mr. wooly worm

        mr wooly worm here is the same wooly worm i relied on and counted on last winter despite the dire warnings of global warming. there is no doubt in my mind when i look at mr . wooly worm,  if there is any chance one band would be wider than the next.. mr wooly confirmed that by being all black and it is the width of the black band that foretells or is supposed to , exactly how bad a winter it will be. good lord i was buying thermals and shivering looking at him last fall. and now almost 5 months later here he is sitting on my sculpture basking in the sunlight after a long winters nap. 

      in fact it was to sunny for mr. wooly he had to hide in the shade. didnt know these woolies wintered over the fall and survived till spring. at least the females do, to lay eggs . surely as large as she, it or he , is she is laden with eggs.

      what are the chances of seeing an all black wooly and then spying the same one again in spring. pretty slim . kinda like i need to get off my butt and buy lottery tickets kinda luck.  but there he sat on my indian carving kinda snubbing me as if he thought i was heading south and leaving this oasis of warm beautiful weather to him and or her 30000 offspring little eggs, or larvae. the contrast of the white against the black added a toupee to mr. eagle. again as if to hide from her responsibilities of providing accurate forecasts. how else will dick goddard survive if he doesnt have a wooly worm that is believable, and not just out to scare us. now this fall i will be probably inundated with 30000 angry woolies , chanting in unison but still barekly audible"HUMANS SUCK!!. as finally the truth about woolies will be  revealed. they were just looking out for themselves.

mr. sparrow 

          mr sparrow spends considerable time watching me . i think he is obsessed with me. never thought i was interesting but to a home schooled sparrow baby chick it must be like the giants gone wild. he has a clear view of the back of my house and can look inside the kitchen . i have noticed his mom and dad who are looking a little weary from weeks of nest sitting and food finding . mom and dad as little johnny sits on his boat watching munsters on his portal to the universe . must be nice to have your whole word in front of you and shaped round. instant karma . what ever he does will come back to him. right now he is trying hard to not pass judgement on me. 

      he is curious and upon opening the rear door to house he immediately jumps to attention and scours his portal searching for whom it may be. but soon his mom and dad will be urging him to make a leap of faith. and little johnny will be soon winging his way to florida , but first he has to stop at my truck window nd leave a little something, to make sure i never forget this moment.

zoar,ohio, founded in 1817

          a religious group from germany of german separatists , arrived via philadelphia around 1817 to collectively name the town  zoar, after the place lot went to after leaving sodom, according to the old testament in the book of genesis.  and immediately they set up housekeeping on land they had purchased from their work in philadelphia..houses were built and times were hard as they struggled individually to build their own lodgings and such. 

        the idea was passed around to engage in communal living where as they would donate their portion of land to allow the community to help support them. men lived in one house and the women and children lived in another. they flourished according to historical accounts as they helped build a 6 mile portion of canal that went right past their town. in fact things were going so well that trade was setup between the zoarite community and the public that the town prospered.  artisans crafted tin works , carpenters provided furniture and housing. craftsman of all trades were represented .in the early years prior to 1853. and it seems that at about that time , one of the founders of zoar, a joseph bimeler passed away and then people began to lose interest in being a commune, and by 1898 the final members of the commune decided to end the commune , but zoar continued on as a city. Zoar, Ohio - Ohio History Central - A product of the Ohio Historical Society

           around 37  years later , the town was revitalized by the new dam located on st rt. 800 and this required a massive levee structure to be built in place of the canal that once fed the town but was now defunct. this allowed the surrounding area to be used as a basin for storing excess water from dover dam during heavy rainfall periods. well subsequent recent 500 year storms as they are called have called into question , whether these structures are safe . in fact debate is still under way to save the town of zoar at its pressent location or move it to another dry location at a higher elevation thus eliminating the need for levee control. 

      this is an excellent example of early pioneer living as you travel around zoar. it is owned by the ohio historical society and they as well as other craftsman maintain a chance to perceive what it was like to being an early pioneeer as they guide you through the town. generally most of the population lives above the proposed new levels of flooding. but unfortunately , most of the historical district lies in the lower elevations of the town.
       to simply raze the structures to avoid spending at least 30 million more to upgrade the levee to protect against another 500 year storm , isn't even worth consideration. significant amounts of money has been used already to maintain these beautiful buildings. but this investment has so far paid off in terms of bringing in tourism dollars.

      one solution might be to remove any residential housing from the historic district in the event it might flood. historic buildings might have originally dealt with flood water at some time since 1817 as i am sure dam or no dam across the tuscarawas river i am sure the town was wet at some time due to its close proximity to the river. if the buildings would flood , the damage could be minimization and people could return to work.

      anyhow it is always interesting to travel around town and look at buildings. also if you get a chance to visitWestbrook's Cannery | Facebook- westbrook cannery , i would suggest it for a chance to view a bear of mine there by the cash register. these women can a variety of different things and offer canning classes to those who want to can fruits and vegetables. 

