Misty, and almost ghostly this morning, with thick fog all around.

Everything is heavy and wet, with droplets in the air… the kind you breathe in thickly.  I almost expect to hear the deep, resonant “Whooooounh…” of a foghorn at sea…

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May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

And may you have something for your table to share with family and friends. 

A little corned beef with potatoes and veggies will fit nicely :)

Speaking of potatoes, it’s a good week to head outside and get a few planted in the garden.  With luck that will leave time for another planting this summer.

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But I sort of insisted, after testing the effectiveness of fire on asian grass clumps.    

If you’re curious, fire works very, very well to burn asian grass clumps.   A little too well perhaps.   And when there’s a few close together, it really makes a beautiful, big flaming mass of fiery heat.

The only problem was that the grass and leaves surrounding those flames were a little too dry.  The fire decided to march along the pond and up the hillside a bit.   I wasn’t too concerned at first as I controlled the fire…  I’ve had a bit of experience with fires of all kinds on board ships- mostly getting out of the way of the folks that had to fight them.  But I ended up in a few fire parties, and dealing with fuel fires on deck at times.  Those are downright scary when your only option is to get the fire out as quickly as possible.  

When you’re new to the seafaring life you practice “blind exit drills” in order to learn how to get out of a ship, or to a safe (safer) place.   After being at sea a while, all it takes to renew the vigor of fire safety awareness is a shipboard fire with dark passageways filled with smoke, alarms blaring, smashing your shins on lower bulkhead openings and racing up or down ladderwells to wherever your supposed to go.  It’s an almost alien, surreal experience that opens your eyes to how tenuous life can be multiple decks below the surface in an emergency. 

On an aircraft carrier, with thousands of people on board, there are fire alarms every day.  If it wasn’t a drill it was a real fire somewhere.  Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! Comparment 2-3-4L, port side! Away the fire teams away!” Clang! Clang! Clang!  And on for the next half hour or more with constant updates until the fire is under control.   It’s interesting the first few times you hear it.  Life goes on, the mission goes on, folks are still doing maintenance, training, cooking, planning, eating, flying, and doing what they do to run the ship. 

After a decade or so, you actually sleep through it, marginally aware of a fire taking place somewhere, knowing the tenor of the voice on the 1MC and when you’ll need to get to your station or somewhere else.   You say a quick prayer for the folks doing their jobs (poor bas#&$@s!) as best they can while you scrunch up a pillow over your ears.

But I was just raking the edges of my little grass fire, and looked behind me to note its progress.   I was surprised to see the fire racing quickly ahead, leaping at each new tuft of grass, with a little breeze pushing it on.   “Hmmm,” I thought… “It’s not supposed to do that.   Either it’s going to go out by itself, or it’s going to continue to burn up past the trees and hit the neighbors 40 acre hayfield… and maybe get to the woods, and… Oh, crap!”  

So then I got my exercise for the day by racing a hundred yards up the hillside toward the house and, for the first time in my life, calling nine-one-one.   I’d love to hear that recording; “Um, huh, hah, huh, there’s a fire, hah, huh, hah… near the pond, huh, huh, huh, at my address, huh, hah…”  “Are you all right Sir?”  “Um, hah, yes, sure, but hah, hah, they better come just, hah, hah, in case…”     

I got more exercise as I raced to get the portable watering barrel with the golf cart and fill it up somewhat (I usually always have the water barrel nearby when I use the burn pile, and I’ve never needed it before… murphy’s law!).  The wife and son poke their heads out the door looking at me like I’m crazy.   “What are you doing?”     I explain the situation briefly to them… “What fire?!”   They were watching tv, and didn’t even know while I’m racing all around.  There wasn’t much they could do at that point.  Of course the 9-year old wants to come out then, but nope, I don’t want him to get hurt.

