Good morning!!!!

[txdon]

Spent the weekend cleaning up the front yard with the hand rake. What a mess the winter winds caused. Steady rain and wet conditions next few days. At least it is warmish. View attachment 599417

Phil, I love the rock pile. Do you have a project in mind for them or is that the edge of a finished project?


Buckeye, I will soon have enough golf balls to make a compass rose, if allowed by the CA.

A refreshing morning at 58 ˚F after three inches of cleansing rain this weekend to sweep the oak pollen out of the air.

Need to homestead the house for a tax break today and try to locate my wood shop mentor. Like the tractor guy the wood shop guy is a challenge to get get hold of even though I have his e-mail and phone number. Unless you have a completed training star on your name badge you cannot operate the machines. This weeks schedule remains open to locate him and get checked off on the machines.

Construction in the new neighborhood areas continue there are now 7995 homes in our little community. (That's about 500 widows Drew if you strike out there). The new section which require new trail development opens in a few months as the streets are being paved now.

 

[CWB Wyo]

The low looks to be 34° this morning. Yesterday was in the low 50's with a cold wind and partly cloudy skies. They are saying that today will be the warmest day so far this season with a high around 60°. With partly cloudy skies and a 15-25 mph wind. It looks like it's going back in the mid 30's at the end of the week with a chance of more snow.

Didn't do much yesterday went for a short drive up to the reservoir. It still mostly frozen over with quite a bit more snow.

WCD ... Welcome

Hope everyone get a good start to the week.
CWB.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 42, going up to 68 and sunny. A similar day for tomorrow, then the rest of the week goes to heck... Possible 65 mph winds on Wednesday, temps dropping into the 40's for highs through the weekend, and a chance of snow on Saturday......WHAT ? ? ?

Got a bunch of seat time on the tractor yesterday. A neighbor bought an old Kubota L260. It's beat, but works. He has a blade, I have a box blade .....So we both got to try and fix the worst part of the road. It took me a few passes, but I was able to break up the hard packed stone. Surprisingly, there was a lot more stone left in the road than expected. My neighbor got it graded out behind me so it was nice and flat for my next pass. After a few times of doing this, it started to look like a road again instead of a wagon trail!

Then, I decided to tackle the dirt "berm" that has built up over the years from the wind. It causes fine silt / dirt to fall out on the backside, dumping onto the road. The new owner of the property where all this dirt blows from "wants it back", not in a bad way, but he realizes that his property is causing the problem and is trying to make it easier for us. We can just dump it back over the fence, he'll pick it up / move it from there.

I'll get some pics today. Too tired yesterday to walk back out there last evening. Going to try and get a bit more of the dirt moved today before the wind comes back.

RNG, I hope you get the driveline vibration isolated. BTDT ! Sometimes seems like chasing a ghost!

Rick, nice pics! I wish it was that green here! We just have a few weeds popping up. We could use some rain for sure!

Drew, enjoy your peaceful planting of seeds... Soon to be over... Then just all the pickin'.... :thumbsup::drink:

Everyone have a great start to the week! Prayers sent

 

[buckeyefarmer]

58 degrees this morning. Birds singing in overdrive. If you listen you can pick out a dozen different songs going all at once.
View attachment 599420

How is the orchard doing? Any more progress on the house?

 

[JMKleinBBK]

It's not too terrible. First time out here I did 2 months now that was hectic. It takes me, without stops mind you, 12 hours to get to and from. So you're looking at around 13.5 with stops. When I come out here I drive it straight. Going home I'll typically leave after shift and drive till I can't do it safely anymore then stop and get a cheap motel. Sleep a few, then wake up early to finish the drive.

Those last couple of days must seem LOOONG after working for a month away from home. I am assuming that you drive to and from work. How long does it take you drive across Texas back to La?
I saw in the forecast this morning that Roswell was suposed to get up to 92 today....way too hot this early.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Good morning everyone! 54 here in SE NM with a high of 88. 2 more days and I'll be back home for a month where the wife says it hasn't stopped raining. BOOOOO! Not looking forward to that but definitely missing her and the kids. Stay safe and have a great day!

One heck of a commute....

 

[JMKleinBBK]

Company pays $0.54 a mile so the drive is actually profitable. But the drive itself sucks.

One heck of a commute....

 

[jbrumberg]

Good Morning Everyone!!!

A rainy, foggy 41ºF as today's low, 46ºF with rain showers presently, and it will not get much more warmer with shower activity later.

Drew- Good luck with the Beaufort Blackwidow Spider experience. The females usually eat their suitors I think survival depends on the males method of approach. I hope things work out.

Bruce- I am more frustrated about my current state of inaction on all the ongoing projects around here and I really can not safely drive Wifey's Forester. I really do not know if I was that stupid, but over the weekend I started walking around outside checking the treework, etc. and walked ~.25 mile on the soft and uneven ground, The crutch sinking into the ground may have stretched the knee. I discovered that I can not safely get on the tractor, more importantly I could not bail if a pucker moment became a skid marks on the undies event. Maybe it was the 2 hours in the car Saturday. Maybe I am overdoing the PT exercises. I'll know more later at PT today. In theory I may be weaned off the T-ROM brace Friday after the orthopedic examination.

