Picture, if you will, your humble scribe driving west on M-50 to the grain elevator to purchase some asparagus crowns.
I was following a truck that had a fork-truck tucked into the rear. I was impressed that the turn signals on the fork-truck were slaved to the signals of the mother-truck. It was indicating that it was going to turn left off of M-50 and into Eaton Greens subdivision.
As it turned, four, 12' long, 6x6 timbers tumbled off of the deck of the mother-truck completely blocking the eastbound lane of M-50.
Well, that was an accident waiting to happen.
I pulled over, flipped on my hazard lights and parked.
I had the second one moved off the road when a truck pulled over and an itty-bitty woman hopped out. "Need help?" she asked. She was wearing a "MOO-ville" tee shirt, jeans and sneakers.
I suggested that she could move the stringers and strapping while I moved the last two big pieces.
I looked up after dumping the third piece on the grass and she was holding up one end of that last piece. "Let's go!" she encouraged me. "I see some traffic coming".
I hustled on over and grabbed the other end and we tossed that piece beside the other three. She dusted off her hands and hopped back into her truck, all 5'-0" of her. Then she drove off.
I, on the other hand, turned around and drove into the subdivision to find the driver of the truck who lost his load.
He was a big, young guy and pretty obviously from-the-city. I explained that he had lost his load and that I had seen a itty-bitty country-girl move the pieces from the center of M-50 and toss them into somebody's yard (which was absolutely true of the stringers and strapping and partially true for the big pieces).
I can only imagine his surprise when he latched a hold of one of the 6x6s to throw it back onto the deck of his truck. Those pieces weigh about 150 pounds each. Those itty-bitty country-girls are strong!
Worms
After learning that the asparagus crowns would not be ordered until mid-April, I drove over to Southern Belle's to dig a trench. The plan was to bury the corrugated drain tile that carried rain from her gutters away from the foundation.
Quicksilver supervised while I dug.
She also collected earthworms. She had quite a handful in short order.
I suggested that if she wanted to use both hands that she could hold the worms in her mouth. She thought that I was a very funny guy.
It turned out that she had a plan. After collecting a bunch of worms, she went over to the chickens and fed them treats. The chickens and Quicksilver were both delighted.
For my part, I was able to get 50' of tile buried in 69 minutes. I did not complete the back-filling but put enough on it so it wouldn't go floating off if we get rain today. Southern Belle and Handsome Hombre can finish filling.
It also looks like I have a fishing-buddy; a country-girl who likes worms.
LOL, never underestimate a country girl!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid straw and hay bales had a standard weight of 50 lbs for farm bales and 40 lbs for retail bales and farm girls would spend all day stacking them on the hay wagons and then up in the hay loft. Don't think that could happen anymore. ---ken
ReplyDeleteAs an afterthought I doubt if the boys could do it now either.--ken
DeleteRE: 6X6s - few years back I had a late spring project using several pressure treated 8 ft 6X6s; got curious and weighed a couple fresh from the home center - about 88 lbs each. Left them stacked and uncovered on sawhorses on the porch, completely open but well protected from weather and stickered with 2X2 scrap to dry before doing all the precise cutting and careful fitting. After 65 days they were down to 53 lbs. 35 lbs of liquid, that's about 4 gallons in 1.7 cubic feet of wood 5.5 X 5.5 X 96)
ReplyDeleteThis past winter, we had some fence repair needed and had to replace slightly over a dozen of the fence posts. The corners were round 6" dia. posts and you are correct, them buggers are HEAVY ! Especially when carrying over pasture that is uneven. I was breathing strangely making funny HENG - HENG - HENG sounds, body protesting my brain from this decision. But they weren't going to move themselves and I didn't have the patience waiting for someone to move them for me.
ReplyDeleteFarm Chores is Hard Work !