Making it through another year '21-'23

[doc henderson]

be sure and keep the beer out of sight while driving around in the school bus.  

[aigheadish]

Bummer about the roof OGH! Be careful up there! 

Nice bus!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well yesterday went so-so. Did the chiro around mid-day which kills the rest of the day. Then after lunch I started on the roof. It's a mess up there which a lot of debris left over from the ice storm. I had to cut off the branch to get it out and then clear a hanging branch that was still sweeping the roof from the ice storm. Really need the bucket truck to get that whole tree down. The offending branch was flat dead and fell from about 60' up like a spear. I used a push broom and leaf blower to clean the roof so I could walk on it. Meantime, my son dropped off the boys and spotted me for a bit while I cleaned and cleared. My balance ain't what it used to be. It was 'somewhat warm' up there. My son said he would do the repair on Sunday if I would wait. So I made a plastic cover for the hole and shoved it up under the shingles and screwed the lower edge down just to get a few days out of it. It rained pretty good a few hours later and the patch held. I did find the leftover shingles from the last re-roofing job, so we're good on that score.

 I came in during the high heat of the day and before the evening rain came and worked on research for the consult I have to do on Monday. Interesting property. Sold for just under a million less than 2 years ago. 25% wooded, has a lake about 5 acres, soil quality varies from so-so to prime farmland. The location is interesting too. Just a couple of miles from this lot is where the anti-rent wars came to a head in about 1840 as an undersheriff was shot to death, being the only fatality during the years long protests and leading to some major changes in the 'Manor system' used in those days. It also resulted in 5 life sentences for those judged accountable. Both the undersheriff and the protestors being fueled by strong drink, tempers and testosterone flared into what should have been a preventable incident in which the undersheriff fired the first shot. It all made for interesting research. I was familiar with the history, but it had been a while. While I cannot locate the exact farm where the shooting took place, I can figure it within about a mile or so based on geographic descriptions. Many of the reference place names have remained the same such as 'Dingle Hill' and the 'Tremper Kill'. The series of incidents are well documented as they required the intervention of the Governor, state courts, and legislature to resolve.
 It's too bad that county does not have good online documentation so I can research the ownership history of the property better. They barely update their online parcel viewer every 2-3 years. I would have enjoyed finding more. Still the land use remains largely the same in that area since the early 1800's although there is a lot more development of mini-estates such as the one I am looking at now. While much of the Catskills is abandoned farmland that has grown back over with pioneer species, this section has remained as mostly working farms with woodlots. There is a lot of hay production in the area. As I usually do, I will get out there early and drive around the area to see what is growing and being cultivated successfully in nearby parcels. Grapes (wine) and apples seem to be very popular in the last decade or so as cash crops. Apples we've always had, but lately they are seeing a lot of new planting. This landowner has an interest in maintaining a sugarbush. 

 Well today I will head down to the mill and see if I can't get a head start on that lumber order. The work is piling up and it would be nice if I could buy myself some time.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I don't think I ever heard of an Under Sheriff. Is that a northern thing? What is the difference between an under sheriff and a deputy? I have heard folks jokingly refer to the High Sheriff but I thought that came over from England or such.

   Good luck on the roof patching. Be careful up there. May be time to break out the "Flex Seal".

[WDH]

An Undersheriff?  Is that like yankee brown?  Acting like a sheriff but is really not?  Like purple posing as brown?

Sorry, could not help it.  I hope you are not offended Tom.  Howard is a bad influence on me.  Probably because of the after effects that Iranian prison had on him.  

[Old Greenhorn]

Undersheriff is a common term to my knowledge, but I am not sure of the origin. I suppose google may be your friend here. I just know what the written histories tell me. I didn't make it up. Perhaps it's like a deputy sheriff? No time to look it up now.

[Resonator]

Take the seats out and you can fit A LOT of lumber in a bus, long length material too. At one time my farmer neighbor had four of them full. The seats are made from industrial grade materials (almost indestructible) and can be sold and reused.

