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How's your day been?

Another non-shop day but great day to work outside. Put my 12’ trailer up by the house and got rid of a pile of debris from taking s tree down a couple months ago. Yea, no pic!
Added in some treated lumber that was part of temporary stairs and landing out basement door(now a deck is there), nothing worth saving. Had a couple other piles of tree debris and kept building up in the trailer then smushing it down with tractor bucket. Pretty well packed and about 5’ high. I’ll get some pics tomorrow, promise!
Pulled some decent oak out from down a sloped area and cleaned up part of an ATV trail that rides the ridge line down into a holler. Doing that kind of work on a slope is a lot harder and you’ve got to be that much more careful with chainsaws, and trip hazards so I try not to overdo it.
Ok, a few pics from yesterday. I must have been counting the height of debris in trailer to the ground...closer to 4’, but packed in.
The tree circled in red is a big oak that came down in a storm a few weeks ago. Had a hollowed area that just didn’t have a chance. Will be a day long process, over 14” diam or so but I don’t have a lot of wiggle room on a 12’ wide drive to pull out sections.

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Ok, a few pics from yesterday. I must have been counting the height of debris in trailer to the ground...closer to 4’, but packed in.
The tree circled in red is a big oak that came down in a storm a few weeks ago. Had a hollowed area that just didn’t have a chance. Will be a day long process, over 14” diam or so but I don’t have a lot of wiggle room on a 12’ wide drive to pull out sections.

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What species of oak???
 
My day has been crappy. Refrigerator went out. Broke water line for ice maker that never worked. Thought it was unhooked. It wasn't. Water everywhere. No shutoff. Had to shut whole house off. Lowes couldn't deliver until Thursday. Brought it home and my neighbor helped me get it in and the old one out. Went to turn the water back on, the ball valve broke. Had to get new pipe and ball valve. Got that fixed and new line for ice maker hooked up, no leaks....until 2 hours later. Go downstairs to change a load of laundry, heard water dripping. Now I have to go back to Lowe's in the morning and get the stuff to fix it. Probably going to switch copper lines out to PEX while I'm into it.

Uggh, I feel your pain. Had similar experience with my house. Built in the mid 50's and any time I try and do any remodeling, I KNOW I will run into another issue. I have been remodeling for the last 5-6 years (but almost done). Started with a overflowing toilet that ran all day when no one was here. I won't bore you with everything I have done to the house since then, but one of the best things I did was re-plumbed the entire house with PEX. But I took it one step further and put in a manifold and ran individual lines to every different fixture, so I can cut off individual items like the back toilet, or front kitchen sink instead of having to turn off the entire house. Good luck to you.
 
What species of oak???
I have a couple different but first look was chestnut oak. They’re predominant in the mountains, supposed to have deep tap root .
I’ll verify and if different will check back.
 
@TimR , Tim, nice property!!!!!!!
Thanks Garry, it’s a lot of work and a lot of gravel just keeping road in decent shape, winds get wicked, but the views and privacy are hard to beat. Fortunately I have neighbors who are professional graders and excavators to help create workable flat areas for parking, getting to my woodshed, places to keep dirt and gravel, and other access.
 
I have a couple different but first look was chestnut oak. They’re predominant in the mountains, supposed to have deep tap root .
I’ll verify and if different will check back.

I have Chestnut oak, Quercus prinus (Q. montana), but maybe you have one (species) I lack...
 
I went to home depot today, done my mask and stood in line waiting to get in with the rest of the sheeple. But I did get the supplies I needed for the electrical work. So......
I pounded the ground rod in, which took awhile.
View attachment 186563 I pulled the last wire and hooked up the panel in the garage. I've got a neutral line feeding back to the house panel, and an outside ground rod connection.
View attachment 186564 Ground wire connected to the ground rod.
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Now I wait for the 100amp breaker to hook up inside the house main panel. It's already prepped for the hookup.

Greg,

You make me wonder... you might want to delete several pictures being that in a sense they are open to view web wise. Your trench was shallow, missed expansion joints in the line. I did not see any sand in the trench. Code calls for something like 4-6" of sand around the conduit, and electrical yellow caution tape buried a foot above the conduit. You showed a single ground rod, 100 amp and greater requires a second ground set a minimum of 6' away. I don't think braided core was acceptable as outdoor ground, it had to be solid core 6 gauge or heavier... I just swing a hammer sometimes but see things, and don't want you to short yourself. We have Tony for that.
 
Here we only have to be 12" if in a conduit and I'm deeper than that. It's going to be covered in concrete. Never seen expansion joints used here. And the braided wire is a much higher gauge than required. But I'll refrain from posting anymore pics of what I'm doing.
 
Now I really know spring has arrived. Last night just before dark heard some buzzing by an open window. Our hummingbirds are back! It hovered there like it was saying "I'm back, where's my food". Quickly filled some feeders and they were right on them.

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Then, this afternoon, a Baltimore Oriole visited the hummingbird feeder. I removed the insect guard so the oriole can get some of the hummingbird food. Also hung an oriole feeder, but they seem to like the hummingbird feeder better.

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Orioles are such cool looking birds! We had them make a nest in one of our yard trees when I was a kid in North Missouri. Cool nest too, they look like a sock...
 
man that's a good looking trailer!!!! that is one job I actually don't mind...……..as long as it is not a dump truck load. Something about a shovel and wheel barrow, just about as mindless as it gets and yet the muscles get a good workout. I feel very fortunate with a former back injury to still be able to do something like that. Wish I were closer, would give you a hand.
 
Thanks for the compliment on the trailer, I finished the build on that last year, it's very useful now.
I'm also a former back surgery patient, and like you feel fortunate that I can still do this kind of work, albeit alot slower than I used to be. Took all day to move 2 yards of top soil and now I'm beat. Back is very muscle fatigued.
All of this soil is for behind the garage where the sewer dig repair was.
20200507_144041.webp It might be kind of hard to tell from the pic but the whole area behind the garage and some to the left are about a foot below grade. Had serious ponding ther when it rained heavy, ducks too, lol.
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Betty was a trooper and helped me all day rakeing and using the tamper to pack the dirt down. She spread it as fast as I could load a wheelbarrow full and bring it back. We are both sore and tired but it was a good day. It always feels good to do improvements on your home. Now I'm done for the day, hit the couch with a bowl of homemade soup and I'm relaxing.
 
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That's 4 yards so far, probably do one more 2 yard load.
 
My day has not ended yet. Grandson & I have been fishin since noon. Now we're out getting more night crawlers!

oooh man, the dogs are barkin feirce.
 
ok. he's in bed. finalllly....

We caught a few fish today for our fishtank. total was around 14. we kept the 3 biggest ones. A shiner and 2 bluegills...

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Hey guys and gals. I just got some news. They called hospice in for my uncle. Keep the family in your prayers. He called me about a week ago and he never does that. I think it was his way of saying bye. I hope and pray that he has asked God to come into his life. Does anyone know if they have relaxed the covid crap in Maryland in case?
 
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