August 15-16, 2014

It was hot, humid and dry -- low 90s and low 70s. We had a showing scheduled for Saturday, so I was anxious to get out and mow, but Sally was babysitting all day. We decided she would just come out on her own later.

Boots

Chris gave me these boots when the National Guard issued him the new tan (sand) camo ones he would take to Iraq. They have been my farm boots for 8 or 9 years. They worked well even though they were a little big. As you can see, the sole is separating on one so I am going to go ahead and dump them. One more chapter closing on the farm.

Mowing

Wanting to get everything cleaned up for the showing, I was anxious to get the mowing taken care of. I filled the mower with gas and headed for the pond. In the process of mowing across the dam I could tell something was wrong. Maybe I hit something (when don't I), but it started really gouging the cut on the inside of the left blade. It has been doing this for a long time and I could never find the problem. Now it was serious. By the time I got over to the side of the pond I could tell that I would not be able to continue. I reluctantly disengaged the blade and drove back to the house. This picture shows what I found. The deck had rusted and weakened such that the two inside bolts had nothing to hold on to. When the belt was engaged it pulled the top of the spindle toward the middle lowering the inside arc of the blade.

I didn't even have the tools to remove the plastic cover over the top of the spindle and its drive pulley. I thought if I could offset the pull of the belt on the spindle I might be able to get at least the front yard mowed. All I could come up with was anchoring the spindle to the outside using wire. I fought with this for a while and then tried it out. No better at all. I went back to work, finally putting some boards under it and using my weight to somewhat correct the misalignment, and then tighten the wire as much as possible. It was good enough. I got the front and side yard mowed, and even managed to use it to do the spring and front and back of the barn.

That left only some weedeating to tidy things up a bit, although the grass looked awful with lines and gauges through it.

Showings

Friday night I received a message that another interested party wanted to come out Saturday. The first couple was scheduled for 10:30, and since this was there second time out I wanted to give them priority. So I scheduled the second family for 1:30 to 2.

The 10:30 showing was with a couple from Houston, the couple that had seen the place on their own 3 weeks earlier. We had been out that Saturday, but we did not find out until we were home Saturday evening that they had left a voice message that morning asking to see the property. In spite of the high temperatures (hottest weekend of the summer) they had come out on their own, hiked down from the cattle guard, and looked around the place on their own that Sunday. They had even made it all the way down to the pond. We had some e-mail exchanges since, and here they were coming back. I thought it was very promising, but I have learned not to get too excited.

They flew in this time and left the kids at home (we found out they have nine children between them). They are interested in using the place for vacations and as a get away – like us, just from farther away. The first order of business was to show them the house. Actually we just let them walk through it on their own while we hung out outside. They really did not come prepared to hike through the fields and woods (no long pants and boots), but they did hike around back and up the bluff. I met them there after putting on my boots, but we just returned to the house. Since they had already seen the spring and barn, I offered to drive them around the fields. We first went up top and drove out the ridge, then down to the pond, up to the southeast corner, back across the dam, through the lower field separating the creeks, up into the back pasture, along and below the north facing bluffs, down and across Plume creek, and back to the house. There was some discussion around price and other particulars, an offer, and a promise on our part to get back with them after our second showing.

The afternoon showing was with a Rogers couple and their two teenage children. They were wanting a place to keep horses, serve as a weekend get away, and possibly a place they could rent out at times. We could immediately tell it was not right for them, but showed them around politely (as they were being). The daughter, the one with the horses, walked to the spring and barn barefoot.

We counter offered with the Houston couple, they accepted, they drove back out, looked at the barn again, and they left with a partially filled out contract. They had already discussed a loan with Farm Credit out of Harrison, and were confident about being able to get financing. Actually, they were even going to have her parents make the purchase. We exchanged more emails including the partially completed contract, and had an executed contract by Tuesday. I returned for a very quick trip Thursday afternoon to let an appraiser walk through the house and take some pictures. The loan seems to be approved and there is talk of closing on the September 8th. Wow!

August 8-9, 2014

This was a typical August weekend with high humidity and temperatures in the low 90s during the day and low 70s overnight. We were also fortunate to have received almost an inch of rain Thursday, some sprinkles Friday afternoon, and it had just begun to rain again when we left Saturday. I got this butterfly picture Saturday morning on our walk.