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, you made me look it up. No, this is not a 'yankee word plot' launched by me. From Wikipedia:
In American law enforcement, the undersheriff is the person second in charge of a sheriff's office. In some departments, the title of undersheriff is official, while in others, a different official title is used for the second person in charge. For example, in many small departments, the title of chief deputy sheriff is often used for the second in command; however, in some large departments, the undersheriff is second in command and in turn oversees several chief deputies. Vice versa, sometimes undersheriff ranks below chief deputy depending on the sheriff's department. The undersheriff and chief deputy titles are in some cases used to describe the same individual. In some places, the undersheriff is the prison warden of the county jail.
The New York City Sheriff's Office has five undersheriffs serving each borough of New York City, overseen by the Sheriff of the City of New York. In this case, the First Deputy Sheriff, equivalent to Chief Deputy, is the second in charge of the Sheriff's Office.

And from Merriam-Webster:
Definition of undersheriff

: a sheriff's deputyspecifically : one on whom the sheriff's powers devolve by the sheriff's direction or in case of the sheriff's incapacity or a vacancy in the office---------


In the above mentioned incident, both the sheriff and undersheriff were on scene. The Sheriff had awaited the arrival of the undersheriff who was supposed to arrive with a large posse. Instead he could only get two other men and all 3 stopped at a tavern to relieve their thirst on the long ride over from the county seat. What he lacked in manpower he tried to make up in bravado by discharging his horse pistol at a protestor's horse, killing it. Immediately fire was returned and the undersheriff died hour later of a belly wound. This made his the only line of duty death ever recorded in the Delaware County Sheriff's Department and the 8th recorded in the state on August 7, 1845.

[WV Sawmiller]

  If I'd been on the jury I'd have turned him/them loose. 

  You can't go around shooting a man's horse and expect to survive the encounter. Sounds like a case of justifiable homicide if I ever heard of one.

   Thanks for the definition.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, depending on the account you read, I don't think the horse was the intended target but there was alcohol involved. The whole 'rent-wars' went on for years and this was the incident that busted it open...to a point. It shaped our region for a century and kept it fairly depressed in the early years. That land patent dates back to the 1600's and included many thousands of acres, mostly owned by 1 person as a gift from Queen Anne. Most properties here can be traced back to that patent and when they were finally purchased from the patentee. I live on land that was part of that land patent.

 I did a random check for 'Undersheriffs in WV' and can find none only "Chief Deputies". I don't think this is a northern thing, I think it speaks to department size. I note many SO's in WV have only 2-5 deputies with total staffs of less then 10 people.  Our SO here has more Officers than I can count, several divisions, and about 6 folks at the senior staff level. Dive team, SWAT, corrections, road patrol, criminal investigations, permit division are just a few. We have an undersheriff.

[doc henderson]

get an inverter to run a Nyle, and you have a mobile log transport and kiln.  load it with logs to transport mushroom logs to NYC.  could pull it on a ferry.  "I think you are going to need a bigger boat".  

[Old Greenhorn]

Have you been drinking with Bill? :D
 He mentioned today maybe getting it registered before Boonville and driving that up. I asked what about the nice 27' camping trailer you usually take. he said "Oh, I'd pull that behind." Backing that trailer in might be an issue.

 Bill stopped by with the bucket truck today because he had to take it out for a run to get the diagnostics checker thingy to lock up on an alarm he's been getting. In 10 minutes here he knocked all those branches off the top of that maple over the garage, and whilst he was up, he topped off an EWP that will come to no good anyway. I will drop the two sticks another day, but I did some rough cleanup so my son can get to the ladder on the garage. I have a lot of brush to drag and burn. Not good burning time right now. too dry. It looked funny seeing him climb out of the bucket wearing flip flops, but he stopped by on a whim. He did have a hard hat on though. ;D :D

 Hey, anybody know what chain is on those Milwaukee M18 chainsaws? He got one and has been giving it a workout for slabs, trimming, and carrying around in the gator. He needs to get a file for it by now. I am thinking 5/32? He likes the saw, but would prefer a better chain, as I would for my battery setup. 

