Catscratch House and Habitat build

[Catscratch]

"Rotten" as in unpredictable and soft is spots?

First shed of the season. We're iced in, the dog won't even walk on the gravel. I scooted down to the highway to see if the roads had been worked. Couldn't get back up the drive so took a detour through the grass and got lucky. Now I have the itch!

 

[T-Max]

As if a lake and that view of yours weren't enough to be jealous of, now you are finding sheds already?!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Also ended up with all the concrete man-hole tubes. Bigger and heavier than they look. Hard to work with, but I wanted them for habitat. The recent cold spell froze the ice as thick as I've ever seen it. Decided to role them out and let them melt into location. First one shattered when it first hit the ice. Second one broke in half when I tried to pull it out of the pile and landed on my foot. Pretty sore and swollen. 3rd one rolled out onto the ice effortlessly. Kind of like a bowling ball going down the lane. Thought it might go to far. Sounded kind of neat on the ice. Watched until it slowed, turned to hobble back up to the pile and get another and heard something... the damn thing caught the wind and was rolling back! Lol, made it all the way back to bank. I just stood watching and giggling until it was at my feet. By now I'm considering life choices, but the rest went smoothly.View attachment 61851View attachment 61852View attachment 61853View attachment 61854

Lots of great hide-y spots for the fish once they sink. Great idea with the rubble and manholes.

 

[Catscratch]

Got lucky with the shed!

The fish habitat is just the start. I'll add cedars (lots of dense branches) as vertical cover for bait fish around the tubes, then larger hedge logs both horizontal and vertical on top of the tubes. Big fish like big cover, little fish like dense cover, and I like big fish to always be close to little fish.

 

[Catscratch]

The dog quit walking on the roads after the 3rd time he fell this morning. Lol, I got a chuckle!

Quit laughing when I ran the fence.

 

[Catscratch]

I can't think of a more beautiful place in the world (for me anyway).

 

[cbw]

Not habitat but kind of fun anyway. The kid and friends made the news with a snowman! Pics don't do it justice, it's huge!
View attachment 61309

That’s awesome! Reminds me of the snow bear my wife and a few of my kids did a couple years ago. My son’s basketball coach challenged the team to a snowman contest when school was canceled. For height perspective, my tall son in the pic was just over 6’ tall at the time!

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[Catscratch]

That’s awesome! Reminds me of the snow bear my wife and a few of my kids did a couple years ago. My son’s basketball coach challenged the team to a snowman contest when school was canceled. For height perspective, my tall son in the pic was just over 6’ tall at the time!

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Whoa! That's cool!

 

[Catscratch]

The wife sent a pic this morning. They are melting through! If this had happened on a weekend it would have been fun to grab a case of beer, some friends, and sit around taking bets on which would sink first.

 

[Telemark]

The wife sent a pic this morning. They are melting through! If this had happened on a weekend it would have been fun to grab a case of beer, some friends, and sit around taking bets on which would sink first.
View attachment 61955View attachment 61956

I guess you're not much of a redneck. Back in my younger days, we would have brought guns and tried to shoot the ice out around them to see who could sink them.

I remember doing that with big empty cans from tomato juice and olive oil. Chuck two identical cans out on the ice and compete to see who could blast a hole in the ice and then shoot enough holes in the can to sink it.

We only did it on rare occasions when there was a flooded area that froze so we could retrieve the cans when the water receded. We were reckless, but we didn't litter.

 

[Catscratch]

I guess you're not much of a redneck. Back in my younger days, we would have brought guns and tried to shoot the ice out around them to see who could sink them.

I remember doing that with big empty cans from tomato juice and olive oil. Chuck two identical cans out on the ice and compete to see who could blast a hole in the ice and then shoot enough holes in the can to sink it.

We only did it on rare occasions when there was a flooded area that froze so we could retrieve the cans when the water receded. We were reckless, but we didn't litter.

Lol, I'm very surprised that guns didn't get involved with this project. Your method sounds like a "blast"! I'm thinking tannerite would have been appropriate.

 

[Telemark]

Lol, I'm very surprised that guns didn't get involved with this project. Your method sounds like a "blast"! I'm thinking tannerite would have been appropriate.

There's still time!

 

[SD51555]

The pond does look full! And are you calving now?

 

[Catscratch]

The pond does look full! And are you calving now?

It's so nice to see the pond full, it's been a while!
Lots of calves dropping right now. I'm phasing out of that. The FIL sold his herds and I've been slowly selling off what little I have. Keeping the kids's cows and a couple of our "pet" type cows. Leased all the land to a friend/neighbor down the road. It's not the path I thought I was going to take, but it's a real good situation for everyone involved.

 

[Catscratch]

I don't know why I got such a kick out of watching these tubes melt through the ice, but I really enjoyed it.

 

[Catscratch]

Burned around the yard. I get nervous about the house in the spring. LOTS of people burn pasture so I like to have a break just in case one gets away from someone. Only burned as far as the hose would reach, but conditions were great to do more.

 

[SD51555]

Man, I wish I could burn. I've got a pocket of canary grass that's a big mess and a trail runs through it. It's all sorts of humps and holes and I'd like to get it fixed.

 

[Catscratch]

Man, I wish I could burn. I've got a pocket of canary grass that's a big mess and a trail runs through it. It's all sorts of humps and holes and I'd like to get it fixed.

I've said this before but burning scares the hell out of me. I'm pretty good at it and have never had a fire get away from me but I've sure had some hairy moments. With that said I also love to burn. Something about standing there watching it creep, listening to the crackle, and knowing what it will look like during green-up is just appealing/relaxing.

Why can't you burn SD? Laws and rules prevent it? I think it should be mandatory in most places just to reduce fuel loads and prevent out of control fires. But most of what I think isn't agreed upon by the people who make the rules.

 

[Catscratch]

The oldest spine shot his deer this yr. A little cleaning, whitening, and gluing and it should be neat to keep with the rack. Plus it had a broken off drop tine that we sort of rebuilt. Didn't want to make it something it's not so no sanding and painting to match, just a prosthetic.

 

[Catscratch]

Pics for prosperity...