Good morning!!!!

rswyan · Jul 3, 2015

Partly cloudy and 58F @ 02:30 ... headed up to a high of 79F with mostly sunny skies. These next four days are looking great ... sunny with highs in the low to mid 80's ...

Just woke up after a 4 hour nap ... was whipped but apparently not enough to sleep any more than 4 hours or so ...

I spent most of the day in @ the commercial property. There's a 20' x 80' area along the side of the rear building addition, that abutted the rear of three neighbors lots. It was a lawn when the previous tenant took possession of it ... it was jungle when I started on it yesterday morning:

Not much grass left at this point ... mostly old leaves, poison ivy, and raspberries ... plus a lot of litter.

Snot load of poison ivy vines growing up the side of the building too.

Old Junk Man · Jul 3, 2015

Yep Im up for a bathroom break and a glass of goat milk. that area would be clean of poison ivy if my goats where there. A sheep would do s good job also.

rswyan · Jul 3, 2015

By the end of the day I had most of the large/tall brush hacked down and a lot of the debris raked up into a windrow in the center.

Found a half rotted pallet and piece of plywood ... and an old gas tank from a vehicle (which I assume the neighbors on the backside of the building dumped there) ... no sending unit on the tank ... so it was half full of water.

The raked up debris will have to be wheelbarrowed to over near the dumpster so it can be forked in a little bit at time. The dumpster is for the business next door - which fortunately is owned by a neighbor and friend. I can use it, as long as I don't overload it and take all the space.

Still have a lot of work to do to pull all the vines still on the ground and the side of the building. Looks like that might end being the activities for the 4th. Probably give it a couple of weeks after we get all that cleaned up and then hit whatever comes up with Roundup. Then seed it.

After I got home and had dinner I went up and cut up one of the last two remaining large sycamore logs and did some weed whacking around the house.

With the nice weather on tap for the next few days, I'll probably put the mower on the Kubota later today and get the front cut here at the house ... so that it can start drying before it gets picked up with the lawn vac.

Right now though I'm gonna fix a cup of coffee and head up to the shop. Hafta fix the pull cord on the chain saw (which I broke last night) and stick a tube in the wheelbarrow tire.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable and productive day.

(Bonus: I managed to pick enough ripe raspberries before I cut down the vines for the woman to make a pie

)

rswyan · Jul 3, 2015

Old Junk Man said:
Yep Im up for a bathroom break and a glass of goat milk. that area would be clean of poison ivy if my goats where there. ...

That's assuming that they had a chance ... and didn't wind up on a spit, roasting over one of the neighbors barbeques ...

rswyan · Jul 3, 2015

riptides said:
What would you use it for?

Oh ... I dunno ... lots of possibilities ... I'm sure I could come up with something

riptides said:
I was thinking of brewing some beer, but 200 gallons is a lot of beer. Well, maybe not. LOL.

:thumbsup:

riptides said:
Anyway, it sits in the corner of the milk house now that it is disconnected from the plumbing. That was fun! I love sparks. Amazing how much room is in the milk house now that it is not in the middle of the floor. It was a great set-up for its time. I feel sort of bad for the history of the place.

Always nice to have more room ... but I can appreciate what you're saying re the history

Eric Salop · Jul 3, 2015

We had temporary relief from the heat yesterday after some cooling rain from the Atlantic. The sheep appreciated the rain but it has made a mess of the plans for haymaking. I was set today to help at a farm over the hill that has already cut. The grass will too wet to bale today and if the forecasters are right, we are going to get another soaking this evening as hot winds come in from France bringing thunder storms too.

Spraying at rosette stage for thistles is what we used to do, as the chemical manufacturer's all say this is the most effective time to get them. The fields last done this way now have nothing but grass - and more new thistles. The spray kills off just about all other plant life.

In other fields that have not been sprayed for a few years (except by knapsack), I have weed wiped as soon as the thistles have grown above the grazed grass. Here the clover and other plants make it a much more varied sward. It is early days, I need a few more years before I am convinced which is the best method, though so far the weed wiper results look encouraging.

Ideally I would not use chemicals at all. Thistles don't grow in our "lawn", nor do they do well where the grass can grow long in late cut hay meadows. An old guy was adamant he kept them at bay by rolling, though I never did learn his secret of when to roll. If I live long enough, there are plenty of experiments to try in the years to come.

ronjhall · Jul 3, 2015

Drinking first cup of coffee. 46° with clear skies this morning. Heading to 75° with lots of sun today. Pond projected is coming along. Friend came over with his motorhome. Installed a full automatic satellite dish on it. Kind of put pond on back project. Back at it today.
RS, you sure have a mess to clean up.
Drew going to be a nice bench when you are done.
Good Morning All.

Buppies · Jul 3, 2015

67 this morning cloudy and somewhat damp showers and storms off and on all day high of 79. Basically just like yesterday excerpt more rain. Off to look at job on parkway. Hopefully leave for vacation tomorrow

daugen · Jul 3, 2015

a little cooler today with rain coming in this afternoon. Actually chance of thunderstorms every day now in the forecast.
Need to get my little American flags out for the turtles to wave around.
Buppies, have a wonderful time.