Mighty tall weeds

[Redbug]

I would think that waiting a little later to bush hog...maybe the early summer, (June, July or therebouts), would be better. Don't forget about the babies...turkeys, fawns, other baby birds, baby snakes, etc. Don't want to mow the little critters over. The weeds may be taller by then, but the little ones have a chance to run, fly, or slither out of the way.

 

[N80]

I mowed this early this spring. Hot as heck (88) and that broom straw looking stuff clogged the radiator screen up real good. It was quite a workout for my little 4400. I probably mowed 10 or 15 acres of this stuff (I'm terrible at guessing acreage) and its the first time I've ever seen the temp guage go up. It went back down after I cleaned the radiator screen. This stuff was deep but there was thick fescue lower down too.

 

[jbrumberg]

To All:

Recent unfortunate experiences have taught me the possible benefit of wearing a face mask respirator when brushhogging overgrown areas. If it will clog your radiators and air filter; it can definitely clog your lungs . Watch what you are breathing. The only benefit I may get out of my experience is that I was almost able to convince "She Who Must Be Obeyed" of the need for a tractor with a cab while I was lying in a hospital bed on a ventilator thingy. I will follow up now that I somewhat healthier . Jay

 

[N80]

Glad you are doing better! But don't leave us hanging. Being on a ventilator is serious business. How did dust and such put you on a ventilator? (I'm sure we're all genuinely and sympathetically curious but we'd also like to take a shot at getting a cab too )

And I do think a mask is a good idea. Heven't used one yet but I can remember blowing that white fluffy stuff out of my nose and more than one rib racking coughing fit from it.

 

[jbrumberg]

I would like to thank everyone for the kind thoughts. I have a past history of pneumonia and other episodic respiratory conditions. What started off as what was probably a case of "walking pneumonia" that I did not really do anything about (except keep on working, play hard, and kick up a lot of dirt and debris with the tractor and brushcutter/string trimmer ) that eventually developed into a condition known as "BOOP"- Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia Idiopathic Type (ie unknown) which is a very rare inflammatory lung disorder that kept me in the hospital for 3 weeks. Respiratory failure led to serious cardiac complications, etc. Although I was tested, prodded, probed, invaded, and drained for everything (and I do mean everything ) and at times looked like a fly in a spider web with all the lines, wires, tubes, and drains sticking in me the doctors could never identify the specific entity that caused the inflammation even with biopsies, although all the specialists felt it was something in the environment that triggered this pneumonia which does not present as any other except those auto-immune types (like Farmers' Lung ) and which would even have been worse. I will probably be dealing with this for awhile, but all the doctors feel that if I stay on the medications and keep inhalation of fine particulate matter (ie rotary cutter dust, manure, dirt, etc.) to a minimum (ie dust mask) I should be OK. I should have pressed my "advantage" about the tractor cab during the height of the illness, but that Darth Vadar like contraption (and others) kept getting in the way of my "brilliant" dialog. If I should begin to present BOOP again, the cab option (ie new tractor) is in serious "GO MODE", but honestly it is not worth it to fake it . Again I would like to thank everyone for their best wishes and I look forward to getting some more seat time in a couple of weeks. I still have ~ 8A's to cut with the rotary cutter and will need to RC the "lawn" now that it is so overgrown, as well as other pending projects . Jay

 

[N80]

Wow! BOOP! That triggers a vague, sleepy, medical school classroom memory but that's about all. Never seen it before. But I'm not an intensivist or a pulmonologist (you would not want to look up and see me fingering the dials on your ventilator!). I've seen a lot of ARDS (adult respiratory distress syndrome) but never BOOP.

Well, I hope your recovery continues and you get back in the saddle soon and if it takes another case of BOOP to get you a cab....then I hope you never get a cab!

I don't think I have too much to fear from the dust and such, but it can still be a misery and I intend to get me a pack of masks to keep in the tractor toolbox.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Jay, glad to hear you are better! If anyone ever needed a cab, it sounds like you.
I try to always wear a 3M disposable mask. I like the one's with with the small exhaust flap. I think they cost about $2.50 each but I get multiple wears out of one. Now my eyes get really irritated. I need to figure out something for my eyes. Don't like goggles, it is hot enough already. I wear wrap around glasses. Guess I need to get in line for a cab, I just can't afford it.

Your hospitilization brought up a serious thought I've had in the back of my brain. What if my allergies or such keep me from the upkeep needed on my place? There's no one else to step up and do it. I've had nightmares of moving back into an apartment where the lawn guys do the grass.

 

[jbrumberg]

Kyle:

I have used those 3M masks in the past when working on my sailboat and they are pretty comfortable. I will be wearing them again once I am back in the tractor seat. As to the "who will look after the property when I am down phenomena"; I am in your situation as well and have no plans of moving at this stage in my life. I can honestly say that I am taking some medications for this transitional (hopefully brief) period in my life. I try to stay in the moment and take one step at a time. I do plan to go out and grease the tractor this week. I will follow what my body tells me (for once). I do not believe that this exercise exceeds the doctors' orders for no heavy lifting and/or exertion. Thanks- Jay

 

[redlevel]

that broom straw looking stuff

That broom straw looking stuff is indeed broomsedge: not a true sedge, but a type of bunch grass. Andropogon virginicus. It is a typical early successional plant in the Southeast, especially on the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. My old Granny used to keep at least a half-dozen brooms in her house made from the stuff. Quail like to use it for cover, but not when it gets quite as thick as that in your picture. If you had burned that field in February or March, it would have made a heck of a fire.

I just noticed; you can see a clump of it just beyond my birddawg in my avatar.

It is just one of those things about the South that hearkens me back to time spent with my grandparents fifty years ago. Next time I'll tell you about my Granddaddy rolling rabbit tobacco cigarets for me.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Jay,
Glad your back and well !