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Good morning

It's a little warmer this morning, but light rain. Ironically, we're under a snow warning for tomorrow. Anywhere from 1/2 inch to 5 inches projected in the higher elevations according to the national weather service.
It has been incredibly sunny here and it went into the 90s today.

All the bass went to bed!
 
We had some sleet/snow/rain mix about 5PM yesterday evening.

So far, today is just cold and steady drizzle.

Supposed to be in the high 70's monday.

They always said, if you don't like the weather in the appalachian mountains, just wait a few minutes and it'll change.

All jokes and kidding aside, the area I live in, they say has it's own weather system.
 
It’s well after dinner time but howdy anyway.

The weather here was gorgeous today and I went outside and did some welding. I decided that the cart that I built for Judy was too narrow and I widened the axle by 1.5”.
since I had originally narrowed that axle by cutting it and inserting the ends in a sleeve with a sledgehammer, I had to drill holes in the axle and pull it apart with a big vise and a slide hammer.

Then I put it back together an inch and a half wider and welded it.

I fixed a very heavy duty extension cord that someone gave to me with a broken ground lug, and I am happy with that.

Unfortunately I dropped my levelwind fishing reel & bent the crankshaft, so I’m gonna be looking for a new Shimano soon.

I was unable to repair either one of my broken battery chargers. It appears that both of them have aluminum primary windings, and they have separated somewhere inside the coil.

I finally put the new battery in my motorcycle and I cleaned things up some more. It’s still pretty dirty down below, and it needs a lot of spit & polish right now.
 
Hey guys. I’ve been fixing my fence today and working on the motorcycle.

The lovely weather here has got me looking at the Scout and thinking it’s time to start cleaning it up, but I have so many other things to do first.
 
Good morning to all of yous.Saturday and Sunday were warm but very windy. A cold front moved through last night and brought some rain. We did not have any severe weather in the area that I know of.

Anyways, I hope ya'll have a great day.
 
I was able to check the back 40 (as they used to say in bonanza) and found some concerning marks on a few trees.

Which were really fresh and the sap was still running out of the marks and was physically wet (why the bark around the scratches is so dark).

3 toe scratch on tree or 4 marks.jpg
 
Morning All, our brief Spring has turned back into Winter here in the mountains and depending on the elevation anticipating up to 24 inches of snow.

Mother Nature's late April Fool joke!

Have a great day everyone.

Regards
 
We could certainly use another 2 feet of snow pack up on the mountains. I don’t know if they will get any but we are scheduled to have a rain shower this afternoon and overcast weather.

I have to go in and have blood tests today. I haven’t had any blood work in five years. I’ve been procrastinating.
 
I was able to check the back 40 (as they used to say in bonanza) and found some concerning marks on a few trees.

Which were really fresh and the sap was still running out of the marks and was physically wet (why the bark around the scratches is so dark).

View attachment 27075
Looks like the bears are back in your back 40. How high off the ground was the tree clawed?

Look for clumps of hair stuck in the bark on that tree and any nearby. That'll help tell you how big they might be.
 
Looks like the bears are back in your back 40. How high off the ground was the tree clawed?

Look for clumps of hair stuck in the bark on that tree and any nearby. That'll help tell you how big they might be.


Actually, that one was surprisingly low to the ground. About head high. I've seen others that were easily 7 feet or a little more tall off the ground. They usually stand up and reach up as high as they can when marking their territory, which was why this one somewhat surprised me being as low as it was.

It did tear the battery box off of a tree last weekend as well.
 
Well no bear sightings anywhere around here, but I did see a cute little phlebotomist today who drained me for three tubes of blood.

It drizzled rain on and off all day here and it was gusty at times, so I stayed indoors and tore apart my old fishing reel to clean it.
p10.jpeg
This is a Penn10 Mag and I’ve had it for 25 years. It actually doesn’t have many hours on it but it’s collected a lot of dust inside over the years and it was all sticky.
 
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Actually, that one was surprisingly low to the ground. About head high. I've seen others that were easily 7 feet or a little more tall off the ground. They usually stand up and reach up as high as they can when marking their territory, which was why this one somewhat surprised me being as low as it was.

