This was the first day in awhile that I had all to myself -- so I planned to take advantage of it. As the temperature was predicted to get to 90, I wanted to get an early start on pulling up a few more posts and fencing. I took out the wheelbarrow, loaded it with the shovel and other things to dig with -- then took a photo of it --
That's the fence post and fencing I was going to pull up -- and behind it is my well house, NOT an outdoor lavatory as one of my friends said. Pulling up the posts is a pain. A friend in Portal, John, said to fill the hole you're digging around the post with water -- that way to soften up the ground to get it out easier. I used the shovel and a pickaxe -- and needed a lot of tiny rest breaks. Eventually I pulled everything up, and now it looks more like a yard --
I'll be weed-whacking the grasses on the edges, to give the snakes less of a place to hide. And yes, I'll be wearing my "snake guards" while I'm doing it...
I try to keep everything organized -- well, someone's gotta do it, and there's just me! So my garage has everything in its place --
The big case on the top shelf to the left is for my 500 f/4 lens -- and the blue thing on the bottom shelf is my Yamaha 2000-watt generator, used with Discovery II, my travel trailer, as a backup for the solar power panels, and when I boondock with no power outlet to plug into. (I thought I could use the generator as a backup power source for Faranuf in case the power went out, but I can't figure out how to plug it into the electrical system without shorting everything. ) And on the other side of the garage --
The cans of wasp/hornet spray are the green cans on the top shelf (they spray up to 27 feet, important when you are facing an angry army of wasps) and my Stihl string trimmer (aka weed whacker) is on the middle shelf. By this time it was around noon, and the clouds had moved in over Cave Creek Canyon --
I took this photo from behind the back of the garage. After relaxing and closing my eyes for a bit, I decided to finish re-treating the front porch -- and had just enough of the treatment left to do the job. Then an early dinner (chicken thighs, rice done in my "new" rice cooker, and a salad) , followed by taking my 500 f/4 lens, and binoculars out to the back porch to watch the evening wildlife activities. I wasn't disappointed. A male Pyrrhuloxia came in --
You can distinguish Pyrrhuloxia from Cardinals, which they superficially resemble, by their larger, "crooked" bill. And there was the return of 2 of the Green-tailed Towhees,which I think are a bit early for this area; I always thought they just winter here --
Having the 500 f/4 with the 1.4x TC is great in this situation, as these birds are at the furthest reaches of the back yard -- about 100 feet from me, and I don't have to disturb them since I have a long lens, and still get good shots. Then the parade of Coues (white-tailed) deer started. Here's Ms. Coues, doing a "Linda Blair" thing, looking backwards as she did in "The Exorcist" --
Then about 15 minutes after her, two male Coues deer visited the water feature and bird seed tray --
The next one had magnificent antlers still covered in velvet --
What a way to end another extraordinary day at Faranuf...
Steve, they make a kit which when installed makes it easy to use your generator to power your home, or you can do as I do, an extension cord from the generator inside to a power strip and then run extension cords to the refridge, freezer and TV, and a lite. There is another way but DO NOT recommend it, make up a special extension cord with male plugs on both ends, plug into generator and then into any wall socket and it will "back power" the system, problem with this is if you should forget to disconnect from the main power system you may end up killing a repairman, only telling about this way of doing it so that if someone tells you how to do it you will be aware of just how dangerous it is.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to pick up a plastic barrel that you can cut in half lenth wise to make a cover for your generator, don't want it inside the garage but should be covered to protect it from the elements.
Enjoy your day.
'Morning Ron -- Thanks for the info! I'll definitely look into that method of using the generator to power some of the house appliances in case of a power outage.
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