Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 56F @ 7:15AM. Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 81F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. No rain in the 10-day, and it looks like temps will be pushing close to 100F by the end of the period.

I still remember the long lines for the polio vaccine when I was a kid, and how happy everyone seemed to be about taking it. It's really a shame that the whole CoVid-19 thing has been so full of politics and deceit, and that people are suspicious and afraid as a result.

I wish I'd gotten a heads up on how long it would take the Social Security folks to issue the Medicare number. The brochures I read were clear about when the window opened and closed, making it seem like there would be no harm in putting off applying. Unfortunately there was no mention of when my current insurance would end, and looking back I should have asked about that much sooner than I did. But it is what it is. I spoke to a buddy last night that went through a similar situation last year when he signed up, and he ended up getting insurance through a COBRA provision. It was his original insurance, but he had to pay all of the premium. So that's what I'll focus on next week.

The fence charger showed up in the mail Friday, so yesterday morning I pounded in a half dozen T-stakes and wired up a four strand fence. I'd never done anything like that, and it turned out to be pretty easy. The charger has a little solar panel on it, and while mounting it to one of the posts, I could hear a clicking noise inside it. It stopped with I pushed the on/off button, making me think that just the power from the sun is enough to run it during the daytime. That should leave plenty of juice to charge the battery. I picked up a fence tester at HD, but the flash from it is so weak I can barely see it. And that was when I connected it directly across the output terminals of the charger. So I'll get a three dollar refund, and go shopping for something better. A young doe was watching me as I worked, snorting her displeasure at fencing off one of her favorite sleeping spots. We'll see how long it takes her and her pals to figure out there's just enough room to jump the fence and not hit the panels. The game begins...

Got the oak stump out, but had to dig down another couple feet to do it. Tried to lift it out with the backhoe and thumb, but the hoe wasn't strong enough. Ended up dragging it out with a chain on the bucket, then later learned I could lift it with the FEL. That puts the weight of the stump at something less than just shy of two tons, and I could tell by the way the front end squatted and the rear end picked up that I wouldn't want to go very far with that thing in the bucket.

After that I headed up the hill and made a start on the terrace. I backed the tractor all the way up there to avoid having to turn around on the hill. The area around the stump was at about a ten degree slope, and I could feel the tractor getting tippy there. I've seen twenty-two degrees at the terrace, so I was being extra careful. I set the tractor at about a forty-five degree angle on the slope, and did notice the uphill stabilizer lifting if I extended the hoe too far when swinging to the downhill side. That's probably due to the stabilizer arms being a bit too short; they barely extend beyond the rear wheel track. I got down a couple feet in about a 4'x8' area, enough to figure out getting a level bottom isn't as easy as a good operator makes it look. I dumped the spoils on the down side of the cut, but need a better plan unless I want to keep moving the same dirt over again as the size of the terrace grows down hill. By then it was dinner time anyway, but that's about all I have planned for today. That, and putting the 24" bucket back on the backhoe, which should be pretty easy if I can remember how the quick attach works.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend.

 

[LouNY]

Morning RNG;
Just a comment on your electric fence.
It looks to me like you have insulators on every strand,
did you make all 4 strands hot or is every other one tied to ground.
In your extremely dry climate and dry ground an electric fence will not get a good enough "ground"
though the critters hair and hoofs to shock them.
If some of the strands are tied to ground when they get into contact with one hot and one ground the fencer
will zap them.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

If some of the strands are tied to ground when they get into contact with one hot and one ground the fencer will zap them.

Thanks, Lou. I was more than a little disappointed that the fence charger didn't come with any instructions, other than a small sheet diagramming how the fence should be strung. It showed how strands should be alternated between positive and negative connections to the charger, though, so I started with a positive lead on the bottom and ended up with a negative one on the top. I also used a poly line that has fine strands of wire woven through it. That substantially decreases the contact area, and made for a fun job of teasing out the metal to get a connection. Then I noticed that the plastic insulators were slippery enough that the lines were sliding off as it went around the corner, allowing them to short out on the T-stakes. A brief kiss from a cutoff wheel in a battery powered angle grinder fixed that problem.

I still don't know how much of a kick the charger puts out. It's rated at 3 Joules, which doesn't sound like a lot, but reviews from those that have grabbed the lines say it's not a pleasant experience. It'll be warm enough later that the deer will try to test it, so we'll see what happens. One of the security cams looks right at it, so I might have some video to share later...

