Money – Page 5 – John's Random Thoughts and Discussions

Where is the Global Warming?

If you’ve read this blog long enough, you know that I take a moderate view of global warming. In fact, I’ve even written a post by that title, The Moderate View of Global Warming. It doesn’t surprise me that a number of readers have recently written to ask if I still believe in global warming given the recent cold wave that hit the United States. Yes, I do. Of course, a belief must be based on something, so I went looking for some statistics. My own blog provides some. For example, the harvest was earlier this year than any other year for which I’ve recorded statistics (17 of them). In fact, I’ve made quite a few observations about the effects of global warming on me personally because global warming seems like this really big issue that affects everyone else.

For most people, my personal observations are nice, but unless they happen to live in the same area of the world in which I live, the observations aren’t really relevant. At first I thought I was going to have to painstakingly research the statistics myself, but then I found an article entitled, Scientists: Americans are becoming weather wimps. It turns out that the US regularly experiences freezes of the sort that we’ve recently had, but that the interval has been 17 years this time. It turns out that in the past 115 years, there have been 27 distinct cold snaps where the average temperature across the country have dropped below 18 degrees. That’s an average of one cold snap every 4 years-so waiting 17 years is an unprecedented interval.

The recent cold snap isn’t even very high on the list of cold snaps-it ranks 55th in the list of cold snaps since 1900 when the statistics were first collected. So, the recent cold snap wasn’t only long overdue, it wasn’t particularly cold. Our predecessors faced much colder weather than we do today.

The statistics that made things clearest for me is that there have only been two days that rank in the list of the top 100 coldest days since 2000. However, there have been 13 days that rank in the list of the top 100 warmest days in the same time period. At this point, I’m genuinely interested in recording some of my own data around the area I live, and with weather stations like Weather Underground and others, it can be easier to find user recorded statistics in a specific location. As well as record and upload my own to see any changes throughout any given time periods which could come in handy for statistic analysis. Although these statistics aren’t much comfort to anyone who has suffered broken pipes due to the cold, they all point to one thing-even though it has been cold, the earth is generally getting warmer.

Reducing pollution is an essential part of bringing global warming (defined as a general warming trend with more frequent extremes in weather conditions) under control. Personalizing global warming is an important part of understanding it. Create a list of changes that you’ve noted over the past ten or so years, such as the additional costs for cooling your home and the number of days you have to use the air conditioner each year. Once you start looking around and seeing how global warming is affecting both finances and health, you begin seeing why it’s personally important for you to control it. Let me know your thoughts about global warming and controlling pollution at [email protected].

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the New Year! It’s going to be an interesting year from a number of perspectives. I’m really looking forward to seeing the changes and I hope that you are too! Make sure you subscribe to my blog to keep up with all of the new material I provide with greater ease. A subscription will automatically send a synopsis of new content directly to your e-mail, which will make it a lot easier to determine whether you want to follow a certain post (and it’s associated comments).

The computer market will continue to move away from the desktop toward all sorts of mobile devices. Of course, this will make browser-based applications become even more popular because you can achieve the same look and feel no matter which platform you use to interact with the application. I’m not saying the desktop is dead, but look for browser-based applications to take on added importance. In some respects, browser-based applications can still be limited, so you’ll continue to see the desktop used in situations where a user must interact with complex data from multiple sources.

Self-sufficiency is going to take on added importance as well. There are a number of reasons for the increased participation by people. Of course, the economy continues to provide ample reason for many people who are looking to ways to make their money go further. A lot of people are starting to realize that self-sufficiency also comes with substantial health benefits and is also good for the environment. In fact, except for the time commitment and the requirement to learn new skills, self-sufficiency has a lot to recommend it. I’m planning to provide more emphasis on self-sufficiency in the coming months.

