Good morning!!!!

[dave1949]

Why are there so many houses for sale in that small area?

They are running low on Yankees? :laughing:

Ya, I'd guess foreclosures have something to do with it.

 

[sixdogs]

Have house prices picked up in AZ recently?

 

[daugen]

wow, was tied up all day and just went through four whole pages. I'd better not go for more than a day.
Geez it's cold here, bone chilling cold. I believe it just tucked under 50, to a pipe threatening 49....
But going down like everyone else.

today was outside day and I sure got some exercise, in the low fifties. Cleared falldown wood out of the front woods near the driveway, carefully weaving in and out of trees and finding a path in and out.
And being very, very careful when backing up. I doubt that cab glass is very forgiving. I haven't learned the woods yet, so I went very slowly.

My teenage helper was here today so we worked together for about three hours, including firing up the Echo 600 with a 24 bar and getting the two largest cuts in a twenty five foot horizontal trunk of still living red oak. Once cut, I pushed the stump back into its hole to see if it will resprout as it had already done. I might have torn out a few too many roots today but time will tell. Farmer's field on the other side so no big rush. The big challenge is the tree went down on a barb wire fence that was nowhere in existence. Nor did I find it, luckily. I decided to quit while I was ahead; that's a heavy saw and the tip just went through the other side on the second cut; on the first the weight of the log brought the trunk down, straight down. Lucky. Didn't bind. Second cut not so lucky; even double cutting I got the saw stuck, so out came the fel and the deed was done. I took the two large double length pieces I cut and dumped them behind the barn, near the woodsplitter. I'll cut them up another day and split them with help.
Even going vertical with a log splitter is challenging with huge rounds. Lot of horsing heavy weight around; not exactly what I should be doing. Despite loving it. I can't wait to get that log splitter going.

When I called my elderly MIL tonight to check on her, very cold in PA where she is too, and she said the best thing to do with a big stump was put a table cloth on it and have a picnic.
What a fine idea. .

stay warm everyone. and safe. RS, nice to see the main supports of the Eiffel Tower getting worked on.

 

[deerseeker001]

0 degrees with win chill 15/20 below now. low tonight -17 with wind chill -35/-40.This morning ran to the store,got down the road stop at the stop sign there was a pack of coyotes in the middle of the Road smelling the road,must have been chasing something.

 

[dave1949]

6F headed to -1F tonight. Cloudy all day today. I think we bumped into 12F briefly around midday.

I haven't seen any deer tracks for the past several days. I think they are holed up in sheltered areas now.

Stay warm.

 

[deerseeker001]

the Deer usually crawl into the cedar Swamp where they are protected from the Wind.

 

[dave1949]

the Deer usually crawl into the cedar Swamp where they are protected from the Wind.

Every year but last winter there has been a deer snow trail coming from upland and headed toward some sheltered low areas at the back of our lot. There's no cedar swamp back there but there are some fairly tight gullies in good cover that the wind probably mostly passes over.

I don't know why the snow trail was missing last winter. They say deer movements are pretty habitual, moving through the same areas seasonally. Last fall the deer discovered the sedum plant in the garden that's been there 4-5 years now. They ate that down to a nubbin. It's a non-woody stem that dies completely back every year anyways but I'm wondering if they will be messing with it this summer.

This variety of sedum:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...V2ZifzzPJFZZho7NazN2KxFLop2naMsStAvStE_1HwUcJ

 

[murphy1244]

14 degrees and we are expecting a lot of lake effect snow tonight. Possible 6 to 12 inches.

 

[Larro Darro]

Drew, each tree has a best way to be cut. It sounds like the one you were working on might have been best to start on the top and work your way down. Something I have done is to cut about halfway though for several lengths, then undercut one all the way through. Once the pressure is off, you can finish the cuts. And I always leave stumps to rot in place. Time is the one thing I have plenty off.

Larro

 

[deerseeker001]

There will more food available come spring they break out of the deer yards go there separate ways,probably not touch your Garden.They came and ate my Brussel sprouts and celery,glad they had something to eat.

Every year but last winter there has been a deer snow trail coming from upland and headed toward some sheltered low areas at the back of our lot. There's no cedar swamp back there but there are some fairly tight gullies in good cover that the wind probably mostly passes over.

I don't know why the snow trail was missing last winter. They say deer movements are pretty habitual, moving through the same areas seasonally. Last fall the deer discovered the sedum plant in the garden that's been there 4-5 years now. They ate that down to a nubbin. It's a non-woody stem that dies completely back every year anyways but I'm wondering if they will be messing with it this summer.

This variety of sedum:
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...V2ZifzzPJFZZho7NazN2KxFLop2naMsStAvStE_1HwUcJ

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Sun City AZ Real Estate - 516 Homes For Sale - Zillow

:laughing:

I don't know if I'm quite ready for Sun City yet, but maybe the day will come. Close up the house for a couple months, head southwest. The HOA fees are cheaper than RV insurance.

Sun City is for snowbirds. Friends of mine used to live there for the winter, visited them there once. Most of the yards are manicured rocks. A few have grass, but it needs constant water.

 

[dave1949]

There will more food available come spring they break out of the deer yards go there separate ways,probably not touch your Garden.They came and ate my Brussel sprouts and celery,glad they had something to eat.

That sounds right. I see a deer track now and then in the garden over summer but they don't eat much. Just curious I guess.

