J-birds place

[j-bird]

Was sitting in the living room yesterday and I saw a yote at the mailbox (roughly 50 yards from the house)! Ran back, grabbed the gun and got outside to see there was 2 of them.....They wasn't practicing social distancing so the gestapo shot one of them! It was a younger male. I spun one around about a week ago or so as well. I shoot every yote and groundhog I can.

My recent handicap didn't come into play.....I seemed to have broken my pinky finger on my right hand. Not serious just hurts....it's taped to the other finger now. I messed it up during a little accident where I nearly ran thru a glass storm door saturday....thankfully the door actually opened vs the glass breaking. "Tempered safety glass" printed right on the glass.....along now with a smudge from my forehead! I hit it at about a 3/4 run and at a slim 265....something is gonna give! Not one of my finer moments. Wouldn't be so bad, but half the family saw the whole thing go down. Door still works and isn't all messed up either.....surprisingly!

 

[Bill]

How long did those girls laugh?

 

[SWIFFY]

Oh man... thats a quality door! Thats something from a bloopers video! At least you got the coyote, its the perfect time of year for that. The fawns thank you

 

[j-bird]

How long did those girls laugh?

Luckily my kids where not around when the door incident occurred. With the Covid thing going on I limited who from my household was there to help. I had several aunts and uncles standing right there where enjoyed the show however.....Thankfully no video of the event....

 

[j-bird]

Oh man... thats a quality door! Thats something from a bloopers video! At least you got the coyote, its the perfect time of year for that. The fawns thank you

No video of the door...thankfully....for the sake of my pride. The yote....I just wish I had seen that there was 2 instead of one. I would have grabbed a different gun and at least given me a chance at the second. They was too close to cover for me to pull a Lee Harvey and rip off a couple of rounds thru a bolt gun that quickly. It just blows me away how close they will get to the house even with our 3 dogs being in and out all the time and in broad daylight like that. They keep showing up....I'll keep shooting them!

 

[j-bird]

Spent Saturday fixing and organizing my wood barn and yesterday making a mess in the garage....we had hit or miss rain all weekend, but the temps was nice.

Saturday I had to replace a support post that had been removed decades ago...before my time. It was part of the re-organizing effort since I like to store my lumber up in the rafter.

Then sunday.....I took that lumber that was left and went to work replacing my destroyed shooting houses.

roughly 6'x6' square....walls are 7 feet tall...trap door entry24" x 36".....windows are 48" x 24" and will be double slider type. I ran out of 2X so I had to call it a day. Everything is screwed together with coated decking screws. It's a big puzzle. I have marked the walls both inside and out as well as where they match the base. Nothing worse than trying to "refigure-out the puzzle" later. I'll post the entire build in the other thread once I'm done. For now, I need some more 2X some plywood sheeting, some metal roofing and my windows.

 

[j-bird]

So I spent a majority of the holiday weekend working on the shooting house project. Got the final wall built, hung the wall sheeting (cheap 3/8" plywood just to stiffen things up a bit), and then it was taken apart and moved to the location.... We built the support stand out of reclaimed 5x4 shipping crate lumber they sit on the preformed concrete footers for decks. "X" braces are 2 1/2" square and lag bolted in place. Got everything leveled up as best we could and then we started lifting wall panels. Got them all tied together and everything fit back up pretty well.

Do I have a picture....no. I was too focused on trying to get things done. Between the heat and the pop up rain showers....I just had other things on my mind.

Due to rain in the forecast and not having everything I needed (metal for roof and siding and the windows) then we cover the entire thing in a dark blue tarp. Yep - I got a big blue box sitting out in the middle of the wide open....I'm sure we will get visited by the police thinking it's a meth lab! I am sun burnt and sore. But that's the price you pay for doing it yourself. The youngest helped with what she could on day one...but the second day just having some help with the lifting and a second set of hand s really helped. She wanted to name the stand and not thinking I said "ok"....don't do that. She is 16...16 year olds do not come up with socially acceptable names. It's now the "Southwest shooting house 2.0"....despite what Emma wants to call it!

Seems like the trap door is going to be a big hit. The floor height from the ground got a little taller than I had planned and the wall height did as well. The floor height is 7 feet off the ground at the shortest point and the wall are about 7 1/2 feet tall. I'll rein that back on the next build. It's just more than is really needed. The floor height I just wanted enough to get under it without stooping....it sits up on the top of a slope with the deer activity below...so the natural elevation advantage helps. We just went from 4 feet off the ground and a shed that you couldn't stand up in....to 7 to 8 feet off the ground and one you can certainly stand up in!

 

[j-bird]

I got my corn plots planted yesterday...first time I can remember actually having my plots planted before the rental farmer...but it happened today...beat him by 1 day! I thought about just doing fall plots but I got the corn seed for free so we will give it a shot. I mowed and spread fertilizer last weekend then got out the tiller and the old plate planter and put some seed in the ground yesterday.

