Puckaway Motor Club

Tag: Josh (page 5 of 5)

Log: May 21 and 22, 2016

May 23, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Saturday

Lyssa, the boys, and I pulled in around 2:30 pm with a truck bed full of tools and burnables. Beautiful day; sunny and upper 70s. I backed the truck up to the pole barn to offload my tools and the boys were off on their Power Wheels. Lyssa made herself comfy with a book while I stacked cardboard and the remains of our old coffee table in the burn pit. There’s a lot to do up here, as always, but I don’t really have a set agenda. The only real goal of this weekend is to have our first overnight stay as a family. As I was looking around and sizing things up, inspiration struck. The tree at the base of the driveway would have to go.

IMG_20160521_152707121

A little bigger than I had expected. Good thing there was nothing in its way.

Over half of the upper branches were dead and bare, so I figured if the tree was going down, it’d be better if it was on my terms. I fired up the chainsaw, made sure the kiddos were well clear, and the tree was on the ground in short order. Jake was really interested in how I cut it, and went to show off the “felling wedge” to Lyssa and Josh. He thought it was really cool that I could get the tree to fall just the way I wanted it to. Hell, so did I. I’m still kinda new at this.

As long as the chainsaw was out, I also trimmed some dead limbs from the small tree next to the pump. I had a helluva time carving everything up, though. I must have really dulled the chain when I was clearing brush and stumps last trip. The boys gave me a hand hauling limbs and branches over to the pit. Poor Josh was getting frustrated; he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t able to lift the big pieces like his daddy. He’ll get there soon enough.

Continue reading

Log: May 15, 2016

May 17, 2016 / / 1 Comment
IMG_20160515_162107507

Looks better and deters squirrels. What’s not to like?

Lyssa, the boys, and I pulled in around 11:30 after the requisite Aunt Judy’s breakfast. It’s a little cool today, highs in the lower 60s, but it sure feels nice when the sun peeks out of the clouds. I opened the pole barn right away so Jake and Josh could get their Power Wheels out and they were patrolling the yard in short order. Lyssa went off in search of a nice, quiet place to read. I wasn’t much help in that regard; the first thing I went for was the chainsaw.

In reviewing the timelapse footage from the camera I installed last week, I noticed the squirrels still had no problem getting to the feeders. They weren’t getting around the baffle, though. This was an aerial assault. I always thought the dead lower branches by the feeders and garden shed were an eyesore anyway; now I had even more reason to get rid of them.

IMG_20160515_123742453

One of several rose-breasted grosbeaks we’ve seen at the feeders this spring.

I spent the next few hours clearing limbs and unwanted scrub growth from around the feeders. I’m getting pretty good at felling trees. I had to thread the needle a few times between the feeders and deck and thankfully there were no casualties. As long as I was clearing, I maneuvered my way through the overgrown area behind the outhouse and mostly reclaimed the little wildlife garden my grandpa planned many years back. The whole area looks a lot nicer now and it’s easier to spot the birds as they fly to and from the feeders.

Continue reading

Log: May 7, 2016

May 9, 2016 / / 1 Comment
Happy, hungry boys.

Happy, hungry boys.

The boys and I rolled in around 11:00 after getting some good Aunt Judy’s breakfast. I’ve been anxious to see how things looked now that the stain has dried, and Jake and Josh just needed to get out and play. Gorgeous day: sunny and temps in the low 70s. I opened the pole barn, hooked up the batteries in their Power Wheels ATV and tractor, and they were off exploring the yard. While the boys were bombing around, I went to check out the deck. Pretty satisfied with the results! There’s only one spot where I notice drip marks and it looks like it generally took the stain pretty evenly throughout. Last night’s rain caused a bunch of pollen to drop off the maple trees, though, so I think I’ll hold off on touching up the cracks between the planks until I can feel confident in hosing it down first.

IMG_20160507_145013927

If the feeders still get knocked down after this, I give up.

My main goal today was to build a squirrel/raccoon baffle for the feeder pole. I bought a 5′ section of 12″ round heating duct and a 12″ tee cap. I cut the cap in half and notched out two triangles on each piece. These halves were joined together again around the post using the two cut-off pieces and this assembly was supported by an 11″ piece of rebar that was slid through a hole drilled in the post. The “pipe” section was snapped together around the base of the post, cut down to about 48″, and screwed to the cap. It sounds relatively simple when written out, but this stupid thing fought me every step of the way. The cap kept coming apart once it was cut, the pipe did NOT want to snap together, I had to use ratchet straps to lift the pipe into position to mate it with the cap, and I burned through the last cutting wheel for my Dremel saw and had to finish trimming the pipe with a sawzall. This caused the cap to blow apart one last time so now, after a bunch of swearing and grumbling, the whole thing is held together with fencing wire. I’ll eventually replace the junk cap with one I don’t cut in half and only slide down the pole, but this will work for now.

