Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[Lee192233]

That is the first Ash tree on our property that I have seen like this. I have taken down a lot of them that are dead or dying. Last January I dropped 24 dead ones in a 100 yard square area. None of them had any bark damage like this. If that it EAB it must have been extremely covered with larvae. This tree was in full bloom this Summer. I didn't see any D holes in it.

That's the way all our ash trees looked here last year. This year most of the outer layers of bark are off. Ours went from being mostly alive 4 years ago to all dead now.

 

[chipper1]

That's the way all our ash trees looked here last year. This year most of the outer layers of bark are off. Ours went from being mostly alive 4 years ago to all dead now.

They get very dangerous too. When falling them the tops will break and fall backwards towards the faller . Also, the dead limbs will catch on live tree branches when they are dalliance get flung right to the base of the tree . The branches can also break out when pounding them over with wedges.
It's crazy how solid some portions of the stem and branches will be, then others are complete mush. It's hard to believe so many are still standing in the river valley here as the EAB has been around these parts for a long time now, and these trees have been dead for 7-8yrs already.
I'll just say to anyone who's still or just starting to cut EAB kill, be very careful as they are not your typical dead standing tree.

 

[chipper1]

Wouldn't notice that at the grocery store. Today was my day off for veterans day, wife had off too, so we did our normal Saturday running around today. $482.57 at Walmart. This did include oil and filters for the truck, her car and the expedition. That was close to $100.00 by its self. The rest was groceries.
Dog food is still up there too. I can't wait till zade is over a year old and can eat the same food at zeke and ziva. $69.99 for a 47lb of puppy food. Just nuts.
Good news, I scored 2 full boxes of vented soffit for $2.00 per piece and 10 pieces of u channel for the same price. Grabbed a few electrical boxes and misc 90* conduit pieces, ta's and connectors for $5.00.

I managed to spend 65 filling the minivan last night . Most the prices on fuel were down last week after the election, but they've all gone back up a bit this week, I'm hopeful though.
Many of the ads I get for bulk ammo have sales pricing, while before the election they were steadily climbing, which is pretty normal right before an election. Hope to get stocked deep this summer if prices come down, but I've heard a couple manufacturers are having supply issues as you had spoken about earlier. Most companies are gearing up to buy outside of Chyna, which I'm happy about, even if the prices go up. We really need to pay more to see the real cost of inflation in this country, which we will be doing with regards to many products under the Trump administration. Just hoping we can get back to producing products here in the US again and get out of dependency on things being globally sourced.
Speaking of trump/biden, did you guys see they met at the Whitehouse? Check out that fire .

 

[chipper1]

In other news, I see @Cowboy254 is getting ready for his next MMA match. Look, he's going for an arm bar after the takedown .

 

[SS396driver]

Always out of season they were on my lawn and scattered just before I hit the driveway

View attachment IMG_9390.movView attachment IMG_9389.mov

 

[chipper1]

Always out of season they were on my lawn and scattered just before I hit the driveway

View attachment 1219834View attachment 1219835

I figured you had a license to carry .

 

[xraydaniel]

Thanks, it takes a lot of upkeep also.

Yesterday afternoon I was out picking up rounds from my January cutting spree and dumping them in my future splitting pile. I love this dumping attachment. I wish that I had gotten one of these many years ago. Problem is I didn't know they even existed.

I found this Ash tree that looks like bears have used it as a training post for climbing. I still have quite a few live Ash trees. This one is the only one that I saw with this kind of bark damage. The tree is not dead.

Same as @farmer steve said Jim. EAB is such a killer. I have a small handful of Ash deep within my forest that are still thriving and I expect them to hold out for some time but if I ever do some more clearing back there the beetles will find em.

 

[SS396driver]

Neversink reservoir is real low
Stopped for a quick picture

 

[Haywire]

Neversink reservoir is real low

Quite contrary to its name.

 

[sean donato]

Today's progress... wall frame is nearly complete. The rat channel is coming off once I get the rest of the carriage bolts in place. Some dumb bunny (me) can't count and I'm 3 short. So I'll have to take a trip into town tomorrow and get some more. I think I'll be able to hang a heck of a shelf off it once it's done... 2"x3" white pine boards.

 

[SS396driver]

Quite contrary to its name.

The town of Neversink is at the bottom of the reservoir

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I managed to go to my hunting spot for a few hours today,

My 90 year old firearm is still putting meat in my freezer!

SR

 

[GrizG]

I managed to get out deer hunting for a couple hours at the end of the day today, opening day for rifle. My aunt is up from FL to close on a house... her FL house is a total loss and will most likely be bulldozed... the property is worth quite a bit. She stayed with mom for the afternoon which let me slip into the woods for a bit...

I also managed to not come home empty handed. I spotted the tip of the antler sticking up out of the leaf litter... I was surprised the squirrels, chipmunks, voles, and other critters hadn't gnawed on it!

 

[JimR]

The ash tree is from EAB Jim. Pretty sure the result of birds working it to get the larvae. Have seen many like that here. Unfortunately on it's way out.

I think you are right about the birds eating EAB larvae. I found two more trees with similar bark damage but not as extensive as this. Yesterday I was bucking up some other Ash logs with no bark damage. The bark was falling off. Underneath the bark there were plenty of EAB. I killed every one of them as I peeled the bark off. I think that I have at least 50 more Ash trees to remove just in one area. I found this new scrape in my current working area and right across the street from my house.

 

[gggGary]

Got a bit of quality time on the 462 at Burnsville NC this week.
removed some plantation pine to allow skidsteers in to remove silt


and bucked and noodled about 20' of a 24" Oak that fell on the house to home owner's splitting maul size.
Gonna take me a week to recover from a week of mud outs and like labor.
Water was halfway up the upstairs windows of this home

Gutted to the studs, all the oar floors out now, it's ready to start rebuilding.

There were about 20 of us stripping and hauling out material, basement too.

Some of what we hauled out of this house.

IT went FAST! 87 year old lady lost a life time of possessions. House was full when we started. Two days we had it empty and stripped clean.
Anyone looking for an easy Mustang Project? This and two other cars were in the barn

Hundreds of miles of the same story endlessly repeated. SP will be there til end of the year.

Then will go back for rebuilds.