Whatcha doing today?

[JamieB]

Still trying to get a horrific accident the mrs and i witnessed this weekend out of my head. The sight of someone without there's just won't slip away

Pm me if you need to talk it over. Seeing a bad wreck that stays with you is a form of ptsd. Especially if it’s causing nightmares. Reach out to a therapist if need be. The best advice I can give; talk to someone, anyone will do, but a therapist for sure if it’s affecting your daily life. Someone who knows about ptsd and dealing with trauma is better than joe blow random person. I’m willing to listen, and to give solid advice, which might help. This is an open invitation to anyone who’s seen things they can’t unsee, ( half naked folks you didn’t want to ever see partially naked doesn’t count, this is trauma focused).
On a positive note, looks like the new momma stopped at 6 or 7, she’s a bit protective, but let me check the ones I could reach. Looks like they all survived the night. First count I counted 7, then a closer inspection it was just 6, but she’s not getting up from her little area, so one could be hiding. That ginger boy is obviously Aslans, he’s a big baby. They white and grey has no orange showing, but that will have to become someone’s pet, white body with a cap of grey and dash of grey on the tail. One of the calicos has a pattern of black and orange checkers down her back, the other is very patchy. One the two black and whites, ones a tuxedo and the other looks like my Ziggy! I know Aslan and either one of the black or black and white males fathered this litter. Probably all the males, 1 kitten each, since I had 6 males when she got pregnant.

 

[JamieB]

She just got up to eat and get attention. She had 6, so I missed the entire birth. 3-4 girls, the two calico, the tuxedo, and maybe the white and grey. That one wasn’t willing to let me get a good look at the bottom bits! So the orange big boy and the mini Ziggy are males.

 

[j.w]

@JamieB Boy what the heck are you gonna do w/all the kittens your cats seem to be having? I guess you will be hunting for good home for them. Seems right now in this area it is hard to find kittens. Everyone has gotten them spayed or neutered. People are always asking where they can get a kitten.

 

[GBBUDD]

I'ts just fresh very fresh i spare everyone the details and i see why some now just sent you a liner. your like me and help out and no matter how many times it back fires you still keep helping. Though many don't know how to deal with me as im not cute and cuddly . But those who do say when sh-t gets real and goes down there right behind me. I could have drove away like the 30 other cars but that was not a sight for kids to see as there damn mom in particular slowed down and a 9 year old little girl is a couple feet from a body ripped apart laying in the road . Morbid curiosity on her part probably just marked that poor kid for life. Thank you though but my therapist is get back to life back to work and move on. Lesson learned maybe it will slow my azz down a little on the highways

 

[addy1]

Spent the day grooming the grasses, using the bush hog, where I could, my gator jaw clippers where I could not, now worn out. Had to work in bee suit around the hives they are pissy right now. The bushhog takes it down fast. I check for praying mantis egg cases critters before I start the chop job.

then took the gator jaws and hand chopped the grasses down around the hives, we grow and leave for a wind break over the winter.
Still need to rake and haul, bees were pissy had to work in my bee suit, guarding me the entire time I was out there.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Spent the day grooming the grasses, using the bush hog, where I could, my gator jaw clippers where I could not, now worn out. Had to work in bee suit around the hives they are pissy right now. The bushhog takes it down fast. I check for praying mantis egg cases critters before I start the chop job. View attachment 137300View attachment 137301View attachment 137302

then took the gator jaws and hand chopped the grasses down around the hives, we grow and leave for a wind break over the winter.
Still need to rake and haul, bees were pissy had to work in my bee suit, guarding me the entire time I was out there.
View attachment 137303View attachment 137304

Nice! Most of my trimming is done by hand, with scissors. Our garden doesn't lend itself to large scale motorized trimming, unfortunately. There are a few things that I can send my husband after with the hedge trimmer, but the detail work is still done with small hand tools. Doesn't help that our garden area is on a 45 degree angle slope. No other way to trim that but to climb up there, chop away & hope for the best. LOL!

 

[addy1]

lol All of my slopes which is most of our yard, are covered with wild flowers, all I do in the spring is mow with the mower. The other slope area above the pond has evergreens and stuff. No detail trimming done here. The grasses are the only thing I chop back in the spring.

The bugs wild bees and bees love the flower weeds that grow.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

lol All of my slopes which is most of our yard, are covered with wild flowers, all I do in the spring is mow with the mower. The other slope area above the pond has evergreens and stuff. No detail trimming done here. The grasses are the only thing I chop back in the spring.

The bugs wild bees and bees love the flower weeds that grow.

