OK, so I’m a Rita Coolidge fan. Wanna fight about it?

Wow! Only been about a week since the last post. Seems like more. A whole lot has been going on with a net result of not much. It’s kind of funny how you can feel like you are racing like mad only to look back and figure out that you were spinning your tires the whole time.

It rained. A lot. The roads were finally drying out, the mud settling into nice hard bottoms then it all started over again. My neighbor to the north was out for several days so we spent a day working on “Our Road”. I emptied the back of the truck and off we went to town. A short visit to the concrete plant and 55 of his dollars later saw us heading back out into the great swamp. We discussed at great length where to put the rock, how many loads would be needed and how great it would be once we had licked the muddy road demon once and for all.

Turning onto “Our Road” we were in high hopes right up until the time that we realized that the truck was sitting a good four inches lower with the gravel in back. Since the truck weighed right at 10,000 pounds with the gravel it didn’t hesitate. It bottomed out and was stuck solid.

“Not to worry!” says I. “We’ll shovel the gravel out, fill the hole, the truck will raise and we’ll drive on out.” Pffffffttttt!!!! We shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled even more. We filled the hole in front of the rear tires and in back. However the truck had no intention of raising and stubbornly refused to budge.

Luckily another neighbor from a better behaved road heard us and came to the rescue. A tow rope and 30 seconds of pulling had the truck out enough that continued shoveling worked. We then dumped the remainder of the gravel, pulled through the hole and took a moment to admire out handiwork. Ever see two grown men cry like scared little girls? It ain’t pretty.

You could hardly tell that we had even been there. The hole swallowed up about a cubic yard of gravel and was still hungry. Obviously our plan had fatal flaws.

Here’s a pic of a hole in front of my property. The swamp is actually flowing across the road so widening the road to avoid it isn’t an option. The armchair reaction is easy, put in a culvert and fill it. Ever try to dig a 14 foot long 18 inch wide and deep trench with a shovel? Much less a trench with the swamp running through it. If I hit the lottery this week I’ll buy a front end loader and back hoe then trenches will be easy. Till then we have to figure out how to fill the hole and direct the swamp to someone else to deal with.

Back at the shack I’m getting worried about the Mean Little Bastard. I haven’t seen him on his bar stool for several days so I’m concerned that he may have got tanked and had a wreck. Or picked a fight with a sparrow or some other large bird. If he doesn’t show soon I’ll have to check into getting his picture on a milk carton.

I took several toys up with me this last trip and the neighbor and I spent an afternoon shooting 2x4s, tin cans and some paper. Of note was the Kel Tec PMR30 in 22 magnum. We set up some 2×4 and started blasting away. He shot it and it didn’t move. Since we were only shooting at about 15 yards neither of us could believe he missed it. So we put the guns away and walked out to inspect. He hit it. The FMJ I had in it went through it so fast the 2×4 never even noticed. Next up I loaded some 40 grain polymer head cartridges. When they hit the 2×4 flew in the air decisively. Inspection showed that the polymer head penetrated most of the way and blew the back out of the wood. I never knew the 22 magnum was such a powerful little load.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record again. I cleared, and cleared, and cleared.

I’m wanting to bring in a couple of 20 foot conex boxes but need a flat, level place to put them. I know I will have to bring in some kind of fill but want to have a good place to put it.

My front yard is out of the question. There are so many rotten logs there that it would take a dozer to level it. So I started on the side working north. I believe I’ve found an area which will work with some more clearing and maybe a dump truck of fill.

The driveway in is coming along nicely. I had to widen it three times since I was tired of driving over trees to get in and out. I have a gate planned right on a sharp turn which will give some security once I block the front.

Nights are getting better since I can pretty much heat the shack with a couple of candles plus maybe a can of sterno. One night it got pretty chilly so I got up about 3 am to light the kerosene heater. It took about 15 minutes to get it lit and make sure that all was well then I was ready for bed. When I got back the Boy was in the middle of the bed and not giving up any ground. His attitude was “You left it. I found it. It’s mine now.” I spent the rest of the night asleep in a chair next to the heater.