Rick- Your property would put a lot of public parks to shame. Thanks for sharing.

Phil- Thanks for sharing your property picture a nice place. It looks like you are up in the Worcester Hills. I can see all kinds of wind/ice/snow damage from my windows.

"Compact tractors and sledgehammers are not a good mix."- RonJH. Not an ideal way to �ine tune attachment adjustments.

WoodChuckDad- Welcome to GM and thank you for sharing a piece of your world. I love the beauty of the Virginia mountains.

JM- I hope you have a safe return home to the Wife and kids.

I hope that everyone has a decent start to the workweek.

My + thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

 

[ronjhall]

Are EMS people hard to employ in SE NM?

 

[lostcreekranch]

Congrats, anyone but UConn and ND.
Could be a banner year for TX basketball. As jaded as it sounds, being from NC and being a UNC basketball fan, I’m use to NCAA championships. It would sure be special if the Red Raiders won it.

College basketball programs have improved a lot in Texas over last ten years. You'll be hearing from the Baylor Ladies again, same for Texas Tech and my Houston Cougars .... on men's side.

 

[JMKleinBBK]

JB thank you very much!

Ron I'm not sure. I do industrial and the company I sub for is based out of La. We are doing work for XTO (Exxon). Medics in the industrial setting, especially land based, is fairly new. I know my company looked for locals but couldn't find any.

 

[LouNY]

I now believe I know why we saw no goldfinches this Winter. Flocks have been decimated by a very contagious eye disease.

I noticed this in your post the other day, I have had several all winter with more showing up recently, took this Sunday had 8 Finches between the 3 feeders;


Best wishes to all and a good Monday,
Almost 50F this morning, raining and windy.
Things had been starting to dry out and tighten up, now back to slop and mud .

 

[cat fever]

Good morning all,

First off, Rick your place is simply beautiful. :thumbsup:

37 this morning and mostly clear. Looks like it'll get up to 50-55 today. I can see some bare ground in the pasture now.

Prayers for all, have a nice day.

 

[jbrumberg]

Lou- The last week of the "Backyard Bird Count" there was a request for those participating to look for signs of eye disease with goldfinches.

I also forgot to post about your mud and driveway challenges. A common experience for homeowners with gravel/stone driveways where ground really freezes down 4'. I contracted out the driveway work. They took out 175 yards of mud/silt/clay/rocks and replaced it with 180 yards of ballast rock, geotextile material, gravel, topped with crusher run. After 15 years it needs re-topping, but the mud slides and ruts are history.

 

[lostcreekranch]

It was 63°F this morning and should get to 84°F this afternoon and sunny with no rain. Looks like we'll have five days of similar, then thunderstorms next weekend.

Took a pasture tour yesterday, after the storms, and I've lots of sticks to pick up but, no major limbs or trees.

Ron, the horses and donkeys have their own 20 acre pasture, on east side of the ranch and a four stall barn with two tack rooms and covered turnouts.

Before picture of the pasture side;



After a major tree trimming last year;



Everyone have a great week!

Prayers to all.

 

[toppop52]

College basketball programs have improved a lot in Texas over last ten years. You'll be hearing from the Baylor Ladies again, same for Texas Tech and my Houston Cougars .... on men's side.

My son is still mad at Mack Brown for leaving Carolina for Texas! LOL

 

[LouNY]

Lou- The last week of the "Backyard Bird Count" there was a request for those participating to look for signs of eye disease with goldfinches.

I also forgot to post about your mud and driveway challenges. A common experience for homeowners with gravel/stone driveways where ground really freezes down 4'. I contracted out the driveway work. They took out 175 yards of mud/silt/clay/rocks and replaced it with 180 yards of ballast rock, geotextile material, gravel, topped with crusher run. After 15 years it needs re-topping, but the mud slides and ruts are history.

What were they looking for in the finches?
I would assume you had to check them out with binoculars?

I had talked a few years ago with a couple of contractors about doing the same work.
They didn't want to do the work for a couple of reasons,
the driveway is so steep that crusher run even with lots of stone dust will not stay locked in place and turns into loose marbles.
Also the top would have had to be 12 to inches of compacted gravel not to move on the geo tex fabric.
I laid fabric in a couple of bad spots 10-15 years ago but only put 6-8 inches of gravel on it, it was uncovered in a couple of years.
What I have to do is keep as good of drainage on the high side as I can and keep adding fines to replace what the rains remove
and gravel to replace what the snow blades remove. I haven't added gravel in a couple of years looking this weekend it looks like maybe 10 or so triaxle loads are needed this summer.
Steep long driveways in this area are so much fun.

 

[sodamo]

67°F and .30 inches rain.
More mowing today.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[txdon]

Jay, I think the pharmaceutical companies and the meat industry have gotten together to combat people who want to eat healthy they now are trying to make a psych diagnosis of Orthorexia. From a professional point of view, what do you think of this?
Is Orthorexia a Real Eating Disorder? | NutritionFacts.org

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Threw this together for another forum:



And nope, it's still not done!:laughing: