Boring Books on Trees (with interesting bits of information)

Any time I have the opportunity to collect books I do so.  Yesterday one of the offices was being cleaned out.  When people retire or change jobs often they leave their library there because they don't expect to use those books any more.  I figure anything that will give me more knowledge that will come in handy in a SHTF situation is worth bringing home.  Some were government publications, others for the general population.  Here's some:
California Forests: Trends,  Problems, and Opportunities - I like the chapter on Forest Damaging Agents: fire, insects, diseases, weather damage, animal damage, people caused damage. Those topics give you things to think about even in your own orchard.  How can you prevent damage?
Pruning Trees:  I can't remember the title but I think that was it.  It was a good book because it showed lots of color photos.  It also provided photos of damage caused to trees by improperly pruning, but then showed ways to try to correct the damage.
Preliminary Guidelines for Managing California's Hardwood Rangelands: - This one is my favorite.  Contents includes Ways to regenerate oaks, Conducting a firewood operation, Is hardwood range management profitable, All about acorns.  There's also really good information on the carrying capacity of the land to support cattle and other animals.

While these may not be the exact types of reference materials you are looking for, they provide a good deal of knowledge.  Although I can tell you things from my experiences it is nice to be able to get other points of view from subject matter experts. 

New Chicken

I'm known as the farmer at my office.  Yesterday at the office someone said that her son was given a chick as a gift.  They kept it for a week and now don't know what to do with it.  She offered it to me, sort of.  She said that someone else said she'd take it but if it was a cockrel then she'd give it back.  I said I'd take it no matter the sex.  She gave it to the other person anyway.  That person brought it home then called me to ask if I thought it would be too cold to leave it in the coop at night.  I had no idea how big it was or if it was feathered out.  I suggested that she put the box she brought it home in into the coop with a hole in the side so the chick could go in and out.  This way it would be warm if it got too cold and it could also have a place to hide if her other chickens were picking on it. 

This morning I got a call asking if I wanted the chicken.  The other person wanted to keep it in the house but her husband said no, he didn't want it at all.  So now it's mine.  It isn't fully feathered and needs to be kept warm for another week.  After that it will be able to go out into the coop.  I will make an area it can run and hide in as it's not going to be accepted by the others for quite a while.  I certainly don't mind getting free chickens.  This one even came with five pounds of food.

Mini caches in the yard

In the Think Geek catalogue they had a hide-a-key holder that was a piece of pvc pipe with a sprinkler head attached.  http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/b7c9/   You take off the sprinkler head, put the key into the pipe, then put the whole thing in the ground in your lawn or planter area.  Nobody would no the difference, other than it looks like a fake sprinkler head. 

I thought that was a great idea but instead of spending the $4.99 on a fake one this is something that can easily be done using the real stuff.  Depending on the size pipe you could put in keys, coins, or anything you could think of.  If you put a real sprinkler head on to match the real ones it would be easy enough to plug it up so no liquid would get inside.

I do know of a crew who was working in the state park clearing trails.  They found a metal pipe that was capped at both ends.  They opened the cap and found 10 gold coins from the 1800s.  Obviously this story wasn't advertised because the park personnel didn't want the general public to tear apart their park looking for more capped pipes. 

Another trip down south and gifts

We just returned from yet another trip to Southern California.  Brother, who lives out of the country, was home.  He's here for a week so the entire family is taking advantage of his visit and had about 20 people over including all my brothers and sisters.  It's wonderful coming from a family where we all like each other.  Brother is the super uncle to all the kids and to many of the adults as well.  He's traveled the world, in fact, in the past two weeks he had Thanksgiving in England, then his birthday in Austria, then went to a gathering at Westminster Abbey last week prior to flying home to Southern California.  Sister-in-law made the comment that most people don't even have one adventure in their life like brother has had and he has them continuously. 

Brother brought gifts.  All the girls got jewelry and shawls.  The shawls were handmade that he picked up while in Afganistan.  The jewelry was a bit over the top.  I'm still scratching my head as to what granddaughter needs with a string of pearls, but I know I'll look spiffy in mine while I'm cleaning out the chicken coop or something of that sort!  Seriously, I'll figure out some time to wear them. 

I gave people a list of gifts I'd like this year.  A 100' hose, a hula hoe, candles, a good pencil sharpener that can be screwed into the wall, and other very practicle items.  I got just about everything on my list and received some gift cards too. 

What gifts did I give?  All practical stuff to put them on the path of preparedness, even if they don't know that's what I had in mind.My niece got a first aid kit.  I told her to keep it in her car.  I gave one to son and to brother-in-law.  Another niece got an exercise ball.  Their entire family is very athletic but this one would rather do indoor activities, so the ball seemed to be the perfect choice.  Grandsons all got sling shots.  I think my daughter is going to kill me!  Mom got a raised garden bed.  Sister got a fruit tree.  Other sister and brother-in-law were commenting on our sleeping bags and blanket liners when they were over at Thanksgiving.  I ordered two of the sleeping bags and liners for them from the same place I got mine: Major Surplus and Supply in Gardenia.  http://www.majorsurplus.com/Army-Digital-Fleece-Sleeping-Bag-P14011.aspx and http://www.majorsurplus.com/Mil-Spec-Oversized-Double-Layer-Sleeping-Bag-P14019C1957.aspx.  The sleeping bag is rated to 10 degrees.  Last winter when we traveled to Colorado and Oklahoma and didn't run the heat in the trailer we slept perfectly using both the fleece as a liner and then the sleeping bag.  This was the most expensive of all the gifts I gave anyone, but these two are the most likely family members that I'm going to be able to convince that they need to prepare for when TSHTF.

This morning, sister, brother-in-law, and I were sitting around the breakfast table talking politics.  Brother-in-law is totally fed up with San Diego.  Sister said when she brought her son to Children's Hospital last week for some treatment that she was in the extreme minority.  She spoke english.  She said most of the signage was in Spanish and she didn't hear anyone speaking english, including staff.  It was almost like she was in a foreign country.  We were discussing how the state can get out of the financial trouble it is in.  Of course, listening to the politicians it's all the fault of the government employees.  We came to a different conclusion.  If the state would stop providing benefits to illegal immigrants, and if they'd require receipts for food purchases on food stamps and outlaw purchases of soda, chips, cookies, etc. the state would be in much better shape.  They are getting very fed up with their living situation.  Good. 

I still have gifts to make and give.  Towels, hats, gloves, and other useful items.  One friend wants me to teach her how to make bread.  Great gift.  Another wants some of my soup recipes.  I'm going to make some recipe cards for her.  4X6 index cards are inexpensive and make great gifts when you write down recipes and include little stories about how the recipe came into the family.  Granddaughter added more to her list today.  She requested buckets, a mop, and dust rags.  Much more practical than her pearls.

Shopping daily

My daughter, son-in-law, and baby are temporarily staying with us.  They used to live in an apartment.  Now they are on our five acres.  Son-in-law has only been to Southern California before.  He didn't realize that there was farmland in California and although he heard we had trees, never really witnessed seeing any. 

For the last couple of days I've had him tag along with me on my travels (except during the time I wrote about on Thursday).  He's seen farms and foothills.  He hasn't been to the timber yet.  That'll come another day.  Yesterday after we left the bug-out-place, where he didn't come walking with me or the equipment operator, we had another prep talk. 

We have had several talks and I keep bringing up things like my storage of supplies.  They don't know about all of it but they think I'm just a hoarder of stuff.  Today I said I just don't like shopping.  I will go to the store once a month or so other than to get fresh milk and bananas.  Otherwise, I have it on hand.  Same goes with other supplies.  Having spent his adulthood in apartments, they've never had more than a couple of days worth of anything on hand.  When I was visiting them right after the baby was born I ended up stocking several weeks worth of food.  They ended up packing it all up and brought it with them when they moved in here.

