Did You know - outdoor edition

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know old timers in Norway carved what looked like half an hourglass in the footers of their buildings so the mice and rats could not climb up them? Imagine taking a 16" Diameter log then sawing a 4" deep cut all around it then cutting the wood away in an hourglass shape from the bottom up leaving the flat, flange-like area. Mice and rats run up the post but they fall off when they try to climb the upside down spot (|< - imagine this shape was rotated 90* to the right).

   Those old Noggies were pretty sharp using efficient and environmentally friendly pest control (When they weren't out on Viking raids and such :D).

[Don P]

 

 

This one has a lot going on. The posts are sitting on stone piers. The eggcrate lower skirt braces the posts. The tapered post top tucks under the overhanging sill edge to keep critters out of the stabbur. Notice the gap at the stairs as well.

[HemlockKing]

I'm having a deja vu, I have seen that picture before and believe Howard has shared that did you know before lol  

[Magicman]

The stair gap won't do it.  Jeff and I watched a mouse climb stairs with 7" risers faster than any of us could.  It simply hopped from tread to tread.

[HemlockKing]

Deer mouse can jump too 

[WV Sawmiller]

HK,

   I confess I was having a senior moment and apparently made a duplicate post (although with more detail) of a topic covered previously. I will do that periodically to see if you guys were actually paying attention. :D

   Okay - maybe this is a new topic.

    Did you know the sap of palm trees in Africa is fermented and drunk as Palm wine? The trees may be tapped similar to tapping them for maple syrup, pine sap for making turpentine, or rubber collection. The sap is collected in containers and consolidated with the sap of other palm trees. Sap may be collected for week or even months in this fashion. Also when palm trees are cut down a container is sometimes placed under the butt of the tree and the sap drains into it. 

[Don P]

I couldn't remember from when but knew I had the pic in my gallery, and wasn't about to pass up an opportunity, I really like that building ;D. I was thinking the same thing on their mouse gap at the stairs and then wondered. Do they have coons and squirrels and possums and weasels and ... oh my, in the Scandinavian countries?

[KEC]

I once was at a house where the homeowner said some kind of animal was in the attic. There was a set of mouse tracks in the snow that went up on the entryway by the front door. No snow on the entryway so I extropolated and guessed that it went up an inside corner, across a wall and up around the soffit to the roof. Sure enough, the tracks resumed up on the roof in the snow and went up to a crack into another soffit. How that mouse got up around the first soffit AND around a smooth rain gutter to the roof I'll never know. Never underestimate their climbing ability.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know palm oil is made from the nut of a palm tree? The oil from the nut is reddish orange in color but the kernel in the middle yields a black oil which is often used for medicinal purposes.

  We watched a family making palm oil in Cameroon. The seed heads are about half the size of a five gallon bucket and typically bi-colored. The owners cut the stalk with the seed head off the tree then knocked the nuts off with the back side of a machete on to a tarp. The nut were typically about 3/4" in diameter and about 2" long. The nuts were picked up and dumped into a 55 gallon metal drum about half filled with water and a fire was built at the base of the barrel. The nuts were boiled until soft then removed and dumped into the hopper of a big, usually 2 man, press. The press men had a 3" diameter pole or pipe fitted through an eye on the top of a big screw and as they walked in circles the nuts were squeezed dry.  The oil ran out a drain hole at the bottom of the press.

  The pressed dry remains were removed and the seeds could be picked out if they wanted to salvage the seeds and further process them in a similar but more labor intensive process. The dried husks are generally used to burn to make the next batch of oil so it is pretty self-sustaining.

   If you check you will see palm oil is listed as an ingredient in every chocolate bar. In Cameroon it was sold in the local market and used just like we would use corn, vegetable or peanut oil. In the market a lady will have a big container of palm oil and will pour it up into used 1 to 1.5 liter plastic water bottles.

