I'm blaming the hurricane remnants !

Ok, does it strike you as sort of weird that the day after I finally get everything hooked up and running, in comes a windstorm and "POOF!" there's no power in Ohio...

Other than the day and a half without power, the biggest result was a shreaded tarp and a few damaged trees. The blue tarp on the old motorhome, is mainly blue shreds of a tarp.

But operation Wood Stove is off to a glorious start, there are more down sticks and limbs than I could ever burn in a single season.

Meanwhile the cleanup continues in the garage, with an eye toward getting control over the issues that are currently in the way of getting other things completed. It is getting about time to finish the insulation and walls, before the cold season sets in. For starters, the Turret Lathe is blocking everything on the east side at this point and needs to be moved to it's final resting place, so I can use it later this winter when I launch the steam engine production program. It had a terrible squeal in the clutches, when I last used it twenty years ago. But I think it might have been the oil I used for it, might should have been, more of a transmission oil than a motor oil. I'll see when I get it fired up, as it has been purging itself for a few years. One of it's other issues is that it is a feeder-style, lathe. It can accommodate twenty foot sections of stock, up to 2" in diameter and work until the stock is used up. Which means it needs twenty feet of access, or it goes all the way in the back and some pipe and stands stick out twenty feet toward the front of the garage. I've never set it up to use this length as I've never had the room. But I do now. And if I can get the stock in longer lengths, it saves on waste and makes the parts more cost effective. Might come in handy. If the steam engines catch on. ( Actually took about 4 hours to rotate the Lathe 180 degress and move it near the East wall where it will be for now, what an ordeal).

All the machinery will need to be grounded. I never bothered with it for the last 30 years, but I'm sure something will get weird if I don't. And now that they are getting an actual bolted down placement and an actual wiring system rather than the floating ground arrangement that was originally set up, I'm pretty sure it will be in my best interest. I recently checked the voltages at idle and it was very disproportionate, I was checking it because of some unexpected sparking and a little light show the converter provided when I first hooked it up to the milling machine. I haven't checked them under load yet, because I have to be there to intercede if things get wild, but I intend to when they are finally tied down.

Then I have to get some actual power lines run around in the garage, with plugs to plug things into. I also need to get the lights hooked into the switches I've mounted near the doors, rather than running everything off the power strip I hooked up a couple months ago, as a quick fix.

Went to our first Livestock Auction House, Wednesday, in Zanesville. What an experience, I guess having nearly no olfactory senses left, is a small blessing. Unfortunately, a couple of the things I still smell are prevalent at cattle barns. We bought nothing, going to Barnesville Saturday with the same intent. Turns out, Goats are cheap, mostly. Goats in the fair are not allowed to have horns, who wants a goat without horns? Having a set of handles on their heads seems a fun thing, otherwise might as well have dogs! So the goats we saw at the fair won't be a real pull for me, but there should be other goats available. I only want two, and really one would be enough, but I'm told they like company. And I'm hoping not to have to sleep in the barn, often anyway. (We decided it would make more sense to wait till spring to get the goats, as they have nothing to do until then anyway, so why house and feed them for next year when someone already is doing that for us?)

I'm at war with a couple ground hogs, I'm not sure they are aware of the seriousness of my desire that they move out of the barns. I have eliminated one, at this point ,and am in the process of infuriating another, the third one is yet to be confronted other than we try to block it's holes with the Bobcat's bucket, or a pile of cement sacks or whatever else I can put in it's way. But it is continuing to undermine the larger of the barns. I'm told there are a couple sure fire remedies, but they "aren't very sports man like"... I'm not sure I really care. But shooting at them is kinda fun, so poisoning them seems a waste of a good target. On the other hand the poison route is quick and effective, just need to corral the cat for a couple days. Don't want any unintended consequences to affect my mouser. And it's probably easier to get rid of them while there aren't any other animals to be concerned about.

 

Another new aspect is hunting, never had a lot of interest, in either hunting or farming and yet there is a deer in the freezer and tomatoes and peppers all over the kitchen. I had started out trying to think of ways to get a smattering of energy independence, but I'm starting to think I might do well to attempt some grocery independence as well. Though I'm sure I'm better at battling the physics problems of energy development than the natural enemies of farming, I have a friend in Tennesee that says it can be done . Of course he is doing it on more acres and his wife is seemingly well outfitted for the task, "She knew exactly what stove to look for when we started shopping for a wood burning stove for the kitchen." He was smiling from ear to ear when he said this, and has since assured me she was exactly right. They are about as near total independence as a couple can get and maintain a comfortable level of contact with the "real world", as we used to call it in some nasty situations we found ourselves in, in the past.

Anyway as far as hunting goes, find a good tutor, watch and learn.

I'd include a picture of my buddy here, but as he is wearing camo you probably couldn't see him anyhow. Too bad, cause he's an impressive stalker of the white tailed hamburger, or as I like to think of them "giant rats!" Anyway, it is fun to sit in the trees and watch life go by, I saw my first flying squirrel, last week, oh and a deer that is in my freezer. I didn't bother the squirrel, not enough meat to make it worth chasing an arrow.

I have been practicing with the crossbow and I think the long bow, or a compound bow might be more effective, though the crossbow is mechanical as well, I think there is a limit of 200 pounds of force developed by them for hunting. SO they are only deadly ( or maybe better said as Accurate) for about 30 yards. But the arrowheads are pretty impressive. Mixed with the carbon fiber bolts (arrows) and a steady hand it's a pretty effective short range killing device. Now if I could learn to butcher the beasts myself, that would be a real money saver. Well mainly because I'm borrowing all the high dollar technical equipment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man, are we happy out here!

 

The Chores, Fresh Air, Green Acres is for ME.