new arrival on farm

       above is  summer  the mother cow(69). and her new baby. i went out of house to feed the ducks and was looking around pond when i heard summer bellow and knew that bawl wasn't right and so i went and checked and found summer having just gave birth to  her newborn, and another heifer( molly), summers last year calf all around in a circle. separated molly from her mom , and watched as the new born calf  would try to get to his feet and stumble and rolled down the hill. apparently summer had not thought this out to well as most cows dont. the calf would try and gain his feet under him and fall head over heels forward , one time banging his head on to a tree. i couldn't intervene yet as i try and let nature takes it course. eventually the calf ended up on a cow path and was able to get his feet under him and get up in the end he was only about 30 feet from where he was born and she had must have given birth when i heard her bellow. 

      the baby on her feet now and summer the cow less anxious began to calm down as at last the calf found a tit to hang onto for that nourishing  first milk and mom licked at the baby calfs rear end and settled the babies  smell into her senses and licked her dusty slimy body until her fur shone in the light. mom bellowed and started moving her baby away from where she gave birth. as if instinctively moving her baby out of danger,from the smell of the birthing process that might draw other animals. she would move a few feet and bellow for the calf and the calf would be trying to suck and so inch by foot they made their way up to a level spot. 

     in the meantime i allowed her daughter molly to slip around me to join her mother as well as obama the bull, who upon smelling of the birth, rolled in the ground and jumped up and bellowed as if to proclaim his virility , a new addition to the now herd. he raced to one end of the field and hit a large round bale shaking the daylights of any field mice that might have sought refuge there sending up thunderous cloud of dust and raced back at me who had now found a good size obama stopping club that would make any republican happy. and i proceeded to to warn him the butcher shop is always open. he came to his senses and relented to caring about the newborn and sniffed the new arrival. i guess to assure it was his then, nudged the baby a few times and mom stepped in to make sure he kept his distance. then things to settle down some. the baby began to nurse more and mom started to move her baby to some needed shade for both her and her baby to rest some. i have seen the baby this morning and have fed summer and they all seem to be fine. the only notable exception is that molly seems to be at odds with her mom. and summer is making her keep her distance. obama is allowed close enough to nudge and smell, but molly isn't but i am sure mother knows best. i hate to intervene in all this as number one that is how people get hurt. cows could care less about humans , and will at any opportunity hurt you when it comes to their babies, and secondly , if i were about to do anything it would have to involve moving them to a building to handle them and protect me somewhat. so it is better to let them do their own thing when possible, it never ceases to amaze me how it all works out sometimes. 

bridge to the past

          took off on a one tank trip to southern ohio in search of covered bridges in fairfield county ohio. it has 22 covered bridges but we could only find 2 yesterday as we were hurried and had not planned the trip adequately and might have been lost a couple of time if not for the help of modern conveniences like gps. beautiful country and was a shame to have to drive but some one needed to keep their eyes on the road as around every corner there is something to see.

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      our first stop was below lancaster at sallie park . it was the new location of my lead photo of a restored covered bridge. this was a beautiful park and had a really nice lake and the cabin above with that cut stone fireplace. really doubt that settlers took time to cut stone for their fireplaces but it is a nice touch. the locals were using it for a photo op and assuming some senior pictures.

 our next stop was at clear water creek park , where we found this well preserved civil war generals log house nestled among the sandstone cliffs that inundate this part of the country. as you drive down through the valleys and  , and look through the trees one can see the sandstone cliffs peeking out through the tree cover. looming over the valleys. 

         leaving there and heading into hocking county we encountered cantwell cliffs , a state park that is home to more sandstone cliffs and places like rock house and old mans cave, ash cave . and cantwell cliffs. these are places our family visited 48 years ago when i was 8 years old. it was amazing to retrace my old footsteps as i snaked down the narrow rock wall paths leading to these neat geographic and historical features. 

       i tried to get a panoramic view of these cliffs and is some what representative of the feel one gets when visiting here. there is a lot of climbing and walking and wishing i was still a kid when walking back up hill to where car was parked . to say the least i was exhausted and sore when finally arriving at the car . let alone say winded. it is a stress test for old folks . but well worth the trip. 

   

      the fairfield county visitors bureau could spend some time adding more links of things to do in their county and make their site easier to use . we passed their county fair location twice not knowing they had a covered bridge no doubt high and dry there. it seems when searching it is either to much of wrong information or what.  these 2 covered bridges one covered and one not but both incorporating an arch in their design  were located on ohio university campus at lancaster. 

     and of course to finish this blog i had to pass by the longaberger office building on highway 16 outside of newark and remind myself to never be rich. as i would not have ever tolerated a building such as this to be erected no matter the money within my eyesight with out at least voicing my drab opinion . the only thing i can be thankful for was that mr, longaberger was not into, was making caskets.

