Ordering a sim card for the phone. Below is the route for that 2-day delivery. Expected on Friday 3/27 and allegedly delivered on 3/31. The problem is it (an envelope) was “delivered” to our mailbox out on the highway. The mailbox isn’t anywhere near our driveway due to a hill and a curve there, so drivers are SUPPOSED to bring packages up to the house but lately have been tossing things out the door as they drive past. On that very windy day, it blew away long before we could retrieve it.
After filing a claim (that did absolutely nothing), I ordered a replacement card. Below is the status of that order as of 0820 on Sunday 4/5.
Apparently, this is also hung up on that pesky Fort Worth to Memphis leg again. You would think with Memphis being their World hub and headquarters, they’d use something other than tired pack mules to service a route that takes 8 hours to drive, yet is now going into its 5th day.
It’s hard to believe I used to work for this company. I can only take comfort in knowing it was a different division (Fed Ex Freight) that apparently had higher standards.
I recall seeing this analysis years ago. It’s what happens when someone has too much time on their hands – and use it to ruin a good thing for others. But, perhaps, you can use it as a response to the whiny teenager who is protesting that Santa didn’t deliver the trendy goods that they wanted.
But it can still be entertaining to those of us who don’t follow those philosophies.
Original source: sirius@wam.umd.edu (The Human Neutrino aka Linda Harden) Original Title: IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?
No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn’t (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total – 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census)rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each.
Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc. This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second – a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.
The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that “flying reindeer” (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload – not even counting the weight of the sleigh – to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison – this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance – this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.
In conclusion — If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he’s dead now.
However, a newer wrinkle I’ve noticed are the clever rebuttals. Again, too much time on their hands but can appreciate the thought and humor they put into these replies.
Rebuttal-1: (Jim Mantle, Waterloo Maple Software)
Come on, ya gotta believe! I mean, if you can handle flying furry animals, then it’s only a small step to the rest. For example:
As admitted, it is possible that a flying reindeer can be found. I would agree that it would be quite an unusual find, but they might exist.
You’ve relied on cascading assumptions. For example, you have assumed a uniform distribution of children across homes. Toronto/Yorkville, or Toronto/Cabbagetown, or other yuppie neighbourhoods, have probably less than the average (and don’t forget the DINK and SINK homes (Double Income No Kids, Single Income No Kids)), while the families with 748 starving children that they keep showing on Vision TV while trying to pick my pocket would skew that 15% of homes down a few percent.
You’ve also assumed that each home that has kids would have at least one good kid. What if anti-selection applies, and homes with good kids tend to have more than their share of good kids, and other homes have nothing except terrorists in diapers? Let’s drop that number of homes down a few more percent.
Santa would have to Fedex a number of packages ahead of time, since he would not be able to fly into Air Force Bases, or into tower-controlled areas near airports. He’s get shot at over certain sections of the Middle East, and the no-fly zones in Iraq, so he’d probably use DHL there. Subtract some more homes.
I just barely passed Physics and only read Stephen Hawking’s book once, but I recall that there is some Einsteinian Theory that says time does strange things as you move faster. In fact, when you go faster than the speed of light time runs backward, if you do a straight line projection, connect the dots and just ignore any singularity you might find right at the speed of light. And don’t say you can’t go faster than the speed of light because I’ve seen it done on TV. Jean-Luc doesn’t have reindeer but he does have matter-antimatter warp engines and a holodeck and that’s good enough for me. So Santa could go faster than light, visit all the good children which are not uniformly distributed by either concentration in each home or by number of children per household, and get home before he left so he can digest all those stale cookies and warm milk yech.
Aha, you say, Jean-Luc has matter-antimatter warp engines, Santa only has reindeer, where does he get the power to move that fast!You calculated the answer! The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy. Per second. Each. This is an ample supply of energy for the maneuvering, acceleration, etc, that would be required of the loaded sleigh. The reindeer don’t evaporate or incinerate because of this energy, they accelerate. What do you think they have antlers for, fighting over females? Think of antlers as furry solar array panels.