Garden

It was nice not having to water. Sally continued picking green beans, dragon beans, peppers, and basil. She made yet another double batch of pesto. She freezes half and we eat the other half. I did not get any weeding done, although it needs it.

Masked Bandits

The green bird feeder was totally empty. That told me the racoons had cleaned it out. So about dusk I was keeping watch and, sure enough, momma and two little ones showed up. I got this picture by quietly sneaking out the door and onto the porch. (One of the little ones had heard me and bolted.) I wish I could have seen how she gets up there. I presume it just needs to be higher. I really don't like encouraging them.

Deer

When we went out for a walk in the morning we heard this deer just up the hill. He/she did not seem afraid of us, and just stood there watching us and twitching its tail like a dog. When we got back from our walk it was just past the fire pit grazing. And later when I was walking down to the walnut tree, I heard and saw one in the woods above the road. I figured it was the same deer.

Blue Birds

I was eager to check on the baby blue birds I had seen the previous weekend. Before I opened the box however, I knew it was bad news because I could smell death. They were there, but it seems they either starved or burned up in the heat. Nature is cruel. I was surprised there was a nest and eggs this late in the year.

Mow/Weed Eat

The only mowing I did was out back. The rest just didn't look like it needed it, and with no showings scheduled I thought I would just let it go another week. I did take the brush whacker up the road, around the cattle guard, and back down the other side. That was needed.

Walnut Milled

After dropping three walnut logs at the millers the previous weekend, I still had one more (the largest) plus a few large limbs to transport. I was nervous about getting this heaviest log loaded. It was a slow process, but really no problem. The first task was to get it out of the wooded area where it lay. (You can just see the end of it painted red in this picture.) I had decided to use the truck and drag it out, which worked very well. I only had to adjust its direction once using my crow bar.

I then inched it around parallel to the hill and stepped it down to the truck and ramps with the crow bar and a stop log – the same I had done the previous weekend with the other logs. It was a bit more cumbersome getting up the ramps and into the truck due to its size, but the ramps were not as steep and most of it I did by hand. (The come-a-long didn't help much.) I did get drenched in sweat during the process.

We had been in contact with Ryan and thought we were going to drop the load at his mill on the way back to town, and that I would come out Sunday and help/watch him mill all of it. But as we neared Huntsville in the rain Sally had the idea of just bringing the logs with me Sunday and save a trip to his backwoods mill. I was able to get him on the phone and we agreed to start at 9:30 Sunday. It is almost an hours drive for me, and he had worked until 8 at his firefighting job. I thought he had meant 8pm, but he hadn't gotten off until 8am!

Three of his six children (all under the age of 9) were out with us during most of the milling. They were sweet and kept bringing me cherry tomatoes from the garden. Once they went inside and came back with pictures they had colored for me. Ryan did a good job with his Wood-Mizer, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching and helping throughout the process. It only took him three hours to finish the job. I threw and extra hour's pay in for him.

At home I had to unload and stack them with stickers between the stacks. Sally helped by sweeping the boards at the truck before I took them down. Drying is a critical step in making lumber, to fast and it cracks and to slow it will mildew. Its some pretty wood, and even cut it is heavy. I weighed a squared off board at 84 pounds. Later I weighed one of the two center cuts which I had had him leave the natural edge on, and it was right at 100 pounds. I topped off the stack with cinder blocks and placed a small fan blowing across it. I am still learning, and decided to re-stack it Wednesday night with more stickers, more uniformly placed, and closer to the ends.

I measured and counted the boards. I am recording that information here for my own future reference. (A board foot is a 1 inch thick board 12" wide and 12" long.)

3"x3" legs of varying lengths

1 3', 1 5'2", and 1 6'2" for 10.5 board feet.

1" boards all 7' but varying widths

8 2", 3 3", 3 4", 2 5", 2 6", 1 7", and 1 8" for 44.3 board feet.

2" boards all 7' but varying widths

1 6", 3 8", 1 9", 3 10", 1 12", and 2 13" for 124 board feet.

2.5" boards all 7' but varying widths

1 7", 2 8", and 2 10" for 62.7 board feet.

