Well I have survived another turn around the sun, which also means it is time to end the preceding thread and begin a new one as we explore all the tedious and boring things, as well as some of the less mundane things that fill up my days, weeks, and years. There might even be something interesting in there also, who knows?
Not much cooking today and the weather was unpleasant enough that I blew it off. The winds stayed high all day and night, the sky was solid overcast all day, and the temps were cool. 20 miles west at my daughters house they had mostly sunny all day and they worked on their garden most of it. We all got together last evening and they took me out to a birthday dinner. I finished off the day watching Montreal get eliminated from the playoffs. That was one sad game to watch.
Today, I have (finally) my last log client come to pick up their order. It will be good to get those logs clear of the yard finally so I can move onto firewood and other things. It's two guys working together, one has his act together, the other not so much. One has my cash in hand, the other wants to work out a payment program or not take his logs. Guess which one ordered the most logs? :wink_2: SO this won't be the usual fun and easy transaction, but at least it will be done.
After that I have to figure out whcih 'thing' I will get into next. Too many choices.
But it's another day, time to get at it.
Yes, but it still beats selling lady's shoes. ffcheesy
I would ask the partner if he wants to buy them all and then he can arrange sales to the other guy. Or sell them by the log. and he can pay as he goes and get more logs, unless by chance they all get sold. If he has no cash today, then he will likely not ever be paying for the logs.
Quote from: WV Sawmiller on May 19, 2025, 01:09:48 PMYes, but it still beats selling lady's shoes. ffcheesy
Depends on the ladies...
Opportunity at Amazon starts here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DawWUWSJmc)
Doc,
Is this a peak into your new retirement gig or are you just giving pointers to Tom? ffcheesy
After watching the video I am wondering if there is not a cabinet post or special ambassadorship opening waiting for that guy. :uhoh:
It is good the show is decades old, I am sure it offends many, but it is funny to see him say things we know we cannot.
Quote Yes, but it still beats selling lady's shoes. (https://forestryforum.com/board/Smileys/alienine/cheesy.gif)
Have you ever seen what a pair of Louis Vuitton high heels sells for?! :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2:
Quote from: Resonator on May 19, 2025, 07:14:39 PMQuoteYes, but it still beats selling lady's shoes. (https://forestryforum.com/board/Smileys/alienine/cheesy.gif)
Have you ever seen what a pair of Louis Vuitton high heels sells for?! :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2:
Sorry, they clash with my eyes so I am not current on the the prices right now. smiley_thumbsdown
Yeah, sometimes you gotta do that. But selling ladies shoes in not, either now nor ever, on my list of "Things I'd like do do". ffcheesy I'd rather be sitting in a conference room arguing about colors on the bar charts, and i don't want to do that either.
This morning went fine. The one guy paid me for his 50 logs, no problem. The other guy is going to pay me over time. They could not fit about 35 logs which they may come back for. I really don't care. As far as the guy owing me, I am going to treat that as an experiment in humanism and see what happens. If he does pay me, good for him and my trust in mankind is secure. If he doesn't then I have a reason for whatever adjustments I choose to make. Either way, most of them are out of my way and I can reconfigure now. We consolidated what is left so I have the space I need. Moving on....
After they left I decided to mill another of those logs into 2x10's or as wide as I could get, which turned out to be 12"+. It was a 10'8" log about 24" diameter full length. The mil was working great, but it is manual so I had to relearn some things. Flipping that log on the first two opening cut was a bear and I nearly hurt myself, my thighs were screaming. I also pushed the blade far too long until I noticed some terrible waves. Changing the blade went a lot faster and easier than I recalled and then it cut easy again. Love those 4° blades! I got down to a rectangular cant and a couple of flitches I edged against the cant, but my legs and arms were getting kind of shot, so I took a break, then came back and finished off the cant. I only got 7 2x12's plus a 6/4 x 12, but I earned it. 2 x 12's are heavy stuff and I feel old today. I'd like to do that 3rd log tomorrow, they are getting a little smaller as I work up the tree. The high only hit 62° today, but I worked up a sweat for sure and am doing my Advil tonight.
The second half of this week looks like poor weather with cooler temps and rain on Thursday to Friday. I need to get those 2 remaining logs turned into lumber to get them out of the way as well as have lumber for whatever I want to build. Yes, I am re-thinking that bridge. I could really use a woodshed for the shop, a big one. This tree won't provide enough for that, but it's a good start. I've got a dead pine on the front lawn to knock down, I might get a few 2x4's from it, but it's only 14' on the stump, so not much wood, but the only other use is the OWB down at Bill's or camp wood for the new neighbors, whenever they show up.
Just another day in paradise and tomorrow is another one.
Not a very exciting day today at all. The high barely made 62° and it was breezy. So I dragged another log around to the mill and nearly busted a nut getting it rolled on by myself. Holy cow! Only 20" ewp but geez. Another 12 footer. By the time I got it set and a wedge under the small end I was ready to quit, my legs were shot. But I washed the log down and started milling. Rolling that log was a bear of a job and I am convinced my manual milling days are slimming down. After the first turn I had to take a break again. For some reason I had to work hard on this one and the slabs are piling up. I got it down to a 12" cant with 1 2x12 and a flitch and had to quit at that point. We have rain coming in tomorrow so I don't know if I'll be able to finish it off, if not, then the next dry day. I figure there are 6 more 2x12"s in there.
