pitw's living poor.

[beauanderos]

If you want a free light show, go out of an evening/night when the firefly's are giving er.
It's cloudy tonight and we had a small shower, so at midnight I went four miles North to see if they were out yet. Not in full flare yet but enough to make an hour of my time pass at near light speed as I watched a few hundred make a commercial light show look dim. These things have amazed me for as long as I can remember and I had to chuckle when my now 16 year old showed up to enjoy them too. I'd love to show you pics but that is impossible with my photog skills , seeing them live can not be reproduced anyway as the sounds associated are a part of the experience.
Poor don't mean there ain't wonders to enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCWkzQqO7Ro firefly video

[pitw]

If you want a free light show, go out of an evening/night when the firefly's are giving er.
It's cloudy tonight and we had a small shower, so at midnight I went four miles North to see if they were out yet. Not in full flare yet but enough to make an hour of my time pass at near light speed as I watched a few hundred make a commercial light show look dim. These things have amazed me for as long as I can remember and I had to chuckle when my now 16 year old showed up to enjoy them too. I'd love to show you pics but that is impossible with my photog skills , seeing them live can not be reproduced anyway as the sounds associated are a part of the experience.
Poor don't mean there ain't wonders to enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCWkzQqO7Ro firefly video

Well that sucked.

The uploader has not made this video available in your country.

[pitw]

Well Saturday was a good day to be poor. All my hay was cut by a neighbor with a new discbine and I was going to bale 9 acres behind it with my old square baler. Got up at 5 am to work on my tractor and baler as the temp was to hit the unbelievable high of 86F and at 5 it was 50F and beautiful out. By 11 am I was sweating and had the baler and tractor perfect . Had a nap until 3 and then drove out in the scorching to check to see if the hay were dry. Was shooting at a few gophers when I saw dirt flying 200 yds away . A damb badger was working some gopher holes so I drove over towards him for a look see. He came up at about 20 yds and promptly died for some reason. [I normally don't kill them but he was making a rough field worse. ] By 5 me and Donny decided to try baling and I took off only to make 715 bales without stopping for anything and was done by 8.30. Now on my old tractor you are a lot closer to nature than on the new big stuff and I saw many things. Had a big field mouse run out of a swath and I was cussing the raptors for not getting him when SWOOSH, down came a large hawk to get a snack. On every pass heading orth a very large weasel would go along beside/underneath me, one pass he went along for 200 yards before a large mouse came out and he was other wise entertained. Then on the next pass the varmint was running in front of the front tire when he stopped and I'm sure I ran over his tail, he jumped up on the swath and was giving me an ear full[Wish I coulda heard it over the machine noise] and I had to stop to keep from baling the dumb smuck.
What it looked like while I was baling.


Just as I was done with my square bales [fellow doing the rest of the field did 80 acres while I did 9 ] my old Swedish neighbor showed up in the field. Then the other fellow stopped for fuel and we had a short BS session after which I told them both to come for coffee or whatever but the other baler said he would finish. Me and Rod[old swede] went to sit on the deck while my lad and 5 of his friends he had Tom Sawyered into helping haul the bales got at it. Rod and I sat and watched the other fellow make one bale after which he too came to the deck saying,"What the [L] am I gonna work until 1 am for as no one will notice in 30 years . We BSed until 1 am and it was wonderful. At this time the crew of haulers showed up to eat before their last load and the wife had enough food for a small army which them buggers demolished. I swear the one lad ate his first hot dog by just simply pushing it down his throat while watched laughing. :shock By 2.30 the bales were in the stack and loosely tarped. Us old farts went to bed and the younguns disappeared to show up again at 10am.

In case someone has never seen a badger I got one on film[whatever] yesterday to show you.
https://youtu.be/GIKOZR388Bw

[68Camaro]

Nice story and images, thanks!

[pitw]

Living poor can we fun too. I've been working on a 1984 F150 truck with the 300 6 cylinder and 4 speed manual tranny. I bought it for $500 and had to put a slave cylinder, radiator and 4 new shocks on her.[I had the slave cylinder and rad from another old truck.] Just ordered a new window to be installed for $200.
I was parked at a customers place a couple nights ago when a fellow who works in the patch showed up with his new truck. He was telling me he paid $84,000 for it and I started laughing. He asked what's so funny and I said,"You know I could buy 168 of my trucks for one of his". I ain't exactly a mathematician but somehow I feel he got screwed as his will do nothing but depreciate and mine will hold it's value and maybe go up in a few more years.

