collecting wood

Just some pictures of get the woods clear and the collection of firewood for winter.

Father-in-law

My father-in-law is amazing.  He let me borrow his saw.  I don't want to say what it is or anything since this is a public blog and I don't want strangers to know what equipment I have on my place (especially when it isn't my equipment) but may I just say, "Hot knife through butter."

I know what brand I want now.  I even figured out how to pull it off of the ground.  Unlike the homelite and poulan I have, this one doesn't yank back on you.  It starts on the first pull 90% of the time, and always within three.  I am going to have to write the company a love letter.

At first I was dreading going out and I admit I made several excuses until 10 o'clock rolled around, but once I got out there and started working, the saw made life so much easier.  Of course I waited a bit too long into the day and decided to come back in as the heat climbed higher.  But now I know I want to be out there first thing.  I can start gathering logs for the winter and the path back into the woods is open for the first time in over a year.

I appreciate what my dad tried to do with getting me some cheap saws.  I mean the first one I bent the blade in a tree the first time I used it.  I am in no ways proficient, but just like having a sharp knife keeps you safer when cutting things or butchering, a good saw makes you better at cutting wood and trees.

I hate 2 cycle engines

So the little red homelite chainsaw that was supposed to be fairly new and ready to go just died on me.  I have cleaned the carburetor, checked the spark plug, checked compression (thumb over the spark plug hole worth of checking) and even checked the magneto for rust.  It won't even offer a pop on starter fluid.  I am at my wits end.  I have moved on to the green poulan, dubbed the green monster.  I hope I can get this one operating because I really need a chainsaw to start my fence line.  I did find a carburetor rebuild kit for the weed-eater, but I had to go to ebay for it, but it only cost 4 bucks.

Picture show and tell time:

Varg is growing and still looking cute:

 Size comparison for Squire, Varg, and my big baby Bone. Oh and Khain hiding in the background.

 My hatched chicks have begun exploring outside their house.  I really needed to let the out a little earlier with as bad as the heat has been.  There just wasn't enough breeze going through their house.  I believe I have 4 hens and 2 roosters.

 Also the hen I had lost several weeks ago is confirmed dead.  I found a trail of feathers when I went to move the goat pen yesterday.

 She had an egg ready for me too, which really sucks as the rest of the hens have shut down in this heat.

 All the was left was her feathers and her keel bone (breast bone).  Thankfully I haven't had anymore losses.  But something is killing the semi-wild rabbits.  They just get really lethargic and die.  I think there is some sort of parasite wiping them out.

 The goats in their portable pen helping clear were me and Dad had cute down some trees last year.  I hope to have a chainsaw running soon to get the wood chopped up and ready for winter.  You can see just beyond them how much they clear in a day or two.

tools of the trade

So I have been flooded with broken tools.  Our push mower broke the pull sting, the chainsaw won't fire up, a friend's mower and weed-eater stopped working.
Thankfully both push mowers were an easy fix.  Obviously with our's, just redo the string (which I still need to do).  The friend's mower just needed the shaft cleared of some nylon string, possible shredded hay string or fishing line.  Not sure exactly what it was, but once clear it fired and worked.

The chain saw is in pieces downstairs.  After several attempts at starting it, including squirting a little fuel into the spark plug chamber, I decided to check the spark from the plug.  (On suggestion from my dad) From what I could tell there was no spark, but I was trying to hold it and the chainsaw while pulling the string.  I have a new spark plug but I need to test it out.  Hopefully this will fix the issue.

And the weed-eater.  Awhile ago they had asked my to look at it; it would start but not continue to run.  When I finally got around to looking at it, it wouldn't start at all.
First problem: they didn't know to mix the 2 cycle oil with the fuel - oops.
Second problem: the fuel line came apart in the tank and the filter was just rattling around in it.

So I dumped the fuel and bought a new fuel line.  I just need to get that ran, mix up a new gallon of fuel and see if she even wants to fire.  Hopefully that is all that is wrong,

So that will be most of my day.