August 1-2, 2014

I was very pleased to see an inch and half of rain in the gauge, and we received almost another tenth of an inch overnight. Though we slept with the windows open, I never heard it rain. It did make for low clouds Saturday morning, and very unusual for us to not be able to see across the valley. Saturday started off nice and cloudy and cool, but by early afternoon it was in the low 90s with high humidity. I really worked up a sweat working our Walnut logs (see below).

Blue Bird Babies

I checked our bird house out back and, as expected, the eggs had hatched and there were little babies with their mouths gaping open. I took a couple of pictures, but both were blurry. I probably didn't give it time to focus, sticking my phone into the top of the box to get the shot.

Mowing

The grass was not very high in spite of not being mowed in weeks. With the recent rain, that will change. I did go ahead and mow the front yard, down to the pond, and around the spring.

I couldn't resist stopping to get this picture of the walnuts on the tree down by the confluence of the creeks. Its limbs are drooping down with the weight of the nuts. I just hope they don't break.

Walnut Logs

This was the big project for the weekend, and boy did I feel it. After procrastinating for so long, I finally cut our Walnut that has been laid over since the 2009 ice storm. – and it was solid! Even though it was up off the ground, I was afraid it might be hollow. It lay pointing down hill just below the spring. I had scouted how to drive my truck up there and swing it around so I was heading down hill. Sally wanted to come along for this project, and I was glad she did. She not only got some great pictures, but offered some good advice and took care of painting the ends of the logs (to prevent checking).

I ended up being able to cut four logs 7' 2" each. Their diameter was greater than I had estimated (I allowed to much for the bark): 10", 12", 13" at the small end of the upper logs (the ones I got loaded), and 15" at the butt of the base log. Being larger in diameter than I had estimated, and cutting them to longer lengths than I thought I would be able to, all meant they weighed more than I thought they would. I was planning on being able to lift one end up onto the tailgate. The bigger ones I could not even get off the ground. I thought I was stuck.

Sally suggested rolling them down the hill and getting our miller to come pick them up. That gave me the idea to drive the truck down the hill into the ditch that drains the spring so that the tailgate would be lower to the ground. Then I thought of getting the ramps I built to load the mower.

Just getting the logs down the hill turned out to be quite a challenge. While Sally painted the ends, I went back to the house to get the ramps, Papa's come-a-long, what little chain I had, and a crow bar. With the crow bar I could lift one end just enough for Sally to get a short limb under it, and then I could roll the log over the limb by cranking on the other end with the crow bar. I was able to spin one around parallel to the hill while sitting up on a limb, but mostly I just inched them around with the crow bar. I had to use other limbs as stops so that the log wouldn't run away down the hill (and over me). Using the crow bar I would pry it off the stop limb, move the stop a foot or so down the hill, and then let the log roll. I adjusted the direction as I neared the truck. A couple of times the log grabbed the crow bar and I had to let the log roll over it.

When I got to the ramps, I let the logs roll up as far as possible on to them. I was worried about the ramps breaking with the weight, and used a big limb to provide some added support on the down hill ramp. Once on the ramps I could just barely spin the logs around to a 45 degree angle to the bed of the truck. That's where the come-a-long came in, I had to crank them on up into the bed. It was all a very slow and exhausting process. Sally was worried about the weight of the three logs and feared we wouldn't be able to get up the hill or might even burn up the engine, but with low 4WD I knew it wouldn't be an issue.

I had talked to a miller a couple of months back that would saw our logs, and figured I would touch base with him Monday and take them out then. But Sally suggested seeing if we could drop the logs off on the way back to town. So I put in a call to Ryan to see if that would be possible. After the exchange of a few phone messages we got the okay, and then his wife provided me with directions. He is outside Wesley at the other end of Madison county, at the end of his own dirt road. He has a nice place, and is very nice young man with a young family. He used his front end loader and a chain and just drug the logs out of the truck. I was somewhat surprised the tailgate closed without a problem after all the stress I had put it through.

Now I just need to get the last, and largest, log loaded and out to him. That will have to wait until the following weekend. Once cut, I have to find a place to stack and dry the lumber for six months. This is going to be a long term, and expensive, project. I fully expect enough wood for a nice table, a bench, and plenty of left overs.