So there I go back to the fire burning along the pond.   Using the hose, the water helped put out most of the fringe that concerned me, especially where two cedar trees stand.  If you’ve ever seen a cedar tree burn it’s an amazing sight.  Intense, fiery, hot and quick!   I didn’t want to see that…

So there I am, finally putting out the last of the fire with smoke billowing up near the pond as the fire chief and a small pumper head down the gravel drive.   A few minutes later my wife walks him out and points down the hillside.    He saunters down as the smoke wisps away, clearing up, and says, “Well, looks like you’ve got it handled, huh?”  followed by, “Dispatch, recall all vehicles…”   

I then apologize profusely for giving them an impromtu fire drill, but share one of my lifetime axioms in terms of safety that, “If you’re in doubt, there’s no doubt!”  So I thought better safe than sorry.   He was very kind, and said he was glad I called if I was concerned.  For some reason they thought our barn was on fire, and started rolling two other big trucks.  Not sure where they got that idea! Honestly I really didn’t expect to get the fire out that quick… took me about 15-20 minutes I guess.  And I always wondered how long it would take the fire trucks to get to us…  so now I know,  it’s a good 20-25 minutes at best.

He mentioned another neighbor down the road having a similar experience the week before on his dairy farm, nearly burning up his field.    He said “We don’t mind coming out and not getting dirty one bit… especially when we even get to go home early!”   I laughed, and could understand that for sure.   We talked a bit more and he described how he conducted controlled burns, but he said he usually has two or three other guys to help him.

Lessons learned:  Don’t assume recently frozen, wet ground is damp enough to not burn… Take that water barrel or fire extinquisher with you every time…   Chop those darn asian grasses down, or burn them in the rain!  :)  And if you think you need the fire department, then you probably do!     

And did you know it’s Smokey Bear’s 65th birthday?  How appropriate.

I was reminded of a few other things that were very practical:  When was the last time you checked your fire alarms?  Or thought about gas cans in the wrong places… or what you might do in case of a fire?  Talked with the kids lately?   Or if your fire extinguishers (if you have any) are still charged up?   Lots more there, but you get the point. I showed the boy around the day after. He was impressed with the size of the area burned.

I also learned that the fire trucks may not be able to get back to our barn very easily.  And that although they don’t carry much water in total on board, they can throw a trash pump in the pond and string hoses a few hundred feet to the house if necessary.  

And that if it takes them that long to get here, and find water, it probably won’t be necessary anyway.   Which is why our insurance rates are a lot higher than folks who live close to a fire hydrant or station.     

That was my big adventure for an afternoon.  I recommend finding other ways to entertain yourself.

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I thought it would be painful to bleed the system, especially with no bleed valve on the cylinder part. Instead I slowly dripped Dot 3 fluid into the tiny fluid port as bubbles popped up until it appeared totally full. That took a while… Then with the help of my wife cracking open the master cylinder reservoir up top, the fluid started flowing out the end of the tube where I could quickly attach it to the slave cylinder. Voila! No air bubbles!

My next move wasn’t so smart… like a knucklehead I wanted to test it out too fast, and pushed the clutch pedal in and heard a “Pop!” noise. Climbing back under the truck I realized it worked exactly like it was supposed to… except since I had not installed the slave cylinder to the transmission yet, when I actuated the clutch it popped the piston out of the cylinder and broke the retaining clip that held it in for easy installation. Arrrgh!

With messy visions of starting over, I took a few deep breaths and with lots of grunting and groaning, I was able to squeeze the piston back in enough to get it in place. Aahhh… I felt lucky that this particular truck had the slave cylinder attached outside the transmission bell housing, or I would have had to do a lot more work taking the transmission apart.

Why do this myself? Partly because I like to, but mostly to try and save some bucks. I spent too much at the dealer a few months ago to fix some fuel system issues, and they said I needed a new starter at the time because it wasn’t starting the truck properly. Heck, it even cost me to have them give me their opinion after nearly an hour of labor charges.  But having them replace the starter would have been hundreds more dollars on top of what I already spent.

Sure it started rough, and sometimes not at all, but for a truck I only use sometimes, I declined their kind offer.   Now however I was in “fix it” mode, so I decided to try a simple fix by replacing the starter solenoid for twenty bucks.  Guess what? That was all it took, and it starts just fine now… go figure.  One would think the dealer could have figured that out… or maybe they did. Makes you wonder.

I also put in a new power window motor since the driver’s side was mostly dead. I say mostly because it had been intermittent for a couple of years and had not worked at all for over 6 months. I swear I didn’t touch it, but that silly window motor magically started working after I bought the new motor!    Here’s a shot of the driver’s door with the panel removed- the window motor is between the outer and inner door frame!  

