Assorted Homestead Stuff

Saturday Skyguy and I worked to repair the fence that surrounds the garden. We'd been using deer netting for the top half of the 8 foot height, and it works great, but over time, ultraviolet radiation weakens the plastic and the weight of honeysuckle vines just rips it apart. So, we pulled all the netting off and since we don't have any more nor can we afford to buy more, we used some old scavenged field fencing for the job. It will keep out the deer just as well, and it will be easier to maintain in the never-ending war with the honeysuckle vines. After that job was finished, we pulled out the chipper shredder and cleaned up some saplings and yard trimmings, adding to and turning the compost bin as we worked. At the end of the day, we went for a 7 mile ride around the loop, the first time this year. We had not worked up for this distance and we were concerned that it might be a bit too much, but as it turned out, we were just fine on the ride, so I suppose that speaks well for our overall conditioning. It is a huge improvement over last year at any rate since it took us a month to be in good enough shape to make it around the loop. There are quite a few hills to pull, and we averaged right at 10 miles per hour, not too shabby for a couple of near-geezers on mountain bikes. I really hope that we will be able to ride for 30 and 40 miles by the end of the summer.

We were going to ride today, just to get in at least one ride this week before the rains set in, but UPS delivered the new fence charger so Skyguy connected the charger, walked the fence line, and made the final adjustments to the lightning arrestors. It is a Cyclops Brute charger, which we think is the best. We had one before, but it did not survive a direct lightning strike. It has an 8 Joule output. Anyway, we both were tired and had aching feet, so we decided not to ride.