Garden

Sally picked a bunch of green beans, more dragon beans, a few peppers, and enough basil for more pesto. She watered and I weeded. With her permission I pulled up a bunch of the mint on the far side.

Weedeat

I did just a bit around the house, and cleaned up the hill below the house.

July 25-26, 2014

Finally some typical, and miserable, summer weather. It was 97 when we arrived, it cooled all the way down to 72 overnight, and topped out at 98 Saturday. (Inside it was 77.) I was pleased to find .25" in the rain gauge. The good news was that due to the hot dry weather I didn't need to do any mowing or weedeating.

Propane

We had the tank filled during the week. It took 236 gallons and cost $446. We will be good for another year.

Road Repair

Since the 3.5" rain week in June and the resulting road erosion, I have been wanting to get on this project. With no mowing to do, this was the weekend. But, in the heat it was a miserable job. Friday I dug the mud from behind the barn filling all my available buckets and containers. Most I got by cleaning the trench next to the barn foundation, where I have it funneling to the back and then across and under my culvert to exit down the hill. Some of the other mud came from the build-up next to the bluff. My shirt was soaking wet with sweat.

Saturday I loaded it all into the truck and hauled it up on to the road. I made it go pretty far, patching over the worst eroded areas and building up the water bars that were failing. I also cleaned out the silt that had built up in front of the water bars. Those fine sandy particles are perfect for top coating the mud. When I didn't have enough, I used leaves and what silt I could get out of the ditch on the uphill side of the road. In the end I was pleased with the work, but dead tired.

Yard Hydrant

Since I was working right beside this broken yard hydrant excavating mud, I decided to dig it up in preparation for replacing it. I think it has been broken for a couple of years, in spite of it being the newest of the 5 we have. I replaced it about six years ago, but then went to use it for the first time last summer or the summer before and it just snapped. I can tell you one thing, I will not be putting another Clayton-Mark in.

I got much of it dug up Friday as shown here. Then Saturday morning, while there was still some shade, I got deep enough to expose the feed pipe. I still have to widen the hole and clean out all the debris at the bottom before I can tackle the replacement. Of course I also need to purchase a hydrant and some plumbing parts. I've procrastinated long enough and its time to get this job done. (People that know me know how I hate plumbing projects – I just fear something going wrong.)

Walnut Tree

I am ready to cut our walnut tree that was laid down in the January 2009 ice storm. I hope to have a table built from the wood. I have found a saw mill that will take this small job, so I need to get it cut, loaded, and hauled to them (near Wesley). I took my pick and cleaned out the loose rock under the base of the tree, so that I can cut as much of it as possible. I am expecting to get three 13" diameter logs 6+' long. I think that will be enough for the table top, and that the upper portion of the trunk will provide wood for the legs. I just hope I can get the logs lifted into the bed of my truck. I am nervous about this project as well. Stay tuned.

Wildlife

We saw an owl take flight as we rounded the curve at the bottom of the road driving in. While behind the barn digging mud I saw this bird just sitting in the barn. After I got the picture it tried to fly, but just made a low circle. I don't know if it was just young and learning to fly or injured. I went back to work and never saw it again. While digging up the yard hydrant I disturbed a tarantula, which hung out there beside me for awhile. When coming outside for an evening walk Friday we disturbed three racoons which seemed to be teaming up to gain access to the green bird feeder. They slowly moseyed off. And at some point during the weekend I found that giant bright green grasshopper (?) pictured at the beginning of this blog entry.

Garden

Sally took care of the garden for us. She picked a few green beans, many dragon beans (which we have lots of), some of the italian peppers which we really like, and made yet another double batch of pesto from the basil. Of course she had to water as well.

Missed Showing

We had talked to a Houston couple the weekend before who had mentioned that they might come up to see our place this weekend. We never heard from them, and had been wondering what had turned them off. But when we got home we had an answering machine message from them, they were in Eureka and wanted us to show them the property. I felt horrible about the miscommunication, but all we could do is invite them to walk down from the cattle guard and look around on their own. After they looked, the called back with questions about what they were looking at, which pond they were seeing, how would you get to the pond, etc. I think they went back for another look Monday morning before heading back to Texas. Hopefully we will get a chance to show it to them properly.