If that’s not enough, watch the news on the 24th at 11 o’clock. NORAD (which may be one of the few government agencies with more than 3 initials in it’s name and therefore it must be more trustworthy than the rest) tracks Santa every year and I’ve seen the radar shots of him approaching my house from the direction of the North Pole. They haven’t bombarded him yet, so they must believe too, right?
Rebuttal-2: Several key points are overlooked by this callous, amateurish “study.”
Flying reindeer: As is widely known (due to the excellent historical documentary “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” the flying reindeer are not a previously unknown species of reindeer, but were in fact given the power of flight due to eating magic acorns. As is conclusively proven in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (a no punches pulled look at life in Santa’s village), this ability has bred true in subsequent generations of reindeer, obviously the magic acorns imprinted their power on a dominant gene sequence within the reindeer DNA strand.
Number of households: This figure overlooks two key facts. First of all, the first major schism in the Church split the Eastern Churches, centered in Byzantium, from the Western, which remained centered in Rome. This occurred prior to the Gregorian correction to the Julian calendar. The Eastern churches (currently called Orthodox Churches) do not recognize the Gregorian correction for liturgical events, and their Christmas is as a result several days after the Western Churches’. Santa gets two shots at delivering toys. Secondly, the figure of 3.5 children per household is based on the gross demographic average, which includes households with no children at all. The number of children per household, when figured as an average for households with children, would therefore have to be adjusted upward. Also, the largest single Christian denomination is Roman Catholic, who, as we all know, breed like rabbits. If you don’t believe me, ask my four brothers and two sisters, they’ll back me up. Due to the predominance of Catholics within Christian households, the total number of households containing Christian children would have to be adjusted downward to reflect the overloading of Catholics beyond a standard deviation from the median. Also, the assertion that each home would contain at least one good child would be reasonable enough if there were in fact an even 3.5 children per household. However, since the number of children per household is distributed integrally, there are a significant number (on the order of several million) of one child Christian households. Even though only children are notoriously spoiled and therefore disproportionately inclined towards being naughty, since it’s the holidays we’ll be generous and give them a fifty-fifty chance of being nice. This removes one half of the single child households from Santa’s delivery schedule, which has already been reduced by the removal of the Orthodox households from the first delivery run.
Santa’s delivery run (speed, payload, etc.): These all suffer from the dubious supposition that there is only one Santa Claus. The name “Santa” is obviously either Spanish or Italian, two ethnic groups which are both overwhelmingly Catholic. The last name Claus suggests a joint German/Italian background. His beginnings, battling the Burgermeister Meisterburger, suggest he grew up in Bavaria (also predominantly Catholic). The Kaiser style helmets of the Burgermeister’s guards, coupled with the relative isolation of the village, suggest that his youth was at the very beginning of Prussian influence in Germany. Thus, Santa and Mrs. Claus have been together for well over one hundred years. If you think that after a hundred years of living at the North Pole with nights six months long that they remain childless, you either don’t know Catholics or are unaware of the failure rate of the rhythm method. There have therefore been over five generations of Clauses, breeding like Catholics for over one hundred years. Since they are Catholic, their exponential population increase would obviously have a gain higher than the world population as a whole. There have therefore been more than enough new Santas to overcome the population increase of the world. So in fact, Santa has an easier time of it now than he did when he first started out.
Santa dead, indeed; some people will twist any statistic to “prove” their cynical theory.
If you (like many) are worried about the “end-of-life” announcement about Windows 10 (or earlier versions), but cannot upgrade to the newest Windows due to supposed issues with your older hardware, I’d recommend watching this video to get the REAL story behind it all.
In summary, your hardware is likely fine. It just lacks the “chip” required for Microsoft to completely take over your computer and basically spy on you 24/7, logging your photos, files, keyboard strokes, websites visited, and physical location as you go about your day – all to enable their AI induced utopia.
Microsoft will claim (of course) that their new operating system is more secure, faster and eliminates many of the threats present today, but nothing could be further from the truth.