[doc henderson]

my Stihl is a 1/4 pica.  the electric and my pole saw.

[Old Greenhorn]

I did some research. Those electric saws are all over the map. The Milwaukee is .043 gauge, .375 pitch and naoorw kerf. It takes a 4.5mm file, which is .1772", just between 5/32 (.1562") and 3/16 (.1875"). I find that weird.

[Nebraska]

Rats me too..... :

[btulloh]

The stihl Pmm3 is .043 3/8 pitch. Oregon makes one also. There's a Woodland pro version that'll fit that doesn't have the anti-kickback if you want to get away from safety chain. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Busy, Busy, Busy.
Today I had a property consult job (mentioned earlier above) which was just about an hour west of me. That took about 4-5 hours to walk and talk the 60 acres or so. A very nice piece of property, but very 'parklike'. Mowed trails, etc. My job is to present options and educate and I believe I did that. Very pretty area.
After I left there I was already in the area of a fella I have listened to on the radio quite a bit named Gary Mead.  He intrigues me quite a bit, he makes interesting furniture and art, writes some poetry and children's books. He is a sawyer and has a nice kiln. I couldn't get a cell signal to call him, so I just went to his place hoping I would get lucky. Sure enough he was there and he was very gracious and gave me a tour of his studio full of amazing work. I learned a lot in that hour, for sure. I couldn't even break the surface here. @aigheadish  , we should have gone out there when you were here, sorry. Next time.
I have a good feeling we will be doing business in the future, just on the kiln business. He'd be happy to take my wood. :D
I didn't take many pictures, you can see some of his stuff on his webpage, but the photos don't do it justice. https://gary-mead.com/
This piece is outside the back door:


 

It stands every bit of 11' tall, the log is about 8' and around 30" diameter. All the cravings are separate pieces done by him and another local I have known for decades, Hoppy Quick. They did all the carvings in 2 days. They do the carvings, then Gary hollows out the unseen under or back side and kiln dries them. The painting was done by his book illustrator. It is covered with carvings all around.


 

There is a momma bear popping out of the top with a full sized cub behind her. I was taken by the facial expression, that back turned ear, extended claws and small roll of belly fat resting on top of the log.


 
She is very clearly 'on alert'. Gary is looking for the right home for this, possibly a big Cabellas or some other major outfitter like LL Bean or something. That shed roof above the whole thing was built just to keep the weather off of it. I think it clears that momma bear's ear by just an inch.

He also had a table inside which had 2 post legs made from hickory bark. Not wood, just bark for the posts. I have never seen such a thing. Solid as a rock. He works bark just like wood, even uses it for exterior siding shingles, all flattened and kiln dried. Cut it on a table saw, just like a board. Amazing stuff.
By the way, he pointed out something he learned and I never knew until today and that is that bark also have growth rings. You can see it clear as day, if you look. I learned a lot today for sure.

Tomorrow I head over to LogRite to pick up my 'stuff', slabs, legs, etc. The truck is all cleaned out and hopefully I fit it all in with don't scratch anything. ;D If I can get up early, I'll have an early start, but I'm not going to set an alarm. Headed to bed now and we'll see how it goes. I would like to be back on my way home before noon if I can. 5 hours in the truck makes for a long day, especially through the Hartford traffic. @Jeff  can tell you what a big fan he is of the traffic in the Constipation State. ;D :D :D

Tomorrow is another (long) day.

[Jeff]

It totally sucks and pretty much is responsible for my hiding in the wilds of da u.p. since the ordeal.

[Walnut Beast]

Sounds interesting! Glad your busy and having fun! Heard two things about bark today. From You and Howard on his prized back pack

[Old Greenhorn]

It totally sucks and pretty much is responsible for my hiding in the wilds of da u.p. since the ordeal.

