I'm a Maroon

[Colin Giersberg]

As a former co-worker said..........

"Why is there always enough time to do something again, but never enough time to do it right the first time".

BamaRob, did you get any rain today? The storms came up fairly strong to the west of us, but died way down when they came over us, then picked back up to our east, near Huntsville. All in all, our rain couldn't even be measured in the rain guage. I think the only way we will get any significant rainfall is if a hurricane comes into the Gulf of Mexico, and comes our way. Channel 19 on the TV said (well, Dan Satterfield, that is) that we are over 16" below normal for the year, and over the last 2 1/2 years, we are short by 50"". That is almost a full years (around 54") worth of rain that we haven't had!!!
Heck, I even washed both cars Sunday, and it didn't rain.

Maybe soon.
Regards, Colin

 

[LBrown59]

Yeah, I'll never be able to justify the cost of a chipper anyhow (of course, I didn't think the CFO would allow the grapple either. Hmmmm...).

Thanks for the term "rabbitat." I'd already thought of the habitat improvement idea, but hadn't thought of the term "rabbitat." That's cool, and I'll use it from now on to refer to my wildlife habitat improvement brush piles.

I really don't like tending a burning brush pile enough to do it every weekend all summer (assuming we get some rain and I actually could burn). Burning an occasional brush pile is kind of enjoyable, but
it's a whole lot of work when you've got lots of burn piles. So, most of the remaining brush will likely go into "rabbitat" piles. The adjoining property owner (my great aunt) is about to have her pines cut, so I'm thinking I'll just combine my brush with her brush to build "rabbitats" marking the property line.

My wife (CFO referred to above) likes the idea as long as I keep it near the property line and keep it where I can mow around it. We really enjoy blackberry jelly and pies. Usually, there's a good growth of blackberry brambles in and around brush piles. If I keep it mowed around it, they should be fairly easy picking, both for us and the wildlife.
I have 4 or 5 piles that I piled a month or so ago. I've already seen lots of song birds and chipmunks making use of the cover.
BR

Like the 5 huge ones I burned last summer.

 

[BamaRob]

We still haven't gotten any rain here at the house. I drove home from work (about a 50 mile commute) yesterday afternoon in a pretty steady rain shower for about the first half of the drive. Then, it just fizzled out the closer I got to the house. There was a steady breeze blowing most of the day today that just felt like it was going to blow in some rain clouds. But, they haven't come yet...

Just read this on a local news station's web site:

Birmingham (AP) - Governor Bob Riley Friday announced a drought emergency for 19 Alabama counties and requested a federal disaster declaration to make farmers eligible for aid.

THe move came a day after the U-S Drought Monitor upgraded the intensity of north Alabama's drought to "exceptional," making Alabama the only state designated at the worst level.

The U-S Drought Monitor's area of exceptional drought, which covers an 11,500-square-mile oval of land with Cullman at the center, reaches south to include Walker, Blount, St. Clair and Jefferson counties and north to counties on the Tennessee line.

The 19 counties now listed under the emergency status are: Blount, Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Shelby, St. Clair, Walker and Winston.

The state water resources agency also declared 46 counties in the drought warning category with the remaining two counties, Mobile and Baldwin, listed in a watch status.

So, it appears our drought is the worst in the US right now. I knew it was bad. Also read at the same site the state fire marshal had banned fireworks except for commercial displays that are conducted over water. It'll be interesting to see how well my neighbors heed that warning if it's still this dry on Independence Day.

Later,

BR

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Only when you work for the goverment do you get paid extra to do things the hard way.....

And you move to the head of the class as a GOVERNMENT LEADER if you can devise a way to have 23 other people do something the hard way while you stand by and watch.

 

[zeuspaul]

I use my brush mower to decimate a pile of brush. It will easily handle anything green up to three inches...2 1/2 inches if dry. Anything bigger than that is good for firewood. Just lift it up and back over the pile and then drop it slowly. A pile ten feet wide, four feet high and fifty feet long on level ground is gone in less than a hour.

It is sooo much faster than feeding stuff into a chipper.

Zeuspaul

 

[BamaRob]

I use my brush mower to decimate a pile of brush. It will easily handle anything green up to three inches...2 1/2 inches if dry. Anything bigger than that is good for firewood. Just lift it up and back over the pile and then drop it slowly. A pile ten feet wide, four feet high and fifty feet long on level ground is gone in less than a hour.

It is sooo much faster than feeding stuff into a chipper.

Zeuspaul

That would be great except most of my brush is pine (no good for firewood) and the chip-n-saw market was only taking logs down to a 6" top when it was cut. So, the pines that were cut for logs (not pulpwood) have some significant tops left. And, the guys cutting it certainly weren't going to be bothered to limb out the tops they were leaving behind. It's much faster for me just to pile it up than to limb it all out and separate the bigger stuff into piles and to shred the smaller stuff.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. Under different circumstances I'd definitely try it.

Later,

BR