Just as always...

[bloke]

WOW...
I haven't had Coca-Cola chicken since I was in elementary school...
...and may not have thought about it for several decades.
The lady down the street used RC Cola to make hers.

The Bel Air Community Band is still on hold until (at least) 2021. I have been practicing almost every evening and found an old book of string bass solos (from when I used to play a lot of string bass) to augment my usual tour through my etude books.

On another front, I have been using my Weber Kettle to smoke brats and hotdogs. My wife soaked a chicken in Coca Cola over night and I did the "beer butt chicken" grill only with the Coke, it tasted very good.

Best to Everyone,
Mark

[MN_TimTuba]

Getting ready for Saturday's 12th Annual Sporting Clays event. Took off the entire week from work - yes, it takes that much time. Saturday I finished Sandy's garden fence and finally got her gate posts set in concrete and the gate installed; had a little time left before dark so assembled her garden shed and put that in place. Sunday after church and lunch I spent the rest of the day making my lists, finding tools and parts, and did some minor set up, walked the sites, decided to re-work 2 of them. Monday I rented a brush hog/billy goat and ran that thing from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm, with one break for lunch and to deal with severe leg cramps. Today had 2 friends come over to bring needed throwers, set up a barricade for the 'incoming geese' site, and cut up that tree that right across the trail where I needed to mow. After they left I mowed the handgun range, set out yardage markers, and got the rest of the goose site set. Two or three friends are coming over on Friday for some major work; I'll be working on the rest of the list Wed and Thur. Working outdoors every day from about 8 until after dark is great fun. Tiring, but fun. My wife says I need to turn over more of the work to some of the 30-40 guys who show up, but...I want things done MY way on MY property. After I move away they'll have to figure out something else, some other place for the event, but for now, I like doing this every year.
Tim

[bloke]

I wish our outdoor work was as forward-looking as yours.
The big mower has been out of commission for most of the summer, we just got it back about a week ago (works great, thankfully...and affordably), and now are to the grim job of mowing all of these acres (basically treating this mower as if it were a bush hog). There’s just too much thatch (obviously) to work into the turf, so I have made some epic rake lines, and we are hauling many trailer loads to the ravines, as this is way too much to feed to Mrs. bloke’s animals.
We raked (actually, used snow shovels) all day, but probably still have well over 300 feet of rake lines to load into the trailer and get rid of.
The place is looking like blokeplace again, so it’s all worth it.
Most of the mowing is done, but not all. Further, rains are coming… Heavy rains… Which will soak into the rake lines of clippings, and double their weight.

[MN_TimTuba]

I wish our outdoor work was as forward-looking as yours.
The big mower has been out of commission for most of the summer, we just got it back about a week ago (works great, thankfully...and affordably), and now are to the grim job of mowing all of these acres (basically treating this mower as if it were a bush hog). There’s just too much thatch (obviously) to work into the turf, so I have made some epic rake lines, and we are hauling many trailer loads to the ravines, as this is way too much to feed to Mrs. bloke’s animals.
We raked (actually, used snow shovels) all day, but probably still have well over 300 feet of rake lines to load into the trailer and get rid of.
The place is looking like blokeplace again, so it’s all worth it.
Most of the mowing is done, but not all. Further, rains are coming… Heavy rains… Which will soak into the rake lines of clippings, and double their weight.

Joe,
I hear ya, the mowing can be much easier than the raking. I use a lawn sweeper at times (but it sure fills up quickly), and - much like your ravine - I relocate the clippings to the edge of a swamp on my property, which is also the resting place of an abundance of skunks and a number of other feral critters. I've been blessed with warm (ok, HOT) dry days so far, but we do expect a bit of rain tonight. I'd been wondering how you and other TX/LA/TN friends have been doing with the remnants of Beta - the Weather Channel likes to make every rainfall (or snowfall or warm day or foggy day) look like the apocalypse. As long as you don't have to do yard work wearing waders I guess you're ok.
Alright, END of coffee break, back on the job.
Tim

[bloke]

I wish our outdoor work was as forward-looking as yours.
The big mower has been out of commission for most of the summer, we just got it back about a week ago (works great, thankfully...and affordably), and now are to the grim job of mowing all of these acres (basically treating this mower as if it were a bush hog). There’s just too much thatch (obviously) to work into the turf, so I have made some epic rake lines, and we are hauling many trailer loads to the ravines, as this is way too much to feed to Mrs. bloke’s animals.
We raked (actually, used snow shovels) all day, but probably still have well over 300 feet of rake lines to load into the trailer and get rid of.
The place is looking like blokeplace again, so it’s all worth it.
Most of the mowing is done, but not all. Further, rains are coming… Heavy rains… Which will soak into the rake lines of clippings, and double their weight.

Joe,
I hear ya, the mowing can be much easier than the raking. I use a lawn sweeper at times (but it sure fills up quickly), and - much like your ravine - I relocate the clippings to the edge of a swamp on my property, which is also the resting place of an abundance of skunks and a number of other feral critters. I've been blessed with warm (ok, HOT) dry days so far, but we do expect a bit of rain tonight. I'd been wondering how you and other TX/LA/TN friends have been doing with the remnants of Beta - the Weather Channel likes to make every rainfall (or snowfall or warm day or foggy day) look like the apocalypse. As long as you don't have to do yard work wearing waders I guess you're ok.
Alright, END of coffee break, back on the job.
Tim

...There's also a HUGE (tree-size) limb that broke off (big storm, months ago) and fell into one of the ponds...
A friend was going to pull it out with his tractor, but he hasn't shown up...
I got the heaviest 10 feet of it (with my truck + my largest gauge chain) pulled to shore, and will have to cut that up into "donuts", roll them out of the way, and then reattach to the crotch of the large branch's fork - to pull it out the rest of the way...but (well...) now, I'm going to have to wait for that area to dry out again (had taken advantage of a drought situation) so the truck won't get stuck in the mud, down there...
-------------
I end up with a similar situation each winter...tons of cut-up firewood (free heat) DOWN in the woods, but (as winters, here, are wet) I can't drive down there to get it...and have to hand-wheelbarrow it up out of there, before I can load it on to the truck (sheesh!)
...and (if I try to deal with it in the summer) I get eaten up by DEET-resistant chiggers and ticks.