And if you need more persuading, this explains the migration of Microsoft’s mindset from being stable, secure, and everywhere to now being the all-controlling, $ub$cription-based behemoth that monetizes and controls everything you see and do, weather you wanted it or not.
And don’t think you are immune operating on the IOS (Apple) system. They’ve long been guilty of following the same model. They own you and dictate everything you do as well.
Down here on the farm, I have embarked on a journey to rid ourselves of all of that and is so far going well, with most all of our primary devices now running (much faster and more stable) on Linux. The Linux distro has pretty much everything we need and for those very few apps that still need to run on Windows, the dual boot option can return to Windows in those rare instances when needed until Linux alternatives can replace them.
For our journey, I selected Linux Mint as our best option. My UNIX coding expertise is nearly 20 years old now – and was never very good to begin with. The other reason is not everyone spent their past “coding in the basement”, and I wanted something that Sherry could seamlessly switch to without too much trouble.
After converting 4 laptops and about 7 desktops, here are the pros and cons.
PROS
Of the many Linux “distros”, Mint seems to be the friendliest to novices and has many of the features for complete computing built right in, without needing to purchase additional software for office apps, security (virus protection of VPNs) and most all of your computing needs.
I am installing Mint parallel to the existing Windows install with the dual boot option so if you absolutely need to run Windows, it is still there and simply can be chosen from the boot menu at startup.
All of your existing files and folders remain intact and can be accessed via Mint from the Windows partition.
So far, Mint has been running flawlessly. It seems much faster and is certainly more stable than Windows ever was.
CONS:
Probably the biggest issue I am having is getting certain apps (written for Windows but not Linux) to run. There are a number of “tools” (Wine/Bottles/and others) to allow this but none seem to do the job completely so will need to boot back into Windows to use those apps. But those instances are now extremely rare, as most everything is done via a web browser. Also, many apps offer a Linux installation so you don’t need Windows at all and for those that require it, there are plenty of Linux friendly alternatives.
As user friendly as Linux Mint is, I still had to recall some of those long forgotten IT skills from my former life and guessing those without that history will have their eyes glaze over as some dude who has never left his parents basement explain how easy it is.
Related to that, out of the box they claim Mint automatically enables the dual boot option needed to revert/run the Windows OS but so far, in my case this has never worked and I had to tweak the grub (boot) files to get it working as they claimed.
After converting most of what we use often, my next step is to try and resuscitate some older laptops I have laying around – just to see how they respond. But so far, I am finding each conversion easier as I progress through it. I am even contemplating offering conversion services for the rural folks down here where money is extremely tight and IT skills are few and far between.
I’ll complete my conversion and work out the bugs before I hang that shingle out however. By then, it will be long overdue to also escape Google – Gmail (ugghh!), YouTube, GoogleOne, Drive and the rest of their empire, along with Gemini, their AI utopia flavor.
A forklift is a forklift. This one is much bigger maneuvering in a muddy uneven minefield, but I seem to be recalling enough of it to make all you former Tonka Truck owners jealous.
I think Tonka Trucks must have hit their “big time” very soon after I was of age as I don’t recall ever owning one. I think I was more of a Hot Wheels guy. I do recall touring the Tonka factory in Mound on some school trips. My younger brothers owned several though, that I am sure to have messed around with in the glorious mud. Those were the days!
Continuing the sawmill saga started a few days ago.
I didn’t get called back to the sawmill yesterday because the regular guy was back in the loader. I think it was a combination of being caught whipping around on the 4-wheeler later on Tuesday (when he claimed he had a bad back) AND seeing that Herman found a suitable replacement so easily. Kids these days…
Today being Thursday, I didn’t expect them to be operating but as I was finishing up breakfast for everyone, I was surprised to find Uriah, one of Herman’s sons, at our front gate asking if I had time to work a few hours. So much for my plans.
First off was a flatbed trailer loaded with large crates of apples that needed to be unloaded. The Amish are very community oriented and Herman ordered apples for their entire group so had 7 gaylords + a 55 gal drum loaded with apples waiting in his yard. I jumped on the loader at the mill and drove it down to Herman’s place to complete that task before returning to the mill. All of the other Amish were clopping by in their buggy’s all day heading for Herman’s to pick up their allotment. There will be a lot of canning going on soon in those households.
