Weed free propane tank
I started a project a few days ago to clear out the weeds around my propane tank. Winter is coming, and the weeds were blocking not only my view (and access over the fence) to the tank, but also would make it difficult for the fuel company to reach my tank and deliver the propane. The photo above shows the results of the first day's work. It turned out to be easier and a lot more fun than I had anticipated. So I'm going to try to do the whole fenceline.
As a country widow, I never want to run out of propane. So my rule is to hop the fence once a week (usually on Friday) and check the gauge and record it on my calendar. When it reaches 20% I call the propane company. Or sometimes they top it off when they're in the area. If I can afford it, I'll pre-buy a few hundred gallons when the price is low, an option the propane company usually offers in late summer.
Yesterday I worked on another section of fenceline, along the east side of the property heading north. It's good upper body exercise. I try to walk a mile a day, up the field road, so with clearing the fenceline I get a total body workout... free! This concept is something Mister D introduced to our employees when we had our foundation business. We needed lots of manual labor. Very demanding physical labor. It was difficult to get some of those young men enthusiastic about this idea. So he would tell them he was providing them with a body building workout and was actually paying them to do it! This sales pitch would convince a lot of young men to stay... for 2 or 3 days.
Yesterday I pulled my pickup around to load the weeds into. I worked about 2-1/2 hours on the next section of fenceline and then hauled the weeds to the brush pile and shoved them off onto the top of the pile. That pile is getting pretty large, but I'll have to wait for it to dry awhile before I can burn it off.
Sometimes when I clear areas like this, I'll just make a brush pile wherever I happen to be working and leave it go. When it's dried enough, I'll burn the piles right where they stand. This is OK with me. It saves me from a lot of hauling and it keeps my brush pile from looking like Mt. Everest. Us country widows have to improvise, ya know. I'm here to help you think of ways to do that.
But burning off a brush pile next to the propane tank didn't seem like a good idea, so I hauled it to the pasture to add to my growing pile of sticks and cardboard and brush.
So... hmmm... where was I. Oh, yes, after shoving the weeds off onto the brush pile I left the tailgate down and took a very fast drive around the mile to blow the sticks and leaves out of the bed of my truck. Perhaps some folks will wonder why I didn't just climb up in there with a broom. But I know there are plenty of you out there to whom this idea makes perfect sense.
When I got back home, the bed was clean except for some leaves stuck around the spare tire and the 60-pound bag of hardened Quikrete that I accidentally left there after some friends put in a new mailbox for me. Both of these items are impossible for me to move, they are so humongously heavy. So pretend I'm leaving them there for weight to provide traction in the snow this winter. This makes me look very wise, instead of weak and forgetful. This is another thing we country widows have to become skilled at... using our goof-ups to our own advantage.
I guess this will be it for today.
Oh! I need to mention that, should your brush pile become too huge, before you burn it take a big stick or a hoe or something and beat on the top of it and holler at the top of your lungs. Yes... this is truly necessary. Little furry things and little feathery things and little slithery things hide in huge brush piles and you want them to GO AWAY before you hit it with a match. Don't ask me how I know this, just trust me when I say it...
Blessings,
Katrinka
No comments:
Post a Comment