I spent a couple hours corresponding with friends and performers local and distant trying to work out some details on plans and arrangements for Grey Fox in July. There are lots of moving parts and I am trying to get plans in alignment, arranging interviews, meetings, relaxing get togethers, etc. Mostly I hook people up with each other that share interests and might be able to help each other. It's fun to watch when it comes together and sometimes it can be epic. Anyway, it's something I do that nobody notices but gives me joy.
Tomorrow is monthly food shopping day so most of the day is shot and rain anyway, but it will be another day.
Oh yeah, belated Happy Birthday Tom!
Yesterday dawned grey and cool and is still that way. Our monthly food shopping took longer than normal and it was after 2pm before I got out to the shop. as the rain started. The weather system is large and full of rain, but disorganized, so the showers are off and on, soft to medium rain.
The new clutch drum came for the 2050 so I checked the concentricity (within .002" or better on the components and installed it. The chain runs much better now and it's a safe setup. I am calling that part done. The day before I used the saw to cut some slabs and it ran for a bit but then stopped and I could not restart it. It was at the end of the day so I set it up on the bench and left it. When I changed out the clutch drum yesterday I checked the tank and it was all but empty. DUH! so taking Bob's advice, I filled the tank with Aspen Fuel hoping that might help clean it out. The saw started right up again and I zipped off about 6 slab cuts and it stalled again. Again, I could not restart it. I put it back on the bench, frustrated. I know it will start right off when I try it again this morning. For the life of me I cannot figure out what is wrong with this thing. One part of me thinks there is a carb problem I don't understand, and another part thinks it is fuel delivery getting hung up. The filter and fuel line are new, there are no kinks or folds that I can find.
It's a real conundrum for me. I thought I had this thing running fairly well and just needed to tweak the setting a little more. Now I have no idea. I may have to put up a thread about this over in chainsaws and see what others say. Bob thinks he may have another carb for this, but I hate to start over when I can't find anything wrong. I have taken this carb apart and cleaned it all finding no defective parts. It is a bear getting that thing in and out, worse than any other saw I have.
I guess I'll just keep staring at it and thinking while I try this and that. It's another new day so maybe something will change...or not.
I find that if the low speed is set a bit lean it can make saws hard to restart then you give it some choke and flood it. If this is the case try backing out the L a little bit. If a saw is warm but cooled off a bit it sometimes ends up in-between so I will put on the choke and give it one pull then take off the choke and start.
Well that sounds logical. I'll give it a try, thanks!
does it blubber a bit loke a fuel thing, or stop dead like a kill switch? heat related? I like the carb adjustment try first.
Well, been kind of quiet here lately. I am giving those saws a rest after trying the last suggestion. I can't even get the J'red to start now, but I have another 'theory' I have to look into. Maybe during tomorrows rain. Poor weather for the holiday weekend, but it broke a little on Saturday at the perfect time for the kids down the road to get married, my daughter officiated. The wedding was 'off grid' and if the fish cops found out about it they may have had a problem. Seems the couple wanted to get married down at the edge of the reservoir on a little rise at the water's edge. Pretty spot, but it's NYC property, which makes it dicey. Not very long ago, folks would get arrested if they didn't have in their possession a NYS fishing license, a NYC reservoir permit, AND fishing gear. They have loosened those requirements a little, but you still have to be careful. Everybody at the wedding walked down our road and crossed over the county road into the reservoir property. What few of them knew was that they were following the old road, long grown over that lead into the center of the village, now under water. But is some spots you can still see the tracks worn into the bedrock from the stone wagons that came down out road and brought bluestone slabs to the train station. The kids knew none of this until I explained it to them the next day at their party. They thought it was pretty cool. I did too. It's probably the only wedding that has happened that close to the center of the Village in 130 years. I only just this moment realized that. :wink_2:
Monday I mowed the lawn as it was finally dry enough, but it was tall and took a while. Yesterday I setup and began splitting wood. I have a pile of junk wood, that is green stuff that came down over winter, came from various places and other work, or culls and butt logs from the mushroom logs. A lot of nonsense wood and almost all green. But as I added to that pile all winter it's became a bit of a mess and it's slow going dealing with the small, short, twisted, stuff that is generally rejects from everything. But it's all BTU's. So yesterday I put a dent in the pile after clearing and getting it setup. I took breaks and tried to finish off a 400 page book I was working on. I didn't finish off the wood, but I did finally finish the book. Very annoying and frustrating, that book. If I have the time I might make a separate post about it here or on some other thread, but I am still too mad about it.
Today I got back on the splitter and alternated between splitting and bucking up all these short chunks and logs. Buck everything I can reach, then split all that up to clear the area, then buck some more. When I got pooped out, I'd take a break and have lunch, or run to town for errands and then do some more. I also started a new book in there somewhere. I ended the day with everything bucked up, most split and stacked, and just a little more to split in the next session. All told, I think I did about 2/3 cord since I started yesterday, so not much. But as I said, it's all PITA wood and I am using a single wedge (slow) splitter, but the setup allows me to stack as I split, which is a time/work saver.
Looks like rain all night up til midday tomorrow, so I am not sure what tomorrow's plane is, but that's another day and I'll decide then.
Not mush going on here, the cold weather was kind of a turn off/deterrent for me. Yesterday I spent some time dragging some 20" by 3' long drops off a tree the neighbor had taken down that will make fire wood for me. First time he ever offered, but just because he didn't want to pay the guy to haul it away. I turned down the pine and they still lay where they fell. I piddled around a bit and caught up on some reading and research.
