My Lawn and the Errrr..Ummmm turn around!

Thursday night is supposed to be Thirsty Thursday and all that jazz but it is also garbage night.  The weekly task of hauling the dumpster to the edge of the road where it waits for the inevitable trip to the dump.  The garbage not the dumpster.  Now that we live in a new house and a new area our pick up day is not the same as the old house.  We used to be a Monday pick up.  The G-man at the old house didn't show up till 7:30 in the morning.  The new G-man prefers a bit earlier.....like 5:30 in the morning.  Well I leave the house at 5:15 to go to work but I don't trust that guy.  So I have to have mine at the road the night before instead of before I leave for work.  This situation only applies to overtime days.  Like today.  The whole point of this stupid story about garbage men is that Obama used to be a garbage man.  No...not really.  The real point is I used to be a garbage man.  No....wait yes I did but that's not the point.  Actually there is no point.  Other than I haul my garbage to the street on Thursday nights.  Usually swaying back and forth a bit but in the end it gets there.
So last night I am heading to the street and I glance at the l;awn when I walk by and notice some tire tracks...in my lawn.....where there should be normal grass.  Apparently someone turned around in my lawn.
Its been raining all week and the ground is pretty soft...you get the point.
So I put the garbage bin in its spot by the road and head in the house.
Its bed time so I pajama up and crawl in beside the wife.  After a minutes pause I ask her,"did you turn around in the lawn?''
She hesitates and even though it's dark I can almost feel her biting her lip and see her screwing up her face and she says," err, ummm I may have missed the turn around."
"Missed", I blare into the dark.
"Yeah I think so", she says.  "What day is it?"
"Thursday", I answer.
"Well if it's Thursday then yep I missed it"
I'm not sure why Thursday had anything to do with it unless she has her Thirsty Thursday in the morning before work but we both had a good laugh and you will to when you see this picture.
Not really sure how she "missed"

The turn around is the big ass gravel thing in case you were wondering.

Now I have to go bug her for sex before she reads this!

Cheers!

Sunday Salutations and Obama Speaks like White Supremacist.

Good morning and Sunday Salutations!

So I read a brief clip this morning on my Yahoo home page that goes something like this,
"Obama tells blacks to quit whining and start looking for jobs".
Ummmm not sure that is gonna work out to well for him.  Oh well I suppose it's his own job on the line.
I didn't bother to read the whole article the headline was enough to discourage me from proceeding any further.  Mind you I'm not racist because I hate everybody the same but this seems kinda racist to me.  You can call a spade a spade but in Obama's case you might call it a very light club.
Enough BS for now.  I'm not a political person nor do I wish to venture into territory where I am mostly unarmed and for the most part ignorant.

I hauled the log splitter out yesterday as promised however the toenails didn't turn out very well so I switched to wood.  I managed to split a decent pile and will continue today.

There is plenty more to cut.  It should also help open up the yard for more sunshine as well.  I know you may think cutting down large trees would diminish from the yard but these trees had been choked out by wild grape vines and poison ivy vines and were in the process of dying.  They are not appeasing to the eye anyways.  The septic field is also located in this area so the extra sunshine will help as well as stopping the root growth from these large trees.  Plus they will add to the woodpile and cut down on the use of propane.  Speaking of propane I was a bit shocked at the cost of filling the tank.  $2.99 a gallon and the tank is 500 gallons.  NEED MORE WOOD!

My stump table is coming along nicely.  I work on it while listening to the Lions football game, in the garage, on Sundays.  A little more sanding and then I will stain and seal it.  I have a nice glass top for it as well.  Eventually I will have a pair of wood ducks to go along with it.  I will fill the inside with cattails and bulrushes, making a nest, and the female will be inside the stump sitting on the nest while the male stands guard at the entrance.  The entrance is the split in the side of the log.

Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

-Bushman

Trimming My Toenails with the Log Splitter

Cotton Mouth, check.  Slight headache, check.  8am,check.
Yep must have been drinking again last night.  Sometimes it's worth the side effects to just drink it up and enjoy the day and/or night or morning if you into that kinda stuff.
I worked yesterday until noon.  A bit of overtime never hurt anyone.  Especially me!  I'm so broke I can't even pay attention. What?
Anyways after work I stopped at the fueling station and loaded the trunk of my car with a 5 gallon can of gas and a 20 lb cylinder of propane.  I swear I seen Timothy McVeigh at pump 10 give me a nod of approval but then again I hadn't started drinking yet and my eyes were a bit blurry.  I heard something about fertilizer but brushed it off as post traumatic work syndrome.
Isn't it odd that we are conditioned now to pay such high gas prices?  It was down to $3.65 a gallon and we are all like "yippee" now I have enough money leftover from my paycheck to buy a six pack of Blatz that was leftover from Vietnam from that one legged guy down at the army surplus store.  That is just what I did.  Well maybe it wasn't the army store, like I said before, syndrome, not drinking yet, fertilizer.  Things can be all fuzzed up after working all week.  I need some beer   time to get things straight.
We had Rachel and Lant over for a chicken wing fry last night.  As promised they brought the tractor cart and the log splitter and I delivered frosty beers and hot chicken wings and fries.  I did the fry in the garage so my house didn't smell like fried chicken for a month.  I used my fish fry basket and my turkey fryer burner set up.  I had the sauces pre-made and kept them warm on the camp stove on my work bench.  There was a traditional Buffalo style sauce, a honey BBQ and a garlic.  I also put about a dozen wings in the smoker and smoked them for several hours and then deep fried them as well.
We ate a bunch of wings and drank beer for a couple hours and then full of wings and sodden with beer I made my way to the bedroom and probably snored away the night. 
But before all of that took place I was able to cut the lawn, and cut down a big tree on the side of the house.  It was an ash tree that the stupid Emerald Ash Borer beetle killed.  I cut it down and I will split it today.
I also have three big cherry trees to cut down as well.  Choke cherry trees that is not the eating kind of cherry.  I should get about 8-10 face cord of wood out of them.  They are big!

Enough about that, I tried the new Facebook this morning.  On the computer that is.  Usually I just FB off my phone and the layout is different.  The new PC Facebook really sucks!  In fact it was so bad I don't think I'll go back.  I don't want to read every comment from everybody.  Stupid dummy heads!  So in an effort to find something to do that is funner than the new Facebook I am headed to the back yard to trim my toenails on the gas powered, hydraulic, 3 ton log splitter.  Hmmpff!

One more thing.  I came across this letter the other day.  Must have been a mix up at the post office.

Dear World,

Please stop freaking out about 2012. Our calendars end there because
some Spanish douchebags invaded our country and we got a little busy OK?

Sincerely,
The Mayans



Hey have a great Saturday would ya!
-Bushman

I'll have what she's having!

"Yes please, I'll have what she is having."
 " And what is that?", the waiter asks me.
"A little bit of, can something go fucking right please", I say politley.  (slight emphasis on the fucking)

"Sir she is not having that, she is having our special of the week"
"Do tell", I mumble.
"That is the bust your balls for nothing platter".  No need to supersize it as it comes with an equally large helping of let down and encroaching depression"

"Fine I'll have it, is it cheap?"
"Well sir a first it's free but in the end you pay out the ass for it".

"Great", I say.  "You might as well rename it the usual, not the special.




Yep that kind of week so far.  I won't elaborate. 
I do have beer.
"Gulp"
"Gulp"
"Gulp"

Not so bad now.

Sunday Salutations, Updates and Good Friends!

Good Morning and Sunday Salutations to all
I have good news.  The "thing" on my brother's brain turned out to be a water mass.  Not a tumour or a growth or the big C.  The doctors believe it is caused from his high blood pressure.  265 over 185 when he went in.  They gave him some meds to get rid of the mass and some BP meds.  He needs to follow up with his family Dr to try and get his BP under control.  It is still a serious issue to have anything pressing on your brain but I'll take this over that.  So thankful right now you can't believe it.  I will talk to him later and get more details.  I can't wait to tell him it's a good thing his brain is so small that there is room for a water balloon in there.  Ahhhh sweet humorous relief!