 

[LouNY]

Thanks, Lou. I was more than a little disappointed that the fence charger didn't come with any instructions, other than a small sheet diagramming how the fence should be strung. It showed how strands should be alternated between positive and negative connections to the charger, though, so I started with a positive lead on the bottom and ended up with a negative one on the top. I also used a poly line that has fine strands of wire woven through it. That substantially decreases the contact area, and made for a fun job of teasing out the metal to get a connection. Then I noticed that the plastic insulators were slippery enough that the lines were sliding off as it went around the corner, allowing them to short out on the T-stakes. A brief kiss from a cutoff wheel in a battery powered angle grinder fixed that problem.

I still don't know how much of a kick the charger puts out. It's rated at 3 Joules, which doesn't sound like a lot, but reviews from those that have grabbed the lines say it's not a pleasant experience. It'll be warm enough later that the deer will try to test it, so we'll see what happens. One of the security cams looks right at it, so I might have some video to share later...

We run a lot of electric fence on the farm. Fortunately for us our ground has a lot more moisture in it most of the time.
Because of weed growth our bottom strand is a ground strand which does not get insulators, then the 2nd and 4th stands up are hot
with the 3rd grounded. The grounded leads are joined in several locations and there are a few ground rods situated in places as well as next to the fencers. For many of our inside corners we use insulator tied close to the cornerpost with plastic baler twine, plastic tie wraps would work well.
Similar to these; Corner Post: Yellow < Electric Fence Insulators | Zareba.
Good luck

 

[sodamo]

70°F and .08 inches rain. Sunny

Hope to get some Sheetrock hung on ceiling today.

Need to make a dump run. Go into Hilo and pickup prescription at Walmart.

And mow the dgs area.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[sodamo]

Having two tractors also means you'll be having twice the maintenance to do, and twice the repairs, too. That may be some consolation for you, David. I for one am very happy to be back to only one tractor.

Good point.

Wondering, how many tractors can I maintain for time RNG spends on his Van?

 

[Looking4new]

If you really have a good heart and want to check the zap from your electric fence, grab the hot and ground at the same time. Or you could get someone you don't like too much to P on it.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Wondering, how many tractors can I maintain for time RNG spends on his Van?

The idea in the beginning was that RNG wouldn't be spending any time on the van; most of the work was supposed to be hired out. We know how well that worked out, and I wouldn't recommend it for tractors, either. In fact, the last trip the old tractor made to the Kubota dealer took nearly four months to finish.

 

[txdon]

David made me laugh already with his "good point" post!

Good afternoon! 71˚F cloudy itty bitty showers today maybe a few hundredths.

Buckeye I hope you didn't loose too much sleep on the magnet post, I did not. People will believe whatever fits their agenda even with overwhelming documentation and evidence to the opposite.

Our church had it's first day without the mask requirement. About a tenth still wore mask.

HEB still had their mask requirement sign up which included false outdated information trying to justify it. Their office got an e-mail from me.

Grass needs mowing every 4 days with the rains.

 

[daugen]

after finishing two hour special zoom meeting on reopening the church,
I am ready for some fresh air. Am curious to see if more cicadas have popped up.

had some upset with tenant in house next door who turned out to be a middle aged hippy-dippy who wanted to feed the butterflies and was
worried about the declining bee habitat, etc etc and since her mower was broken anyway she thought she'd have a nice meadow.
Now there is a seriously bad idea. Lawn still hasn't been mowed at all, and it's a mess.
She is a back to nature type with the big flowing robes and pretty clueless.
But thankfully asked me if the meadow bothered me and boy was I ready to tell her point blank
and to her face that it did. Everyone's lawn around here is tended, this is just not a back to nature spot.
I tried to be helpful by suggesting some butterfly bushes and planting those pollinator mixtures in a garden plot in the rear.
But she can't just not mow her lawn.

Well, at 7:30am on a Sunday morning she's out there with a push mower making a mess of things and of course runs out of gas.
She gets points for trying though...
Looks like with my new mower coming in I may be doing that place out of self preservation.

tall grass here attracts two very undesirable critters, snakes and ticks.
And now with the cicadas all over the place, the snakes will seek them out and in particular
the copperheads. So let's grow some tall grass to hide venomous snakes in your back yard.
Sigh.
And she must have thought I was anti nature as there was some articles printed out on my picnic bench this morning
describing the issues with pollination and bee habitats, which I am very familiar with. I used to grow all kinds of pollinator mixtures
on the farm.
Tomorrow I will go get three butterfly bushes and plant them along the common property line. Should accomplish two things.
One attract all the right insects and two block the sight of neighbor's poorly mowed lawn...