Today I got a call from Bill kind of early this morning (earlier than normal anyway) and he had been fussing and fuming over a problem on his processor that is driving him nuts (short trip some days). So he decided I had better patience to take a whack at it. It came down to the flag (wobble type) limit switches that detect when the splitter ram is at each end of it's stroke. These are pretty expensive switches because they are NEMA classed sealed switches, rated for 10 amps at 600v. I knew the design of the switch just by his basic description. I have a ton of experience with them, they are on MANY CNC machines and I always found them to be rebuildable.
I had some time so I ran down, took a look and managed to get sort of a number of them. I came home and did some research. Turns out that switch costs between $189. and $310.00. Nuts. I searched and searched. We had a appointment to get the cat an ultrasound exam and some bloodwork, so that broke the day in half. We have, thus far, spent more money on this cat's care in 6 months than we have spent on my medical care in the last 10 years. Today was trued sticker shock.
Anyway, got the girl back home and I finally found a switch online for just $57.00 with free shipping and no tax. I ordered two, or I tried to. After entering Bill's CC info it said ti was processing for a LONG time then timed out. I di not get any of the verification emails and I got a bad feeling. After 40 minutes of trying I was going to call them and realized there was no phone number. I sent them an email, but I think we got hosed. I warned Bill and he mentioned he had been getting some weird alert from his card. Knowing what happened he called his CC company.
So I decided to pull the old switch out of the machine and rebuild it. I went down before dinner and it took longer than expected to get it out and opened up. Inside is solid rust, but with a lot of care I could open it and get the wires off. This will take a lot of TLC to salvage. Bill happened by with a happy hour beer while I was working and we talked it through. We decided I would buy a tear out from ebay. I had found some that look really clean so I ordered one. In the meantime I will start working on a salvage operation on the one I have here. I have cleaned and repaired dozens of these over the years and never seen one this corroded. I could barely find the slots in the screw heads.
BTW, if anyone has a couple of these around that are surplus to their needs, I could perhaps add some weight to you wallet. :wink_2: The Square D number is 9007C54J. This is the first time I have seen one of these leak. Usually they can run flawlessly while partially submerged. Frustrating day and more to come tomorrow, I'm sure.
Tom,
any 40mm limit switch with the same wobble spring head should work. its an industry standard IEC switch.
Here is an in expensive one that I have used on machines, from a reliable company.
Limit switch (https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/sensors_-z-_encoders/limit_switches/360_degree_rod_-a-_spring/aam2t93z11)
Quote from: Old Greenhorn on June 03, 2025, 07:53:25 PMYesterday I spent some time dragging some 20" by 3' long drops off a tree the neighbor had taken down that will make fire wood for me. First time he ever offered, but just because he didn't want to pay the guy to haul it away.
We had a appointment to get the cat an ultrasound exam and some bloodwork, so that broke the day in half. We have, thus far, spent more money on this cat's care in 6 months than we have spent on my medical care in the last 10 years. Today was trued sticker shock.
Watch out for the neighbor now as I suspect he figures you are in his debt for his benevolence!
As to the cat - Yes, but your wife loves the cat. ffcheesy (I hope the cat is okay now.)
Good luck on Bill's switch repair/replacement.
That neighbor has a long way to go before I owe him any debt. I cleaned up the mess left in his yard from that tree, that's it. The rest of his yard, including the pine tree is still a mess.
We have two cats M & F. The male hangs with the wife and the female hangs around me. The male is fine, but the vet says the blood tests for the female are off. So yesterday was an ultra$ound exam and more blood tests.
When the new switch comes, it will be easy and I will likely get the one machinebuilder recommended the next time around. I looked for that manufacturer but could not recall their name. I have used their stuff in repair work before. In the mean time, I will see if I can salvage the ole switch with some good cleanup work. I love a challenge. ffcheesy Bill thinks it's a waste of my time because it's too far gone, but I love a challenge and anytime I do something he thinks won't work, it can be quite satisfying. :wink_2:
Hey Tom, I have lots of challenging projects. Feel free to stop by. ffcheesy super-smiley sail_smiley move_it smiley_headscratch smiley_idea smiley_beertoast
I'll keep that in mind Doc, thanks. :wink_2:
Speaking of neighbors, we are getting some new ones in the next week or so. The younger couple who bought the house behind us about 8 years ago are selling it. They were weekends and now with a second baby on the way have been forced to make some adjustments. The house had been rented for the last 2 years to a couple from MT and CA. They said they were 'outdoor types' but we rarely saw them outside. When they decided to move the owners decided to sell and it went fairly quick. I saw them for probably the last time on Sunday as they were cleaning out what's left and I'll miss them. They tell me the new owners are younger and he works as a fly fishing guide and also at an entertainment venue, she is a massage therapist. I think they are local bred and not city people, which is nice for a change. We'll see how that goes. This will be the 3rd set of owners on that house since we've lived here.
Maybe she can massage your pains away, or at least forget them for awhile.
Enjoy the time you have with your cats Tom. I've had 2 cats pass away from old age/health problems in the last year or so. A person can get attached to them furballs, and not just when they catch their claws on your jacket.
Machinebuilder, that looks like the reverse warning beeper switch that's mounted on the dash of my Skytrac. It's below the shuttle control for the hydrostatic transmission.
