20 - August, 2010 Wood splitting...

We always start the day with a hot cocoa/french vanila mix.  After that it's breakfast and off to work ... sort of.  I got a B-Square scope mount for my MAK-90 a few days ago but it had low mounts with it which meant I installed a short, cheap, scope on it to shoot it until I could get better mounts.  I got a high mount the last time we were in Eureka so I installed the new mounts and a better scope on the rifle.  After getting it zeroed in at 100 yards this was my final 3 shot group.  The wind was gusting pretty strong from the right which I'd like to think was the cause of the high left hit on the target (or it could have been some poor shooting on my part!).  I think a trigger job is next.  

P. S. Don't listen to my wife if she tries to tell you that the target was only 25 yards away.

We had some wood left over from last fall that still needed to be split.  When I cut the tree down it had no needles on it but when it fell water started leaking out of the base.  We got the chunks loaded up and brought home then covered them with a tarp to split them after they dried out.  When the wood is wet like that the splitting maul just kind of sticks instead of splitting the wood as it should.  Plus the grain was twisted which added to the difficulty. It has been seasoning for a year now so it was time to get them split.  This photo was taken at 11:12 AM.

This photo was taken at 12:52.  Note thte photographer's feet sticking up on the edge of the hammock while she took the picture? 

Finished at 2:47.  This is the west side of the pile.

This is the east side.

I stopped splitting wood a couple of times for breaks, once for lunch and once to turn the alfalfa so that it would dry faster.  It was sunny and windy today but the alfalfa will still need a couple of more days to dry enough for storage.  We planted this plot several years ago just to see how well it would do.  Hopefully we can eventually get enough ground cleared to plant an acre or so.

She thought I was sleeping!

Susan putting the green onions (now dried) in the bottle for storage.  The cat was supervising.

Susan stripping the leaves and flowers off of St. John's Wort to store it in the bottle.

Three squash we've harvested the last couple of days.

This is what it looks like at night here.  We use reading lamps instead of overhead lighting most of the time.  The lamps are 3 watt LED's.  In the winter the two lights and the two netbook computers and the DSL router would be our only power draw after dark.  During the spring/summer/fall we also have the refrigerator plugged in and running off the battery bank at night.

We got the Sept/Oct issue of Backwoods Home magazine today.  I have an article in it beginning on page 36.  I have two articles in the current issue of Modern Survival magazine and articles sold to Fur-Fish-Game and Primitive Archer magazines that will be published in future issues.  Susan had one in the last issue of Modern Survival Magazine and has one coming up in Countryside & Small Stock Journal.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I began draining the last five barrels as soon as I got up this morning (about 6:30 am).  We began the day with huckleberry pancakes and a trip into town to fill up two of our 100 lb. propane bottles and four gas cans.  On the way through we stopped at the post office and I had a contract for an article sale to sign and send back in.  While we were in Eureka I bought my deer and elk tags, bird license and a trapping license.  That set us back $65.00.  I also picked up a set of high Weaver rings.  (I know you aren't supposed to carry propane bottles that way but we had no choice today.  The Dodge is deadlined for carburetor repair and we haven't put any insurance on it yet.)

When we got back we had lunch then I started the generator so Susan could begin watering the garden.  I siphoned the last barrel into the tank as she was watering the garden.  While we had the generator running Susan ran both electric dehydrators and I put a battery on the fast charger.  I let the goat out to browse then started to work on the Dodge.

I mentioned in a previous post that the carburetor was leaking on the Dodge.  I was going to get the numbers off the carburetor to order a kit for it but wanted to check the gas leak out first.  I found out that the previous owner had put some sealer over a crack in the float bowl and the sealer had come lose.  I drained the carburetor by pinching off the fuel intake line to the fuel pump and running the motor until it died.  Then I brought the air compressor over and blew the gunk off the side.  That's when I found the lose sealer and the cracked float bowl.  I looked for an hour trying to find my JB Weld but never did.  It will have to wait until the next time we go into town.  The yellow marks are to show how far out I want to go with the JB Weld when I fix the cracked bowl.

I re-shot some of the carburetor photos just before posting this.  The cat decided to come supervise.  It started by checking out the cartburetor then decided to explore inside the front fender.  When I took the second photo I was finished with the picture taking and the mosquitoes were trying to drain my blood supply.  I called the cat and we retreated to the cabin.