scars

            was talking with a friend today and we ended up talking about my scars and where i was when that happened   .it was  my first day of shorts and my pastey white legs came out in full view and she noticed the scars on my shins. with out looking i knew what she was talking about as i was working construction and we were down a manhole and needed to finish pouring a concrete flow line in bottom of manhole and water was starting to come through and soon we were just trying to finish pour as water rushed through. water and concrete was over the top of my boots weighing me down and grinding against my legs . i could feel it was bad but just wanted to finish, well i became sick due to concrete poisoning with that get her done attitude. 

         look a little closer you will see a nice little hole i dug into my shin on a concrete block going for the frisbee, in doyleston ohio. or possibly the nasty spider bites i had all over my legs from sleeping unknowingly with a brown recluse in marietta , oh. . my nose and the scar in the corner of my eye is from slipping on a narrow set of steps in mineral city , oh , and going face first down  40 foot of stairs and staying awake for the ride as they scraped me off the street and scurried me away in an ambulance to hospital. yes those scars tell stories and always hang around to let you know it wasn't a good day way back when. 

         i look in the mirror at my back and see another wreck in my life as i flipped a mercury cougar convertible over and it threw me from one side to the other and ejected me , or tried to before snagging on to my legs and dragging me up a gravel road not more than 200 foot from my drive. i picked gravel out of my back for awhile and learned the meaning of road rash and knew i never wanted to go there again.

          to the center of my back is my laminectomy scar, and that was the second surgery on my back in my lifetime. on my hand i have scar where after 30 minutes of work on my first day at a new job aand only one i was ever referred to by ohio job services, i show up and i am put to work on a chop off saw that left an annoying piece of wood under saw blade that needed to be removed by hand. next time i will let foreman do it as it took 27 stitches in an inch and half to close that one up . and my new boss actually refused to pay my bill . guess i really didn't want to work there anyhow. 

       just seems like you can always remember those scars when you see them . maybe it was because of the pain inflicted. some have come and gone in my lifetime . some will stay as the piece of metal dug into the palm of my hand and visible at times. others will fade into oblivion as they heal

       yet some i remember as a matter of principal. like the ones on my right hand i received in football as someone from the opposite team stomped on my hand getting up out of a pile and turned and laughed at me . they threw me out of game  as i was getting blood all over the other teams jersey as i declared war on them all to make sure  i got the right guy. .i was back in a couple of plays. yes some you will never forget.. 

      and yet it isn't so much they show on the outside of your body, as they sure show along with a multitude of others on the inside of your body. the scar is physical and you are the mental part. that remembers the pain the place the time and why you would never do that again. but then there are other scars we carry and those can not be easily seen but are felt. and they all have a story in common. and they make you who you are.life moves on.

conventional tillage

       tillage as we used to do it in the conventional form of plowing, discing , planting. is the style of planting and tilling we used to do years ago and i still do think it has its benefits. it improves the tilth  of the soil or the way it breaks apart when plowing . it also incorporates organic material into the soil at a level nature would have a hard time reproducing. effectively this increases your growing zone or your ability of your plants roots to extend greatly. it also serves to increase the moisture holding capacity of the soil , when you increase organic material. 

     having water at critical times is important in the plants growth processes. the increase in organic matter also feeds the plant in lieu of commercial fertilizers. the only addition  to the soil i add as an amendment  is bone meal or lime as needed to enhance ionic exchange capacity of the soil . it is a sweetener allowing a more neutral type soil , more conducive to your plants needs. i add this in place of fertilizer in my drill on a yearly basis or as i plant field. 

       this field for the last four years has had alfalfa hay w/ timothy, first year. second was same , third year was oats, and fourth will be rye as green manure crop with fall seeding of winter wheat. initially we had this as a pasture for many years and then a neighbor plowed and planted in soybeans , then it went back to briers and wire grass. and then i started planting alfalfa. the first year i plowed the soils was tight . kind of a shaley loam but was compacted and grew good weeds and briers first year. second wasn't much better so i decided to plant in oats the third year and soil was braking up better. and today being the fourth time i have plowed it can see rotted organic material in furrow being turned under as well as green manure crop being turned to bottom of furrow with the mold board plow. the soil has a more uniform texture and breaks apart easily , and was easy to plow for most part. 

       with no till i would have one trip with a brush hog over the field to knock down any large weeds. second pass would be to apply herbicide , third would be planting with a no till planter , and a follow up spray approximately a month into growing cycle. a commercial  herbicide applicators license is required as well as extensive training on new planters , gps , and learning how to pay for all this . also include in both is harvesting of your product . 

      conventional tillage includes plowing or discing or chiseling the soil to mix the organic material into the soil profile . next is discing or smoothing of the seed bed to assure good seed / soil  contact. and then planting.  i tend to stay away from corns as weeds are not much of a problem with the grass grains such as oats and wheat. if your crop is healthy it will usually drown out weeds in its growing cycle. i have found it useful in planting a field to prep the field early and then let weeds sprout and then do a final seedbed preparation as it seems to stunt the weeds. 

