(10/24/21) Sunday Only one job to do, and I only got 4/9 of it done. There are approx 19 bales of hay and straw in the garage taking up space. The goal was to take some of them down to the cabin and lay them on the ground right below the edge of the porch roof. The rain coming off the roof washes out the ground below the porch. The ones there before worked well. These should do the job for maybe 10 years. Started on the peanut hay. These are the biggest and heaviest bales, and they are even heavier than they were in 2013. The EZGO will only hold 5, and then only if you stack them on end. This is challenging to do even if they didn't weigh so much. The Ranger should hold 12 stacked like this but you can't drive up right next to the cabin with the truck. After loading only 4 bales, I knew this job was not going to be finished in one day. Need 5 more bales. Next time I can put 4 in the back again and one in the passenger seat. Able to walk standing almost straight up this morning.
Condensed version ... It all started because I wanted a picture of a funicular railway: . Two counterbalanced cars attached to opposite ends of a long cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of a steep track. As one car ascends, the other descends at an equal speed. By accident Google led me to the song "Funiculì, Funiculà". ... We sang that in music class in school. I always liked this song, and got sidetracked listening to music. This man is very good. Couldn't help but sing along. (Click Watch on YouTube) But what's the connection? Funiculus is a diminutive of the Latin word funis, meaning rope, or cable-like structure. "Funiculì, Funiculà" was composed, likely in jest, in 1880 by Luigi Denza and Peppino Turco, to commemorate the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius the same year. In Turco's original Italian lyrics, a young man compares his sweetheart to a volcano, and invites her to join him in a romantic trip to the summit, where he intends to propose. Lyricist Edward Oxenford rewrote the lyrics around 1912 to the modern day version, having little to do with the original, except retaining the words, funiculi and funicula. As a side note, Vesuvius erupted on March 17, 1944, with lava obliterating the upper end of the track. The railway had reached the end of its funiculi, and was never rebuilt. I didn't know any of this stuff. .. At least I finally got a picture of a railway.
(10/31/21) Sunday Beautiful day. High 68. Four more bales of hay to the cabin. Had to trim a lot of small trees and bushes around the porch with lopping shears first, just to drive in close from that end. Then carry off the cuttings. Ground is not washing out on this end so 8 was enough. Pictures taken partially into the sun have a softer look that I like. The camera has a mind of its own. I just accept whatever settings it chooses now. Should get those 2 boards out from under the porch. You could keep moving out away from the cabin and cut little shrubs forever. Sunset forced me to quit after about 2 hours. Probably a good thing. Hay bales easier to lift this time. Not stiff this morning. .
Tried adjusting the headlights on the Ranger. Got the driver's side focused lower, but couldn't reach the adjustment on the passenger side with the tools on hand. The pattern on the garage door became strange looking, so I quit. Afraid of screwing something up and having to drive home with it. On the highway the pattern has a V-shape now. Still got flashed a couple times on the way home, but better. There is nothing you can do about it, if you meet someone at the crest of a hill. Will try again next time with better tools. There is an automatic headlight setting on this truck which switches on high beams whenever possible and turns them off when it sees headlights coming. I never use it. Hardly ever needed high beams, even on the F-150, with the old yellow cloudy headlights.
After seeing the downy woodpecker I bought some more things they claim it might like. Suet and seeds. Since then, not only is there no the woodpecker, all the birds have all disappeared. What's going on? 11 Reasons Why Birds Have Stopped Visiting Your Feeders! #11. Birds will be birds "If you have made it this far, and you are convinced that none of the reasons listed above is the issue with your birds, then I have bad news for you:. Birds will be birds. The atmospheric pressure may have changed, or they found a new territory, or they migrated, or they died, or something else happened that we will never know about or understand. Sometimes birds leave our feeders and move to other areas, and there is just nothing we can do about it. Remember, they have wings and can explore anywhere they want. If you have done everything within your control, then the only thing left to do is have patience."