So anyways we had baby Joe Joe and his girlfriend over for dinner and cards last night.  I cooked up some homemade meatball subs.  It's easy.  Hamburger, ground pork, Italian bread crumbs, assorted seasonings, eggs and marinara sauce.  Mix it, mash it, smash it to hell then roll it into whatever size balls you desire.  My wife prefers big balls!  (Seems as though that's the only time I can accomodate her.)  Pan fry the meatballs till almost done and then pour in the marinara cover and simmer for awhile. (at least till the meatballs are cooked thru).  Then I take some sub buns and toss them under the broiler for a spell.  Once a bit toasty I layer some pepperoni in the bun followed by the meatballs and then ladle some marinara sauce over that and finally top with sliced provolone and back into the broiler to make a yummy gooey mess.
It is an easy, tasty and cheap dinner.  I think the total for 4 people was around $18.  I have enough left over for two subs today for lunch as well.
After that we played a bit of euchre, then Uno Attack, and finally pictionary.  Pictionary if you haven't heard is where you have to draw what it says on the card you pick.  Well that's the idea.  Most of the time you just draw a squiggly line next to a stick figure and jab it repeatedly with your pencil and can't understand why your partner doesn't guess the word South American Drug Lord.  I actually had Columbia for one of my words so I drew N. America and S. America.  Pointed to S. America until she guessed S. America and then I drew a guy with a big nose snorting cocaine through a straw.  Yeah she didn't get it.  I guess most people think of coffee when they hear Columbia.  Myself I think of cocaine drug lords.  Too much Nat Geo I guess.

We stayed up a little later than usual.  Fat old guys are in bed by 9:30 normally and I pushed the envelope to a dreary eyed, yawning constantly 10:30.  Yeah I'm a stud I know.  This morning I actually slept in.(after taking care of the dogs at 5:30).  I crawled out of bed at 8:00.  That is a miracle for me.(without a hangover that is).  Of course in our grocery shopping foray yesterday I forgot to pick up coffee.(obviously was thinking cocaine duhhh) so I had to get up and get dressed and head into town for a cuppa.  Now I'm good to go.
I did a test run on the smoker fire box and chip holder yesterday.  Both turned out really good.  I filled the box about half full of charcoal and when it was fully ashed over I put the full chip box on top of that and placed it in the smoker.  After about 10 minutes the chips began to smoke and continued to smoke for a good while.  All the time the temp. in the smoker steadily climbed into the 190s.  I was satisfied and before I sat down here I removed the goose breast from the fridge that has been curing and marinating for 23 hours now.  Once it reaches room temp I will place it in the smoker and a couple hours later I will have jerky!
I also found a cart for my lawn tractor.  My dear friend Rachel has an extra one and she said I could have it if I cooked her and her boyfriend Lant dinner.  Done deal.  They are even going to deliver it.
Then we started talking about firewood and now I am going to borrow her splitter to finish splitting my wood pile.  I told her I would send home some wood with her when she picked it up and she said nope just cook us another dinner.  Who needs money when you have food!  I think I'll open up a trade restaurant.  I borrow something from you and cook you dinner in trade.  All kidding aside it sure is nice to have good friends who like to help just because that is who they are.  Never expecting anything in return.  Thanks Rachel and Lant.
(No I'm not moving back into your house LOL)
Well I hope your weekend was great.  Mine turned out to be pretty good.
Cheers,
Bushman

Prayers Needed!!

