MC`s Forest Adventure

[markscastle]

 

[markscastle]

Well got a new upper for my m-16. it is a 16inch chrome molly flat with a full quad rail reaching to the flash hider. Lost a spring trying to install it so have to order a new one. Looked at an old SKS today but couldn't reach an agreement on the price. It was in ok shape but very used. I couldn't figure out the country of manufacture as it only had a star inside a circle and the serial numbers were only 4 digits. It had no other markings except 7.62 x 39 It had a pull out bayonet and the wooden stock had a sling holder in the butt stock like an m1 carbine. I couldn't find anything on the net to identify where it was made but was told it was made in 1951 . It looked like a ww2 age rifle. 10 round mag and two boxes of ammo lowest he would take was $225. I thought $150 was about all it was worth. He also has an AK-47 full auto Russian made rifle he wanted $700 for. Newer plastic folding stock and several 40 round mags. That might be a better deal but not sure I want an illegal full auto AK-47 that isn`t registered.

 

[markscastle]

I got my veggies started today. I need to weed the greenhouses next, Just started when the storm came in and had to stop. Looks like nice weather for awhile. Lots of work to do and I won`t have my son as he just started a new job. I might have some help from him once in awhile and maybe my daughters and my son-in-law can come help with a few of the bigger chores but mostly it will be me this year. I hope the guy who was going to do the survey gets better and I can start the logging operation.

 

[markscastle]

I decided that I`m not cut out for working hard. I went out and bought a gas weed eater and cultivator today instead of starting to hand weed the garden. Cost a little but I`ll be able to use these tools every grow season now and it should make doing the work by myself more productive. I think I should be able to do all the work on things myself but it will be time consuming. I could still use more water storage tanks and after the greenhouses and done and the beds ready it will mostly be a catch up to keep the watering done in the heat of summer and the water caught up. Fall will be the hardest as the time limit to get the medications harvested is tight. If I also want to be set up to do a winter crop them it needs done and replanted fast while it will also be a challenge to keep up the processing, harvest and replanting. I`d like to get a perpetual greenhouse grow going instead of having to depend on one crop a year. All of this takes my time and will also take even more investing in equipment and supplies. I like investing in myself however , rather than say the stock markets, bonds, real-estate per-say. I`m itching to be able to be relocated down on the property by the water where everything I put in will be permanent. I`m noit looking forward to the move however as I`ve been up on the road for awhile now.

 

[markscastle]

Well not sure what I should be working on today. I weed eat`d most of the tall grass around the camp area and half way around the greenhouses yesterday. I could work on the garden area today or I could head to town. I need to bring my rifle in and have some parts replaced, take my truck in and see about having work done on it and take my trash to the dump. I also need to renew my license as I found out it`s expired. I need to make an appointment for an eye check up as well. I still haven`t picked up the 80 clones I bought ether. What I need to do is make a few younger versions of my self when I had more energy and better health. I thought I was doing that when I had kids but it turns out they aren`t able to help me as often as I`d like because of work, my Grand kids, and life. I just can`t seem to keep up these days. Doing a grow all by myself will be a good test to see if I can still do it.

 

[markscastle]

I ended up waiting most of the day for a call back from a gunsmith. I did manage to finish up the weed eating work. The used weed eater runs fine but you have to keep stopping to feed more line by hand. Those bump load things never work right! I`ll hoe the path between rows and then use the cultivator in the beds. I`m going to town today and will be getting some work done on some of my guns. I also will be looking around at water tanks and fertilizers. Want to buy some bagged chicken manure , Rock phosphate and kelp and molasses. Don`t have a lot on my list this time. The next trip to town will be to have work done on my truck and hull out the trash. I plan on leaving it overnight at the shop and having a bunch of stuff done so it will remain reliable to fetch water all season. Like to get a hitch put on it also so I can pull something when needed. Like a equipment trailer or a generator on a trailer, etc. I`m thinking about getting a mid size 4x4 diesel tractor with loader and box scraper. Maybe an old dump truck , water tanks, and generator, more lumber, and so many other things that a hitch will be essential. Right now my water tank is the most important thing for the grow but everything will need to be moved on to the pad at some point when I move down to the creek.

