They're getting smarter. Have a pic of a doe with her nose up to the spin motor. Behavior learned from raiding the neighbor's bird feeders. Currently have 6 coons robbing me every night. Two climbers and their gang.
RCBS, I used to work with Cory Buttrick, a legend of southeast Ohio. He is from Logan and his dad Dennis Buttrick runs a large auto body repair operation. Beautiful area for riding!
Familiar with the area but not the legend. Only fellows I've ever known from Logan were some of the Oil Drillers who worked for Killbarger. I'm sure my buddy knows who he is. His son ran a full schedule in the youth class of GNCC year before last. I do know the guy who owns a bunch of property where the Grassman Enduro is held. May try to run that one on family weekend this year if it ain't too hot. Yes, SE OH is blessed with great riding for two wheelers. The pavement kind and the dirt kind.
I was wondering where those went. I've been eyeing a dual sport again, especially with my super short commute now. I don't care about wind protection.
I've been making screen shots of existing pics. Seems to get the files small enough, but adds the lovely black bars to the photos. A long time ago in a galaxy far away I used to have a couple photo hosting accounts. They started off 'free' but then later wanted monies to remove watermarks and junk. Bleh. I really need to get the street kit added to the bike. My commute is 7 miles. I have a 'naked' street bike so I don't know what wind protection is. Had toyed with the idea of a scooter, but decided just to make the KLX road legal to buzz around on and ride to work when weather is nice or my government decides to make gasoline $6/gallon again.
My TLS is half nekkid. Has an upper fairing, but engine sexiness is visible. I still like the idea of getting a dual sport again. I have a 4 mile commute.
It was sunny and 72 yesterday afternoon here. I just couldn't help myself from sneaking out of work a little early to go do some work. Bucked up 3 logs from the tree I cut down last Saturday. Got two of em prepped for the splitter. Found some fat grubs to lay out for the birds in that punky log. Gonna be nice when the stupid time change happens to give me some evening light.
Little bucking and more splitting today. Had a helper which upped productivity. As of this evening the woodyard has no logs or rounds waiting for splitting. There are still a couple a- hole chonks, but all good wood split and stacked now. Have scavenged most of the 'easy' blow down wood and will have to start working a bit more for any additional save a couple logs that are not too bad to get at/out.
Dad used to pull some incredible hitch’s with an old 1946 JD B He could navigate around the woods like a weasel with that narrow front end. Brake steering was his specialty too! Lots of beautiful pictures you’re posting. Not to derail your thread but I’ve been recently diagnosed with mild diverticulitis. Would you mind sharing what diet changes you’ve made in your journey that you found helpful? Thanks.
I really really could use a small dozer with a winch. I do what I can with the little Kubota, but it's not hard for me to find it's limits with the size of logs and terrain I have. A 50 or so horse 4x4 with a farmi type winch would work pretty well also, I assume. Been watching the classifieds for any good deals on old skidders or dozers but not many deals come up around my area. The good deals never get advertised. lol
Was thinking about something from yesterday a bit. A buddy of mine had come to help as mentioned. He did something that struck me as funny. We got to the yard and setup the splitter near a pile of rounds. Had the two big red oak logs to buck and bust into smaller pieces. Suggested buddy go ahead and start splitting with the machine while I got the red oak ready. Got them bucked up and flipped on end. Took the saw back to the buggy and grabbed the maul. I get about half of them broken into quarters and I hear my buddy yell..."Hey...save some of those for me!" Meaning...he wanted to bust some of the rounds with the maul too. The point of this little story is to highlight that physical labor and 'hard' work are desireable things to do, when not forced of course. This was reassuring to me as I have begun to come to the conclustion that I truly enjoy the labor that making wood gives me.
So it turns out... I'm not crazy after all. Immerse Yourself in a Forest for Better Health - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation. Spending time around trees and looking at trees reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and improves mood. Numerous studies show that both exercising in forests and simply sitting looking at trees reduce blood pressure as well as the stress-related hormones cortisol and adrenaline. Looking at pictures of trees has a similar, but less dramatic, effect. Studies examining the same activities in urban, unplanted areas showed no reduction of stress-related effects. Using the Profile of Mood States test, researchers found that forest bathing trips significantly decreased the scores for anxiety, depression, anger, confusion and fatigue. And because stress inhibits the immune system, the stress-reduction benefits of forests are further magnified. Also.... Hope Molecules Exercise creates "hope molecules" - Go For Fit. Well, these myokines that are released, affect every system in our bodies and have been linked to: killing cancer cells boosting immunity reducing inflammation regulating blood sugar improved cardio vascular health improved mental resilience Get in the woods and get busy!!
Managed a few minutes after work a couple days this week. Weather just gorgeous. Picked up some sragglers last night with the trailer. The little Donkey continues to impress me, pulling it's cart full of oak up that little hill with no issue. Wednesday I was able to get out and get a bunch of stuff marked for cutting. Hoping to get after this tomorrow. Had hoped to lay this one down, but have to cancel as it's gonna be muddy and I'm not wanting to get the tractor out on the soft ground to drag it. #soon
Been known for a while working in the dirt is healthy for you.. https://www.drnorthrup.com/dirt-strenthens-immune-system-happier-healthier/
Thermometer was showing 34 degrees Saturday, but it felt colder. Hauled a trailer full of sugar maple small rounds and got a bunch fo stuff cut up. Decided not to make trips to gather the rest of the rounds due to mud. Istead started to try to wrangle my A-hole piles. Dug through one of them and grabbed the clean short pieces to put on a pallet at the lower storage. Good chunks for camp wood. Didn't get in the woods at all yeasterday. Woke up to wet snow that was gone by afternoon, but the ground was just a mess. Dissapointed, but I've had a lot of good working wether this winter so I hate to complain.
Not a super productive weekend. The wind will be my excuse. Just nasty out Saturday, so I decided to mark a kindof easy property line. I managed to get some paint in my eye before it was over thanks to the gusts. Snowed off & on and I was thankful to get back to the buggy when finished. Yesterday was pretty blowy as well, but not as cold. Wanted to see how the pressure was on this big pignut hickory and make plans for extraction. Didn't even need a wedge to get the top separated. The main trunk stood up about a foot at the cutoff end. Will likely have to take the main trunk in 3 pieces. Hope the Kubota can pull em up this little incline. I have no other way out of where it is. Unknown if I will be able to pull those tops over to get them or not. If I can pull them up 10' or so at a time I can keep cutting off and pulling. They are pretty high off the ground, so not much that I can do with them but try to pull. The Echo got to run for a minute to knock this topless cherry down. Hard forward lean. Used a plunge with a trigger.
Tractor day yesterday. No woods work Saturday. Too wet and too windy. Got the cherry to the yard. Did some salvaging on a couple that I had left behind. Got that piece of hickory too. On the way to go to the big hickory, this was across path. Yep, I'll take that too! This log dropped nice and slowly and laid on the ground for about 15 seconds, then slowly started rolling down into that ditch. Didn't think to chock it. Little sapling saved it from going over. This was all my little tractor wanted getting up out of there. Tried to budge one of the whole tops. No joy. Took a section that I could reach. Ground was getting beat up fast so I called it good with two drags for now. Great weather and a nice day in the woods. Picking up sticks in the yards down below for two hours after wasn't nearly as pleasant.
