Chapter 135...New Log Splitter And Apple Picking

Hello everyone.  I'm so glad you stopped in.  I will be writing a story a few times a week for you to check out.  Please subscribe so you don't miss anything:)

Fall in the mountains is a wonderful time.  There is so much to do and enjoy outside.  As you know Mike and I love being outside.  So let me tell you about some of our new toys and the fun we had with them.

We finally decided to buy a log splitter.  With all the wood we have down around our property we should have enough for quite a few winters.  The hardest part is the logs being too thick to fit into the wood stove and Mike and I are just not up to using an axe for that much wood, lol.

OK...now for our new toy.  We ordered from Lowe's and picked it up using the trailer.  We bought a Troy Built Log Splitter. Our Log Splitter

Here we go:)  We have a bunch of cut logs ready to go.  This is how it works.  You put one piece of wood into the holder and keep your hands out of the way.

Then you turn on the switch and the machine starts to push the blade.  It starts to cut through the center of the log.

And it is split.  Wow that is so much easier.

Our work station up top.  I think Mike likes his new toy although I have to admit it is pretty cool.  I do have a fascination with machinery:)

Now we have to get the logs down to the wood pile in front of the house.  We also have some logs to split so Mike loads up the split logs, his new toy, and he is ready to ride:)

Using the log splitter and stacking new logs.

We spent the rest of the day and the next few days cutting and splitting wood.

Now for another one if Mike's new toys.  He loves to use the binoculars to find the wild animals on our property.  The ones we had weren't very strong so we researched them online to find a better pair for him.  I think this should do it, lol.  They are made by Celestial.

We have also had a lot of fun apple picking.  We have about 100 apple trees on our property growing wild.  That is one good thing about the cows.  They eat the apples, digest them and bam...new seeds and a new tree if it doesn't get crushed before it grows to maturity:)  

We have had a great time with my stepdaughter and the grandkids picking apples.  Apple picking in the mountains is not like apple picking in a nice flat field.  If they fall out of the tree, the apples will roll, and roll, and roll down the mountain.   Ugh!!!

Here is Mike using the apple picker  to grab some high apples while my stepdaughter and her daughter hand pick the closer ones.  An apple picker, aka fruit picker, is a head with small claws and a small basket attached to a pole.  You reach up into the tree with the pole. use the claws to grab the fruit and pull until it falls into the padded basket.  Fruit Picker Head

The next weekend our grandson joined us for the fun.  We now have a new game.  One person uses the apple picker to knock apples out of the tree and the rest of us play catcher:)

Both my stepdaughter and I got enough apples to make a bunch of apple butter, applesauce, and apple pie filling.  Today I am still using the canned apples from last Fall.  The first batch I had to borrow my stepdaughter's apple peeler.  After that I decided to buy my own.  We will have so many apples each year that it seemed worthwhile.  I got mine from the local Farm Supply but my stepdaughter has this one.  Apple Peeler .  Let me tell you, if you have a lot of apples to peel get one of these.  It makes life so much easier. 

After we picked apples, Mike took our granddaughter for a ride on the tractor.  Then he dropped her off next to us and he got a fire started on our fire pile.

He sure does like to play with the fire piles and his tractor:)

The kids and I walked back up and around the back of the house.  What a beautiful day.

After two weekends of apple picking my stepdaughter had enough apples but I didn't want to waste any so one morning I grabbed my bucket and apple picker and started down the hill.  I spotted a tree from the side of the driveway and it looked like it had some good apples.  It was an easy tree to get to so that was a nice break.  I was able to get a 5 gallon bucket full of apples.  Ugh...now it's time for the trek back "up" to the house.  On my way back up through the property I came across the bull.  Uh oh.  He saw the bucket in my hand and thought it was feed.  Not good.  I had to keep throwing apples at him until I made to our gate.  I guess I should be thankful I had food in the bucket, lol.

A few days after that Mike and I took a walk in the woods.  We like doing that.

And guess who we ran into, lol.

We have some really big trees down.  Now we just have to figure out how to get them closer to the house.  Our land is very steep in a lot of areas.  It's hard enough just to walk it.  I can't even think about pulling trees and then getting logs out.

Walked the border of our property that day.  It was sad to see our border line had no new tree growth but our bordering neighbors all have new trees growing.  The difference is they don't have any cows on their land so the new trees have a chance to grow.

