geesze i want some stories here guys!!!!!! lol ahh sorry just thought id try for some fun! :D
Well, I got to the Mill at 5:30 and hit a 20 penny nail by 8:00 By golly how much more excitment can ya stand? 8)
Talk about excitement,
I was bringing the cows in this evening for our nightly session. They were coming down a steep hill and I was crossing through the middle of the herd to go up after some stragglers. The cow above me was in heat and the bull appeared out of nowhere and tried to mount her on that hillside. She started sliding down the hill with him on top. Only by inches did I miss being involved in a 'love triangle' :o ::)
well we havent worked this week but i sympathize with you because about every 40 ft we find a tree that has climbing spikes up it and they were def gorgeous veneer hard maple..ya gotta laugh tho the people we are logging on are truley terrific people to work for! maybe im a softie but i guess youd just have to be here and know them so a few veneers is no problem. its life and logging what are ya gonna do but chuckle?
:Doh boy i asked for it didnt i??? lol
conversing with our welder today about how humid it was and ended up rushing to turn all the power off due to a drenching. 350mm for the year then 10mm in 5 minutes.
Half the factory opens up to the yard as the weather here is pleasant all year.
The 50mm flood we had at least cleaned the floor for us. ;D
My wife went down to a 100 yr old cabin that we have on our property that we just use to store things in right now, to get some winter clothes out (it is starting to get chilly at night here). She opens a box up and there on top of the stack of clothes is a snake. Of course she comes running out of there high-stepping it and screaming with her hands covering her face. Guess who had to go back in there to get it out? :D Well, I went in there and closed the box back up and carried it out, while I could hear that thing slithering around in there. I dumped the box out on the ground and out from under the clothes came this snake (I don't know what kind, I'm not a snake expert nor care to be) that was as big around as my wife's arm and after I killed it and held it up, was almost as long as I am tall (6 ft.). :o
There is my story for the day, Jeff
P.S. It at least shook my wife up a bit!
QuoteThere is my story for the day, Jeff
I think I'll stick to my brand of excitement thank you very much.
Yesterday I was heading down a slope in the crawler with a load of scrap limestone for a stream crossing when almost to the bottom, on the steepest part of the slope, I hear a bang and the left tread proceeded down slope ahead of me :o :o
DanG, DanG, DanG busted another old pin >:(
Of course it was just about quitin time and the sun was setting fast. Hoofed it back to the house and got the tractor which has a winch on the front. I have had way too much practice with this sort of thing. Had the track back on and the crawler back to the workshop before dark 8)
I guess today's agenda has changed to practicing my welding skills again ::)
Just can't spare the coin for replacement tracks. :-/
:D TN_man When I still lived in Texas I found my father-in-law half unconscious in the tack room, when I questioned him he said that he had reached up on the shelf to grab a curry comb and instead grabbed a coiled snake. Upon further inspection I found a big bull snake behind some old harnesses. Bull snakes are harmless, that is until you think their rattlers and try to get away at a high rate of speed and run smack into the door jam on the tack room! In that case they're a lot more dangerous than diamond backs. ;D
:o ok im content with being bored snakes i can DEFINATELY do without omg id die!!! but thanks for the excitement lol!
There's only 2 kinds of snakes...them that'll hurt ya, and them that'll make ya hurt yerself! :D :D
TN_man, the same sort of thing happened to my ex-wife before she became the ex. ;D I was working the evening shift, and got home about 1am. Of course, she was already snoring away, so I quietly dropped my clothes in the corner and went to bed. Next morning I was out working on something when I heard her screaming. She came flying out the door making the wildest gestures I've ever seen. She had picked up my yesterday clothes and a 30" oak snake fell out of my shirt! We weren't getting along all that well, at the time, and she just KNEW I had planted the snake there to try to scare her to death. That didn't seem like such a bad idea, about then, but I didn't think of it till it happened by accident. :D :D
I learned, several years later, that the snake was a pet that my daughter was secretly keeping for a friend who was out of town on vacation. The snake had been missing for several days, and all sorts of sneaky household searches had been taking place. :D :D :D :D
I took the snake out and tossed him into the woods rather than killing him. I had come to think of him as a friend. ;D
My missus isn't too keen on snakes either, mind you was born & raised in South Africa where you have good reason to be afraid of them.
