Well, this last 3 days I attempted to get to the island

[George-CT]

for that cache I was telling you about. But the ice just didn't look safe enough from either side. There is a fast current that runs around this island on one side and the other side I approached today looked thick enough but the lake had dropped a lot so along the edges of the island the ice was cracked and it was also steep. Steep enough that I could not get up the other day. so today I had my slip on ice spikes with me, but again, the ice was cracking more and it drops off fast right there so once again, I backed off. there have been quite a few drownings there year from folks going thru the ice and I don't want to add to the unfortunate list of people. Once it frees again, I'll try to get out there. They are saying 12 to 14 inch's of new snow tomorrow night here, so that will raise the lake again, and then cold weather again, back into the single numbers at night.

Spent the rest of the day at a friends farm with him showing me his new hay baler. It does the 800 lb rectangular bales. they are about 3 feet wide and tall and about 7 foot long. He gave me one to feed to play around with and see what I though of them. He handled it with a skid steer and a little 3 spear unit on the front of it that harpoons them to lift them up. If you have the right equipment I can see where it saves a lot of work. Nice hay for sure. He has 200 acres of tended fields so he has a lot of it. I 'll see tomorrow how hard they might be to handle in our barn. 18 of them will feed our two horses for the year.

Well, we are in the low before the storm so might as well enjoy this nice weather, it ends tomorrow night.

George-CT

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

They will weight anywhere from 800 to 1,100 pounds. We use them to feed the cattle. We still use 60 pound square bales to feed the horses.

It sounds like you folks are getting some very cold weather. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[George-CT]

a few pictures of some Geocaches and what is in some of them. Also the log ones are quite popular around here. They can be where there are no logs so kind of stick out, or they can be in and old pine stand where a million of them are. Once you get close, you can still have alot of them to check out. In the shot with me standing down at the shore, people hide them in plain site. these are some of the micros. That pipe clamped above my head with the 2 ends screwed on, is where the micro cache is hidden. Geo-CT

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Evidently you get to keep a few things at some of the caches that you find, right? This really looks like fun. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[George-CT]

they are finding it hard to get help up this way in the summer so they are all going mechanical and letting the equipment do it all. they use them for cows here also and more and more for horse hay. This fella was doing the round bales but found he could store more in the big square bales and again, its all done with machinery.... He can do different sizes and weights but feels these are easy for him to handle and not impossible for others to handle. He choose this size as one will fit in a standard 8 foot pickup bed and even be fine in a 1/2 ton truck like many have. I have a big flat bed trailer and if i was to get a lot of them, and I may next year, I would just load them on the flat bed and back it in the barn and feed from it. That keeps it off the damp ground and I never handle them except to feed them. Jane and I are getting a little tried of doing it ourselves on those hot summer days and climbing up in the loft. All one of us needs to do is get hurt and it puts a pot of pressure on the other. Both of us have bad backs and each year we ended up cripple for a week or 2 after harvest. This seems so far like a solution. I got this one today to see how our horses like it. Its nice stuff and first cutting. Folks here seem to prefer to feed the first cutting to their horses. Cow guys like the second cutting as its got more in it, but perhaps to hot for the horses. Lot of theory's on that up this way. This was a bad hay year around here, it was to wet to get into cut and they lost a lot of the horse hay and it went to cows. Most of the hay here now for horses is coming in from upstate NY or Canada at $4.00 for a 40lb bale. These big square ones he sells he gets 65 bucks for the 800 lb one, first cutting and 85 for second cutting also 800 lbs.

George-CT

 

[George-CT]

I will trade items if I find something I like or a theme item that I can move on. I mostly look for what they call Travel bugs or Geocoins. these are items with a mission and you only take it if your are going to help move it towards its destination.I like those and track them after I move them. I have one from Iraq and it has been all over the world. I just put one out on the move to the Netherlands and its promoting help for diabetics research. Fact if you click here, http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=6c2d78a1-1a51-4de7-a922-9bc69489ecf0 It will take you to where it is now and if you click on About this item it will tell you all about it. I released it in January. I though I had it going there as it was in Boston Logan International Airport, but someone picked it up and took it Utah so it will be awhile before it gets on the right path again. My mother was a diabetic so I have special interest in that.