Quote from: Resonator on June 04, 2025, 02:57:56 PMA person can get attached to them furballs
I've always thought I wasn't much of a cat person. A few years ago one of our kids deployed for the military and we were asked to take the cat. Funny thing was my wife loves cats but it wanted nothing to do with her. The cat always wanted me.
Had the cat for almost a year and definitely missed her when she went back. Lost our dog during that time and when we returned the cat the house sure seemed quiet. Didn't think we'd get another pet after losing our dog and giving back the cat, but we did end up getting a dog after a year or so.
Yeah, I've always had a very close relationship with our domestic animals, too close at times and get devastated when we lose them. When we lost our last dog, we said no more. My wife wanted the freedom to travel when we wanted without the dog, and I could not bear to lose another pet. Then the cats came along and that's anther long OGH story. Suffice to say my wife hated cats and we agreed before we were married that I would let go and we wouldn't have a cat. My daughter when she was little, begged for years for a kitten. But we had our 'rule'. So when we wound up with a pair of cats, at my wife's decision (and therein lies that story) my daughter (now married 5 years) was a bit furious. But we've had them 10 years now and we love them in spite of their proclivities. I had a lot of cats when I was a kid, even raised and converted a feral one once. He was weird, but a lot of fun and I learned a lot about having patience with animals. Cats always seem to die from intestinal or bladder issues and treatments get to be expensive. Right now this female is on a prescription for her thyroid condition, so pills twice a day. Al these tests though are beginning to add up.
It may sound harsh, but my wife and I both think about quality of life and wonder just how far is far enough because we know, at some point, this will be the big question. It is no different for her or for me, we are all getting there and will have the same question. We are not big believers in maintain life just because we can. We have seen too many friends and family kept alive for years while they suffer and we don't really see it as the best course for them, but it's their decision. We have known others who draw a line in the sand and decide this point is far enough, not more treatments.
So all this is what floods into my head when we face these issues. I love the cats and dogs, but it hurts so much to lose them.
We still have time to see what happens to my little Josie. I'll wait it out and see how it goes.
When we were kids we were swimming at a local creek and found a half grown feral tortoise shell cat. We caught crawfish and even a frog and threw to her and she immediately ate them so I assume she was pretty near starving. We were able to catch and pet and calm her down. Wading back across the wide creek and getting her home in the closed in car was a treat but once home she calmed down and became a regular house cat but she took to me. I used to walk around shooting blue jays and such with a .22 rifle and she'd follow and eat any I shot. She used to like to ride on my shoulders as I'd walk around. She was a bit of a nuisance when squirrel season opened and she still wanted to follow me into the woods behind our house.
Old Rainbow lived a long happy life with us.
Yeah, they are special, the two that I had were by far the best cats I've ever had. Back in '08 when my dad was in his last days with cancer, out of the blue a stray cat showed up and just moved in. Within a short time she had kittens, and that really helped to take ones mind off all that was going on in life.
Cats have a funny age system, and by those numbers the mama had to be 100 years old or more when she passed. I swear the mice somehow knew when she was gone, within days I had to put traps out where I hadn't before.
If you can catch and befriend a "feral" cat before a certain age, they will domesticate. We had a feral cat drop her litter in my shed roof a few years back. Tried taming her, but she was just a nasty hissing feral. (even with food). Eventually we trapped her and the kittens. Kittens were young enough to tame, get fixed, but we got the stray put down. So we now have 3 cats, that fight like siblings. :wacky:
The "Cat Distribution System" is a thing. If you don't have a cat, one (or more) will simply appear. I've had cats in the house as long as I can remember, but I've never actually gone looking for a cat. They just appear. :huh?
Heh heh, yea, sure. ffcheesy ffcheesy ffcheesy ffcheesy
When I was a kid there was a feral cat that dropped a litter under a stored boat in out yard. She abandoned one kitten who was starving. I laid out there under the boat for hours trying to entice it with food, day after day and eventually I would leave some food and water. It took close to 2 weeks before it would take food from my hand, anther 2 weeks before it would not garb the food and run. For a young boy, this took a lot of patience. Eventually I could touch, then pet it. AT some point I could hold it. The first time I brought the cat in the house it went batwing crazy trying to find an escape and did some damage my folks were not happy about at all. Over time 'Timmy' became my cat who would mostly live outdoors but came in the house on bitter cold days and nights. I think his mother abandoned him because he had club feet, 6 toes on each front foot. He was a cool cat, but only devoted to me. Feral cats take a lot of patience from my experience. He drew a lot of blood during the training process. ffcheesy
We got a call with test results yesterday and again today. They have found nothing definitive and have no clue. They want us to give her a B-12 vitamin and 2 months then repeat the blood tests. I think she is fine, no symptoms, no issues, and she is surly as ever.
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Wednesday I bucked and split some wood but ran out of sweat after a few hours, but I did get a bunch on the pile. Yesterday I tried to do the same, but the temp got up over 90° and I just couldn't see it. My son dropped off some nice dead ash Wednesday afternoon and today I split up a bunch of it, that is stove ready stuff. I still have some of the neighbors wood to buck and split but those are really heavy RO and pretty green. Nearly ready to buck some more. Maybe next session I will finish it off but that RO is really heavy stuff.
