I've never been lost. I knew where I was at all times, but the place I was in I wasn't to sure where that was at.....lol

It snowed last night. It usually doesn't snow in South Louisiana. My cousin and I are supposed to head to my camp later today, I hope the bridges aren't closed. The roads are probably iced up, I'll have to drive very slow.

Snow in South Lousiana?!  Global Warming done been snowed on.

Yep, we're having an extra cold winter. I think most people are having a cold winter. It helps our deer hunting. They move a lot when it's cold.

There is more snow on it's way tomorrow. The poor birds that come down here for the winter, may be in trouble. I usually put out old bread and bird seed for them, when the weather gets this cold.  

Anyone venturing out in all this cold weather? I am fixing a broken water pipe at my mothers house and feeding the birds. That's about the extent of my outdoor activities.

Just to and from work, essential shopping and shoveling the drifts out.  The drifts seems to reform about every night.  It was 11 degrees this morning in Chicago.  Felt like Spring!

You folks down south might have a lot fewer bugs this spring.  However, Texas has a relatively new invasive ant from South America that is wiping out even the fire ants, and I don't know if a hard freeze will reduce their population.

Robert, you have some time to prepare as these new ants, called Crazy Ants ( Nylanderia fulva ).  They don't fly so it will take them a while to crawl to Louisiana - unless people from Texas visit you.  They don't bite like fire ants, but unlike fire ants that stay pretty much in their mound in the yard, Crazy Ants will invade the house, live in the walls and you have to treat for them every couple months.

I am going out to the farm about every day feeding corn to deer and birds, rabbits and Coon.

-4 below zero here this morning. Very cold. Staying in the rest of the time with wife and knives.

Well those ants sound bad but they will have to swim the Sabine River to get here unless someone brings them unknowingly. The temp last night was 17 or 18 down here in south Louisiana.

Robert, that's cold for there, you stay warm and safe. Heard Atlanta had lots of problems.

Hopefully the melt will be gradual.  I'd hate to have another so-called "Flood of the Century" devastating the Mississippi River Valley this Spring

Hahahaha.  I don't think that Crazy Ants can build ant bridges across the Sabine River.  Better order up a couple Anteaters just in case.  Whatever natural predator they have in South America, it isn't up here.  Before Texas kills em off (if possible), they should check to see if the Crazy Ants will eat Killer Bees.

You know, I read somewhere that "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson (credited with founding the modern environmental movement) was junk science, and that over 50 million people have died from critters (mostly mosquitoes) since she got DDT banned, while nobody died using DDT properly.  Maybe DDT would kill Crazy Ants and make outdoor living more pleasant.

The ants may not be able to build bridges but they can cross man made bridges and possibly even cross a river without a bridge.  Ants are known to form clumps when they are washed into rivers and streams and then kind of roll around like a ball with the ants taking turns being submerged. This allows them to breathe for extended periods of time until they reach land again. I wouldn't expect a river to stop the spread of a new invasive species of ants. It would just slow them down.

Tobias, I hope those Crazy Ants stay below the "frost line" - places that usually don't see much cold weather.  And, let's hope the current freezing weather that the South is experiencing will knock em down some.

Well, we finally finished fixing the water pipe at my mothers house. I thought pipes in the ground, weren't supposed to freeze? Now I'm cold and my pay was one cold beer....lol

how deep are the pipes buried?

They were about 10" below the ground.

I'm assuming you mean 10 inches and not feet. 

In Chicago, the code is four feet.

This is the depth at which the ground is not affected by outside air temperature.Even in the south, the ground temperature is usually affected to about the depth of four feet. Beyond four feet the ground temperature is usually around 60 degrees.

4 feet is probably overkill in the south as the air temp doesn't stay below freezing long enough to force the Frost line to drop that far. (The longer the temperature remains below freezing and the colder the temp drops, the deeper the frost line goes*).  If you can make the changes this summer you might want to go down another foot. If nothing else, the water flowing from the tap will be cooler because it is deeper in the ground and less affected by the air temp!

In the mean time, keep a faucet in the house trickling a small stream of water to keep the water moving.  (you should turn on both the hot and the cold taps!) This should help prevent the water line from freezing again.  If you are burning coal or wood, you might consider dumping the ashes on top of the where the water line runs to keep the ground warmer. You'll have a mess to clean up later but it might prevent another frozen water line.