Susan had finished watering the garden and was filling the last in-garden water tank when the hose started blowing air.  I jogged over to the pump and shut it off.  The tank was definitely dry!  At least it will kill off any mosquito larvea that were in the water.

There were four chickens trying to all drink at the same time from the water bowl but two walked away before I could get the camera out.  It was comical to watch as one at a time they'd take some water then lift their heads up to swallow.  It was almost like a dance they were doing.

While Susan was watering the garden I cut the patch of alfalfa and laid it out to dry into hay.  I get a big hand full of it near the ground then use a hand scythe to cut it.   

You can see some of it laid out to dry behind me.  I have another row I'm putting this batch in.  We only cut it once this summer.  We should have cut it twice.

After the garden work was finished we sat in the living room to do some things.  Susan is pulling the dried mint leaves from the stalk and crushing them to store in a jar.

I was shelling peas.

The cat was supervising.

There are few small forest fires going in the area.  Our son was called out to one north of us a few miles.  They got it under controll quickly using Forest Service helicopters (2) and one plane plus the ground crew.  The Forest Service has done a fine job getting the fires out quickly the last couple of years.  We hope that they keep it up!

We had ham and (multiple) bean soup for supper.  Susan made it in the solar cooker.  She made huckleberry muffins for an evening snack.  (She makes the world's best huckleberry muffins!)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Did I mention that it got hot today?  This is the temperature in the shade.  My black dog just kind of walks from one shady spot to the next on days like today.

The goat trying on his pack.  Notice that I'm gripping the lead rope with my toes to keep him there.

He didn't seem to be real concerned with it until it started to slip up over his shoulders.  I'm going to have to lengthen the breast strap and butt strap to get it positioned right.  That'll be a good project for tomorrow.

I couldn't tell if the cat was asleep or had passed out from the smell.

Now that's a nice strawberry!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Had the normal stuff … feed the chickens and gather the eggs, feed the dog and cat, let the goat out to browse awhile. I spent the morning putting stuff up for sale on Ebay. We’ve been reorganizing and getting rid of the extra stuff we have cluttering up the place. I put an old camcorder up for sale along with a “car wash kit” that was given to us as part of some promotional thing, an antique doll high chair, and three take-down bows. Someone has already met the minimum price of $100.00 on one of the bows within an hour after posting it. (The bows are pictured on yesterday’s blog.) Hopefully we’ll get rid of it all. I took the goat and dog over to feed the buffalo this afternoon. I put an old dog pack on the goat to get it used to carrying a pack but had to take it back off. I’m going to have to lengthen the breast strap and the butt strap. Evidently the goat is longer than a dog would be. I also put a second coat of seam sealer on parts of the tent that are prone to leaking. After dinner this evening I took the truck over to a neighbor’s and filled the barrels with water. We’ll need to water the garden tomorrow. I have the first barrel draining tonight. I’ll get the others draining first thing in the morning.

Susan has been busy with washing and dehydrating huckleberries, cleaning, cleaning and cleaning, she labeled jars and put away dried potatoes, peas and huckleberries, then fattened up the mosquitoes while working in the garden picking peas and harvesting squash and strawberries. Our raspberries haven’t done too well this year. We had to thin a bunch of the bushes last year due to cane borers. Most of the mature vines were cut out and the new growth won’t produce much their first year.

Now we are inside and the mosquitoes are outside … which is the way things should be! (Unless we can figure out how to get rid of the mosquitoes outside too!)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Huckleberries (again)

These are three of the bows I'm selling on Ebay.  The top one is a Bear Take-Down with the aluminum riser.  It 62 in. long and draws 46 lbs. at 28 in.  The next two are PSE take downs.  Both are 60 inches long.  The second one draws 50 lbs. and the bottom one draws 55 lbs.  All are in good shape.

A pile of bear scat where we were picking berries.  It was fairly fresh and smelled that way too!

Susan and I picking berries.

Susan picking self-heal near the car.

Our "sovenier" received on the way to pick berries.  (Like we really needed another rock chip in the windshield!)