Back at the sawmill, 3 of Herman’s sons were going to process more cedar logs to complete an order for cedar posts they started previously. After cleaning up the yard a bit, I headed to the field behind the mill, where the cedar logs are “stacked” (more like dumped).
Check out how that went:
Apologies for the motion sickness. The camera was mounted to my glasses and my head was on a swivel.
Once I had the mill head loaded up with enough logs to keep them busy for hours, I did some more clean up and was getting ready to hop back in the golf cart and return home.
Just then, a 1-top pickup swung in pulling another long (empty) flatbed trailer. It was a local farmer picking up his 3 bundles of 1x8s. This wasn’t something I’d normally be doing but the boys thought it would help to get those bundles out of the way so I agreed – after warning the farmer I was a rookie on the loader.
Of course that meant moving/shifting other bundles out of the way to get to his, but I managed to get them all loaded without damaging his truck or trailer.
All-in-all, it was quite a bit of “practice” – on my day off and I got home just in time to feed the feral cats their dinner and the chickens their afternoon treats.
One HUGE perk of all this is that while picking up the logs in back, I found one that was only 10 feet log that was embedded within the 16 footers. The boys said they couldn’t use it for that order but instead agreed to saw it up for ME. I requested 3″ (thick) by however wide they can manage out of that log (and it was BIG – a good 12″-15″ wide at the base). At home, I’ll be trimming off 3″ slices,1/2″ at a time and will be able to complete trimming out our house with that aromatic cedar. I’ve already completed the living room with what I had, but have the rest of the house to complete and was looking for a good deal on cedar before I could do any more. This will be ideal!
Yesterday, I stopped and talked to my Amish neighbor, who operates a sawmill across the road and south about 1/5 mile from us. Getting my answer about a future lumber purchase, he asked if I wanted a job. I laughed it off and we talked some more about stuff. As I was leaving, he said again “about that job…”.
It turns out, their loader operator tweaked his back and can’t work for a spell. They had someone else filling in there yesterday and I told him I would be willing for a few days/week if needed. That fill in yesterday wasn’t welcomed back because as I was feeding the chickens this morning, the regular loader operator (with the bad back) came down the driveway (very gingerly) on a 4-wheeler to inquire if I was ready to go to work. I was somewhat startled it was so soon but nonetheless told him I’d be right there.
Despite 30 years in IT, I’ve operated plenty of forklifts, skid-steers and the like over the years but never a big loader. But the concept is the same. The loader has big forks and you move a load just like a forklift would so no worries.
Within 20 minutes, I was in the seat and moving logs. It’ll take some time getting used to the controls and the weird steering but I figure by the end of the day, I’ll get a handle on it. Until then, I am just going slow.
Now home reflecting on the day, I was pretty happy how it turned out. Yes, I wasn’t anticipating “working” today so it messed up some plans I had and I really had to scramble to get all the critters fed and tended to. We have 1 hen with a broken femer (thigh bone) with her full leg in a splint plus another catatonic hen near death, not to mention 15 other healthy chickens, 9 feral cats, 2 domestic cats and the 2 dogs – all on “exotic” diets but I got it done.
The loader (above) is straightforward – just bigger than anything I’ve operated before (except for semi tractor/trailers). Yes, this was my first time operating them so I just took my time and was careful not to knock anything over or drop a log on anyone.
Issues (with the loader) I am working through:
Controls are opposite what I am used to. Typically, in similar equipment I’ve used, the lever to the left is to lift up and down and the one on the right is for tilting the forks forward or back. On this old Cat, they are opposite so that’s going to mess me up until I can retrain myself.
Invisible forks. You really can’t see the tips of your forks so need to rely on the boys (and their hand signals) to properly/securely lift the load. With the raw logs, it’s not a big deal but for the finished product (all securely strapped to blocks/pallets), you surely don’t want to dump one (and I never did but came close once before I recovered).