My Jack Russell has a real hate on for them, I guess he figures killing rodents is his job and he doesn't want the competition. The little lady likes that, she's less impressed when he brings her a 'trophy' to show her what a good hunter he is. :D
Jeff, I think you should have a special section for snake stories. Then you can avoid it!
When I was a kid, we would visit Missouri and I would go snake hunting. My mom would never empty my suitcase when we came back, I would always have a couple of snakes in there, and I didn't keep anything less than 4 feet long!
Black snakes were always mean, but bull snakes were tame almost the minute you touched them.
Also as a kid I had a 3 foot iguana that I caught loose in the lawn, in Rochester NY! I asked around, but no one would admit to it being their pet.
Recently we were eating at a restaurant and there iguanas everywhere, in the river, in the restaurant - and some of them were about 6 feet long. Very neat.
Iguanas are supposed to be a major carrier of salmonella. If the food don't kill ya, the decorations will. :(
I'd never set foot in that particular excuse for a restaurant again, if I were you. I don't like ANY restaurant with live animals in it, unless they're intentionally part of the menu - lobster tanks come to mind.
Well, the iguanas were eating at the other end of the salad bar, so it should be okay. ::)
Not sure how to exclude them, no windows, no doors, not much there except post and roof.
Besides, we weren't kissing them! ;D Besides, they are not pets, they are wild, they just happen to be in the area.
I will admit, you get a little unconcerned about things like that when you live in a third world country. Now, if I saw the iguana cooking the gallo pinto, well, that would be another story - and then again, maybe not.
By the way, life expectancy in Costa Rica is higher than in USA.
...."life expectancy is higher in Costa Rica....."
Is that for Iguanas or people? :D
Not for the iquanas, they taste like chicken...
Given I live only about 40 kilometers from an active volcano, you now know how sane I am. :D
Actually, Arenal is very calm, it really erupted about 30+ years ago, but every since then it has been just a little bit everyday, with about 2 bigger eruptions inbetween.
According to the volcanologist, Arenal is quite safe, unless of course you try to climb the slopes, red hot rocks the size of a car would be very bad for you health.
For those who are curious, here are some pictures - see Jeff, I promised news reports. Jeff, if you come down, I will pay for you to get into the hot springs - no iguanas or snakes in there.
http://www.fincaleola.com/arenal_volcano.htm
From Fred,
Your crazy Costa Rican Reporter
Welded on a broadcast spreader at work and washed one of the tractors. Picked a wagon load of punkins when I got home. No snakes ;)
Parkfield, CA generally has at least one earthquake a week. Not many of them ever get up to the 6.0 that everyone was talking about this week. I'll bet that got the cafe cat's attention. When he sits up from his nap, the locals all pay attention to the amount of giggle in their coffee cups. ;)
Are ya shook up enough yet?
With the help of my 70 year old Great Uncle, I poured 10 yards of concrete in the basement. At least he knew what he was doing. ::)
I'm thinking I have an extra charge coming on the bill though, it took a "bit" longer to pour then planned. :-/
Fred,
I didn't realize until I read your response that you were in Costa Rica. I guess you can't do much about the wild iguanas down there, and I'm sure there are a lot more dangerous things to be worried about.
I don't think local health departments here in the States would allow for any restaurant to have iguanas in the place, pets or not.
Jon
:D Yeah, I didn't think so. It's amazing what kind of loons Jeff will let on this site, eh?
I am not sure we even have a local heath department! :D
Of course, since most everything is bought fresh, there isn't a big problem. We also are raising our own cattle, tilipia, chickens, pigs, etc. Of course oranges are free, and so are avocados when you have 164 acres of farm / plantation.
