raking up some piled leaves for a neighor at my side yard spotted a small light brown snake. let it go about its business...
Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)
- Thread starter mainewoods
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My neighbor was a bark buster dealer back in the 70’s. Many folks around here had those very same ones, although with the original B+S motor, and I had (and still have) a table that my grandpa built for it so you can split at standing level.
Ours finally broke in the late 90s and we started renting a hydraulic splitter.
They actually work quite well and they don’t move fast enough to really be dangerous unless you put it too short of a piece of wood in there and it starts swinging it around.
They also sold an attachment that you can put on a car axle… That would be more dangerous.
I believe they also sold one for a tractor pto.
hi 396
did a lil carpet work myself yesterday. pulled up a side patio rug as it had a texture that mite make some good tool chest drawer liners. laid it out on the lawn, once brush cleaned. 25 x 18.5". a mock up made me think would be just fine. prob use the back side. i like that texture better. had been down for a couple years. so surprized still in such good shape. washed a couple times. after a thot, decided will leave the pads bit ruff cut to fit. lay out again with a square...
but for now, so far, so good...
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Always good to repurpose things I do it all the time
cut up a shop mat for the top area of the roller chest. i like the tapered front lip. prob leave the one i was going to cut up as a pad in front of toolbox set up...
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lol, right, but not everyone... is as enthusiastic about the art as i can be... am!
i thot about u as i laid out the top mat project. used a long 2x4 as a cutting board... and knew i best keep within the lines... lol.... if i was going to post pix!
'coloring' within the lines. well... line. split the pencil line right down the middle....
Thanks!
hi MM - today's tv big news seems to be tax day news... yesterday, day before, today... etc! with direct links to irs.gov for options...
what a taxpayer can do, should not do and needs to do!
guess u r getting your fishing pole out and ready! ?
what a taxpayer can do, should not do and needs to do!
guess u r getting your fishing pole out and ready! ?
Hi there Backyard Lumberjack
Looking forward to it being over. Did 3 returns already today and have another one coming in later this evening.
My 8 lb can of H-380 arrived yesterday!
If it is not raining this afternoon, I may try to get to the range to test some new loads. The only bullet to shoot sub 1" so far is the Barnes 210 TTSX (with both H380 and IMR4350). I tweaked both loads by 1/2 grain to see if they get better or worse.
The only powder to produce OK results (under 1.5") with the 225 grain bullets is IMR4350. I tweaked the load with a couple of them to try also. Would love to find a lower cost bullet that shoots OK to practice with. The TTSX bullets are over a dollar a pop, the Speer are less than 1/2 that. (I have Barnes, Hornady and Speer 225 grain bullets). I also have 2 - 200 grain bullets, but neither of them seem to shoot well.
Thank goodness my Daughter helped me out a lot this year, or I would not have any time to "play"! Luckily, she enjoys doing it, and makes some extra money that reduces the financial pressures of raising 3 kids with sports and dance expense.
My 8 lb can of H-380 arrived yesterday!
If it is not raining this afternoon, I may try to get to the range to test some new loads. The only bullet to shoot sub 1" so far is the Barnes 210 TTSX (with both H380 and IMR4350). I tweaked both loads by 1/2 grain to see if they get better or worse.
The only powder to produce OK results (under 1.5") with the 225 grain bullets is IMR4350. I tweaked the load with a couple of them to try also. Would love to find a lower cost bullet that shoots OK to practice with. The TTSX bullets are over a dollar a pop, the Speer are less than 1/2 that. (I have Barnes, Hornady and Speer 225 grain bullets). I also have 2 - 200 grain bullets, but neither of them seem to shoot well.
Thank goodness my Daughter helped me out a lot this year, or I would not have any time to "play"! Luckily, she enjoys doing it, and makes some extra money that reduces the financial pressures of raising 3 kids with sports and dance expense.
My kids tax returns arrived in the night from my cpa. I hit the extend button lol. I can imagine you all will breathe a sigh of relief at midnight tonight.Looking forward to it being over. Did 3 returns already today and have another one coming in later this evening.
My 8 lb can of H-380 arrived yesterday!
If it is not raining this afternoon, I may try to get to the range to test some new loads. The only bullet to shoot sub 1" so far is the Barnes 210 TTSX (with both H380 and IMR4350). I tweaked both loads by 1/2 grain to see if they get better or worse.