We had a pretty decent frost a few weeks ago and I knew it would do some damage but I wanted to give it a few weeks to see just how bad it was. Well....we won't have ANY apples this year and I am not sure what it did to the mature oaks and their flowers yet.

It did a real number on my persimmons trees....I think I may have 2 survive while the whip trees I think all died. I think it killed some of my whip chestnuts as well and it certainly did a number on even the mature ones. This tree is several years old and still looks like crap! I'm just glad it survived.


It fried one of my newly planted enterprise apples...the others survived fine...but I think this one is toast! I will leave it be and see if it shows any signs of life in a few weeks. Otherwise I'll find something else to put in there. My crabs are fine and my older apples are fine.....just no sign of fruit....but that I expected.


It even did a number on my sawtooth oaks.....but they are bouncing back pretty well.

 

[j-bird]

My big blue box..... Still needs windows and metal..... tarp is to keep it out of the weather until then. Still waiting for the police raid.....


and my MG screen.....maybe. Rental farmer was out today spraying....I fear he may have thought it was johnsongrass..... guess we will see. And NO, I can't seem to plant ANYTHING in a straight line...and there was no drinking involved!

 

[Bill]

Hope he didn’t spray it!!

 

[j-bird]

Hope he didn’t spray it!!

I hope not as well....but if he did....I got more where those came from. I was glad to see how many of them sprouted. These are from the 2 clumps I dug up earlier this spring. The screen was going to do two things for me....hide me coming and going and make the plot itself a little more secluded.... I'll replant if I need to, just sets things back a year. Can be any worse than the frost screwing over my trees!

 

[j-bird]

I was out over the weekend checking on things and found a few bright spots....

#1 - it looks like my MG screen was spared! The screen will enclose the plot form being exposed to the larger ag field and hopefully increase it's use and help hide some of my coming and going as well, Since I have a new blind to build at the far end of the pic (end of the green point from the left). I'll give the MG a shot of N when I hit the corn as well. These where just rhizomes this spring.


#2 - not as many of my trees died as I had thought. The whip chestnuts are still alive.....but really set back...I thought they was dead . The existing whip is dead, but I have signs of life at the base so I will see if they survive the summer. I do think a few of my persimmons are toast however and an older chestnut or two (in the ground a few years) I had that struggled are dead or are too far gone to make it thru the summer. We will see. I also found a whole whopping 2 apples on my 5 mature apple trees....so the frost didn't get them all. But what the frost missed the coons will get I am sure. I am finding that I am having some issues with the chestnut hill chestnuts for my particular case. The frost didn't help, and the too dry or too wet may not be helping either. I may need to look into some Chinese chestnuts and see if they do any better. Maybe someone is trying to tell me I'm not supposed to have chestnuts or persimmons! I tend to be pretty stubborn so we won't give up just that easy!!

#3 - the crabapples I planted last year are doing great. I looked at the trees I planted this year and they are about 3 feet tall and my crabs are about 6 feet or more and doing very well. Maybe I should have invested in crabs before chestnuts..... Already eyeing spots for the next order.... My chestnuts keep dying for one reason or another....I'm gonna have to seek a sponsorship from TC for his trees. As the Chestnut hill trees die off, I may just end up filling those holes with TC trees......I don't think he will mind!


And lastly my corn plots are starting to pop. Nothing serious but I have a few popping up already. The plot below has a low spot in it that was too wet when I planted....but I will spray the weeds and hopefully turn this area into a fall annuals plot in aug/sept time frame. the farm is covered in soybeans this year so the deer will have plenty to eat this summer.....I just have to keep them here or pull them from the neighbors once harvest is done.....standing corn and some greens should do the trick.

 

[Bill]

Well your plots are starting to pop. That’s a plus. Haven’t had a chance to put seed in the ground yet. I’m still in never never land back east.

But I, again defy the governor in a few days and travel

 

[j-bird]

Well your plots are starting to pop. That’s a plus. Haven’t had a chance to put seed in the ground yet. I’m still in never never land back east.

But I, again defy the governor in a few days and travel
View attachment 30146

You better watch it....them Libs will shut you down...turn you in...you trouble-maker you! I live on my place....so technically I'm still at home.....so my governor can go pound sand! Oh no....I might infect my neighbors!!! Ummm...the nearest neighbor is 1/2 a MILE away! Now that's the type of social distancing I like!!! It's a busy time here with all the planting being done and the like....so ain't nobody stopping anybody here right now. I need a good rain shower...which I hope to be getting soon...then things will look even better. I need to get back to my shooting house project.....need to let the "crazy money" fund build back up.....

