Have those burn piles that need to get burned down?

My son's new toy, works great!

 

Good evening Ford Tinkerer's

Andy, living in town I'll stick with my propane weed burner,

 

Oh yeah!! I always wanted something like that........

 

Flamethrower is the only way to burn the brush piles down. Not sure why we never got one sooner. Okay, starting my second childhood, just having fun!

 

Hello Wayne.
Good Saturday morning Andy and...

 

Morning all. Working on the tub all weekend. Full bearing repack yesterday, mounting some new replacement rod racks and a detail job today, and then an oil change tomorrow. Waiting on those springers...

 

Good morning Oregon and everyone everywhere else. 22 with some light scattered overcast that might be trying to clear off. Lot's of con trails this morning.

I've got my propane weed burner. That flame thrower looks like fun, but I don't think I'd have much use for it here at Bravo. It certainly would get the fire pit going though! If we still had the ranch & farm down in the Valley though...Aren't those something like $650?

Heading out to the Redmond Sportsman's Show a little later this morning. Then I've got a ton of pellets to get off the truck and into the Pole Barn. I also have to sit down and get our appeal on that screwed up State Fire Map sent in. There are a lot of people getting hurt by that thing. We've had insurance non-renewed, a policy we could get as a replacement had the deductable raised from $1000 to $5000. Another company that gave us a $2400 quote in April of 2023 is now giving us a quote of $5900. I was standing right next to an Insurance Agent with one company that had given us a quote when the underwriters told him they would not issue a policy because of "a new fire map" they just started using. State says they passed a law saying they can't use the state map, but once the cat is out of the bag and everyone has made copies of it, all they have to do is change or delete the name on it.

Anyway, the map is ridiculous and filled full of errors and what looks like political favors. We are listed in the Highest Hazard Zone available. Some of Cresent right around the corner and Cresent Junction Cresent Lake area's are listed as only a Moderate Hazard and as proven this past summer, they are more likely to burn from lightening strikes than we are. They are also telling us we are in a "Wildfire Urban Interface" which will put new building restrictions, building codes, roof and siding requirements for remodel or new construction etc., on us. Their own map shows that our log home is outside their Wildfire Urban Interface". We're also 14 miles south of any major urban area. They have something about how many buildings are located within a 40 acre area, but not including barns and other out buildings. The nearest WIU to us has 2 houses and a half dozen out buildings (if you count well houses) in it. Just a complete example of a FUBAR. Students at OSU Forestry school are responsible for the map and redoing it every 3 to 5 years. Wonderful!

 

On the brush fire thing. We don't have a large place to burn, so we start small with a pile of paper and sticks and built from there. Sometimes the flames get pretty tall but in general we keep the fire about 4 foot diameter. Oh yeah, then we almost always cook on or in it when we are done.

Jim, Bummer about the insurance thing. There are lots of people above us that have had there insurance canceled. I have a acquaintance that lives 5.2 miles from a rural fire department, they canceled her insurance because she lives beyond the 5 mile marker.

 

Hi Tim. We have gone from State Farm to USAA and now to Farmers for Bravo here. If any of your neighbors are having problems, they might try contacting farmers. I need to check for a local agent when we next come up for renewal because, believe it or not, the agent that picked us up was out of the Tacoma - Puyallup area.


Flat ‘no’ came from State Farm (after giving us a quote - refused to write policy because of new fire map), Liberty Mutual, Allstate and several others. Country Companies and Foremost were ridiculous. CC was costing us $3000 a year on 300 acres in the valley with 7 buildings plus the farm house. They wanted $4900 for 11-1/2 acres and 3 buildings here. Foremost quoted us $1900 in July of 2023 and $5400 in July of 2024.

We have a river on property, 3 to 3-1/2 acres of herbaceous wet land, a 28 foot deep pond, a ‘dry’ fire hydrant plumbed directly to a screened river intake…..

 

Goodnight Ford Tinkerer's..
We use Hartford for our insurance.

 

Good Sunday morning Ford Tinkerer's.
Welcome to daylight savings......

 

Good morning Oregon and everyone everywhere else. Started out at 24 this morning and is now up to 43.7. Started climbing fast after the sun made it over the trees.
Central Oregon Sportsman's Show in Redmond was a good show. We'd never gone to the Redmond show before. We've been to the PDX show quite a few times. Went to Eugene show a couple of years ago which was even smaller, and, in a Venue I didn't care for.

The Sportsmen's Show in Redmond was smaller than PDX of course but seemed bigger than Eugene's. The Redmond show was a much more enjoyable show. They had a huge RV display that rivaled any RV show I've been too. They had a number of ORV's dealers there from local venders from Bend to Culver and Madras. They actually had 'real reduced show prices', unlike the inflated MSRP "show prices" at the PNW show in Portland. My only real 'bone to pick' would be prices at the food vendors. $10 for a smaller than normal corn dog is crazy.
Anyway, the people seemed different, the atmosphere seemed more like a county fair, community get together and the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center is a fantastic venue. A lot of displays outside. In addition to boats and ORV's, there were snowmobiles, a wide range of Kubota tractors, SxS, zero turns and other equipment. Much cheaper than Rickreall Farm Supply or Oregon Vineyard Supply in Mac. Should have checked further I guess, but they had a SxS there with diesel engine, full cab with HVAC, a radio and a few other goodies for $27,000. OVS quoted me $40,000 for the same machine with the addition of a Winch.

The Central Oregon SxS club had a booth there. I think I had heard something about a group in the area but hadn't checked into it much. Got some info from them and it seems like it would be a fun & educational group to connect up with. At $25 per year club dues, it is very reasonable. Everything from day rides to group camps with, what I call, wagon spoke day rides and they tend to stay away from the USFS, BLM groomed trails and ORV parks. They do work with Oregon State Parks, BLM and USFS on off road riding opportunities.

All in all, a very good day, kept my hands in my pockets for the most part but couldn't bring myself to walk away without a few 'souvenirs'.

 

Good evening Ford Tinkerer's.

 

Good evening Oregon and everyone everywhere else.

 

Good Monday morning Ford Tinkerer's.

I'm not ready to go back to work, I liked being on vacation.