Lots of strange fruits too, many of them really nice. Pineapple is almost sinfully cheap, the last one I bought (white variety) was 75 cents. Mangos go for about 1 dollar for 5 or 6. Sugarbaby style watermelons are a buck.
We just bought about 6 large bags of fruits and vegetables, I think the total cost was under 30 dollars. 8)
Of course the best thing is that tomatoes are in season all year!
A person I have been wanting to meet dropped by this week. He has a farm up around one of the national parks. He says he has seen Jaguar tracks only 20 minutes way from his house before. I want to see the tracks, I don't want to see the cat! :(
They say though a Tapir is more dangerous - don't want to see one of them either, except from up in a tree. ;D
On one of my trips to CR, we topped a hill and there were about a dozen Tico's chasing a Green Lizard (Iguana)? down the street, with Machetes. Supposed to be the best tasting :D We watched for 10 minutes and the Lizard won ;) :D :D :D
I heard that the wild pigs in CR are the worst thing to worry about. They are MEEEEN. ;D ;D ;D
Never saw a snake outside a cage, yet.
One of our resident Bobcats came through the yard 2 days ago. We live in a very populated area, but, the cats have been here since we moved here in '92. Don't have much use for domestic cats, but, them Bob's is neat. ;D ;D
Fred, get the Peterson ordered yet ??? ;D ;D ;D
Back to snake stories.......When I was a kid, we still used "stick barns" to cure tobacco. One day we were filling one of the barns on my Dad's farm. It takes two men up in the barn to hang the tobacco. I was on the first tier pole and one of our employees, Griffin, was above me hanging the top of the barn. He went to climb up to hang the top tier when he laid his hand on a large black snake stretched out down the length of the pole. Now Griffin and snakes didn't make a good match to start with. The fact that he was 20 feet off the ground and in partial darkness didn't help....but I don't think I would have jumped. He landed on one of the burner covers and mashed it flat. Physically he was fine. Needless to say, I had to recruit another helper to finish hanging that barn.
Wudman
Nope, not yet, but boy do I want to. However, all available cash has been going to fixing up the casita - new roof, new kitchen, new bathroom ( never was one before) new floor, new side walls, new wiring.
Cash flow has taken a turn for the worse. :(
Oh well, at least it wasn't terribly expensive, I figure somewhere around 5 to 7 thousand dollars to rebuild the house. I think yours is going to be a tad more Harold.
:D :D :D
Your all gonna think I flu the chicken coop here but I been seeing spruce grouse in my nightmares. Out there where I been working this week they flutter and flit and fart all around me. :D Dang dumb bird brains. I swear someone musta let the things loose. Oh well, they make good company and there dumb behaviour just makes me laugh. ;) :D :D
Yep, once I was portaging my canoe on a long portage in the Wilderness Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota when a stud grouse went strutting across the path, with his tail feathers fanned out, about 20 feet in front of me. I stopped to watch and he climbed on a rotten log and started drumming. It was fun to watch 'cept the canoe started getting heavy, so I went on and left him calling for a female. ;D
Hey Charlie
There are plenty of Ruffed Grouse in the BWCA and many Spruce Grouce as well. Ilive just off the Gunflint Trail and spend about thirty to forty days a year in the boundry waters fishing for Walleye and Smallys all summer and big Lakers through the ice!
Depending on who you're talking to the boundry waters stands for Best Wood Cutting Around ;D
A number of years back a couple I know moved to a small cabin and as is normal the inlaws came to see what kind of Hell he had dragged their little girl into .
Little sister had just become engaged to Mr Right and brought him along. Turns out Mr. Right was of the urban persuasion and liked the finer things in life- like room service. It was decided that with the meager accomidations that the guys would sleep in an old hunting camp on the property located a hundred yards from the main house.