Son-in-law said that he likes to go out shopping each day.  If he stays home he feels like a hermit.  I told him I'd rather stay home and would prefer to never shop.  After our stop at the fire station I said that we needed to head home because I was hungry and it was almost lunch time.  He noted there was a restaurant (the only one for 15 miles) next to the fire station.  I said yes there is and it's a nice little steak house.  I eat at home.  I've had to explain to daughter and son-in-law that I don't pick up fast food and bring it home for dinner, nor do I eat out very often.  When we travel we will eat out as a treat for the kids, but not every meal.  Son-in-law said they'd rather eat out every day for at least one meal so they can just relax.  I don't get it.

They also like to shop.  They go to the mall almost daily.  We went to the mall last August for granddaughter to get her ears pierced.  Completely different lifestyles are happening in this house!  They bought bottles for the baby.  Baby didn't like those nipples so instead of buying one or two of a different kind they bought a large set of another type of bottle.  They probably spent thirty dollars on it.  Baby didn't like that one either.  They bought yet another full set of bottles.  No, baby still didn't like what they were offering.  (I know you are thinking that the baby will get hungry enough and will eat, but not this baby.  This is the one that was in ICU for her first seven weeks.)  I suggested they warm her bottle a little bit warmer than they have been.  Wow, baby likes the first type after all.  Every day they come back with a new outfit for the baby.  Sure they are cute outfits but so very unnecessary.  I tried to tell them that grandson that I raised for his first four months had half a dozen outfits.  I washed clothes often enough.  So does daughter but they like to buy baby things anyway.  They just like to shop and spend money.  I watch them waste it and dream of all the prep items I could be buying instead.

I am trying to convince them to spend on something of value to the future.  I'm just not getting through.  Their habits are going to be hard for me to change since they don't think they need to change them.  I'm trying to lead by example because I'm wise enough to know that advice offered when it's not wanted is certainly not going to be heeded.

Fixing the road

Today I brought an acquaintance from work out to my bug-out place.  The road is in need of repair and my little tractor isn't heavy duty enough for this job.  The person I brought out can run heavy equipment such as bulldozers, tractors, graders, etc. 

The property can be accessed from two different roads.  The main road is the one that crosses the creek so this road can't be used for a couple of months out of the year.  Actually, you can park the car on the opposite side of the creek and cross the footbridge.  Then you can drive out.  It does mean a mile long walk from the property to the creek crossing but if you don't mind leaving the vehicle unattended in an area where local ner-do-wells hang out, then you are set.  The bug-out place is really in a perfect location if you are well prepared.  You'd have very few visitors during the winter.

There is a second way to get to the property.  It's through a couple of ranches.  I haven't contacted any of those ranchers but may be able to use those roads in an emergency situation.  The second road doesn't come to the front of the property.  It goes to the back end of the property.  This road used to intersect with the main road until a pond overflowed and blew out the culvert.  There's now a hole at the end of that road about 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep.  Therefore the two roads don't intersect.  I was told that it wouldn't be too hard of a fix.  It would cost about two or three hundred dollars for the 36 inch culvert that would need to be 50 or 60 feet long.  I don't know if I want to spend that kind of money doing a major repair on someone else's property.  I'll have to think about it.
 
Much of the main road needs to be graded.  The slope of the road in most places is exactly opposite of what is needed.  Where it should slope in it slopes out.  Where it should slope out it slopes in.  There is down cutting on both sides of the road, in some places the road is getting so narrow that you worry the truck may slip off into the ditch.  In other places the road is flat through a meadow.  Here, if water does pool, it can't be directed off the road because the entire road is downcut into the meadow by six inches.  There is a twelve inch culvert that appears to be working well to direct flow of a seasonal creek.   First I was thinking about pulling the culvert and installing a rolling dip.  This would work but the culvert is doing a good job and is well rocked.  It's just the road is too narrow so in this spot it will need to be widened.

