Good morning!!!!

[rswyan]

I cut this down a week or two ago. Mom and I planted it back in the '70's ... it was supposed to be a small juniper shrub ... it ended up probably close to 30' tall.

Turned out it was apparently an eastern red cedar (which is actually not a cedar but a type of juniper):

The birds loved it ... but it was constantly dropping it's foliage onto the AC unit and the roof (and from there into the gutters) ... so it had to go ...

 

[rswyan]

Retaining wall (left) after removal:

It was made from 6 x 6 PT and the guys that installed it didn't do a very good job tying it back into what it was retaining (was leaning) ... and it had some rot in some of the timbers ... some of the PT may be salvageable/reuseable for something or another. Hafta check it out.

The area where the wall is now sitting used to covered by a deck (to the left) ... which was another sub-par job by idjits who had no pride in their work), and a planting bed (to the right)

 

[rswyan]

This is where the retaining wall was before I removed it:

Not really sure what I'm going to do with it ... but if I put a retaining wall back in, it will be stone or landscape block ... not wood.

Might just fill it, grade it, and seed it for lawn tho' ...

 

[Eric Salop]

If we are lucky we may get some sunshine later in the day. At 9:00 am it is cloudy with a wind making it feel much cooler than the 8C/46F showing on the thermometer.

When I first got this land there was a string of private electricity poles crossing that once provided power from the adjacent creamery plant to a distant water pumping station, both now long defunct. Within a couple of weeks the owner had the poles cut off at chest height and took them away, along with the precious copper wire. I have taken a few of the poles up since then and used them for gate posts and thought it was time to do something about the others that are still in the middle of fields, making any operation with a tractor that bit more awkward.

I put a hole down the side of each post with a spade to help ease them out intact with the 4-in-1. Does your mind ever drift when you do something simple and repetitive ? My certainly does, by the time I realised what I was doing I had almost dug one completely out by hand.



Never cease to be surprised what I find when digging holes. This one threw up a hand chiselled chunk of stone.




Well, at least there were no snakes to worry about. Got get those snake boots Don before you don't live to regret it. Do they only strike below the knee ?

 

[dave1949]

51F. Cloudy and upper 60's today.

The area 4H Club is having a manure sale this morning. Half&half horse and cow with bedding shavings and somewhat composted. I hope they have a tractor that will reach over the sides of my truck but I'll get the bags if not. It's an annual fund raiser activity.

Picked up some smaller rocks yesterday and my back is good this morning. Maybe I got carried away this spring and didn't give it enough time to limber up.

RS I would choose grading that out a bit where the retaining wall was and call it good. From the pick it doesn't look like a retainer is really needed. One less thing to mow and trim around.

Eric who knows what all is buried in the your country? Has to be some interesting stuff in many places.

 

[ronjhall]

Coffee is brewing. 59° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 74° with chance of showers and thunderstorms. Did not cut lawn. Back on list for today. Started a project yesterday trying to find a leak in the garden pond. Need to hand dig up top filter and it's feed line. Hope I find it on first dig.
txdon, snakes. If you had a Smartphone you would always have a camera with you. :thumbsup:
RS, lots of work for the tractor. Place looks nice.
Eric, You cannot dig a hole around my place without getting a wheelbarrow full of rocks.
Good Morning All.

 

[RoyJackson]

2015-05-16, 0623

51 and sprinkling outside. High today will be 75 and a chance of thunderstorms... Doubt if I mow this weekend.
Chores today...nothing pressing, but I'd like to get the 3PH components on the Deere. I was missing a couple pins, which I picked up yesterday. I'd also liked to have started work on the dolly for the snow blower, but between the house payment and the tax installment, not much left over for what I need for materials.

 

[KevT]

63 and headed to 90. Our 80% chance of rain is now 20. Looks like I will be buying hay for awhile. Good Morning Everyone!!! I should of never taken my wife to the horse auction, today she wants to go back to GA for a tack auction. Looks like I will be buying saddles today instead of burning tree piles.

