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Swamp Yankee, missing your posts!!! How are things?
Busy...got a new dog, took on some added responsibility at work, haven't had much time to post or take pictures. Glad you like the thread-hopefully will have some things to share once spring has sprung.
Busy...got a new dog, took on some added responsibility at work, haven't had much time to post or take pictures. Glad you like the thread-hopefully will have some things to share once spring has sprung.
Well things took quite a turn since my last post didn't they? Today was day one of isolation-it was actually the first Saturday in a long time where we never left the property once. Rec sports are cancelled, no birthday parties, no trips to the store, etc...
Cleared a bunch of brush today-that wall was part of an old chicken house that I have pictures of. The cherry tree fell during our first winter here and I just lopped it off at the fence line. Anyway, it's been pretty nice-just the woman and the kids and the dogs and me... (extra points if you get the reference ) Not looking forward to going back into the suck on Monday. Hunterdon County schools are closed until the end of April so my wife (she's a teacher in Hunterdon) and my girls won't be stepping foot off of the farm for anything. I'll be working, doing all of the errands, and doing the best I can to make sure that I don't bring this wonderful gift from China home.
I had to drive to those places, but at least they were there. There's nothing better than Friendship bogs on a Wednesday early evening in the spring. There are Pine Barrens tree frogs down there - and fence lizards!
Finished my log splitter project-it needed a new engine so I pulled one off of a snowblower that I never really used. In doing so I upgraded from 5HP to 8HP which makes a big difference when splitting very dense, tightly grained woods like oak and hickory. The engine is laid out pretty well with the oil drain in the correct place, etc...It also has electric start with pull cord backup which is nice and a very large fuel tank:
Did a little practice with the 12 gauge with my oldest daughter out back on our old bathroom door-every door in our house was a solid pine six panel except for the downstairs bathroom which had this ugly lauan hollow core door. I finally replaced it a little while ago and hadn't taken it to the dump yet-it came in handy today:
Hard to believe that a month and half later we're still in the throes of this COVID-19 crap, but we've been making the best of it. My wife is working exclusively from home and I'm about half and half. Online school is rough-my girls miss their teachers, their friends and their routines. Life on the farm goes on...spent some time in the saw shop last Sunday morning and then ordered a bunch of parts that were supposed to arrive today but didn't
This weekend we had our first "family outing" in quite some time and stopped at Sky Manor Airport in Alexandria to get some 100LL aviation fuel for the chainsaws. 100LL is ethanol free 100 octane gasoline-ethanol free gasoline is no longer able to be purchased from regular gas stations in New Jersey. The only source is airports and some marinas. Ethanol wreaks havoc on 2 stroke engines, especially older ones by eating all of the rubber components such as gaskets, fuel lines, etc... Usually on a trip to Sky Manor we'll stop into the Sky Cafe, but not this time of course. We just watched a few planes take off:
We decided to head home by way of Clinton and had ice cream for lunch-it was weird to see Main Street so deserted on what was probably the nicest day of 2020 yet:
After we got home I ran down the lane to my neighbor's as I had filled a can for him at Sky Manor and found this in the road:
The bears are enjoying the spring weather as well apparently. We cooked out for the first time this year and enjoyed a socially distant evening at the fire pit:
You have more tools and a larger fire pit than I do. Damn.
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) Not looking forward to going back into the suck on Monday. Hunterdon County schools are closed until the end of April so my wife (she's a teacher in Hunterdon) and my girls won't be stepping foot off of the farm for anything. I'll be working, doing all of the errands, and doing the best I can to make sure that I don't bring this wonderful gift from China home. 
