The Shoot The Bull Thread

[jason]

Sounds like like you got a great farm going on. I think it's good for kids to grow up on a farm. I've never thought about the different pig breeds. I guess makes sense.

Going to try to finish the canoe strongback today then I be ready to start cutting strips, and forms. I love different woods. Going to try to mix them in and not have a specific pattern.

We are trying that is for sure. Just picked about six Seminole pumpkins last week. Have a few more waiting to rippen up. We have a strong cold snap coming through and might actually get a freeze, so that will kill those. Cannot complain too much as they took over the flower bed, and part of the lawn. Slowly been working a veggie garden, but had to build a composter real quick out of mostly scrap wood. We got stuck with about 12 cases of iceberg lettuce. The animals got a few cases before it started to mold. If I remember correctly the garden is about 10x100. So we should get some decent amount of veggies from it.

Then we also have all our fruit trees, berries and other edibles growing.

You will have to keep us updated on the canoe. Would love to see how it turns out.

...it hasn't been good in this neck of the woods either. We woke up to a warning signal from one of our nuclear plants - like, that's all we need. It was immediately rescinded and declared accidental. Accidental? Strange stuff we are experiencing folks - and no matter where you are on this globe, it's scary.

I heard about that on the news down here. Glad to hear it was an accidental message.

We are fine from the weather. We live very south and as usual thank God most of the bad stuff passes north of us through the center of the state. we have family there but all report they are ok

Glad to hear everyone was ok.

 

[jason]

So I did a thing Monday, although I did ask the wife first. I ordered some chickens and turkeys online. They were running a good price on their fry pan special. It costs me the same to order 15 chickens as it did 25, so I ordered 25. They state their fry pan special is:

Spoiler: Description

The Fry Pan Bargain is an economical way to raise delicious, fryer-sized meat chickens for yourself and your customers while enjoying a more active bird.

This all-rooster chick bargain may include one or more of the following breeds: Golden Buff, Rhode Island Red, Jersey Giant, Salmon Faverolles, Speckled Sussex, Marans, Welsummer, Black Australorp, Plymouth Rock, Orpington, Wyandotte, Buckeye, Dominique or any heavy breed rooster we offer. These roosters take longer to reach butchering size and won't be as large as the broilers, but good things come to those who wait.

Tuesday I got a confirmation that they shipped our chickens. Turkeys will start shipping around March. USPS said chickens should be here Thursday. This morning we get a call at 5:37 am. The post office said are chickens are here! Being that traffic is horrible this time of year with the snow birds down, I quickly headed out the door to pick them up. The ladies there were awesome. I felt bad because when I pulled up around the back entrance (they told me I could as the lobby doesn't open until 10am), there was a lady eating her "lunch" in her truck who asked if I was there for the chicks. She even helped the two ladies who where not on their lunch help get it setup so I can grab them. They all wanted to peak at them so I let them. Then I listened to them the whole way home chirping.

Once I got them home, my wife heard the chirping and had to get out of bed to check them out. We counted 28 birds altogether. No surprising as they do send a few extra in case some die along the way.

I quickly setup a temp home to get them out of the box and warm up. I wasn't expecting them to Thursday after all. They were squished in there.

After all that I grabbed a cup of coffee and went to the garage to setup a pen for them to live in until we can get them in the coop. Start going through all my scrap wood. After playing around and realized I just had way too many birds for what I had. I needed two sheets of plywood for a project I've been putting off for a while now (its just a well pump cover), so I ran over to Lowes. Came home and quickly built them a little home for them.

So far they are doing ok. All seem happy. Its a full 4x8 with two foot sides. Should be plenty of room for them to get big and get moved over in a month or two. Debating on moving some into a chicken tractor type coop when they are big enough and let them go crazy in the garden before I start planting in there. Might see if the wife's family wants to raise some too, or maybe sell some. So this is the Irish in me making a short story of I bought some chickens into a mini novel.

 

[Roybrew]

Been cutting strips for my canoe build. Not alot of time to devote, but I'm getting there. We have had alot of rain in this area, and it has been very warm for this time of year. Got normally cold yesterday now I wish it would just warm back up.