It did tear the battery box off of a tree last weekend as well.
Maybe it's a junior, first year on its own away from momma? Figuring out some territory maybe?

Could also be a young cougar. They're known to scratch trees as well. But I'd expect the marks would be closer together...but who knows?

Sounds like time for a trail cam. Besides, it's probably just a run o' the mill chupacabra anyway...no biggie. LOL!

Seriously though, I never thought I'd find wolf tracks at my cabin property either. They are not known to frequent the area at all and certainly not near people. That was until winter 2019 and I found a couple good sized wolf tracks in the snow on the driveway...looked like he was hot on the heels of a small mule deer. Ya just never know what you're gonna find. Like you said before there's not "supposed" to be any cougars in your area either but well...you know!

Not "supposed" to be any wolves or grizz in the same neck of the woods as our cabin either. Doesn't mean they're not around from time to time. I'd be interested to know if you set up a cam and if you catch a glimpse.
 
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Could also be a young cougar. They're known to scratch trees as well. But I'd expect the marks would be closer together...but who knows?

Sounds like time for a trail cam. Besides, it's probably just a run o' the mill chupacabra anyway...no biggie. LOL!

Seriously though, I never thought I'd find wolf tracks at my cabin property either. They are not known to frequent the area at all and certainly not near people. That was until winter 2019 and I found a couple good sized wolf tracks in the snow on the driveway...looked like he was hot on the heels of a small mule deer. Ya just never know what you're gonna find. Like you said before there's not "supposed" to be any cougars in your area either but well...you know!

Not "supposed" to be any wolves or grizz in the same neck of the woods as our cabin either. Doesn't mean they're not around from time to time. I'd be interested to know if you set up a cam and if you catch a glimpse.

Speaking of cat scratches, we took this photo back during the school christmas/new year break. It basically shredded the bark into horse mane size remnants. Which I do believe was a cat.

This set of scratches tallest point was about 7 feet up and the bottom was about 5 feet. So, it was a big critter with sharp claws. I have also seen scratches like that 13 and 14 feet up on the side of a tree too.

It's certainly not bear scratches. They're entirely and totally different.

uXhcnA6.jpg


ZQhxrXo.jpg


Bears usually don't make really fine scratches. They chunk out trees and post markers like this:
R6uzGJ9.jpg


As for wolves, I've been hearing them for 4 years up there occasionally. I have heard them at least 3 different times. It's unmistakable. My youngest son and I were camping up there late last summer and he was able to record one howling. If you turn the speakers all the way up, you may be able to hear it, but the camera didn't pick it up as loud or well as your ears could in person. It's muted a lot more on the video. I don't know why the video isn't wanting to embed. Maybe some cell phone setting or something? But, in the first video below, it howls a few different times and was mid-howl when my son finally got his camera recording and later howls again. You'll hear me mention that it's not courage (courage is my uncles dog at his house, but it is barking in the background-so you can't bark and howl at the same time). Definately not his dog. Though every dog in the nearby community got stirred up and started barking in the background when it started howling.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RQ1R5z05Gv8

I think I was able to catch one in this trail cam video. If you notice, there is a 420 honda fourtrax in the background and the back of this critter came up to the headlights and front rack on it. But the trailcam didn't trigger fast enough to catch the head of it. But, I honestly don't believe that's a big coyote. In my heart, I believe it's a wolf. It seems far too big for a coyote. I've seen coyotes up there. They're not this big.

still image screenshot of video above.
H0Kzxxn.jpg


coyote for reference. They don't get that ^ big
vokR13h.jpg

fhTtxlo.jpg


I also have a different trailcam video if you turn the volume all the way up, I believe is another wolf howling. The deer that tripped the camera heard it and immediately started going the opposite direction of where it came from. The short howl started about the 2 second mark in the video below and again is pretty low and you have to have the volume all the way up to hear it.

So, yeah, we have wolves and cats too. Despite that the state game says we don't.

 
Good morning guys.

I have a housecat that thinks the leg of our dresser is a tree, and he has left 1/4" deep scratches in it over the years.
My wife had the dresser when I met her in '89, and I gave her this cat in 2008 when her old one died.