Well, if I were in your shoes I wouldn't need much of an excuse at all to hide out in the U.P.. In fact I probably would just do that instead of anything else. CT traffic has caused many a grown man to cry, it is just an extension of the NYC Metropolitan traffic system, northeast division. :D I should be getting on the road in a few minutes here (5:30am) and that should give me a fair jump. I won't beat Kevin to the shop, but I should miss some of the morning commute traffic.

[Nebraska]

Your friends log sculpture is amazing.

[Old Greenhorn]

I wrote something several posts back about how we (I) find my entertainment in strange forms around here. Today was another one of those days.

I worked at the mill until noon and I ran out of sweat. Came home, had lunch and dabbled in mundane stuff I've already forgotten, it was hot and humid. Thought the day was done when we were just sitting down for dinner when my phone rings. It's Bill.
"Hey, whatcha doin'?"
"Sitting down to dinner."
"Oh OK, never mind then. go and eat."
"Well what's going on?"
"Well I think I am looking at some kind of drum sander thing and I was thinking we could throw it on your trailer and you could mess with it in your shop where you have your stuff handy."
"how wide is it"
"measuring with my boots, it looks like 3 feet."
"Hmm that's pretty wide, where is it?"
[lots of detailed local backroad info, I finally figure out it's 10 minutes away at a place I never knew about.]
"Well can you give me ten minutes to eat and 5 to hitch and turn the trailer, and I'll be over."
"sure, sounds good, go eat."

So I hitch up and find the driveway which is just a break in the trees and weeds I have passed a thousnad times and never saw, drive over the RR tracks that have been out of service for 110 years, but never covered and walk around for 5 minutes on what looks like semi-abandoned property looking for somebody, anybody. I find skidders, bucket trucks, firewood processors, chippers, etc. but few humans. I finally find them in a barn, Bill and the woman who owns the place, a lovely gal I would guess to be about 75 or so. I haven't yet got the details on what or why 'we are cleaning things up'. but there sits this double drum sander. 36" wide. Missing the cover and the adjuster handle, but largely in decent shape. Covered in bird crap and dust, but that doesn't mean much. It's a simple machine after all.

We spent more time chatting than working and we loaded it up easy with the tracked skidsteer.
I got it home and backed it up to the shop, then looked it over a bit. Has 2 motors, a belt drive motor (small) and the drum drive motor (large, 220). Two drums, spiral wrapped. Only one has paper on it now. Here she sits:



 

I am starting to think we happened onto something pretty dang nice. If the motors work, the bearings and other stuff should be pretty easy to refurb.



 

I found another thread here from 2011 from a fella who got a 24" single drum version and was very pleased with it. This is 36" two drums. I think it's worth putting some effort into. Then we need to make a place to put it. I have no room in my shop, beyond working on it and I have a large table build starting up now. When it rains, it pours. But it's all good because I really needed something to do. ;D :D :D :D ;D

Just more entertainment. When I was looking at it I saw a piece of paper and asked if that was with it, they said "no, that goes to that thing over there. any idea what THAT is?" Um yeah, I have an idea. Holy cow, yeah. It was a big 3 phase power feed for table saws, shapers, or what ever, and a nice heavy duty one with serrated feed rollers. I got a little excited until I saw it was 3 phase. Still a very nice piece worth a fair price to the right guy. I noted on the paperwork that it cost $1800.00 back in the early 60's. It was missing the column, but everything else seemed to be there and besides the dust, it was clean and in good shape. German make, but I forget the name. Its always something around here.

[Walnut Beast]

Look forward to seeing it and hearing how it works 

[doc henderson]

looks like my grizzly 24 inch, it can work lie a planer and flattener.  you need to find a spot in your or a shop.  if you get a number, you can get a manual and parts.  

[Nebraska]

Any little tractors in the weeds? Just as well go for a trifecta!! 8) nice score