Tomorrow we have to go to a celebration of life affair for the neighbor we lost in that house explosion back in April. I didn't know him very well, but we do know his daughter and a lot of friends we had in common. I also know a lot of his family members and since I believe these things are for the living and not the departed, we will attend and bring some food. Funny little thing. They had assumed his cat was lost in the explosion along with his dog. Well the cat turned up on Monday or so. We ran into the cat and his Mom at the vert when we were there the other day. The kitty looks pretty good, all things considered.
We got 3/4" of rain yesterday, which made for a soggy memorial service for our departed neighbor. But it was in a park pavilion and the little kids ignored that rain and got soaked running around the Playground. Ralph would have loved it, I'm sure. We saw a lot of folks we haven't run into in a while. Ralph's house (which blew up) was just through a tree line to Jay and Molly's house and they had just returned from Greece a few day ago and were there. I had some nice conversations about local history as well some of the History they looked into about Jay's family when they were in Greece. Rather than being on tour this time, it was a personal trip to visit Jay's grandparents hometown before the Nazi's put them in concentration camps. Jay and Molly will be forming for one special gig at Grey Fox in July, so we made some preplans for their arrival. They will be finishing up a 7 day music camp at around noon that Saturday and 2 hours later be walking onto the stage at Grey fox. I don't know how they manage that at their age, but Molly told me they will be getting a driver for this one to get them to the gig on time because they will be too tired to drive themselves. But I extended the invitation for them to come relax in our campsite before and after their gig.
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While we were at the memorial service I got a text from the neighbor selling their house. They were doing a final cleanup before closing and I had offered, if they got jammed up, to store what they couldn't fit in their BMW in my shop until they could pick it up. They declined, but yesterday, the inevitable happened and they needed to take me up on the offer. I told them to stick it in the shop, it was open. But they already had the car full and couldn't fit it. When we got home they were just getting ready to pull out, so I ran up and we threw it in my truck and moved it down here. We said our goodbyes, but I will likely see them when they pick up that bed set. The closing is Wednesday I think.
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Cooler again here today, but mostly sunny-ish, so far. In a bit I am headed out to meet my SIL and Daughter to grab a load of reclaimed PT 2x8x16' lumber from a deck rebuild my Daughter's company is doing for a client. They can use the wood to rebuild their own deck on their house. I saw one photo, and it looks like a fair amount of wood, Hope we can get it in one trip. It's a long run to do several trips. At least it's decent working weather again. Only supposed to hit mid 70's today with some light rain in the afternoon.
Time to have at it.
"Cat Distribution System". Um yeah... had a full grown bobcat wander through my yard the other day. Luckily he'd didn't try and move in. ffcheesy
I have never known bobcats to settle in around people. They like to have a wide range of territory to patrol. Around here they are extremely shy.
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Well we did the lumber run and I pretty much maxed out my truck rack with the heavy wet 16' 2x8's. Quite the load I had on and I realized when I got in the cab and the rearview mirror was pointed at the road behind me rather than the lane. :wink_2: We got the rest on my SIL's truck rack, which is much lighter duty than mine. Got them up to their house and stacked and I was back home around 2pm, but I am pooped and headed right for the Advil bottle. ffcheesy
What's next? Maybe some lunch?
Not much to report in the last week, mostly splitting and bucking up the big rounds from the neighbor. Thursday was a pretty good day. I got down to the mill yard at around 8:30am and replaced the switch in the processor that I had just rebuilt. The used one I bought on ebay was messed up so I took it apart and really did a full cleanup. I also did the same on the original one, so we have a backup. They both function well.
Then I jumped on the mill Bill needed a cut list to make some rails on a small bridge job. I managed to get it all out of a single Hemlock log which surprised me more than him. While I was milling Bill swung by and he ran the processor to test the switch out. It worked well and he filled a bag in about 15 minutes. He is still trying to figure out the new disk screener and get the speed right. Anyway, I was home by noon with that job done and I split some more wood after lunch. I forget when I finished it up, but I got it all done.
I piddled on other stuff on those other days, but the weather was 'off putting' with either rain, drizzle, or just solid cloud cover. We haven't seen the sun since Thursday or so.
Yesterday we had a little barbeque at my son's new girlfriend's house and I got to meet here Dad. It was a nice day. The sun came out for 6 minutes (I timed it).
Today I took out the first tree in the swamp that needs to come out. It was a tricky fall, but I got lucky. These are getting into bigger trees now and since it's all packed into my 1 acre plot, I have little working room. Today's tree was smallish, but a hard lean the wrong way. I pulled that off. The next one is a lot bigger and over 70' tall. It might have some saleable logs. Bill was looking at all I have to take out and thought selling them might be a good idea. I am not so sure, but we'll look into it. There are some nice logs for sure, but not sure it's enough for a sale. Anyway, I am doing one tree at a time. SO I dropped this tree today and dragged it out of the (still very soft) swamp gently so as not to get stuck. Got it over by the splitter and it's all bucked up. I expect I will split and stack that before I start on the next tree and those logs will be tougher to extract given the size. Plus I have a lot more top wood to dice up on these next ones. But I may do the pine on the front lawn, long dead and it will fall soon if I don't take it. Zero value to me, just work and a ton of branches to deal with, but It's gotta come down, like it or not.
Tomorrow's another day. I'll figure it out then.
