Trail maintenance

A couple of three days ago we saw a car down at the graveyard, so we rode by to see who it was. I didn't stop, but it was some of Cousin Steve's people from Rome GA. They brought fresh flowers and did a little weedeating around his grave. It did make me feel a little bad, so I got down there with the mower and trimmer this morning. But the first thing I had to use was the handsaw. The parking area hadn't been cut since the hurricane, and there was at least a dozen oak seedlings that had came up. One was chest high so I decided it would be a good shade tree at some point in the future.



I didn't get started cleaning under the existing shade tree. Lots of that is huckleberry and a few blueberry, so I'm thinking about just cutting the rest and leaving it to grow. But I'll most likely just cut it all.

How about some golden pot instead...

Working outdoors has many challenges, it beatsthe hell out of sitting in a cubicle all damn day .

The river is on the way up again. 16.5 now. A crest of 18.7 is predicted for Friday. It may get over the driveway if it gets a little higher than predicted, but my gardens should be alright.

The river crested tonight. A foot lower than the new prediction, which was a foot lower than the previous one. Crossing my fingers it sticks.

Just got an email from the lady working our block grant application with a question on mine and Sister's shared lands. So it shouldn't be too much longer. Once approved the check will come in 6-8 weeks.

I burned a couple of piles today. Between the lack of wind and how wet the wood was, it was a son of a bitch to get going. A little thunderstorm finally kicked up some wind and got it going good. It takes at least a couple gallons of fuel mix per pile. More would have been nice, but I ran out, and I didn't want to leave the fires to go get more. I will run to the store tomorrow or Monday before I burn again. Although I will repile these in the morning and they will burn on.

Fred was more of a pain in the ass than I figured he would be. Trees across the driveway and the road. I was lucky enough to get to walk home in the worst of it.

The river is down to 14.18 and falling 0.03' (.36") per hour. The slough is almost down to where I like it, so I will have to adjust the flow from the well in the next couple of days. It's been turned down for over a month now.

We have had a week with no rain. I burned a few piles and they did much better. Only have 8-10 piles left. Hope to finish them off in the next couple weeks.

injinji said:

The river is down to 14.18 and falling 0.03' (.36") per hour. The slough is almost down to where I like it, so I will have to adjust the flow from the well in the next couple of days. It's been turned down for over a month now.

We have had a week with no rain. I burned a few piles and they did much better. Only have 8-10 piles left. Hope to finish them off in the next couple weeks.

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Sounds like you stay busy.

xtsho said:

Sounds like you stay busy.

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Kind of sort of, but not really. Most days I'm lucky if I do 3-4 hours of real work. And I'm not making much progress on catching up at that rate. But I get in my nap (most) every afternoon, and 3-5 miles walked a night. You have to have your priorities.

We've had rain for a few days now, but there was almost two dry weeks. Last week one of the piles I had lit the week before started back up and burned. I lit a couple more the next day. Most of them actually burned with only a gallon or two of fuel mix.

I have hog damage down at the riverhouse. The wife's firecracker plants were mostly rooted up. Most of the little cypress trees too. The citrus in pots were turned over and covered up, but with a little digging I was able to find all of them. I'll have to kill them if I see them.

I wanted to mention this before I forgot it. A couple three weeks ago there were glow worms down by the riverhouse driveway. Not a lot. Maybe 50-75. The only other time I have ever seen them was down at the old river camp. That night there were thousands of them. At the time I was using a cot with a tarp and netting setup. I got up in the night to go pee and it looked like the stars were down on the ground. They are about a quarter inch long, and would light up just like a firefly.

Last night I opened up the valve to the slough a little. Water level was about 6 inches lower than I like.

River is still dropping. About 12 feet.

I've been burning fresh piles about once a week. The neighbor's helper put in a few hours combining burnt piles. There had been lots of dirt in the piles and he did a good job of getting rid of most of it.

Even with the lower humidity and higher winds, it still takes a couple three days for them to all burn up. I've been doing more up close work, so much smokier. Two days this week when I burned, I ate my meals on the back deck due to smell. Then after dark, I washed my cloths at the riverhouse.

I just got back from a few days on a trail I didn't have to maintain. But I was wishing I had grabbed my folding saw after the first few miles. Since Micheal took down most of the big trees, underbrush and vines have taken over. But I only took pictures of the good bits.

This was the first trip for my new pack, tent and trekking poles. Glad to report all did pretty good. I did have to pack the tent wet everyday, then spread it out when I stopped for lunch.

My new ultra tight hiking gear. Naturehikes 60l backpack, Meir branded Lanshan 2 tent and Cascade Mountain Tech carbon/cork trekking poles. About 250 bucks for the lot.

First pitch was stressful, as this was my first time with a trekking pole tent. Ground was not level at the first spot I tried, so I ended up moving to a better location.