Bat-houses and road-trip

One of the benefits of working at a slower pace is that I can pause when I hit a puzzle and sleep on the problem.

Case-in-point:

The bat houses are heavy and mounting them on a pole will be a challenge.

One option was to purchase a 16' commercial 4-by-4 which will weigh in the neighborhood of 75 pounds and mount the bat-houses on it and then install the assembly into the hole. That was viable...until the bat-house(s) came in at 50 pounds.

Another option is to separate the bat-houses by two 2-by-4.0" studs to leave an honest 4", square hole that gloves over the 3.5" square (so call) 4-by-4. Dig the hole, turn the bat-house on its side and slide the post through it horizontally and then tip the bottom of the post into the hole. Fill the hole and maybe throw some concrete in near the top. After the concrete sets, SLIDE the bat-house up the side (remember, the square hole has a half-inch clearance in both directions) and then "set" the height with a cleat to prevent the house from sliding back down.

The challenge of this method is that the sheet metal roof must be installed after the bat-house is elevated because roofs with 4" square holes in them are not very effective.

At this time, the plan is to purchase a commercial pole. It is not an economy to use the local harvested pole if I get hurt. A 16' pole with 3' in the ground gives me 13' and I have ladders that I can work comfortably at that height. 13' is at the bottom end of the 10'-to-25' of the recommendations.

Then I muscle up the roof-less bat-house and slide it over the top using the same "glove" oversized, square-hole discussed in the previous option. The cleat will be installed while the pole is horizontal and waiting to be plopped into the ground.

The sheet-metal roof will be installed after a few "insurance" deck-screws are installed between the house and the pole.

In other news...

Shotgun and I made a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana yesterday to pick up some IBC cubes.

The weather was grand. The trip was uneventful. It took longer to unpack my new ratchet straps than it did to load the cubes into the back of the truck.

We got to Fort Wayne a hour early and goofed around.

Did you know there is a campground in Fort Wayne just south of the Coliseum? They have a dog-park and playground next to the campground and it is all right next to the St Joseph River.

 

That threw me until I got home. There is a St Joseph River in Michigan and a different St Joseph River in Indiana. The headwaters of the Michigan St Joe River is near South Sand Lake in Hillsdale County, Michigan and the headwaters of the Indiana St Joe River is close to Banker Baptist Church in Hillsdale County, Michigan one-half mile to the southeast...

 On the banks of the mighty St Joe River (Indiana)

Indiana is notable for their sycamore trees. We have them in Michigan but they are runty and unhappy-looking compared to the Indiana trees.

Crews have been clearing the invasive, Asian (three species) of honeysuckle from the banks of the river. This is a "before" picture and you can see some cut stumps in the foreground.

This is an "after" picture showing how much better the visibility is with the brush gone. You can see cut brush stacked up along the road in the background.

Close-up of the stacked brush. You can click on the image to embiggen it.

Cutting brush is temporary unless the cut stumps get painted with herbicide and the ecological niche is filled with species with a similar physiology...species like Redbud and Pawpaw and Black Plum, for instance.

Cutting and stacking brush is labor intensive. It is a good job for people who are learning about waking up in the morning and the benefits of up-grading one's skills.

Limp-home mode (speaking of a slower pace)

Shotgun told me about a recent issue he had with his diesel pickup truck. He got a DEF sensor light and the dash told him that he had fifty miles before his truck would revert to "Limp-home mode". That is, the speed would be limited to five-miles-per-hour.

That cause a lot of concern because he was driving back home from Sault Sainte Marie (Canada) at the time and was approximately 300 miles from home.

He reverted to clearing codes and praying and made it home. The next morning the truck would not go more than 5mph and he had to call a tow-truck to get it to the dealership.

Can you imagine trying to evacuate from a hurricane and having your vehicle suddenly refusing to go faster than 5mph...with half of Tampa-St Pete trying to pass you? That would be an epic rat-nest.

All because the NOX sensor signal drifted out-of-range.