We don't really have much of anything that can be mowed. There's an area in front of the house that has enough weeds to be mowed that allows the dogs enough room to go out & pee (so we keep up with that), and there is one small area in the lower yard that, again, has enough green weeds we can mow it into a (more or less) "lawn" area where Beckett can play 'fetch'. The vast majority of the property (ten acres total) is woods, so we do nothing with it, besides wander around. Our manicured garden/yard area is what I have to tend & it's a 'controlled chaos' more or less, that amounts to maybe an acre total. The pond sits square in the middle of that area, so it is included in the 'I must maintain' area of green space. I really enjoy the puttering & consider any exercise I get in the name of cutting, weeding, planting or maintaining my 'Planet Fitness' membership for the year.

 

[addy1]

We are 4 acres, about a acres is woods, the rest slopes, it was all grass when we moved in. I removed any grass slopes that made me slide off when I mowed. Which was most of them. The tractor has been a life saver, dug the pond, tiller, bush hog, bucket to haul stuff to dump in the woods, clippings etc.
We don't walk in the woods, to much bramble and ticks. Oh and a TON of poison ivy. Vines growing up trees bushes of it. I stay out of the woods.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

I got a lot of trimming to do each spring. As soon as the snow is gone, I use a weed wacker with a metal blade to cut down the berry bushes and small saplings that pop up in the woods each year. I have 20 acres but, only have about 2 acres that the bushes grow. I need to get this done before the ferns come up. As soon as they do, I don't disturb them. Also, last year was a pine cone year. The white pines have them once every 3 years. They cover some sections of the lawn.

 

[Tula]

Oh, I envy you all your land.....wish we had more of it! We have 4 big stands of grasses we leave alone till early Spring....the birds love them and they provide winter interest. My hands are getting arthritic, so too much repetitive motion irritates them....this year I used electric hedge trimmers.

 

[mrsclem]

Addy- What are the Gator jaws?

 

[JamieB]

@JamieB Boy what the heck are you gonna do w/all the kittens your cats seem to be having? I guess you will be hunting for good home for them. Seems right now in this area it is hard to find kittens. Everyone has gotten them spayed or neutered. People are always asking where they can get a kitten.

This is the first litter of kittens this year, we had three litters of puppies, which were overwhelming. Cats don’t eat a lot, and are cheaper to feed, a mid priced bag of food for them is $13, lasts about two weeks or more, depending on weather. Dog food costs $20 for 50 lbs, and lasts less than a week. That is feeding them twice a day, and even then, I could easily feed them twice as much and they’d be happy. Cats get one scoop twice a day, and supliment with mice, field rats, and the occasional slow bird. I’m not happy about them getting my birds, but I can’t keep barn cats from hunting them and still let them hunt the mice. As for cat population, the owls, hawks, and the past few years, the bobcat fever have reduced our barn cat population big time. I’ve only got 6 full time outside cats, then one full time inside cat, and 4 that go out when they want. The full time insider, three that go as they please, and possibly one barn cat are fixed. I’m not sure about her, she was a rescue, no info about her previous home. Of the ones not fixed, only two are female, and one hasn’t managed to raise a litter despite several pregnancies. I need to get her fixed, she’s not a smart mom. This may end up being sky’s only litter, as with no blue two females, they are cheaper to neuter than the males, and my Ziggy will loose his boy bits too, to keep him from spraying.
I’ve settled on names for most of the kittens. Patches and checkers for the calicos; grey for the white and grey one; zag for the one that looked like Ziggy did; and am still thinking suitable names for the ginger boy and tuxedo girl. I’ve found names end up morphing here, very few “baby” names stay the same into adult hood. The animals earn their names based on traits and what the others end up calling them, like one dog that has a name, I named her as a pup, but she gets called “ that black faced one” instead.
So it’s spring time here. Things are greening, trees are starting to bloom, and the river is rising. Culvert is actually down from the morning, but the river has jumped the banks just the field south of us and is rising. Not sure if that field was planted or not, but he’s got a good creek going through it again.

 

[addy1]

Addy- What are the Gator jaws?

It is a tool I have had for 30ish years, bought in AZ hauled to MD , still cuts beautifully and I can use with my poor aching hands. Not a one hand grip but use both. Says gator blade so I call them my gator jaws. They slice through the dry big grasses with little effort. The ones I can not reach with my bush hog. Like around the bee hives. I tried the hog but it is too tight of a area, the tractor is a small one but still has a big foot print. So hand cut, with my bee suit on, they were not pleased to have me there.

 

[addy1]

I found a old label on the back, they are Fiskars, I have other Fiskars tools all are good tools.

Power-Lever® Softgrip® Hedge Shears (23") | Fiskars

A comfortable, innovative design gives you up to 2X more power on every cut and includes self-sharpening, serrated blades.

www.fiskars.com

A whole 32 bucks, they are the main tool I use. Nicer looking then mine!