Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #55,721  
Poured first cup of coffee. 50° with clear skies this morning. Heading to 76° with sunny skies. Got all my projects completed yesterday. Plan to rest on patio today.
Kyle, great fish picture.
Good Morning All.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,722  
Burning poison ivy is very dangerous. (just in case you didn't know)

Yes, Kyle, thank you for that.

The majority of the poison ivy is still attached to the silo. There are some more plants climbing up closer to the barn that are not in the pictures. All have been cut and sprayed. The plants that I managed to find by hand, that were climbing trees and honeysuckle were removed and placed down by my wood line. I can monitor their demise, safely. I have managed to avoid, thank the lord, thus far, getting any on me, except for a spot on my upper forearm. Odd, since I was wearing gloves and long sleeves. The clothes got through washings after each work day was complete. The boots, not so much. The SO and myself are still debating on what to do with those plants still attached to the silo. Since they are large, I may let them dry and pull them in a year or so.

I love your barn, it looks huge. Was it a horse barn?

Thanks!
The place was a working dairy farm up until about 1970. The pic is the old dairy barn. It took a lot of labor to gut the old dairy equipment out of it. It now has horse stalls, a grain room, a tack room and an office in it. The barn has two stories, the ground level ceiling is about 12 foot, and the hay loft, well its got to be close to 24-30' at its peak. The original hay hook still hangs up there and is of good working order. I practice swinging on it when the mood strikes. Just these past few months I have returned my attention to the outbuildings, the barn included. Unfortunate the horse barn was a victim of arson in the early seventies, and it had the same look as the dairy barn. We are fortunate enough to have pictures of the farm when it was in working condition. It looked magnificent and my goal is to get it at least recovered so that its best days are towards the future.

As another side note, the milk house had the original milk vat in it a few months ago. I had the vat, stainless steel, advertised, it is in crazy good condition, forget the year, circa 1920's. I moved it out, over a two day period and stuck it in the corner of the dairy barn. I have thoughts about home-brewing, so scrap metal is not in the plans. I have "reclaimed" the milk house, removed lead pipes, motors, sinks, non-working electric, and patched the concrete walls running new electric in the process. A quick paint job was done, and new windows are on order. I will claim it as my man-cave and already have moved tools into part of it.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,723  
Good morning! 66˚ foggy. I finished cutting all the limbs overhanging on the drive so a firetruck won't have to dodge overhead branches. Ron could probably make it up the drive now!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,724  
Good morning! 66˚ foggy. I finished cutting all the limbs overhanging on the drive so a firetruck won't have to dodge overhead branches. Ron could probably make it up the drive now!

12'+ clearance. Plastic stuff on a motorhome do not like tree limbs. Needs 12' wide also. Your projects are never done.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,725  
Riptide, your barn and silo bring back old memories. I spent a couple summers working on a dairy farm in the 50's. Got to reminisce with the kids of family that owned farm during my mother time in nursing home.
Does the silo have a entrance that you can get inside threw.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,726  
46°F and cloudy this morning, clearing and going up to 61° today. Mid-60s the next two days, then cooling and snow possible for the weekend.

Severe weather missed us overnight, but we did get a little much-needed rain.

Everything continues to go south on the kitchen install. I'm waiting this morning on a callback from the Lowe's installation manager. Already spoke to the store manager. Wife texted me that the installer is on the phone this morning, too, and that he has a regional manager coming out tomorrow morning.

Once this nightmare is finally over, I'll relate all the details in one story.
... and we are definitely ready for it to be over.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,727  
22° yesterday morning, 55° this morning, good old March. Buppies, I hope that snow stays in Canada! I'm ready for spring!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,728  
I knew some guys that inherited a small, run down farm about 25 years ago. The boys could have passed for Larry, Darrell and Darrell. They cleaned up around the buildings and piled up the vines and burned them, of course they were poison ivy. They were wearing gloves and long sleeves so they didn't get much direct contact, but two of the three ended up in the hospital. Lesions in their eyes, noses, mouths, trachea and esophagus. They were fortunate that their lungs weren't affected.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,729  
Good Morning! 43F @ 7:30AM. Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 52F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

Poison oak is also nasty to burn, but the brush piles already on this lot when I bought it were shot through with it. I just picked days where a light wind was blowing toward uninhabited land and fired 'em off, being sure to stay well clear of the smoke. And yes, there's a county ordinance against burning PO. Call me a scofflaw!

I've picked up PO from boots, the tractor, hand tools, and leather gloves I've worn while working the wood pile, and of course when removing the stuff. I've found that the oil isn't as tenacious on first contact, and even a rinse with plain water will take it off. Wait a while and it not only sinks in, it also spreads. So now my habit is to just come in, throw the contaminated clothes directly into the washer, and jump into the shower for a cool water scrub down. Good excuse to put the rest of the job off for another day.:laughing:

Which reminds me, all the little stems of PO are poking up and standing bright red and proud, just begging for a dose of Brush-Be-Gone. Time to mount up the sprayer on the Kubota side-by-side and go huntin'!

The other thing with contractors and service people is that it takes a special person to have good craft skills and also good communication skills. Such a person can probably make far more money entering a professional field, and with all the focus on college in our primary schools, there's a shortage of craft people now. So just by there not being enough of them, even the awful ones can stay in business because someone will hire them, not having much of a choice.

Starting to shop for an RV refrigerator and propane heater. Lots of choices out there, and easy to spend more than one would cost for a house!:eek:

Mostly, I just use the little adapter that screws onto the Presta valve when I fill bicycle tires from a compressor. But usually I use a double stroke bicycle pump that's made for the job, as it's more convenient than standing around waiting for the compressor to pressurize.

Drew, do you think the rise in health issues and obesity coincides with a drop in home cooking? One stroll through a grocery store will show that the majority of the isles are now stuffed with prepared foods, most of which are full of salt, fat, and sugar because that's what tastes good and that's what people will favor. I'm amazed at the carts piled high with boxes of the stuff in the checkout lines in front of me. When I look in my own cart I just see fresh veggies, slabs of meat, and maybe a couple cans of soup!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #55,730  
Starting to shop for an RV refrigerator and propane heater. Lots of choices out there, and easy to spend more than one would cost for a house!:eek:
Good luck with your search. Nothing cheap about RV fridges. No matter what size you need. Probably nothing close to you. But some places around Bend, Oregon. I will be stopping in Elkhart, IN on my way home next month. Can look around some of the surplus places for you.
 

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