Tilling, digging, and no deer.
Just so's ya'll know, it is rather uncomfortable for me to sit here and type today. So you should feel rather priviledged that you are reading this post.
Remember to thank me later.
As I sit here and note the acute pain in my neck, as well as the dull ache in my arms, I thought perhaps you would all want to know, what it is that I have done.
Well, I own a house right? Things just need to be done around the place when you own a house such as mine.
So I got the tiller out and tilled up the garden as I'm an advocate against weed and grass growth in my garden. My hope is that keeping it tilled up before the winter will break up some roots, and hopefully the weeds and grass roots will freeze in a coming frost and die. Then in the spring, I'll continue with your normal weeding and hoeing and such.
SO this tiller I have borrowed from a friend of mine is a front tine, forward only tiller. It bounces like a childs playground ball with too much air. It was singularly ineffective in what I wanted it to do. So, I decided to get tough with it...but the brick I put on top of it bounced right off. Then, I figured it was just me and the tiller, and I wasn't going to let it win. So I brought it to the end of the row, flipped it up to high gear, and began to pull it backwards. This effectively made it a rear tine tiller, rotating backwards...with the handles in the front instead of the back. It worked fairly well in this configuration.
but OH! my arms hurt. And my back a bit too.
Afterwards I took a break and climbed up on the roof and cleaned out the leaves and sticks out of my gutters. I'll have to do this 2,345,123 more times before the leaves are all off of that rediculously big tree we have in the front yard this year. I love this tree in all other seasons however. Just keep me away from chain saws in the fall is all I ask for the safety of our tree.
Then, after taking a short break, I descended into the depths of our crawl space with the new short shovel I bought. No, I don't need anywhere to put the bodies. I do need a place for a sump pump tho. So I actually BEGAN the project of installing a sump pump in our crawl space. It is much needed. A daunting task to be sure, crouched over, low light, short shovel, me, and the ground. Starting it was half the battle tho. I know how a sufficiently big enough hole I think. I'll know more tonight as I take the basin I bought and size it in the hole. I may have to go a bit deeper.
I have an itch on my back...it hurts to scratch it with my arm tho.
Other than that, I got some "volunteering" in on Saturday morning. George and I headed up to the proving grounds. It was a beautiful morning, watching the sun rise and shine through the trees over the ridge I was watching for wildlife population management. The trees with their mix of yellows, greens and a few reds was quite lovely.
I saw a big gaggle of turkeys, a squirrel, and the tree next to me played host to a big group of crows for about 20 minutes. Talk about loud!! I was also a little afraid they would take care of any business while 20 feet above me. Thankful I made it through that ordeal without being bombed. I always find it funny when I'm out "volunteering" and crows come along squaking. It always reminds me of Bambi's father saying "Man, has entered the forest." Perhaps that's why I only saw one deer. Maybe that Bambi movie is true. Maybe crows really warn the animals of all the "volunteers" entering the woods.
Nah, it couldn't be true...No deer has antlers the size of the ones Bambi's dad has.
Remember to thank me later.
As I sit here and note the acute pain in my neck, as well as the dull ache in my arms, I thought perhaps you would all want to know, what it is that I have done.
Well, I own a house right? Things just need to be done around the place when you own a house such as mine.
So I got the tiller out and tilled up the garden as I'm an advocate against weed and grass growth in my garden. My hope is that keeping it tilled up before the winter will break up some roots, and hopefully the weeds and grass roots will freeze in a coming frost and die. Then in the spring, I'll continue with your normal weeding and hoeing and such.
SO this tiller I have borrowed from a friend of mine is a front tine, forward only tiller. It bounces like a childs playground ball with too much air. It was singularly ineffective in what I wanted it to do. So, I decided to get tough with it...but the brick I put on top of it bounced right off. Then, I figured it was just me and the tiller, and I wasn't going to let it win. So I brought it to the end of the row, flipped it up to high gear, and began to pull it backwards. This effectively made it a rear tine tiller, rotating backwards...with the handles in the front instead of the back. It worked fairly well in this configuration.
but OH! my arms hurt. And my back a bit too.
Afterwards I took a break and climbed up on the roof and cleaned out the leaves and sticks out of my gutters. I'll have to do this 2,345,123 more times before the leaves are all off of that rediculously big tree we have in the front yard this year. I love this tree in all other seasons however. Just keep me away from chain saws in the fall is all I ask for the safety of our tree.
Then, after taking a short break, I descended into the depths of our crawl space with the new short shovel I bought. No, I don't need anywhere to put the bodies. I do need a place for a sump pump tho. So I actually BEGAN the project of installing a sump pump in our crawl space. It is much needed. A daunting task to be sure, crouched over, low light, short shovel, me, and the ground. Starting it was half the battle tho. I know how a sufficiently big enough hole I think. I'll know more tonight as I take the basin I bought and size it in the hole. I may have to go a bit deeper.
I have an itch on my back...it hurts to scratch it with my arm tho.
Other than that, I got some "volunteering" in on Saturday morning. George and I headed up to the proving grounds. It was a beautiful morning, watching the sun rise and shine through the trees over the ridge I was watching for wildlife population management. The trees with their mix of yellows, greens and a few reds was quite lovely.
I saw a big gaggle of turkeys, a squirrel, and the tree next to me played host to a big group of crows for about 20 minutes. Talk about loud!! I was also a little afraid they would take care of any business while 20 feet above me. Thankful I made it through that ordeal without being bombed. I always find it funny when I'm out "volunteering" and crows come along squaking. It always reminds me of Bambi's father saying "Man, has entered the forest." Perhaps that's why I only saw one deer. Maybe that Bambi movie is true. Maybe crows really warn the animals of all the "volunteers" entering the woods.
Nah, it couldn't be true...No deer has antlers the size of the ones Bambi's dad has.
Haha! Funny stuff! I suspect the pain incurred whilst tilling is similar to the pain incurred whilst cutting acre on acre (only slight exaggeration) of brush that my home's previous owners let grow up around the place. Ah yes, the pleasures of home ownership... far too numerous to mention. My current project is to locate and kill the wild creature that's been climbing, scratching and nesting within my drywall in the wee hours of the morning. The other morning I saw a dead raccoon in the road... hopefully that was it instead of a super-sized rodent that will pounce on me the next time I get into the crawl space.
Keep up the great posts! Writing helps... something.
God bless!
Bro. Bob
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