This all started because I wanted to use the chainsaw to cut down a stump in the front yard.

Stupid Stump.

Over a month late

Been really behind in my posts.  I can just own up to it and say I was lazy, but I also have the excuse of family in town, Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary I planned and hosted, July 4th guild social, getting sick, oh and a new puppy.

His name is Varg.  Technically he is "Rob's dog".  (Not that we really divide up the animals like that but if he messes in the house I can make Rob clean it up that way.....)

 Also it rained for a week straight it seemed.  This used to be a field next to the river I usually swim in.

 Parking lot and soccer field next to the feed store.

Baby chicks are growing like gangbusters
(confused by this word I know, and yet do not know the origin of, I looked it up: Usage of the idiom like gangbusters has become a little weird over the years. Originally it meant with great initial excitement, speedily, with a strong start, or with immediate success. The idiom originally came from the midcentury American radio program Gang Busters, which began each episode with great excitement and vigor (i.e., with lots of loud sound effects). You can hear some episodes here.)
Unfortunately I lost one of the white hens to a predator, and the rest of the hens don't seem to be in much of a mood to lay any eggs.
Other than that .... I need to mow the grass.

cheese, jam, and chicks

I made my fist batch of goat cheese and it is tasty.  Light and fluffy and delectable.  Mixed will mulberries it is amazing.

 Then I took the 8 cups of mulberries I picked with Rob and made them into jelly.

 I put that on a bagel with my goat cheese and it was great.

Babysat my Sister-in-law's puppy and caught puppy fever.  Hopefully will have some more news about that in the coming weeks.
His name was Jake.  I added, from State Farm.  And when asked what he was wearing, "Nothing."

 The chicks hatched under my broody hen!!  Super excited that 6 out of the ten eggs made it to hatching.  All the chicks look healthy and mama seems to be doing great with them.  Very protective, which made getting pictures difficult.  4 look like my golden laced wyandotte rooster and two will probably be like the white hens, rhode island whites.

 I had to move them into an old rabbit cage cause I was afraid the chicks would slip out of the dog cage and be attacked.  So for now they are in the garage with mama.  I hope to move the turkeys outside soon and put my three pullets with the older hens finally and get mama and her 6 chicks in the brooder.  Basically musical chicken housing.

The Plot Thickens

So I worked on the over-arching theme of the school books that I am writing and I am much happier now that I have a three sentence bridge for the series.  That may not seem like a lot, but when I have two of the books written and the third kicking around in my head still ... having a road map is handy.  Surprisingly I had just been winging it and letting the characters and random ideas drive the story until now.  But I will go back, clean up the previous books, add more description and also hint at the driving force behind the bad guys some more.  I think I have a good plot driver when it makes me cackle.

Is it wrong for an author to be evil to her characters?
I think George R.R. Martin would think it is ok.

In other news there are more baby bunnies.  One of the females from Miss Bunn's first wild litter also kindled a bunch of cinnamon babies.  But her babies are a little darker red.  You can kind of tell from the two stealing food from the broody hen.
The broody hen is doing great, so far as I can tell.  Last week I saw her actually going back to her nest after getting some water so she is doing what she is supposed to.  I hope to see chicks by the end of the month or so.  I put them under her on the 10th of May and chicken eggs are supposed to hatch after 21 days.

I started letting the three pullets out during the day as well.  So the other chickens get to see them roaming and hopefully start to accept them and also so they learn to forage.  They are doing great.  So far they stick near their cage or under the propane tank and the rose bush, which are maybe ten yards from their cage.  They put themselves away at night and I can lock them up till morning.

(Bone is investigating the new chicks)

 They hopped up on the stairs to the deck while I was reading.

 Today me and Rob picked some of the ripe mulberries.  I hope to get a jam recipe for them.  There are still a lot on the trees waiting to ripen.