Not sure what to write today.  I received a phone call from my Father last night and he informed me my brother Bill is in the hospital.  He had a severe migraine for a couple days and went to the hospital where they did a CAT scan and found a "something" between his brain and skull.  They didn't know if it was a tumour or just a growth.  Seems the same to me but they sent him home and a few hours later they called him and told him to get back to the hospital asap.  I spoke with my father last night around 8ish and he was on his way there and would call me if they knew anything different last night.  He did not call so I assume nothing has changed or no surgeries were performed.  He also told me that there were signs of possibly a mini stroke.  I guess they were reading brain waves or something I don't know the details just yet.  My brother is only 39 years old.  He has two girls, Hannah and Miranda.  If I could ask you to send your prayers and wishes his way I believe he would appreciate that. 
I struggle with this because he is in Florida along with my Dad and there is no way for me to be there for him.
I can only hope and pray that they can fix him and send him on his merry way.  At least it's on the outside of the brain and not the inside.  I don't know what else to say.

In the meantime life here rolls on.  I worked a little overtime on Friday so there was no Thirsty Thursday.
I purchased gutters for the back of the garage yesterday and installed them after I got home from work. 
I have built a new fire box and a wood chip box for my smoker.  It is a steel box about 1 foot square with air holes drilled in the sides.  Or as peter would say, "I punched holes in his back so he could breathe".(Family Guy)  The wood chip box is a small box about 8 inches long, 4 inches wide and three inches deep.  It has a hinged lid with small holes drilled in it.  First I fill the fire box about half full of charcoal and once it is burning readily I put it in the smoker and then I fill the wood chip box with chips, close the lid and place it on top of the charcoal inside the fire box.  The idea is that the closed off chip box will not let enough air get to the wood chips.  They won't burn but they will smolder and create the nice smoke I am looking for.  The charcoal, when managed correctly will give me steady temps from 175 all the way to 300 degrees.  I like to keep it around 175--200 degrees for jerky. 
I have 12 goose breasts thawed out in the sink and soaking in salt water right now.  I will cut them into strips and season and cure them today.  They will remain in the fridge for 24 hours to let the cure penetrate the meat and tomorrow they will go in the smoker for a few hours.  Long enough for me to watch the Detroit Lions kick some more butt!
Now that the gutters are up I can finalize my grading and seed and straw the new lawn areas.  If I can get the seed to germinate before all the heavy frosts hit then in the spring it should grow pretty good.  I would wait till spring but I don't like to seed and straw with all the rain and wind we get in the spring.  It's better to do it in the fall.
I also have my garden laid out and will spray that today with herbicide and in a couple weeks a co worker will bring his tractor and tiller over and till it for me.  This way it too will be ready for spring planting.
I have it laid out to be 25 ft wide and 65 ft long.  1625 sq. ft should be enough to get me started.  The garden, as it sits now, slopes east and west and also south.  The back yard all goes downhill (south) but where the garden sits it also has a crown in the yard hence the east and west slope.  So there will be three different levels to start with.
Thanks for stopping by and for your prayers!

Here is a picture of the last time all the Bushman boys got together for a hunt.

Left to right

Bill Jr, Bill Sr(dad), Me and Brian

-Bushman

Car Troubles and Getting Your Rocks Off

Hey there!  Happy Friday.
Thirsty Thursday was cancelled due to car trouble which this author spent most of the evening hunkered over the engine of his car.  Which by the way is only 3 feet off the garage floor and said author stands 6.  I was never any good at math or geometry but if you figure it out it equals very sore leg muscles and an aching back.  I won't bore you anymore than I have to but it was a bad thermostat (buried deep in the engine) and once that was fixed a plugged heater core.  Needless to say it is working fine. (for now).  I did enjoy a couple Leinenkugels Creamy Dark while wrenching on the little bitch so the eve wasn't a complete loss.

