Safe Spaces for Normal folks.

Discussion in 'Back to Basics' started by Thunder5Ranch, Jul 4, 2021.


  1. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    I am thinking most folks skip a very basic thing in their survival and prep plans. 600 years of Food Yep, enough guns and ammo to fight a small war...yep got it covered, all the bug out tech and gizmos yep...... Bad ass bug out vehicle.....sure.

    A nice quiet out of the way area to just walk out to have a seat with a beer or three and watch nature play out all around you and not have a worry or care in the world while in yer safe space. Yeah that seems to be a neglected area that is important for perspective and sanity........ At least for me it is :)

    So over the last few years I have neglected my little hidden in the woods but only a few hundred feet from the cabin safe space and it got REALLY overgrown! Amazing how fast nature reclaims a space when it is not used or maintained!

    So this morning I decided to find move my table and chairs in all of the brush and saplings that were well on their way to fully reclaiming the area. And then clean it up and have that spot where other are welcome as long as they don't bring any problems or baggage in.

    Little Kubota eats right through the under brush and up to about 2" diameter saplings and the bucket grubs out anything the blades can't chew up.
    DSC02313.JPG DSC02314.JPG

    Lighting hit this old Red Oak and blew the crown and half the trunk apart several years ago. Had about 30 feet of trunk that I should have ran through the sawmill but decided it made a better log to just sit on now and then. DSC02316.JPG

    Not a long walk from my office camper. DSC02317.JPG

    Izzapoo and BB are real happy to have that area back to run and hunt in :) DSC02318.JPG

    Almost always a nice breeze from the SW blowing in there. Rule number ONE Check any problems and baggage at the Grass! DSC02319.JPG

    Now I just need to put the picnic table, chairs, humming bird feeders, bird feeders and fire ring back and have my safe space back :) Doesn't get much more peaceful and quiet than watching the birds zip around and the squirrels chase each other around and up and down the trees. LOL my squirrels are way to tame! I was sitting there with a bottle of water one evening and munching on a PBJ and a squirrel runs up my leg, jumps on the table and snags a chunk of my PBJ and sits there in front of me on the table eating it! I don't hunt the squirrels around the Cabin and Camper area as they provide way too much entertainment. North and West in the woods the squirrels are a lot less tame :)

    I figure so many prepper types walk around so serious and act like they have cob inserted sideways is because they never just sit and chill out and enjoy the world. Or maybe they just really are that unhappy naturally or it is just something required to be a serious prepper :) Hey don't get me wrong there is a time and place to be serious and take care or problems and keep yer eye to the sky and the ear to the ground........ but gotta eject cob now and then and just not worry or even think about everything that is wrong, when there is so much right going on in the world at the same time......... just have to take the time to notice and see what is right and you can't do that if yer always focused on everything that is wrong ;)
     
  2. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    I got a plane and ain't afraid to use it! Makes it super nice to just take off and go where ever the wind blows me! No roads all choaked with traffic, no hoard of ferral humans to deal with, and I can stay out as long as the weather doesn't come down on me, or the fuel runs out! That's heaven to me! All the preps in the world can't match a few hours of freedom!
     
  3. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    IMG_1246.JPG I've got one of those just outside of my Travel Trailer at the BOL.
    Squirrels walk right up to your feet, same with some birds. Chipmunks chase each other 'round and 'round the trunk of the pine tree.

    Hummingbirds hover within a couple of feet and check you out. Gambel's Quail wander in in the evenings and clean up the bird seed that the Jays and the Orioles threw from the feeder all day. Cottontails appear that time of day also.

    At night, Nighthawks feed on the moths that are attracted by the UV lit bug zapper. More moths are eaten than zapped. Gray foxes clean up any meat scraps fat and bone. Skunks seem to prefer the leftover skin from any salmon I might eat. So I place those well away.

    And oh yeah, no sirens, no revving engines, squealing tires or street bikes with straight pipes. Only noise is the wind through the pines and Junipers and an occasional high altitude passenger jet. Only other exception when paper targets require perforation.

    And oh yeah T5R, I NEED one of those little tractors
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2021
  4. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    My place was like that 50 years ago.
    Bought into a parcel on a1400 acre ranch that was sub divided when the owners passed and their kids did not want to keep it.

