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.