Some Forest Work While Waiting For the Rains To Start

Wednesday November 30, 2022 Guerneville CA.

Rain expected

Rain was expected to start this afternoon, so it was a good time to put some nitrogen out so the rain can wash it into the ground.Nitarogen1

 

Since I use a lot of wood chips for mulch, it’s important to add nitrogen as the woodchips tend to use it up while it’s making all the other nutrients decaying.

I put it on the ground around my mandarins and also on the avocado tree on the far lefttrees2

 

Blueberry patch

I also put a good dose of it on my blueberry bushes so, let it rain now.

Forest work

With  the rain coming late this afternoon, I decided to ride up into the hills to do some work.

Throwing rocks

I stopped here and walked up this road throwing rocks off the road. There were lots of them so it took me quite awhile, but now the road is a lot smoother for dirt bike riding.bike3

 

More rocking

Then I rode on up to where I was working on the pipeline trail and walked up this road a ways throwing the rocks off this road which pretty much tired me out.rocks11

 

Enjoying the forest

I walked up the pipeline trail intending to do some work on burying the pipe but I was already pooped from all the rocks I threw off the roads so I went up there and just sat down and enjoyed the forest.bike4

 

I did walk up the trail looking at what I had to do.trail5

 

Fixed a hole in the pipe

I knew there was a hole in the water line from a rodent so I brought up my black tape to seal it up, once I found it.hole6

 

There’s no water pressure in this pipe so I just used the black tape to seal it up.taped7

 

Had an idea

I thought I  had another hole someplace but couldn’t find it so I had an  idea. I’d shut the water off going to the water tanks at these valves just above the tanks to back up the spring water in the black pipe so more water should come out any holes in the pipe and I could find any more holes.valves8

 

Fixed this low spot

I did that and looked for more leaks once the pipe filled up with water, but I didn’t find any more holes, but I did find this  low spot in the pipe so I put some rocks under the pipe to bring it up to level. No deeps are allowed or an air bubble will form in the pipe stopping the water from flowing down into the tanks.pipe9

 

I shoveled enough dirt to bring the pipe up to level at this spot.dirt10

 

Where’s the rain

It was getting late but no rain yet, so I had worked hard enough for the day and rode on up to the hilltops to see where the rain was. It was getting close as I could see it just staring to come down in the hills to the west of me.bike13

 

I thought it might start raining any time but I still had time to go for a ride around the forest a bit so I rode up to this nice spot and enjoyed the day a bit.forest13

 

Headed for home

The rain held off so I was able to take my time as I worked my way home down this trail.trail14

 

The rain is coming but it’s still not raining after dark, but now it’s supposed to start sometime tonight. I’m ready for it.

Nice day.

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Getting More Pipeline Work Done and the Rat Report, Some Success

Tuesday November 29, 2022 Guerneville CA.

Chickens

With the Bobcat prowling around the yard lately the chickens have been penned up  more so they were happy to get out in the yard around noon today.chickens1

 

There’s supposed to be some rain coming in tomorrow so today would be a good day to go up into the hills and get some exercise on burying the pipeline.

Apples

But first I needed an apple to take with me. A couple commenters guessed correctly that these are Granny Smith apples. I got one to eat now and one for later.apples2

 

That was one of the reasons I wanted the little basket for the dirt bike to hold my apples.apple3

 

I got ready to go, but first I hung up my blanket to finish drying.  It was too windy yesterday to do that. I tried but the wind blow it down. Not much wind today.bike4

 

Water tanks

I rode on up to the water tanks as the trial I’m working on burying the water pipes is just above the tanks as I’ve worked my way down to them. The springs where we get our water is about a 1000 feet up the hill, above the tanks.tanks5

 

I parked the dirt bike just above the tanks and walked up the trail stopping to throw this tree I cut down the other day off the trail, then continued on up the trail to where I wanted to work today.tree6

 

This is the black water pipe I want to bury and improve the trail for walking.trail7

 

Work spot

I’d made it down to this spot the other day and will continue making the trail better where the pipe is going.pipe8

 

This is the same spot as above after I widened out the trail and is now ready to bury the pipe when I get to it. Ant ferns I have to dig out, get transplanted below the trail.trail9

 

I took some breaks and continued to work on the trail going through here. There were a few rocks in this part that slowed me down.pipe10

 

Once I got the section I wanted to do today done, I headed on back towards the water tanks where the dirt bike was parked.tanks11

 

It was close to dark when I made it home and there were still a few things I wanted to get done before it got too dark. I wanted to move a couple of my cams around to new spots which I did.

Rat report

When I went by this spot where I have some bait out in the chicken’s pen, I noticed the ring of bait blocks that nothing has touched in months had been moved a couple feet from where I had placed it. And there seemed to be a dead rat in a hole to the top left of it, under the fence.bait12

 

Tomcat bait blocks

This is the first time they have eaten any of the blocks.bait13

 

Expired rat

I think this rat was eating some bait at the avocado tree and was dying and was desperate and that’s why it ate the blocks. I buried it in the hole.rat13

 

What worked and what didn’t work

From watching the rats with the cams I saw that none would eat the blocks and they didn’t go near any bait that was inside a closed container such as a box. What they did eat was smashed blocks that were out in an open container.

I seem to be making some headway with the rats now that I have a better understanding of them.

Sunset

I took a last picture of the sky and went in the house for the day.sunset14

 

Nice day, but not for the rat.

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