  My maid used to moonlight selling some of the worlds best little fried meat pies. I got her to make and freeze me a bunch on cookie sheets that were not cooked and I'd take them out as needed and bake or throw a couple in my deep fryer when I wanted a snack. They were very good but in all honesty the ones she cooked in the artery clogging, heart stopping local palm oil were actually much better tasting than the ones I cooked in vegetable oil. digin1

[WV Sawmiller]

   Especially for you flatland touristers, did you know the easiest and safest way to walk up a steep hill is to walk up at an angle and sort of zig zag back and forth to keep the angle less than going straight up. Also it keeps more of your foot in parallel contact with the ground to provide more traction should you start to slide which is real common in snow or on thick leaves. Using a walking staff or stick makes for much better stability too where possible. If I have a free hand I often find a handy limb or such to use. Walking downhill is much more dangerous than going uphill as if you slip you are likely to get over-balanced and take a tumble or gain momentum and keep going till you hit something, get your feet angled to brake your slide or you can grab a small tree or limb. 

   If you will notice the game trails almost never go straight up and down a slope. The animals walk along the slope on the side of the hill at a gradual angle up or down. Where possible use them to save energy and walk safely.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the really long ears on certain hound breeds such as bloodhounds, coon hound, bassets, etc. help them funnel the smell of their prey up to their noses? This is especially important on old/colder trails. 

   I remember reading about an experiment where the researchers trimmed or pinned back the ears on such long eared hounds and they discovered the dogs lost their ability to follow a cold trail which they had previously been able to easily do.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know it must be mating season for squirrels in WV? I've been in the woods lately trying to get another deer and I am seeing lots of pairs of squirrels chasing each other all over the place. They don't look to be territorial disputes either. I assume that would put the baby squirrels being born in late February or early March.

  I was in one of my shooting houses this morning on an antlerless youth/senior hunt and I kept hearing scratching on the walkway to my shooting house. Eventually I heard scratching and finally a nose and face stuck under the door where they have chewed a couple inches off the bottom for better access. I waved at it to chase it back then a minute or so later it came back and a big fuzzy fat fox squirrel climbed right in and sat there about 3' from me till I shooed him away. About an hour later a gray/cat squirrel  as we call them, stuck his head in too.

  With my previous traumatic experiences with chipmunks in my shooting houses I certainly don't want a much larger and more aggressive cousin sharing the space with me. :

[HemlockKing]

Gray squirrels are much more peaceful I find. Nothing like the bug eyed wirey red squirrel that is furiously annoying! They certainly have some type of small mammal syndrome where they ought a act tough often lol they simply do not care , I have some come right up in front of me while actively bucking wood with the saw, like 10 ft away 

[Ljohnsaw]

With my previous traumatic experiences with chipmunks in my shooting houses I certainly don't want a much larger and more aggressive cousin sharing the space with me.

I think you need to keep a sling shot with you.  Ping them on the head and they might get the message!

[WV Sawmiller]

  I had one there with me this morning and gave serious thought to using it this morning. Actually, I like having the squirrels in the area as an early warning system when a deer comes into the area. 

[beenthere]

 I had one there with me this morning and gave serious thought to using it this morning. Actually, I like having the squirrels in the area as an early warning system when a deer comes into the area.

Fifty eight years of bow and gun hunting white tail deer in ground or tree stands, and don't recall a single time that the surrounding squirrels (fox, gray, red) were ever a warning to deer moving near the stand. 
But that was WI, not WV. Our squirrels must not have any fear of deer.  ;D :D

[WV Sawmiller]

  Many times I have been able to follow a deer walking for a half a mile in the woods here in WV just by listening to the squirrels and chipmunks. When a deer walks into a squirrels area he will start scolding until it leaves the area. When the deer leaves one squirrels area he moves to the next squirrel or chipmunks area and it starts scolding until it moves to the next rodents home area. One squirrel on chipmunk just hands him off to the next one in like I don't think it is fear of the deer. I think it is just boredom and they find it entertaining. I have seen them do the same thing with predators like foxes or bobcats, hawks and owls, people and once even a possum.

 I am amazed a Wisconsin squirrel would not do the same thing as I have seen the same thing in many states. Maybe it's a southern thing. :D

 I have even seen crows give a warning when a deer walks by and am sure many other animals in the woods do the same thing.

