stubborn1VT

Not where I'm from. I have cut and split enough of them to know.

I'm fine with the season starting May 1. The only reason to make it earlier is to make it easier to slaughter toms. Also Bill, a pignut hickory is the same tree as a smoothbark hickory or a bitternut hickory in this part of the world. Like many trees, it has more than one name.

Yesterday's forecast called for less than an inch with an inch overnight. By dark we had around 6". It kind of feels like second winter. Anyone else get this "blessing"? It sure looks pretty, but it's just a PITA, especially since the ground isn't frozen. Hopefully it won't stick around long.

Have the grounds checked and look at the fuse box. Electrical sux.

Great pics! p.s. Ya got more free time.

I frost seeded some clover and chicory on a small woods plot. Also tried winter rye and clover on last year's brassica plot. We'll see how that goes. I'm hoping it isn't too wet for the rye and that the crows didn't pick it over too bad. I have no idea what they were eating, but 2 does showed up in that plot before dark yesterday. I have another area I want to frost seed in clover/chicory but I'm running out of seed. Not sure how fast anything is shipping these days.

Hunting is good near the CT river, especially on the NH side. There are some real bruiser bucks in NH, not as many in VT. There is more opportunity for big woods/tracking in NH. Tons of turkeys these days, but I don't see the grouse I used to. Lived in and hunted VT my whole life, in Central Vermont and the Champlain Valley. Northern VT has bigger woods. Bears are much more common. The state is small compared to NY. There is ag in places and big woods in the Green Mountains and Northeast Kingdom. I doubt the deer hunting would compare to what you are used to in NY.

Great post Dino! Thanks for sharing, especially this time of year when the forum is so... sparse.

Congrats Biz. Go SOX!!!

DR walk-behind is self-propelled, but it's still work to turn it. A pull type would probably work for many people. The key would be to mow before stuff got too tall. My BIL tried mowing an overgrown field with a Swisher and it wouldn't do it. I had to come with the Kubota and real brush hog.

I have brush-hogged MANY acres with a DR walk-behind. I worked for the company for about a year. I am not totally sold on the ATV mower. It falls in between a tractor brush-hog and a walk-behind and doesn't do the job as well as either one. I have a 15 year old walk-behind and it has been an amazing machine. It is only 13hp, but can mow down 7' tall reed canary grass and 1" saplings. It works on steep and uneven terrain and in very wet areas. It's a workout to run but it does a great job. It will do things that the tow-behind never could for less money. I drive it up a set of ramps into the back of a pickup. Depending on terrain and vegetation, I can mow 1/4-1/3 of an acre per hour. It really shines on trails, fence lines and on mound systems. Just my .02. I will even come to NY and demonstrate this machine in trade for hunting permission!

When did you plant it?

Totally. People can pile on the Astros all they want, but it's ridiculous to think that the rest of the league wasn't doing something. They won't go after players. They can't afford to open that can of worms and they can't take on the player's union.

Kinda surprised by the Beltran move. I get it, but it didn't really seem necessary to me. What do Mets fans think?

No, because it happens gradually. To over simplify, deer have a summer diet and a winter diet and "summer" and "winter" bacteria to digest these diets. They eat stuff all summer/fall like grass, leaves, corn, apples until they run out. Then they switch to woody browse and the bacteria changes over. Once this happens they can't just go back to eating grass and corn. In the spring, things green up and the deer slowly switch back over to a green diet. You can kill a starving deer in the middle of winter by feeding it corn or hay. Standing corn wouldn't hurt them because the bacteria would stay present in their stomach as long as it was available. Bans on feeding make sense to me, mostly because people can't be trusted to feed the deer continually. In Maine you can get a permit to feed deer, but it has to be approved by the state. They also require that you continue feeding the deer until May. You can see one of these sites on the Youtube. Look up Brownville Food Pantry for Deer.