!!!!!!!!!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

Impressive cordwood wall! Can't wait to see Black Sparks kittens, you and Trace will have the fun of naming them

Mike Haasl wrote:I have an idea.  Might not be a good idea...  Use the water from the well to blast/wash/muddify the trench and then scoop the muddy rocky stuff out with buckets.  Or suck it out with a shop vac.  This is probably a bad idea.  You've been warned

I follow a tree doctor here in Texas and they use a pressure washer to remove dirt from the root flares of giant trees. I would wear eye protection as the velocity of some of that debris is wicked fast..stings, too.

That's how they excavate to find underground wires and fiber lines before doing trenches or boring in my area.  First they flag the lines, then come around with a pressure washer and vacuum truck to verify the lines are in the right place at important spots.  It's neat to watch them erode? a 2' square hole 6' deep without damaging the cable line.

BRK #546

Paul received word that people have been finding morels in the Missoula area, so we decided to conduct our own hunt first thing in the morning.

In terms of mushrooms, it turned out to be a total bust for us. However, I did end up with several cool photographs, plus this GIF of a massive ant hill we found:



We visited the area south of Dances With Pigs Meadow, seeking morels in the areas affected by wildfires.



We neared some National Forest land, where the Forest Service had conducted some "prescribed burns" and other forestry tactics in an effort to prevent the spread of wildfires in the past.



The morning was somewhat cool, though it's impossible to deny that Spring has sprung. Everything is growing and showcasing a vibrant green hue.



In one of the marshy areas, I found someone's favourite tree. Must have been delectable.



At the close of the Boot day, we opened a package and it turned out to be more blueberry bushes...! Trace and I will prep soil for these at Basecamp, and then drop these in the soil.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #547

It was rainy for most of today's Boot tasks. Trace and I were still out in it, and while it was undeniably draining we actually enjoyed the change in the weather. At least we didn't have to do much irrigation today.

Instead, we set out to repair this junk pole fence that had somehow fallen. I snapped this photo yesterday, as our "before" evidence. Again, another example of a fence with a central horizontal support held up by screws, that inevitably snap under the strain. It looked like a grizzly had just walked up and kicked it over, from the outside in.



Our first step was to remove all the vertical slats and clear them out of the way so we could add in the new horizontal support.



We then inspected the old horizontal support. It had notches already cut into it, but we skipped those and added two new ones with a chainsaw for a better fit on the exterior. With judicious use of the air-powered nailgun we re-attached the horizontal support, but on the outside of the fence. We were then able to weave the vertical supports back into the fence panel, with two supports on one side, and that newly-secured support on the outside.

We kept the old vertical supports there because, eh, they weren't hurting anything.



Another project on the side: I'm trying to think of ways to securely fasten a wooden crate to the back of the ebikes. These bunjie cords are "good enough," but the process is finicky and takes up too much time for my liking. The bikes have rear wheel racks, pre-drilled with holes perfect for bolts and some metal bracketing. It's just a matter of taking the time to think on a decent design, and then hop to it.



That's all for now. It's Friday night and time to watch some terrible '70s horror movie. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!