 

[KevT]

51F. The area 4H Club is having a manure sale this morning. Half&half horse and cow with bedding shavings and somewhat composted. I hope they have a tractor that will reach over the sides of my truck but I'll get the bags if not. It's an annual fund raiser activity.

Wow, I wish they did that down here. I get a good price from one of the Dairies ($45 a dump truck) but it would be nice to support a youth group like 4-H or FFA

 

[bakerg]

Good morning, 66F withe a chance of rain, heading towards 77F. Birthday dinner went great last night, good meal ,good conversatons. All getting together again tonight for a 30th birthday party for my daughter inlaw.

 

[Buppies]

Gary happy belated birthday!!!
63 this morning high of 80 later today with thunderstorms later more tomorrow and Monday too

 

[dave1949]

Wow, I wish they did that down here. I get a good price from one of the Dairies ($45 a dump truck) but it would be nice to support a youth group like 4-H or FFA

$3 a bag, $15 for a tractor bucket full. Don't know how big the bags are, they said two tractor scoops fills a regular pickup. Not exactly cheap but the 4H Club (Giddy-Up & Go) is working on paying for an outing to a horse event: Equine Affair in Springfield, MA in November. Got to support our ambitious youths.

 

[sseelhoff]

Morning, all. 70s and heavy overcast this morning. Finishing off the turkey coop this morning, then off to Callahan's in Austin to buy the turkey chicks. Still torn on what to get. They have five varieties of chicks.

Need to mow, but it is still very wet. More rain possible today, and 60% chance tomorrow. And Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday...

 

[Thomas]

53F showers just about done high low 70's.
Not all that much plan for today,purchase veggie plants order 6 cords of wood and do some puttering.
May flowers taken over small field,makes it look like 3" fresh fallen snow.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[Larro Darro]

Good Morning. 0755, sunny, 73F with 88% humidity. Forecast high of 84F with 50% chance of thunderstorms this afternoon, and a low of 70F tonight. I have a little bridal shower at work today. But need to get to the garden to pick squash before I hit the shower. I got another pretty good thundershower yesterday, but managed to mow the front yard {up close to the house} before it hit. If we had about a week of these 1/4" showers it wouldn't break my heart.

Don, are you saying you can't kill the timber rattler out your way? One summer there were 8-10 eastern diamondbacks killed with a 1/4 mile of my crossroad. Since then it is only two or three a year. We don't get the really big ones anywhere there are people about. Now days even the big tracts of timber are leased out to hunt clubs, so there isn't many places they can grow undisturbed long enough to reach 6-7' like when I was a kid.

Hope everyone has a good weekend,

Larro

 

[daugen]

laws or not, if I see a poisonous snake I'm going to ask forgiveness instead of permission...

had a fine outing this morning, good trip to Lowes, got some dirt in the pickup bed which it surely needed.
Though Dave...you dump raw manure into the bed of your pickup?
what does that smell like on a hot summer day?
unlikely to be your go to dinner truck...

Don, seems that water is bringing out critters you may not have seen before. Habitats flooded, critters on the move.
I can see why one carries a gun in your area. It's a jungle out there...
I'll stick with my cute little geckos thank you.

went to the Sat morning farmer's market down by the river. Gorgeous day, maybe a dozen stands, local strawberries overflowing baskets, home made baked goods, a couple of local church booths, home made soaps. And best of all, after I snagged some strawberries and a black walnut loaf cake, there was a gardening booth where I picked up some helpful info.

