The Shoot The Bull Thread

[ppine]

I am now working with a program to teach kids how to ride horses. They are able bodied but have some emotional challenges. I can't tell who is getting the most out of it, them or me. It is great to be around horses again. The kids are honest and come up with some interesting questions.
Just returned from a local lake in the mountains. The fish were being caught by a large group of white pelicans. They were flying in a V, fishing the shallows, playing follow the leader and then rising in a giant helix to gain altitude.

Herd of mule deer was sneaking behind camp in the evening going down to get water at the lake. A pair of priaire falcons were engaged in a complicate mating ritual fluttering, changing direction and then diving and swooping for a couple of hours. I caught a glimpse of the growing antelope herd near the alfalfa fields in Sierra Valley on the way home. Good times.

 

[jason]

Been crazy around here for a while. Had a few visitors. Took 5 trees down at my buddies house while he was on vacation. Took the wife and kids out to Durney Key for half a day. Built a playset, made a new sandbox, a new fire pit area and put up the chain link fence. Also had some stumps removed from my front flower bed area. Built a little split fence for that area too. Got some cranberry hibiscus planted in there. Going to steal a friends crape myrtle and put it as the center piece of the island. Also picked up about 20 viburnums to plant. Thinking about renting a log splitter for the weekend as I still have that project to do.

 

[Cappy]

it's been busy here too. Still the rainy season but it is slacking off. Not being able or should I say not wanting to tend the gardens in the wet they have gone to weed big time. This time of year keeping up with the mowing weed eating and yard work is about all this ole chubby guy can handle. We have decided to give up on winter gardening and just cover the boxes with card board and give em a break. Gonna get a bunch of card board boxes and flatten them and stack em on the boxes that way when we get back to gardening they will be ready. Gonna do some camping and such this fall and winter and retire from gardening. It was heart breaking but the out side freezer quit working and cost us dearly we were busy with company didn't notice and lost lots of garden veggies and meat and such
That just broke my heart and sure we have a new one under warranty and all but I just don't want to go through that again. So its give up time till we feel like doing it again. Time to do something new or old for a while and hit da road.

 

[Grandpa]

I hear you Cappy. We've been "summer fallowing" our garden boxes the last two years.

 

[jason]

My son can now ride a bicycle with no training wheels. Could not be more proud of him. He gave my wife a hard time Wednesday about it. Thursday she tried putting him on his sisters bike and told him we would buy him a new bike if he learned how to ride and sure enough he did. Friday afternoon I sat with him for about two hours has he rode the new bike in the front yard.

I rented a log splitter over the weekend. I had it stacked on 6 pallets long, 2 pallets wide.

I got 4 1/2 face cords, and some pallets that is mixed split wood and some logs that the splitter couldn't handle. You can still see I have some sand left over from the fire pit area and kids sand pit.

I figure I will give away some of the wood on the pallets. I cut the top off a 55 gallon drum the previous owner left and filled it with bark and other stuff. I hope it may make good fire pit starter material. I think I filled up the new pit twice with bark, rotten logs, and other pieces. Some of these scrub/turkey oaks seem to go bad pretty quickly.

I got down to the last two pallets Sunday. Both pallets were down to a few logs each when I lifted to find what everyone seems to think was a cottonmouth. All I know is it would not run away. While it did not chase me it stood its ground. Sadly I had to remove him with the help of a 22.

Today I woke to find a surprise tropical storm in the area. Thankfully it stayed south of me. Just got some light rain and a little wind. Gave me a chance to go through some more boxes of stuff. Hopefully there will be a decent garage sale later this year.

 

[Cappy]

Wonderful report Jason thanks so much. Lots of work ya did I know I aint up to that kind of weekend effort no more. I hope ya remembered to knock drain holes in ya chip barrel, or it will turn into a skeeter riden soggy mess. Ya place is sure shaping up. Now ya need a few citrus trees. Maybe some nanner palms.

 

[jason]

Thank you. It is kinda neat to look at old pictures and see what has been done. Sometime it is hard the see the changes day to day.

I did put a few half inch holes in the barrel. Also put it up on some blocks so it is not directly on ground. Termites are bad around here.

I have so far a soursop (it is going to be a trial as it is supposed to be one zone bellow us), a miracle fruit tree (sadly it is dying and cannot figure out why), mulberry, jackfruit, star fruit, florida peach, moringa (with plenty of seeds to grow more, been giving saplings away), cranberry hibiscus (so yummy), 9ish blueberries, and some other things. There is also some tree I forget the name starts with a J. I think another name is something cherry.

As the wood chips decay this year I want to add more fruit trees next year. I was told by a few that pawpaw grow good as a bush here. There is a guy who is close, does a lot of fruit trees. https://www.youtube.com/user/GreenDreamsFL I have been watching his videos getting ideas. Passion fruit is one of the big things on my list along with sugar cane.

I also have started on some grow barrels out of some 55 gallon drums I bought. It is going to take a while. I think if I had the time I can do a barrel every 2-3 days.

I am also thinking about my garden. I might try a back to Eden garden along the fence from the front fence to the fire pit area. The local city offers free mulch and will load you up. They even offer free delivery if you are in city limits which sadly I am not. One worker a few years back said do not use it near a house as it could contain termites and other bugs. I do find some junk like plastic in it once in a while.