My blog will also feature some of the additional kinds of content that you’ve come to know and love. I’ll be posting a number of reviews and a bit more of my poetry as time permits. A few posts on writing technique are almost a requirement. A number of you have sent e-mail asking about my crafting. A few personal issues have kept me from posting on the crafts that I enjoy, but I plan to address that particular need soon. I hope that you continue to enjoy my blog and will let me know the sorts of content you’d like to see at [email protected]. In the meantime, Happy New Year!

A New Type of Solar Panel

One of the things that has always caused me problems with solar panels is that they’re a limited technology here in the Midwest, unless you want yet another surface to clear of snow in the winter. In addition, finding places to put the solar arrays is problematic. Once you do find a place to put them, the installation itself is normally an eyesore. So, even though you’re getting power from the sun, you’re paying a relatively high cost for it in more than just monetary ways. Which is why this new solar panel that doubles as windows for the house is intriguing. You can find a quick overview of the technology in the ComputerWorld article entitled, Transparent solar cells could turn windows into generators. The MIT Technology Review article, A New Solar Material Shows Its Potential, provides a little more depth.

The main material used in this new solar panel is perovskite. There aren’t any panel that you can buy today with this material, but it does have a lot of promise. Even if this particular material doesn’t work out because it’s too fragile, a composite with the material or a material with some of the same characteristics could produce solar panels that double as window panes. Because window panes are vertical, rather than at an angle, they won’t suffer from many of the environmental issues that current solar panels do. You won’t see them as something separate from the house and it’s less likely that they’ll be damaged because the house partially protects the windows. Because the windows won’t angle to precisely match the angle of the sun, these solar panels are unlikely to be as efficient as standard solar panels.

Although these new solar panels have some benefits, I’d stick to the original solar panels which attach to roof tiles. A friend of mine recommended a Wisconsin Solar Installers company however I don’t think I’ll get any installed this year. I’m still undecided about the whole solar panel situation, to be honest. I feel it is too much of a hassle to make any kind of changes to the house right about now. Also, I must read up about the solar panel installation laws here to get a comprehensive idea about everything. That is sure to take up some time.

Perovskite is a kind of rare earth mineral. Actually, the term encompasses a number of rare earth minerals that exhibit a particular structure. These minerals are somewhat common in a number of locations worldwide. Of course, mining perovskite will still incur the environmental damage I discussed in my A Discussion About Green Technology Pollution and A Discussion About Green Technology Pollution (Part 2) posts. It’s important to realize that this technology reflects a small, but important, step forward.

Several of the articles that appear online indicate that this new technology should be a lot less expensive than current solar panel technology and more aesthetically appealing as well. These two factors bode well for this technology. People won’t use green technologies that cost more than current technologies to use and few people are willing to put up with unappealing yard ornaments. If the people working with this technology succeed, your next window upgrade could provide power to your house as well.

The one thing that concerned me about this technology is whether it would look like standard windows. From what I gathered in reading various articles, the panes can be tinted, just like standard panes. From what I’ve read online, the level of tinting won’t be dark enough to stop you needing blinds or curtains, making them even more like standard windows. If you do decide to invest in these windows, you may want to dress them with shutters. Here are the top-rated plantation window shutters London citizens can purchase, as an example. In addition, it’ll be possible to sandwich the panes with inert gasses, such as argon, to produce windows with high emissivity values, which means they should work great in colder climates. Adding shutters will also help in colder climates as they can help to keep the heat in along with the inert gasses.

Our green technologies still create way too much pollution, but it appears that we’re making progress. Let me know your thoughts about these new windows at [email protected].

Preparing Eggs for Sale

It may not seem like a particularly important topic at first, but if you plan to sell some of your eggs, you must prepare them for sale properly. Otherwise, you’ll quickly lose your customer base. No one will say anything to you about the reasons for not buying your eggs—they simply won’t buy them. After a while, you’ll be left with a lot of eggs on your hands and no buyers.

