"shroomin" 2

Okay, I lied, went out again today with brother hunting mushrooms. Went south instead of north on the old railroad right-of-way. Beautiful day, a bit (read majorly) windy, sweated my ass off, (82 today!), wearing a long sleeved flannel shirt (purple of course!) to attempt to keep the briar scratches to a minimum.
Walked about 450 miles,up and down major hills,saw several items of interest including:
some beautiful wild flowers...
two baby box turtles about the size of a quarter...
a large snake...(thankfully he was making tracks as fast as he could away from me!)
a really cool log...
the cowl section of a late 20's/early 30's car...
a baby deer...
a really large crawdead eco-skeleton...
The one thing we didn't find was...MUSHROOMS!!!

What's up with these woods? Everyone around us is finding tons of mushrooms! Is our woods played out? Mom used to find (literally) hundreds of those suckers here! Or am I so inept that I have tromped every mushroom out there with my big clumsey feet?

I can tell you this much, that if it was Fiesta out there I could spot it from 100 paces!

Who's 'shroomin' Who?

Or perhaps this post should be titled Mother Nature 3-Papa 0!

It's mushroom time here is the Hoosier state! If you have never had these delectible little beauties I recommend that you find some! There is nothing better than fresh fried wild mushrooms. Of course you have to know which ones to pick,some are lethal! I only pick the ones I know that are safe,which is actually a moot point right now. I HAVEN'T MANAGED TO FIND A SINGLE ONE!

Which is actually not surprising. Mom was a major mushroom hunter and could spot them suckers at 50 yards when they were only 1/2" tall and covered with 45 dead leaves! I can only see them if they are three feet tall and I trip over them!

When I would go mushrooming with Mom as a kid,Mom would bring back lots of mushrooms, I would bring back a box turtle. I will never forget Mom having to take off her shirt to put mushrooms in to carry because I refused to let the turtle go!

Brother has been fairly good at spotting them and I get to tag along and be miserable. Don't get me wrong, I love prowling around thru Mother Natures beauty and looking at the wonders of spring but when it comes to actually finding mushrooms I become a total klutz! Bro and I have been out three times so far this spring and haven't found a single mushroom. One of the guys at work sez he has found about 500 so far! (and the meanie won't share!)

I did find some last year so I guess,maybe,my mushroom hunting skills are finally coming forth.( I thought!)

The only things I have brought back to the house this year (so far,shudder) is a fucked up knee,a jammed hip and a nose full of mud!

I think Mother Nature is after me for kidnapping that turtle!

All three times we have been out, I have gotten my foot caught under a root or a limb or something and did face-plants in the dirt! Oh! And I forgot to mention the blackberry briar that whipped back and scored me right in the nuts!

Mother Nature must be really angry with me!

I may forego more ventures into the wild....besides the beer cooler gets heavy after awhile!

The tractors

We used to have a few more,bigger tractors here when we actually farmed this ground, but those and all the useful equipment was sold last year before it was too far gone to use. Scroll back thru the archives to see them.
The only ones we have left are the little ones that do get some use,basically for mowing and puttin' around on.
This is the IH Cub Lo-Boy. I was mistaken in an earlier post,this is a 1967 model. Brother uses this one to mow with, I don't even know how to start it,he does something with the carb before it will start! Bro is an excellent mechanic and he could fix it so it starts normally but I think he leaves it that way to keep anyone else off of it!


This is the one from the 40's, a 1947 IH B Farmall. We have a sickle-bar mower attachment to use on the B to mow the woods and other areas.


Here's the oldest one on the farm, a 1937 Farmall F-20. We don't use it anymore (the motor is locked up). Dad built the front loader bucket on it and it has moved a lot of dirt and junk in it's day!


And here's the baby of the bunch and my playtoy! Tho not technically a farm tractor, we use this little Cub Cadet to pull a trailer around and haul the light stuff. It's pretty handy!

