Surprise In The Woodpile

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rarefish383

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I had three cord of dry seasoned Oak that I didn't sell, stacked on the court in front of my house. This weekend was spring cleaning, burn pit going with dead fall, leaves, and moving the wood down to the wood racks out of sight. With about 10 pieces of wood left I found this little cutie, Joe.



While I was taking a break I built a new wood pit bench, so I threw my little friend in the fire and sat down and took a longer break.



 
I had three cord of dry seasoned Oak that I didn't sell, stacked on the court in front of my house. This weekend was spring cleaning, burn pit going with dead fall, leaves, and moving the wood down to the wood racks out of sight. With about 10 pieces of wood left I found this little cutie, Joe.



While I was taking a break I built a new wood pit bench, so I threw my little friend in the fire and sat down and took a longer break.




Gotta love a good surprise! I've had a couple copperheads run out before. Haven't seen one of them boogers yet
 
I had a little black snake, maybe 4', go cruising past the wood pile yesterday. I don't dislike snakes, but I don't like to be surprised by them either. My wife and I took the kids to Calvert Cliffs in Southern MD to go fossil hunting. Saw a nest of half a dozen little Copperheads, the park warden said, "Oh yeah, they are all over down here", Joe.
 
Those are the surprises I'm not so fond of, At my work we use to be downright infested with black widows especially down in the center drain where the air lines are. We even had one yahoo have one in a terrarium in his toolbox hutch till he went on vacation and came back and it had eggs that had hatched, he didn't find it funny after that. The good thing about snakes they are big enough to avoid most of the times.
 
I would gladly come across 1000 spiders than 1 damn snake!
 
I am glad we don't get that kind of surprise here , the most fun we normally get is that the wasps crawl into the wood pile to hide for winter , I bring a days wood into the house and an hour later I am sitting there in my chair next to the stove and getting buzzed by a wasp, had as many as 3 in an evening.

if I remember to clap the splits together before I put them in the box to bring in it knocks most of them off and I can sit in peace.
 
I had three cord of dry seasoned Oak that I didn't sell, stacked on the court in front of my house. This weekend was spring cleaning, burn pit going with dead fall, leaves, and moving the wood down to the wood racks out of sight. With about 10 pieces of wood left I found this little cutie, Joe.



While I was taking a break I built a new wood pit bench, so I threw my little friend in the fire and sat down and took a longer break.



Good news is that it's NOT a Black Widow spider. But it is pretty cool looking though (I wouldn't have killed it myself but just transplanted it back in the woods...lol).
We have them here too apparently but I have never seen one. Black Widow has a red hour-glass shape on her underside.
Very nice fire pit bench you made there. I like it.
What CSM setup are you using there? I'd like to get into some of that.
 
Google Northern Black Widow and that's the picture that pops up. It did have the hour glass on the belly too, but I couldn't get it to roll over while taking the pic. There are 80 some varieties of Widows and some have a red stripe, some have three diamonds, some have several dots, all down the back.

http://www.bayareapestcontrol.us/pests/black-widow-spiders/
 
While is rare to see a Massagua rattler here in Michigan I still do not like snakes. Seems this year we have a bumper crop of them to as I have seen a more than normal amount of garter snakes. I do not kill them unless they are aggressive to me or my dogs.

Spiders don't bother me at all and I leave them alone as they catch a goodly supply of bugs like mosquitoes. I don't care to be walking in the woods and get a bit of web in the kisser how ever.

:D Al
 
Found this guy next to the wood stack on Easter. A lot nicer to find than snakes or spiders.
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You just had to post the pic of the turtle. A couple years ago I walked up the hill to my trailer in WV. I wanted to make sure the diveway was clear before I got half way up. I started to pick this guy up and move him, as I reached for him, I thought, Maybe I'll just let him finish what he's doing, Joe.

 
What CSM setup are you using there? I'd like to get into some of that.[/QUOTE]

The mill I use now is a Stihl 660 with 36" bar and a Granburg. But, I started with a 70's Homelite Super 1050, 100CC saw. A few months ago, I gave a friend of mine an old Homelite C5. He bought a 30" bar and Granburg mill and is milling away. You don't need to drop a fortune to get started.

The mill is great for making basic benches like this one. The two base logs were different heights, and I wanted them at 18". So, I put my guide board on the tallest base log, then stacked plywood shimms on top of the shorter one untill they were level, attached the guide board, then set the bar at 18". That made a perfect level base, even though the two ends are different heights. Then I put the guide board across the two bases and set the depth to the thickness of the seat board, cut in a few inches, took the guide board off, and knocked out the notches. The seat board sits level with the top of the base logs, Joe.
 
I keep the snakes in the wood pile. they, in turn, keep the bugs and rodents out.

spiders....don't like 'em.
 
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