Also still on the fence about animals. We have three rabbits inside the house with our two dogs. I do need to build a hutch for them outside. Chickens are still on the list. My wife likes the eggs. I wouldn't mind some meat chickens. I am not allowed to raise rabbits for meat. Goats are still an idea. Wife loves the fainting goats. After the snake this weekend the idea of donkeys was brought up. Mini's would be fun I think. Not sure if they would eat my trees and blueberries however. A regular one would be neat I think as they sell little carriages for them. Kids would love that. Just not sure on the care. I grew up with ducks, neighbors had chickens and pigs. Goats my brother in law has. Donkeys are a fresh area.
Not sure what a nanner palm is.

 

[Cappy]

LOL slang for banana. Let us know how the soursop goes we would love to try but told we are a lil too far north. Here.

 

[Roybrew]

Bought an antique cherry table weekend before. It didn't have a leaf, so I had another project.

I started planing down some sawmill cherry I had in the basement, after my wife determined the size.

A little hand planing after joining

Checked the fit, and started sanding table top so I could get as close to same color as I could

Finished it this past afternoon

wasn't a perfect match, but it looks ok. The old kerosene Aladdin makes it look good...

I ain't seen any cotton mouths in these parts, as far as I know. Some say we have them. I'm about 3 hours drive north east of Chattanooga. I'd rather tangle with the rattle snakes and copper heads then the cotton mouths.

 

[jason]

I think you did a great job. It looks good.

Does not look like I am getting any work done outside today. I'm in the red/orange area and it is moving towards the top right of the image.

 

[Roybrew]

Thank you Jason. That looks like a nasty storm in your area. My parents used to migrate from northern Michigan to just south of Tampa for the winters. My brother and I would go visit them in February. Wow was it nice there that time of year. They quit migrating there a few years back and moved here to Tennessee. Last camping trip I took with Dad was a few years back in late February, we camped at EG Simmons park just south of Tampa. We slept in a tent and he had one of those huge blow up air mattresses. We would fish off the piers late in the evening into the night. We had a great time. I've never been that far south in the summer months. I've heard dad say it gets miserably hot.

 

[Roybrew]

Did a rear brake job on my truck. Cost about 63 bucks for shoes and drum turning. I figured the money I saved from paying someone to do it, gets turned into camping gear, right?? So my hammock rain fly showed up today in the mail.

I'm to cheap, or tight as coworkers call me, to shell out 60 some bucks for the big name brand, but I may not use it but a few times a year. I'll try it out in next couple of days. All I know is that I am going nuts wanting to go camping. I usually don't start camping till the weather cools in October. I don't know how y'all stand it further south?

 

[Cappy]

Well I have always had a big AC on the popups and now mini camper I have owned.

Jason we have 2 paw paws and have for 3 or 4 years they do bloom but dont fruit for some reason or if they do the birds get them wen they are very small in several years of trying we have only managed 2 or 3 fruit one year.

 

[Cappy]

We are currently beginning to gear up for a road trip/ camping trip up to New York We pla to leave tween now and Thanksgiving we are waiting for word.

 

[Roybrew]

From Louisiana to NY long drive. Try to avoid between Chattanooga and Knoxville around the 21st of this month, it'll be a mess because of the eclipse. When you get 60 miles north of Knoxville, on interstate 81, that's my stomping grounds.

 

[Cappy]

Almost exactly 1500 miles lil more lil less pending on where we stay. The trip is not confirmed yet waiting on word from family up there its where Peggy is from.

 

[Roybrew]

Dad and I went out the other day chasing some fish. It was nice morning with temperatures in the mid 70s.

He managed to get this catfish in after a 3 minute fight

By noon the sun was high and it was getting hot. We had a good time, but we didn't bag any crappie. Maybe next week.

 

[jason]

Thank you Jason. That looks like a nasty storm in your area. My parents used to migrate from northern Michigan to just south of Tampa for the winters. My brother and I would go visit them in February. Wow was it nice there that time of year. They quit migrating there a few years back and moved here to Tennessee. Last camping trip I took with Dad was a few years back in late February, we camped at EG Simmons park just south of Tampa. We slept in a tent and he had one of those huge blow up air mattresses. We would fish off the piers late in the evening into the night. We had a great time. I've never been that far south in the summer months. I've heard dad say it gets miserably hot.

The winters here are mild. Typically in the 50's. Only a few times does it really get into the 20's at night. Summers can be hot. Typically in the 90's with feel like temps 100+ some days. Humidity in the 70% range, sometimes higher. We used to get rains in the afternoon you can set your clock to, that lasted maybe 10 minutes. Now it is hit and miss.

Overall I do not think it is that bad for being outdoors. You just have to go early or later in the day during the summer. Scenery here is a bit different, but it can be nice. I wouldn't mind a few hills or small mountains though.

 

[ppine]

I just returned from camping in the woods with my long lost cousins and my aunt over on the western slope of the Sierras. We were in a gorgeous mixed conifer forest of Doug fir, ppine, white fir, sugar pine and incense cedar. It was the hottest weather of the year. One night the low was 79 at 4,200 feet. The relatives were a blast and we will be meeting up again soon.

 

[ppine]

Got an email from my old room mate from Colorado. He has gone on to a career as a famous horse trainer, and he invited me to come visit out in Idaho near Ystone Park. The elk rut starts around Sept 20.