I’ve mostly been sitting around this month, waiting the cold out. Last week there was some justification for that, but this week the afternoons are positively spring-like. And yesterday, which was supposed to be battery day, came and went with me just being lazy. There was one Jeep wheel-related chore, but it ended so badly I don’t really want to talk about it. I have to pay somebody to work on the Jeep again…thanks to the last person I paid to work on the Jeep. And I don’t know where the money’s coming from…but there I go talking about it.
Anyway, I got to looking at all the little chores I have piled up, and today was an overwhelmingly perfect day to do them all. First, battery day. I’m down to four visits including my own, but TC’s doesn’t ever need anything from me except that one time a rat built a nest inside his charge controller – really – and that time I had to sic somebody else on the problem. This time, though, I had to pull the battery – just coincidentally – out of his tractor for charging. Do you happen to know where the battery is on a Kubota BX25 tractor? Yeah, neither did I but I eventually found it. It’s covered up under the steering wheel, in case you cared. Definitely not the first place I looked.
Anyway, I got the batteries taken care of, had a bite of lunch, then loaded up a couple of wheelbarrows full of firewood for Landlady…
Fortunately, as previously complained, I have lots of firewood for the first week in February. I threw a little of it into the trailer, then drove through the wash toward Landlady’s place. There was something I’d been wanting to try. A dead and washed-out juniper has been sticking itself into the wash right where I drive for as long as I’ve been there, and I’ve been meaning to cut it up for firewood as long as I’ve been in the cabin. Now I don’t use as much juniper as I used to but Landlady still does, and I wanted to give that electric chainsaw a good workout. So…
Not counting branch-cutting, that’s how much got done on two 2.0ah batteries, which is considerably better battery life than the cordless reciprocating saw would have given me. I don’t think I’ll put the Husqvarna up for sale just yet, but for light-duty work this little B&D will be useful. Thanks, Big Brother!
I asked Landlady weekend before last if she thought she had enough firewood to finish out the winter, seeing as she seemed to be emptying her woodbox with great speed. She said yeah, but given how much is left since her last visit I have my doubts. But I can’t just dump this wood into the box, because…
The idea of using the corrugated tin was to keep rats from climbing the sides. Maybe it worked. They sure didn’t have any problem getting in from underneath, though. So before I can fill her box we need to empty all the nesting crap. Hoping we can do that this weekend, because the warm weather’s supposed to hold, and then I’ll get to work splitting a bunch of juniper “rounds” I’ve been saving for her. Meanwhile…
That oughta tide her over until we can clean out the box and fix the deficiencies in the floor.
Now I hear the chickens telling me there’s a problem with their feeder…
Maybe later (better time) you will share the nature of the wheel issue with the Jeep.
I like the gecko impression on the concrete slab in the last picture.
🙂
I feel for you with the look of that woodbin. There’s been a rash of that kind of incursion around here of the same sort. The local skunk finally worked its way into the enclosure where compostible scraps go and has been having a fine time of it. It’s not really that much of an issue as I’m generally not out there at night. I cross paths with it occasionally around sunset but as long as we don’t surprise each other I can abide with it. If there were chickens or dogs around here I’d have to approach it differently – of course.
We were discussing plans for a steel building for garaging and storage today and how it was absolutely necessary it be rodent and snake proof. It came up that a neighbor’s prefab building had naturals gaps around his door where he couldn’t seal it up. I suggested a variation of the type of woodbin you have there and what’s been suggested as a way of keep your jeep unmolested – but in my version I did include a footing at least 8″ deep. I’ve no doubt that eventually the critters would tunnel under that – so it goes… Measures and countermeasures. There are places around the property that I have to check about weekly – just to stay ahead of them.
Yesterday it was a bee swarm I’d noticed on a tree near a building – unusual for this time of year. I was sure if it was an active swarm that a scout was bound to find the nearby courtyard this morning and they’d start moving into the eaves. That won’t do when any wild swarm is likely to be africanised – so I was already planning on digging out the smoker and steering them away if they tried to move in today. Amazingly enough they’d left by 1pm and I couldn’t find any sign of them around the ‘improved’ areas – so far anyway. It’s good to see them around – but it’s a matter of tolerable distances.
Today when checking the well equipment enclosure there was sign of digging into the berm protecting the footing – and the berm is packed pea gravel and rocks.
What’s funny sometimes is when the badger comes through every couple months. There’s no missing the visit – they think nothing of an 8″ by 8″ by 5′ tunnel wherever it thinks it smells something tasty down there.
I like living in these transitional areas – but this sort of stuff is part of the dynamics and without it I’m sure the two-legged riff-raff would move right in.
Good to see your little saw is working out for you. I’ve fallen in love with mine, its not a good gas saw, but it sure kills the recip saw