Homesteading

Dang it on your old cat Deep.
Sounds like he had a good long run though.
Bet he was comfy on the homestead.

I moved a downed top/trunk split trunk fail when borrowing a friends tractor.
Top is an understatement and you may have raised an eyebrow or two to watch.:o
About twenty(?) feet of red oak, around a foot thick in a long crook leaning on limbs keeping it arched above the ground since early last winter.
Out of the way but still arched as limbs were the pivot point.
 

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I walked down to the bridge to see if it had flooded away again. Yep, but no real further damage. The danged tree is still there. Once I get it out of there I can call for a load of rock. Cousin Bill is coming up tomorrow and we'll see what we can do then. He's kinda affected by a new lady in his life right now - prefers seeing her over me. Geez.....

Thanks for the concerns on Bowie, the cat. The homestead allowed him outside and he'd never had that. So he had a full year of a new world. I buried him yesterday in the rain up above the house, a put a wooden cross up for him.
 

My daughter's ex boyfriend came up this morning - good guy, but they were really not a match. She's still a child, and he's a wounded in heavy action combat veteran. We hit the bridge, got that tree cut up and brought it up for firewood, split it and came up and had just a beer or two. Down here there's a cheap new beer rivaling the really cheap ones. Thing is the beer is really delicious and it's potent = 8.1% ABV. The brand is Steel Reserve. I've picked it up in North Carolina but it was 6.0% ABV, but I've picked it up there at the 8.1%.

Thing is, it is really good tasting beer, a pleasure to end the day with = as we did :)

The bridge is clear ready for a load of rocks, and I've a good solid load of split up firewood off that :)

A double bonus today, and then the pleasure of something tasty rolling down my throat :)
 

It has been a busy couple of days. Spent a whole lot of time working on the bridge. Mom, at 89, drove her car in to town today, and back - more work to be done, but now Mom can get out in her car.

The tree on the bridge turned out to be hickory. I've some hickory trees on the hill & hickory nuts - missed harvesting them this year as I discovered them later. The bark on the bridge tree was the same, so I'd already discovered the answer. Then Cousin Bill said it was in fact hickory. Got a load out of that, split & stacked. Then Bill came down this morning and we cut two big trees, the largest a 24" diameter poplar, and the other a dying locust. I have to put down a second row of pallets to accept the pile of wood yet to split. Right now I have probably a couple months of firewood cut, some splitting to do yet. I feel pretty good about myself tonight :)

About time, right?

Keep the faith!

It'll be deeper soon with the changing season = get's cold next week.
 

Hickory will burn fine...other uses too.
Some old buildings have had their locust pegs survive better than some of their bones. A good peg comes with at least a hunnert year warranty I think.
A few more cords you'll be set till mid to late winter.....:icon_scratch::occasion14:
 

Good job on the mount of wood you got cut and stacked Deep. Don't worry the hickory nuts won't go to waste because the wild animals will harvest them for winter food.
 

It was only supposed to rain today. It has been pouring all day. My little branch running by the chicken house & beech tree is nearly over its' banks. I'm not going down to the bridge to see, I'll do that tomorrow.

Our last cat, Mom's cat Leroy is gone. I think that Bowie had a disease of some sort. Shortly after he passed, Leroy got sick. I had Leroy in the house yesterday taking care of him, planned to take him to the vet today. While I was gone yesterday picking up pallets, Mom let him out, said he wanted to go die. I just went out looking for him again, it has been 24 hours. Of course I've looked for him all day.

So just why did I think it was such a good idea to homestead? Whole lot of negatives of late which points me to living near the beach on the coast.
 

I never stopped looking for Leroy.

I found him this morning. He is buried on the hill above the house next to Bowie with a wooden cross marking his resting place.
 

Deep, now that I've caught back up with your thread, and about the cats, I'm wondering. We've got 2 cats and 2 dogs that are getting aged. One cat, my daughter's, is about 13 or 14 years old, as is her dog. My son's cat is about 9 or 10 and my dog is almost 14. I had to put one of my dogs to sleep in 2011; he was just over 8. I sure dread losing these animals, but I know it's just part of life. At least I'll know that they had a great life fee of mistreatment and such! We all have to take what comes. Never know, they may outlive me. lol
Sorry for you losses.
 

