All About Pocket Knives

My grandpa introduced me to the persimmon knife, fork, and spoon when I was a child. I don't recall whether he told me about predicting the coming winter weather based on the persimmon, but I heard about it somewhere. He was a big believer in the Old Farmer's Almanac. He farmed and gardened by the almanac and moon phases. He also "witched" water wells using a green forked stick (as I recall peach was his preference but he also used willow). It was said grandpa could not only find water but could also tell how deep it was and whether it would be good drinking water.

Ken

My father in law up in Liberty county Fl. also knows where the water is from the plants growing in that specific area.
He can tell you if it is drinking water or farmin' water.

I guess many of you are aware that willow tree bark is the first source of aspirin known to man. Chewing willow bark will stop you from ever buying aspirin again.

https://www.healthline.com/health/willo ... #overview1

If I could just kill/process an animal... I'd never leave home.

Ken,

You comment about your grandfather witching water brought back memories. My grandfather was the local water-witcher. There are dozens of shallow water wells that were hand dug around here that he witched. He could also tell you how deep to dig and how much water the well would produce. He also prefer peach to willow, but could work either one.

2 examples -
1 - He worked his brother-in-law's 160 acre farm and pointed to the only place he could find on the place that he could find water and said, roughly, 20 feet down but there's not much there.

19 feet down, they hit water, but the well has never had more than 4 feet of water in it even in the wettest years and it goes dry in mild drought conditions.

2 - On his own farm, over time, he found 3 spots. The well nearest his B-N-L's (adjacent) property was 13 feet down but produces poor quantities and is drought dry. The other two are N & S of the house. One is 16 feet deep and the other is 17 feet deep. Both have 6 to 10 feet of water in them and have never gone dry, even in 3 year droughts.

On my 13th birthday, he "tested" me and told me I had the gift, unlike my mother/his daughter, whom he said 'couldn't find water in a glass". He was planning to teach me how to do it the next summer, but he was diagnosed with kidney cancer over the winter and was never able to teach me true witching.

I am self-taught in witching with copper rods in that I can find pipes underground whether they have water moving through them or not, but I useless with peach/willow forks.

We learned the trick with the copper many years ago from an old feller that worked with the city. It'll work on water lines or underground power lines. I half way comprehend how and why that works.
I'm still puzzled by the water witch with a fresh cut fork. There was a guy on our crew that could do the water witch thing and he would also find buried stuff for us when we had lost location drawings or they were not available. I kinda' turned my nose up at the idea, then he showed me how to hold the fresh cut fork and it would actually turn the bark in your hands as it pulled down toward its' target. Almost spooky!
When we 1st moved to Washington County, we had a neighbor that had a shallow well that some one had "witched" for him. He said at 13 foot the water just boiled up in the hole! He sealed the well and had a pitcher pump to pull water up. Everybody knew how good his water was. The county road grader operator, the mail carrier and lots of folks would stop and get a drink from his well. When the old neighbor passed on, a young couple moved into the little lighter house and for some reason the health department made them destroy the well.
Treefarmer

Visitors: mighty in heart and lung.

Left click to expand.

Awwww......

A few fall morning photos from Southern Ohio.Sun burning thru the fog on the Ohio river,geese on my pond and some fall foliage.

Ahh, Roger. There's nothing like The Great Midwest in the fall. Cool dry days after the summer's heat. My favorite season.

Nice pictures Roger. Gonna shoot those geese ?


Here's a picture of the sun rising over Cuba. (Hard to see Cuba but it's there in the distance)

Sunrise over the Gulf/Ocean or fall foliage in the mountains... Tough choice!

The grass is always greener on the other side tho.

For those of us who spend time on a farm tractor, a sobering reminder from the November 2017 issue of The Progressive Farmer magazine:

- Agricultural occupational fatality rate rose to 25.3 per 100,000 workers (for comparison the rate for all occupational workers is 3.3 deaths per 100,000).

- One in 10 operators will overturn a tractor in his or her lifetime

- Eighty percent of deaths caused by tractor overturns involve experienced operators

- One in seven farmers involved in a tractor overturn is permanently disabled

- Seven of 10 farms will go out of business within 5 years after a tractor-related fatality

Please take a couple minutes to review the safety section of your equipment owners manual, or go on-line, "Google" tractor overturns, find the safety stuff and read it. You probably know it all already but it's good to refresh and re-think. Safety First!

Ken

We now return you to your normal programming.

Tractor flipped over backwards on my Great Uncle & killed him. I was just a tyke when it happened. Vaguely remember him. Don't remember the funeral.

He's the bigg'un second from the right.

Some of my favourite work tools

Opus 40..

That's quarry load of bluestone, holy cow!

Tom.. One man did all that stone work.. If ya google Opus 40 you will get better pics and a history.. Was fun to explore this place.. John

John - I watch this show called Aerial America and I think in the show on Pennsylvania I saw this, incredible, now on my must see list.

Tom.. This was in Saugerties, NY.. John

Saugerties, Mohonk mountain, New Paltz... This is my favorite region of New York. There is some amazing history up there, and it is actually just a couple hours from NYC.

Mohonk is where I broke my neck, and shoulder (the first time) climbing the trails. The second picture is from the labyrinth trail called "Lemon Squeeze". Once you get to the top there is a 1500 foot sheer wall of granite.
It is a beautiful area.
The third image is called "The Goat Trail" That is near where I slid.

Ken.. We got to the gate of that resort.. We could only drive up to it if we had a reservation.. 1500.00-2500.00 a night.. They wanted 25.00 per person to hike the trails.. We passed.. Yep.. that is a nice area.. John

Dratttt!
The resort used to be open to the public for breakfast, and lunch while the trails were free. You had to pay to climb the face but you also signed a certificate that stated YOU were responsible to have your body removed. I laughed at that one cause whom are they going to sue?

Well they can't stop the abandoned Granite mines in Rosendale. Those go on for miles inside the mountain, and the flooded pools are crystal clear. In fact they stay just about 45*f all year round.

They can't keep people out because for every entrance they seal up a new ceiling collapse opens a new one miles away.
I spent a fair part of my younger life climbing in those areas.
Today??? Stairs kill me. I don't get it!

Beautiful photos fellers, my brother - in- law lived just outside of New Paltz back in the 80's a beautiful area, as Ken said rich in some wonderful history.

Several years ago, we were on Mackinac Island and were shocked to find they charged $10 each to just walk into the Grand Hotel. They didn't get my saw-buck. Linnea's neither.

Ignore the wife but check out the foot bridge.. This was about 2 miles from the trail head.. Some serious grunt work went into building this.. And its cool that a single log was used.. John

I suspect The Grand Hotel on Mackinack Island has experienced an influx of lookee-lous since the movie Somewhere In Time was made there, starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour.

I've wanted to see the hotel ever since I saw the movie.

Charlie