Still Got Junk!

This is just a small part of the inside of the shop. This the area we have to work in if we need to repair something! Unless, of course, we work outside. There are just narrow, meandering paths throughout to get to different areas. Believe it or not we used to be able to fit four cars in here to work on! But that was back when I was just a wee lad, lots of time since for dad to drag home stuff and fill it to the rafters!


There is an ungodly amount of stuff in here, even vintage porn! A 1966 girly calender is still hanging on the wall. (the top right one)


The junk just seems to go on and on forever!


Hmmm...someone must have been shopping!


And then there is the centerpiece of the farm...the old house, front and center, right out by the road for all passers-by to enjoy!


Just a little paint and drywall and she's move-in ready! It even comes with "skylights"! Well I suppose you might want to put down some carpeting too, the hardwood floors don't look like they can be refinished very easily!

Got junk?

WE sure do out at the farm! I have a request from M to see some of the junk out on the farm....so here it is!

This is just one pile (one of many!)next to the shop....

...the shop...

...every available shed is packed to the gills...

...need a combine? We got ya covered whether you need a self-propelled or pull-type, one row corn picker and there is a pull-type bean combine in the background...

...if you need to spread some lime, we've got just the ticket, a 1949 Ford F-8 with a lime spreader bed! Dad bought this truck brand new! I think it needs a bit more than a wax job now tho!

...or if you have the sudden urge to run out and drill some holes in your yard, we have this 1937 Dodge that is set up to drill water wells.

I'll post some more pics later, right now it is getting close to my beddy-bye time....gotta get up early and fix oatmeal for the boys!

Down on the Farm

Wow, I haven't been here in forever!Been busy,busy,busy! And when I haven't been busy I fight with the computer (it wouldn't let me log in to my blog! I gotta get this thing in for an enema!)

The weather is getting better,slooowly,and brother has a bunch of stuff he want's to get done out there. So,of course I'm drafted to help!

We've been trying to get all the old tin nailed back down on the barn before they take off sailing for New Jersey. Sounds simple right? NOT! That old barn wasn't built the sturdiest to start with 40 years ago and time has not been kind to it! So here's brother climbing around on it while I wait on the ground to fetch supplies and carry them up. I do not do heights well (hell I get shakey just standing on a chair to change a light bulb!)So getting me up one that ladder is a major feat and I sure as hell NOT climbing up on that roof! Not only would I be terrorized by the height I'm sure this fat boy would fall right thru and end up impaled on the old corn planter so something!

I do have to admit that having to throw the hammer at brother when he dropped it off the roof was fun!

And we had to start mowing as soon as the first blade of grass popped up. We've mowed twice now and I swear it doesn't look any different that before mowing! If it wasn't for the mower's tire tracks I wouldn't had been able to tell where I had mowed and where I hadn't!

But before we could even do that we had to get the mowers up-to-snuff for the season. Since I am such a mechanical wiz,(hell, one of the mowers I don't even know how to start! It's an IH Cub Lo-Boy built sometime in the 50's and you have to go thru some kind of procedure to start it!) again I am the parts,tool,rag handler.

Also we are trying to make some sense of one area of the shop so we will have space to work on stuff other than out in the yard (not fun in the rain!)
So we move stuff (junk) from one side to the other. We can't get rid of anything,Dad would have a cow! Actually he is bitchy just because we moved some things, but he is bitchy about everything so what's new?

We need a storage building to put stuff in before all of it is ruined. So many of the things in the shop already are shot and now worthless because of dampness and neglect. We'd like to save what we can before it is all worthless and fit only to be bull-dozed into a big hole. There are several welders,generators and lots of tools and other stuff. And lots of just pure junk too. Every building on the farm is stuff to the rafters with junk (anyone need some worn out tires? I could set you up with a bunch!)

Ok, it's about bedtime,hopefully I can get back in here and blog some more another time. Good-nite!