Well I am getting better I guess, I had a full sweat rolling by 9:30 this morning. I managed to wrangle the brush trailer into the swamp and get it unloaded. Trailer was heaped high with all the branches from that dead pine I took the other day. It will burn fast when I am of a mind to set it and watch it. Need to add some more first and it should knock down some of the tall grass back there too. :wink_2: the new neighbors moved in on that side yesterday so I will wait until after I meet them before I light it off. If they are city folk they might freak out. ffcheesy
As soon as I cool down a bit I will cut that broke stem out and winch it out. Might whack some other small stuff too depending on how long my sweat holds out trying to get stuff done before it gets too hot but it's already 75 and feels fairly dry. Time to get back at it I guess
I had an 'interesting' evening, or maybe 'unusual' or 'weird' or 'off beat', or 'unique' are better words. Certainly it was not expected. It was HOT today with worse coming. After the sun went down, but before it got dark it was beautiful out. Totally silent, not a breath of air moving, and the air was fairly dry. The kind of night I just had to get outside. So I was walking aro8und and scoping out my trees and figuring my plans for dropping the big dead ones when my cell phone rang. It was Bill and he asked "Whatcha doin'?" I just told him I was standing on my front lawn and enjoying a pretty evening. He said "That's perfect, I'll see you in a couple of minutes" and hung up. This is not unusual, he often stops in on his way home and we chat or share a beer or whatever. I assumed he was headed home when he called.
A few minutes later I hear somebody coming up from the end of the road and it's clearly not a passenger car, but it doesn't sound like a heavy truck either. A minute later a school buss stops in front of my house and swings out the stop signs with the flashing lights and Inga is waving me on the bus. SO I get in. ffcheesy We go down the road and stop at some friends houses and pick up more folks, none of whom know we are coming and none of whom know where we are going, but what the heck, right? ffcheesy So we drive out to the state road and got everybody ice cream. I guess we had about 10 kids and folks at the ice cream place, and especially the employees were surprised to see a school buss at 8:30 on a Saturday night, they reacted like it was unusual. :wink_2:
SO the kids enjoyed their ice creams and we headed back and dropped everybody off in reverse order. I think the next time Bill comes up the road with the bus, kids are gonna come running out to mee him.
When I got on the bus I called my wife to let her know what was going on. I said "Just wanted to let you know Bill stopped by and I am taking a ride on his bus", she asked "where are you going" and I said "no idea, Bill's driving and he just said to 'get on'". She said "Oh OK, see you later or whenever". Obviously, she was deeply concerned and could barely conceal it. ffcheesy ffcheesy ffcheesy ffcheesy
Such is life on Stone Road.
I have a friend like that.
But minus the school bus.
He will stop in, and we will go visiting. I have no idea where we are going or how long we will be gone.
I doubt he knows either. :wacky:
making a mental note, another good reason to bid on a bus....ice cream runs!
Well I did caution Bill that when word filters up and down the road, the next time he takes the bus out he may see kids running into the road to flag him down. ffcheesy
Paint a big ice cream cone on the side, drive real slow with jingly music playin' out a speaker... ffsmiley
You know I mentioned that last night but apparently one of the goals is to avoid attracting attention of the local constabulary. ffcheesy
My wife has a cousin like that. Comes by picks up one or both of us to go. We never know where. Just to go.
Always a good Idea to not attract their attention
Yesterday was a pretty good day, but with the temp in the mid 90's I was shot at the end of it. My SIL came over in the afternoon, as they needed to mill some pine to become shelves in a few months. Since I already had a 12"+ squared up cant on the mill bed it was easy to make the 7/4 x 12"x 12' boards they needed. The first board off and the last went on my stack of 2x12's and the other 5 boards went in the shed to dry and are stickered. I would have wanted them in the 'attic kiln' but I can't get boards up there that long. They only need 10' but I won't trim them until after drying to see if there are drying defects.
he neat thing was my SIL took a liking to the mill and got into it right away. I milled off the first board and then he did all the rest and we both tailed and stickered. Then we retreated to the relative cool of the shop and we talked for quite a while about log stress and reading logs and making milling decisions. I may not be an expert, but I can get him on the right track. My plan is to give him my mill as soon as he can pick a spot and flatten an area at their house. So I also went over the basics on the mill for care and feeding. It was nice to have an afternoon working together, we don't get to do that very often.
Today was unbearably hot as noted elsewhere. SO I fixed a toilet that broke at 3am and then waited most of the day for my last client to pick up the rest of his logs. First it was 3pm, then changed to 4pm, then 6, then 7:20 and he finally arrived at 7:45. He still hasn't paid me what he owes me, but I don't want the logs and am holding out hope he will make good on his promises. 'nuff sed on that.
Tomorrow is supposed to be about the same as today and frankly I can't stand weather that is so hot that a cold beer doesn't appeal to you. I didn't sleep at all well last night from the heat, maybe tonight will be better. My son wants me to fill in an empty spot on a fishing trip to the St. Lawrence river in a couple of weeks, and I know (from 30 years fishing that river in the summer) that it is always cooler up there, but I don't know if I can stand being in the sun like that all day. I am still on the fence about going, although I would like another shot at fishing up there.
Look at a Huk fishing shirt I wear a white colored one when I end up working outside in the sun long periods this time of year. I got three of them from my sons this year for my birthday. Breathe pretty well and keep the sun off of you. In other words I hope you go fishing. ffsmiley
Nebraska
Ordered one to try it out. $20 off on Amazon for the white(ish) one.
thanks for the tip.