When you get the eggs from the coop, make sure you wash them. This might seem like an obvious thing to do, but some people have actually tried to sell unwashed eggs, which is hazardous to a customer’s health, as well as unappealing. I normally use Dawn Antibacterial soap to wash the eggs and then rinse them thoroughly. The soap ensures that the outside of the egg is free of pathogens. Of course, you need to perform this process carefully or else you’ll end up with a lot of unsellable eggs.

After you allow the eggs to air dry (or dry them carefully with a towel), you need to inspect them carefully. Any flawed eggs go into my personal pack. Eggs with cracks are cooked thoroughly and fed either to the dogs or cats. There isn’t a good reason to waste good protein, but if the egg has any cracks at all, you can’t vouch for the integrity of the content. A mix of egg, rice, and leftover meat makes for a dandy addition to your pet’s daily food. Sometimes I throw in a few leftover vegetables as well.

We don’t have any roosters. If we did, we’d also need to candle the eggs to ensure there were no embryos inside. Because we buy our chicks from other places, we won’t ever have roosters for our laying hens. You need to decide on whether to keep roosters based on your particular egg laying needs. However, it’s still possible that our eggs could have a blood spot in them. We simply offer our customers a replacement egg should this happen. So far, it never has, but it could happen given that our chickens are free range. Theoretically, you can candle the eggs to find this sort of problem, but it’s still possible to miss it, so having a replacement policy is the best way to go.

At this point, you have a number of washed eggs that lack flaws. It’s time to weigh them using an egg scale. I generally keep small eggs for my personal use. Medium-sized eggs are sold at a discount, traded for something I need, or given to friends and neighbors. The large and jumbo eggs are placed into cartons and sold at full price.

Create an attractive display for your eggs. For example, I’ve set up kid friendly egg cartons. The cartons will contain an attractive mix of blue, green, brown, tan, and speckled eggs (the range of colors the hens lay). Placing the eggs in some sort of pattern also helps. Even though the inside of the egg is the same in all cases, the eye catching patterns really help to sell your eggs to the public. Of course, adults may prefer a less colorful display, which means grading the eggs by color and placing like colors in a carton. The point is to make your eggs look especially nice.

Preparing your eggs properly will help keep you in sales. In fact, a combination of high quality and classy presentation will usually net you more customers than you can accommodate as long as your prices are also in line with what the market will allow. Let me know your thoughts on egg preparation at [email protected].

Hidden Eggs

Some time ago I wrote a post entitled, “Dealing with Broody Chickens.” The chicken in question had decided to take to her nest box and stopped laying eggs. That’s only one sort of problem that can occur with hens. In some cases, a hen doesn’t become broody, she takes another course to perceived motherhood. In this case, Daisy decided to hide her eggs from view.

Of course, we didn’t know that she had decided to hide her eggs until later. Because Daisy lays a particular egg color, a beautiful light blue, we had noticed we weren’t getting any eggs from her. However, we also hadn’t noticed any broody behavior. She was still out with the other chickens and didn’t have any of the other tendencies either.

I had also noticed an odor around some of the plants at our house. Given that we live just a few feet from the woods and that we have livestock, the odor didn’t attract too much attention, but I should have paid more attention to this particular odor.

Things got interesting one evening when we put the chickens up. Daisy was nowhere to be found. We searched and called, but no Daisy. Finally, we closed the coop up thinking that some wild animal had gotten our poor hen. Imagine our surprise the next morning when she turned up outside. That’s when I decided to follow her around a bit. She kept going over to the hostas and I finally saw something interesting. See if you can see it in this picture as well.

Up near the top of the frame in the center of the picture you see a hole in the hosta covering. Normally the hostas won’t have a hole like that. When you look very closely at the hole in the hostas, you see something. Taking a closer look, you can see what that something was.

Daisy had built herself a nest in the hostas and laid 18 eggs there. She was busy setting on eggs that would never hatch because we have no roosters. Unfortunately, a good many of them were rotten by this time and cleaning them up was an unpleasant experience. This would lead many people to ask why we risk letting our chickens run free. There are many benefits in having chickens that can run around as they like.