I’ve decided I want two conex and a 500 gallon propane tank brought in. No need to point out the obvious reasons for that. Thing is I have to get the road up to speed to do it.

The neighbor wants to bring some conex in as well and has offered to help with the cost of fixing the road. This will help greatly. Another neighbor who only gets out about once or twice a year has offered to help which will help. However since his use of the road is very limited in my mind his contribution should be as well. I use it the most so I’ve decided to take the lions share as much as I can.

I was talking to a friend in town today who owns two Chariots of the Gods. DUMP TRUCKS! I worship this guy. OK, anyway, he’s going to give me a hand with this. The nearby interstate is about to be resurfaced soon and that means dump truck loads of asphalt ground up and hauled away. His trucks will be participating in this. Instead of 800 dollars for a load of gravel I may be able to get this asphalt grind up for around 400 dollars a load.

Spreading will be a problem. It will be me, with a shovel, and me with a rake. I’ve told him to expect to deliver about every four days. I’m hoping two loads will do mostly do the four holes which need immediate attention.

Tomorrow I’ll be buying supplies in preparation for a trip out Wednesday. Wednesday morning I’m taking the truck owner out for a first hand look so he can tell me what I need to do. I’ll head back to town, load up from storage then head out for a week on Thursday.

Some pics before closing. This is a shot of my back yard from the balcony. The driveway comes in from the top and you can see that I’ve cut the brush back to the north a good deal. A lot of the bushes/trees left standing will be taken out since I didn’t want to fight the brush cutter since a chain saw is much easier.

Next is the side yard looking west. The open area on the right is where I think I can put the conex boxes. The track is about 90 yards vs the 125 I previously thought. The poles are markers at 25, 50 and 75 yards. Eventually the whole front of the property will have these markers going out as far as I can reasonably see/shoot. I expect though that I won’t have many shots over 100 to 125 yards.

Here’s the front/side yard. You can tell that the ground is a nightmare. There are about 20 rotten logs there waiting to puncture a tire or trip you up. I’ve not pushed it back much since last post so there’s not much change.

Next is the front yard looking slightly west. The track in the middle
heads out to the hog wallow which I haven’t taken a pic of yet. The crooked tree in the middle of the frame in back is another track in waiting.  Oops. You can’t see the crooked cypress can you?  Well imagine you can. I’ll get a pic for next time.

Last is the front yard. Again not much change other than I’ve done some cleaning. The pile of ookum is a bunch of roofing tiles that I’ve not worked up the energy to move. Those things are heavy as heck.

In closing, my bamboo is doing well. I was finally able to upload a pic of the really giant bamboo I had previously thought dead. The pic is about two weeks old but it is already about a foot tall and has grown a lot since then. 

I had a really great post written up last night. Then I tried to upload some pictures to add in. At that point CenturyLink freaked out, couldn’t upload, then everything crashed and I lost everything. Someday there will be war trials and someone from CenturyLink will have to answer for this.

So I’ve continued clearing, burning, planting, painting, tote that barge and lift that bail. My to do list has shrunk a tiny bit but only because I’m refusing to add to it at the present time. Also every time I sit down to update it I usually wake up about 15 minutes later with absolutely no idea why I sat down to begin with.

I’ve begun burning small piles of brush and moving the burn sites around. I started close to the shack and am moving outward with every burn. This helps me see what the ground is like plus gives a dead zone to act as sort of a fire break. It can be tiresome in areas where there are a lot of rotten logs. Unless the logs are saturated from a heavy rain they tend to smolder sometimes for hours after the burn. A strong wind can cause flare ups so having a lot of water on hand is a must. In some areas there are so many logs that you can’t touch the ground for fairly long distances. This is exciting at times since you might be walking along, hit a soft spot then sink a few inches up to about a foot into the rotted wood. I’m concerned about sinking onto some snake that doesn’t share my peaceful views.

A few days ago I was cutting a path and across a pile of logs about three feet high, 12 feet across and about 30 feet long. Crossing it while carrying a 40 pound brush cutter was both a job and an adventure. Thankfully it was so high that there was no brush growing on it. At some point I’ll have to level it and spread the wood pulp around.

