you bet, Don...  it is a great porch,  and doesn't john have a knack for decorating?    I wonder where that comes from!

Glad you enjoyed your time in the "Wild & Wonderful Mountain State".  Just wish the weather would have cooperated a little more.  Seems that it rains everytime that a guest comes to visit from Country Plans.     Maybe your next trip will be a sunny one. 

Seems I never have enough storage or I keep way too much stuff.  Haven't figured that one out yet.  

Quote from: Redoverfarm on March 09, 2014, 09:10:11 AM
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Seems I never have enough storage or I keep way too much stuff.  Haven't figured that one out yet.  

I think that is a trait of great people......  Glenn heads the list but others run close.   

Little slow start opening up the cabin this year.  A lot of irons in the fire.  But it is now ready for occupancy.  My son and I went up yesterday to do some maintenance from last year.  Good to have him home for the summer from College.  Although I doubt that I will see him that much as he has several full time jobs this summer.  More people asking him to work.  He said there is not enough time in the day.  If anyone tells you there is no jobs for young people send them this way.  Maybe that is because it involves work.

He is working his internship with a local surveyor ( friend of his) that is required for his college classes.  Well he hit the ground running with the job of surveying 1,000 acres.  Not too bad if you are working in the mid-west but in the woods and mountains is quite a feat.  One line is over 9,500 feet(the way the crow flys).  That is a direct measurement not taking into consideration the valleys, hills and mountain terrain.  So he said you can pretty well double the walking distance by the time you climb up and down, walk back and forth . 

Anyway I found an unexpected casualty of the winter.  It seems that I didn't blow out the kitchen spray wand in the sink. Yep leaking apparently from trapped water in the nozzle that didn't get cleared and froze.  I did get a replacement one and installed it.  I bet I will not forget that one this fall.

I had to reattach the woodpecker deterrents to the gable end of the cabin which blew down during then winter.  I also added another one to the deck gable end as well.  Still have one more to install on the kitchen gable end but will wait for that one.  Seems the "feebee's" have erected a nest over the upstairs bedroom window.  I will wait on that one until the nest empties out.  I am banking that their presence will deter the woodpecker from that area. 

I also caulked the area of the log collar ties & ceiling T&G .  There was some areas around it that were cut a little wide.  Hopefully this will help with the insulation and some insect infiltration .

Also removed the window and replaced it with plywood until I can get it fixed from when someone shot through it last fall.   

Now just finding the time to use it will be the next obstacle.

I have been around a few surveyors and they some times savor challenge in this mountain terrain and full foliage.  Part that bothers me is they seem to savor the moment and the challenge way way to much.        

My father,my uncle,my cousin,and myself were land surveyors.My father and uncle went to school for it and both drafted plats by hand.I was a rodman and we mostly surveyed in the mountains and foothills of upstate SC and western NC.It was a good job.I would still be in it if my father and uncle hadn't passed away.Things are a lot different now.We used a line of sight transit and rod with multiple prizms to get our distances.My uncle was the last to pass away and we were just starting to experiment with satellite and GPS surveying.I was an aviation line service tech and getting my flight training to do aerial photography and surveying,but my health took a bad turn.I ended up loosing my airman's medical and had to quit flying.If he can get into surveying commercially,he should have a career for life and good pay to boot.As a rodman,I was making $11.25 in the late 80's.For my area,that was big money back then.

Another good weekend for the memories of Dogtrot.  I can honestly say that it was enjoyed by young and old.





Here is just a sample of the evenings activities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghAUlPmsEhg

Nice!!!   

Love it!

Amazing... beautiful cabin being used as it should!

Great weekend.  No not at Dogtrot but in the same spirit.  Traveled to Highland County, Virginia for the Annual Highland County Fiddlers Convention, Monterey,Va.   My son managed to take First Place in the Individual Banjo competition.  This is his second 1st Place there in the last two years.  Here is a couple takes of the competition.
The first video is of his individual performance playing "Heel Toe Polka".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLjRCvzIN-Q

Their band " Mudhole Control" did not fair as well but did represent the Mountain State with pride. Their selection was "Angelina Baker"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vuVAFqky7M

Tell everyone that the Idaho Fan Club gives a five 

Well I haven't hit a lick on my projects this past week.  Sort of like a vacation.  This week was the annual Allegheny Echos workshop.  It is a week long Old Time Music school.  No I don't play anything but the classes are only in the morning and socialization in the afternoon and evenings with music in abundance.  This is a video of my son playing at the concert Friday evening with the band he plays with regularly.  Sorry for the poor quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UkR85qA-7w

Another one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQOj5opwZSA

Well back to the real world these last couple of weeks. But not before picking up a few antiques at an estate auction.  The little dresser I needed for the cabin.  The sellers cabinet complete w/flour bin and sifter was just too good of a buy to pass up.





Managed to get all the firewood which I had cut and split off the hill and down to the house.  With what I had left over from the last year I have some where around 5 cords which should do me about 2 years.  But as you can tell there is way more to do.





Project of the last couple days was repairing the brush hog and starting to clean off the pasture fields.  With the high price of cattle this year I decided not to invest.  A large producer would probably not feel the crunch if one head died for what ever reason but with the limited grazing I could not make up the loss of even one head through the weight gain of the others and ultimately come out in the red.  So I concentrated to fence repairs and brush hog to keep the pasture workable for the next year.  It's surprising just what one year without grazing livestock will allow wild roses and other invasive plants to take over.