Happier chickens
Fewer health problems
More eggs for the most part
Better egg quality
Lower feed costs
Reduced insect and other pest problems

Chickens like to get out and hunt for bugs. They eat more bugs and grass than they eat anything else. The more bugs chickens eat, the less mash you feed them and the lower your feed costs. The resulting eggs have more nutrients. Chickens will also clean up food dropped by other animals, which reduces the food left for pest animals. This means that all of your animals live in a better environment and you have fewer worries about having to deal with pests later.

In short, losing the 18 eggs was bothersome (not to mention expensive), but the benefits of letting Daisy run around are far greater. Let me know your thoughts about chickens running free at [email protected].

Harvest Festival 2013

Normally Harvest Festival is a well-organized event for us. I plan the time carefully and include a week out of the office to ensure I have time to harvest the last of the garden and all the fruit without problem. However, all the planning in the world won’t account for the vagaries of nature every time. Even though the Harvest Festivals in 2011 and 2012 went off precisely as planned, the Harvest Festival this year ended up being one emergency after another. It started when our fruit ripened three weeks sooner than expected—make that half the fruit. The other half of the fruit is ripening this week on schedule. The odd ripening schedule points out another potential issue with global warming, but more importantly, it demonstrates the requirement for flexibility when you’re self-sufficient. Yes, it’s possible to plan for a particular outcome, but what you get could be an entirely different story.

This year’s Harvest Festival was stretched out over three weeks while I continued to write and do all of the other things I normally do. (Fortunately, Rebecca was able to put many of the tasks she needs to perform on hold.) Of course, the dual work requirements made for some really long hours. Creating an enjoyable work environment is one of things that Rebecca and I work really hard to obtain. It’s part of our effort to make our close relationship work. So, this Harvest Festival included all of the usual music and other special environmental features we normally have. Lacking this year was much in the way of game playing, but it was a sacrifice we needed to make.

One of the bigger tasks we took on this year was processing four bushels of corn that someone gave us (all in a single day). Actually, the corn came from a few different sources, but the majority came from a single contributor. Of course, we started by husking the corn and getting all of the silk off.

The next step is to cut all of the corn off the cob. This step can be a little tricky. You need a moderately sharp knife around 8″ long. If the knife is too sharp, you’ll take off some of the cob with the kernels. A knife that is too dull will damage the corn and make a huge mess. The knife needs to be long enough so that you can remove the kernels safely—a pairing knife would be an unsafe option.

We use a raw pack approach when working with the corn. You want to be sure to pack the corn firmly, but not crush it. Rebecca always takes care of this part of the process because she has just the right touch.

Each pint or quart is topped off with boiling water at this point. We don’t add anything else to our corn. The corn needs to be processed in a pressure canner because it’s a low acid food (the processing time varies, so be sure to check your canning book for details, we rely on the Ball Blue Book and have never had a bad result).

We had four fresh meals from the four bushels of corn. There is nothing quite so nice as corn roasted on the barbecue. We also gave the chickens an ear (plus all of the cobs). They seem to have quite a good time pecking out all the kernels.

Even with these few subtractions, we ended up with 42 pints (each pint will last two meals using the recommended serving size of ½ cup) and fourteen quarts (used for soup and for company) out of the four bushels of corn. As a result, we have enough corn in the larder now for about 1½ years (a total of 140 servings).

Our Harvest Festival this year included processing pears, grapes, apples, a wide variety of vegetables, and even some of the meat chickens (125 ¾ pounds worth on a single day). The point is that we did get the work completed and we did it while still having as much fun as is possible. We’re both admittedly tired and still resting up. Still to come is the garden cleanup and the wood cutting, and then we’ll have an entire winter to rest up for next spring. Let me know about your latest self-sufficiency emergency at [email protected].

