Friday, June 6, 2014

So Far Behind I Think I am Ahead





I spent the first half of the morning getting the cutting crew back on the job. See that little black sheep on the right of the picture? She is the problem. That's the one I call Sandwich because she is so small. Her mother died two years ago and Sandwich almost followed her. She survived as a bottle baby but never made it past dwarf status and isn't ever gonna be good for much. except mischief. She goes under the electric fence because she is so small and since she was hand raised she also doesn't have the flocking instinct as strong. Once she gets out the others start thinking they should go as well but so far only one other one is small enough to follow.

Well I fixed her good. I added a low wire to the fence and put the other solar charger on after dividing it up which increased the voltage by a good bot. The little menace walked the entire fence looking for a way out but couldn't find one yet.

While fixing the fence line I kept glancing out into the pasture and thinking something was wrong but couldn't quite put my finger on what.

Then I saw....




That huge old hollow Oak I been wanting to cut down but was never brave enough because I knew it was hollow came down in the last storm it seems.




Funny it looked more impressive when it was whole but hollow trees like that are so unpredictable I wasn't taking any chances. The thing was only half dead anyway and standing so it wasn't like it was going to go to waste. I knew it would come down sometime and I was secretly kinda hoping it would take a few useless old nags with it.

And no the horses all survived.




I'd say there is a good months worth of firewood there at least. Maybe a bit more.

I also got the swarm moved from it's trap into a hive box today. I have never seen so many bees crammed into a trap box and I waited entirely too long to move them. There was comb everywhere.

Anyway going out to weed some more now and I am taking a work trip to Iowa tomorrow but I will reply to comments later this evening.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!

 

12 comments:

  1. Firewood is a good thing, and it's good that nothing else was harmed when it came down. Travel safely.

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    1. RP - I wouldn't have missed an old horse or two though :)

      Ya that's gonna be a lot of wood there and in the field so I can cut on it this Summer as well.

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  2. A wise decision. I stay well clear of standing dead trees. The vibration of a chainsaw is enough to drop a branch on you. How long have you been keeping bees? There is sure one hell of a learning curve.

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    1. MV - My oldest Hive was started in 09 but I lost the one oldest before that in 2012 which was started in 08. So whats that six years I guess. I think the first three years was almost constant learning but then the fourth year things seemed to click together better. Of course my fourth year was the drought of 2012 too so I saw all the hardship then.

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  3. PP,

    Did Sandwich stay inside the fenced area? Or did she find the one spot to get loose.

    Good thing no one was standing around that tree when it came down. Easy firewood my friend!!!

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    1. Sandy - It appears I have thwarted her escape antics for the time being. She didn't get out yesterday after I re-did the fence and by the looks of things stayed in all day today while I was gone as well.

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  4. That oak falling is wonderful luck. The trunk is hollow but there are a lot of limbs that won't even need much splitting.
    It should be cured nicely for winter since it fell so early.

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    1. Sf - Yep. Even the hollow part is thick enough to offer up some good wood as well. Whatever had been using it as a den is prolly a bit miffed though. I am thinking it was elves.

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  5. It's good to see nothing has changed...firewood and honey...nice. Just wanted to say hello.

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    1. Stephen - Good to hear from ya. Don't forget weeding too!!!

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  6. PP - good idea to just let that baby fall when it was ready. and you will have some gorgeous cured wood this winter! and i'm with Sandy - did the fence work on little Sandwich or not?

    your friend,
    kymber
    (see? i didn't call you a wiener in this comment either!)

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    1. Kymber - OH no way I was gonna mess with that tree. I have thought about it many times and decided to just wait and see. There was no true way to guess how that monster was gonna fall and the branches spread out enough it made me wonder if I could run fast enough if it did fall wrong.

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