Thursday, June 18, 2015
Forest Creatures X
Lot's of good summertime footage of various forest creatures. We got a great shot of a coyote as well as a bobcat. The loose dogs continue to bedevil us as well. They look too healthy to be strays, but I can't imagine someone letting a pack this big run loose.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Escaped Donkey
For some reason we always end up doing most of our clearing and burning during the hottest part of the summer. This year is no exception. Here's animated gif that I took of a recent burn and yes, it's as hot as it looks. I don't know why I do this to myself.
We also had some excitement when Sadie the Donkey escaped. As I drove down the road to the property a couple days ago, I came around a corner and much to my surprise, there she was standing in the neighbors yard. They were really nice and kept an eye on her until I could come back and get her.
Luckily Sadie was in a good mood and let me put her halter on and gently followed me down the road. Last time she escaped we had to tie her to the back of the truck and pretty much drag her back to the pen.
When I got to the pen I did a quick inspection to find out how she got out and the picture below shows what I found. The side gate was wide open. When I saw it, my first impression was that someone had maliciously opened it.
To prove this theory I walked all around looking for footprints but couldn't see any trace of someone being there. I felt pretty confident in this analysis since the ground was muddy and I'm sure I would have seen footprints. With that being said, I still think it's weird that Sadie would push the gate that wide open. Hmmm.
A recent project I've done has been to fix the front gate. The guys who originally built it didn't put any bracing wire on it and at some point the weight ended up cracking the post.
I had to jackhammer out the old post, which turned out being a lot harder than I thought. They did a lot better job cementing in the post than they did bracing it.
The new post is in and the cement is dried. Ready to hang the gate.
It's really nice to be able to open the gate now and not have it drag the ground.
My other project has been to re-fence the winter pen and square it up instead of having it nailed to trees. It's been a lot of work but will look really nice when it's done.
Thank goodness for a jackhammer. Digging this post hole would've been impossible without it.
I plan on pushing out the dirt towards the posts to level things out. It should make for a nice pasture when it's done.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
We also had some excitement when Sadie the Donkey escaped. As I drove down the road to the property a couple days ago, I came around a corner and much to my surprise, there she was standing in the neighbors yard. They were really nice and kept an eye on her until I could come back and get her.
Luckily Sadie was in a good mood and let me put her halter on and gently followed me down the road. Last time she escaped we had to tie her to the back of the truck and pretty much drag her back to the pen.
When I got to the pen I did a quick inspection to find out how she got out and the picture below shows what I found. The side gate was wide open. When I saw it, my first impression was that someone had maliciously opened it.
To prove this theory I walked all around looking for footprints but couldn't see any trace of someone being there. I felt pretty confident in this analysis since the ground was muddy and I'm sure I would have seen footprints. With that being said, I still think it's weird that Sadie would push the gate that wide open. Hmmm.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
A recent project I've done has been to fix the front gate. The guys who originally built it didn't put any bracing wire on it and at some point the weight ended up cracking the post.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
I had to jackhammer out the old post, which turned out being a lot harder than I thought. They did a lot better job cementing in the post than they did bracing it.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
The new post is in and the cement is dried. Ready to hang the gate.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
It's really nice to be able to open the gate now and not have it drag the ground.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
My other project has been to re-fence the winter pen and square it up instead of having it nailed to trees. It's been a lot of work but will look really nice when it's done.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
Thank goodness for a jackhammer. Digging this post hole would've been impossible without it.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
I plan on pushing out the dirt towards the posts to level things out. It should make for a nice pasture when it's done.
 |
| From 2015-06-09 |
Friday, June 5, 2015
Redneck Tubing
We had an ATV, a rope, and an old tire. What else is there to do but do some redneck tubing?
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Building a Bridge
The recent rainy weather has really put a crimp in my property activities. All of the mud has made it difficult to work in the newly cleared areas and the wet wood is tough to burn.
Unfortunately, burning all wood from cleared areas was supposed to be my main project this summer and I'm over a month behind schedule.
One of the things I have been able to do despite the rain is bush hogging. Usually I can get away with two full cuts a year and keep things manageable.
With all the rain and cool weather this year, I might have to end up doing four cuttings Despite taking a beating, my Swisher trail cutter keeps on cutting.
One of my rainy day projects, which I've had on the backburner for a long time, is building an ATV bridge over one of the sinkholes on the perimeter trail.
I've had some poles I was originally going to use for a pole barn. I decided to go another direction with the barn though, and so now they've just been sitting around. I thought this would be a good chance to use them.
Here's a before shot, looking into the forest where the trail will eventually go.
Here I am measuring the gap to see if the cedar poles I cut will reach across the sinkhole. The gap is about 17 feet and the poles are 19ft, so I should be good.
It was a lot of work dragging the poles down the trail, in the mud. It also wasn't easy moving wet, muddy poles across the gap by myself. I was definitely feeling sore the next day.
Originally I was thinking of just putting two poles across the gap and putting some planks across them, but after doing a test with a few 1x6s I decided I definitely need at least one more and possibly two more poles.
I know that I could do 2x6 planks which are lot more sturdy but they are also a lot more expensive. The poles are free, so if I need to "bulk" up, it's much cheaper to add more poles than it is to go with thicker planks.
After wrestling muddy logs in the rain, I was covered with mud from head to toe. It was worth it though. Building a bridge has been fun! More updates to come.
Unfortunately, burning all wood from cleared areas was supposed to be my main project this summer and I'm over a month behind schedule.
One of the things I have been able to do despite the rain is bush hogging. Usually I can get away with two full cuts a year and keep things manageable.
With all the rain and cool weather this year, I might have to end up doing four cuttings Despite taking a beating, my Swisher trail cutter keeps on cutting.
 |
| From 2015-05-22 |
One of my rainy day projects, which I've had on the backburner for a long time, is building an ATV bridge over one of the sinkholes on the perimeter trail.
I've had some poles I was originally going to use for a pole barn. I decided to go another direction with the barn though, and so now they've just been sitting around. I thought this would be a good chance to use them.
Here's a before shot, looking into the forest where the trail will eventually go.
 |
| From 2015-05-22 |
Here I am measuring the gap to see if the cedar poles I cut will reach across the sinkhole. The gap is about 17 feet and the poles are 19ft, so I should be good.
 |
| From 2015-05-22 |
It was a lot of work dragging the poles down the trail, in the mud. It also wasn't easy moving wet, muddy poles across the gap by myself. I was definitely feeling sore the next day.
 |
| From 2015-05-22 |
Originally I was thinking of just putting two poles across the gap and putting some planks across them, but after doing a test with a few 1x6s I decided I definitely need at least one more and possibly two more poles.
I know that I could do 2x6 planks which are lot more sturdy but they are also a lot more expensive. The poles are free, so if I need to "bulk" up, it's much cheaper to add more poles than it is to go with thicker planks.
 |
| From 2015-05-22 |
After wrestling muddy logs in the rain, I was covered with mud from head to toe. It was worth it though. Building a bridge has been fun! More updates to come.
 |
| From 2015-05-22 |
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