(11/10/21) . Semi-Annual Physical Exam I learned long ago never to casually mention anything to this doctor, because he will jump on it and I have to stop him. This time I thought I had something. It would have made him happy. But when I got there a new person showed up. Half way through description of symptoms she said ... "I have the same thing. Don't worry about it. It's just allergies due to the pollen and ragweed. Mine is so bad I take one Zyrtec every day all year long." Never say never, but my first thought was:. No way would I take anything like that 365 days a year. Allergy doesn't make sense to me because it never happened before, spring or fall. I suppose there is always a first time. My only concern:. could there be a permanent effect on hearing if it goes on much longer. Hearing is not all that great to begin with. Her response is understandable. I've had similar conversations with contractors you meet for the first time. They just assume you are like most of their previous clients. Anyway, I went back to the senior flu shot this time. Didn't really understand how vaccines worked before Covid. Low-grade fever and headache for a couple of hours. Good signs.
(11/12/21) Friday Spur of the moment last night. Moved the living room furniture to the dining room, and the dining room furniture to the living room. I've always wanted to try it. Woke up at 5:00 this morning and rearranged some smaller things. Think I'm going to like it. ZZzzzzzzzzz ...
Reading your posts is wearing me out! Way too much hard work going on around your places. I still have hours of leaves to process and the daily rains here are making it difficult. I tried doing them a bit wet and what a mess.
Faye, my dining room furniture basically consists of one wood table with 6 chairs. Living room; a couch and one chair. It all had to be done slowly, so as not to scratch the floors. Picture it more like a slug inching across the patio. In fact most things have been going like that recently.
Good luck with your wet leaves, Faye. Maybe you can use a pitchfork. I solved the leaf raking problem by cutting down most of the trees close enough to the house to matter. The few remaining, get mulched with the lawn mower, provided I can get the lawn mower started. Otherwise they just stay where they are until spring.
(11/14/21) Only one goal for Sunday: .get one of the stall mats from the floor of the goat barn, bring it in town and cut it to fit in the bed of the Ranger. Spray on bed liners are thinner and more slippery than I expected. This would be for hauling things like bricks, rocks, concrete blocks, and in general to keep things from sliding around so much. Turned out not so easy. Mats are 3/4" x 4' x 6' 100% recycled rubber. Weigh 100 lbs each and don't come with handles. C-clamps make decent temporary handles (tip from goat forum). Until you could get the mat more than half way up into the EZGO, it would slip back out whenever you let go. And it is too stiff to fold. The only way to get it half way up was stand on the seats and pull. Then it would get stuck in the back. At this point I was ready to give up, but that would be admitting defeat by an inanimate object. Tied a rope around the "handles" and took off. Transfer to Ranger went easily with no scratching of any paint. Mat is just the right length, but about 2" too wide at the wheel wells. Will try trimming with an electric tile saw, unless it melts the rubber. Unable to get out of chairs the normal way all day yesterday. Almost back to normal this morning.
Friday (11/19) - First frost (35 deg F) Saturday - Last lawn mowing Monday - First freeze (30 deg F) Sunday (11/21/21) Always a little colder in the country. Watch the kudzu. It collapses instantly after a frost. Had already turned brown out there. Imagine 100 bales of hay piled in this space in the garage. On top of a big sheet of plastic, then strips of old vinyl siding thrown around underneath for ventilation. I just began cleaning this space Sunday. It was a mess. Loose hay all over the place. So there is no before picture. Remaining are 13 bales, one unopened bag of alfalfa pellets, 2 bags of dried kudzu, and a tomato cage for Bermuda hay. Will finish after all that stuff is disposed of. The plan is to put a few bales around a culvert under a road that is beginning to wash out. Maybe a second culvert. Will see how it looks. Might be too late. Might not help anyway.
I'm taking it slow. Only work on it when I get bored doing nothing useful. If I get 'er done by the time the grass starts growing in the spring, I'll be happy. Bill, did you watch the Alabama/Auburn game? Alabama won in 4th overtime. Against a team whose quarterback could barely walk during the 4th quarter. I think GA can beat Alabama this time. Except for the jinx. . .