Juniper Down!
Saturday, June 17th, 2023 01:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio78F and sunny today. I slept in good and late, and now I'm taking my time with the coffee waking up.
Last night I spent a while working on the computer setup in Dad's room...
I happened to have an outlet in the basement, very near the top of the steps, with a good ground, etc, so I ran an extension cord up and around, under the old desk here (where there is no outlet at all) and plugged in a power strip.
The bookcase is old, the shelves can't be moved, and I'm using it as a hutch, but to get things to work, I did have to drill holes for wires to pass through.
In the above picture you can see that the subwoofer is way up on the high shelf above the hutch, next to the ancient family bible.
I figured it would work better up there than down under the desk.
This was the only way to orient the little machine so that I could get to the back and front of it easily, so I put it up on the second shelf.
Power and USB connections are coming through the left. The speaker plug is coming in from the right.
You can see there that the WIFI adapter arrived this morning, so it's plugged in, but I haven't turned on the machine again, because... no monitor.
The microphone is also there, on the left, and the MIDI controller will come later today.
But I will need a USB hub to get everything plugged in. I'm gonna borrow one from upstairs.
Later tonight I'll try to get it online, with this monitor, but the new monitor won't be here until Tuesday.
------------{=0=}------------
3:43PM
Okay, so I got oil and gas into the chipper, and, after flipping some switches, it started on the first pull!
Knowing it would run, I shut it down and went over to cut down the juniper!
I then clipped off all the branches... which took a while.
But now I'm taking a break because, of course, it's 80F, with full sun and zero breeze!
After I cool off, I'm gonna chip the branches!
------------{=0=}------------
4:25PM
Wow!.. it was surprisingly fast and easy!
I mean it did take some time, and I started sweating my ass off in the sun, but branches of this size are a walk in the park!
That's all of them right there!
Next time i'll put a tarp down, because it ejects the chips too low for the wheel barrow.
And here's the trunk, waiting to get cut up into firewood, after this break!
------------{=0=}------------
5:41PM
My stupid ass cut most of the sections too short for the rack!.. but there's the juniper trunk all cut up.
I put all the chips into one of the cans. Not sure if they'll stay here, but I had to get them out of the way.
Then I went to tackle the hackberry sapling growing by the neighbor's old shed... the same tree that broke the fall of the mulberry back there, last fall, protecting their shed.
That, I decided could stay, but I wanted to prune the hell out of it, especially at the bottom, where two other trunks were coming up.
This is what it looks like now... no branches until very high up. I figure it can stay like this, because there's room, and it's not likely to attract bush crickets.
These are the parts that will be cut into firewood.
I was sweating bullets by the end of this, so I'm taking another break, but I'll chip up the branches when I get back out there, and cut up those trunks.
------------{=0=}------------
6:34PM
Okay, just chipped up all the branches from the baby hackberry. No pictures because you get the idea.
I'm sweating bullets again!
This will be a WONDERFUL pastime, in the fall, when there's a breeze and the sun's not so horrendous, but... this is goddamn almost the summer solstice here!
I'm fairly certain that now that I've proven the concept, and cleaned up two areas, I'm not doing this again until it cools down!
After I cool off, I'll get out there and clean up everything.
------------{=0=}------------
8:45PM
Okay, just about 7PM I took Yvette out and hitched her up, then cleaned everything up, and cut up the trunks...
Here's where we are with new firewood.
Still not enough weight to hold it steady in the wind if the cover was on.
The can is now full... still not sure if I wanna keep the stuff in here or not, but there are holes drilled in the bottom to let rainwater out, at least.
This hackberry looks MUCH better now!
If it survives the pruning, especially down at the base, then I'll probably let it stay there.
Because if it's canopy spreads out, it could provide some much needed shade.
Lastly... the view past the firepit with no more juniper!
I cut it so close to the dirt that you can't even tell it was there!
I've been waiting three months to get that damn thing out of the picture!
--<>--
It's great to FINALLY have fired up that chipper and used it!.. after having it sit in the back room for months... always thinking the next weekend would be the one where I used it.
And it's great to have the juniper gone, and that hackberry cleaned up.
But these were two small jobs, and I was dying out there in the sun... with it only being 80F with no humidity.
So... yeah!.. no more of that until fall!
--<>--
And I think now... with the ruts taken care of, and the new grass growing... it is very much time to finish the cap on that fire pit!
I can't really have a fire anyway, with the sprinklers still showering that whole area between 9 and 10PM every night.