Wonder if the County Tax Assessor would consider these as grazing animals for my farm assessment.  It is just as well as they are eating the apples as these were never a good apple.  Probably a old farm tree that has went wild.

great pics, john..  you certainly have been busy.  My sense is that organization is very important to you..  those stacks of firewood look great!  Hopefully, you won't have to burn quite as much as you did last year!   jt

Quote from: pocono_couple on August 10, 2014, 08:41:20 PM
great pics, john..  you certainly have been busy.  My sense is that organization is very important to you..  those stacks of firewood look great!  Hopefully, you won't have to burn quite as much as you did last year!   jt

Thanks Jason. I try to be most of the time but sometimes fall short.  Hope the recent storms up the coast have left your boat unharmed.  But I doubt that you have had much time for sailing with the cabin project.  Now that school is about the start I would say for the most part your time on the water will be limited.  Still trying to cram a summer worth of work into the last remain part of the year. 

John,  thanks for asking about the boat..  in fact,  your assessment of available sailing time is right on the money..  the boat never got wet - I bought a trailer and brought it home..  hopefully, it will be safe and sound there for the next two years as  I find time and money to make some repairs / improvements in preparation for the next adventure.. not sure just when or where that will be, but trying to sail this summer would have been downright silly, and I am not holding out any hope for next summer either!   

we are actually ending up almost full time in the tiny house at this point.. it could be that way through the end of the apple season - the day before Thanksgiving is the last day for the market that Janet attends 3 days a week.. peaches are at their prime, apples are just beginning to come in, and the plums that are 8 feet from the house ( i have been watching them all summer)  are just about ready to pick..

Well yesterday was that time of the year again for the Childrens 4H/FAA County livestock sale.  My son decided that he was not going to have a pig in the market sale but rather the ham & bacon portion of his project.  My daughter did have a market hog as her project.  The hogs were purchased in the 1st part of May and weighed about 40#.  Yesterday at the weigh-in her hog registered 255#.  That is about 210# weight gain in 4 months.

She got a surprise at the livestock auction later in the evening.  The bidder and ultimate buyer of her pig was a retired NFL football player for the Bengals & Redskins. 

Here is the hogs at purchase time.



Her brother did take the morning off to help her get her pig ready.  Just a little around the ears please.



Strutting her stuff in front of the judges.



Rewards time. 2nd place. 

   John

Well sort of been spinning my wheels lately.  Waiting for an appointment with a Orthopedic Surgeon regarding my shoulder.  The MRI which the doctor wanted showed significant damage.  Scheduled appointment for the 27th.  With that being said I haven't been able to do anything above elbow height.

The generator had just turned over 500 hours of service this past week. In the fall I noticed that an error message occurred indicating "low oil pressure".  I notified the local Generac technician of it and he advised he would order a low pressure sending unit and since I was shutting the system down for the winter he would get up in the spring and install it.  Well spring came and went as well as summer and now fall and I completely forgot about it as he did as well.  Anyway to make a long story short he did install it last week after a few similar faults occurred within the last couple of weeks.  He also stated that the factory techs stated that it could also be one of two pumps within the engine.  Well it wasn't the sending unit as it faulted again.  When I called him he went ahead and ordered the pumps to install.

On the lighter side since my physical mobility is limited I figured it was time for the Semi-annual music gathering.  So Saturday about 35 people decended upon the cabin for a great evening of fellowship and entertainment.  These are really enjoyable for both young and old.  Here is a few pictures as well as a couple videos.  The videos are not that great due to the background noise of people having a good time.







Another Country Plans Member





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSpPzTcKvcA&list=UUeTi-PMcRDvERThoKSowv4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zr5mAxMt60&index=2&list=UUeTi-PMcRDvERThoKSowv4w

Best of luck with the surgery, John. And be certain to follow every syllable of the instructions you get for after surgery care; the must do's and the must Not do's.


Looks like a good time was had by all. 

great looking group, john!    sorry to hear about the need for surgery.. hope it goes well and  you get 100 % mobility back!     we were sitting in our tiny house enjoying breakfast this morning and  I looked at the cutting board that we bought when visiting you guys..  fond memories for sure!   

how is the second year of college going for your son?    best to the family,  jason

Quote from: pocono_couple on October 30, 2014, 09:19:52 AM
great looking group, john!    sorry to hear about the need for surgery.. hope it goes well and  you get 100 % mobility back!     we were sitting in our tiny house enjoying breakfast this morning and  I looked at the cutting board that we bought when visiting you guys..  fond memories for sure!   

how is the second year of college going for your son?    best to the family,  jason

Yes Jason a good group indeed.  Well surgery is scheduled for the 13th.  I put it off for a week as I had some things to get done this coming week that I didn't think the wife could accomplish.  I am hoping that the end result will be worth the effort.  As it is now I am only operating on about 40-50% and that is just from the ground to my waist. 

Sounds as if you are enjoying your little house.  Glad it fit the bill.  I guess most of the apples are about gone now.  Had one of the guest at the cabin bring me a couple bushels from Virginia.  Should last awhile.

Steven is doing good.  Getting ready for his break before too long. 

Thanks for thinking of us.

Bummer, that's why you came to mind today. I'm sorry to hear this, I missed your previous post. It sounds familiar, I was able to hang load off the bicep tendons up to my waist. I hope it goes well. The strength has been returning to mine this year, it does take awhile. I did more damage in that "getting things ready" period, take it easy. They're going to give you enough meds to lock up an elephant, just sayin'    Are you going to Salem Ortho or doing it in WV?

They did apple pressing at the farmers market last weekend, had a couple of glasses when I got home today. Supposedly snow tomorrow night... not ready for that yet!

Snow!   Too early for snow.  Though two weeks ago we had cold rain and after that Redondo to the north and plus 2000 feet high was all white. Snow or hail I guess.

Take care guys.