If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Early on a Sunday

The air is damp and last night's rain still drips from the trees.  The sun is just beginning to appear over the two large pines.  Bits of blue sky hint of a nice autumn day to come.
I pull open the drapes on the French doors and am greeted with the sight of a whitetail doe and her two yearlings playing in the field right on the edge of my property.  The coffee is hot and strong.  The dogs have went back to bed and I am left alone with my thoughts once again.

OK that's enough of my thoughts.  You do not want to be left alone with them for very long.  Scary!
So what does a guy do when he is up at 5:45 on a Sunday morning?  Well......lets see!

I scoured eBay for canning jars and a pressure cooker.  Some decent deals on the cooker but $1 a piece on jars?  That is more than what you pay in the store for new.  Some people are about as sharp as a marble.

Craig's List for anything that I can think of.  I have been looking for a topper for my truck but no luck yet. 

Did some research on converting the stove from the old camper into the new burner for my smoker.  This is my next project (which is conveniently placed on the list of all current projects in the works yet still not finished) that should be a great addition to my smoking repertoire.

Started making lists for things for camping and hunting.

Then I reread some of my old blogs.  Stuff that was 2 years old or better.  362 posts.  There is a lot to choose from.  I never thought this would have lasted this long.

Friday we leave for camping and they are having a Halloween themed weekend at the campground and also a site decorating contest.  So Momma and I went out yesterday and procured some goodies to decorate with.  I have a few things to check out on the camper still.
Make sure the electric all functions on the inside.  Lights, fridge and such.  The seller assured me everything worked but I still need to check it out.
I also need to pull the wheels off and check the wheel bearings and repack them if necessary.
Check all the gas connections for function or possible leakage.

Yesterday I picked some peppers form the garden.
 
I was just finishing picking when the rain started.  It pretty much rained all day and night after that.
I used up the last of my canning jars making some pickled veggies.
 
From left to right I have 2 qts. of banana pepper rings, 2 qts of jalapeno asparagus, 5 half pints of sliced and de-seeded jalapenos, 3 half pints of whole, seeds intact jalapenos and one half pint of seeded cherry hots.  I love the asparagus.  I can't wait to be able to harvest them from my own garden.  The red jalapenos are very tasty if you de-seed them and remove all of the white ribs from the inside.  They are not hot at all.  The whole ones on the other hand will be hot.

Season totals are as follows.  This count reflects total made, not what I have on hand because I have eaten and given away some.

Canned tomatoes---46 qts
Salsa----12 qts fresh
Salsa--2 qts frozen
Pickled veggies----10 qts

I really need to get a pressure canner so I can fill the pantry next year with stuff like green beans and corn.

I still have tomatoes and I might do a batch or two of salsa yet.

The nights have been pretty cool and its time to start thinking about moving some firewood around.  I want to make a place in the garage again to stack a bunch up and I think around the end of November I will fill up the new brick paver patio full with stacks of firewood.  Then I can begin to replenish the supply "wall".

Lots to do to get ready for winter.
Have a great Sunday!
-Bushman
 

Friday, September 21, 2012

Summer Prepares to Sleep


The leaves were turning and the nights were cool.  The perfect recipe for a change in the soul.  Orange pumpkins dotted the landscape and billboards for fresh cider began to emerge from the wilting summer vegetation.  Geese were spotted in the earliest of their annual migrations.

The summer chores, almost finished, hastily packed away in the hopes of being finished the following year.  So fast did the air change.  How quickly the sun moved to the southern reaches of the horizon.  The shadows grew longer every day.  He smiled at this.  Long shadows meant shorter days but the sacrifice was well worth it.  Wood smoke began to filter through the leaves from the surrounding houses.  Small fires, keeping neighbors warm in the cool evenings.  The fragrance tickled his nose as he breathed deep trying to identify the type of wood being burnt.  Cherry!  He smiled again.  In a few short weeks the frost would appear.
Autumn had arrived in all it's glory.  He was happy once again.

The anticipation was more than he could bear. He checked the calendar again. Ugh! 50 more days.
The preparation had already begun. Lists were being prepared, crumpled and prepared again. Equipment was piling up in the corner of the garage. Mental notes made, forgotten and made again in a brief moment of dejavu. Restless nights, cold dreams.

Of course if anyone knows me in the slightest you can figure out that I'm cuckoo for fall!
Hunting season is upon us.  Also the greatest of adventures is in the planning stages.
Deer Camp! 
This season brings with it a new camper.  A chance to head north into the wild once again where the only power is that of nature.