Articulated steering. Instead of a set of wheels (front or back) turning, the loader pivots in the middle to steer. This causes issues whenever you turn the wheel. Even standing still, if you turn the wheel, the entire front end (including what is on your forks) shifts side to side so you need to be mindful of that. As the day went on, I got pretty used to it and actually used that behavior to shift uneven loads side to side to my advantage.
Visibility is terrible! Adding to that is that it is an “Amish” sawmill and safety protocols are nonexistent with stray logs laying around at odd angles making maneuverability difficult. Moving logs with a much larger machine than I am used to (forklift) through that minefield made it challenging but I simply took it slow and steady with my head on a swivel. As the day went on, I cleaned up all those hazards and made it much easier to operate.
Let’s just say this Cat has seen better days.
No parking brake – when you stop to get down you need to drive the forks into the mud to keep it from rolling.
It has AC but I doubt it works since there is no glass in the front windows. The biggest problem with that is the deafening roar from the mill. Next time, I’ll be bringing ear protection. My ears are still ringing now.
Need to frequently add oil to the transmission to be able to shift it.
Likely low on hydraulic fluid as well, as the fork “tilt” would sag forward considerably so you need to constantly reapply the tilt (back) to keep your load on there.
Other than that, I have the luxury of running back home whenever needed to tend to things there. As long as I have the “head” of the mill supplied with the right logs to keep them busy and haul away the slabs (the outside pieces w/bark from the first cuts) to the burn pile and any finished stacks/pallets moved to their proper place, I am free to come and go.
It’s actually ideal and is exactly what I was looking for down here. The mill only operates 3 days/week (usually Mon-Wed) so the rest of the week is free for me for “farm stuff” and the commute there and back can be done in the golf cart.
I think I am going to like it. A major drawback is the unexpected timing. I’ll likely only get tapped when the regular guy can’t make it – which will always be last minute. However, they are extremely accommodating of my schedule. Today, I had to run into Summersville to meet a delivery truck for some produce we ordered (a monthly thing) but it coincided mostly with the morning break. In the afternoon, I had an installer coming out for a new internet provider and he came soon after we broke for lunch. Tomorrow, I have to run to Houston for my prescription and a few other things and Herman (the Amish owner) just said “we’ll work around whatever you have to do”.
And being Amish, they have l-o-n-g breaks. A half hour in the morning, 90 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes in the afternoon. Why so long? They are Amish so none of them drive – they walk everywhere, and only recently have they started to wear shoes/boots after going barefoot most of the year.
But, I really enjoy these guys. A good portion of them are Herman’s sons. He has (I believe) 16 kids, and we’ve always gotten along with them quite well – always a wave whenever you drive by. They tried to buy the farm we bought but it was out of their reach so they talked the seller into lopping off the “back 40” that they purchased, leaving the 20 acres we bought. I look forward to getting to know them better (as much as that is possible).
Hard workers? You wouldn’t believe how hard these “kids” work wrestling these logs around. It’s also sort of fascinating seeing how they “process” the logs.
See for yourself:
The pay is nothing close to what I was accustomed to but that wasn’t my goal. It’ll be more cash available for our needs but I wouldn’t make a career out of it. One thing I stated when Herman asked me was that I didn’t want to take anyone’s job away. They need it more than I do.
Thankfully, I am retired but this will keep me busy when I need to feel useful.
We were forecasted to get ample rain last night on through Wednesday so I was prepared to not get much done outside for a few days. I have more than enough stacked up on the todo list to keep me busy so wasn’t the least bit annoyed – and we really needed the rain.
First off was going through my drawers and closet(s) to pass on all those unneeded (and no longer fit, since I’ve gotten healthy again) items.
This was something long overdue. Actually, I should have done this years ago before we moved but in the haste to complete that massive ordeal, I just boxed it up and hauled it down here, where we had MORE room to store everything. It turns out, it was quite the purge and filled 3 large boxes of dress shirts and pants, used jeans (that are now too big), numerous golf shirts, a dozen or so tee shirts and 2 winter coats.
