Since we had some hard rains this morning, I changed plans on what I was going to do and split three loads of some junk pine and burned most of it.
I split and moved another three loads of Pine over to the outside fireplace and brought a neighbor a load of Red Maple & Sugar Maple that I had stacked in the woods for over a year. In picture 1993 you can see what's left in that area, I'll get my mudder chain to buck up the rest but clean it off first.
Since we received a bunch of rain overnight and this morning, I decided to burn all the pine by the fireplace that I brought over yesterday. When I came in and took a shower, I noticed a different feeling on the back of my right arm. I had the wife look at it, it had a rash around what looked like a bite and a blister. We went to urgent care and had the doctor look at it, he didn't think it was a tick bite but just to make sure, I'm on Doxycycline ( 2 pills a day for 10 days ) and I have some stuff that I put in three times a day just incase it's PI. I'll get my blood drawn and tested for Lyme. I don't have a bullseye rash and it isn't itchy like PI can be. If it's PI, I got it in the area to the left in picture 1994. I haven't sprayed my work clothes with Permethrin since spring so I'll start doing that again.
I had my blood drawn for a Lyme disease test this morning, once I came home a few more tarps got spread out to dry and then I washed the wife's vehicle and dried it. After it was dry, I took Dash & Glass (made by Turtle Wax) and removed the spots from the windows. Hopefully this week, I can start pulling some stumps with the backhoe on the 4540. I have about six or more stumps (nothing huge) that I plan on pulling before winter. If I get going on another job clearing some smaller pines in the woods just beyond the corner of our driveway, I'll have more stumps but smaller. If I get that cleared, I'll be pushing the snow deeper into the woods and not off the corner of the driveway. Last year when the snow came it stayed, we never had any rains after we received snow so I ended up moving the snow just off the corner of the driveway to another spot, I don't plan on doing that again unless we get an old fashion winter.
I decided to wash the truck since I had everything out from yesterday. I didn't have any Turtle Wax Bug & Tar for the front of the truck or the back of the mirror casings, I'll pick some up on our next trip in to Potsdam. We have a Air Quality alert from all the smoke from out west so I'll wait until it's off before I do any splitting and stacking. I still haven't heard on my Lyme test results, that medicine changes the taste of everything but I'll be done taking it next Tuesday, can't wait.
In my above post # 243 I talked about possibly getting bit by a tick, I had my blood drawn Monday for a Lyme disease test and I just found out it came back negative. Since the test was done early on, it actually could turn to being positive so I'll keep on taking the doxy and probably get tested again.
Later this afternoon, I checked our property the house is on for wind damage and found a White Pine back by the sandpit. Tonight when I was cooking supper, I looked out back and saw a cub/yearling, I didn't see Ma or any other cubs. We haven't seen bears around during the day/late afternoon since we moved hear in 2003, I'm starting to wonder if a neighbor is keeping their garbage outside.
Not sure about over your way however there are several factors affecting our black bear incursions this year. The drought is having an effect on natural food (i.e., berries) and the gypsy moth defoliation destroyed the acorn crop, so the bear are having to encroach on human habitations for food (like you mentioned, garbage). This is also the second year of record number of tourists in the woods (more people going out into nature due to the pandemic) so that increases the amount of human food and garbage in the woods, which train the animals on the taste of human food. Before the pandemic, the number of people hunting was declining every year so that has also led to an increase in bear populations as well (not to mention the fact that more people are are clear cutting and building in the middle of bear country). Not sure if any of that is going on where you are however it has all affected our bear population which leads to interaction with people (one neighbor has bear on his deck almost every night).
Hoping for the best for you with the Lyme test results, that stuff is no joke. The woman that lives across the road from me (about the same age as me) was an avid outdoor person and worked a lot with landscaping and gardening. She ended up with Lyme disease about nine years ago and it totally ruined her life. She's just a shell of her former self and can hardly get around outside, drive, or be around any bright light. Granted she wasn't proactive and did not get tested until she was already seeing symptoms, however seeing the affect it had on her was a wake up call for me. Here's hoping for a second negative test for you!
The test came back negative but since the test was done a day after I noticed the bite, it actually might take longer for Lyme disease to show up in your blood. I'll be talking with my doctor about when I should be tested again.
I checked some trails today, it was the first time since we had some high winds in our county last Tuesday. This Maple came down from the wind so I cut some rounds up and brought them home. There's more over there but I wanted to limit my time outside until I'm off the doxycycline. The leaves were dark green on the top side and a lighter green underneath. The pants, t-shirt and long sleeve shirt were all treated with Permethrin, it was muggy out so it didn't take long to get both shirts drenched.
After spending about three days about 4 miles south of Old Forge NY at my nephew's camp, when we came home it was time to check the rest of the trails up top and limb up this Pine that the wind took down. I took four loads of branches over to the fireplace, hopefully we don't get the high winds again tomorrow. I'm pretty sure picture 2038 is Steve Wynn's place if what my sister said is correct. We rented a pontoon boat and took a long ride on first, second, third and fourth lakes. We went by this place when we were on the pontoon boat on Wednesday, nothing left to the place. See home in Old Forge area demolished by massive explosion (photos)
It was raining pretty good this morning so I left the camera inside, I was able to get rid of plenty of branches from the pine I limbed up yesterday and another five loads of branches that were around the house lot.
Watch the moment a lakefront home near Old Forge is obliterated in explosion (video) There should be a video in the above attachment that shows the explosion across the river just to the right of the light pole.
I went to look at a 2025R with a backhoe but as I mentioned, it sold the day previous. Then, I learned about a used 2032R (no backhoe) and expressed interest but nothing on that one. (It is from a private party; not on the dealer's lot) I have a hunch the dealer is gonna get it and then put it on the lot.
I split and stacked a face cord of Beech from my spring felling, I still have some Beech rounds left with more rounds of Ash, Yellow Birch and Cherry in the back gully, hopefully I can get another two face cord from that which will give us 54 face cord of hardwood before the fall felling starts. I think that we have room for another 15 face cord, if I can fill half of that, I'll be happy.