Replacing the motor seemed like an extravagance as a “nice to have” item, but there’s no other way to open the drivers window without it… and if you’re like me, how can you drive a truck around without hanging your arm out the window for half of the year!?! :)   But that old motor would have stopped working again anyway, so I replaced it.  It was a little painful trying to squeeze my arm inside that door panel to get to the motor.

Ah, but that was another education as I took everything apart, stereo speaker out, etc. and then trying to squish my arm and tools in all kinds of directions to undo the dang thing. It finally dawned on me that the door was put together at the factory with the motor inside, and the bolt locations were marked so it could be replaced easily… duh! 

I finally saw the two tiny dimples (I marked with yellow dots in the first picture) in the door frame to mark where the bolts were attached…. and to show me where to drill holes to get the bolts undone. After that, removing the motor was simple.    Here’s a photo of the old motor- they’re sealed units, but after 17 years it had a lot of rust all around.  Maybe I can use it for something?

How many things in life are like that? We struggle and look and wonder, sometimes wasting a lot of time and energy, and even giving up, simply because we just don’t know any different?   I like to do things myself if I have time, and I don’t mind paying a professional if you can afford it, or really need one.  

But I’ll say one thing… if I’ve got a question or can’t figure something out, the internet is an amazing place to find answers or ideas.  Yeah, some of it’s good, some of it’s pretty bad.  But it’s a place to start.  Lots of folks share their lessons learned and it can really be helpful.   I can’t help but wonder if the pace of human evolution and change is increasing much faster now in proportion to the degree of shared information and ideas…

It does feel good to have the truck running normally again without spending a fortune.   I think it was $56 for the clutch slave cylinder, $20 for the starter solenoid and $49 for the window motor.  Would have been way past $500 at the dealer including labor.  Something to be said about old cars… the new ones just throw computer codes, and look a lot harder to work on. 

So off we went the other day to get a load of straw for the garden.   I’d like to try using it for mulch and keeping the weeds down this year. The boy got to play in someone’s barn for a bit, and then back on our own driveway he tucked himself in up top for a short ride.

Before that night’s rainstorm I had some straw down between the rows to help prevent the soil washing out. We’ll add a bunch more as we go along…  Next week we can get those potatoes and peas in the ground!   Hey, maybe we can use some of that straw to make a scarecrow?!

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They flew at each other and grabbed claws while pinning each other down on the ground and wrestling furiously.   While these two were thrashing about, the third flew up to the box as if to say, “Ha! Ha! I’ve got the box!”  

They were oblivious to anything around them, including me! I walked outside to get some better photos, and they just ignored me even when I came within a couple feet. They were so intent that while still locked together, they flew at each other and locked claws again, falling into a big spirea bush… deep in the middle.   They just stayed there grasping each other like mad!

Finally I said, “Okay guys, now that’s enough! Come out of there!”   Eventually they became aware of me and popped out, flying off a little way to separate perches in an oak tree.  As I went inside, they were flying all around the box again.  

Now there’s a school mascot for you… the “Fighting Bluebirds!”  Just doesn’t sound right does it?   These guys are supposed to be happy, gentle creatures!  I laughed, thinking of our human labels and stereotypes…   they’re just birds, as intent upon their life cycle as the lowly starling or house sparrow… which they also do battle with.  But they’re nice to have around :)  The rites of spring have surely begun.

We have enjoyed a wonderful stretch of warm days and have begun our “spring cleaning.”  I noticed that the frogs have really emerged, and we hear them calling at night.   Everything is more active (including me!) and it’s time to really get ready for the growing season.

Even the woodpeckers are more active!  (That title above got your attention didn’t it!?)   I’m not sure having really active woodpeckers around is always a good thing.  I know they serve a purpose and signal a healthy environment, but the pileated woodpeckers can do enormous damage to a tree in short order. To all outward appearances, this oak tree looks healthy. But it may have insects attacking it inside that we just don’t see and the woodpecker does.

In any event, this hole wasn’t in the tree a few weeks ago, but now it’s huge.  There is a small cavity inside, and that’s probably what the bird is after.   Hopefully the tree will continue to thrive, but when I’ve seen this in the past, the tree has usually died within a couple of years.   We have a few dead trees still standing that I thought would serve to help the woodpeckers with their needs.