I don't fish, but if you are on the fence about going, a bluegrass song comes to mind: "Trout don't live in ugly places" - (Milan Miller). ffsmiley fishin-smiley
1. Fishing?
2. Time off with your son?
3. Sunshine?
Okay decision made - take the trip, spend time with your son, use plenty of sunscreen, wear a hat and buy a couple of those long sleeved, dri-back fishing shirts to wear on the trip. Send pictures to us.
I really have had good luck with them. Although hydraulic oil and grease don't come out of them super well. They do help when I do hay with a bareback tractor.
Well first, thanks for the recommendations on that shirt and the endorsements. I found then for 18 bucks but 10 bucks shipping. I would rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick than knowingly buy from amazon, it's just the way I am. If I do go, I may give one a try.
As far as making the tip goes, there is a bit more to it than what you read on the surface. Let's just call it a family friction thing and leave it at that ok? I know my son is trying to include me in something he thinks I will enjoy and means the best and I do appreciate that but there are other issues at play here. So deciding for me is not quite as simple as it might appear. I am still thinking on it. Also, it makes for a tight schedule for me, I have Grey Fox immediately after. So when I get home I would have 12 hours to do a full changeover, laundry run, repacking, and loading truck and trailer to be back on the road at 7am the next morning. People are depending on me to show up on time and do what I always do for them. So it's complicated.
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Res, that's a great tune, I had never heard of it, or the artist before and really enjoyed it. Great concept and writing.
This one had always been a favorite:
Yup, that song does have a catchy "hook" to it. (See what I did there). ffcheesy
Milan is more known for his songwriting in the bluegrass world, and has had many songs recorded by Balsam Range. As well as co writing songs for Russel Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out and Terry Baucom. I'd never heard the song before until recently, when the local public radio station that does a bluegrass show on Saturday's played it.
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As far as Brad Paisley, He is a very talented guitarist and singer. I've heard that song many times over the years, good stuff. Right up there with "Mud On The Tires". ffsmiley
If I'm reading all your "Making it..." posts properly you seem to have a penchant for stacking all kinds of stuff around your trip to Grey Fox Tom. Not saying you always like to but it seems like it happens a lot!
Yeah Austin, now that you mention it, it does seem to turn out that way quite a lot more than I would like it to. It's pretty difficult to change gears from one event to another in under 24 hours. It is also difficult to prepare for two events at the same time, often with overlapping gear. Grey Fox takes a lot of prep, planning, and packing to get it right because once I am there, folks depend on me for what I provide and there is little opportunity for 'do-overs'. I'll have to have the trailer packed and loaded before the fishing trip so it is ready to roll when I get home. Then there's the food, fuel, and lots of other stuff. This year I will have campmates coming from KY, Belgium, and just down the road from me at home. So I have some coordinating to do in the week before when I am away.
I am still thinking on the whole thing.
Cooler today but hot enough for me to blow it off. I went and got a haircut since the barbershop has AC and I thought more about this fishing trip thing. My barber is one of the guys involved in this trip. He's been buddies with my son since high school and they fist locally a couple of times a week after work. There's 3 guys involved (there was 4, but one dropped out) and my son instigated it last year and made the reservation back in September finding an Air B&B with a dock, sleeps 10. The third guy in just my son's age and although from different Troops and packs have been friends since cub scouts. Some may recall I wrote of a young firefighter about a year and a half ago who was serving as a Captain on an accident scene and got thrown about 50' when he was hit by a car. We nearly lost him, it was very close. But Matt has made a 99% recovery and has been back at work for more than 6 months now. It will be good to spend some time in a boat with him. My son knows the river a bit, certainly enough to respect it, these other guys are in new water.
All I know is I have 10 days to prep, plan and pack for both trips and it's a lot to wrap my brain around and get the work done. My gear is old and picked over, but I will bring my tackle box and a couple of rods and let it all ride. What the heck.
Enjoy the fishing trip, make some good memories.
Try not to worry about Grey Fox while you're fishing, I'm sure you will be as well prepared as if you didn't go fishing.
If you cannot help it, and think of stuff, write it down or add a note to your phone. then you can have a list when you get home. Enjoy your trips.
Well I am a man of lists. I have been using nearly the same packing list, altered by year, for grey fox, for about a dozen years. I just make changes for the special events covering that particular year. Still, it's a lot of wrangling. For the fishing trip, well that's different.
It's been a number of years since I've been up there and the town has changed a lot. Places that were there are no longer and others have moved to other parts of town. Some houses are gone and others popped up. Water levels change. In short, it's not the same and I have to adjust. Laws have changed too. Now in NY to operate a vessel you need a certificate, doesn't matter what your experience is. I did my Piloting, Small boat handling, and Seamanship training when I was about 14 years old with the US Power Squadron. My Pop was a Commander and Instructor back then, so I studied from his teaching guides. But I don't have any of that paperwork. So I spent most of today taking the online course and answering the silly questions and got that done. The I renewed my fishing license. Nice to see that it only cost me 5 bucks this time because I am apparently old.
Finally I spent a mess of time looking at the online charts to see what the water levels are, where they moved navigational aids and anything else that might be important. I looked on Google maps and street view checking out the boat ramps I knew to see if they were still there and looking for others. Of course I also got sucked into checking out some old haunts to see if they were still there.
