Lighting the stove

A couple of cold fronts moved in over Kentucky this week breaking a prolonged spell of way above average temperatures. It sure felt good to feel cool air again. Now it feels more like Autumn, just as it should be around here.

With the lower temps it was time to fire up the old kitchen wood stove. I had started a fire in it a week ago just to make sure everything worked right and that there wasn't anything stuck in the flue like a bird's nest or leaves. I have plenty of dry wood to get the fire started and it started rather easily. After getting a base of hot coals going I found it easy to keep the fire going.

The now familiar sounds of a hot stove and the smell of wood burning fill the house. I find it hard not to hang around the stove and watch and listen to the hiss, pop and crumbling wood in the fire box. I have found I am not the only one who likes to be close to the stove the big yellow lab took over the hearth rug in front of the stove and stuck her nose right under the stove, another satisfied customer.

The big kettle is steaming away and the water tank is hissing a steady tune. It seems like we are a wood fired steam engine powered house now. In a way it is like the house has come alive, the house makes sounds and has movement, there is feeling that something is going on and there is were are staying warm and ready to cook.

The wood yard is still messy but time and energy will cure that and by spring most of the wood will have been burnt in the stoves and we will be stacking wood again for the next winter.

The carpenters were back and they got two windows in upstairs and a storm door hung. This house isn't square or plumb so they had a good time getting the manufactured stuff to fit right. I have more windows on order and another storm door to they have to hang for me. I can do a lot of stuff but doors and windows are a real pain in the pah-toot so I let them with the tools and experience handle the job.

Time's a waste'n here got to get something done like chores and errands, talk with ya'll later.

Bush Hogging

I now have my own tractor with a front loader, however I don't have a bush hog (bush mower) for my tractor yet. I went over to a neighbor's and borrowed his bush hog. This was my first time on the road with the tractor and it was a beautiful morning crisp and sunny. As I rode along on my tractor I found out what it is like to maneuver over the road and get passed by cars and trucks, some folks pass a little to close if you ask me. If folks pass to close and tangle with a tractor it could be serious those big wheels can tear up a car.

After visiting with my neighbor and of course trading gossip and stories drinking coffee, eating another breakfast and analyzing what is wrong with the government we went to his shop. He tried hooking up an older style mower and it wouldn't clear the ground enough to take on the road, so he lent me his regular bush hog. After it was hooked up he noted that it needed a sway bar and proceeded to cut and weld one together, in less than a half hour he had a nice tailored sway bar for the tractor.

So I took the hog and tractor back to my place and ended up mowing the fields for the rest of the afternoon. Gosh those tractors and mowers are loud and after five hours on the tractor your butt is tired your legs weak and you don't hear so good, maybe I need a new muffler for the tractor or ear plugs. I continued to mow the following day, now I am learning a lot more about the lay of the land on the farm and it is lumpy and there are hazards.

I got to close to what I thought was a dry creek and found out it wasn't so dry and it was deep. The tractor and I were at an angle I didn't care for and it had stalled out. I get the tractor started again stopped the mower lifted the mower deck put it in low range and reverse. The tractor backed out of the creek as pretty as you please, thank goodness :) I figured I had better be a little more cautious for the rest of the day so I stayed away from the creek and pond this time around. I also hogged the garden area the weeds had gone wild there and now they are no more. I had a good day and the fields look much better I'll post pictures later.