       chemicals whether in herbicide or insecticide, or applied in the form of fertilizers are not natural ways of growing anything. these chemicals have tendency of not staying where you put them or in some case staying way to long. or requiring more applications of other chemicals, or using a gmo, genetically modified seed , to be able to grow corn soybeans etc.. we are creating sterile fields and the problem is,  we are eating this crap. 

     and so instead of feeding some one in our area , farmer smith sells to the local grainery who has a contract with a California company who sells to china. the wheat or corn is packed into shipping containers or loaded on to bulk carriers to be transported to china to make products to send back home. and every time some one handles that product is getting more expensive. till it ends up back at home as you favorite cereal or food product. 

      i guess at times i would say i have my doubts that we will be able to feed the worlds population in another 30 years as sporadic shortages and changing climate will take its tole on human life and we will  struggle to provide minimum nutrition to the poorest. we need to reduce our energy requirements and can save substantial amounts in selling and marketing of our ag products by first selling locally. and in second place selling a more healthy product free of chemicals. excesses would still be then offered on world markets. 

      it would still be dependent on everyone the consumer the farmer and the marketer of ag products  that what we produce is of high quality as we have to eat it. no till or conventional may be a modification of both to include the best parts of each in the future as we move along. both are both energy dependent , and require a cost analysis to find the better performer. considerations in organic versus commercial fertilizers should also be evaluated. then the most important variable and that is you. , and i and human race as well as our planet. we need to figure out where e are going before we get somewhere we don't really want to be. 

         these are a couple of pics of last years hay feeding area for my cows and now the site of my new compost pile . by feeding the cattle in the area where i was going to compost i saved myself considerable expense of moving from barn to here. the cows don't care where they go to crap as long as there is something there to eat. this is what is left of 30 bales over a winter. this i will push into pile and stir every 30 days for a total 90 days , breaking the manure down  or composting it. and then mixing it back into the soil to replace the commercial fertilizers. manure that is composted will not rob your soil of nutrients like fresh manure would. it takes nitrogen out of your soil to break down the fresh manure in your soil. effectively weakening your soils ability to raise crops . this is why i let it rot before it goes back to the field. 

to windy to haul feathers

     would most adequately describe today's weather , or something you might lose your head over as i did when the wind blew. clean blew his head right off his shoulders. if nothing else it is kind of a surreal shot comparable to the iraqi president khomeni's head when they upset his statue in iraq after our second invasion of that country. 

      don't ask me what i am waiting for to finish this carving . i guess to get caught up on everything else in my life. sometimes i just have to be in the mood to do the carving work . i have several pieces that need painted and finishing such as this one. first i have to glue his head back on to his shoulders . in order to do that i need both pieces, the head and the shoulders part to be wet where i glue them so i really need a bucket of water and some rags to soak the joint in between before applying the glue. i should soak a day ahead of time. then i will trim excess off with chainsaw after it sets and dries. this will make a watertight bond.i will also fill large cracks with glue and give a seamless finish to carving. then i can paint entire statue a grey color like stone as if someone carved it out of a hunk of stone. 

             this large tree looking kind of eerie is from oardc and i decided to include it in today's discussion as was kind of neat , as it had not leafed out and you could see its bare bones structure and a multitude of low hanging branches. this tree could be found close to the administration building on the oardc campus. 

        

           

          this is a tree we found on a drive back from oardc a couple of weekends ago on back orrville -massillon rd . outside of dalton . ohio, in an old farmstead yard. i was impressed by the huge size of the stump , and it is clearly has to be one the largest stumps i have seen in ohio. i don't think it is all for the logs benefit as it has a huge knot that makes up most of the base of the tree . unfortunately it is hollow on the back side and may not last long. you can see from the size of the mini van behind it, it is a huge tree though. 

         it reminds me of a tale of early settlers using trees like this one to hide from indians on the warpath. one story i read of a young mother with a buck board and a horse being chased by indians sought out a huge sycamore she knew of , and hid horse buggy and herself in side the hollow cavern of the tree as the indians chasing her went right by with out seeing any trace of her. that would have to be one huge old tree. this story i heard of when living in marietta area and was featured in the marietta times i believe. trees like this were common place 200 years ago but are very rare today. judging from its log size alone i would say that tree was here 200 years ago. if it could talk i am sure it would have some stories itself to tell . at least a few knotty ones. 

life is a ride sometimes

       well i was moving the truck around after it had a winters nap. i let it warm up and then released the emergency brake. the truck was running fine and i jockeyed it around to allow the tractor to load it better and was pulling out to the edge of the hill above the blueberries and below the pond and i hit the brakes hard as i came out to the edge and suddenly no brakes and i immediately went into crisis control as i was rolling uncontrolled down a short hill and heading for mom 's blueberries , i steered the truck to avoid the blueberries and layed over in the seat to avoid hitting my head on the ceiling. i had no idea where babe was in all this . hopefully standing at top of hill barking like an idiot like she always does. 

