"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
03/30/2020 at 09:01 • Filed to: None
3
11|
"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
03/30/2020 at 09:01 • Filed to: None | 3
| 11 |
This weekend was a pretty good one, by most standards. I spent the morning Saturday building a fort with my kids, using a pile of 6'-8' long, 1" - 3" diameter pieces leftover from some tree clearing I’m doing. A bucket of nails and a few hours of messing around, and we had a sort-of lean-to shelter with a tarp roof, pallet floor.
Here’s the lead architect reviewing his plans pre-construction:
I didn’t really take pictures mid-construction, so here you go:
This worked out nicely because on Sunday it rained, kind of a lot. So we had a fire about 30' from the shelter and went back and forth from the fire (warm, but you got rained on) to the fort (dry, but cold - it was 38 degrees). Smores were had, in the shelter of the fort. It was lovely.
Oh and we also set a tree on fire that was near the fire. It’s a beech, and mostly dead. There are some large branches growing out of the top and sides that are healthy-ish, but the majority of the tree is rotten and quite dry. Exposed to a hot column of flame for a long enough time, we noticed smoke coming from near the top, on the opposite side from where the fire was. The whole tree was reaching a kind of flash point as smoke poured out of the entire rotten/dryrot side, and then it started to really flare up.
Now, it was raining, and this was entirely legal and safe. There was NO danger of a forest fire of any sort, the ground is saturated and again, it was raining and not windy. However, I didn’t want burning chunks falling down on my kids, so I grabbed a hose and put it out. Still, it was cool to watch develop!
The pile of sticks next to the tree doesn’t really tell the tale of how hot that fire really was.
I was feeding it piles of sticks no more than 2" in diameter, by the arm-full, for 2 hours straight. It was a mix of dry and green brush, but it was quite hot for a long time.
Oh I also got out for a mountain bike ride on Saturday with one friend. It’s a great way to get out, get exercise, and have an adult conversation, all without being too close to each other. The trails were peppered with icy spots - some on sharp corners! - but really pretty good for March. Mostly dirt, no branches down, and very little mud, amazingly. It felt amazing to get out on the bike. And unlike in some places I’ve heard about, it wasn’t overcrowded with people trying to get outside and away from other people. I guess I’m lucky to live in a sparsely populated area to begin with.
I hope you all are doing okay. Tell me something about your weekend, if you like. I’m working from home again today while also trying to teach Kindergarten and 1st grade. It’s... challenging.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> functionoverfashion
03/30/2020 at 09:17 |
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The shelter reminds me of Scout camp in Arkansas. They had army tents on wood platforms for everyone to sleep in. It rained for the first three days, so those platforms were essential for keeping everyone out of the muck.
It’s hard to beat a good fire when it’s cold and wet.
sony1492
> functionoverfashion
03/30/2020 at 09:20 |
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Fire is a good family activity
facw
> functionoverfashion
03/30/2020 at 09:21 |
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But how’s Generalissimo Francisco Franco?
Grindintosecond
> functionoverfashion
03/30/2020 at 10:13 |
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Is he wearing a jackalope hat? That's cool
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functionoverfashion
> Grindintosecond
03/30/2020 at 10:55 |
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Yeah, it’s one of the quasi-logos of Stio, which is an outdoor clothing company based in Jackson, WY. I have a pro deal with them, so I have a lot of stuff with jackalopes and pinecones (their other quasi-logo) on it.
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functionoverfashion
> facw
03/30/2020 at 10:55 |
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what did I miss
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facw
> functionoverfashion
03/30/2020 at 11:20 |
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Just the most famous W eekend U pdat e: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalissimo_Francisco_Franco_is_still_dead
Don’t think I can blame you for not getting a joke that’s older than I am though.
DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
> functionoverfashion
03/30/2020 at 11:38 |
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You live in a really beautiful place. I’ve never been one for wanting to live too far outside of a city, but with recent events...I’d say your situation is pretty ideal.
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functionoverfashion
> facw
03/30/2020 at 13:41 |
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Oh man, I love me some Weekend Update and somehow I did not know about that. It’s older than me too, but not by that much.
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functionoverfashion
> DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back
03/30/2020 at 13:44 |
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Thanks. Yeah, over the weekend we definitely remarked how lucky we are. I could spend a month just working on my own land, making trails and cleaning up brush, cutting trees, harvesting firewood. When the land dries out a little I’ll be using my truck to haul some firewood, too. That should be fun because the terrain is, as you can see, rugged. I hope I don’t get horrendously stuck at the bottom of the hill. But then, that’ll be a project in itself!
gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
> functionoverfashion
03/31/2020 at 13:44 |
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My parents had problems with flying squi rrels and my grandfather lit some papertowel/newspapers in a hole in a tree. amazing how smoke (and then squirrels) then popped out of 4 diffenent holes.
about 15 years later my dad and I finally cut it down. The smell of 2 decades of animals deficating inside it was horrendous.