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Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted any new chapters lately. I've been busy with my family and the the farm over the last few weeks. It seems that my oldest two daughters and their husbands all thought it would be a great idea to visit at the same time. (July 1-9) Between them being here and working with the 4H Kids plus having to make repairs to the fence line I haven't had a lot of time to write. With my youngest daughter Karen watching me like a hawk I have only been able to get about 400-500 words written per day with the work load.

Comments

Great to hear from you

You are so well disciplined when posting stories that I worry for your health and wellbeing when You don't.

I'm pleased that your not posting is for all the right reasons; I hope that your time with family joyous and that you are having fun furthering the education and skill sets of the 4-H gang.

Just glad you're doing okay.

Just glad you're doing okay. That's what's important to me.

You should have had the 4H kids doing the fence fixing. They need to learn how to use the pliers and staples eventually.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Trust me they learned

wolfjess7's picture

Trust me those kids learned how to use pliers and staples. Not to mention how to use a pole driver, chainsaws, log splitters, and a few other farm clearing tools. Had to replace more than 500 ft of fence thanks to a few trees falling over.

May the peace and happiness of the Goddess keep and protect you
as always your humble outlaw
Jessie Wolf

By the time I was nine, I'd

By the time I was nine, I'd learned how to restretch barbed wire with a comealong, staple, and bend. By twelve, it was the posthole digger. Only used the post drivers when checking the fences on one of my friend's grandfather's farm. (more of a small ranch, really). Cows constantly pushing on the wire to try to get to the grass in the ditch.

It was the _horse_ that ran straight through the fence. That horse was no longer going to be able to be a show horse, that's for sure. (it lived, just a big scar across the chest).

I like horses, but man are they dumber than the fence posts.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Thanks for getting back to ya fans

Hi WJ, glad to hear that it’s just RL getting in the way of you having time to write and not that you’ve been ill.
I love all your stories and worry when my fav authors don’t post.

Huggs
Sammi

Manual labor

Great to hear that (1) your daughter is still keeping you in check, (2) your families came to visit and (3) that you are still writing! There is merit in having redundancy so you might look at getting some old-fashioned cross-cut saws and axes for keeping the trees in check along with some one-person jack saws for bucking them! No gasoline required but those tools will keep the users in great shape -- once they learn how to use them! That will require liniment and bandages! You already have the horsepower handy to pull the logs!

Great Idea!

wolfjess7's picture

You know the cross-cut saws, and axes for keeping the trees in check along with some one-person jack saws for bucking them is a great idea. There is a large Amish community not too far away from where I live. I've already have a large number of horse drawn farm equipment for teaching the 4H kids how things where done a 100 yrs ago. This would be another chance. Manual Labor has always been a good way of instilling a powerful work ethic as well. As you can see and feel what you have done. I know that the kids love clearing the snow with their horses in the winter for their neighbors. Not too mention the boys really love pulling cars and trucks out of ditches during snowstorms. (chuckle)

May the peace and happiness of the Goddess keep and protect you
as always your humble outlaw
Jessie Wolf

Never used a cross-cut saw,

Never used a cross-cut saw, either one or two man. Mind you, when I was younger, the way to blow off steam was to take an axe, go to the fenceline, and remove another hackberry or locust. There were faster ways to do it, but not as satisfying.

I'm a firm believer in learning the manual method first, even if it's just a cursory lesson. (Even CAD should be preceded by a drafting class) It gives you a much better idea of the limitations of both the 'analog' and 'digital' version. (In this case, analog would be the crosscut saw or axe, and digital would be the chainsaw and tractor)

Have you had anyone learn how to use an adze yet to make boards? Or at least flatten one side of the log so that it can be used for a wall? (I'd lay good money that most people think that log cabins were just stacked up, where they were a LOT more complicated than that, even though they were not complex).


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

maybe Karen needs a BCTS login

MadTech01's picture

She could use the user name Wolfhawk7. lol

Glad you are in good health. And I can not fault her for watching you like a hawk, she made her desires very clear on you staying in this world till after she graduates and gets married at the very least. I have no complaints, only request in the future I would say is just post a heads up when ever you can. The state of things as they are in the world still has people on edge most likely.

"Cortana is watching you!"

Crosscut saw follow-up

The US Forest Service has a "how to" manual for sharpening these saws. It is available as a PDF. There may be some folks in your neck of the woods that still use them and sharpen them. For grins, ask your 4-H teenagers the difference between a hand-powered cross-cut saw and hand-powered rip saw! Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that not too many of them realize that there is a real difference! I know that my students had no idea there are any differences!

Stay safe and stay healthy!