Monday Again!

Back to the old grind!

Projects Without End

We are always working on something out here in the country. Last summer we began rebuilding this little storage building, and now it has lots of new treated wood, new siding, new tin roof, and 'new' porch posts. The barn is calling now.

Weekend Steam

This is a very nice photo from the March, 1923 American Thresherman. Mr. Thies and his brother are moving an old school building with their Reeves 16 HP engines. We learn from this Mr. Thies' correspondence that it wasn't only George and Abraham gazing down at the students in one room school houses; this particular school also had Martha Washington to inspire the kids. I hope she survived the trip. The building had 10" x 10" oak sills, 2" x 10" oak floor joists, and 2" x 8" joists overhead. It had a double floor and a 1" ceiling. They dragged it down the road three miles on two 8" sills. I bet those engines were snorting.

Crankin' It Up

Tonight's Harry Lauder special is "She is My Daisy" Harry recorded this one in 1909, and again in 1924; this is the latter recording.

The Red Label record is John McCormack performing a popular number. I tried looking up the date for this record, and couldn't find it in the online discographys. I will have to do some more looking to find the age of this one.

Spike

Spike is another wayward cat that began showing up for meals. We cornered him, caught him with welding gloves for personal protection, and took him to the vet. He was a HARDBODIED cat! When the vet tried to put a needle in him, the needle bent. That's how he earned his name. He is still semi-wild, and he likes to maintain a safe distace from humans. Funny thing is, he likes dogs. Put a dog on a leash, march him up to Spike, and the cat is ecstatic. You can reach over the dog, pet Spike, give him belly-rubs, even pick him up. Eventually he will make up with us, I think.

Gone, And Apparently Forgotten

I just recently ran across this old barn melting into the landscape. This woods doesn't look like old field timber to the casual observer, and I doubt anyone is alive that remembers when this was an active farm. Old homesteads are usually melted down to just the foundation stones, but the tree species will give them away as you walk into them.

Black walnut is usually growing around old home sites, even if it is not a good walnut site. Do you see the depression about ten feet beyond the tree? That is a partially collapsed well. It pays to be on the lookout for wells when you are tromping about. I was following a compass line one very wet day, and stopped in mid-stride because I couldn't see the bottom of a puddle that I was about to step in. I picked up a long stick and checked the depth, and it was no puddle. Old wells are one reason I always carry a whistle with me in the woods.

Gas Engines At Boonville

Here are a couple more videos of engines we saw at the Boonville summer show.

Geologically Speaking....

....it just missed us! (Click on Link!) This photo was taken only five years ago.

What they obviously needed was an Arch Supporter!

Bad Examples

A few posts back in "Tipping Trees" I discussed the importance of making the two front cuts on a tree correctly; meaning that they should meet exactly. This little sassafras illustrates why technique is important in falling a tree. The person cutting this tree made one front cut on the heavy side of the tree, then cut in from the back, creating a very impressive miniature barber chair. The forward momentum of the tree even mangaged to split the stump! The tree begins to tip, then is blocked as the improper cut closes, and something has to give. Either the hinge fails, or the tree splits lengthwise. The cutter in this instance wisely quit while he was ahead.

These two hickory butts show that the cutter was trying to make an open face cut, but was bypassing the face with his horizontal cut. These trees were much bigger than the sassafras, and had real potential to kill, but luckily, the hinge let go in both cases. One of my landowners died making this mistake many years ago. The hickory he was cutting split lengthwise like the sassafras above, and the tail end smashed the man's ribs in.

Don't let these lessons discourage you. When you learn how to do it right, dropping trees is a blast, and it is a necessary skill if you are a landowner/homeowner. You can see the various techniques you need to know by clicking on the chainsaw label and viewing some of my previous posts; or by going to http://www.forestapps.com/ and clicking on the Tim's Tips.

Not My Victrola

Alternative energy to move you on Monday!

Monday Again!

Back to the old grind!

Wait and See?

I recently had a call to look at a shade tree which had been struck by lightning. The homeowner wanted to know if the tree was going to die, and if it should be taken down right away. The tree is a very nice American elm, and it did take a good hit, which blew a hole a few feet away from the tree, indicating that the bolt did severe damage to one of the main roots. The tree still was green, and it has no targets. It can be dropped easily if it ever needs to be taken down, so the diagnosis was to leave it alone and see if it survives.

A few feet away from the house there was a large red maple. This tree was perfectly healthy, but it forked at about 12 feet up, with included bark, and one side was leaning right over the house; it was set up to smash the home if a big wind gust came out of the northwest. I recommended that they remove this tree as soon as possible, because it has great potential to kill.