This morning I went scouting for new goose fields (this entails driving all the roads and looking in the fields for geese and then trying for permission to hunt) and found nothing.  The geese we hunt are still resident geese which means they do not migrate and this early season is to help control the population.  However after opening weekend these sky carp as we so affectionately call them become very wary and pretty much seclude themselves.  I suppose after repeated shotgun blast at my ass I would probably stay off the sidewalk too. (please note we do not aim for their asses.  nothing butt feathers lol)  So we have pretty much called early goose season over.  It starts back up mid October and duck season also coincides with it.  This season is much better because all the migratory birds are starting to arrive.  Our early goose season limit is 5 per day per person but the regular season is only 2 but you can also take 5 ducks along with those two geese.
I was asked if we eat what we shoot and the answer is most definitely yes.  If you check my weekly post up top you will see some meat being cut up.  That is goose breast.  It looks and feels a lot like venison.  I strip it up and smoke it making goose jerky.  I have a hundred dollar bill that says most of you would guess it was beef once cooked. 
The house is coming along nicely.  Well outside anyways.  I am saving the inside work for winter.  I have cleared almost the whole south side of the tree line now and will be seeding it soon.  I am happy to be rid of the brambles, garbage, weeds and poison ivy.  The ivy is what has slowed me down a bit.  I had a nasty case of the itchies for 2 weeks and it is just now subsiding enough to make me want to engage in the rest of the clean up.  I will be planning the garden very soon as well and hope to have the sod tilled under by the end of October.  I am also starting a compost site.  I would really like to have a composter that is a barrel and it spins on a stand.  I think I will start with a compost box for the winter though.  Those barrels are wicked expensive.  There is a block retaining wall along the driveway that I plan on disassembling and replacing it with boulders.  I have a knack for building boulder walls.  One of my old jobs was landscaping and boulder walls were all the rave.  There have been hundreds of tons of boulders pass through my hands and shape themselves into walls.  Perhaps thousands of tons.  No joke either.

Those blocks I plan on using to level out my garden space.  The back yard is a big slope and these blocks will be used on the down hill side of the garden and I will back fill with good garden soil.  Instead of one large plane I would like to make it several different levels.  Perhaps one level would be tomatoes and another bell peppers.  It would require more blocks but they sell them pretty cheap.  Utilizing my weed free garden process it will be beautiful and virtually maintenance free.  For 4 years I have been saving a couple hundred feet of small diameter tubing for this exact garden scheme.  I will use it to create a watering system.  Fruition is almost upon us.
I have also been cutting and stockpiling wood for the winter ahead. 
The lawn has been undergoing transformation as well.  I am cutting and grading where needed and filling in low spots.  I sprayed the lawn once with broad leaf weed killer and will be doing another treatment soon.  The "lawn" was mostly weeds when we moved in and I would like to walk barefoot in the back yard someday so I figured I would start this fall.  Weed killer and fertilizer are on the menu as well as as an insecticide. 
Back to the boulders.  I have tons of boulders and rocks laying along the property lines.  At one time I believe the land was cleared for farming and all the rocks get shoved to the edges.  It is quite a bit of work to get them to where you want them but I'm game.  It's a good work out and a huge cost save because boulders are going for around a hundred bucks a ton.  It doesn't take many boulders to make a ton.
In fact a 16 inch diameter boulder weighs around a hundred lbs.  20 of those and you got yourself a ton.  Now stack them up into a wall and you have about 26 sq ft.  That is if they are all perfect squares.  Many are flat or oblong and they lay sideways in your wall.  So a good bet is to call it 20 sq ft per ton when they are 16" boulders.   So if your wall is 10 ft long those boulders will only get you to a height of two feet.  Do the math it is much better to scavenge boulders than to buy them.
 Anything smaller than 16" I call rocks.  Those are good for the upper half of your wall.  I will provide pictures however I'm not sure it will be this year.  More than likely next spring.  I still have a lot of boulders to scrounge.  I'm kinda waiting for the poison ivy to die down first.  It will only take a day for me to rebuild that block wall into a beautiful natural looking retaining wall if I have everything stockpiled first.
Also here is a tip if you have a shady spot and want to make a shade garden.  I do and plan on a nice little shade garden with a frog pond and big mossy boulders.  To help your boulders grow their moss take a walk in the woods and collect some nice moss specimens.  bring them home and toss them in a blender with a bit of buttermilk.  Puree them and then spray the mixture on the boulders.  The buttermilk feeds the mosses and the blended up moss is full of "young"moss ready to grow.  Put a comfortable chair or a swing bench and a small water feature in your shade garden and you have a great place to sit and relax away the day on those hot summer days.
Take care!