Mr Right apparently exhausted from the social shock of no theater and having to use an outhouse, dons his jammies and slippers and robe, takes a flashlight and heads for his choice of camp beds. A matter of minutes and he's back without his robe or slippers or all of his PJ's and babbling and stuttering and white as a ghost. Seems like his nice warm body was real inviting to the mama snake and her litter of younguns that had made the mattress home first.
Two old boys were out turkey hunting in the hill country of Texas. One of the guys picked out his favorite live oak and sat down...on top of a copper head. Well that ol' copperhead didn't enjoy ol' Jeeter sittin on his head so hit bit him on th epart that was being most offensive to the rattler.
Jeeter jumped up and ran over to his life long buddy Bubba and told him what had happened and Bubba said "wait right here I'll find help" he then ran off to the ranch and called 911. Once he got the operator he asked what he should do. The operator connected him with a doc who said "You gotta go in and suck that poison out because your too far from an emergency room so you gotta do it yourself."
So Bubba goes back to where he left Jeeter and when he arrives Jeeter asks "So what didja find out?"
Bubba shook his head and said "Sorry Jeeter, but yor gonna die"
Great posts.. You have really made my day. I was working at a park maintenance camp in my younger days and our problem was black bears. One morning one of my roomies stepped out of the trailer and was eyeball to eyeball with a cub on the step. Momma was scoping out the garbage can chained to the stoop. Bill almost stepped on her nose and came in at mach2.3 We waited a bit and I ventured out. I met the cub around the corner of the next trailer with momma behind me. Carl Lewis had nothing on me!
Bill had the newbie, a kid from Quebec, terrified with stories about what bears liked to do with cute young boys. Took two of the biggest foremen we had to get Jacques out of that trailer for work.
My Granpa had a tobacco farm in the mountains of North Carolina. No electric, running water, or indoor plumbing. My older sister and I were visiting when we were just kids, and she pushed me into the water in the springhouse. It was so cold that I couldn't breathe for a few minutes. To even the score, I got some of that great gray clay from the stream and fashioned a very real looking snake on the outhouse seat, and waited. She went in and about thirty seconds later broke through the door, naked from the waist down and screamed the whole way down the hill. :D She was a big tall gangly thing and was quite a sight! That was one of the most gratifying moments of my life. :D
Roxie, nothing is quite as satisfying as getting back at your sister, is there 8)
When we were kids, my sister was out in the yard barefoot and for some reason wanted to go out to the barn but didn't want to go into the house and put her shoes on. She was squaking and whining for me to give her a piggy back ride and I kept insisting, "No." Well, she was making so much my noise my parents got tired of listening to her and told me to, "Just carry her to the barn already."
I wasn't happy about having to carry her to the barn. So once we get there, I spin around and let her jump off my back. She normally runs faster than me, but not that day. Especially when she has fresh warm squishy cow manure between her toes. :D
My Granddaddy who only lived to be 102 years old grew "shade tobacco" near the Ga-Fl border. The headqaurters was in Amsterdam, Ga. That's just south of Bainbridge in Decatur Co.
Anyway he always like to tell this story about somebody seeing-
"Something jump over the raod with a mule in its mouth."
I always thought that was pretty funny but I bet if you were to run accross such a thing you might get "shaken." ;D
People have been sighting these black panthers up this way. Only thing is they are a South American cat and in the jungle. Distance and perfective can fool some people into thinking a fisher (a member of the weasel family-the size of a medium size dog), leaping across the road, is this tropical cat. There is evidence that the eastern cougar did roam this area, but the last known and recorded specimen was traped along the Mirimachin in the 1930's. Tracks in the spring snow, when the sun becomes more powerful can grow in size as the sun melts the snow around the print. Some people see these enlarged tracks and thin its cougars. Also, can get the same effect with heavy rain on frsh prints. With all the network of roads everywhere in our forest and the hunters out there, we'de see one on someone's pick up by now. Animals aren't that lucky. ;)