      but none the less i was in for a ride and i hit the ditch at the bottom of the hill and bounced right over it and before i knew it i was in the middle of the yard below the pond, and i could now see babe wondering why i just did that. well i wasn't hurt and i had no brakes and was sitting in middle of yard , kind of disgusted and relieved that i had come through that with nothing hurt and babe ok, so i just put it in gear and headed around house and checked things out on the level ground. it was a brake line and appears to be nothing major so far. but still have to fix the brakes on the truck, and this seems to be a recurring theme this spring as i just finished working on my pickup brakes . 

     i thought it would be a simple front disc replacement , had trouble getting the lugnuts off the truck as they are meant to have cover caps and these were gone , and i thought i had replaced all those but apparently didn't get the front tire, so now was its time but only after taking all my strength to remove one lugnut frozen on. in fact replacing the front discs took less time than removing the one lugnut , but the fun wasnt over as now i had to bleed the system.

     i thought the spongy brakes could be attributed to the front disc going bad , surprise when i went to bleed the system it wouldn't bleed right and i couldn't get any petal. so now i had to replace the master cylinder. so 2 quarts of brake fluid and a master cylinder and 6 hours of my life gone to this  supposed 10 minute job. hmmmm- did i mention i spent almost 120 dollars to get this far. well i am looking forward (not) , to replacing the lines on the dump truck next. these are my favorite things to do. as it seems i love testing my patience quite often lately. but with these hills it sure helps having brakes. it beats testing the old heart. 

 a norway spruce 

     after completing planting of all the trees we received in our order and coming closer to 660 trees as we added some from the yard . we have volunteer locust and  hawthorne growing  in our yard and they were close to the whip size of these trees and decided to go ahead and plant these trees also. and i had some blue spruce that we received from somewhere else and was part of the impetus to get us into this tree thing after i received some whips from the soil conservation office . the problem with free trees you might receive that are bare rooted is you need to plant right away and it is hard for a pine to not get mowed off in his first year. i could have stuck directly into ground but doubt if as many will survive, so as now i potted those trees and now repotted them to allow to grow again as they were in small pots. . 

     but by potting the bare rooted trees , i have allowed myself some leeway and have greater chance of survival to the young sapling as i am able to water and fertilize as is necessary.the following pictures are of james planting trees for me. he had become some what of an expert after a couple of hundred trees. and i was just wondering what took him so long. none the less he was really good help to jump in and plant trees. the last 200 trees really went much faster as we had a good system down by then . basically we shared the peat moss and the tree bucket and would sit at my raised bed garden and dump a tractor load of my highly organic topsoil and then place the peat between us. pots on my left and on his right as we would take a pot and first add peat to above the drainage  holes and then add a handful of topsoil. this could have some lumps but large rocks and debris were removed to give you a good friable topsoil .

     a tree was selected and roots are cut to about a third of the total length . deadened roots were trimmed and leaders might be shortened(horizontal) , this was easily done with scissors. the tree is held in pot with the crown slightly below the top rim of the pot with your left hand. with a shovel or your right  hand spread roots out assuring no j hook of roots where roots will turn up side of pot . then start swirling the dirt in contact with the roots and compacting the soil assuring no dry spots or air spots , that will destroy your root systems. firming the soil 1 inch below top rim of pot and swirl in one handful of peat moss to hold moisture in soil. then stack in area to be watered and watered as soon as possible. extra care needs to be taken to assure your seedlings are damp but not soaked when planting. to much water will suffocate roots also. you need to water often until you feel moisture has thoroughly soaked pots and then only after drying has occurred . to much water is like drowning your plants, they need time to breathe. 

     efforts are being made to distinguish between the tree species . with this many trees and how close in appearances  they look it would be easy to miss represent some of them . these trees will remain in these pots till they root bound and then will transplant either to larger pots or will plant directly. how would i do it differently ? i would  add a canopy to shield one from the sun. and a heavy table you could dump a bucket of soil on and a chute to sit the potted plants on . we both worked on 25 tree lots of whips so that we could maintain the moisture on the root ends as much as possible. james is shown adding soil with a garden shovel , and in last picture he is tamping the soil in the pot. speeds of 40 per hour and more could be achieved easily. better chairs , and bench at right level would make a world of difference . i am just telling you this some times to make sense of it myself . it also helps me remember and now i have a reference in case i want to go through this again. 

     i thoroughly soaked the pots and then added water soluble fertilizer in the form of a water solution to each new pot. this will aid in root growth. so far trees seem to be doing well at 100 percent surviving. i will keep you appraised of their growth and maintenance as we go along . 

     i think i also have the incubator ready to go as i am getting constant temp readings at around 100 degrees. this is necessary to have constant temperature for the entire 28 days. and i think i am on to the ducks for yet another nest they are using. if i was able to hatch all eggs i would have around 36 ducks i believe . or a box of quackers. i kill me. 