Hornets in the Pear Tree

It always pays to look at your trees carefully before you do anything with them. That’s why it’s never a bad shout to consult a Tree Care Specialist in Jacksonville, Fl before making any drastic removals on your own. You never know what will be living there, especially if you’re like me and don’t use noxious sprays. There are many times where birds are nesting in the trees and I try my best not to disturb them. Trees also harbor a number of insects and other animals. Whatever is hiding in that tree, it won’t be apparent when you first approach.

For example, this pear tree looks perfectly normal. I was approaching it one morning to pick the ripe pears and it looked just like this when I first saw it. However, I always exercise caution when I want to do something with the tree and in this case, caution was very much warranted. Hiding in the tree was a hornet’s nest (about 24″ tall and about 12″ in diameter). You’d have to be brave to get rid of this on your own, which is why some people may opt to check out sites like https://www.pestcontrolberkshire.com/pests/wasps-hornets in the hopes of getting in touch with a pest control company who would be able to get rid of the nest in the safest way possible.

Even when you get up close (and this was as close as I dared to get), the hornet’s nest isn’t immediately obvious. You really need to look before you do anything or suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, this tree has around 60 pounds of fruit on it. The fruit will likely go to waste because it isn’t worth getting stung to retrieve it. The deer will likely enjoy some good meals off us this fall as the pears drop and ferment.

Of course, the first thought would be to get someone to remove the nest, but the cost of doing so would far outweigh any benefit obtained from retrieving the fruit. In addition, hornets are one of those odd insects that are neither completely useful nor a complete nuisance. In the spring and early summer, hornets are helpful predators that actually kill off extremely harmful pests. The particular kind of hornet that we have, the bald faced hornet, also helps pollinate our trees. It’s one of eleven pollinators that I’ve identified that visit all of our trees during the spring. In other words, killing the hornets is a bad idea.

During the fall months, the tastes of the hornet change and they begin craving sugar. That means eating into some of the fruit we grow. However, they’re only attracted to fully ripe fruit that is almost to the point of being a little overripe. We avoid damage from the hornets by picking our fruit when it’s just a little underripe. When a hornet has made a small hole, we can brush it away. The bald faced hornet isn’t aggressive except when it comes to its nest (or outright abuse by humans). Respectful treatment doesn’t result in a sting (at least, Rebecca and I haven’t been stung by them them entire time we’ve had fruit trees, which is over 17 years now). The only thing that will really get you into trouble is disturbing the nest, which is why that tree will remain unpicked this year.

Once winter arrives, the majority of the hornets will die. The new queens will live on in the center of the nest, ready to emerge in the spring. What I’ll do is cut the nest out of the tree during a day when the temperatures are below freezing, move the nest to a sheltered tree in the woods, and tie it into place. When spring comes, the new queens will emerge in the near woods, produce a brood, and those new worker hornets will help pollinate our trees.

Discovering how to work with insects is an essential part of being self-sufficient. If I were to take the same approach that most people take, it would cost me money to remove the nest and then it would cost me more money when my trees aren’t pollinated properly in the spring. Taking the approach I am now is counterintuitive, but it’s also the best approach to use. Let me know your thoughts about hornets at [email protected].

Social Media Overload?

Because of my involvement in the computer industry, I’m always interested in social, health, monetary, and other effects of using technology. As with any other tool (and technology is a kind of tool), it’s possible to misuse computers and the software that controls them. In this case, I’m talking about any sort of device with a chip inside, including tablets and smartphones. In fact, I’m even including your television and radio here. Every electronic device you own is a kind of tool. Think about it, the main reason to listen to radio is to help you relax or to inform you in some way. When people stop viewing technology as a tool and start viewing it as a requirement for living, the technology becomes a crutch and the person becomes addicted.

