Sun. Jan. 24, 2009 - What are U doing today?

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Sun. Jan. 24, 2009
Are you doing anything special today?

[Jim]

Well, I spent the morning hauling trees out of the woods. When we moved in 1.5 years ago, we had to get a bulldozer to make a path through the woods so we could put a fence in. Eddie, the dozer operator, pushed trees over & in one place made a big pile with 6 or 7 good trees in it, but they were behind the rootballs.

It was 11 degrees out this morning & never got above 24, so with the ground good & frozen, it seemed like the perfect time to pull them out. I cleared the brush with the chainsaws & front end loader, then pulled them up into the south field & piled them against the woods. Next Spring, I'll probably make a couple more log jumps out to them. A couple of the trunks were 20' long, so that's 2 logs each for a jump. Another was Red Cedar, which is perfect to put on the ground since it doesn't rot very fast.

I took Pixie (the pup) & Molly (the Australian Shepard mix) out to help me pick up the remaining branches this afternoon. Pixie stayed with me the whole time & was too busy to get cold. She still had lots of energy when we got back in.

[Becky]

I have been cleaning out kitchen cabinets & the pantry-where does all this stuff come from?????

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim - I feel tired just reading about the work you've done today. Am I right in assuming that you're referring to log jumps for the dogs?

Perhaps you should have named Pixie "Peppy". We once had a dog named Peppy when I was a kid. He was one of the puppies from our bull dog, Queenie. My father had a paper bag and in it were the tails they had just cut off the puppies. Funny how I've remembered that all these years. I guess it made a big impression on me.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Becky wrote: "I have been cleaning out kitchen cabinets & the pantry-where does all this stuff come from?????"

Becky - You're ambitious! My cabinets are filled with, not only my stuff, but my MIL's stuff which we kept after she passed away. I hate to get rid of anything because prices are going up and the items may be useful years from now. My mother had a saying: "We can always get rid of them... but we can't always get them back." (g)

[Jim]

I only worked 5 or 6 hours, Joy. I must admit, I'm feeling it a bit, though. I kept my coat off most of the time as I worked up a sweat in my coveralls. They're just cotton, farmer coveralls, but once you get moving, they're plenty warm. Still, the cold got to me. I was happy my tractor started since its diesel. It didn't want to, but the battery is good, so I got it eventually. I keep the saws in the shop, so they were warm. Not too much trouble with them. This cold just makes everything more difficult, though.

Yes, Peppy would have been a good name for her. No, the jumps are for the horses. I'll have to post pictures of some of the other ones I've made. I have them from 18" up to 3'. Marg wants a ring with jumps in & out. Logs are the cheapest to make. Plenty of them around.

Thinking of logs & kitchens, one of the most disgusting things I found today was cockroaches under the bark of one of the Sugar Maples. I've seen them a time or two when removing the old barn. We haven't found any in the house, but I guess I'm going to have to be real careful about the wood in the shop. I HATE cockroaches & would hate to bring them in.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for inviting me Jim! Its a BIG group! I also loathe cockroaches. They do not live here in Colorado as its too cold and dry for them. I encountered giant ones in Florida as a child and they would fly at a person if they felt threatened.

We may get snow tonight and I am looking forward to it. Too many sunny days lately. I know you remember from Aspen.

Love the polls here. thanks again, Alice

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim, they say that as you get older, you can still do all the things you used to do... but the recovery time is longer. I'm finding this to be too true.

Ew-w-w on the cockroaches!

I see that you keep the horses hopping as well as the dogs... and they keep all of you hopping.

What do you mean by jumps "in and out". In and out of where? Oh, I suppose you have an indoor area as well as an outdoor area.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Welcome to the group, Alice. Nice to see you posting here. I think you're our first member from Colorado.

Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Best wishes,
Joy

PS-I read the note you wrote with your Friend Request. I responded by sending you a Friend Request because it was the only way I could send you a welcome note, since you don't accept email. Anyway, thank you for becoming my Goodreads Friend.

[Jim]

No indoor ring. I'm not rich! No, she'd like an outdoor one with jumps one two sides of it so she can ride through after the fence is up. Right now, it's a fairly flat piece of ground. I really should get Eddie & his dozer in for half a day to level it better. Make sure it's crowned just so to drain right.

There's already a fence on two sides, but I'll need to put up one more - leaving one end open. That will let dump trucks in to put down down 4" of top grade (CR-8) & 4" of I Sand (stone dust) on top of that. I'd really prefer the sand to be mixed with rubber, but we can't afford that. Then I'll put up the end.

Unfortunately, I can't afford any of it right now. Not with Erin in college. Just the fencing materials will be close to $1000. Stone & sand will likely be over twice that. Eddie probably half that.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I hear ya, Jim.

How does the rubber help when mixed with the sand? What's the sand for?

We had our driveway paved recently. I learned a few things about all the different choices. Bluestone was one of them. They put that where we couldn't afford to extend the blacktop and where there are roots of pine trees which could crack blacktop and create dangerous bumps.

Bluestone is like a rough powder mixed with stones. The powder hardens after being laid down.

[Jim]

Every area seems to have it's own brand names. Part of that is the type of rock which means it crushes & sorts differently.

Bluestone used to come in several varieties. We use 'Screened #10's' on my grandfather's driveway. That had no powder in it & all the rocks were about the size of the end of my finger. Sifted means they kept just that size stone, no powder. 'Crush & Run' generally denotes stone dust mixed in with specific size stone. CR 8 would mean mixed stones up to 1.25" in diameter, including dust & smaller stone. Here it's mostly limestone, which is white. No bluestone around.

Normally for a ring, you'd put in a clay base, but that's what we call soil, so I just have to level it. Then you put dense grade (not top grade, wrong name, but what I would call CR-8) on which gives a cushion & drainage for water to move along. Usually 4" is good enough. It also lets you get a better level. Then you want 4 - 6" of something that's easier on the horses feet & can be dragged for a smooth surface. In our case, it will be I-Sand, even though that packs pretty darn hard.

I'd prefer even beach sand, but that's tough to come by, too. Rubber mixed in just keeps it from packing as hard & isn't as dusty in the summer. Since it's old tires, you'd think it would be cheap. It isn't.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I never even thought about what types of soil and such are needed for a horse ring. It's quite a science.

You mentioned clay. Our summer place consists of mostly clay. Hard as a rock in dry weather and nothing will grow well in it. Terrible stuff, especially to dig post holes in. There's top soil over it in most areas where the grass grows, but some areas never were covered with top soil. Little by little I try to fill in the clay areas where I'd like to see grass. Ed doesn't care. Just let's it be. He has too many other things to do.

OTOH, our winter house has sandy soil. Drains very well.

At the house we had downstate, whenever we wanted to dig for a garden, we hit rocks and boulders.