 

[markscastle]

I didn`t get the weeding done around the greenhouses yet, did knock off most of it yesterday. I`ll work on it some more a then get started with the beds. I went to my Dad`s memorial service today and got to put some names to faces on great nephews and such. Lots of people I haven`t seen for many years there. Mom was looking poorly. Skin and bones. She was well bruised up from a fall a few days ago also, but she seemed to be able to remember who everyone was and had a good grasp on things overall. Trying to talk her into coming back to Cali from AZ so she can be near family again. Anyway thinking of making an other trip to town tonight to fuel up before the cost of` summer blend` Gas goes up. I hate that stuff as my generator has a hard time running on it. I really want to go diesel or maybe propane.

 

[markscastle]

I need some input on this idea. I want to use a heater and dehydrator in a separate room and pipe the air/co2 mixture into my three greenhouses , circulating the cooler moist air back into the separate room. This would be a closed off grid system. The idea is to use one oil fired heater , build a cooling system that condenses the water from the air to reuse and adds metered co2 with 12 volts or low amounts of electricity provided by an inverter , batteries with solar/generator system for the winter. I would use only one oil fired heater (no ambers to burn plastic) , co2 controller and fans could be supplementary 12v car fans and/or efficient 115 volt fans. Air would be ducted using insulated ducting . I am having problems with the moister as the dehydrators take to much power. Thinking maybe of circulating water in to radiators one outside to cool the water and one in the venting system to condense the water in the humid air and collect it to use for watering the plants. The idea is low energy use and less water waist. It also can`t be over expensive to build or to complicated to build or operate. I also want to work on a cooling system for summer use that uses the same separate room latter so keep this in mind. If I can build a battery bank ,charge/inverters and use a smaller charge generator to supplement solar panels and charge controller I can save money ! While on batteries it would also make less noise . One of the challenges is being off grid. If I was on grid I could run this same kind of system very stealth. No sound or smells and less power use with some solar input. It could run without solar or with, making short power outages no problem. I also recall a study done by the Swiss showing a separated air conditioned/ CO2 mixture room on a greenhouse to increase growth by 17%. I`m thinking of also growing the scrog style in the greenhouses and using supplemental lighting to increase light time during veg , so extra power would charge the batteries at the same time. I`ll use and refine this system a I go and it will be incorporated with new greenhouses that have automated blackout systems and/or possibly underground bunkers on my property when I move down to the creek. bunkers would not require a blackout system and would be more stealthy but more expensive to put in. They would also require no heating/cooling. They would require more power for HID lighting however. One way to cut costs and keep production up is to grow smaller but year round. One can also pay attention to quality with smaller grows.

 

[markscastle]

Maybe I could incorporate a solar pool heating system , a oil fired or propane water heater and car radiators with 12v fans to expel the heat? Maybe even run some loop water lines in the above ground beds to heat the soil ? If I created enough heat storage I could collect the day time heat for night time when the sun goes down? I could make a more passive system but I don`t think that would work in the winter at my elevation. I don`t want to start from scratch as the greenhouses are already in . Maybe when I move down to the creek. The water stays just above freezing and I could use that to cool the greenhouses in summer alwing me to keep them complete closed systems instead of converting them to tunnels until fall.

 

[markscastle]

What a day. the generator in the motor home will no longer run the AC and it got warm in the sun. I called first thing this morning and got an appointment to take the truck in to the shop and start some of the work it needs then called my kids to set up a ride home. Then I called about my generator that`s been in the shop waiting for ever for parts to come in that were late because of the dock strike. Guess what they came in and the generator will be done by the end of the week. I`ve been putting off having the work done on the truck so I could fetch the generator when it gets done. Now that I have the truck going into the shop it`s getting fixed and low and behold the motorhome generator is breaking down. I slept through 4:20 , well the second one. I was up late running the tumbler while it`s cool in the wee hours of the morning making kief. I have about 1/4 th of the trim done , almost 5 lbs. 0f kief. Going to make pressed hash and ice hash . I still need to finish the weeding in the garden ,I need to fetch water, I need to get stocked up on gas before it goes up in price anymore and is mixed with alcohol (summer blend) , I need to get the work done on the truck , pick up the generator when it`s done, pick up my clones, and I need it all done before I can make a trip down south again. Oh and the property needs to get surveyed as he will most likely get to me this week also! I hear it is likely to rain tomorrow night and the next day so that will cool it down a little. It`s only real warm in the motorhome because it`s in the sun. I want to build a cover, have everything to do so but keep hoping I`ll get to the point I can move down to the creek first. Good thing is my blood sugar is back down to normal levels again. I think that`s because I was up so late consuming MMJ. Made it drop like a rock! I`ve really been out of it because of my Dad`s memorial service the other day. Can`t stop thinking about all the times I had with him. Also how much I`m going to miss him ! Worried about my step mom now as she looks like a skeleton and has dementia. She was brused from head to toe at the memorial from a fall outside but she remembered everyone there and was telling me who some of the little ones were. I never get out anymore because I`m farming so much. I only saw some of the younger members of my family from Facebook. ok Gas tonight, water in the morning while I still have the truck and while it`s being worked on weeding. I`ll have to ether wait to pick up the Honda Generator or get some help and a truck to pick it up if it gets done before I get the truck back. Kief at night and sleep when I can get to it! Got to get my clones in the ground ASAP this year. I sure hope the county code enforcement doesn`t get out this far in the forest this year!