George-CT

 

[Sunny]

was afraid of falling thru, therefore will not walk on it! This geo looks like a lot of fun! Thus far, my detector has not held my interest very long, but the geocaching might be something to try.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

It is back breaking work. Down here, most of us like the second cutting because most of the weeds or trash will be in the first cutting. Coastal Bermuda is a popular hay down here in South Texas for feeding to horses. The square bale will weigh approximately 60 to 65 pounds and will have about 16 flakes to the bale. It has to be cut and baled just before it gets seeds or it will not be very good for feeding to horses...can cause colic. Some folks will use Alfalfa hay for feeding horses, but you have to be on the look out for Blister Beetles...just a couple will kill a horse. The Alfalfa hay is high in protein and if too much is fed to a horse, they can founder. Coastal Bermuda and Klein Grass hay is popular feed for cattle here in South Texas. Please have a great day! Kelley (Texas)

 

[George-CT]

Click on this link.... http://www.geocaching.com and then type in your zip code. It will show you all the geocaches near you page after page. If you read some of them you may even be able to figure it out with out a GPS. I have on a lot of them. Just sign up, log in and it will give you a map of each one as you look at it, They have encrypted hints also. If your signed in, just click on the hint....
A lot of women do it in this area. Some just like to hike and pick these out to hunt on hikes. Others do the easy ones in rest areas or truck stops or parks...They can be any where. Some are hidden very well, some not so good. Still its fun to find them, you sign the log book, then come home and go that link I gave you can click Found and fill in the blanks. It will keep track of all you find. If you have a car GPS, that will get you very close to the ones near the roads.

George-CT

 

[George-CT]

these swamp yankee's are tighter than the bark on a tree. I know, I are one....so they started baling lighter bales but kept the price the same, then as time went on the bales the got smaller , the price got higher. We used to enjoy it with the kids and all but now its just Jane and I and local kids if we can find one who wants to earn some money. Now the bales run 25 to 40 lbs. Weather here is a problem. Hard to to find 4 nice days in row. A lot of the big farms here sold out so less places to get hay. Mostly the local guys that still have the older baling equipment doing it more for fun or playing weekend farmer. Jane is figuring 800 lbs will feed 2 horses about 3 weeks this time of year plus grain. They don't get much use this time of year here with the ice. Some in the indoor but that gets boring fast. I know our Debbie here, her horses are all ring sour.

Hey I did see a really nice silver Harley out today on the road. He came by us at a decent clip, next thing we see is a cop closing up behind us fast then whip out and pull aheadof him and pull him over. He was moving but not realy fast, maybe 75 with zero traffic and we were doing 60 on a 4 lane. Not a fun way to start the year on your first joy ride of the year. Nice looking bike. LOL, Janes going forget it, still to much sand on the roads........That burst my bubble....

Geo-CT

 

[Sunny]

have a handheld one that Scott has never used. I may get it out. I might just try this.......will let you know!

 

[Royal]

headed back north for a few. I am registered to vote up there and have to go back.

My cashes on Marl Lake have been getting some activity as of late. The cashers seem to be enjoying them, I have 7 on that loop and it is almost 6 mile loop now if they find them all. Good walk.

I just might make a couple of those log cashes but will wait until spring. I don't want them hidden by the snow. I will be a fun winter project.

I am going to have to be back on friday because I am taking a short photography and photoshop class on Sat down here and Mary is being operated on on Monday. I have to take care of the poor little girl in her time of need. She will have a bit of pain so I am stocked up on nerve pills for me

I bought a new GPS for my truck and it is great!! I got a Garmin Nuvi 360. I have a two gig SD card in it and have loaded music and Photography lessons on it too so I can listen to them as I drive

 

[Sunny]

tomorrow myself, trying to find some classes on this camera. I have finished the Guide on it now, and have been experimenting with it a bit. It's one heck of a camera. The only thing that would make it nicer would be if it talked to me and let me know what I am doing wrong in some cases. I have not tried any macro photography yet, but plan to. Be careful driving back and forth and give Mary my best!