    Now the loud arse over smoked diesel 4x4 toys blast by with no respect for others silence.
    Fools do not understand that rolling smoke just means they are wasting fuel and power suffers.

    This too will pass as their bills will build to a point where the toys will be replaced with work and family.
     
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  5. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    @Thunder5Ranch "Little Kubota eats right through the under brush and up to about 2" diameter saplings and the bucket grubs out anything the blades can't chew up."

    Can you explain what you meant by this, were you using a brush hog or did you have a sawtooth blade (can't remember their name) for the bucket or what? I ask not to be a smart ass but my tractor, also a little Kubota, is arriving this month and wondering how you did it?
     
  6. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    My place only exists in my memories now. My grandfather and I caught fish and swam there, the walk to our place was as peaceful as being there.
     
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  7. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Nope just the standard mower deck LOL push them over with the bucket and slowly east onto the base of the bigger ones let it chew through them. Hehe if you go too fast it will take tension off the spring and throw the belt though :) Kind of a PITA to take the tension spring off, put the belt back on and then put the tension spring back on. It ain't a light weight spring! Made a wire loop and about a foot of wire behind the loop with wood T handle. Can use the longer end of the T handle as a lever to pull the spring and have a free hand to push it down over the hook.

    Razors, UTVs and 4 wheelers here. Some days its all day just back and forth out on the road. Nothing resembling a muffler on any of them. Fortunately its mostly the low end neighbors and they only have gas to run them 2-3 days per month after the welfare deposits are made.
     
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  8. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Have a few of those from my youth :(
     
  9. Dark Wolf

    Dark Wolf Monkey

    Very nice! Looks like a prime location for Hen of the Woods mushrooms!

    DW
     
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  10. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Get more Chantrelles around the South side. Couple old dead standing oaks about 300 yards North East of there that load uo with chicken and hen of the woods. Morels pop up anywhere and everywhere all over the flat part of the woods every spring. But pretty much any place I mow down or bucket scrape like the trails through and around the woods, the next year they are thick with chantrelles. And I am good with that love those orange trumpets, they make a killer mushroom soup and a great stew seasoning dried and ground. Starting to see more of the big sheep head mushrooms in the late fall as a bonus. Over on the West side of the farm we have a stand of elms and willows that load up with oyster mushrooms in the late fall and winter, they always impress me if we get 45-50 degree day in January they pop out all over the dead willows and elms. Not spending too much time walking around the woods in the under brush this year. Worst damn tick year I have ever seen! Just mowing that off I had 20 or so I pulled off the clothes and the wife found 10 stuck to my back and then another 15 on my legs and places we shall not mention and that was with the clothes soaked in DEET. Just never got cold enough for long enough to cull the tick herd last winter :(
     
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  11. Dark Wolf

    Dark Wolf Monkey

    Very interesting! We get few Chantrelles or morels on our place, but quite a bit of HOTW. Have you tried Permethrin on your clothes? I have done that for some time, and it works. But, the best thing I have found so far is Ivermectin, it is sooo nice to not have to deal with ticks, chiggers, or mosquitos!

    DW
     
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  12. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    Looking at the scaley-bark and red oak, I'm guessing we are kind of from the the same latitudes. Nice to see some woodland without a damned bunch of palmetto scrub everywhere.
     
  13. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    LOL I get my ivermectin treatment every Month with the Cattle and Hogs, there is always one that manages to flip the applicator back on me right as I pull the trigger. Could never figure out why I never pull live ticks off of me that have been attached more than a couple of hours. Then Doc asked me after some blood work "Why do you have a high Ivermectin level?" So explained he is like "Well guess we can rule worms and other parasites out ;) " Problem with ivermectin is the ticks have to attach before they die. Skeeters on the other hand won't even bite me. Jury is still out as to whether pour on Hog and Cattle Ivermectin is a good or bad thing for a human, so would NOT recommend that every one run out and buy a applicator and bag of pour on to try out :)

    Best thing I have found to keep them off of me altogether has been painting some diesel fuel on my shoes and pant cuff about six inches up the leg. The good news is that by about the end of July the ticks are pretty much played out here, mainly April through July they are abundant. For areas like my safe space, I will carpet bomb it with Sevin granuals and after 2-3 days it will be a tick free zone!
     
  14. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    38.0933811
     
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  15. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    If you've been taking Ivermectin you probably won't get Coved 19
     
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