[pitw]

Living poor means enjoying the sights for free. As a sprayer operator I've always enjoyed the wildlife I see while working. The family I'm sure thought I was full of BS many times with my stories of strange encounters. Like the time a mule buck got his horns caught up in my boom for a 20 seconds or the time I had a an owl come outta the crop only to fly into the boom where he grabbed ahold and road along for more than a mile. Yesterday my son was spraying and when we got home for supper he came into the house just beeming and started telling a story. Said that just after I drove past him taking the International water truck home, he drove over a flock of Huns that flew up all around him[this is always cool] and one of the little guys got caught between the support cable and boom. Said he had to stop to release him and was just elated. He said he then went into the little field on the next quarter that has a beautiful little pond and a large bull moose was out swimming to cool off. Said he remembered stories of me stopping to watch so he did too . He was amazed at how much water ran off the moose as it walked outta the water . He then saw 6 Mule bucks that he had to raise the boom to keep from hitting a couple. He now knows part of the reason I love my job so much.
If you enjoy your job it isn't work.

[rum3002576]

hows the winter treating you pitw?

[pitw]

hows the winter treating you pitw?

To start with, thanks for asking.
I've spent the winter just healing up from a couple surgery's. Bored most of the time but I've watched animals my whole life and see them doing nothing in order to heal so I figure that is the cheap way of doing things. Read a lot of books I didn't have time before so not all bad. Our oldest boy has six hogs he's raising up to his place and I was informed that me and me tools will be used to help butcher/cut up and cure in a few weeks. Was told I won't be working on the hogs other than observing and suggesting ideas to make it work better.
It ain't as hard to stay in at - 30 this winter as it usually is.
Hope you have a tremendous 2018.

[pitw]

Oldest boy grew hogs this time as I wasn't doing it. Butchered the three we all are gonna eat and they grew good as they weighed 288, 296 and 314 lbs dressed . Now I'm bring the bacons and hams as I seem to have more time than them. Gotta love a pork chop that fills your whole dang plate.

[NotABigDeal]

I love a good pork chop. About any way it's cooked.

Deal

[pitw]

Living poor means learning stuff. Like for instance I have always wondered why we use soy sauce in things like jerky but not in bacon. So I decided to do a brine with soy sauce for about two pounds of bacon while I was doing the rest of the curing. We smoked it all up on Monday and last evening Bobby, ma and I tried it out as we wrapped and cut. If you guys take any advice from this fellow, then don't use soy sauce for brining bacon. This is one lesson we ain't soon to forget as it was awful.

[NotABigDeal]

Hehe. Noted.

Deal

[Treetop]

Im guessing it was to salty with the soy sauce brine? I REALLY need to get into processing my own animals. I have to admit I mostly take them to the types of places that process peoples elk and deer. Ive done a few but I just ended up with all stew meat instead of the types of things those guys can do for me. I havent raised a pig yet, buying them around here is insanely expensive but I hope to eventually. Love your thread. Im a homesteader type also, but you know how to do way more practical things then I do. LOL, most of my focus is on growing trees with little water, and breeding things for low water. I do it well, but in a different world Id be trading you fruit to help me fix the well or whatever. lol.

[pitw]

Tree, a cheap meat grinder and a stuffing horn will allow you to take the stew meat and make sausages. I/we like sausage and there are a zillion recipes for sausage that don't call for soy sauce[as that stuff is now on my pooh list ].
The three pigs our lad grew and took to a butcher shop for his customers cost on average $400 each to do up. Granted these hogs were bigger than what the big meat processing company's want but that is still too much for me. Funny part is one of Bobby's buddy's[that he works with] got to taste test our fresh bacon and he wanted to buy some. I told him to enjoy sex and travel with that idea. Then we discussed him doing it himself and I could see the fear in his eyes. Wife said one of the 4H members was selling butcher hogs for $200, so now it looks like Brad and Bobby will just use my equipment and maybe some know how help to get some great food and some learning on Easter weekend. Wife ain't tickled that I once again found a way to not go to the MIL's for Easter but she young and may get over it .
What is your average rainfall where you are?