kinda hard to see the forest 

         today was spent working on planting trees here on farm . we are planting our bare root trees in pots as they came from the state approved nursery.  and the reason we went with pots as opposed to just planting in the ground is to assure the seedlings have the greatest chance of survival . a couple of weeks ago i was planting trees at a reclamation area in Jefferson county and asked the forester there about the survival rates they expect on their trees in strip mine areas and they said first year survival seem to be around 80 per cent when they undergo massive ripping efforts . they are taking bare root seedlings the same as mine or in poorer condition and planting them direct in ripped or tilled ground with a tree spade. 

        i will be planting direct into gallon pots and allowing the roots to gain a ball of soil and establish a root ball as well as nourishing the plant prior to planting. also with the new seedlings watering is important . in the strip area it receives no watering except what ever rainfall happens to fall on newly planted tree. i am planting in a pot with peat in bottom of the pot followed by a bare root tree with moist roots and then a organic soil mix i have made on farm utilizing out topsoil and amended by composted manure. this is packed tightly around the bare roots assuring good root and soil contact. and then followed by a topping of peat . all this is soaked quite thoroughly and will be monitored before moving to a growing area. 

      some pine trees like white pine after a period of five years will grow up to 5 foot per year. and really with optimum growing conditions don't see these trees lasting a long time in these pots. and i am hoping for art least 90 percent survivability, and better if possible. will keep the trees in this area so i can monitor their growth and attend to them if needed at this critical time of transplanting. i was reading where white pine has grown to widths over four feet regularly and some up to five and even six feet across. these trees being mostly virgin timber are rare. white pine is a good all around lumber tree . colorado blue spruce , douglas fir , norway spruce , scots pine , and white pine are the five pine tree varieties we have planted . and we are also looking into buying apple trees as they are also a tree well suited to area and provides food for deer and such when planted . 

      the ducks continue to add to their egg pile as i strive to find a way to keep temperature regulated in the incubator. to high a temperature will result in cooking the eggs . it is most important to maintain it at 100- 102 degrees over the 28 days it takes to hatch. hope fully tomorrow i will be able to better regulate temperature and also finish planting trees and regain control of my refrigerator. keeping bare rooted trees in refrigerator at close to 34 degrees puts the trees in hibernation and allows you time to get things ready to plant . this is the ideal way to save trees if you are unable to plant right away. 

gee this is nice

      and you wondered why gas prices are so high. now that i have your attention , as this thing surely caught mine. it is an awesome truck i might want to have in my garage if i had one , i do but have so much other junk in there this behemoth surely wouldn't fit. but still it would be nice to drive once in awhile to car wash to wash bird poop off of it from storing in garage , and to gas station so everyone could say i am glad i don't own that thing and back to house as that is all i could afford to do. but is it necessary? could imagine one person driving this to heal an ego problem they just cant satisfy. the bed is undoubtedly never used . and probably comes complete with door ladder to help driver get into booster seat. and for what?

      oh well boys and toys. have ran bigger noisier things and is all behind me now as i have that urge satisfied. my goal is to leave this world a little better than i found it . part of that is planting trees to offset my dependency on oil since i was born. it is our generation and our parents generation who have benefited the most from using hydrocarbons or cheap gas to make our way of life easier. when gas prices were low we had no thought or inference to global warming. how we thought we could just go on forever drilling and refining and utilizing this resource or any energy source with out some kind of repercussion is beyond all we have been taught about the most basic physics notion. scientific principle states as well as newton does that for every action there is a reaction. that all things in nature seek balance. how did we think that humans and our actions were any different. oh well. 

      well i found the other duck nest behind my house and yesterday worked on an  incubator  to attempt to hatch out some duck eggs. seems the ducks have chosen me for this project due to all the eggs that will rot in summer heat if i don't do something. the incubator design i choose was one that was cheap and yet works. commercial incubators are available but are costly and not much more than i have. i have a total of about 20 dollars invested in mine. i used a water heater switch and a styrofoam cooler and 2 light fixtures i mounted to a board in top of cooler lid . the board supports the fixtures and the top is removable for egg turning. 

     building the incubator was ok as i tend to be victim of newtons other laws of gravity. and that is everything you drop hits the floor and you have to pick it up. to say the least i drop everything as i get older. psychosomatic it is, as i have a bad back and short fuse, and i tend to get hotter than incubator that isnt built.  other than that it is a matter of wiring it up and fixing the elements needed to the incubator. i will go more into operation of the incubator as i go along. it is a learning process for me. and i will share information with you and with no hope of success as the cart is leading the horse so to speak. i am behind in this process . but hopefully not to late to achieve some kind of success. we will see. it may be all for naught. 

      but so far the incubator is alive and working as it should cycling on and off as temperature increases and decreases. my goal today is to finish assembling and start putting eggs in . it takes 28 days to hatch duck eggs and requires daily turning of at least 3 times daily and constant monitoring of incubator to assure that temperature is constant. it would be nice to get some use out of these duck eggs and hopefully see more duck chicks around here, or will it . 

