Today I had planned on mowing all the lawn with the push mower until the pull rope broke. Tomorrow I see if the trail mower will start up, if it does, I'll do the rest of the lawn with that.
Work Done 2024
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Stelcom66
Minister of Fire
I couldn't mow today because once again - a weekend with at least one day of rain. Sorry to hear about the pull rope. My Craftsman snow blower has gone through at least 3 pull ropes for some reason. A couple years ago my son gave me an old Ariens snow blower with electric start after he bought a new one, This past winter I think it was only needed twice.
Today I put away the wood rack next to the stove, cleaned up ashes/small wood pieces all around it and inside, If the stove is needed this month I'll just bring in a 5 gallon bucket or two of wood.
We bought the push mower in 2009, this is the first pull rope that broke since we bought it. I've been telling the wife I would get the trail mower out so tomorrow will be the day.
So, I cut way into a strip between the woods and the road so I could get the buggy in and start dragging stuff out. On the way out I stopped at a tree that I had cut some kudzu vines on because one was growing up the old vine.
Ok, I'll clear it. As I yanked the last of vines out I realized it was poison ivy, not kudzu. Hey 3 pointy leaves, right?
End of the day lol. Shower time. I'm not really allergic to ivy but I was wearing it by the time it hit the ground.
The buggy still needs a little love but I came out with several loads of brush and 6" pine chunks.
It'll do.
Ok, I'll clear it. As I yanked the last of vines out I realized it was poison ivy, not kudzu. Hey 3 pointy leaves, right?
End of the day lol. Shower time. I'm not really allergic to ivy but I was wearing it by the time it hit the ground.
The buggy still needs a little love but I came out with several loads of brush and 6" pine chunks.
It'll do.
Stelcom66
Minister of Fire
I bought the Craftsman snow blower in 2012! That's not bad just one pull rope in 15 years. What is a trail mower? I assume more heavy duty than a common lawn mower or tractor.
That meal looks good. I made a cheeseburger with home made fries - original plan was to fire up the grill for the first time this season.
But it was still raining pretty good at dinnertime.
Tomorrow I plan to spread some of the wood stove ash pile in the garden. My late neighbor would do that and always have a good yield of
of vegetables.
I would imagine the trail mower is like the walk behind DL bush hog my neighbor has. He says it'll cut 2 inch trees and such. I'm going to take him up on his offer to use it.
Last year we bought a DR 44T Field and Brush Mower, we had less ticks on the dog and us last year from keeping the grass/brush and other chit down.
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The cheeseburger with homemade fries sounds good too. Since I've been keeping my weight in a certain range, I've been eating wraps with lettuce during the week with my second or first meal of the day English muffins. When Thursday hits I'm ready for a nice meal.
We try and use our grill all year, the wife wanted it up in the attached garage so we could do that.
Stelcom66
Minister of Fire
Wow, different than I imagined! Looks like it's made for serious heavy duty work. That's great another benefit is less ticks.
That must save a lot of time over getting rid of brush and related growth manually. Things that a typical mower/tractor couldn't handle.
Oh and I just saw your post about your meals - very similar to me. Not a lot of meat, cheeseburgers maybe once a month or so. Lunches are usually vegetarian, could include english muffin pizzas. Toward the weekend then maybe some meat.
One thing I'll miss until next season is a pot of (usually vegetarian) chili or stew cooking on the woodstove all day on a weekend. I do believe one of the benefits of processing and burning wood is the exercise we get .
That must save a lot of time over getting rid of brush and related growth manually. Things that a typical mower/tractor couldn't handle.
Oh and I just saw your post about your meals - very similar to me. Not a lot of meat, cheeseburgers maybe once a month or so. Lunches are usually vegetarian, could include english muffin pizzas. Toward the weekend then maybe some meat.
One thing I'll miss until next season is a pot of (usually vegetarian) chili or stew cooking on the woodstove all day on a weekend. I do believe one of the benefits of processing and burning wood is the exercise we get .