In the meantime I am running around getting things finished up at home.  The backyard landscape has been transformed this summer with a new deck, new patio, flower beds and a new fire pit.  In process right now is the re purposing of the giant pile of concrete the previous homeowner left hidden in the woods.  I have been slowly clearing the tree line out for over a year now and this pile is now fully exposed.
This shot is from my upper deck.  The wall is in the back and the pile of concrete is in the front.  The big leaning tree will be cut down soon.

 
This is a closer shot.  I picked through the pile and got the largest pieces of concrete and built a small garden wall with them.  Many are covered in moss already but what I will do is gather moss from the surrounding areas, put in a blender with a little buttermilk and mix it up.  Then spray it or paint it onto the concrete garden wall.  The wall will eventually be covered in moss and you will never know it is concrete.  The big pile in front is leftover concrete either too big or too small.  This will be used to shore up the gravel turn around in the front yard.  The plywood you see is what I used to smother all of the poison ivy and weeds with.  I also had some carpet I put out as well.  This entire area was covered in saplings, ivy, brambles and a lot of household trash that they had dumped in the woods.
 

 
Last night I began burning all of the brush and leaves that I had raked up.  I have a wrought iron table and 2 chairs that will sit about where the fire is.  It is a small table and the set is painted a dark green so it will blend in well.  I will cover the entire area with mulch and next year plant lots of hostas and ferns and other shade loving plants and shrubs like Rhododendrons and Hydrangeas.  It is my little shade garden and will be a great spot to sit and relax next summer in the heat of the day.

 
Enjoy this beautiful weather.  Next weekend Momma and I are going camping in the new pop up.  It is just for a few days but we haven't had the chance to get away together at all this year.
 
Cheers!
-Bushman

 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Bushman keeps on rolling!

You didn't think I was really done did you?  Of course not.  When I'm finally finished then I presume you will be at my funeral.  I can not stop improving, doing, tweaking or adjusting anything.
So what this time?
Well it started with the old camper.  I gutted it!



Now I have a trailer to haul stuff.  So I decided to go get a load of topsoil.
I put one yard in the trailer and one in the truck.
Brought all that back home and filled in my newly made planting beds and the area that is to be new lawn.

Seeded it and covered it with straw.

Then I made my way to town and picked up these guys!
Two big oakleaf hydrangeas, 3 hostas, 3 black eyed susan, 3 lilly turf, some Mums, and some groundcover sedum.

While I was out I filled the truck full of twice ground red pine mulch.


Then I went to work.




There will be more!  Unfortunately I always run out of money before I run out of ambition.

I also picked some more from the garden.  I put up another 6 qts. of tomatoes and have some left for another batch of salsa.

I suppose that's enough for one weekend.  Not sure what I am going to get into today but you'll find out soon enough!
Have a great Sunday!


 

Monday, September 3, 2012

Laboring on Labor Day

Hey! Happy Labor Day!
Once a year we don't have to go to work and what do I do?
Stay home and work!
Ugh!  Seriously I couldn't take anymore landscaping.  It took several tries to get out of bed this morning.  I ache all over and my hands are plagued by blisters, scratches and what appears to be brick chips.
I decided to do something a little more laid back today.  Or so I thought.
It started innocently enough with a pot of chili.
Then while that was simmering I headed out to the garden.  I came back with this.


There were also some bell peppers that didn't make the picture.
So what do you do with that many peppers?

Clean em, seed em and smoke em!
These guys are all in the smoker right now.  Once smoked I will dehydrate them and vac pack them into mason jars.  They last for years.  There is red and green jalapenos (chipolte) habanero, cherry hots and also some banana peppers.
Of course there were some leftovers that needed additional treatment.

The pint jars have banana peppers, cauliflower, onion, celery, carrot and garlic in them.
The quart jar is filled with jalapenos, lots of garlic and asparagus.

I was going to can some more tomatoes today but I think I'll have a beer and take a nap or take a nap then have a beer.

Have a great labor Day!
-Bushman

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Bushman Gets Paved!

I gave him a wry look.  I cocked an eyebrow at him, he cocked his back.  I waited for an answer to my question.
He looked a bit disheveled standing there in a white t-shirt that had what appeared to be a tomato based stain on the front.  Perhaps the chip had been overloaded with salsa and not all of it had made it to his mouth.  His hair was standing up all over and a three day beard stubble graced his face which was beginning to show the wrinkles of sun and age.  His hair was laced with grey and his chin hair was half white.
It was his eyes that made me stand there longer than I should have.  There was no reason for me to take advice from a guy like this.. but those eyes.  They sparkled, they were alive, the window to his soul was wide open and all I had to do was ask and he would tell.  No lies, no gimmicks and certainly no false hope.
"You can do it, it will be slow and you will take longer than usual to arise from your slumber tomorrow morning but yes you can and I presume you will", he said.
That was all I needed to hear. 
I wiped the toothpaste splatter from the bathroom mirror, said good bye to the chap and headed outside to start my brick paver patio.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey remember me?
One of my pipe dreams has finally become a reality.  With much sweat, blood and an injection of cash it is done! 