She didn't scratch like that until my lovely wife decided the cat was lonely and so we needed another one.

Because she has two dogs, the cat doesn't get enough love. Adding a 4th animal resulted in even less, and thus lots of scratching.

I can't explain any of this to my wife. Her ears turn off like a 6 year old. She has a master's in education; but just because she can teach doesn't mean she can learn what she doesn't want to know.
:idk:

I'm planning to do some arc welding today. I's a bit chilly and damp though, and if the wind picks up I will stay in and work on the motorcycle.

Hava a nice day fellas.
 
Speaking of cat scratches, we took this photo back during the school christmas/new year break. It basically shredded the bark into horse mane size remnants. Which I do believe was a cat.

This set of scratches tallest point was about 7 feet up and the bottom was about 5 feet. So, it was a big critter with sharp claws. I have also seen scratches like that 13 and 14 feet up on the side of a tree too.

It's certainly not bear scratches. They're entirely and totally different.

uXhcnA6.jpg


ZQhxrXo.jpg


Bears usually don't make really fine scratches. They chunk out trees and post markers like this:
R6uzGJ9.jpg


As for wolves, I've been hearing them for 4 years up there occasionally. I have heard them at least 3 different times. It's unmistakable. My youngest son and I were camping up there late last summer and he was able to record one howling. If you turn the speakers all the way up, you may be able to hear it, but the camera didn't pick it up as loud or well as your ears could in person. It's muted a lot more on the video. I don't know why the video isn't wanting to embed. Maybe some cell phone setting or something? But, in the first video below, it howls a few different times and was mid-howl when my son finally got his camera recording and later howls again. You'll hear me mention that it's not courage (courage is my uncles dog at his house, but it is barking in the background-so you can't bark and howl at the same time). Definately not his dog. Though every dog in the nearby community got stirred up and started barking in the background when it started howling.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RQ1R5z05Gv8

I think I was able to catch one in this trail cam video. If you notice, there is a 420 honda fourtrax in the background and the back of this critter came up to the headlights and front rack on it. But the trailcam didn't trigger fast enough to catch the head of it. But, I honestly don't believe that's a big coyote. In my heart, I believe it's a wolf. It seems far too big for a coyote. I've seen coyotes up there. They're not this big.

still image screenshot of video above.
H0Kzxxn.jpg


coyote for reference. They don't get that ^ big
vokR13h.jpg

fhTtxlo.jpg


I also have a different trailcam video if you turn the volume all the way up, I believe is another wolf howling. The deer that tripped the camera heard it and immediately started going the opposite direction of where it came from. The short howl started about the 2 second mark in the video below and again is pretty low and you have to have the volume all the way up to hear it.

So, yeah, we have wolves and cats too. Despite that the state game says we don't.

Those are some interesting images John. I believe you're right on the wolf...the rear end looks too big for coyote.

I've seen some pretty high up scratches but always assumed they were bear. I can't recall seeing shredded bark like that either...though we have different species of trees too, it would probably need to be a cedar or maybe birch to do that. Most of the douglas fir, hemlock and various pines we have wouldn't do that I don't think.

Seeing shreds like that up 13-14 feet would certainly give me pause...LOL!

We found a pile of bear scat on one hunting trip that caused us to re-think our camp location...the individual pieces of scat were easily the size of my closed fist in circumference if not larger (I don't have small hands either). We figured grizz and a really good chance he was big mutha. We moved on. LOL!
 
Good morning all. We had a warm windy day yesterday. This morning rain showers as a cold front passes through.

Ya'll have a great day.
 
Good morning Mossberg Owners.

Today is overcast and chilly but it’s going to be dry.

It was so windy yesterday I stayed indoors almost all day polishing motorcycle parts and cleaning reassembling an old fishing reel.

I had to order some parts but it turns out they were readily available and I only spent $25 with tax and shipping, so I am a happy camper so far. I bought it 25 years ago and (except for line) so far I’ve spent $25 on it.

I could’ve bought any number of new reels but this one was made in the USA and AFAIK none of them were.

I don’t know what’s gonna happen today. A friend is supposed to come over and I’m gonna help him with some welding but I don’t know if he’ll show. Neither one of us are in perfect health.
 
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