Wanted to move the Buffalo. Need an extra body to do that. Burnout is MIA. No one knows where he is, no contact method known (no phone). All others are an hour or more away.
Started doing some of that tilling on the garden. Thinking I need to come up with some furrow that I can drag behind the Yard Tractor. That shit had two years to build up a root base of grasses and weeds and is tougher than leather. The recent rains helped a lot, but still bogs out a 16 horse tiller. Get that right and the rest of my idea will be easy. And actually, looking at the soil I did get tilled up, it doesn’t look as bad as I expected. Dark, not chalky, but still not as dark as I would like to see. Will get a titer test at some point, find out what’s missing, whats good. CO-OP around here does offer that test in the spring time for the little guys: don’t know the cost, but shouldn’t be hateful.
digging around the market place for things like phone poles, what not. I have access to some pretty straight Poplar trees: could just run that route. Use a chainsaw to cut notches/flats as needed and put up a rough structure that would withstand hurricanes. Once the structure is up, the rest is details.
Mention any of this to Da, get shot down quick. Part of why I don’t say much to him about my plans, and I don’t want to ask his help for things like moving Buffalo for much the same reason. He’ll find three different ways of talking me out of things.
I kind of got a little back at him today though. I dragged him kicking and screaming into the 21st century. He no longer has a flip-phone. He has my old A14 smartphone. Basic phone plan installed on it, but he has wi-fi for the other stuff; other stuff he may never use. BUT,,, Getting it up and running and convincing the Not-Help-desk to help me was MUCH much easier. Not sitting on the phone for hours on end to be told “fuck off” repeatedly, like happened on Freeday. I’m at the point of “If he wants that sort of phone, HE CAN DO THE LEG WORK. If I gotta do it, he gets what doesn’t make my life a misery.’
He hates it.
He’ll adapt.
And I honestly think he’ll enjoy it more as the screen is much larger, easier to read, and he has options to deal with SPAM calls that his old phone did not. Maybe it ‘tracks him’ and all of that stuff, but I pity the agent assigned to his case if there ever is one. ROFL. The guy might wanna find a side-hustle as he will have plenty of time to do it. (Note: One thing I did do. I went in and uninstalled all of those ‘premium’ features that require a CredCard. He does not need TEMU or any of those. He doesn’t do Amazon, (If he needs something from Zon, I get to do the legwork/order, and he reimburses me.). His email is on there, but only because I had to use something to assign the phone to. His emails still come to my phone so I can tell him when he needs to do something, or what bill came in (that refuses to send paper-billing. Not uncommon these days. Drives dad nutz)
So, I have some ideas of what I can make, what I can construct, and a minor direction to work towards over the upcoming year or so. Things I still want to do at my place(rocket mass stove) but with all the turmoil of the property, haven’t made much headway on. (as in NONE) Still have an engine swap front end rebuild on Buff that is gonna take time.
little here, little there, eventually you eat an elephant,,,
Love y’all
Stay curious.
Live
Love
Laugh
Learn
LOAD!!!
(, ‘)
Be a dandelion… I gotta steal that one! Sorry about the copyright infringement. Hehehe…
On those polar poles, I don’t know if y’all got subterranean termites up there or not. Here in Texas they’ll eat a piece of wood faster than a fat kid tearing up a buffet! I hate spending money on pressure treated wood cause I’m cheaper than dollar store plastic. Anyway, my workaround is roofing tar on the bottom of the post. Dry the bottom ends over a fire and tar them real good and they’ll last a lot longer. Phone poles work really good because of the creosote but it’ll tear up a saw chain. I like using them and I’ll glom every one I can get my hands on. But they’re hard on saw chain.
The best saw chain sharpener I’ve used is the stihl 12v power sharpener. The second best was a Dremel with those Stihl sharpening bits. I’ve used a hand file but a 42″ bar and chain corrected my thinking! All my friends disappear when it’s time to sharpen the big saws… So much for friendship.
Come and make it blog posted a video of a homemade charcoal maker. A 55 gallon drum and some square tubing converts small branches into a marketable commodity. Just a thought of what you can do with the slash from the poplar trees. Or chip it up and till it into the garden. Worms will turn it back into nutrients. I dont know that I would cook with it but it’ll work for heating and such. Possibly use it for motor vehicle fuel. I’m gonna make one for myself. Maybe sell some boutique charcoal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I watched a guy in AZ use a 55 drum with a smaller 30 drum inside to make charcoal from desert brush (creosote and others) But his idea (that he thought was so inventive) was essentially a fractional distillation device, getting the wood alcohol and tars and all the way at the end, the ‘woodgas’ that he used to power a small genset. Haven’t seen much more from him in a few years. I think Utoob demonitized him or something.
Yah, those big saws need power to keep sharp, a file is just for touch ups IMO. I have a bench style sharpener for sawchain, one where you adjust the angle and bite depth and roll the chain through one tooth at a time. Takes a bit, but it does well. Good to have a couple of sharps in the feild box: easier to swap out worn for sharp than try to sharpen on site.
LikeLiked by 1 person