And was told fruit trees "don't do well here"... lovely. Uh, why? Too hot and too many bugs.
Ok, well I can't help the heat, but I sure can spray, and will, with Uncle Bob's organic three way bug and disease spray, plus neem oil. My trees hadn't been in the ground a month when they started getting aliens on their leaves. Red mites, scale of some kind, all of which were effectively killed after the last spray. But now I see a few more newly infected trees.
Time to fill the big sprayer I guess and make a weekly run if I have to. So far, I have three apples showing. Three...
Guess it's also time I started wearing a mask while spraying; hard not to get some back in your face when the breeze picks up the fine spray. I am ready to go nonorganic if I have to, but am hoping that six or seven sprays should do it.
i remember five growing up. Probably all of them toxic by today's standards.

have a great Saturday. Just had a cup of coffee and a slice of that walnut cake.
yum
time to go work that off

 

[RedNeckGeek]

52F this morning headed for a high of 76F under partly cloudy skies with light wind later in the day. Hopefully not too windy as it'll be warm enough and dry enough to shoot some paint this afternoon, and I'd like to get that job finished so the FEL can go back on the tractor.

Gary, happy belated birthday. May you have many more!

Don, do they make hip wader snake boots? A rattler that size would seem to require a pair for adequate protection. :laughing: Consider carrying a shovel in the golf cart from here on out; they're deadly on snakes and make short work of burying the evidence of your civil disobedience.

Eric, digging holes around here, one's mind never has a chance to wander beyond the cursed rocks that lay just below the surface. I've found everything from fist size to washing machine size, almost too big to move with the tractor. The poor fella that installed the post for the satellite dish had to come back with one of those electric jack hammers before he could finish his work, and I ended up with one to complete a fence project a few years ago. There are three car sized piles of rock located equidistant around the property so I'm never far from an easy place to dump a newly discovered one. Each winter's rain brings a new crop to the surface, which I collect before starting the year's mowing. But don't get me started on rocks...

Ron, good luck with finding the leak, and hope it's an easy one to fix.

rswyan, my first house had juniper stumps all across the front of it, right next to the foundation. A friend was driving a tow truck at the time, and stopped by to help pull them. They popped right out, but a nosy neighbor called the truck's owner, and it cost my friend his job. So if you have a friend with a tow truck, make sure that stump of yours can't be seen from the street Everything's so lush and green around your property, just beautiful!

Enjoy the weekend folks!

 

[txdon]

Well, at least there were no snakes to worry about. Got get those snake boots Don before you don't live to regret it. Do they only strike below the knee ?

Don, are you saying you can't kill the timber rattler out your way?

Larro

Good morning. 74˚ had a bit of a sprinkle this morning. The yard is too wet to mow and too tall to walk in - the large snake could be hiding really close by.

This is the first Timber rattler I have seen the 20 years we have owned this place. Drew you are right the water brought him in. You cannot kill them legally. Eric good question - answer: I don't know - he looked like he could easily bite me in the throat. I'm still in shock. They climb trees too don't they? - Mikim said one fell out of tree on his place. Now I have to look up and down!

Ron I did not even have my dumb phone with me which also takes pictures and I was just wearing shorts and crocs. Three more steps and I would have stepped on him . . .Ahhhg. . .shuddder.

Snakes usually don't bother me but this one was like a copperhead . . . just sitting and waiting . . .not scared.

Snake boots (These are OK but don't look down)
http://www.incrediblethings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/all-snake-cowboy-boots.jpg

 

[farmer2009]

68 this morning and headed to 75 today. Finally getting some needed rains. Been 3 weeks and got .7 inches last night with more on the way.
Back to chicken coops. You guys are probably tired of hearing me say that. But I guess you could say it's what I live for. :Laughing:. .

Don I think I'd have to kill a snake like that. If someone said something it turned on me and was giving chase. I was defending myself. Timber ratters aren't endangered here. They are our most populous rattler.

Drew. If the organic sprays don't work. Look at the Bayer fruit tree spray. Well you mix it up and pour on the roots. Don't even have to spray. I use one that's for trees and shrubs on my young maples. It works for 12 months.

 

[deerseeker001]

59 with cloudy Skies with a high of 72.We are going to pick up the plants for the Garden.