Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Right. I was handicapped by not wanting to fill in the trench unless I knew there were no leaks in the new PVC I glued. I didn't want to fill in the trenches only to have to dig them out again to fix the leaks. But leaving the trenches unfilled just to ensure that the connections weren't leaking would allow the new PVC pipe to flex enough that the existing O-PVC could slide and then start leaking 20 feet away. I was at my wits end. Fortunately the plumber came up with the smart idea of using 90° elbows and stout rods driven into the ground at each elbow to keep the existing O-PVC from sliding.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Well, I did it again! Way back on Jan 4, 2020, I decided to burn some brush that was in my pasture. While I wasn't looking, the fire got out of hand and started burning the pasture (you can read about it here: https://www.backyardherds.com/threa...-relief-for-the-rest-of-you.38161/post-633997). On Sunday, I decided to burn another brush pile. The grass was already cut short, the wind was light, the ground was still a little damp from the rain we had a couple of days before, so it seemed like a perfect day to burn the brush pile. Unlike the last time, I decided to stay close by. I lit the fire, which seemed to burn OK but not crazy. So I decided to cut a limb off a fallen tree that was in the woods while the brush pile burned. I was not looking at the brush pile for maybe 5 minutes. When I finally looked back at the pile, the fire had jumped to the pasture and the wind was blowing it at a pretty pace. I immediately tried to put out the fire with the mower by mowing over it. This was working OK but not great. The fire was moving so fast, though, that I had a hard time keeping up with it. Here is two pictures of how it looked after I finally got the fire put out, The first picture is that of the entire burned area, while the second one is of the part of the area where the fire almost got into the woods a long the creek.

So I hereby award myself a Zinger™ award!

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Alaskan]

All,

Well, I did it again! Way back on Jan 4, 2020, I decided to burn some brush that was in my pasture. While I wasn't looking, the fire got out of hand and started burning the pasture (you can read about it here: https://www.backyardherds.com/threa...-relief-for-the-rest-of-you.38161/post-633997). On Sunday, I decided to burn another brush pile. The grass was already cut short, the wind was light, the ground was still a little damp from the rain we had a couple of days before, so it seemed like a perfect day to burn the brush pile. Unlike the last time, I decided to stay close by. I lit the fire, which seemed to burn OK but not crazy. So I decided to cut a limb off a fallen tree that was in the woods while the brush pile burned. I was not looking at the brush pile for maybe 5 minutes. When I finally looked back at the pile, the fire had jumped to the pasture and the wind was blowing it at a pretty pace. I immediately tried to put out the fire with the mower by mowing over it. This was working OK but not great. The fire was moving so fast, though, that I had a hard time keeping up with it. Here is two pictures of how it looked after I finally got the fire put out, The first picture is that of the entire burned area, while the second one is of the part of the area where the fire almost got into the woods a long the creek.

So I hereby award myself a Zinger™ award!

Senile Texas Aggie

Well... you got yourself a bunch of exercise, and a free heart stress test!



Congrats! You passed!

 

[Baymule]

That is scary! But you got it put out, so that is good. I have a huge burn pile. I won't light it unless the winds are 5 mph or less. Plus it has been very dry this winter, we are in drought mode.

 

[farmerjan]

So very glad that you got it out and stopped before it got into the woods and you got into a real jam. And that you did not get hurt/burned in the process. Things like that can take off in a new york minute....

 

[Bruce]

I immediately tried to put out the fire with the mower by mowing over it.

Doesn't the mower have gas in it? Isn't gas flammable/explosive???
Sure glad you didn't get hurt.

I have it easier here. My "brush piles" are small and fit in the burn pit in the lawn behind the house. I think it is maybe 12' across. No problem with fire spreading when there is no wind and the ground is snow covered.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I'm glad you got it under control! I don't know what the laws are in your area but you might want to check to make sure you don't run into future issues.

The reason I state that is in my area (granted it's California and the state catches on fire every year) we are required to have a burn permit, must check to see if it's a burn day, must have a water source/hose present, must have an adult present at all times, and pile should not exceed 3*3.

Usually the amount of stuff we need to burn is much larger, so we create a small pile to the side, maybe 20' away from the big pile, and then keep feeding the small pile from the big one till it's all gone. It is more work than just lighting the original pile but it's more controlled, and also if it's the time of year where critters are having babies, gives you the chance to scare off or discover the babies in the brush pile before they get burned.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Doesn't the mower have gas in it? Isn't gas flammable/explosive???

By mower, I mean the rotary cutter / shredder / brush hog on the back of the tractor, not a zero turn radius mower. Now THAT would be exciting!

must have an adult present at all times,

Dang! That disqualifies me!

I may need to use the small pile to burn and then feed it from a bigger one. I have another big pile to burn, so I may need to try that method.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

Given you have a grapple, feeding a small fire from a big pile would be easy. And safer than running over burning grass.

 

[Ridgetop]

Wow! The adventures at your place never stop!!! We sure have missed you.

Talk to the extension agent and also talk to the cunty tax assessor's office about the different AG exclusions. Not sure about Arkansas, but Texas has several different types:

Agriculture - Raising livestock, growing crops (including hay), pasture, fruit, nuts, etc. Timber - Manage and growing trees, including harvesting for lumber and replanting (needs too much specialized knowledge for me)
Wildlife - Keeping a balance of acreage formulated for wildlife. For this one you need to keep records of species on the land, manage different species to have a good species mixture that is ecologically sound, and what you do to manage numbers, and encourage breeding nesting, etc. (Some specialized knowledge)

It is possible that you can do one of those 3. I think you sound like you would enjoy the Wildlife one and since you only need to read up on what would be necessary for the different species, it might be something to which you can easily adapt your property. It would not need fencing and would be the least invasive thing to do with the land.