What Did You Do Today?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Your inspiring me Eric.

[Marks]

Eric, I hope this happens for yall too but we have had them for +10 years now where I hunt along the river. When they first got established we would see several every outing kind of like you described. It was frustrating. After a few years the numbers declined. We still have them but not near as bad as before. Maybe yalls will taper off as well.

Like I said before I always think they sound like deer from a distance. One hunt a while back I had listened to one all morning in a brushpile back behind me and to the left. It was getting pretty annoying. At one point and turned my body around to look over at it again and a deer took off. Somehow the armadillo had stopped moving and the deer walked in at the same time. I was even more ticked at that thing then.

I know this is "What did you do today" but I'm exhausted from last night. For some reason I dreamed all night about catching Timber Rattlers. I was in this room that had a bunch in it and I had to remove them by hand. They were under and behind stuff. One of them jokers had 2 heads and about 4-6 inches of body from each head before it merged into 1 snake. I shouldn't have watched that new show "Snake Salvation" right before bed.

Pearl, You should make friends with a coon hunter.

[Eric Krewson]

I did make friends with a coon hunter who would take I all I caught in a live trap, he was working most of the time when I caught one and we couldn't get together so they ended up dead. 

[JW_Halverson]

I've got a friend that livetraps them from his garden and gives them to me.  Mostly I have been parting them out to feed the great horned owl...she loves 'em.  But he gave me two 5 pounders recently and I think I am gonna have to skin 'em out and crockpot 'em. 

If you have a favorite raccoon recipe, feel free to send it my way!

[Marks]

I've got a friend that livetraps them from his garden and gives them to me.  Mostly I have been parting them out to feed the great horned owl...she loves 'em.  But he gave me two 5 pounders recently and I think I am gonna have to skin 'em out and crockpot 'em. 

If you have a favorite raccoon recipe, feel free to send it my way!

You should get a squirrel dog and take up squirrel hunting. Around here we have lots of squirrels. My brother has brought home nearly 30 squirrels on a good day with his dog. That would go a long way with your raptors. I know a guy who hunts with a red tail hawk.

[Eric Krewson]

I know I sound incredibly blood thirsty but I actually despise killing anything just to kill it. One reaches a point with nuisance pests where you control them or they will destroy your property. Stories abound about coons chewing their way into an attic and setting up shop, with the associated poop in the attic and streams of urine dripping down the walls inside the house. Ain't going to happen here!

I have a nice house in the country and want to keep it that way.

[Fred Arnold]

Today I did some framing around the passageway and 2 windows in the south facing living area of my metal building and hung some family pictures, arrows, and a bow for display. I need to get my butt busy and get this place comfortable and more appealing. The wood came from an old farm building I tore down last year for a neighbor and hope he decides to have me tear down 2 more next spring.

[Eric Krewson]

Deer season opens tomorrow in Tn where I hunt. Yesterday I put out 5 3D deer targets in the woods below my deck to start my tree stand shooting practice, kinda' late but I shot well when I got my bow out.

Worked on a bow fix, repaired some arrows and signed a contract to put gutter guards on the gutters around my house, the leaves have gotten to be a pain to remove from them as my trees have grown. 16 bucks a foot for the guards, they sure are proud of them.

[Robby101]

Finished my new mail box! After living in the woods for forty years, had to set up temporary digs in a village! Not my cup of tea,I don't know how they do it. Another month and I'll be living in an even bigger woods, and have my shop back up and running!!!!!

Robby

[Marks]

Deer season opens tomorrow in Tn where I hunt. Yesterday I put out 5 3D deer targets in the woods below my deck to start my tree stand shooting practice, kinda' late but I shot well when I got my bow out.

Worked on a bow fix, repaired some arrows and signed a contract to put gutter guards on the gutters around my house, the leaves have gotten to be a pain to remove from them as my trees have grown. 16 bucks a foot for the guards, they sure are proud of them.

Ouch. I just did the front side of my house myself for about $2.50 for 3'. I'll do the backside later. I bought some wire mesh guards at Lowes. They slide under the shingles and hook on the outside of the gutter. We will have to wait and see how they work. I'm sure yours will be more professional though. I need to make time to come see you sometime. I need some direction on my bow I'm making.  Baby on the way and my wife is nesting. We are rearranging and cleaning out the whole house and working on a nursery.

[PEARL DRUMS]

You guys are talking my language. We live in the center of the woods and I have to clean my gutters at least 8-9 times a year or I have major issues when the snow flies and the ice forms. Im undecided as to what product to use. Im sure it will be something I do on my own as I don't care to pay for services to my house that Im more than capable of performing.

[paulsemp]

I was doing a furnace change out about 10 years ago. Needed to do a chimney liner. It was a high 2 story roof. Set up the ladder  and climbed up. As I was getting ready to get of on the roof I realized the I was surounded by hundreds of wasps. I threw my legs off and around the ladder and slid down.  I hit the bump out in the extension ladder where the two ladders join with my inner thighs,  and climbed the rest of the way down. My legs were so bruised I could barely walk. They called a exterminator and he killed and removed the guards to find about 4 ft of nest pack in the gutter. He said because of the dry summer he sees it a lot. Most guards I've seen are garbage in a downpour the water goes right over them. And for some reason if something gets in you have to tear it apart and they never go back together well. And if they freeze they take long to thaw. I walk my roof with a leaf blower to clean my gutters. I know that's a young man's game and when I get older I may change my point of view. Just wanted to share.....

[Marks]

I don't normally mind cleaning my gutters but the people who installed them before we moved in put them where they drain on the highest part of the house so the water was washing out my foundation. DUH!!! This past Spring I dug a 90' trench and put in a 4" PVC drain pipe in the back to get the water where it wouldn't wash toward the house and about 20' in the front. I put in the gutter guards because I don't want my underground pipes to fill with leaves and stop up. Those drain pipes were a good investment of time and energy because we have had an extremely wet summer.

Pearl, the ones I put in last week were 3' sections and they slide under the shingles and had a little bend that hooked under the lip of the gutter. Super easy and fast. No bolts or screws. We haven't had any big weather since then so they haven't been tested much yet. Each section just overlaps the next. I put in 40' in maybe an hour or less. I hope they last. I'll do the back after I finish buying baby furniture .

[Eric Krewson]

On the lower end of my house the gutters are 24' up. I have a very steep roof that I won't try to walk on. I rigged a blower attachment to be 26' long out of PVC and a Stihl gutter blowing kit. Works really well but is a pain to use several times a week when the leaves are really coming down.

The caps I got are called gutter helmets, the most expensive but appear to be the ones that are fool proof. Like many, I used to do all this kind of work myself but I am an old guy who doesn't enjoy a lot of the stuff I used to do anymore so I get off my wallet and let others do it.

I have about 6 medium sized oaks I need to to cut around my house in the spring, wouldn't think of paying to have some one do this kind of work because I love to run my chainsaw. All my osage cutting in the past has turned me in to a chainsaw running fool, I love it.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Our house is set up a lot like yours Eric. The backside is a looooong ways down. We have 9' ceiling upstairs and in the basement. Im sure my time of cliff hanging will come to end to.