn before it got too dark. It will be nice when the days start growing.

Meter Reader Hit Pine

We walked up the road Saturday morning and I took a closer look at this tree. I had noticed it the last couple of trips out, and sure enough someone had run off the road and pushed it over. Carroll Electric and their meter reader are the only other ones with a key, so I figure it must have been the meter reader. What the heck was he smoking! I'm glad he didn't run off the other side of the road and end up in the ravine.

I came back with a hand saw and my loppers later. I cut up through the woods and lopped over a hundred cedars before I got to the pine. I cut it with the saw and went ahead and thinned out the other small pines growing up along the road. I then proceeded through the upper field to the south where we are letting the trees grow up, and then came back down the hill jsut above the swing. I ended up lopping and cutting over 500 cedars. Using the saw I was able to get many of the larger ones I'd skipped in previous expeditions.

Happy Face

While coming down the road on our morning walk, I noticed this patch of bright blue showing from underneath some leaves and pine straw right beside the road. Look what I pulled out, some kids toy figure/puppet/whatever. Sally wouldn't let me keep it to play with, so I just hung it in a tree near where I found it.

Fence Repair

When I was trimming the honey suckle a few weeks back, the ladder tipped with me on it and I fell into the fence between the garage and the porch. The porch side broke loose, so I finally got around to fixing it. I have a stump in the corner by the porch I sit on to take off my boots if they are muddy. It was in the way and had to be scooted to the side. Underneath I found this tarantula nested in a hole he/she had dug out. Funny that all these doodle bugs were all curled up beside it. I guess they will be keeping each other warm throughout the winter. I carefully replaced the stump when I was done. Tarantula's don't bother me.

Walnuts

I built a wood frame with a chicken wire bottom to shake my walnuts in with the intent of removing some of the loose hull and grit from their outside. It didn't work. They were still surprisingly moist, and I hope it works better later after they have dried out more. The few I cracked were also still too moist inside. The darn things are just too small this year as well.

Wedding Signs

For the third or fourth time I re-hung the wedding signs. Either the wire breaks or the nails or hooks into the boards break off. The wind tosses them around too much. Staying up one day, no problem. To keep them up for months I need a different approach. This may the last time.