Ya know I am not even 100% sure what I set out to do today originally. I know I have a list of small projects that need to be finished and I got a few of them done today but I am not sure they were at the top of the list.
After feeding the outside critters this morning and then coming in to feed the inside ones and play referee so no small kittens get chomped while trying to stick their head in the wrong bowl. I got interested in all the bad news coming in from around the globe. Russia making more moves against the petro-dollar, bank runs in Greece, massive inflation in Latvia or some Baltic state. Bare shelves in Venezuela. It seems the experts are into over drive right now too. I think the claims of this being the year for economic pain and maybe a full blown financial collapse is in style once again.
Well bring it. I have been preparing for it far too long to be worried about it any longer.
Sometime around then here comes Mom with another list of "can you help me's" and I ended up hanging more stuff for her. I think it was at that point I lost direction and ended up escaping to the barn and starting up the tractor with some vague notion of moving the brush hog out of the garden before the ground thawed anymore and turned it into a muddy mess.
I started her up and she fired right off the bat on the first try. Moved her over and removed the boom/crane thing then backed her up to the brush hog. I thought she was all lined up but I was on a slight incline so I shut the engine off so she wouldn't roll. Hooked one side up but needed to pull forward a bit to hook the other side, jumped on the tractor and she was deader than a doornail.
No fire at all. No nothing. It was like the battery was unhooked or something. Half an hour later it occurred to me to check the battery cables and terminals and sure enough after a slight cleaning with a wire brush she fired right up again.
Now this is when things went a different direction. I guess I just figured since the brush hog was already hooked up why not use it and I brush hogged about a third of the horse pasture, where I want to put the new sheep pasture in at, and the top third of the hay field where that thrice damned Blue stem grass is creeping in. I'd say overall I brush hogged about five or six acres easy and could have done more but the radiator started clogging up from all the dried weed parts getting sucked into it.
Now you understand the top picture. Took me almost half an hour to clean all that gunk out of the radiator.
By the time I got finished I actually had cockle burrs stuck in my beard. That was a new experience let me tell you.
But the pasture and hay field look good now.
I just wish I could remember what it was I really wanted to do today.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
Well, you were productive none the less. That's what really matters, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteTB - Ya. And I was really tired. Messing around with the tractor always ends up being more actual work than you would think. Mostly trying to get it hitched up. I need to get one of those quick connect three point things.
DeleteI'm curious about your definition of cockleburrs. Where I come from, there are a couple of different 'burr' plants. What I call a cockleburr is a seedpod roughly 1/4" in diameter, with velcro-like spines that hook into anything and everything made of cloth which expand the diameter to roughly an inch. They are positively horrific in any horse mane, tail, or long haired dog, and hilarious (at a young age) in a long-haired sister. There are also 'beggars lice' which I have heard people in other places call cockleburrs, which are much smaller, and roughly the shape of a flattened corn kernel. They are the ones with much shorter spines, but grow in vast multitudes, making them just as big a pain in animals, but far less fun to throw at your sister. Either way, a day on the tractor>a day with no tractor, and good luck with those cockleburrs!
ReplyDeleteWolfman - Well the ones I have issues with around here are the big pod type ones from the thistle looking plants. The horses won't eat em at all and those things have taken over the pasture. Funny thing is the sheep love em. If I turn the sheep in a place with them in the Spring they will be mostly eaten away by Fall and completely gone the next year. That is my eventual plan if I can ever get rid of the horses :)
DeleteThose little ones suck too though :)
I hate those burrs and pull up the plants when I see them in the summer as if they ever get started it is so hard to get rid of them. Every politician should have to battle cockleburrs as it applies to so many things.
ReplyDeleteSf - Ya unfortunately they seem to grow wherever one has horses and no one is constantly brush hogging em out. As I said above though I discovered the sheep LOVE to eat them so I am thinking I may have a cockle burr control plan in the making.
DeleteThat sounds like my typical day. Start out with a list of things to accomplish and in order to accomplish the first one, I have to do 10 things first to get ready for it. Hunt for the tools needed, which since we have 6-8 of us working at The Compound could be any place. That may require moving other items out of the way to find that special elusive tool. Then throw in the "monkey wrench" of something not working out like you thought it would and before long, the day is over and really very little if anything really got done. Except; I did find that tool by golly! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteIzzy - I had to LOL at the tool thing. I waste more time trying to remember where I set some tool down at :)
DeleteAs a prepper you might like to know that Burdock is a valuable source of both food and medicine. The root can be eaten like a carrot ( although if cooked it takes a little longer). You can buy the root at Whole Foods where it will be labeled Gobo ( the Japanese name for it) if you'd like to try it. The leaves are edible, but collect them when young and soak them in water to relieve some of the bitterness.
ReplyDeleteMedicinally, decoctions of Burdock have also been historically used for soothing the kidneys, relieving the lymphatic system, rheumatism, gout, GI tract disorders, stomach ailments, constipation, catarrh, fever, infection, fluid retention and skin problems. An article in Chemotherapy identified the chemical arctigenin contained in Burdock as an “inhibitor of tumor growth.
As an aid for burns the leaf is possibly only rivaled by Plantain. A burn salve is applied, then a layer of blanched Burdock or Plantain, then gauze dressing to hold it all in place. The body is able to draw nutrients from the plant to repair the skin and tissues and changing the dressing is as painless as it gets for a burn, as it will slip right off the burned area, with little to no adhesion. Joke if you must, but I would keep a spot for some of it to flourish.
Strelsi
Plus the bees like the Burdock flowers!
DeleteStrelsi - I have read about Burdock before but never tried to cultivate any. I never knew it had a name such as Gobo. There is also another weed almost Blue Stem or Wheat looking grass that is called Burdock around here as well along with Sourdock and a few other names.
DeleteI will look into it. As MV says anything the bees like is great by me :)
Looks a sod to clean out. I have many days that I end having no idea what I set out to do, sometimes it feels like I'm going backwards!
ReplyDeleteKev - Ya I always hate those days... two steps forward three back... This one was fairly productive I just lost my direction though more than anything. Thank god my Mom has run out of wall space now :)
DeleteNo matter how long folks have been getting ready for what lie ahead, are we truly ready at all. i just watched the National News looks like the Muslims are all pissed off still abut how they are treated in the French Press. This will get uglier before it gets better.
ReplyDeleteRob - Well no matter how much we get ready there will be something we miss but ready... Well I hope to be. But I am still of the mindset that we will actually be better off even though many will not know it or ever believe it. Once the government debt bubble collapses these groups and all the social engineering Multi-Cult stuff we are forced to deal with will work itself out pretty quick.
DeleteOur largest danger is making sure the government doesn't take all we need to survive and defend ourselves before the time comes.