Getting it done, Beat up by the swamp
Saturday morning I hit the chores hard. I was up without an alarm early and was out cleaning the chicken coop before the sun came up. I was quite chilly doing so as the temp was in the upper 40s when I started. After weeding the property I dove straight into weed whacking. For a break I took Sadie and Elsa with me to run errands and then upon returning I mowed the property.
Although that would be enough to do’s for many I had more in plan. I attached some more hardware cloth to the coop, this time over the rear window to give rodents another unchewable barrier to contend with. I then headed for the back corner of the chicken fence with my newly purchased fence tool in place. I don’t know how I installed over 1000 feet of fencing without having this tool. It makes fence staple removal a breeze as well as being able to hammer new staples in place. I had to pull put at least 30 staples to release the one corner of fence. I am doing this so it can be pulled back to allow my sod guy to get in there with his his skid loader to spread fill and place sod. I’m hoping that work happens in the next couple weeks.
One of the things I bought at Home Depot was a new ceiling fan for our bedroom. The pull chain for the light on our old one had broken and it was around 15 years old. The unit I replaced it with was nice with a silent motor, LED light and a remote control. However much like the newer fan I installed in the great room a couple years ago, getting all of the wiring and remote control module shoved inside is really a chore. The end result was a nice upgrade.
Just because I hadn’t done enough tasks for one day, Saturday night for fun I built a new shelf unit to go in the big shed to replace the old cabinet that had been destroyed by rodents.
Sunday I worked on emptying and pulling out the old cabinet in the large shed. It was filled with old junk and chewed up plastic from the rodents. After pulling everything out I hosed out the inside and drug the box down to the curb, hoping somebody would take it, just like the old ceiling fan. We had no takers meaning the cabinet might have to get hauled to the recycling center.
We ran over to Katie’s place for a bit, she had I asked if I could do an aerial video of their property. I charged up the drone and we went over there. It was maybe my third time flying in the last year. The drone incident in Yellowstone totally killed my interest in the hobby. I cut together the footage to keep it short. It is always cool seeing something from a different perspective.
Mid-afternoon I headed out for an EUC adventure. I wanted to take my 16X to the swamp. When I last tried to ride the swamp last year I turned around after a couple miles because it was so overgrown. I was hoping things had improved since then. As I approached the parking lot I saw about 10 vehicles parked alongside the road, I never had seen this happen before, I guess the swamp is gaining in popularity.
Once I got onto the trail I was amazed at the difference. It looked like they came in with some dirt and compacted the surface, it was like night and day compared to how the conditions were last time. The path was so much better that I decided to try to ride the entire 13 mile loop, a decision I regretted later. The deeper parts of the trail were tougher, my lower back and body were beat to hell by the end of it. I did see about a half dozen gators, including two very large ones at the water’s edge. It was cool to complete the ride but if you watch the video you will see I won’t be back to repeat the feat any time soon.
I was up until around 11 editing the video, sheesh.