 BTW - at 7:11 a.m. I heard a turkey gobble on the roost. They do not normally do that this time of year and it was memorable in the rarity.

EDIT: I was thinking more about the squirrels giving the alarm while I was waiting on Donner or Blitzen and I have about concluded the reasons the squirrels and chipmunks fuss at the deer as they see them as competition for the same food source as both eat the same acorns, beech nuts, grapes, etc. I think we have addressed before about others here having similar experiences with squirrels and such giving notice when deer or such come in the area.

[tmarch]

 Many times I have been able to follow a deer walking for a half a mile in the woods here in WV just by listening to the squirrels and chipmunks. When a deer walks into a squirrels area he will start scolding until it leaves the area. When the deer leaves one squirrels area he moves to the next squirrel or chipmunks area and it starts scolding until it moves to the next rodents home area. One squirrel on chipmunk just hands him off to the next one in like I don't think it is fear of the deer. I think it is just boredom and they find it entertaining. I have seen them do the same thing with predators like foxes or bobcats, hawks and owls, people and once even a possum.

I am amazed a Wisconsin squirrel would not do the same thing as I have seen the same thing in many states. Maybe it's a southern thing. :D

I have even seen crows give a warning when a deer walks by and am sure many other animals in the woods do the same thing.

BTW - at 7:11 a.m. I heard a turkey gobble on the roost. They do not normally do that this time of year and it was memorable in the rarity.

EDIT: I was thinking more about the squirrels giving the alarm while I was waiting on Donner or Blitzen and I have about concluded the reasons the squirrels and chipmunks fuss at the deer as they see them as competition for the same food source as both eat the same acorns, beech nuts, grapes, etc. I think we have addressed before about others here having similar experiences with squirrels and such giving notice when deer or such come in the area.

Our turkeys have been gobbling and fighting for 3 months like it's spring.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I figured it was a pretty warm morning yesterday was the reason that one gobbled. He only gobbled once that I heard and I was in the same place this morning and did not hear him again. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know they grow tea in Africa? I did not know it till I worked a project in Cameroon and while visiting the surrounding area I found a fairly large, active tea plantation. The people picking the tea wore a special backpack style basket with shoulder and head straps. The tea grew on bushes that were about waist high at the time I saw them and the workers picked only the new, tender leaves. They picked with both hands and the leaves over each shoulder without looking till the basket was full then they would empty it and start over. 

   I understand there used to be tea plantations around Charleston SC when this country was first settled.

[Magicman]

Did you know they grow tea in Africa?

Well, did you know that they grow tea in Mississippi?  Yup, here in the Brookhaven area close to where we live.  I'll try to remember to take a few pictures the next time I pass the tea farm.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I did not know they grew tea in Mississippi. Is it a commercial enterprise or more of a hobby farm? More details will be most welcome, entertaining and I suspect, educational. ;)

[Magicman]

It is a commercial venture that has been in business for ~10 years.  Great Mississippi Tea Co.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Interesting concept. I hope it works out. I can't help but wonder how they can even be marginally competitive in an industry that is so labor intensive. When I come to Brookhaven MS I will include this on my must see list of places to go. ;)

    I wonder if tea plants even becomes big enough to saw into lumber? :D

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know they grow rice in Africa? I did not know it till I got there to Cameroon. I found they even grew it up on the sides of the mountains which really surprised me as I'd have thought it was far too dry to grow it up there. Lake Chad is a big man-made lake on the border with Cameroon and Chad and semi-desert at best but they had set up irrigation systems from the lake to flood the rice paddys and grew a lot of rice there. They would put the rice on tarps or such on roof tops or on the edges of the dusty roads to dry and they would pound it in their log mortars and pestles to knock the husks off. My last assignment was in Guinea and rice was widely grown there.


A field of rice growing in Guinea in West Africa.


Grain drying in a village in Guinea in West Africa

Women in Guinea - I don't know if they were going to or from the market or their fields.