We donate this to a community thrift shop in Summersville called “Open Door” and the local community (including the Amish) uses it extensively. Remember, Texas County, where we reside, is the poorest county in Missouri. However, none of its inhabitants realize that (or complain) and they just do what they gotta do to keep their heads above water. Sherry, who has volunteered at the Open Door since the area churches alternate running it a month at a time, said they’ll be excited to get so much “men” stuff, since guys down here (like myself) wear stuff until it falls off. I was delighted to hear they even want paint or greasy stained items as I had plenty of that and thought were destined to the rag bag. However, there were also several things that were brand new and never worn – still w/tags.
Now completed, I have an entire empty drawer in my dresser and AMPLE space in the closet.
In the process of the purge, we raised the ladder to the attic access to bring down our winter stuff, which prompted me to modify the access “door” above the hallway by the bathroom and basement stairs. This was simply a white board loosely holding batts of insulation on top that you slide to the side when you need to get up there. I’ve always meant to modify so as not to be so messy and hard to position correctly when you are done so I started the process of crafting a hinged access door that will not only look nicer but be much more practical to use.
Next up was medical care for one of our hens with a broken leg (femer/thigh bone). We had tried to splint the bone previously, but she manages to tear that off and still hops around aggravating the injury with her bad leg sticking out at an awkward (and gross) angle. After some research, we determined we needed to immobilize her so she can’t keep working against her healing. Our solution was a whole body sling that we strung across a empty wire dog crate/kennel. The kennel also serves to protect her from other aggressive birds who will naturally prey upon the ones that are sick or injured. We already had her separated in the “infirmary”, where all birds reside when they aren’t 100% but in her desire to remain social, she’d try to hobble outside and talk to her mates through the fence.
This time when we re-splinted her leg, instead of just splinting the thigh bone, we used a piece of scrap 14 gauge romex wire, bent into a natural angle for her leg and wrapped in gauze the whole way down to her ankle. This will keep her OFF that leg and also prevent any movement in that leg until it (hopefully) heals. She seems to appreciate her new digs. We pushed it up against the fence of the battered hens shelter and likely feels much better – even though she is immobilized. She’ll surely have a limp forever but her spirits remain good, she’s still eating and drinking and still (was) a regular egg producer so we’re hoping this will get her back on her feet – no pun intended.
Sherry wanted some dirt to refresh the coops and lacking any, I ventured out with the tractor and a box blade and started scraping the NE corner of our open field. I chose this area because it is where we will eventually have a sanitary lagoon for any future building and the more dirt I can remove now, the less will need to be done when we tackle that project.
However, once I got the grass out of the way and started scraping, we found a mother-lode of rich black dirt – no rocks. Considering the rest of our property (including the garden) appears to be class 5 (road base) gravel, this was a huge and pleasant surprise. With more than enough to do the coops, I just kept scraping and now have a sizable pile for our planting and future needs. The best part is when we need more, I can just scrape it up and keep making that pit deeper. It was quite the pleasant surprise for us.
That was a bright spot for a day that didn’t start off so well.
Earlier, like every morning, we let the chickens out of their coops around 7:30 and fed them and refreshed their water(s). All 3 coops now share both “runs” as well as the entire fenced off barnyard area, which gives them a huge and safe (we thought) area for foraging, dust bathing and exploring the tall weeds we leave for them.
Sadly, later in the morning I was working out behind the barnyard and was alarmed to see the remains of one of our newest hens in the corner of the barnyard by the back gate. It was obviously killed by a predator that tried to drag it through the fence, was unable to and left it there partially eaten. We are unsure of what it was at this point. I’ve caught possum, racoons and skunks back there previously overnight. All are capable of that mayhem but they are usually opportunistic and typically will only attack a sleeping hen that is perched rather than an active one that can escape – as well as dealing with the rooster tasked with protecting the flock.
Also, this was a daytime attack and all 3 of those critters are mostly nocturnal. We are guessing this was the work of a fox. We’ve seen them back there behind the shop and barnyard, but in 3 years have never shown any interest in our birds. Now, my dilemma is that now that it has a taste, will it return to the smorgasbord for another entrée?
