Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1176)
Hello Everyone!
A very windy day, A neighboring fire, Hiking in the woods, The storm arrives & Being concerned for the foxes!
Alright, I am starting the writing routine at the beginning of its timeframe this evening... which is good because I have been doing it a bit on the later side of things the last few days. Having that 'window' of time to work within each day sure makes sticking to the routine much easier... but occasionally I wonder if I should narrow it some to see if I can still remain on track with it all.
Last night I finally fell asleep much earlier than I have been lately and got a really good night's rest... and whoa did I need it after doing so much on only four hours of sleep yesterday. I even managed to wake up not all that long after dawn this morning... and was not tempted to fall back to sleep regardless of how cozy I was feeling.
Although the weather was supposed to be kind of nice before that big storm rolled in (which has only just arrived a few hours ago now) the wind had picked up a lot during the interim... and it was far from 'nice' outdoors. Since my lower back has been bothering me the last few days I decided against trying to push it too much... and more or less took the day off.
Before the storm could blow in, I did manage to get the dog bedding swapped out and mop the cabin floor... but that was about all that I accomplished. Hopefully, all the rain will give it a good rinsing because otherwise I will most likely need to wash it all by hand... which yeah is not one of my favorite activities.
Anyways, after all that jazz... I went on a long hike through the woods to see if I could figure out what was going on with a fire on an adjacent property. Generally speaking I try not to be nosy... but the wind was blowing super hard from that direction... and everything was really dry since the rain had yet to arrive.
Eventually I found a spot on the hill (on this property) where I could see the fire itself... and whoa it was quite the blaze. Whoever it is has been doing a lot of land clearing over there recently... and I guess they were burning the 'trash wood' because from the looks of it and the smell... it was a pine fire.
I have no idea why they thought that it was a good idea to burn such a big fire with the kind of wind that was blowing yet alone during the dry (low humidity conditions) but they were doing it nonetheless. I could not quite see how much area around the fire itself they had cleared... but honestly being backed up against the rest of the woods as it was (with that kind of wind combined with the size of the fire) it does not matter how much of a buffer there was in my perspective.
Needless to say I did not go over there and give them any grief over it all... and for all I know they might have had things well in hand and there was no danger of it starting a wildfire. That said though, when it comes to fire... leaving things to chance is not a good frigging approach... but heck for all I know they might have had a brush truck (firetruck) parked nearby... or some other plan in place in case the fire jumped containment... but honestly I doubt that was the case.
Whatever work they have been doing over there has been going on for the last few weeks now... and although there is an old railroad easement between this property and that one... whatever they are doing has been steadily inching closer. Hopefully, it does not mean yet another neighbor (especially one that close) and equally hopefully they are not creating a road (to a deeper part of that property that is currently inaccessible) because they would destroy the large fox habitat located near there in the process.
As I have remarked upon before, I have never had any problems from the foxes here... and seldom even bother to secure the chicken coop at night against them or other predators for that matter. I have yet to see any red foxes but I have seen several gray foxes... which makes me think that is what all the dens are made by but... there might be a combination of both species for all I know.
Well, I think that is all the words that I have in me for this entry. I hope that everyone is doing well and remembers to... look before you leap! Ta ta for now.
I am wishing for some dry weather. We got a few days this week, but the rain moved in last night and is only now beginning to move out. I'm tired of things being soggy, and all of this water does bad things to our septic.
Hopefully your neighbors are just clearing a small spot for themselves and not a big area for agriculture or housing developments or anything crazy like that!
What happens with the septic exactly?
If your septic tank has a concrete lid it may just need new 'tar rope' to create a new seal on it. Most of the time that is why the older ones get water in them. Otherwise the tank may need to be pumped out and possibly patched due to roots breaking it.
Yeah, I am hoping they are just expanding some. Thankfully there is no chance of a housing development going in. Everything here is zoned for agricultural use but I doubt that is what they are up to.
Not the nicest weather, but it does make for great photos 😁
Hope your back will be better soon.
Also... maybe this just shows how little I know.... but I thought all foxes were the orange kind, so that's pretty awesome. 🏹👻
Indeed! That kind of gloomy weather is definitely good for the photo potential. I almost forgot to take one for the day and am glad that I got it when I did because it got very dark outside not long afterwards.
My back is feeling somewhat better today but with all the damp and cold weather everything is feeling a bit achy.
I did not know a whole lot about foxes before moving here and have learned quite a few things about them since doing so. I knew that there were other kinds than the red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) which I have encountered a lot of... but to the best of my recollection the gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) I had never encountered in the wild.
They have been super cool neighbors (as far as foxes go) because they have adapted themselves to using domestic dogs to keep them safe from coyotes which are invasive to the southeast US. I see them, their skat and their dens very nearby... but like I said they leave the chickens alone.
Yeah, I remember the coyotes from the videos you sent! They seem a little bit scary, luckily the dogs are there to keep them away.
The foxes are probably clever enough to know that it isn't a good idea to mess with the chickens.... but that's just a guess.
My brother used to live on a farm, I know they always had a lot of issues with foxes attacking the chickens. That's pretty much all I know about them 😅
Yeah, those coyotes in the videos were I think a bit pissed that I took over their den by moving into that shack. I do not show it in the videos but when I first got there the big room was full of trash and in the center of it they had created a big bowl shape from bedding down in there. It took me a while to figure it all out but eventually I did!
I agree and think the foxes leave the chickens alone because they are clever enough to know it would be a bad idea. 🤠☕👻
😅 I would have been more than a little bit worried about them trying to come and attack me or something. 😶
Animals are awesome! Clever little buggers 🥰
Ha! Well, I was worried about them getting one of the dogs but I do not think that I was ever really worried about them attacking me. It just is not their style. I was also way more concerned about the two legged critters!
Yes they are! 🤠
People burning stuff on their land during hazardous times remind me of this area in Portugal. I prefer to keep my fires inside my woodburner, even more as I am merely renting a house here ( that comes with a one hectare garden ) and I now enough about fire hazard and not enough about making my own outdoor fires to take this risk.
I am enjoying your diary, even more now I turned towards a somewhat similar, or at least off-grid, countryside lifestyle ( again ), as of recently.