I was worried about the consistency of the strips when cutting them on my table saw. So I cut them a little over size and figured I'd just zip them through my planer, yeah that ain't going to well. First off any knots, grain difference or what ever the reason that planer will chew some strips into pieces, and it would shoot some pieces of strips out the input side! Maybe they to thin and bow to much under the pressure of the first roller? Either way it's a mess, and now I had to disassemble my planer because it was vibrating badly. I found the plastic impeller that sucked the shavings from the cutter head and blew them out had only one plastic blade left. This was throwing it off balance causing the vibration. I'm guessing I can use my shop vac in place of it. What sucks is I think my table saw was cutting very consistently, so I just made extra work for no reason uhn.

Other than that I am planing my April camping/fishing trip. Going to reserve an island campsite on Dale Hollow lake near the Kentucky border. Only 3 dollars a night, and we will have the island to our selves!

 

[Cappy]

Very busy time here its mardi gras week. oldest son Dil and 5 kids down for carnival picked a wheel barrow full of lemons and processed them yielding 6 gallons of juice took me and a friend all day and a fifth of whisky to get them all picked rinsed quartered peeled and pressed. Having a ball with thekids and they all just went off to see the sights s
leaving me and Peg to cook a big pot of gumbo and have some time to clean and pick up while they gone. I was hoping to fire up my fire pit and do the weenie marshmallow thing but they giving clouds and rain all week. not sure what but it will be fun and I will let yall know

 

[jason]

So my sons football team made the playoffs. His final game is tonight. Coach said if they win tonight they are champs, but they are playing a good team. Full team of 12 all in 2nd grade who play together all year. We already have one kid sick on our team of 8, and we need 6 to play, to hope all show up tonight.

Last week the wife brought home a puppy. I guess it is a present for birthday later in the year and valentines day. He is a basset hound, and has the voice to go along with it. Loves to cuddle up next to you. And to top it off, my parents are on vacation, so we have their two dogs too. Making getting work done at the computer pretty hard right now.

After a week in the high 70's and low 80's we are finally getting a weekend of "cold". High in the 50's today, and the 60's tomorrow. Guess no more swimming for the kids this week. Looks like next week we may get another cold snap next weekend too.

 

[Cappy]

cute puppy and ya gotta love their voices. When we got our lil powder puff bichon puppy the only other dogs in the hood was a gang of beagles a neighbor down the street had for hunting. They would bark that hound barooooooooooo and our lil dog learned it from them. It was endearingly cute to hear the lil pup bark with the hound dog drawl.

 

[Northern Dancer]

Oh...man - I miss my dog Reese so much. Reese went on every camping trip [all seasons], every hike, every canoe trip and just about every outdoor adventure with me for years. Well trained and equipped he brought in a whole different dimension to my outdoor experience.

Congrats - have lots of adventures!

​

 

[Grandpa]

Nothing like our fur friends on outings.

 

[Roybrew]

I sure miss having a dog. My neighbor had a Shepard that we would play with when she'd come down the hill. We kept wondering why there was water splashed out everywhere by the fountain outside, and the one day I saw her come bounding down the hill and jump in it splashing around. And then she would take off like she was never there.

Past week here has been rainy with lows at night upper 30s and highs 50. We did have some snow yesterday that turned the tops of the mountains white.

Been a long week working on the Subaru. It had a valve cover gasket leaking and the timing belt needed replacing. Them style engines is new to me. Sort of a flat 4 cylinder like the old Volkswagen. Took me several afternoons, but doing the work myself saved several $$.

Wife and I are planning to run the outer Banks in North Carolina next month. Start in Oracoke and head north. We never been there before. Going to take tent and stuff, and maybe camp a night or 2, depending on weather. Looking forward to seeing the coast line. I guess it's been 12 or so years since I've been to the ocean.

I'm hoping to get a little work done on my canoe project this coming week.

 

[Roybrew]

I'm still working on my canoe build. I spend more time scratching my head, drinking coffee and checking my setups then I do working.

Got all my strips cut. This is just a few of them. I have maybe 2,000 linear feet, and I estimate 10 to 15 percent will be unusable, wood stove fuel, so I should have enough, but if I don't I can make some more.