 

[markscastle]

Going to call about work being done on some of my firearms, generator and the surveying of my land today but if nothing else I`ll be weeding my garden today. I stayed up late again running the tumbler and making kief for hash so slept in and still tired. I got to get it, well everything done ASAP. I`ll be picking up my clones soon ! Dam I broke my hoe ! Now I need to run to town again very soon. I planed on going to town tomorrow so I guess I`ll do some housecleaning, personal care and kick back a little, maybe run the tumbler some more tonight. Called and they may have the generator done tomorrow? The surveyor will be calling me tomorrow as well. I can`t call the gunsmith until late this afternoon after he gets off his day job. I just can`t seem to get anything done. I hate delays and will be looking forward to having planting done. Will take pics a few days after planting and post.

 

[markscastle]

Rained last night with quite a light show. getting ready to go to town today and will be picking up a new hoe. There`s more rain I the forecast but that will only make it easier to hoe around the greenhouses. The beds are going to be had weeded first then I`ll ad some ferts and use the cultivator on them to work the manure in. At that point I`ll work on the plastic and then plant the clones. That`s the point I`ll take some pics for the start of this years grow. I`ve decided I`ll plant 60 and if the code enforcement comes out I`ll pull 50 of them and take what they fine me. I`ll be setting up again in Fall for a Winter grow anyway. It`s going to be n other dry year so if they come out late I may have already had to pull much of the garden , depending on water supply.

 

[markscastle]

WOW !!! FEDS Just drove by !!! First time I`ve seen any LEO out this far. Just one USFS Leo in a small while 4x4 truck with double green stripes and red light bar. This is near USFS land but it`s clearly privet property on a unmaintained county dirt road.

 

[markscastle]

I didn`t get a good look at the driver...wonder if it was one of the ones who were growing cannabis on my land when I first came out to look at my property 5 years ago? I know they also hunt in this area in Fall. I`ve never had a problem with them other than having to ask them to find a different sight to grow on.

 

[liketosmoke]

well mark you said it was a ghost town around you and they see that and leave the area,best regards
LTS

 

[markscastle]

Hell I didn`t see them again, they just drove by for some reason. Got back from town and it`s been raining cats and dogs.

 

[SmokesalotofVT]

Hey Hey MC... Condolences about your Father.. Hope all is going well there Other wise.. and the Weather here has been
Aweful as well ..

 

[markscastle]

Thanks SmokesalotofVT, it`s going ok. It`s been more like Mendo weather more than like Butte Co. around here this Spring but I`ve taken advantage of the cooler weather making kief with my tumbler at night. I got the weeding done around the greenhouses and in between the rows now . I`ll be working on the beds and as soon as I get my spare generator back from the shop I`ll work in some ferts with the electric cultivator and be ready to plant clones. always lots of work to do in Spring to get ready to plant !

 

[markscastle]

Truck in the shop today. Haven`t heard back about my survey, generator or guns yet. I did pick up a nice wood splitter last night. The blazer has a slow leek in one tire so going to have to take it into a tire shop. Found out the generator is working fine on the motorhome, just can`t run the AC when it`s charging the batteries up and they are way low. I haven`t been running it as long of stretches but have been running the TV and satellite or stereo a lot. Guess the solar isn`gt charging as well as I`d hoped it would. Maybe the charge controller? I`m really itching to have the garden planted! I got 5 lbs of real nice kief done , wonder what it`s worth just as kief? I have seen pressed hash going for $125 on oz. locally. I still have about 1/2 of my material to run . it`s very slow using a tumbler and costs a fortune in fuel to run the generator to make it. I like using dry ice and a bubble bag the best but it wears me out and the dry ice doesn`t keep. It`s gone by morning even in the freezer! Way to costly to keep running to town for. Anyway I really won`t to keep a bunch for personal use. Especially if I can`t get a good price .

 

[markscastle]

Sorry bout the spelling. spell check must be more stoned than I am! Well maybe not.