"So just why did I think it was such a good idea to homestead? Whole lot of negatives of late which points me to living near the beach on the coast."

Some ol boy built a shelter in that holler a long time ago.
Had his reasons. And his work cut out for him.
Them high days were more likely made than just any regular course of events.
But he and his'n ate and survived.

Way down the road came one of his kin to a sort of homecoming.
Then he thought he'd try and scratch out somethin too.

It ain't about the tryin though. It's in the doin. And why.

Them negatives about being up against somethin is just being up against life;and death.
The rest is just how hard ya want ta work with or against it.
Plus your personal whys again.

The world is still your oyster.
You would not be the first to go stretch out somewhere else.
Or the first to fight the same ground over and over.
But you are you, and it's been a great account of where you are lately, regardless of your decisions going forward.

Cheers to ya Deep!
Them dirty fingernails might be hereditary.
 

Thanks guys. Naturally I'm pretty bummed.

Our torrential rain did the bridge again, washed out the entrance end. The exit end looks okay, but I'll need more rocks there too. I guess I'm actually lucky I didn't already get a load of rocks delivered. SSN is tomorrow, was waiting for that to get the rocks.

That's 4 times this year the (formerly gentle) creek has flooded with damage. It didn't used to be that way, but there's been a whole lot of clear cut timber over the last several years. It's more a river than a creek now.
 

Bummed to hear that deep, but without the darkness we couldn't see the stars. For everything we lose, we gain something. I was just hopping on to see if you were able to keep your feet dry.
 

I've been keeping myself busy with firewood. Set up palllets 16'x 12', logs cut, split & stacked with two tarps over them to stay dry. I figure I have at least 5 cords there, and tomorrow I'll go up the holler to carry back the logs staged over there last March. There's an easy cord over there, not good wood but it'll burn.

I've started out this year getting long burns every time. Set it up and went to bed at 10:00 last night. Got up at 4:00 this morning and had a nice bed of hot coals awaiting me, had the fire going hot in just a half hour. Must have finally learned something last Winter.

Of course I have to work on the bridge once again. Just put in a few rocks for a lane through running 4wd. Fed Ex refused to cross day before yesterday - I don't blame him.

I gotta turn all these negatives into positives if this homesteading is to continue. Was planning to hit the coast for the Excal next weekend, but received another jolt from the tax fiasco. Money is tight for sure, but I survived the last one, I'll survive this one. I've been extremely generous to the Feds last couple of months - unexpected burdens always come along. It will be into next year before I can find a normal.
 

Deep, i enjoy reading this thread and finally got caught up on the thread again
was hoping you wouldnt have to labor so much this winter,on your heat source
check these out maybe you can get something going b4 january

log spliters
power


hand
Logmatic Wedge Axes

foot
Foot operated log splitter


and if you get real ambitious and want to build whatever
Chainsaw Mill Build
Chainsaw Mill Build, Use & Tips n Tricks

check these 3
Alaskan Sawmill Jig (Homemade Sawmill)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPpU-kXaR-3flrYHGWnNz5es1FeKCxPK7

Homemade Alaskan Mill
https://www.youtube.com/user/mortdiver/videos?view=0&shelf_id=2&sort=dd

one more,slow but sure LOL
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm1gvjb5pAoqSh7KKjdcKlg
 

I'm still going at it, feel like I have to be hyperactive now. Over the last few days I've been pounding on firewood. Set up another set of pallets yesterday, separate from my main storage and located in front of the back door to the basement and stocked it with freshly cut wood. My kinda strategy is to keep cutting wood for day to day burning, saving my original stack for the long haul. Was traipsing through my forest yesterday - wearing a yellow safety vest to maybe stand out from the hunters popping off around me - probably trespassing on my land (gotta get all those No Trespassing signs put up).

I worked for hours on the bridge hauling rocks getting that back into shape. For the last couple of days The Weather Channel has been forecasting rain today. This morning they are forecasting flash floods here - maybe they've finally noticed we're getting killed around here....

But, here goes my bridge again. This time I'm going to park one of our vehicles on the other side of the bridge so we won't be isolated again.
 

A relief finally!

I walked down to be bridge and found it did not wash away.

Indian Steve & I are planning to hit what we think is a virgin Civil War site this morning! Wish us luck :)
 

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