duck eggs

      i am even later today writing my blog heading back to evening hours trying to get it done due to puter malfunctions again. spent 3 hours this am trying to sort out problems with the puter and not seeming ot get anywhere. why when i do a down load from microsoft do is sit there and watch the screen thingy roll past 15 per cent ot 16 and so on till it is finished an hour later . it is as if i am totally entranced in this green bar hoping it will give new life and speed again to this inanimate object before me. would i have been better off to buy a tool or something else as they require no more instruction than to use it stupid(being me).
     so hour after hour i sit in front of this thing as it has become my whole life. i no longer watch tv , but instead opt to fill my time reading dribble from a multitude of news organizations on the internet. as if i am searching for the answer to life in all the x's and o's of binary language. and it  is when it doesn't work like it should that i am most concerned about the puters mental health and mine also as i see my frustration level increase to the point of wanting to toss the whole thing. but that is wrong. and why?
     it is not the computer that is messing up as it is garbage in and garbage out theory of puter existence. i turn it on it comes on but then it doesn't work like i want it to. and why? because the same thing that makes it work the programming , is under constant attack from the internet. sites you visit , malware , tracking information, etc, all add up to a slow performing computer requiring you to do maintenance. you can avoid all this by never going on line but then all you have is a typewriter and a gaming console. we need that socialization we achieve through internet to further us along. we crave it. but as long as we continue to use it we have to accept some of the downsides to computer programming.
     well today i am on a quest to make me an incubator and that is the reason i wanted the internet to work like it should . it is an invaluable reference tool. i found another nest of duck eggs and need to make an incubator as soon as possible , so i am going to get busy and get moving on this fine day and hope the puter serves me well for awhile as i think it is better but still not up to par. but i am tired of looking for what is wrong and spending hours getting nothing accomplished as life moves on whether i am ready for it or not. have duck eggs beckoning me.

oardc again and other stuff

        still having problems with internet access but presently i am able to still post. it is all broadband wireless running off a laptop and is permanently in a fixed location so if it works great one time why not all the time? guess its because its the american way. american business has conditioned us to not to expect anything or get excited because it is is just a glitch. and if we don't like it we can get even more frustrated with their indian telephone operator who is schooled in broken english at best . now if you were not frustrated before you will be now and only 15 minutes after you sit on hold waiting on tech support. 

       would rather poke nails in my head than talk to them . so i end up spending hours of my life trying online fixes to a problem i am not sure i can fix.could be left over solar flares, could be shitty programming, and then again it could be a loose nut behind the keyboard , looking for quick fixes. but some how it all welds itself back together again in this cohesive blog you see before you now. the only thing different is me , it is now the morning after , and i am not suffering from sleep deprivation trying to make self imposed deadlines as i was busted last night. 

     i am sorry but i was not able to make my blog deadline due to unforeseen problems. that is about the longest apology and still says little as to how i feel when making a commitment to you the readers. it is harder than it appears to be creative and timely, and you had better have backup. 

     the first pic is of some flowering crabs that were just budding on my previous visit 2 weeks earlier

    the second pic is a panorama view of oardc after returning once again to oardc to view the bloomage 2 weeks after previously being there. it was nice but not as spectacular and breath taking as i have seen it.  

frost had ruined a lot of rhodendron and azalea bloom and has burned the hastas among other plants. the early spring has fooled even the plants whose leaves are susceptible to an early frost. this could easily be the way of plants as global warming increases. plants that we are used to see surviving may no longer exist as frosts from early springs wipe out generations of plants. we may have to find more heartier species of plants to replace. mainly these were perenials and i didnt seem to see much frost damage on fruit trees but honestly have not had much chance to get close and check. 

    third pic was through some ground cover and i thought that was a nice shot. and all of these shots are with my new camera . and the panoramic view is easier than i thought. all i had to do was read instructions , imagine that. fourth picture was of old tornado damage showing a new amphitheatre they have installed over there and have incorporated into their new landscape design. the fifth pic is the new stone benches at the new amphitheater at oardc. 

        to catch us up to date on farm happenings, we have received our 500 trees we were originally going to plant on reclaimed strip mine land . some may still end up there but are preparing to pot up all of them to give them a better chance of survival as it seem we should not go ahead with tree planting on strip mine land till all bureaucratic snafus are taking care of. have the area prepared where they can sit and wait and grow. just waiting on pots . some of these we will sell as we intend to go more in this direction of agriculture. it seems to be conservative of all our resources and fits nicely into our plans.

       and will leave you with a crusty kiss from molly whose mommy summer is now taking her off her milk diet and has to now fend for herself. since mommy isnt so affectionate molly is spreading her love to the world.

damn writers block

        last 2 nights i have been having some problems getting started with my blog and i am sure you have noticed. actually i have been working on a cartoon or joke made up of several panels and i figured the best way to do it and still believe i it is , and that is to use my new pen-tablet and do my editing directly on the computer and quite possibly save myself some time. that last part of that idea is out as it takes me longer, as i have to learn how to use the pen -tablet properly. to be honest it is killing me but think i am starting to understand somewhat what is going on. 