* the farther north you go the deeper the freeze, mainly because the ground has less time   warm and thus the frost line can drift down to around 10-12 feet. 

In some places, such as Northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, etc.  ground never thaws and you have a year round permafrost) When this happens, and the air temperature rises above freezing the top layer turns into 4 to 6 inches of mud sitting on top of the frozen ground below!  Then at night the mud re-freezes and your tanks are frozen in the ground and the Russians win the war!  But I digress.

I am not sure of the code around here but that is usually deep enough because the temperature doesn't get that cold for that long. Oh well, we needed to help my mom out. She cried tonight, she was so thankful. She is up in age, 84 years old. Bless her heart.  

And she has probably never-ever had a water pipe freeze!

Yes she has, it's just that every little thing seems like a great disaster. She is just getting up in age. She knows I will be there for her.

Steve, maybe the pigs found some truffles!

Steve, sounds like hard work and Ham and Bacon ready available.

Steve, wish I was there to help and hunt pigs.

What I want to know is how do you get the posts in the frozen ground?  That is, if you have steep grades, a tractor mounted hole digger won't work, and a motorized hand-held auger big enough to make a hole for a locust post would take a couple guys to handle even if the ground was not frozen.

Those wild pigs will root up your pasture and have been known to attack humans. I would carry a pistol or some sort of firearm, when messing with them. They are afraid of guns.

I had forgotten about my Beaver problem but they have not forgotten about my forest. I must remember to contact my buddy the Parish nuisance trapper. If we get things going I'll post some pictures. They are costing me Trees. 

I'm heading to the camp this morning to rabbit hunt. I am bringing my grand daughters boy friend. He has never hunted rabbits before. I am also bringing two Beagle pups that are just starting to run rabbits. This ought to be an interesting hunt. I hope we can get one are two for the pot. A good rabbit Sauce Picante would not be bad for supper.

Steve,

you need to carry a shootin iron when you're buildin fence!This is my youngest daughter who shot this hog. Looks like the hog was happy to go! She shot 'em with a .243.  :)

Alan, great pic - tell your daughter good shooting.

Robert - Have a good Rabbit hunt, teach that boy how to hunt.

Alan great wild hog. It's so nice when the young ones kill.

  Well the rabbit is over and no rabbits but we checked my fishing lines and we have plenty of catfish for supper.

Robert,

are you hunting cottontails or swamp hare or what kind do you have? Three years of excessive heat and drought has reduced the cottontail population here.

We have mostly swamp rabbits and we have a good amount of them. They are hard to kill. The young dogs I had have a lot to learn.

I've been looking for this picture for a long time and finally found it! I killed this hog one evening as I was driving out of my gate. He was in the neighbor's hay field laying in the pivot track on a hot day. He saw me and layed down. I drove back to the house and got the .270 WSM and drove over in the hay field. I wasn't sure where he was so I got out of the pickup and started walking to the general area where I thought he was. He stood up when I got about 50 yards from him. I don't know who was more startled me or him. The only difference was I had the gun!!!!!!!! I went back the next day and got him out of the field. Wooly old boar.

Great pic Alan, did you eat him?

Ken,

to answer your question, no I did not dress this old boar to eat. I usually butcher a wild hog that is young and fat, or a clean sow. If a boar stinks so will the meat usually. When I hunted wild hogs with dogs we frequently cut small boars and turned them loose to catch them later as a nice fat barrow. Land owners more and more don't want any turned loose if you are hunting on their ground!

We have them here in the U.S. too, Ivars.  Local folks who decide to open a small business of processing game during the hunting season.  For a fee they will skin and cut-up your deer, and in popular fly zones, folks will pluck your geese and ducks for a fee.  However, as far as I know you are on your own with turkey in Pennsylvania.  Since the bag limit is only one there isn't enough business for someone to pluck and clean your turkey.  The bag limit for deer in Pennsylvania is also one, but it is a bigger animal than turkey and generally there are more deer taken than turkey probably because there may be more deer hunters than turkey hunters.  Plus, "butchering" is becoming a lost skill among the urban and suburban population.  Many people who hunt are generations from farm life and skills, which is why these deer processing stations can make a modest living during the season processing your deer. 

Ivars that's been going on around here for years. There are several pro meat packing slaughter houses that offer that service.