The only powder to produce OK results (under 1.5") with the 225 grain bullets is IMR4350. I tweaked the load with a couple of them to try also. Would love to find a lower cost bullet that shoots OK to practice with. The TTSX bullets are over a dollar a pop, the Speer are less than 1/2 that. (I have Barnes, Hornady and Speer 225 grain bullets). I also have 2 - 200 grain bullets, but neither of them seem to shoot well.
Thank goodness my Daughter helped me out a lot this year, or I would not have any time to "play"! Luckily, she enjoys doing it, and makes some extra money that reduces the financial pressures of raising 3 kids with sports and dance expense.
All the snake talk reminds me of the time my friend Kenny came up, first visit to my camp up in northern NY where we have no venomous snakes. Kenny grew up on an Alabama farm.
Just below my newly built camp was a large brushpile, small limbs & stuff that I had cleared from the knoll where the camp was to be built. I stepped into that brushpile, probably hunting a bit of kindling, and Kenny's eyes got big. He said, "Man, you'd never do that where I come from." Had to explain that "there's no rattlers here."
Just below my newly built camp was a large brushpile, small limbs & stuff that I had cleared from the knoll where the camp was to be built. I stepped into that brushpile, probably hunting a bit of kindling, and Kenny's eyes got big. He said, "Man, you'd never do that where I come from." Had to explain that "there's no rattlers here."
They are supposed to have both Copperheads and Timber Rattlers here, but I have never seen one. My brother used to see them at his home in Garrison.
Most common down here are garter snakes and water snakes and occasional black racers or black rat snakes and an occasional eastern milk snake.
Up at the property there are a lot of small ring neck snakes, but I don't see them down here.
True story - a new recruit at Camp Smith (near Peekskill) killed a black snake. An older guy asked him why? He replied that he hated snakes. The old guy informed him that they brought in both black snakes and king snakes because they eat the copperheads and rattlesnakes ... so don't kill them!
My Dad and his reserve unit encountered numerous rattlesnakes when they were sent to Texas in the summer. One guy got bit numerous times when he went out to take a leak and night and died ... another guy woke up to discover one in his sleeping bag with him but was able to separate from it w/o getting bit.
Most common down here are garter snakes and water snakes and occasional black racers or black rat snakes and an occasional eastern milk snake.
Up at the property there are a lot of small ring neck snakes, but I don't see them down here.
True story - a new recruit at Camp Smith (near Peekskill) killed a black snake. An older guy asked him why? He replied that he hated snakes. The old guy informed him that they brought in both black snakes and king snakes because they eat the copperheads and rattlesnakes ... so don't kill them!
My Dad and his reserve unit encountered numerous rattlesnakes when they were sent to Texas in the summer. One guy got bit numerous times when he went out to take a leak and night and died ... another guy woke up to discover one in his sleeping bag with him but was able to separate from it w/o getting bit.
WoodAbuser
aka WoodchuckAbuser
Only ever killed one snake. Stepped out of shed years ago. Almost stepped on a big snake. We were evidently both quite surprised. He coiled up with my leg in the middle and started rattling. I have never drawn my EDC knife as fast as i did that day. Stepped on his head with my other foot and cut off his head. Turned out his rattle was from shaking his or her tail in a pile of dry leaves. it was almost 5 foot without its head. In that split second and after it looked like a rattler.
Certain snakes do that to try and mimic a rattler
So is willow by definition. I burn a lot of that as it is the only available in abundance. Hardwood (in the meaning of firewood,) is only available here as a take out around farmsteads or towns.
Sounds like it might have been a bull snake--in size and coloration they resemble a rattler, but in behavior, more like a black snake--beneficial.
Had them in spades when I lived in Oklahoma. You'd find them in the barn, and they'd vibrate their tail in dry hay or whatever. Even knowing there were no rattlers in our area, you'd instinctively jump at that sound. Bull snakes loved to hole up in the stone-built storm cellar underneath our house (which is why my wife went down there only reluctantly). I went down one time, and ducking below the doorway (short framed door) I looked up to find one coiled on either side of the door frame inches above eye level. I kept a spring-loaded clamp arrangement on the end of a broomstick to grab them and carry outdoors.
My favorite snake story, as told to me by my Okie neighbor, Gator. Gator once worked as a plumber's assistant, and was in the crawl space under a house, pushing his tray of tools before him on the way to some piping. Just as he came through a gap in a stem wall he said "the biggest bull snake you've ever seen" came past a few inches in front of his nose--carrying a live rat in its mouth. Gator said he came out of there backwards, the fastest he'd ever moved, scraped hell out of his head on floor joists. He said he'd never been in a crawl space since, and would not go in the future.