I read a post the other day by someone who is obviously addicted to her technology. I found the article, “Social Media Overload” enlightening because it presents a perspective of social media from someone who is younger than me and has likely grown up with the technology. The author talks about having thousands of online friends and some social media users even buy Insta followers and Twitter followers. Of course, my question is whether it’s possible to actually know anything substantial about thousands of people. There are only around 400 people in our small town and I admit to not knowing them all; actually knowing thousands of people seems quite impossible. In fact, it’s hard to know whether some of these people even exist or they’re the figment of someone’s imagination. Using social media in this way seems to favor quantity over quality, where the quality would be incredibly low. It makes me wonder what has happened to the quality relationship of the past. Having thousands of meaningful followers is something that seems more attainable for businesses, organizations, or influencers who have attracted many people to view and consume their content, rather than maintain personal relationships. Utilizing a tool like Nitreo on a platform such as Instagram can help such operations grow their followers (and thus their influence) organically, allowing them to reach more people who will actually care about the things that they do, rather than have followers for followers’ sake.

The part of the post that I found most interesting was the fact that she recommends providing a means to link all of the social media together so that you could view and update all of your information from a central location. The obvious problem seems to elude her-recognizing that the tool has taken over the master and that the master is now the slave of the tool. When you start having to think of ways to manage all of the tools in your inventory, rather than using those tools to perform useful work, the tools have become a problem. It really is time to clear away a bit of the junk so that you can become productive again. A better solution might be to reduce the number of social media in which she participates so that the tool again becomes a tool. She did point out that reducing on social media was tough, and could be tougher for people who believe that they can’t live without. I mean just look at these internet statisitcs and data trends, it is quite clear that we are completely involved with our social media.

I do participate in social media. I’m currently on LinkedIn because it’s a professional network and I feel it’s a good way to get my resume out in public view. Sometimes I provide updates about my current projects. Otherwise, I really don’t see a good reason to use social media when personal contact is so much better. You have to ask yourself whether you’re in charge of your social media or whether the social media is in charge of you. The one exception I have is making adorable TikTok videos with my little daughter. I even buy real Tiktok views to make her feel like the superstar she is! Other than this, my use of social media is very limited.

Like any professional, I put my tools away on occasion and go on vacation. It’s important to rest from your labors so that you can better enjoy them when you do work. I’ve written about my philosophy toward computing in Learning to Unplug. However, it’s important to think about how other professionals use tools when thinking about social media or anything else to do with computers for that matter. Can you imagine a surgeon taking scalpels and performing impromptu surgeries while on vacation? What would you think of a carpenter who takes hammer and nails absolutely everywhere? After all, you never know when you might want to pound a nail or two. This is how I view people who are so addicted to their technology that they can never unplug from it. If you can’t put your technology aside long enough to rest, then you’re addicted and need to do something about it.

How do you view computing, especially when it comes to social media? Has your computing device (no matter what that device might be) come to rule over you? Let me know your thoughts on digital addiction at [email protected].

A Discussion About Green Technology Pollution (Part 2)

I like to report good news on a post whenever I can. Recently I wrote a post entitled, “A Discussion About Green Technology Pollution” that makes it clear that many supposedly green technologies aren’t very green at all. Sometimes you can find a partial solution to a problem, which is the topic of this post. No, the solution isn’t a complete answer to the question of green technology pollution, but it does help. In this case, it appears that a proper response could clean up old pollution, while making it possible to obtain rare earth elements quickly and easily.

During the gold rush (and while performing other mining), the miners threw away what has turned out to be valuable rocks. Yes, the tailings contain rare earth metals in at least some cases. If things work out well, mining companies could go to these old sites of pollution and clean up the mess, while making a profit. The rare earth metals needed for luxury items, such as cell phones, and alternative energy sources, such as solar panels, are available in plain sight. This is one of those stories where one person’s junk turns into another person’s treasure.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a lot of information about this particular story as of yet. It could be that the government and industry are still in talks about what can be done. In an ideal scenario, a company would come in and clean up both the pollution generated by the mine and those valuable tailings. Selling the rare earth metals contained in the tailings would generate income for the company and reduce our reliance on rare earth metals coming from China.