And coming back around the front of the house.  Ah...home sweet home:)

After that I noticed Niki hurt herself.  Her back legs would collapse on her and I was very worried.  I took her to our Vet and he told me she had a herniated disc.  He said we have two choices.  One try bed rest and let her move as little as possible or take her to a specialist and she could have surgery.  Mike and I opted for bed rest and we would see how she progresses. 

I bought her a new bed that is made of a foam like egg crate.  It is supposed to be supportive for her body.  I think she likes it:)

Well that pretty much wrapped up our Fall.  After that we went to Florida for a few months and as you know, we are now back and ready to work.  

I hope you all enjoyed this story and I will post again on Saturday about our coming home fiasco.  Then each Monday I will write about our working adventures in the Mike and Lisa World.


Have a wonderful day:)

Chapter 127...Springtime Landscaping

Off Grid...Chapter 127 This is the "clean up" year. It's time to pull our place together and that means doing some landscaping. We reserved the first batch of Leyland Cypress that came into Lowe's. We have tried many local trees from local growers up here and have lost most of them. The Leyland Cypress from Lowe's that we planted a few years ago on our last property are doing fantastic so we decided to change out our problem trees here and use them again March has been an incredibly warm month so we are getting a head start. I prepped my garden and cleaned it up. Now I just have to wait a bit longer to plant seeds. We bought fifteen 5-6 foot Leyland Cypress. They really are pretty evergreens but they get huge. We will have to keep them trimmed down. Mike starts working at the back of the house. We originally planted Hollies and two things happened. 1. The deer used them to bed down in the winter and squashed them and 2. They don't grow fast enough for us We are going to take out the hollies and move them to the side of the house and we will also find a new home for the small arborvitae. Mike digging out the old arborvitae. Next he digs out a Holly and boy are they stubborn. Two of the new Leyland Cypress are in and cut down. Mike wants them to grow into a hedge on the back of the house. Two of the hollies are moved to the side of the house. Eventually we will build a set of steps and a tiered garden on this side The back of the house is done and 6 trees are in. And all six hollies got moved. Another day, Mike and I start to work on the small garden on the side of his building. This is going to be a bear for us. It is not good dirt here. This will be our hardest area to dig...but we are determined We start to dig the holes for 4 new plants over here. The first one wasn't too bad. The others we had to use the electric chisel to help chisel and break the rock. It was a very slow and hard job to do. We also dug the holes much bigger than the trees and added new dirt with compost mixed in. Mike using the chisel to chop up the rock. And finally the trees are in by Mike's building Next on the agenda: Take out the old arborvitae that got eaten by the deer in front of the house. We have a total of 8 of these. We will replant them somewhere else. Starting to take out the arborvitae. Mike using the saws all to cut the roots. On the front left side of the house we are going to have our "close" stack of firewood. Mike digs out a level spot for the 4x4's. Working on the other side and digging out the old trees. Mike and I both take turns digging and then dumping the buckets of dirt onto the side hills of the house. Planting the Leylands on the right side. We found a new spot for six of the arborvitae. We decided to put them on the outside of Mike's building where it would be nice if they grow but won't be devastating if they get eaten.:roll eyes: Starting to plant the arborvitae. And they are in. Then we moved the wood off the patio and onto the new smaller set up. The patio is finally clean again. And the new trees to the right of the house. Yay...all the new trees are planted. Mike had 4 more small trees to plant and he put them along the back fence line. Now it's time to get some good grass to grow. We have to work on the back hill again. It gets a little better each year but with the cows trampling it, it never takes off. So we have to seed and hay it. Mike throws the seed out while I spread the hay around. Hopefully we all get some more grass in this year. Each year we also add some dirt to the angled walls by the house. They sink a little each year. I think we may be finished this year. We added dirt, put some grass seed down, and covered it with hay. The left side. And the right side. Next it's time to start working on the back yard. We have one area that we abuse by driving over it with the tractor, trailers, Jeep and 4-wheeler. We need to stay off it after we fix it. First I rake up all of the dead debris. Once I get rid of that, Mike spreads some new topsoil. Then we see and hay it. Lastly Mike waters it. Whew I will be happy if I don't see another shovel for at least another month, lol. Rocks for the gardens: That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this week's changes. Next I will start the building the shed stories. Lisa