So much for the "no garden" plan

[Clipper]

Do what I do BHU. Buy a roll of the orange mesh construction barrier. Cut it down to 2 foot high with a scissors and make a fence around your garden using the fence and wooden tomato stakes or metal posts. I use the cheap metal fence posts from Lowes for the 4 corners, wooden tomato stakes in between and tie it to the posts with nylon wire ties from harbor Freight. I have done it for the past 4 yrs and have never had a critter in the garden since. It is relatively inexpensive and at the end of the season you cut the wire ties with a pair of wire cutters, roll up the orange mesh and store it until the next year.

I had a woodchuck under the old store building up in back when we first moved here. Fortunately there was no other house to the one side so I carefully aimed a 22 rifle from up the hill so I was shooting down at it with the ground for a backstop. Put the offender in a trash sack and put it in the garbage can. Problem eliminated.

[Clipper]

BHU, orange construction barrier fence at Lowes:

www.lowes.com/pd/BOEN-4x100-ft-Orange-Snow-Fence/1001765376

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Good idea Clipper! Could that fence also be electrified. Zap that critter.

[BHU]

Jun 5, 2022 16:33:58 GMT -5 Clipper said:

Do what I do BHU. Buy a roll of the orange mesh construction barrier. Cut it down to 2 foot high with a scissors and make a fence around your garden using the fence and wooden tomato stakes or metal posts. I use the cheap metal fence posts from Lowes for the 4 corners, wooden tomato stakes in between and tie it to the posts with nylon wire ties from harbor Freight. I have done it for the past 4 yrs and have never had a critter in the garden since. It is relatively inexpensive and at the end of the season you cut the wire ties with a pair of wire cutters, roll up the orange mesh and store it until the next year.

I had a woodchuck under the old store building up in back when we first moved here. Fortunately there was no other house to the one side so I carefully aimed a 22 rifle from up the hill so I was shooting down at it with the ground for a backstop. Put the offender in a trash sack and put it in the garbage can. Problem eliminated.

Thank Clipper, I'll look into that or the Have A Heart. 

Today, I spent 3 hours digging up & cutting out with a chainsaw a tree stump in out backyard from the apple tree that I had to cut down last summer that gave up the ghost. Got tired of mowing around it. Only ruined one chainsaw blade that hit the dirt. Tomorrow I'll head to Lowes for a few bags of topsoil to level off the hole & plant some seed.

Whew!

[Clipper]

Do you sharpen your own chains? I bought an electric sharpener a couple years ago from Harbor Freight. It was only about 30 bucks well worth the investment. With the exception of the tall pines along the property line all the trees we have are hardwoods. VERY hard wood in many cases. We have Oak, Walnut, Maple, Ash and dogwood and they all dull the hell out of a chain in no time. Why the hell the previous owners planted so many trees and so many varieties is beyond me.

The dirt is harder on the bar than it is on the chain. It will wear out a bar in no time. I always take the bar off and blow the groove out with air after I use it, and touch up the chain with a round file between actual sharpenings with the machine. I just paid abut $25 to replace one of my chains. I was cutting out some roots that I had dug around and I hit a stone. Ouch. No fixing THAT chain.

[BHU]

I had an extra chain so I just changed it out. That apple stump was still hard as a stone & did a job on that chain. I have a plum tree that I may have to take down this fall unless a storm takes it out, it's in pretty rough shape & has a lousy 5 plums on it. I'll probably need another chain.

I should look into that tool at HF.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

I love dogwood trees. We had two beautiful ones that bloomed so nicely on each side of the entrance to the Novitiate in Eureka, Missouri. The year I was there while in formation I had the privilege of caring for them and keeping that area clear of weeds etc. I loved that except when late spring and summer came around and the temps hit at 100 degrees by time I got down to that area since I was also the cook for the Brothers at the house. Oh it was fantastic.

Here is the current Superior General




Here is Brother Stanislaus one of the founders from Poland back in 1927 onwards.




Here is the shrine built by him and was found dead there right after his project came to an end.


You would never believe the huge numbers of people who came from all over the midwest to visit and pray there. Was something else. Check the place out: www.romeofthewest.com/2005/10/photos-of-black-madonna-shrine.html

It is a shame the community went from 60 guys down to I think 8 and now 3 so the place is closed down. I am pretty sure that the rest of the Brothers were absorbed into another religious community with the same mission which I think may be the Alexian Brothers. since in no way could they continue to operate as a religious community.

This is interesting: thelastonehome.blog/tag/st-joseph-hill-infirmary/

Especially this were many of my former friends are buried. www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2436985/saint-joseph's-hill-infirmary-cemetery/photo

[Clipper]

Jun 6, 2022 15:45:32 GMT -5 BHU said:

I had an extra chain so I just changed it out. That apple stump was still hard as a stone & did a job on that chain. I have a plum tree that I may have to take down this fall unless a storm takes it out, it's in pretty rough shape & has a lousy 5 plums on it. I'll probably need another chain.

I should look into that tool at HF.

It is easy to use once you get used to it. You just have to take the time to read the instructions well. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to cut wood with a dull chainsaw and it can be dangerous too.

[BHU]

News from the Northeast. Caught the groundhog in the Have A Heart a little while ago. I went to close the trap for the nite so I wouldn't be greeted by a skunk in the morning. Lol. And there he was. Used cut up cantaloupe to bait him. I put the trap in the truck & brought him a couple miles from here to a wooded spot in Marcy & let him go. Problem solved.

[Clipper]

Congrats! Glad you got him. Talk about have a heart traps and skunks. When my exwife and I had a trailer at trails end before we bought the house on Kayuta lake there was a skunk problem because the adjacent campground folks would leave their garbage and food scraps out at night. Our dog got sprayed twice. The guy across the road trapped 8 or 10 with a have a heart trap and relocated them to state land. He would walk slowly up to the trap with a blanket in front of him so the skunk couldn't see him, put the blanket over the trap and take them away. He actually had a very nice conversion van and he put them in the back of his van. Braver man that I was, haha. When we had the house on Kayuta skunks were not a problem. Deer ate our plants and bears got in the garbage cans until I built as wooden enclosure that kept them from getting to the cans. I couldn't find a have a heart trap big enough for a black bear sow, haha.

[BHU]

I caught a skunk in our backyard in the Heart trap a few years ago. Covered the trap with an old quilt & let him go down near the canal in Marcy.

[Clipper]

Sorry but I don't want anything to do with the odiferous little buggers. We have a commercial "critter gitter" service here that specializes in removing unwanted critters. He was in the neighborhood for a while last summer when coyotes were getting too close to resident's homes and had killed someone's pet cat. The trapper was around for a week or so and rumor has it that he trapped and removed 2 or 3 animals. Coyotes are considered varmints here and you can shoot them without a license, but they tend to hunt at night so no one was able to get a shot at them.