But that's something of an unfinished project, so... I need to complete it before moving on to the fence repair, and the hatch door.
So... I'm gonna be getting some 1X4s this week and start work on the form for the castable cement!
And with that, my Saturday entry is done!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Last night I spent a while working on the computer setup in Dad's room...
I happened to have an outlet in the basement, very near the top of the steps, with a good ground, etc, so I ran an extension cord up and around, under the old desk here (where there is no outlet at all) and plugged in a power strip.
The bookcase is old, the shelves can't be moved, and I'm using it as a hutch, but to get things to work, I did have to drill holes for wires to pass through.
In the above picture you can see that the subwoofer is way up on the high shelf above the hutch, next to the ancient family bible.
I figured it would work better up there than down under the desk.
This was the only way to orient the little machine so that I could get to the back and front of it easily, so I put it up on the second shelf.
Power and USB connections are coming through the left. The speaker plug is coming in from the right.
You can see there that the WIFI adapter arrived this morning, so it's plugged in, but I haven't turned on the machine again, because... no monitor.
The microphone is also there, on the left, and the MIDI controller will come later today.
But I will need a USB hub to get everything plugged in. I'm gonna borrow one from upstairs.
Later tonight I'll try to get it online, with this monitor, but the new monitor won't be here until Tuesday.
Okay, so I got oil and gas into the chipper, and, after flipping some switches, it started on the first pull!
Knowing it would run, I shut it down and went over to cut down the juniper!
I then clipped off all the branches... which took a while.
But now I'm taking a break because, of course, it's 80F, with full sun and zero breeze!
After I cool off, I'm gonna chip the branches!
Wow!.. it was surprisingly fast and easy!
I mean it did take some time, and I started sweating my ass off in the sun, but branches of this size are a walk in the park!
That's all of them right there!
Next time i'll put a tarp down, because it ejects the chips too low for the wheel barrow.
And here's the trunk, waiting to get cut up into firewood, after this break!
My stupid ass cut most of the sections too short for the rack!.. but there's the juniper trunk all cut up.
I put all the chips into one of the cans. Not sure if they'll stay here, but I had to get them out of the way.
Then I went to tackle the hackberry sapling growing by the neighbor's old shed... the same tree that broke the fall of the mulberry back there, last fall, protecting their shed.
That, I decided could stay, but I wanted to prune the hell out of it, especially at the bottom, where two other trunks were coming up.
This is what it looks like now... no branches until very high up. I figure it can stay like this, because there's room, and it's not likely to attract bush crickets.
These are the parts that will be cut into firewood.
I was sweating bullets by the end of this, so I'm taking another break, but I'll chip up the branches when I get back out there, and cut up those trunks.
Okay, just chipped up all the branches from the baby hackberry. No pictures because you get the idea.
I'm sweating bullets again!
This will be a WONDERFUL pastime, in the fall, when there's a breeze and the sun's not so horrendous, but... this is goddamn almost the summer solstice here!
I'm fairly certain that now that I've proven the concept, and cleaned up two areas, I'm not doing this again until it cools down!
After I cool off, I'll get out there and clean up everything.
Okay, just about 7PM I took Yvette out and hitched her up, then cleaned everything up, and cut up the trunks...
Here's where we are with new firewood.
Still not enough weight to hold it steady in the wind if the cover was on.
The can is now full... still not sure if I wanna keep the stuff in here or not, but there are holes drilled in the bottom to let rainwater out, at least.
This hackberry looks MUCH better now!
If it survives the pruning, especially down at the base, then I'll probably let it stay there.
Because if it's canopy spreads out, it could provide some much needed shade.
Lastly... the view past the firepit with no more juniper!
I cut it so close to the dirt that you can't even tell it was there!
I've been waiting three months to get that damn thing out of the picture!
It's great to FINALLY have fired up that chipper and used it!.. after having it sit in the back room for months... always thinking the next weekend would be the one where I used it.
And it's great to have the juniper gone, and that hackberry cleaned up.
But these were two small jobs, and I was dying out there in the sun... with it only being 80F with no humidity.
So... yeah!.. no more of that until fall!
And I think now... with the ruts taken care of, and the new grass growing... it is very much time to finish the cap on that fire pit!
I can't really have a fire anyway, with the sprinklers still showering that whole area between 9 and 10PM every night.
But that's something of an unfinished project, so... I need to complete it before moving on to the fence repair, and the hatch door.
So... I'm gonna be getting some 1X4s this week and start work on the form for the castable cement!
And with that, my Saturday entry is done!
°¦}
