jamesg1213

Guitarhacker
Quick update..... I went out to the farm yesterday to do some exploring in the woods.....
 
2 things of note:
 
1. It's really thick out there. I used a machete quite a bit. and I felt like Hansel and Gretel .... but I didn't use bread crumbs... I used marking tape.... bright pink.   It took me an hour and a half and still hadn't reached the stream at the halfway point in the back 20. I could see the hardwood trees on the stream...   When I got home, I found a tick on me.... so next time... it's some DEET infused bug spray when I'm bush-hogging the property line.
 
2.  Look at the picture of the house in the OP.... see that vine to the left of the door with the christmas light strand in it?  Well.........spring has sprung and it's starting to pop out leaves..... oh yeah... it's freaking poison ivy.  Who in their right mind grows poison ivy up the side of their house?  Removing THAT is going to be fun.  I might have to get one of those hazardous waste clean-up suits, full face and hand protection and then tackle it. That's the last thing I need.

 
You could cut it through with loppers or a hedgetrimmer at ground level and again about 3ft above. Everything above the cut will die and turn brown then it would be easier to handle. Then spray the roots with something nasty.

Now, that sounds like professional advice!!
 
Take a lot of precaution Herb.......you don't want to mess with that stuff (apparently, (back in the day) my grandmother had died from poison ivy).

The first of the new owner surprises!  
 
What's next we all wonder... 

It's probably best if we don't mention snakes...

Hi,
 
Our lake house has a small nest of snakes under the main cabin ... we probably could get them out of their with gasoline (on a rainy day!) and/or some sort of bad solution chemical, but they are really small and harmless and the catfish make meals out of them when they wonder into the water, or the bigger fowl (eagles, cranes, seagulls) ... but in the end, some folks get fidgety, but I have never seen, in 25 years a single of one of these climb up on the deck above them!

I treated the poison ivy with some heavy duty monsanto brand weed killer.... let it work for a few days....
 
Since we're planning to gut the cabin inside and out....I might just leave it alone until the current resident moves out at the end of June.... then rip the siding off without messing with the vines. Throw it right into the waste industries dumpster that I plan on bringing in. I believe it's cinderblock under the siding. 

Today, I moved half a ton of rock to fill the potholes in the drive.... got more to do tomorrow.... including spraying the shelter with wood borer bee killer.... they were having a freaking orgy down there today..... my German shepherd would have gone nuts.... she loves to snap them out of the air.... and amazingly she hasn't gotten stung yet.  I practically cry from laughing watching her catch those things.

Grats!  Fantastic paint you get where you are ;-)  I'll have to get me some of that.
 
 

dcumpian

Guitarhacker

eph221
Kill Branch stream looks like a sewer, keep  the kids away from that!

No.... it's not... it's got weak tea colored water which is generally pretty clean stuff.... and it flows year round at a decent flow rate so it's as clean as a stream gets in eastern NC. You can see the bottom in most parts. It's part of the Neuse river water shed and has a 50 foot buffer on both sides.... to protect it.  No cutting of large trees or digging/excavating in that buffer.  We can thin the underbrush but that's the extent of it.  I plan to hike back to the second stream tomorrow and have a look at it. It flows into the one in my pic.

I live close to the Mattaponni River here in the Old Dominion and it has that same color. I believe it is natural from dead vegetation. The Mattaponni is listed as one of the cleanest rivers in the country, which would be why the Corps of Engineers want to dam it up and pipe it down to Norfolk for drinking.
 
Regards,
Dan

If they're big enough, I'd be highly tempted to set up a water turbine for cheap power. If not I'd get with a landscaper and create a little dam/waterwheel and say good by to the grid!

soens

dcumpian

Guitarhacker

eph221
Kill Branch stream looks like a sewer, keep  the kids away from that!

No.... it's not... it's got weak tea colored water which is generally pretty clean stuff.... and it flows year round at a decent flow rate so it's as clean as a stream gets in eastern NC. You can see the bottom in most parts. It's part of the Neuse river water shed and has a 50 foot buffer on both sides.... to protect it.  No cutting of large trees or digging/excavating in that buffer.  We can thin the underbrush but that's the extent of it.  I plan to hike back to the second stream tomorrow and have a look at it. It flows into the one in my pic.

I live close to the Mattaponni River here in the Old Dominion and it has that same color. I believe it is natural from dead vegetation. The Mattaponni is listed as one of the cleanest rivers in the country, which would be why the Corps of Engineers want to dam it up and pipe it down to Norfolk for drinking.
 
Regards,
Dan

If they're big enough, I'd be highly tempted to set up a water turbine for cheap power. If not I'd get with a landscaper and create a little dam/waterwheel and say good by to the grid!

The rivers here are tied to the Chesapeake Bay, so they flow in and out with the tides and aren't particularly quick about it. Not sure how much useful energy there is there...
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Guitarhacker
I treated the poison ivy with some heavy duty monsanto brand weed killer.... let it work for a few days....
 
Since we're planning to gut the cabin inside and out....I might just leave it alone until the current resident moves out at the end of June.... then rip the siding off without messing with the vines. Throw it right into the waste industries dumpster that I plan on bringing in. I believe it's cinderblock under the siding. 

Today, I moved half a ton of rock to fill the potholes in the drive.... got more to do tomorrow.... including spraying the shelter with wood borer bee killer.... they were having a freaking orgy down there today..... my German shepherd would have gone nuts.... she loves to snap them out of the air.... and amazingly she hasn't gotten stung yet.  I practically cry from laughing watching her catch those things.

Herb,
 
What is the name of the wood borer bee killer you are sing? My deck is starting to look a bit swiss...
 
Regards,
Dan

Guitarhacker
I treated the poison ivy with some heavy duty monsanto brand weed killer....

Monsanto's consumer food products will kill that poison ivy even faster......