Hoawrd,

How very true this is!  With year round hunting and fishing here in FL, the guides that can botcher and dress are making a better living than those that have to send it out for processing.

Plus, "butchering" is becoming a lost skill among the urban and suburban population.  Many people who hunt are generations from farm life and skills, which is why these deer processing stations can make a modest living during the season processing your deer. 

Alan, that's a real big boar. You are right about those old boars not being good to eat but some of the younger ones are. It just depends on the one you kill.

 I use to process deer here at my home. I have a commercial meat saw and a walk-in cooler. I use to cut a lot of deer but now days I only door my own. I built the walk-in cooler myself. I was a refrigeration tech. back before I retired. It comes in handy for a bunch of game and fish.

Jan & Ivars,

I think that is what is called "progress" in a society or civilization.  I guess every society starts out as agrarian (farms) where each family does everything for themselves, grow their own food and butcher their own beef, chickens, pigs and sheep - and game.  Folks made their own clothes, too, as the Amish still do, here.  Then, somebody invents a machine to make farmers more productive.  The more they grow, the more they sell and the more money they have so they can begin to buy stuff that they used to make, and eventually pay people to repair machines they used to fix themselves.  Having 5+ children used to help in farming since it was labor intensive, but as more alternatives opened up such as jobs in manufacturing and urban business, children got out of such hard work to have more free time, and left the farm.  Eventually, farmers had to get big or get out.  Equipment that made farming vastly more productive also cost vastly much more, and little farms had to sell out because equipment got too expensive for relatively small farming acreage, and the children didn't want or need the farm, so housing developments paid a premium for open land and farmers retired, losing the skills required for what was called subsistence living (butchering their own food).  As you say, Jan, there are other factors in today's hunting and fishing.  Fewer and fewer people can hunt and fish on their own land, and for most, boats are a luxury.  Many hunting "camps", even if they have running water, aren't set up for butchering, such as sanitary areas to cut and freeze meat.  Plus, processing stations have food-grade band saws and what you might call a disassembly line.  Deer with antlers and hide go in, and wrapped and frozen steaks and chops come out - for a fee that, for the average person, is cheaper than the time, equipment, and skills required to do it themselves.

That is very true, Howard. This year the 8 Pt. buck I killed, I was unable to process it myself because of health reasons, so I brought it to a processing plant. When I brought it to them it was cleaned and cut into 4 quarters. When I picked it up, some of it was ground and mixed with pork for hamburger meat and the rest cut into steaks. Then all of it was vacuumed pack into small packages. The price was not bad for the work preformed. $50. not counting the price of the deboned pork. 

Robert,

in my county in Texas and many other counties as well I can legally take 5 deer annually and I usually do. I have two freezers one in the barn and one in the house. I usually kill several wild hogs a year as well. I know lots of folks who will take any meat I want to share and I usually give a lot away. I process my own meat usually depending on temperature and what I have needing butchering. I eat lots of venison and wild pork annually. Since wild hogs are destructive vermin land owners want them killed and don't care what you do with the meat, nor does game and fish. Once in a while (infrequently and usually in the winter)  I may walk a long way back in a place that I cannot drive in. I may wear a pack and if I kill a hog I'll just put hog loin in a garbage bag and leave the rest. I hate feeding the coyotes but am not willing to pack the whole thing out.Getting ready to dress daughter's buck.

Congrats to your daughter, Alan, that's a fine buck.

The catfish started running some of the little bayous around here. I am wanting to go real bad and bring my grand daughter and her boy friend but they have school [college] until Friday. So we're planning on a fishing trip Saturday. I've been going over the rod/reels to make sure their okay. Checking hooks, weights and getting bait.

Robert,

Catching children and grandchildren must be like catching fish.  You make it as effortless as possible - you keep the tackle in shape and lubed, keep the boat clean and ready, and the motor tuned so that all the chillins have to do is go along, enjoy the boat ride and throw the line in.  Like catching fish, you throw some bait or shiny thing at them and they don't have to hunt around for something to eat; effortless. 

Good fishing, wish I was there to go with you.

Thanks guys, fishing with the grand daughters is great.

  When I catfish, I usually fish for the smaller ones, 1# to 3#. I find these are the best eating, Sometimes, we catch a bigger one.

  I'll post a picture of our catch, but ya'll know me, if we don't catch anything, I'll tell ya'll the truth.