I suspect we would lose many of these trees anyway, but I really love our old oak trees.    The cycle of life continues…  Have a great day!

Update: Orin provided a comment about haven taken a video of nesting pileated woodpeckers in 2009. This is great to watch- I had never seen a nesting site for this bird, or how the adults feed their young.

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I never gave much thought to tinitis, or how ringing in the ears could be so distracting, but wow!  It’s almost like that emergency broadcast tone on the radio, playing constantly in one side of your head.   I’ve always protected my hearing, and the thought of having to live all the time with a tone like that constantly would be quite debilitating.  I feel for anyone who suffers from that.   

The Doc said it’s usually from nerve damage from long-term loud noises and there’s not much they can do about it.  People must learn to deal with it over time. The solution?  Just like everything else…   Preventative health care!  Wear ear plugs and such when you use loud machinery, and watch the loud music!  Kids especially these days can really mess up their hearing by playing their music too loud all the time with those ear phones and mp3 players.   I’ve always said that when I’m 80 years old I still want to hear the birds singing in the forest and the the kids telling me stories. Think I’m still on track…

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Aside from that I was bummed this week when I faced the fact that my two hives of bees didn’t make it through winter.   I knew something was wrong last month when I should have seen activity on some warmish days.  I had checked on them in December and they seemed okay.  I took a peek in January and I could tell they were weak… it just didn’t look like a strong population in any hive.   

Last September and October were so cool and wet that the bees barely had a chance to gather food.   I fed them like crazy as long as I could, and even wrapped and insulated the hives, but it was simply not enough.    I remember seeing quite a few of the larvae that died in late September being pushed out of the hive.  That indicated they were not able to increase their population fast enough due to lack of food or some other reason.   So finally I went and took apart the hives a couple days ago.

This might look like live bees gathered around the queen or something, but instead it’s a picture of the last stand the bees made for food at some point.  These are all dead…  and aside from a few hundred dead bees on the bottom board, these were all that were left inside one of the hives.    I never noticed a swarm in late summer, but some may have left the hive early.   And there was never any noticeable disease or mites present.   I really think it was just lack of food and the time to build up their population to keep a strong, viable cluster through winter.   Lesson learned for me… start feeding earlier and don’t count on late summer and early fall to help them build up.  

So it’s like starting over…  and a strange feeling.  I didn’t realize how I had become so used to their activity around the place.  I really miss them. Another local beekeeper lost 15 of 25 hives or so for similar reasons, especially the poor autumn weather.   But on a positive note, I should be filling three hives with bees in a little over a month.  With a little luck and a good warm flowering season, they should ramp up and be fairly strong this year.   My education continues… but never fear! We’ll persevere! Okay my title’s a little corny :)

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On the insect theme, I found a strange pupal shell on the bottom of one of the hives.  I’d love to have seen what emerged from this one… any ideas? Maybe our favorite entomologist can help :)

Other than that, I need to write a little more often. Thanks for coming around now and then to say hello. I’m not going anywhere even if I do slow down at times, and somehow I think this will continue to be a really interesting year for all of us… in a good way. Stay well!

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P.S. Jessica Watson rounded the Cape of Good Hope (Africa) over a week ago and is now continuing from the west across the Indian Ocean east towards Australia. She’s made great progress, yet still has a few months of sailing to go. If you like appetizers, she’s got a “tinned and dried version of nachos” that doesn’t look too bad for being nearly five months at sea!

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The pond is thawing from a lengthy winter freeze.  The last time the water was fully open was late December or early January.

I wandered outside in the middle of the night a couple days ago (I prowl around at night…), and the moon was shining half full in the sky, contrasting with tons of stars.  It was cold, but so refreshing and beautiful, and I’m almost positive that I heard a few frogs calling!   Which is quite remarkable considering it was way below freezing.  But since the daytime temps had warmed up it may have brought a few out already.

The first really nice day we get will bring out tons of little Spring Peepers… and I always enjoy hearing them.  It just speaks of spring to me. Their calls reach their peak around the middle of March in our area.   I posted a short video here with spring peeper’s calling almost two years ago…

I’m ready, and it’s nearly time for onions, potatoes, peas and more.   Time to get the inside chores and projects finished up!

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