I keep several dozen old volunteer apple trees going for the deer. They don't care how ugly, wormy or bitter the apples are. :laughing: We had lots of apples this year but the deer managed to clean them up pretty good. Moose will come for them too but not so persistent as the deer.

 

[rswyan]

wow, was tied up all day and just went through four whole pages. I'd better not go for more than a day.
Geez it's cold here, bone chilling cold. I believe it just tucked under 50, to a pipe threatening 49....
But going down like everyone else.

today was outside day and I sure got some exercise, in the low fifties. Cleared falldown wood out of the front woods near the driveway, carefully weaving in and out of trees and finding a path in and out.
And being very, very careful when backing up. I doubt that cab glass is very forgiving. I haven't learned the woods yet, so I went very slowly.

My teenage helper was here today so we worked together for about three hours, including firing up the Echo 600 with a 24 bar and getting the two largest cuts in a twenty five foot horizontal trunk of still living red oak. Once cut, I pushed the stump back into its hole to see if it will resprout as it had already done. I might have torn out a few too many roots today but time will tell. Farmer's field on the other side so no big rush. The big challenge is the tree went down on a barb wire fence that was nowhere in existence. Nor did I find it, luckily. I decided to quit while I was ahead; that's a heavy saw and the tip just went through the other side on the second cut; on the first the weight of the log brought the trunk down, straight down. Lucky. Didn't bind. Second cut not so lucky; even double cutting I got the saw stuck, so out came the fel and the deed was done. I took the two large double length pieces I cut and dumped them behind the barn, near the woodsplitter. I'll cut them up another day and split them with help.
Even going vertical with a log splitter is challenging with huge rounds. Lot of horsing heavy weight around; not exactly what I should be doing. Despite loving it. I can't wait to get that log splitter going.

When I called my elderly MIL tonight to check on her, very cold in PA where she is too, and she said the best thing to do with a big stump was put a table cloth on it and have a picnic.
What a fine idea. .

stay warm everyone. and safe.

Drew,

Sounds like you are having your own woodsman adventures

When I was over at Bobbi's yesterday I meansured the circumference of that one standing oak we have to take down - at 3' up I ran out of measuring tape at 10' ... looked to be short about 12" ... which would put the diameter somewhere around 42" ...

If so, I'll be two inches short of being able to cut through it with my current bar and chain.

RS, nice to see the main supports of the Eiffel Tower getting worked on.

You probably aren't far off on that ... version 1.0 of the logsplitter was started back around 10 years ago. I didn't really research what was being used all that closely, in terms of H-Beam ... but following U.B.'s advice, I went large ...

Since I still have the original pusher block - which was designed to fit on a 8" x 6 1/2" W28 beam - that's what I picked up again this time around. The top and bottom plates are around 3/8" thick and the web is over 1/4".

In terms of the frame, it's larger/heavier than the largest splitters Timberwolf makes (TW-5/TW-6)

I may need drop down landing gear just to load it ... :laughing:

 

[dave1949]

Sun City is for snowbirds. Friends of mine used to live there for the winter, visited them there once. Most of the yards are manicured rocks. A few have grass, but it needs constant water.

I don't believe I'd care for the Phoenix area year-round. In the early '80s I used to go to Honeywell's computer training school in Phoenix several weeks every year. It was near the intersection of Camelback and the Black Canyon Hwy. I haven't been there since 1988 so I doubt I'd recognize the place now. It was sprawling huge back then.

 

[deerseeker001]

Schools closed tomorrow because of dangerous Wind chills -40+sounds like a lot of the state of Wisconsin.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

1993 when I was there. Boy does time fly. Climbed squaw peak in the middle of town. Looking on a map, I think they renamed it maybe.

 

[murphy1244]

Must go to Amy's Bakery in Scottsdale there.. I heard it has good food.

 

[dave1949]

Schools closed tomorrow because of dangerous Wind chills -40+sounds like a lot of the state of Wisconsin.

Brrrr.

They were telling parents here to put their kids book bags by the road and the bus would wait for the kids to come out and get on the bus. I guess that works for some at least.

 

[RoyJackson]

2015-01-07, 0238

3 degrees right now...high today will be about 14.

Woke up a bit early this morning...

 

[wngsprd]

26 with a toasty 30 on the outlook for today...with gusts to 38mph, so a good day to keep the stove cranking.

All this talk of cutting oaks and building log splitters, I thought I'd share a couple of pix from yesterday. Cut a red oak down that died this past year. I was real pleased that I got it to fall between two young beech trees that I favor, and only hit one small dead poplar. I'm with you, Drew...I don't know of any log that feels heavier than a fresh cut red oak. I got a couple of loads out, and split, but I'm planning to tow my splitter back to the woods to finish off the largest logs.

Speaking of my splitter, it took 41 pulls yesterday to get it started after adding Sea Foam. Still not a fair test, since I didn't run it very long the day before when I added the Sea Foam. So yesterday I ran a full tank of gas with it, and hoping today will be the day when I get back to the original 2 or 3 pulls to start. I still have faith. Otherwise, I'll be buying one of the new rswyan Eiffel 3000 models.

Also, why I didn't swap chains before I got started, I just don't know. I guess I was trying to get a "few more miles" out of the dull one when I cut the tree down, and started cutting logs. Swapped to one I had just resharpened and was like cutting butter with a hot knife.

Keep warm.