We moved to a small house on 30 acres...

[LizStreithorst]

The covid tests are not always correct. My friend, Twee, at the fish store, was in the hospital with all the sypmtoms of covid and tested negative 3 times. After she got better and went to her own doctor, he did the test to see if she had ever had Covid. The result said that she had had it.

At any rate, I'm glad you're doing better now. Is the honey sale working with the trust system? Out in the sticks, I've found people to be more honest than city or suburban folks.

[jwcarlson]

Yeah, Liz, I don't think anyone has ripped me off. It's a bit empty at the moment as I haven't felt good enough to refill it. Need to get to work on that.

[jwcarlson]

Bow season was a bust for me. I hunted frequently, but things just never worked out. I didn't have a lot of great hunts at home, but saw a lot of deer. My best chance was at a good buck on one of the other farms we hunt who just simply wouldn't stop walking. To top it off later in the season on my second chunk of vacation I took a practice shot after my morning hunt and my bow string snapped at the knock point. I was sending it off after the season for new strings and tuning, but would have been nice to finish bow season.

Late muzzleloader started about a week ago. I've hunted a few times, it's been very warm so my kids have been going with. Last night I successfully shot this doe (she's hard to see in this picture as I dropped her where she stood). About 50 yard shot is all. An adult, but not particularly big.



This is the winter chicken enclosure that I finished after my bow broke. I would have had it done as planned anyway, but not being able to bow hunt did help me finish a bit sooner. Chickens seem happy. It's nice and warm in there during the day and obviously the wind stays off of them. Their coop is on wheels and I made a removable panel on the other side so I can take out a few screws and wheel the coop out for spring/summer pasturing the hens. It might double as a greenhouse part of the year. Or mower/snow blower storage as needed. Opaque/"clear" poly panels for a roof.

[brewmaster15]

Jacob, I'm enjoying your homesteading adventures. Its something I wish I had done at an earlier point in my life. Thanks for sharing!

[jwcarlson]

Our dogs love when it snows. They actually completely stop drinking water and prefer to eat snow when it is available. We got a little bit of snow last night so on our walk this morning they were excitedly eating snow. They consume it differently. One of them stops running and just eats snow. The other runs and scoops/licks snow while at cruising speed. When it's deep enough he buries about half is snout while running with his mouth open.

I saw these tongue prints and thought they were funny.

[brewmaster15]

Our dogs love when it snows. They actually completely stop drinking water and prefer to eat snow when it is available. We got a little bit of snow last night so on our walk this morning they were excitedly eating snow. They consume it differently. One of them stops running and just eats snow. The other runs and scoops/licks snow while at cruising speed. When it's deep enough he buries about half is snout while running with his mouth open.

I saw these tongue prints and thought they were funny.

Love those pics...dogs can really be funny critters. They kind of remind me of human toddlers.

[jwcarlson]

Love those pics...dogs can really be funny critters. They kind of remind me of human toddlers.

The issue is that they remain a lot like human toddlers for their whole lives.

[Second Hand Pat]

That is pretty funny Jacob. Your pups want their own snowcone.
Pat

[LizStreithorst]

Funny funny funny. Dogs and their unique ways are a hoot. I don't know how I'd make it without mine.

[jwcarlson]

Been working on clearing a fenceline we are hoping to replace. Here's the brushpile so far. Not even a third of the way done and still this much already felled and in need of chunking what I can split for firewood and moving the small stuff. Gonna be a large fire.

[LizStreithorst]

I've done that more than once, but my chainsawing and brush hauling days are over. Now I just enjoy what comes up.

[jwcarlson]

I'll be paying for it tomorrow, I'm sure. Sure was beautiful day, though. Supposed to be close to 70 here tomorrow.

[Second Hand Pat]

Jacob, you might consider a burn barrel. That would allow you to burn the small stuff as you go. I would suggest when you go to burn that pile do it after a good rain and no wind. You do not want it to get away from you.
Pat

[jwcarlson]

Jacob, you might consider a burn barrel. That would allow you to burn the small stuff as you go. I would suggest when you go to burn that pile do it after a good rain and no wind. You do not want it to get away from you.
Pat

95% of it is all very green. I don't intent to burn the whole thing at once, we'll have to disassemble it a bit and feed it as we go.
I'm actually wonder if I can buy or rent a chipper/shredder. I'd rather have cheap mulchy stuff for the chicken coop/garden than a big fire anyway.

[jwcarlson]

Turns out that my brother had a chipper/shredder that he didn't want anymore. So he dropped it off today. I ground up branches and stuff for about an hour and a half after work. Works pretty well, but is fairly slow. Beats the heck out of starting something on fire. There will still be plenty of bigger logs, but I'll just let those dry for fire nights this summer.