I asked his opinion on this and he said he could clean it all up with a grader.  He busy until after the first of the year, and hopefully we won't have too much more rain until then.  If the road gets too wet he won't be able to work the soil well.  If it's too dry it won't hold.  I am thinking about having him grade a road through the property to go from the back to the front.  It would be good for convenience but on the other hand it would open up the property and make it much less defensible.

I then went to the local fire station and talked to them about the road.  I was hoping that they could possibly help with some of the road repair...wishful thinking since the property isn't on a major fuel break...  Anyway, their engine could easily cross the creek even at its highest flow.  Their issue would be at this culvert because the engine will not fit on the road.  If they went off the road they'd smash the culvert.  That's not their problem as they would be able to make it to any of the back properties. 

I know I have to balance keeping the place private but still making it accessible.  It's a fine line between the two. 

Out in the Woods

Today I got a call that I had to go out into the woods to look at something.  Normally when I go out I spend the time in the woods by myself.  Today I was with four other people including one very well armed peace officer.  While the other three walked off, peace officer and I hung out together. 

We needed the peace officer not because of the violation that we were looking at but because in many places out in the woods violent criminals are hanging out.  They are either growing pot or working in drug labs.  In either case, they are often seen fully armed walking through hilly treed areas near water.  They set booby traps.  They intimidate the locals and are stealth enough that understaffed law enforcement isn’t able to catch them. 

It was a good day out in the woods.  I got to spend time discussing and practicing situational awareness in a possibly dangerous situation.  As we went through the woods higher in elevation than the three others that were with us, we were looking for evidence of footprints, broken branches, and bent over grasses.  There were many rock outcroppings and I searched for hidden shelters or evidence of any human occupation. Fortunately we didn’t come across any. 

One of the things that was done very wrong was the parking.  I left my 4X4 truck at our meeting place around 10 miles away.  The five of us went out in two vehicles.  Both four wheel drive.  We were on dirt roads for about five miles.  The roads for the most part were good enough that only two wheel drive was needed.  This was only because they’ve only had a few inches of rain so far.  Once the rain and snow starts the road would be a muddy slimy mess that even the 4X4 wouldn’t have gotten through.  The vehicle I was riding in had lousy tires, which I commented on.  The driver said that he’s not going to ask for new tires until next year.  I wouldn’t go out in the woods with those tires if the road weren’t good.  He’s going to get stuck somewhere this winter, I can guarantee that.  Anyway, about 1/8 mile before the locked gate the road started to get really slimy.  He put the truck into four wheel drive and turned it around.  The driver said that he didn’t think the other vehicle should come that far and possibly get stuck.  In my opinion the road was slimy but still could have been used by the other vehicle to turn around.

Instead, since the driver thought it would be a bad idea, he had the other vehicle park before getting to the slimy area.  The road was so narrow, with hill slope going up on one side and steeply dropping off on the other side, that the big trucks couldn’t turn around.  There were very few turnouts on that road. 

We got out of the vehicles and walked into the dangerous property leaving the trucks parked in the middle of the road.  The dumb part was that ours was facing going out but the other truck was facing coming in.  If we had to make a quick escape we couldn’t as our route was being blocked by our other vehicle.  I spoke to our peace office about this and he said that he’s able to drive backwards quickly.  I thought that was very arrogant.

We didn’t have any incidents while we were out collecting evidence, but what if we did?  What if we needed to make a quick escape?  The person driving the other truck had to back down a narrow road for almost two miles before he came to a spot wide enough to turn around.  He certainly didn’t go fast and the vehicle I was in was stuck behind it. 

We are taught about safety zones and escape routes but today we were complete failures on following through with what has been taught.   I think I was the only one who even thought about it.  This I think makes it worse because I did think about it and still allowed it to happen.  I was the highest ranking person there but I let those who requested me make the decisions as to not step on their toes.  So today, rather than say we were failures, I need to put the blame solely on me.  I knew better, I pointed it out, but did not insist on doing it right.  Fortunately for us, harvest season is over; the bad guys are gone for a couple of months.