 

[Roybrew]

I had to make a couple extra feather boards for my router table. One I threw together and the other one I put a little more effort in it. I just finished putting a bead cut on all the strips, and I'm ready to change the router bit to do the cove on the other side. It's nice when I can run to the basement wearing my slippers, and work on it for an hour or so. I've got 2 shop vacs setup for dust and chip removal and they both have a filter. I even wear a dust mask when cutting the wood. I had a bad allergy attack when I was cutting the strips. I was outside and figured there was no need to wear a dust mask. Boy was I mistaken! When got to work, a couple of hours later, I started having sneezing fits and my nose poured almost all night. It was horrible. Little at a time as long as it's progress.

 

[jason]

Been feeling lethargic this week. Not really sure why. Started to hand till the garden and decided instead to build a chicken tractor and let the meat chickens do it. Got it about 90% done. Have to get it done this weekend as we get our turkeys next week and I want to move the new meat birds into the meat coop.

 

[Roybrew]

A chicken tractor? Maybe I'm missing something.

I had a large side load King wood stove in the basement, and I sold it. It was way to big and I just didn't use it. I also have a Warm Morning stove that I got hooked up today. I like the smaller butt warming stoves.

 

[jason]

A chicken tractor? Maybe I'm missing something.

Fancy name for a coop that you can move. Most people go smaller, but I plan to expand it for the turkey's after the garden hopefully gets tilled up by the chickens. Some people move the coops daily to eat weeds in their grass. Another useless bit of info, is people are now crushing up natural lump charcoal and putting it in the runs to make biochar which is really good for growing plants. Anyway, here is my cheap tractor.

 

[Cappy]

Been thinking about trying one of those movable coops for years now. Came close to picking one up at tractor supply a while back it was well designed room for 4 nests well thought out and I thought 350 wasn't a bad price for it. Well built with nesting house sleeping perch roost ladder and shelf for feeders and watering. Only thing stopping me Is it would tie us down. Now that we are retired we love to go camping for a week or 2 at a time and the coop would need care.

 

[Roybrew]

That's interesting and makes sense. Mom used to bake and crush up egg shells and mix them in with the chicken pellets. I can't remember exactly why, but I think she said it makes the egg shells harder? We used to get some large double yokers. If it wasn't for moms eggs and the cheap flour from the local mill, my wife and I would've starved. We ate lots of biscuits and eggs.

Wife and I jumped in and cut the beech tree down. We didn't really want to but it was in a bad bad spot. Lots of firewood and unfortunately brush to haul off.

 

[jason]

That's interesting and makes sense. Mom used to bake and crush up egg shells and mix them in with the chicken pellets. I can't remember exactly why, but I think she said it makes the egg shells harder? We used to get some large double yokers. If it wasn't for moms eggs and the cheap flour from the local mill, my wife and I would've starved. We ate lots of biscuits and eggs.

Never re-used egg shells for that, but I have added oyster shells to their feed. Oyster shells help build thicker/stronger shells when they lay them. I would guess the egg shells was doing the same thing. I've been joking with the Corona Virus that I don't need to stock pile food. Between our meat birds and the eggs we get I could live out the year without needing buy food. Sadly however, I don't think our peach tree is coming back.

 

[jason]

Got the call again this morning about 5 am. Didn't get any pictures of the ride or the box, but maybe I can re-create them. But we got our turkeys. Eight to be exact. Got them setup this morning in the garage with food, water and heat. They are surplus birds again, so not sure what I got but expecting broad breasted white turkeys.

 

[Cappy]

Awwwww jsut let em grow and see what ya get its fun that way.

Got the front yard mowed and took care of the loquat plums are ripening and if they make it another week or so with no frost we will have a good haul. I was surprised to see a naner flower. It has been 3 years sine we had one. They take 2 years to mature to flower and we have had 3 hard winters in a row with bad freezes. The trees grow back every year but this is first time they make it through the winter without freezing in a long time. If only it dont freeze it has got a early start and we are thrilled and excited to see it growing and maybe making a bunch of bananas.I left the fenced in back yard tall and uncut cause it is fill of clover and wild flowers and buzzing with bees

 

[jason]

Mmm..... loquats. Haven't had any in a while. Have you tried growing your banana tree under the canopy of another tree? It is supposed to help keep the smaller tree warmer during the freezes. I grow mine under a big oak tree and they seem to love it. Lots of fertilizer though as they are hungry plants.