Making it through another year '21-'23

[trimguy]

Glad nobody was hurt. Maybe it'll give you a jump on next year's firewood, so you won't be behind then .😂 Whatever you do , keep your wits about you and stay safe.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, there are a lot of homes with lasting damage around here mostly because the owners did not have any basic plan in place to mitigate the issues and slow it down. They lack an understanding of what needs to be done in such situations to stretch out the time you have before damage begins to occur. My son was trying to work on one house with no power or heat, the owner just left. He found 2 windows open on the house. Another place, the back door was not fully closed. Nothing drained and their woodpiles were just face cords for the weekend renters and such. Another house they had closed all the doors to the heated outside porch, separating it from the woodstove heated main living area and freezing all the heating pipes out there. Still trying to thaw those 2 days after the power came back on. I would feel sorry for them, but these are the same folks who 'don't want to spend the money' to order firewood, keep their big gensets serviced, and fix air leaks in windows, door, or walls and attics. So the reality is, from my view, that they chose their fate. They have the money and resources to prevent or fix these issues while folks who lack those resources do everything they can with what they have and somehow get through it in relatively good shape. Some say they are 'just luckier' but I know they earned it by working hard at it.

 Anyway, yeah, since it was another lost day yesterday I have been thinking how to handle the wood in the interim. I think I will just try to get the brush piled off to the side as best I can, take  what mushroom logs I can and get them out and on the sale pile, and buck the rest into firewood and leave it lay in the general area. It's much easier to run around with the Mule and collect it when the ground is firm and the snow is gone, or mostly. Very little melting yesterday, wires and trees are still ice covered, no sun to speak of, so it is still rough going. Only hit 33 yesterday, went to 31 overnight and refroze what melted, so I hear the Emergency services and DOT trucks are busy this morning sanding and salting bad spots and higher passes. Schools should open today after a 2 hour delay. We were supposed to get mostly sun today, but I haven't seen it yet. 

 I am slowly starting to accept that if it is too tough to break this stuff out of the ice, I should just let it go for a few more days or weeks until that is no longer an issue. Trudging around in this frozen snow just takes a lot out of a person. But I have 60 logs due for pickup in 7 days and I am not sure if I can pull that off in these conditions. I have a little over 10 on the trailer at this point. My energy levels are still on the low side but I have been getting good sleep and not staying up late (what's the point?).

 One day at a time.
 

[WV Sawmiller]

  Can you salvage any of the tops and limbs and such for mushroom logs?

[Old Greenhorn]

That's part of the plan. It's impossible to judge, given the amount of fractured wood that I can't see, but maybe I can hope to have 25 or 30 logs on the trailer out of what I have on the ground.

 I just did my morning walkabout and 5 days after the storm we still have most of the ice up in the trees. New (smaller) branches coming down all the time and ice pieces falling at a constant rate like rain. I got beaned twice going out for the mail with little stuff. I know the drill, this isn't my first rodeo with ice storms, I just have to wait, but patience is not one of my better virtues. The clock is ticking on my delivery.

 So I am enjoying watching the 20K men's biathlon today as a distraction. My copy of the Smithsonian Mushroom book arrived today, so I can do some more studying today too between staring at the dang thermometer. (It's 33.6 now.)

[WV Sawmiller]

   Does a mushroom log have to be completely solid or can you get by with a partial crack? It would seem a small crack partway through would not matter as long the log would hold together.

   Someone earlier posted about how the wood can be splintered when sawed after storms like that. I sawed a big WO fork that fell in Superstorm Sandy and I only got about 100 bf of usable lumber out of an 8' long, 42" diameter log. I had to chainsaw the log in two to fit the mill. It definitely was not worth the effort.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well it's certainly not like lumber grading, there is more latitude and judgement involved. They don't need to be perfect clean straight wood. But the bark should be intact without open wounds or very small ones. End splits of an inch or three might be OK. Brach cuts and things of that sort can be 'repaired' by waxing over. The goal is to prevent unwanted spores and bacteria getting a foothold in the log before the desired ones get going and can dominate.
 Also, EVERY single buyer is different in what they will accept. I see the experienced farm growers who know exactly what they want and what they will take, and the newbies who admit they really have no clue, so I throw in some free education as I can. I always have extras so they can discard ones they may not like and substitute what they see as better logs. Every buyer seems surprised and pleased by this and I get the clear feeling it makes them enjoy buying from me because they can 'adjust' the log types as they pick them up. Kind of like looking for steaks with the 'best' marbling or whatever it is you prefer.

 Ironically, my regular monthly buyer is the least picky and loves everything I give him. He often takes logs I would discard as firewood. But he has been growing a long time and knows he can get mushrooms out of a lot of stuff others can't. He also knows many of his workshop clients prefer to take smaller logs home that they can fit in their little electric cars. :D

 Temp is 34.7 now and the ice is beginning to fall fairly regularly now. Still no full sunlight, that will really get it going.