It seemed like a long time ago when I started digging under the patio.  Then the propane line thing and having to move the tank and all that jive.  Here is a reminder of what I started with.
An area about 10x12 and 3 feet deep of soil that had to be pick axed from its place and carried by wheelbarrow to the edge of the yard.
So lets get down to business shall we?  My first order of business was to excavate (again) for the pavers.  I needed to get about 6 inches of gravel under the pavers and an inch of sand.  This helps them to drain water and not heave when the ground freezes.  This was an awful job and I spent 7 hours on Friday doing nothing but digging and then filling it back in with gravel.
Sometimes doing it the right way really sucks!  Especially when your not as young as you used to be.
I went to bed that night at about 7:45.  I awoke the next morning and started early.
The first order of business was to compact the gravel and then lay out my screed guides.  The important thing when putting in your base is to take your time and get it as close to perfect as possible.  I have a small laser level that I set up right under the sill plate on the door going into the garage.  This allowed me to shoot a "laser beam"  (Austin Powers reference) to the outside perimeter of the patio.  Using a measuring stick I was able to determine the top of the gravel layer.  The depth of the brick and one inch of sand will lay on top of the gravel layer so it needs to be about 4 inches below the laser beam.

Then I take my screed guides (3/4 inch galvanized pipe) and place it on top of the compacted gravel.  Adjusting it up or down to match the laser.

The bricks will lay right on top of the pipe.  Of course the pipe will be removed before the bricks get placed but you can set a brick on top of the pipe, shoot your laser or string level out and make sure it hits right at the top of the brick.  Set your pipes no more than 4 feet apart so you can use a level to make them match.  You need to accommodate for drainage as well.  This patio is one inch higher on the wall side and also tapers away from the house.  I use one inch of grade for every ten feet when I lay pavers.  So once you have your pipes set up you can fill in between them with sand and tamp it with a hand tamp.  You don't need to tamp it really hard just give it a good pat.  It should only be an inch or so deep so there isn't much room for compaction.  Don't tamp on the pipes to hard because you don't want them to move.

Once tamped you screed it with a 2x4.  Pulling the excess sand towards you.  Go slow and take your time.  There are always a few rocks or clay chunks in the sand and it will leave furrows in the sand.  Just pick them out, toss a handful of sand back in the hole and rescreed it.


Pull up the first pipe and move it to the other side and repeat.  Now you can just use the four foot level to get your pipe to match the one that is still laying in the sand.
Of course the space where the pipe was will need to be filled in with sand before you pave.  I just use a small bucket and when I get to that spot I grab a handful of sand and fill it in as I go.
Once the patio is all screeded you can lay out your borders.  You don't have to have this but I like the way it looks.  This one is called a soldier course (side to side).  If you lay them the other way (end to end) it is called a sailor course.  In the end it is just a border and you can make your own up if you want to.  Just make sure you measure it out and get it square to the house.

Then you start laying bricks.  It makes good sense to start at the most visible point and also the truest point.  I know the house foundation is true.  My wall and deck posts may not be perfectly square so I wouldn't want to start there.  I had to lay the sidewalk part first so I could get to the house side.


Just keep laying bricks until your finished.  I went with a herringbone pattern which meant I had a lot of cuts to make but it was worth it.
I use this saw to cut them.  It is a metal cutting chop box that I swapped out the metal cutting blade for a diamond tipped brick blade.  The blade was more expensive then the saw!  rental stores carry the fancy ones that use water and have a sliding table but I get by just fine with this one.  A bit dusty but it works.


When all the bricks are in and all the cuts are made you can lay a chunk of plywood down and smack it with the hand tamp.  Moving it all over the patio until you have tamped the entire thing.  This seats the pavers and also flattens them out relative to each other.  Sweep joint sand in the cracks and your pretty much done.
When your all done with that you will have something that looks like this.  Gunner loves the nice cool brick and of course Remmi just loves jumping up and down on the wall.


The new lawn will come right up to the edge of the patio now.  I have the plywood down just to help with the dirt on the dogs feet when they go in and out.  I still need to sweep the joint sand in and buy some brick edging to hold the edges of the patio in place.

It was a heck of a project but now it's almost done.  I still have to build the bar!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial. 
Now what can I get into?
-Bushman