This is a Picture Post
Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day...mine was spent bustin' ass down on the farm.
I've created a picture post with some text (you know I can't NOT talk)...just some things I've been meaning to stick out there. And, no, these are not nude pictures (altho I AM sweaty in a couple of them).
My parents bought a small spread a few years ago - 13 acres, cozy 2BR/2Bath Farmhouse dating back to the 1920's, with a full-on barn and a second outbuilding for storage. The previous owner had a land-clearing business, and he treated the property like his personal dump/junkyard. We've spent years restoring the property, hauling away junk, and basically cleaning up decades of bad behavior. But its been a very rewarding and ssatisfying experience, and that little farm is my parents' main source of pleasure in life.
A line of high voltage transmission wires cuts across the back of the property, and the previous owner had sold off the topsoil around them, creating a washed out, barren mess. We turned part of their acreage into a small horse pasture, and we intend to expand it into the power line area. We've been dumping leaves, grass clippings, and fill dirt down there to restore the topsoil, and it has really worked (almost TOO well). Anyway, we're doing the final touch-up issues over this summer to prepare the pasture for next Spring.
Over the holiday, we rented a Bobcat and I got to play bulldozer all weekend. Mostly I moved big piles of dirt and boulders to fill in several large holes in the pasture and smooth out the rough spots.
This is my dad and the Bobcat
My dad and the hole I filled in...it was pretty damn deep and he is standing on a LOT of dirt
This is a shot back down the pasture from the other angle (for scale purposes). I swear, two years ago, this was a rutted, rocky strip of South Carolina red clay, with just a few scrub plants on it. Now its like the freaking Amazon.
I have to say, I enjoy playing with the equipment, but that Bobcat beat me up pretty bad. There is no suspension so every bump and dip is bone-jarring. Plus, you operate it using both hands and both feet, working everything in unison to control the vehicle and the bucket. All that pumping and grinding has left me basically paralyzed and in terrific pain. Will someone come over and give me a body massage?
The following pics are actually from last summer, when my dad and I took down the outbuilding (they have since built another structure...workshop, storeroom, and 2-car carport...that is almost as big as the house. Just including them for general interest...
Some final pics from down on the farm...while working in the Bobcat, a humongous black snake came crawling out of the grass, slithered across the area I was filling in, and disappeared again. I'm not particularly phobic about snakes, but this sucka was HUGE...at least 4-5'. It creeped me out a little, and I wish I'd had my camera. Anyway, a little while later, I was walking down the path to my folks' house and I heard some rustling in the bushes next to me, which made me jump.
So I looked a little closer...
...and found a very content cat laying in the grass
She was so warm when I petted her...I was jealous.
This is Nikki, a neighbor horse that we adopted to keep Buckwheat company. Ever since Cowboy died, Bucky has been pretty despondent, but he follows Nikki around just like he did with Cowboy. She's old though, and kind of a bitch.
That's all of these...hope you enjoyed em.
I've created a picture post with some text (you know I can't NOT talk)...just some things I've been meaning to stick out there. And, no, these are not nude pictures (altho I AM sweaty in a couple of them).
My parents bought a small spread a few years ago - 13 acres, cozy 2BR/2Bath Farmhouse dating back to the 1920's, with a full-on barn and a second outbuilding for storage. The previous owner had a land-clearing business, and he treated the property like his personal dump/junkyard. We've spent years restoring the property, hauling away junk, and basically cleaning up decades of bad behavior. But its been a very rewarding and ssatisfying experience, and that little farm is my parents' main source of pleasure in life.
A line of high voltage transmission wires cuts across the back of the property, and the previous owner had sold off the topsoil around them, creating a washed out, barren mess. We turned part of their acreage into a small horse pasture, and we intend to expand it into the power line area. We've been dumping leaves, grass clippings, and fill dirt down there to restore the topsoil, and it has really worked (almost TOO well). Anyway, we're doing the final touch-up issues over this summer to prepare the pasture for next Spring.
Over the holiday, we rented a Bobcat and I got to play bulldozer all weekend. Mostly I moved big piles of dirt and boulders to fill in several large holes in the pasture and smooth out the rough spots.
This is my dad and the Bobcat
My dad and the hole I filled in...it was pretty damn deep and he is standing on a LOT of dirt
This is a shot back down the pasture from the other angle (for scale purposes). I swear, two years ago, this was a rutted, rocky strip of South Carolina red clay, with just a few scrub plants on it. Now its like the freaking Amazon.
I have to say, I enjoy playing with the equipment, but that Bobcat beat me up pretty bad. There is no suspension so every bump and dip is bone-jarring. Plus, you operate it using both hands and both feet, working everything in unison to control the vehicle and the bucket. All that pumping and grinding has left me basically paralyzed and in terrific pain. Will someone come over and give me a body massage?
The following pics are actually from last summer, when my dad and I took down the outbuilding (they have since built another structure...workshop, storeroom, and 2-car carport...that is almost as big as the house. Just including them for general interest...
Some final pics from down on the farm...while working in the Bobcat, a humongous black snake came crawling out of the grass, slithered across the area I was filling in, and disappeared again. I'm not particularly phobic about snakes, but this sucka was HUGE...at least 4-5'. It creeped me out a little, and I wish I'd had my camera. Anyway, a little while later, I was walking down the path to my folks' house and I heard some rustling in the bushes next to me, which made me jump.
So I looked a little closer...
...and found a very content cat laying in the grass
She was so warm when I petted her...I was jealous.
This is Nikki, a neighbor horse that we adopted to keep Buckwheat company. Ever since Cowboy died, Bucky has been pretty despondent, but he follows Nikki around just like he did with Cowboy. She's old though, and kind of a bitch.
That's all of these...hope you enjoyed em.