My day, with pictures ...
Several people hunt deer at my place, with my permission. Today the plans were that 4 people were going to be hunting in the morning, I was to come up at noon break, they would give me a hand with a project, I'd leave and they would go back to hunting till a half hour after sundown.
Last winter was so mild and I loved the times I could go spend a little time at the farm. This winter I'm wanting to have the camper waiting for me, in case. But given the idea that it's 30 or so years old and the canvas has seen better days, I need some protection from the elements. Last month I spent an afternoon at the farm, by myself, fighting a 20X40 tarp and 40mph wind gusts. It took 3 hours, but something was accomplished. I've lashed the tarp to some trees and the base of the camper, but I want something better. The project is to build a hoop house over my pop-up camper. Shag and I glued up the ribs on Wednesday and left them to cure so we'd be ready to work today. I brought up a box of 6 mil plastic and we already have the nice tarp that is currently in place to use as well.
Of course there was no one there when I arrived. FWIW, Shag had called me before 10am to say that he and his girlfriend had stayed home. Cool damp air isn't good for arthritic joints and sitting on the ground in a blind was just out of the question! My cousin and his BIL either didn't show up or left after a few hours. But since I've driven 42 miles to get here, I'm not leaving without doing something! The mowers sure could use a barn or garage to house them, but that isn't happening anytime soon, either. When I parked them last fall, the older one was directly behind the other. Of course I couldn't get it started, so I had to push it by hand to put it along side the unit with the blade.
Using some metal pieces from an old "garage in a box" that was damaged in a windstorm so the former owners donated them to the cause, it didn't take long to make a peaked roof and cover it with a tarp. If I'd had help ... we could have lifted it off the ground a little more. This way the field mice will just love spending the winter inside the mower like they have in the past. But at least the rain and snow will be deflected.
I heard that there was a double tree stand somewhere close to my property line, so I jumped on the backhoe and went exploring.
I didn't find anything where it shouldn't have been, which is just as well. What would I be able to do about it anyway? But it was a nice drive back into the SE corner and gave me a look at plenty of Zone 4 things that need done someday.
Did I mention that my sister brought me 11 trees that need planted? I had planned to do that earlier, but discovered that I wasn't getting anywhere fast with a garden spade in previously unworked ground. On my way back to camp, I went to the garden area from this summer and used the backhoe to dig a hole. After parking the equipment I grabbed the trees and spade then walked back to the garden. I shoveled some of the loose dirt back into the hole to give some softened soil below the saplings. I placed the trees on their side at about a 40 degree angle, then filled the hole back in with a shovel. I placed blocks at either end so I can find the spot again in the spring. Hopefully the deer won't eat the trees over the winter.
By this time, the temperature had dropped by about 15 degrees.
The clouds look like snow sometime soon, but that was what I thought at the end of October too!
I wasn't in a hurry to come back to town, so I fired up the space heater in the camper and read a book for an hour or so. The weather is turning off rather cold for spending the night with the set-up I have now, though I'm sure the flapping tarp would help me sleep!
Once the hoops go up and the plastic goes on, we will be on the lookout for some bales of straw to go around the base of the camper inside the protective covering. Hopefully they won't be $6 each, but even so, a dozen would make for good insulation over the winter and great mulch in the spring.