[WV Sawmiller]

  Thanks for the info.

   I do the same sort of thing and typically throw an extra board or two on the stack and the customers are happy. I can throw in a short board or two I would just use for projects or such and if they later find a defect in one of their other boards they still figure they got their money's worth.

   Stay warm. Its in the 40's think I'll mosey out and feed the horse and see if Sampson and I can chase down Fox squirrel or two for a guy to mount up in Michigan. I never tried shipping frozen rodents before. 

[Nebraska]

I've heard of shipping  tails,  but never the whole squirrel... ???

[Old Greenhorn]

Do you have a vacuum sealer? I'd stick him/her in that, then deep freeze and wrap in foam wrap and Styrofoam. I bet if you do it wrong, however you do it, you will find out. :D ;D

 I just came in from my 3rd walkabout. Ice has stopped falling and the temp is coming down again (33 now). I pulled out a half dozen logs I managed to cut the other day. I tried to get an estimate on what I can expect. Maybe 20 more logs up to 8" diameter. It's driving me crazy to sit in the house all day. Tomorrow is gonna be a better day, I just decided.

[Andries]

. . . slowly starting to accept that if it is too tough to break this stuff out of the ice, I should just let it go for a few . . . 

That's it right there. 
Once you accept that we aren't in charge, we learn to work when we can, and to get ready for work when we can't. 
Late last week the temps were at -45F. Today, my three year old grandson was in the buddy seat of my loader, while scraping snow off gravel roads at 37F. His job was to operate the wiper switch because it was pouring rain. The weather was just too weird to describe.
Todays fun made me flashback to my time on an icebreaker in Canada's high Arctic. A Russian climate researcher from Moscow said: "Andries, get ready for for extreme wariables in conditions for where you live." 
He had given me an accurate prediction twenty years ago . . .  the puzzle is, how in the world do you get ready for these extremes?

[doc henderson]

well, I think frozen if preferred over raw.   :D :D :D.  i have sent off a few foxes.  do you not skin them and gut them?  the two foxes were nearly dry after long time frozen, and I had to invert the ears, and pull the cartilage out.  they were tanned for softness, like a coat.  

[Old Greenhorn]

. . .  the puzzle is, how in the world do you get ready for these extremes?

Well in my experience, you can only have the tools and clothing available and then decide and adjust on a hourly or daily basis. In this case I realized I was outgunned. There is no hardhat available with a full forestry package.  ;D
 Normally it would be easy to just lay back and wait, but I have a deadline of next Tuesday on this log order and not getting on it NOW is driving me crazy. (Short trip, though it is.) I can't even mark the bucking lengths with a lumber crayon because they don't make a mark on ice. In fact, nothing does. If anyone has ideas on that, I'm all ears (paint is unacceptable). :D

 On that other thing Doc, yeah, frozen at least gives you a decent lead time. :D

[doc henderson]

OG, where is the client coming from?  they may be in the same shape as you.  i hate for you to bust your hump, to have them call up the day of to tell you there is no way they can make it that day.  you might touch base, and let them know the reality on the ground.  If you want to get to work with the ice, can you poke the cut line with a picaroon and just fracture the ice as a mark, or use a measure stick.  some have them mounted or magnetically to the side of the bar, but 3 feet is a long stick.
let them know you have kept them refrigerated to preserve the freshness.  

[beenthere]

I can't even mark the bucking lengths

Hatchet makes a mark.

[WDH]

Post Office Guy, "Sir, is there anything hazardous or flammable in the package?"

Howard...."No Sir, it is a dead frozen fox squirrel."

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, a hatchet will make a mark, but I can't lose any more bark than I need for the cut. A pickeroon [note to administrators: "Pickeroon" is not a recognized word in the spell check] would scratch a mark, but it's another tool to pick up and put down (same with the hatchet, which I call a hand ax  ). But that measuring stick idea might have legs, during dry weather, that is a pain to pick up off the ground all the time for each cut, but in this 'climate' I just stick in in the snow between cuts. I believe I will give that a try. I wonder where I can find plans for such a thing? ;D These logs are 40" long. Putting a bar on the saw is also a non-starter because I am basically cutting out of a tangled brush pile. It's a messy tangle, which is part of the safety problem, finding places to put my feet as well as keeping track of where my feet are. Easy to loose track under the snow and that happened to me a couple of times last week. I really don't want to test the cut proof qualities of my boots. ;D 

[Old Greenhorn]

Post Office Guy, "Sir, is there anything hazardous or flammable in the package?"

Howard...."No Sir, it is a dead frozen fox squirrel."

I had something similar in my head:
Post Office Person: "Is there anything dangerous in this package?"
Howard: "Nope, It's dead."

[Old Greenhorn]

Post Office Guy, "Sir, is there anything hazardous or flammable in the package?"