Sunday Salutations and Craig's List!

Good Morning and Sunday Salutations to all!

I slept in this morning until 8 and the house is still quiet.  It is now 9:30.  I have been perusing Craig's List on the hunt for a dump trailer to pull behind my lawn tractor.  I have officially declared myself too lazy old for wheel barrows.  I have a lot of dirt and rocks to move as well as firewood etc.  However people on Craig's List are rather particular on their pricing.  Like this one:

Dump Cart for lawn tractor, haven't used in years, tires are not great, sells for $150 new at TSC will sacrifice for $95. 

Is it me or has the definition of sacrifice changed?  Can you imagine the people from the Old Testament offering up a lamb for sacrifice but saying once it was dead they get to eat it.  The almighty would probably be a little peeved.  Not much of a sacrifice. 

Craig's List has an amusing list of for sale/wanted and people will sell or ask for anything.  Like this one:

Wanted for free, a good size TV, cable ready, need someone to deliver it to my home.

Holy shiznickle Batman I'm all over that one, in fact I'll give them the one I'm still paying on!

My personal favorite of the morning was (in my town nonetheless):

For sale: manure spreader for general use or as a yard decoration.

Now you got my attention.  That would so match the toilet bowl planter in the front yard and the big plastic pond with the giant algae collection in it.

So I figured I better put in my own ad.  Our rabbit Floppy has passed to the other side and left behind a cage and waterer, hay, food etc.  I could find no last will and testament so I believe it is mine for the selling.

My ad shall read as such:

Rabbit cage for sale.

Lightly used for 6 years.  Comes with half a bag of hay and some humidity sodden food pellets.

Brand new at pet store for $75, hay was $4.75 and the pellets I'll throw in for free.  Needs cleaning.

Will sacrifice for $72.99 firm.

You pick up and you remove dead rabbit and bury in my choice of location.

No spam please!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

PS: If your wondering what I do with the geese we have harvested check the link up top for this weeks blog

Dropping Geese Like Rain!

Lighting bolts rained from the sky and the wind shook the leaves from their hold on the branches.  Rain pattered the ground and the smell of ozone drifted through the air as the bolts of electricity reigned down their awful power.  The sky to the east was a dark purple with a spot of red in the center, the sun just beginning to awaken.  The promise of fair weather kept us determined in our efforts to succeed in our early morning efforts.

Yes we'll do just about anything to drop some gees from the air, even set up decoys in a storm.

The alarm woke me at 3:45 AM this morning and I could hear the distant booms and knew a storm was brewing.  Outside while waiting for the dogs to finish their business I watched a massive electrical storm head my way and wondered if we would even leave the house that morning.

The guys showed up promptly at six, I was in the garage sipping hot coffee, and we discussed our plans.  many checks of the radar ensued and we decided to wait for a bit.  Our field of choice that morning was only 2 miles away from my home so we had extra time. 

A huge bolt of lighting cracked somewhere to our North and a second later the power was out.  It usually would come back on in a normal storm but obviously something more drastic had happened.  I found a flashlight and we stood there talking some more.  I decided to get out the camp stove and make us a couple cheese omelets right there in the garage while we waited out the storm.  After a bit we left and headed for the field.  We ended up successful again this morning and so far our tally stands at 9 geese.  Not too bad for a day and a half.  Here are some pictures of our first couple hunts.  It is Remmi's first time in the goose field and he performed admirably and I was proud as could be on his first retrieve.

Our set up in the wheat field.  There is a rock pile in the center of the field and we sat on the edge where the grass was tall.

Remmi's first retrieve

We took 5 last night

More to come stay tuned!

Out for a hunt

Hey welcome to Thurday and opening day of Early goose season here in Michigan.  Notice there is no thirsty in there.  Just popped in to say I will be out in the field tonight.  We pulled three from the sky this morning and hope for more this eve.  See ya later.