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It's built pretty good, it sure beats doing it with the weed trimmer or the push mower. I can do everything, that includes the trail by the brook in less than an hour.
I also use it on the lawn too but the lowest it will cut is 4 inches. We're on sand back here so once we get in a hot stretch without any rain, we like leaving the grass at that height.
The DR trail mower started right up after putting in fresh gas (I ran it dry last fall) I did all the trails around the house so the wife is happy.
The wife has a Snapper Self-Propelled Lawn Mower we didn't use much last year because it uses oil. Today I pulled that out of storage (I ran the gas out of it last year before putting it away) I checked the oil, it was fine and then changed the spark plug, it started right up so I mowed some around the house, I check the oil level tomorrow.
The wife has a Snapper Self-Propelled Lawn Mower we didn't use much last year because it uses oil. Today I pulled that out of storage (I ran the gas out of it last year before putting it away) I checked the oil, it was fine and then changed the spark plug, it started right up so I mowed some around the house, I check the oil level tomorrow.
Wisco Shepherd
Member
Today was an exercise in looking at the context of a wood score. This is a truck bed of elm and silver maple which most people would not be overly excited about. However I got this by dropping a few trees at a neighbor's place that I didn't have to haul any branches or brush, pulled the truck right up to the rounds, helped a neighbor and got paid 100 bucks to do it. This will get bucked up and split today.
Nah. I didn't expect it on my skin. I just wanted the oil off me so I didn't get it in my eyes.
I have friends that get close to it and end up at the doctor. I feel lucky that isn't me.
Well, truth be told I've been buying split, semi-seasoned firewood and over the course of this burn season I have been acquiring as much firewood as I can get. That includes rounds. I posted a pic a few months back of the rounds I got and today I started splitting. Haven't split with a maul in a while and needless to say, I am hurting. Homeowner's insurance says one of my sheds has to have the walls torn down because they look in rough shape and I am thinking of turning it into a wood shed. Going to be a long summer but this upcoming winter and moving forward it will be worth it. Still have to cut and split some of the pine tree that fell in the front yard too. Might be time to upgrade some equipment...
Wisco Shepherd
Member
Yes lots of guys here end up with power splitters. If that is out of your price range I do recommend the Fiskars x27 and their bigger maul. I was able to get through 10-in Elm rounds with the mall today so those two definitely will see an improvement in your efficiency.
Wisco Shepherd
Member
I think one of the best things people can do for outdoor power equipment is run it dry when you are done. I do that with every one of my saws and gas trimmers and have a lot less problems with them.
Good advice! Thanks for that. I do have the little Harbor Freight splitter. If I cut these rounds into 3 or 4 it'll handle them with ease. Otherwise, maul it is. I have a few to choose from, but dang, I feel like that one guy from tik tok but without the good looks, expensive maul and editor to edit out my awful swings!
Last load for me for 2024. No more splitting or collecting for the house until 2025. Some white ash, half almost ready to burn the rest needs al little seasoning. Stacked some pine with it.
I will have lots to split up on our property in Maine this summer though 🥵
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I will have lots to split up on our property in Maine this summer though 🥵
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Nice work @MRD1985 , nothing wrong with taking some time off.............until you get to Maine.
I only get about five days off ha ha we are heading up there this weekend
I think next year I’m not even going to buy Wood. I’m just going to collect from free ads on Facebook marketplace or just by driving around and seeing something available. I realistically only paid $460 for about 10 to 11 cords of wood this year . I won’t have nearly as much to process next year because this coming year will be the first full season for heating for me with this new stove. I will have to process maybe three cords instead of 10+ which will be super easy ha ha. I am very confident I can heat my house for solely the cost of fuel and oil for the saw, and fuel for my truck plus my time.
460 bucks for that amount is great. I'm hearing we're in for a colder winter this year, we'll see how much colder.
It's always nice when you can have years worth of firewood in your inventory, but it seems like we always want more.
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