Continue reading

Log: April 22 – 24, 2016

April 25, 2016 / / 1 Comment

Friday

Jake and I rode in around 7:00 pm after a stop at Piggly Wiggly to stock the fridge and cabinets. Got all kinds of goodies: brats and italian sausage, canned veggies, chips and salsa, juice boxes and snacks for the boys (Jake picked out some Little Debbie brownies), essentials like ketchup, mustard, horseradish, and butter, and two six-packs of different Wisconsin craft beers. There’s now a whole aisle devoted to smaller Wisconsin breweries at the Princeton Pig—a welcome surprise. I brought in the groceries and goods from Oshkosh while Jake got his trucks set up by the pole barn.

IMG_20160422_193335100With the fire danger holding at Moderate, it was safe enough to burn in the pit. I started the pump and began to fill a 55-gallon drum as a precaution, pulled the truck around to the pole barn, poured some old boat gas around the base of the pile, and tossed a match. Wasn’t long before we had a roaring fire. I kept an eye on it while unloading tools from the back of my truck. Once the pine boughs and smaller branches all burned off, we were left with a sizeable pile of thick logs and a warm, low flame. Jake and I cozied up on the bench in front of the pole barn and watched it burn down until he decided he was tired enough to turn in for the night.

Continue reading

Log: April 16, 2016

April 18, 2016 / / 0 Comments

Lyssa, the boys, and I arrived in the truck around 10:30 am after a family breakfast at Aunt Judy’s. We also got two flats of bottled water, which I was grateful for later—it was unseasonably warm and beautiful out; it stayed sunny and in the mid-70s all day. I quickly unpacked the boys’ Power Wheels ATV and Tractor from the truck bed and they were off exploring. I stacked the snow tires for Lyssa’s car in the pole barn and headed over to the keep to get things ready to unload the rest of the truck. I got out the leaf blower and cleared around the garden shed, bird feeders, deck, and the front of the keep. Once everything was ready, I pulled the truck around and set up the patio table and four chairs on the deck. We got a new set for the house so brought up our old set. It’s a perfect fit. Between the new furniture and the chairs we already had up here, we now have deck seating for ten. I’d still like to get some little side tables, though.

With everything unloaded, I went to tidy up in the keep. I ran the vacuum cleaner through to take care of the few dead flies that had accumulated, sprayed down and wiped out the shelves in the fridge, and cleaned the table and counters with bleach cleaner. Couldn’t have taken more than 15 minutes to get things ready for the year. What a difference over last spring. Turned on the A/C so the boys would have somewhere to get relief from the sun. On my way out, I primed the pump and let it run for the rest of the day to clear out the accumulated gunk and sediment.

Continue reading

Log: January 30, 2016

January 1, 2016 / / 2 Comments

Pulled in the driveway with Lyssa and the boys around 1:45 pm after lunch at Aunt Judy’s. Once again, the boys behaved really well.

Clear skies and no wind with temperatures in the upper 30s. Great day for a visit! We’ve all been cooped up in the house too long and could use the fresh air. Jake found all of his trucks and construction equipment in the pole barn and the boys got to work making roads in the snow.

IMG_20160130_153226410

I shovelled out the deck and checked in on the keep. Absolutely zero sign of critter activity. You’d think if they were going to find their way in out of the cold, it would have happened by now, so this is excellent news. Everything looked and smelled clean. The keep has really transformed over the last year into quite the nice place to stay.

Continue reading

Log: December 6, 2015

December 7, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Lyssa, the boys, and I drove up in the truck and enjoyed a late Aunt Judy’s breakfast around 11:00. Josh’s first trip to Aunt Judy’s, as well as the first time the four of us have gone out to eat together, period. The boys did a great job, even prompting a compliment on their behavior from an older couple at the next table. Jake and I each had our respective “usual” breakfasts, Lyssa ordered an omelette, and Josh shared off of all of our plates. Bellies full, we headed to Puckaway.

IMG_20151206_125044131_HDR

IMG_20151206_120905812

Work gloves are a must for helping out at Puckaway.

Temperatures hovered right above freezing all day, but the boys kept busy and warm in their coats, hats, and gloves. Jake got out all of his trucks and construction toys and tried getting Josh interested in a leaf-pickup operation. Josh would have none of it; he just wanted to explore. More than once, Lyssa had to retrieve him from the outer bounds of the yard. I can’t wait until he gets a little older and can come up for overnight trips with me and Jake.