[pitw]

This morning I was just headed out the door to go spraying when the phone rang. Was the neighbor lady from 2 miles East and she were some excited. Seems there was a fire going outta control in their yard and headed for the new shop. I'm coming I yelled and ran out screaming at the boys as I went. Fired up the old KW and started backing outta the yard while holding the air brakes controller until it built up enough air so i didn't need too. Took off down the road and found out right away my governor works well in all the gears I hit. Pulled into their yard and Todd

came flying at the truck to attack. Stupid bird. I pulled to a stop as close the fire as possible and the boys had the hose from the trailer pump hooked to the truck and were adding the fire nozzle to the discharge hose too. One pull on the rope got 2,500 gallons of water headed in the right direction to slow the fire. That little blaze was no match for our water and the young couple were happier than pigs in pooh that we came. After watering down everything so he could control his burn for the day we went to see what the [L] was with Todd. Crazy bird likes to chaw on ya while you stare in wonder.





https://youtu.be/Z3G4LqsZU0w

When you live poor you depend on your neighbors and they depend on you. In fact out where I live we look after those we don't even like so we got someone to dislike.LOL

I told you guys about Todd a couple years ago and felt the need to update you after I got a phone call today. He/she spent the first winter in the hen house with the other fowl and last fall he took off with some wild geese. We were all afraid we wouldn't see it again but Linaya called just now to report that Todd came back. Cool as [L] to me.

[natsb88]

I told you guys about Todd a couple years ago and felt the need to update you after I got a phone call today. He/she spent the first winter in the hen house with the other fowl and last fall he took off with some wild geese. We were all afraid we wouldn't see it again but Linaya called just now to report that Todd came back. Cool as [L] to me.

Amazing how birds and fish can travel hundreds or thousands of miles and find their way right back to where they started.

Mice too (on a smaller scale), as my family learned years ago when trying to evict a family of mice from the basement without executing them

[NotABigDeal]

I always look forward to your stories. Thank you and keep 'em coming.

Deal

[Recyclersteve]

I always look forward to your stories. Thank you and keep 'em coming.

Deal

Me too!

[johnbrickner]

I think you could very possibly be the next Louis Bromfield on Malabar Farm which bears repeating if I have already done so.

[pitw]

Not sure who or what "Louis Bromfield on Malabar Farm" was/is, but I thank you all the same. I do have a story I wrote a few years back about cheap entertainment if anyone wants to read it.

[Recyclersteve]

Not sure who or what "Louis Bromfield on Malabar Farm" was/is, but I thank you all the same. I do have a story I wrote a few years back about cheap entertainment if anyone wants to read it.

He pioneered innovative farming techniques and won a Pulitzer Prize.

[pitw]

Not sure who or what "Louis Bromfield on Malabar Farm" was/is, but I thank you all the same. I do have a story I wrote a few years back about cheap entertainment if anyone wants to read it.

He pioneered innovative farming techniques and won a Pulitzer Prize.

Wow a farmer winning a puller prize. Thanks for the info.

A pic of Todd back [if I can even do this. ]

[pitw]

Well we butchered 2 small hogs today and I damb near never split them. The weather dictated that they needed dieing. I was thinking of keeping the sides together and cutting the chops off so it would of been like two chops in one. The youngest lad took the lead on this job and did a wonderful job so I'm proud as [L]. Monday him and I will cut up and start the bring process. He says we are gonna experiment with more sugar on some of the hams.
The one pig had spots[kinda like just off colored] on the liver so granny don't get that one. One of the reasons we like butchering our own is looking at the innards to know if the animal is/was healthy. I'm absolutely positive that butchers/meat departments use way more of an animal than us but I'm also sure we eat pretty well.

[blackrabbit]

I love this thread. Good stuff pitw! I have not been active here in a while but still like to read what is going on at realcent.

[Rosco]

One of My favorite reads

Lots of Smiles