As far as real prep work goes all I did was go pick out two of my rods that I might take, my tackle box (which will be a project), and a couple of bait buckets we could use for picking up bait. I also found my little air pump that I used to oxygenate the water between the bait shop and the dock. That was seized, but some TLC and Blue Creeper had it humming again. I am finding it's more a matter of getting my head in the game again. I am not the shot caller on this one and their 'plan' has me rolling my eyes a bit. We arrive on Monday afternoon (5 hour drive if it goes well) and have to get the boat(s) in the water and around to our dock, stock the fridge, move in and set up, then have dinner. We have a guide charter at 6am on Tuesday morning. So I don't know how hectic that will be but it feels stressful. It is what it is. I just hope we have good weather and not socked in with fog, wind, cold, or rain all of which I have experienced up there.
Anyway, there is a lot to do. Tomorrow is supposed to be even cooler than today and I may go get some new line and re-spool my reels and look for some decent hooks. I have to start working on the Grey Fox stuff too.
Something tells me you might just like letting someone else lead the fishing trip. Since 1995 I have been the "planner" of many many fishing trips. In the last few years, I've had opportunity to go on trips others have put together.
It's a nice change to not be the captain, let others find bait, just pack my stuff, ride in the passenger seat and enjoy the trip in a much relaxed way.
Let the young guys figure it out and enjoy the trip. The only time I've ever said something about plans or decisions is if something dangerous or really inconvenient is about to happen OR if I'm asked. Otherwise I just fish.
Usually I just ask a question. Don't see the channel? What's the plan for lunch? Whose turn to go to the bait store? How do y'all plan to do supper?
Oh how fun is to watch other' brains work.
Oh absolutely Ted! One of the first things that occurred to me for sure. But I also want to see them have a good time with all the money they are spending. Some of their 'decisions' I can easily guess will lead them into hassles during the trip. There are 4 of us and I don't think two boats are needed, but that seems to be their plan. Also, not throwing new bearings on the trailer which has never done highway driving seems to me to be 'questionable'. But it's their choice.
Really It's a pretty short trip, just 5 days, so I don't think they need as much stuff as they are bringing, it's more to pack/unpack/setup, etc. But what do I know? All I asked is "Does this place have a coffee pot and do I need to bring bedding?" After that, I don't care. But these guys want to catch fish and develop their own stories about big fish, long fights, and all that goes along with it. I don't blame them and would like to see that happen. But after fishing all those years up there I know that every trip is different and some can be pretty washed out by weather like fog or wind or severe rain storms. Year over year water conditions can really kill an entire season too. Yeah, it's just a river, but it can be very big water in a lot of ways and there are many hazards for those who haven't thought it through.
But just being "The Old Guy' or "Pete's Dad" is not a bad place to be. I can say things like "you fellas did look at the soundings in that area, right?" and it will be enough. My son is the only one who has fished it, and it is likely the area that really got him hooked on fishing for life, but he was a lot younger back then and the challenges and safety issues were transparent to him, mostly. This is an area where you had dang well better know navigational markers, how to read a chart, and the commercial shipping rules of the road, not to mention all the special fishing regulations they have there.
But I spent the day getting that stupid safety permit so that I could drive their boat while they fished. I'd rather do that than catch 'em myself, it's more fun. I am going to stick with my old school gear (which would make
@YellowHammer throw up if he saw it) with my paper chart, and try some of the 'new tech' ideas they think they know will work. It's all about technology now you know? ffcheesy They have an AP for that! :wink_2: Except for my son, the other guys only know River fishing as being like the Hudson which is a few miles from here. But the difference is night and day. The Hudson is a relatively flat boring river. It's biggest challenges are currents south of us and for commercial traffic and sail vessels, that it hazard enough. But it doesn't have waters depths that go from 70' to 1' over a distance 100', and it certainly doesn't have them EVERYWHERE like the St. Lawrence does. So I am really looking forward to them taking in the differences and making their own adjustments to conditions.
Last night I spent some time listening to the radio traffic on the Seaway (they do have a AP for that) and it put me back in that frame of mind and the pace of the commercial river traffic and got me in the mood a little. It's one of the most difficult waterways to navigate in the world for those huge cargo ships and especially those long lakers coming through. The Seaway Pilots make pretty good coin going back and forth, but it's a tough job and interesting to see how they do it by speed and a clock. In some spots on the main channel they only clear the bottom by a few feet and if they are moving too fast they can create a 'bottom suction effect' which will suck the ship down and ground them. Max seaway draft this season is, I think, 26'6" so that tells me the mean water level is a tad lower than 'normal', but we will see when we get there.
Guess I'd better start getting myself organized.
Sometimes the old guy just has to be quiet and lead by example.
I crossed over into Canada several years ago at Thousand Islands. I remember thinking at the time that I would love to go fishing there. I guess that's the same river that you'll be fishing. Should be an adventure.
Ted, I am going to try and enjoy doing that very thing. It's gratifying to know that these guys want me to join in with them when they could just go and have a good time for themselves. For some reason I have still not figured out, when both our kids were younger, and apparently now also, their friends told them that I was the 'cool Dad'. I will never know why and I don't really think it applies, but I'll take it.
Bill yes, that's the place. As you go north on the bridge, just look to your left and we fished the area just slightly upstream (about 5 miles) of the bridge. Over the years we fished around all those islands up there. We often took a half day out of our week and walked around Alexandria bay right where you got on the bridge. It's a tourist town, but what the heck. My wife and I just enjoyed the heck out of all the towns up and down the river and we tried to do something different every year, between fishing runs. ffcheesy In 20 or 25 years, we did a lot of stuff so I feel like I kind of know the area.