Susan milking the goat.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I made huckleberry pancakes for breakfast this morning. After breakfast I put seam sealer on one of our big tents. It’s the one we used at DT 10. We didn’t have any problems with it leaking but it was due for some seam sealer anyway. After that I took some pictures of stuff I’m going to put up for sale on Ebay. Susan put together a canner load of potatoes and set up the new dehydrator to dry the rest of them. She made huckleberry muffins to take with us berry picking. After lunch we headed out to pick huckleberries. This will probably be the last time for this year. We had to go about 400 feet up the mountain to get into the berries that were left. There were a lot of them but they get smaller as you go higher. We picked until the sun hit the western ridgeline. Once we were in the shade the flies started getting peskier and we headed back down to the Cherokee. Our take for the afternoon was about three gallons.

On the way home we stopped at the neighbor’s place to milk the goat. They were gone for the evening and had asked if we’d take care of it for them. The goat is usually pretty good but the flies were bothering her last night. Susan made a couple of good “saves” when the goat kicked at the flies nearly dumping the milk bucket. By the time we got home it was dark and nearly bed time. We had some ice cream for an evening snack.

Monday, August 16, 2010

We went yard saling Sturday morning.  One of the yard sales in town advertised a bunch of reloading stuff at a great price.  Right!  They wanted the same prices as the stores charged and didn't have anything I was looking for anyway.  The only thing we bought there was an electric fence charger.  Later on in the morning we bought the following items like the cast iron cookware, butcher knife, manual can opener and coffe percolator. 

One of the things we bought was Magic Chef electric dehydrator.  It's output is less than our other dehydrators but for five dollars we couldn't pass it up.  It was still in the original packaging and had never been used.  In this picture Susan is cutting  some plastic screen to put down on the trays.  The grid is so open that the huckelberries fall through.

I picked up some used archery equipment.  There were ten aluminum arrows, two bows (one PSE take-down, 60 in. long, 50 lb. draw weight, one Bear Grizzly, 58 in. long and a 45 lb draw weight), a three fingered shooting glove and a recurve bow case.  All were in excellent condition.  I plan on selling the bows on ebay and keeping the case, arrows and glove.  I should come out way ahead on the deal.  The Bear bow should bring as much as I paid for the entire package.

Saturday evening our son stopped at the post office and his pickup wouldn't start when he came back out.  He walked over to the Fortine Merchantile (one mile each way) and bought new battery cable ends and replaced them but it still wouldn't start.  I drove our Cherokee down there and we couldn't get it to start with jumper cables either.  We towed it over to the fire dept. parking lot and left it for the night.  We took another battery down on Sunday morning and installed it but the starter still wouldn't crank the engine over.  I had him take the starter off and we ran juper cables to it to bench test it.  It worked but sounded gritty like the bearing/bushings were shot.  We tried it several times and it worked every time.  I had him take a screwdriver and pry on the flexplate to turn the motor over to be sure it wasn't seized up.  It wasn't.  So ... we tried hooking the jumper cables to the starter again.  It worked fine the first time but the second time it didn't.  The jumper cables immediately got hot enough to melt the plastic insulation on the clamps.  We put everything away until we could take it back to the parts store on Monday.  He'd just bought the starter three months ago and it was still under warranty. 

It felt cold out Saturday night so Susan and I covered the garden up with tarps, old blankets. old sleeping bags and sheets.  It was good that we did.  It was 35 degrees on Sunday morning when the sun came up.  The lower picture is of Susan uncovering plants on Sunday morning.

I fed the buffalo and cut some poles in the buffalo pen on Sunday.  These are anywhere from 15 to 20 feet long.  We'll use them for various projects around the house.  There were a lot left so I'll probably cut more later.

This morning we (our son and I) took the starter in to the NAPA store in town.  They tested it on their machine and it passed.  I offered to take the back off of it and test the armature with an ohmeter to prove it had a bad bar on the commutator but they finally believed it was bad and gave him another starter.  We drove back to Fortine and he put it on the truck and it worked great.  This afternoon Susan and I went to check out another huckleberry patch.  It was pretty well picked clean.  We got enough huckleberries for a pie and that was about all.  The deer pictured above were about a mile from home.

We stopped at the county dump site Saturday and found some bed frames.  We're going to enlarge our solar array and I need the frames to make the frame larger.  I also changed the oil and filter on the motorcycle and the new generator.  We've been working on cleaning out storage space and cleaning out the U-haul truck so we can begin making it into a camper.  We caught another packrat this morning and reset the trap in a different building.  Susan peeled the last crate of last year's potatoes and I sliced them up.  She cooked the slices while we went to get the starter.  They're ready to be dehydrated now.

It's been one of those weeks when we were busy most of the time but looking back it's difficult to see a lot of progress!