 

[MilkweedManiac]

I got my corn plots planted yesterday...first time I can remember actually having my plots planted before the rental farmer...but it happened today...beat him by 1 day! I thought about just doing fall plots but I got the corn seed for free so we will give it a shot. I mowed and spread fertilizer last weekend then got out the tiller and the old plate planter and put some seed in the ground yesterday.

We had a pretty decent frost a few weeks ago and I knew it would do some damage but I wanted to give it a few weeks to see just how bad it was. Well....we won't have ANY apples this year and I am not sure what it did to the mature oaks and their flowers yet.

It did a real number on my persimmons trees....I think I may have 2 survive while the whip trees I think all died. I think it killed some of my whip chestnuts as well and it certainly did a number on even the mature ones. This tree is several years old and still looks like crap! I'm just glad it survived.
View attachment 30045

It fried one of my newly planted enterprise apples...the others survived fine...but I think this one is toast! I will leave it be and see if it shows any signs of life in a few weeks. Otherwise I'll find something else to put in there. My crabs are fine and my older apples are fine.....just no sign of fruit....but that I expected.
View attachment 30043

It even did a number on my sawtooth oaks.....but they are bouncing back pretty well.
View attachment 30046

I feel your pain. Lots of my trees got bit by this late frost. It has me thinking about doing a bit more research into late-blooming varieties of apples and pears...It wouldn't hurt to have some of those as insurance!

 

[Bill]

You better watch it....them Libs will shut you down...turn you in...you trouble-maker you!

yeah I’m pretty much over caring. Governor Murphy said we could have groups of 25 outside if we socially distanced and wore mask.
Here is governor Murphy marching.

The next day he said we could have 100 people together and even more if it was a first amendment issue.
Don’t want HT to turn political and I won’t let it.

But BS is BS.

 

[j-bird]

I feel your pain. Lots of my trees got bit by this late frost. It has me thinking about doing a bit more research into late-blooming varieties of apples and pears...It wouldn't hurt to have some of those as insurance!

The loss of the fruit I can handle...that's going to happen from time to time.....the fact that it hit some of my more established trees as hard as it did has me worried. I seem to be able to get my chestnuts to about 8 feet tall or so and just starting to produce....and then they die. That is where I am the most frustrated. I will let those I have prove themselves, but if they don't make it or struggle.....they will be gone and I will find something else. I'm all for diversity...but you have to have things that grow and provide some sort of benefit as well. Time will tell if dunstan chestnuts are part of that for me or not.

 

[j-bird]

yeah I’m pretty much over caring. Governor Murphy said we could have groups of 25 outside if we socially distanced and wore mask.
Here is governor Murphy marching.
View attachment 30163
The next day he said we could have 100 people together and even more if it was a first amendment issue.
Don’t want HT to turn political and I won’t let it.

But BS is BS.

To the PM's!!!

 

[j-bird]

Pulled some cam cards the other day.... Nothing too exciting, but some hope....

First pic of a fawn was on the last day of May. They sure are cute when they are little.... I still have other does still carrying.....


Then I got a visit from it's daddy..... I want to see how well he fills out this year. Tough to tell in the picture, but in the video he is already as wide as his ears.


Then on another site....I got visited by the three amigo's! Nothing overly promising, but still nice to see.


The cam I have on a little wooded opening/plot with lots of "weeds" seems to be getting visited well also. I went in with my weed wacker and just knocked the tops of the weeds off....those the deer had not already eaten. This plot has clover and lots of chicory growing in it, but the deer seem to be just as interested right now in the tender weeds that are shooting up as well. I was going to use my mower but I was fearful that it would mow too short and give the weeds more of an advantage....it wasn't "fun" swinging the weed wacker that much, but I think it was the right tool for the job.

I need to get my allowance back (company cut my pay-check by 10% during covid) so I can get me some windows and metal ordered for the shooting house.....

My corn plots...are a total flop. I wasn't planning on corn this year, but I got some free seed and went for it. I think my planter plugged and as such I have scrapped the idea of corn. I have 1 good row of corn in 3 plots totaling an acre in size. I have a mix of annual clovers and some buckwheat to pick up and use as a summer cover crop to till under for my fall annuals. The deer are moving out into the sprouting ag beans that cover my 100 acres of tillable now so they won't go hungry. I just don't like seeing empty plots.

 

[Bill]

I just threw a weed whacked in a dumpster. I have bad memories of weed whacking electric fence that guarded 3 acres of trees. I’ll use one at home but I don’t ever want one at the farm again :)

speaking of dumpsters. There is no where to take your trash here in this part of MO. You burn it, store it, bury it or throw it in a ditch. I’m not throwing it in a ditch or burying it....

I ordered a 10 yard dumpster to clean up. They were out of 10 yarders and brought me a 20 yarder for the same price. Shame on them, I’m going to fill it... I can’t believe how clean my shop is!