I put up a hummingbird feeder then sat back with visions of a flock of buzzing little birds merrily feasting on the free buffet. I figured that as soon as the word got out there would be hundreds of tiny emails zipping around at the speed of light which would hook me up with the hummingbird network. So far, I have one bird. And he’s a mean little bastard.

He stops off for a fill up on his way to work in the morning but really hits the sauce on his way home in the afternoon. He has a favorite “flower” and though he samples all the “flowers” he always returns

to his favorite watering hole. Today he came buzzing in right on schedule. I was really excited to see another one approaching a few seconds later while visions of clouds of happy little buzzing birds began to form. No such luck. Though the newcomer was twice his size he went to war and ran him off. I don’t know what’s in that sauce I mixed up but it must be some kind of hummingbird crack. In the picture he’s on the left sitting on his favorite bar stool.

I’ve been planting more bamboo. The other day I noticed that the giant bamboo I thought dead was putting out shoots. This really excited me since it was very, very expensive. It also grows to about 100 feet tall under ideal conditions and gets 6 to 10 inches in diameter at the base. I’ve read that it can grow several feet a day when conditions are perfect so I’m burning candles for the bamboo conditions gods. I was asked what I would do with bamboo 100 feet
long and I thought “I’ll be the only person I’ve ever known who has a piece of bamboo 100 feet long.” Anyway, I planted it. The first two days it grew nearly a foot and shows no sign of slowing down so I am really glad I didn’t trash it while it looked dead. Meanwhile I’m having a hell of a time uploading pics so there may not be many.

Today I made a run out and took my dresser, several boxes of parts/materials and some dishes. With the second floor dried out I’ve begun to seal and paint it with the idea of turning it into living quarters and the first floor being storage, kitchen and utilities. I’ve moved an outdoor shower way up the to do list after my last week spent out there. After about five days of no shower even the boy doesn’t want to get near me so I better start work ASAP.

This is a pic from the second floor balcony looking west. The track in the upper right hand is a shooting lane which will be widened with a feeder at the end. The track is a little over 100 yards long and about 8 feet wide. As you can tell I’m now able to park my truck next to the shack which really helps when unloading. On the left are some older burn areas. For some reason living in a wooden shack in the swamp surrounded by highly flammable brush has made me paranoid about fire. In this pic you’re looking south toward the swamp. The track is only about 30 yards long and currently ends at a woodpile I just don’t feel like crossing right now. I want to cut all the way to the swamp then widen the track so I have a water view from the second floor. The swamp may be anywhere from 10 feet to 200 yards past the end of the track. You can see more burn areas and remnants of logs. At first I was thinking that there were dozens of rotten logs about. Now I believe it’s hundreds.

Bugs are out in full force. So much so I’ve put up flypaper. The first day the count was one fly and one gnat so I’m not really optimistic about how well it’s going to work. Everything out here seems to bite, sting or burrow. Bumble bees are a real nuisance. They are aggressive and like to challenge you. They also burrow in wood which for someone living in a wooden shanty is a mortal sin. I’ve found a shot shell in a 22 magnum revolver will reduce them to a vaporous cloud so I’ve ordered more shot shells. The only thing that hasn’t bit, stung or tried to enter some orifice is butterflies but I think they may be just working on their strategy. I’m keeping a close eye on them just in case.

Back at the trailer my little greenhouse is starting to pay off. The brown pots on the left are trifoliate orange that are going gang busters. The green pots on the ground are five pecan trees that made it through the winter. The Wendys cups are oak trees from acorns I just pulled up and stuck in a glass. Behind them are several lemon eucalyptus ready to be planted. The seed tray underneath has about 20 rainbow eucalyptus, a few bamboo, and some more trifoliate orange.
Well, CenturyLink really sux tonight so I’m not going to be able to upload any more pics. I’m going to publish this before it freaks out and I lose everything. As usual, my back hurts, my feet stink and I’m dead broke. But hell I’m living the dream. Who wouldn’t want to be me?

Be It Ever So Humble, There’s No Place Like Shack