Life in Lynch Lair at Wildcat Station

[Greg]

It seems oddly appropriate that one of the birds that we see most often at the bird feeder is......The Nuthatch.

[Greg]

Along with our Sunset Tree, we also had a Woodpecker Tree. The Woodpecker Tree was down in the Swale behind the house. It was probably the tallest tree down in the swale but it had been dead for quite some time. The woodpeckers loved it. They were always drilling away in the tree to store their acorns. That was yesterday. Today the tree has fallen due to the high winds blasting around the house. I'm going to go down later and see where it fell.

[cranefly]

Is it possible the wind blew you over and you're lying on your side, and it only appears, from your orientation, that the woodpecker tree has blown over?

That's happened to me a few times during windy weather, though not with regard to a woodpecker tree but the telephone poles hereabouts.  It's always so embarrassing when the summoned PG&E repair crews show up and have to point out my mistake.

[Greg]

The temperature at the Lair tomorrow is going to be something called "13". Is that a real temperature or am I being punked?

[Drunk Monk]

Keep your woodpecker tree warm...

...what's left of it.

[Greg]

Tree? Am I right fellas?

My property has a small swale running through it with steep banks on each side. If you walk across the Lair, you walk down the hill to the creek and then up the hill on the other side. First thing I did was cut a trail to follow that path. The only problem is that when you walk along the swale at the bottom of the property, a tree had fallen across the creek. To traverse the fallen tree, it was kind of an awkward step. I put rocks on either side of the tree to make stepping over it easier. The step was still kind of a pain. Maeve with her bad stopped following us on that path because she couldn't really get over the log.

When the tree fell, it broke. The roots and the main trunk rested on one steep bank. The upper branches and a thinner bit of the trunk rested on the other. The break was right in the center of the creek. I'd walk over the break a couple times a week. It always bugs.

After months of looking at the break, I came to the conclusion that I could probably cut away the thinner portion with the branches on the north bank and the main trunk would be held in place on the south bank by the roots still in the dirt. Sunday, I got out my trusty chainsaw and went to work. I whittled away at the branches and trunk only getting one good bruise and one good cut on my leg in the process. It pays to stand above what your are cutting rather than below. The cutting took some time, but eventually, I got half of the tree out of the way. I now had a clear path through the swale. Everyone was very appreciative. Except Maeve who still refuses to cross the swale.

Yesterday on our afternoon dog walk we took the path down to the swale only to find the larger part of the trunk on the south bank had rolled down into the swale over night. Time for more cutting.

[Greg]

I'm cutting a trail through an unexplored area of the property. And by cutting a trail, I mean using the weed whacker to get rid of the big weeds and hiking through.

I was right in the middle of a particularly tall section of brush when I realized all the tall thin stalks where Poison Oak without leaves. Good times! No rash as of yet.

[Drunk Monk]

Yikes. Hopefully you were wearing your mask and didn’t breathe any. 

It’s all about technu...

[cranefly]

Ditto what DM said.

BTW, I mowed the lawn a couple days ago.  Only I don't have a mower.

On facebook I saw this crazy photo of a hillside that had been weedwhacked quite effectively.  That inspired me to buy a weedwhacker and try it on the lawn (leaving alone the patches of California poppies).

Not bad.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[thatguy]

Get some goats. They are the greatest of all time at consuming poison oak (and everything else at goat level). There's a fleet, er, flock, currently deployed in Ft. Ord.

--tg

[King Bob]

You can rent goats if you want to save yourself the upkeep on them. Although you could get milk and cheese from them if they were yours...

Rented goats were working in our neighborhood and got loose. Traffic was stopped on The Alameda as 20 or so goats meandered across. Someone coralled them in a fenced driveway. It made the news.

[Greg]

FB is full of lies. After yesterdays harrowing, I am glad to report that I have no rashes. At least not from Poison Oak. No goats were harmed in the clearing of the hillside.

[Drunk Monk]

Good to hear it. I’ve treated more than my share of poison oak at festivals including inhalation. That’s nasty because the anaphylaxis can close the airway quickly. 

Always keep some technu in the Med cabinet.

[Greg]

Whenever I clear Poison Oak or deal with poison oak, I'm reminded of the Boy Scout Jamboree or some outing where they had a big bonfire at the end of the day and the wood used for the fire was covered with Poison Oak. It wasn't pretty.

I also think about the firefighters who probably deal with this problem on the regular fighting brushfires.

[Drunk Monk]

Yup. That's a major hazard. The oils carry on smoke and ash. Gets in the eyes and lungs, which is one of the many reasons firefighters wear masks.

I've dealt with cases resulting from weed whacking. That sends the oils everywhere. There's often some industrial level weed whacking prior to festival shows and as I'm often part of the early bird crew, it's an unpleasant welcome. Mask up!

Another nasty place it can transmit is in the dryer. If there's enough oil residue on your clothes and your detergent isn't strong enough (although most are) it can spread that way. There's a wicked ninja prank of tossing some leaves in the dryer with a victim's underwear. 

It's a tenacious plant.