Howard...."No Sir, it is a dead frozen fox squirrel."

I had something similar in my head:
Post Office Person: "Is there anything dangerous in this package?"
Howard: "Nope, It's dead."

AH, let me rephrase that:
Howard: "Nope, it's dead. But did you know there is a species of Squirrel's in southern New Guinea that ....."

[WV Sawmiller]

   Moot point. It was too windy and the squirrels were evidently in their den holes. I spotted several den trees that looked active but did not see a squirrel. Sampson had a great time smelling the deer and turkey tracks. I have till the end of the month before our small game season goes out.

I like the idea of the vacuum sealer and may try that. If you read of my demise or divorce you will know my wife did not think it was such a great idea.

The guy wants them for taxidermy. I think I read in some cases they boil and use the skulls as part of the mount and I am sure he is pretty meticulous about the skinning to minimize the incision so he can hide it better in the process.

I take Dupixient for a contact dermatitis and it comes in s styrofoam container with frozen gel inside. I figure that will be about a perfect fit to ship a pair of squirrels.

Danny,

It will be an interesting conversation but this is WV so should not be a problem. I shipped 2 boards to TN a few weeks ago by UPS and took them to our local drug store who handles such for us. I had shrink wrapped the 2 together and took them in and the lady weighed them then asked "What's in it." I told to look again. It was clear and obvious what was there. She said "Oh yeah" and shipped them.

On the frozen rodents when my son was 9-10 y/o we bought him a hamster from our local K-mart. It had a one week live warranty but it died a couple days later. My wife called and they said just stick it in the fridge or freezer and bring it in the next time she was coming by the store. She put him in a ziplock bag and froze him. A few days later she was going to town and took him out but when she got to the car she remembered she had left her purse or something so she laid him on top of the car over the door, went back in the house, came back and drove off forgetting about the hamster. A couple miles down the road she remembered and got out but he had blown off. She was in our subdivision with little traffic so she turned around and went back looking. She found him but the only car to pass had run over him. She stopped and picked him up and drove to K-Mart and walked to the pet department and told the guy "My hamster died. I want a replacement." The guy looked at this flat, frozen hamster sealed in a ziplock bag and asked her "What did you do to him lady? Run over him with steam roller or something?" She explained the whole tale and the guy laughed and gave her a replacement.

While I was typing this I see one of the reasons I'm having trouble collecting a pair of fox squirrels.


 

This guy was sitting on a black locust limb over my pasture gate about 35 yards from my LR window. I have been seeing him up where I feed the horse and near my shooting house where I've been hunting. I'll check on line but I think it is a Cooper's Hawk. I could not see a distinct red-tail for a RT Hawk.

[Old Greenhorn]

OG, where is the client coming from?  they may be in the same shape as you.  i hate for you to bust your hump, to have them call up the day of to tell you there is no way they can make it that day. .......

Sorry I didn't address this in my last reply. Yes, I did contact the client today to make them aware of my shortcomings. ;D They are on Long Island and largely clueless about weather conditions up here, as was the case here. (We don't make the news down there.) I still expect to make this deadline, but wanted to make them aware anyway, just in case. They are OK with any delays, but would like to know by Friday COB if they can pick up on Tuesday. :D Yeah, that could happen, but I doubt it. There is a point when 'you get what you get' and I can't do any better than that. I will let them know when the logs are 'done' and I won't delay because I have a lot of other work to do.

[Old Greenhorn]

Howard I am pretty sure those squirrels are more concerned about that hawk, than they are about you and Sampson.
 Sorry about your flattened hamster, that is funny though.

 Yeah, I forgot where you were. So I revise my quote:

Post person: "Is there anything dangerous in the package?"

Howard: "Nope, it's dead"

Post Person: "Oh, OK, no problem then"

Howard: "But did you know there is a species of squirrel's in......"

[WV Sawmiller]

   You guys are gonna miss me when I'm gone! >:( :( Nobody to pick on any more. It's bad enough you viciously malign me is such fashion but picking on Sampson that way was totally uncalled for! :'(

   Its a good thing I am a conscientious, law abiding citizen or the guy in Michigan would be opening his package and finding a big frozen Cooper's Hawk (I checked on line and that does appear to be what he was) instead of a pair of fox squirrels.

[Old Greenhorn]

For shame Howard. I was not maligning either you or Sampson, simply observing that the hawk (whatever species) was the bigger threat who does not get distracted or take coffee breaks.

 Geez you have a thin skin. When I pick on my buddies, I make it clear I am picking on my buddies. :D ;D

[beenthere]

Yeah, a hatchet will make a mark, but I can't lose any more bark than I need for the cut.  

Expected that answer.. lol  :

[samandothers]

I can't even mark the bucking lengths

Hatchet makes a mark.

What about a folding camping saw or a sheet rock saw you could place in vest pocket.  The sheet rock saw might be like caring an open knife though.