The main purpose of this daytrip was to make a seasonal storage swap. We brought up the push lawnmower from Oshkosh to keep in the pole barn for the winter and traded it for Lyssa’s snow tires, the sleds, and our Christmas lawn decorations. After loading up the truck, I made my way over to the keep to check on things. Farmer Joe must follow the old camping rule, “always leave things cleaner than you found them” because the place was immaculate. No smell to the place at all except for the faint “new construction” aroma around the door frame. I made sure all the totes were secured and as critter-proof as possible and locked up. Probably won’t be back in there until spring.

Continue reading

Log: September 23, 2015

September 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Lyssa, Jake, Josh and I rode up around 4:00 for a quick delivery trip. Earlier in the week, Dad dropped off the blue utility trailer in Oshkosh. We hauled it here as the plan is to use it to carry the appliances from the pole barn off to the scrap yard. Also had a few other items to bring up, including outlets, wiring, conduit, switches, and lights for the deck.

IMG_20150923_184246908

Dumped some brush from the yard in Oshkosh into the burnpit and parked the trailer by the stack of appliances. That’ll be a project for another day. We took the boys on a few ATV rides and they both got a kick out of throwing pebbles in the river at the boat landing. Jake noticed some deer bones at the edge of the yard. He was fascinated with them and the concept of dead deer in general to the point I’m starting to worry that we’re raising a little Tim Burton. Still, at least he’s interested in learning about things instead of being afraid of them. Josh cried when we took him off the four-wheeler. Thataboy, Josh.

Tidied up a little in the trailer, putting linens away and dressing the bed. Jake was bummed that we couldn’t stay overnight, but we left around 8:00. Quick (but fun!) family trip.

Log: August 30, 2015

August 31, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Walked over to Paco’s around 9:00 am to start the process of loading the garden shed onto Peter’s flatbed trailer. Since Paco’s backyard is fenced in, we began by removing a section of chain-link fence. It came away in one piece except for the center pole, which we had to cut at the base. I emptied the shed and took out all the shelves to make it as light as possible, then jacked it up at the doorway so I could side a pipe under the frame. I wrapped a long chain around the base, cinched it up in front of the shed, and grabbed it with the blue ATV’s winch hook. After some initial hesitation, the shed starting rolling across the pipe. Paco and I alternated between positioning pipes and pushing and turning the shed to clear a tight corner between his garage and his kids’ playset. Once we got out in the open, I went back to winching from the ATV while Paco laid out pipes.

Once we had the shed lined up with the trailer, we had to switch tactics. I traded the ATV for my truck and hooked up to the trailer. With the fence out of the way, I could back a few feet further into the yard, clearing the house and giving us more room to work. We attached the trailer ramps and used my new come-along to slowly ratchet the shed up the trailer deck. It took some finesse, but we eventually got it positioned perfectly on the front of the trailer. I pulled out of Paco’s yard as carefully as possible but, because of the added weight of the shed, managed to scalp a 4 foot section of sod. At least it was easy to put back. I parked on the street and helped Paco put his fence back together. We kept his sawed-off fence pole in place with some rebar; you’d never know it had been modified. I backed the trailer into my driveway to finish securing the load and took a break for lunch.

Continue reading

Log: June 12-14, 2015

June 15, 2015 / / 5 Comments

Friday

IMG_20150612_185836Came up a little after 6pm with Jake. This will be his first overnight trip to Puckaway, and he’s pretty excited. He slept most of the way up, so I got him situated in my trailer with the Happy Meal I picked up in Ripon on the way. Didn’t take him long to finish, and he was ready to go. We got his work gloves on and gathered up all of his trucks and tractors to play in the yard while I unloaded the truck. Clear skies and upper 60s. Mosquitoes are out, but not terrible. Opened up the trailer windows and turned on the fans to circulate some fresh air and found room in the fridge for the dozens of Gatorade and water bottles I brought up.

IMG_20150612_201050Jake wanted a four wheeler ride, so we took the blue ATV through the short marsh trails and climbed dad’s deer stand. We watched some jets doing maneuvers overhead for a while, which he got a big kick out of. It was approaching 8:00 and I wanted to make a quick run to town before it got too late so we made our way down and parked the ATV. Jake handles ladder climbing really well. On our way in to town, I stopped to get a better look at something huge on the side of the road. Big ol’ snapping turtle. Once I explained that it wouldn’t bite him just for looking at it, Jake came out of the truck to check it out, too. He thought it looked grumpy and dirty and was glad it didn’t want to bite us. Satisfied with our nature encounter, we drove on to Piggly Wiggly and the Dollar General to get some snacks and supplies. I knew we weren’t going to get out of the last store without a toy of some kind, so Jake spent the ride home checking out his new Hot Wheels.

Continue reading

1 … 4 5
Newer posts

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

© 2024 Puckaway Motor Club

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