        some features i just have no clue how to use but know it would help me in doing the drawings. things like the fill feature. remember when i was in college using cad program and it had a fill feature and it was nice and easy to use. not like this one. then there is the you cant teach an old dog to do anything concept. hmmmmm , most of the really good stuff i learned late in life , so why stop now. i always like a challenge be it trying to come up with something different for the blog, or learning a new concept in drawing. this is something i need to do as i can pick up computer keyboards all day long compared to lifting chainsaws. 

         and i can be as creative on a computer as i can carving. its all in my head and it is just a matter of getting it out so people can see. and when it comes to being creative i like all forms. would be nice someday to do a bronze statue, as i have done a clay bust of sherry n. back in high school art class. although it was larger than her in real life, it was a very good likeness of her. mrs martinelli explained as you are in creative process you tend to make things in your scale. me being a large person made a plaster-cast larger than real life. that was a fun time in my life as i don't know how many times i broke sherry up as she was posing for our art class. 

      i don't use models much anymore having felt my way through female anatomy a few times , i would like to say i have become familiar with a woman's body. think i could draw several of them from memory. but i did struggle at times in my life when i was younger and would become frustrated at drawing anything. now i know some days are good days and some are little better than that. i have just learned to take it all in stride and try to do something in art everyday and i usually do. 

    on the web i belong to a couple of chainsaw carving guilds and they frequently post pics of their work. it is a fantastic link and gives you some insight into the minds of chainsaw carvers. oooooohhh  what a scary place to be. daily i listen to their advice and look at their pics and at same time i look at their pics i size my talents up compared to them and feel i am in the upper half of carvers out there. i have seen some outstanding work and will try to show you but don't know if link works-http://www.network54.com/Forum/118564/thread/1334331784/last-1334411507/Resent+stumpj+obs-   anyhow this is the link and don't know if it will last after i post it but will try anyhow. 

      but seeing this guys work and several others on here lets me know i have a long way to go if i ever do plan on being in the top ten of all time. really doubt if i will achieve that , but it still doesn't stop me from thinking about it. and maybe it isnt carving  that is my life's purpose. 

     even as old as i am , i know 56 isn't ancient but remembering when reese cups were a nickel and gas was 28 cents a gallon at old web fetters union 76 station, will still get you aww come on , that must have been a long time ago , looks of amazement . and yet through all this time i still wonder what i am going to be when i grow up . i guess dead. 

     the carving above was just the head but i felt he was to low to the ground and decided to carve a pedestal for him to sit on and it ended up being his body. he is cut in 2 at the neck and needs to be rejoined with gorilla glue and then shaved off to fit the statue. now the knots on top are actually pointed downward ,while the lower knots point up. i used the same original log for both . don't ask me why i didn't just carve one big head out of whole log. i am clueless and guess i just need experience joining them up. 

     

art for arts sake 

    

        this isn't mine but i still like it a lot more than i first did. sometimes our first impression of art is sometimes fuzzy as we are looking in comparison to real and it is easy to always find faults with someone else s  work. and i am my own worst critic sometimes, sitting on a piece looking for inspiration to continue, but a lot of times it has to do with my opinion of the piece,  or i am waiting for some stupid reason to finish. my work isn't bad in my opinion but it isn't as good as i would like it to be.

       i am always trying to reinvent myself to make pieces i feel good about and is different than other peoples work. but what happens is that i just smooth out a few rough edges of my style that keeps poking through in everything i do . carving with a chainsaw does suit me as an artist as it still leaves a few rough edges and this is expected in chainsaw work. but it also works well with the style of my work. 

      i have tried several techniques in different media such as oil painting , and hand sculpting. i like to do cartooning and see that a lot in my work especially the big heads . for some reason my style appeals to people and sometimes i am able to please myself . it is at these times i say to myself there is nothing else i can do to a piece to make it any better. and of all the accolades a person can receive this is the best to please yourself above all others. 

       my art was always put on the back burner as people would say that is nice , after putting in tremendous work on something. lacking encouragement even when i was young did little to further my hopes that my art would serve little more than maybe make myself happy someday. i can remember that straight out of high school i wanted to go to art school and ended up in ag school as i needed to have a vocation i could count on. well art was paying its way in the end, my only problem was i started after i had a bad back doing the carving. to little to late. and yet my agricultural training was helpful in my life but may have also lead to my early deterioration of my back . i used to work in a feed mill and had been lifting heavy loads all my life. 

        i also keep up with all the carving blogs and seeing what others are putting out , just boggles my mind and inspires me to find a way to still be useful in my art pursuit. seeing this carving was nice , as i suddenly become excited at seeing a chainsaw carving , and appreciating their work. and accepting it for what it is , a wonderful new way to look at dead piece of wood, that has suddenly been brought to life. always seek your dreams, because it always give you something to aspire to.