I guess I’ll be watching the girls closely for a while, with my rifle close at hand. Long term, Sherry is working with Cooper so he can be trusted to be with the birds unattended. He seems to be learning well so hopefully, he can become our LGD.
In our location, we have access to nearly 20 sawmills within 10 miles – with a small Amish mill right across the road where I get a lot of freshly cut pine. That pine is not kiln dried or treated in any way so I need to work against warping (as it dries) as well as preservation going forward.
Up to now, my method was simply to get someone to paint eventually but that’s not ever a huge priority for me and some gates, fences and outdoor projects remain completely natural – with the expectation I’ll need to replace in a few years when they eventually rot.
I think I will give this a try. With a very modest “Cylinder Index” of only 30+/Rural, I will still certainly have a regular and ample supply of used oil available.
Cylinder Index The Cylinder Index (or C.I.) is a measurement device in which the total number of internal combustion engine cylinders (working or non-working) owned by an individual (single-cylinder chainsaws, lawnmowers, 2-cycle, 4-cycle, multi-clinder diesels, trucks and farm tractors) are tallied. The Garage Logician who attains a C.I. in excess of his age is revered. – Joe Soucheray, Mayor of Garage Logic.
We put up a Purple Martin house in October of 2023. It was fun to construct and I planned to add a few more, once the Martins arrived. Unfortunately, last summer was disappointing as various other birds took the spots and there were no signs of any Martins present at all.
Well, the planets have aligned this year and we’re excited to have some new feathered residents to welcome to the farm. There seems to be quite a few of them and most seem to be fairly young – with only a few fully developed adults.
But they certainly seem to be enjoying the place and there is quite a bit of activity building nests inside with many birds coming and going continually. Close to sundown, they all take to the air depleting our area of flying insects so we are happy to have them around.
Initially, I thought we’d put up the house and be done with it. I have since learned there is a bit more to it. The houses need to be cleaned out after they migrate south. This one is bolted to the top of a 15′ 4×4 so I’ll be changing that design to make access easier. I’ve also learned about a threat to these beautiful birds by sparrows and starlings, who compete for nesting spaces as well as attack the very young in their nests. So I’ll be modifying the openings to deter those attacks as well.
They really are entertaining though. I must walk between the garage and the shop a dozen times a day and pass right under their house, where they all greet me and will then take to the air to accompany me on my trek. They are quite active and it’s a hoot to watch them during their swooping flights – chattering all the way.
It’s really an ideal location for them though. They are on the corner of the garden, just at the edge of our farmyard with 9 acres of pasture open to them right out their door. There are 3 (maybe 5) more locations around the garden where I plan to add more so I’ll be building some more houses this winter.
Today was the annual springtime plumbing day. With an extensive above ground PVC plumbing network, periodic repairs are a necessity. This encompasses addressing freezing issues as well as upgrading for better functionality. Most of todays effort was to replace the line at the eastern edge of the garden. That line also feeds the southern edge and a simple garden hose has been temporarily bridging that gap since the previous piping froze and split.
Being the pack rat that I am, I utilized the pvc piping that I attempted to cover the pool with this past winter. That effort failed miserably so was glad to repurpose that piping where I know it will make things easier.
Luckily, I had many apprentices assisting me today.
Any time I bring the work cart into their run the chicks get excited and swarm all over everything I am doing out there. It gets to the point that there are so many clustered around, when it is time to leave I need to crouch down and make sure I won’t drive over any hiding underneath. They also like to stowaway in a cubby under the work deck in back and I’ve driven back to the garage to find them hiding under there.
Anyway, from our single outside water faucet located just off the back porch, I’ve expanded water access to reach all the essential areas of our operations with 27 faucet/access points distributed where needed.
If you (like many) are worried about the “end-of-life” announcement about Windows 10 (or earlier versions), but cannot upgrade to… Read more: Out The Window(s)
Today was the annual springtime plumbing day. With an extensive above ground PVC plumbing network, periodic repairs are a necessity.… Read more: On The Job Training
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