However, even if everything works absolutely perfectly, it still isn’t a complete solution. Processing the rare earth metals causes significant pollution. Cleaning up the tailings to obtain the rare earth metals they contain would solve one problem, but processing those tailings would create another, more substantial, pollution problem. The pollution will happen whether the source of the raw material is rock from a new mine or rock from tailings, so this scenario does reduce overall pollution.

The important thing to remember is that processing materials creates pollution. When you choose a supposedly green technology, you need to remember that it really isn’t all that green. The processing of materials for that green technology generates heaps of long-lasting pollution that fouls rivers and makes entire sections of land completely unusable for growing food. Any step we can take toward reducing the pollution these green technologies cause is a good thing and reusing these tailings seems (at least on the surface) like such a step.

I’d be interested in hearing about any additional information you have on the topic. Especially important would be knowing how the government and industry eventually decide to use these tailings and whether we end up with a perfect scenario that truly does clean up some of those old mining sites. Let know what you hear at [email protected].

Making an Opportunity from Falling Trees

No matter where you have them, trees eventually fall and you’ll end up needing to get rid of the dead tree or get a tree removal denton service. Parts of our property are heavily wooded, so falling trees are expected and happen fairly often. Winds will blow a tree down, lightning will crack it, insects will kill it, woodpeckers will weaken it, or old age will simply take it. No matter the cause, the tree lands somewhere and in most cases, the landing is benign from our perspective. However, we recently experienced a less benign falling tree. The woodpeckers had weakened it, birds had nested in the holes, and carpenter ants had drilled a hole through the center. A lightning strike and high winds finished the job. After the storm we got up to see a rather large tree draped across our rabbit hutches.

Now of course, I don’t expect everyone reading this to have the resources required to remove a tree, let alone one of this size. When most people need Tree Work done, they just call the professionals. But I quite enjoy trimming and removing my trees, especially when I can benefit from it, so I like to do it myself.

Most of the pictures in this post were taken by my wife, Rebecca. I greatly appreciate her help in putting this post together.

Our first thought was that the rabbits had escaped their hutch or were possibly dead. Amazingly, the rabbit hutch held and the rabbits were safe. The main problem was that we couldn’t get to them to feed them.

Unfortunately, cutting up a large tree is hot work and the heat index was well over 100 degrees that day (into the danger zone of the heat index chart). Let’s just say that it was sweaty work and leave it go at that. The tree was poised like a giant spring. The main trunk was actually split in two, but it was butted up against the rabbit cages in a way that didn’t let it fall completely, so I had to cut the tree with extreme care-starting with the branches.

As I cut the branches, I separated the parts that I would later chip from those we would dry for firewood. The larger pieces were cut into lengths for stacking.

After a while, all of the branches were cut. The tree was as safe as I could make it. However, the main part of the trunk was still braced against the rabbit hutch, so we still couldn’t get to the rabbits to feed them.

The most challenging moment came when I had to release the spring holding the trunk against the cages. The cut was extremely dangerous because I had to cut the tree enough to release the pressure, but not so much that it would flip in some unexpected way. What I needed was a slow release of pressure so that the tree would come to a safer position. I made the cut and the tree slowly started to move as expected. The spring completely released itself and the piece I had partially cut ended up standing straight in the air before falling to the ground. Perhaps if you have a similar situation but are not familiar with safe methods of removing the tree yourself, you could similar services to those found on treeserviceremoval.com to help you get rid of it without putting yourself in any danger.

I still have a lot of tree to cut, but we’ve managed to make use of everything. The pieces of the tree I have already cut up are stacked and drying nicely.

We also obtained a large stack of branches.

A lot of people would create a huge brush pile from the branches and burn them. However, doing so is really bad for the environment and wasteful of a useful part of the tree. I’m currently chipping the branches up and using them for mulch on our grapes. The mulch will keep the grapes moister, reduce watering costs, and make the grapes more productive because they won’t be battling weeds.

In the end, what started as a disaster turned into an opportunity. Not every act of nature turns out this way, but we try to make the best of every situation. When did you last make an opportunity out of a natural event that started as a negative? Let me know at [email protected].