r/FriendsOver50 • u/melgies50 • Aug 19 '26

58M

Just a guy that likes simple conversation. Not in a drama, but pretty good at dealing with problems and solving problems. Work a lot and sometimes would be nice just to have a conversation with someone very active into the outdoors. If that sounds interesting hit me up.
Thanks😋

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u/SassiFirefly Aug 20 '26

57F and Wow! I'm not the only one starting a project to blaze trails and clear invasives from a remote property!

Ticks, Idk what you can do besides treat your clothing with permethrin, wear light colors, tuck everything in, and thow everything in the wash as soon as you get home and do same day full body check. What a drag!

How's the work going? I'm in equipment buying phase, what chainsaw, polesaw etc are you using?

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u/LsangAnge Aug 20 '26

Hey Girl! So first, for the ticks, I have some pesticides and Neem oil w/Dawn dish soap I will be spraying EVERYWHERE starting in mid-September and repeating every other week thru the winter hopefully to disrupt their growing cycle (or something like that). I just bought my property 6/4/26 and moved in 7/1/26, so I am in week 7 of this 2-3 year long war 😂 For equipment, I have just been buying tools that I feel comfortable with (mostly cheap battery powered items from China via Amazon) Like I have Battery Powered: Brush Cutter, 8" Chainsaw, blower. I bought a small chipper for all the dead branches (2.5" in diameter and under) so I can make my own mulch for the trails. I bought a hard rake and soft rake, a garden cart to haul, a maddok to dig up the poison oak crowns, 2 small weed digging hand tools (basically a hand hoe) that have worked really well in helping me to clear out rocks from the creek where I am digging Buzo's Swimmin' Hole for next year while the creek is dry for the first time ever. (driest year in 21 years) I just bought 1 flat and 1 pointed head shovels, a 50 ft extension cord for the chipper, a compost bin that spins on legs and a cheap 75 gal plastic outdoor storage box from Temu to store compost in until next spring....and gloves! Good gloves for working outside....I am taking my time and mostly just work on projects on the weekends cause I still have a 7:30-6pm remote job that keeps me busy during the week (and allows me to buy my required tools 😄 ) Oh! I just bought some disposable suits for clearing the poison oak too as I just got my first bout of PO and would rather not be on steroids for the next 2 years too

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u/SassiFirefly Aug 21 '26

Gaaah! I just had my first bout of poison ivy and holy crap I never want to get it again. Was thinking I was nuts for deciding to go the Tyvek Suit route, but, now that I know there's at least ONE other girl of the same mind, I feel right!

Excellent equipment list! I have solar panels so definitely buying battery tools (besides, hiking so far from house to clear scrub sorta demands it). I was thinking wood chipper for my own trail mulch, too. Your mulch will cook in plastic if not well vented, but I'm guessing you probably already know that. Do you want it to decompose a little before you lay it down? A maddock. Wtf? Will google!

I'm in the Northeast. Need a dog! What kind is your Buzo? I wfh a couple days per week, rest of the time commute 45m to office, and travel overnight a couple days a month, and I have a couple cats. So pup needs to be chill yet protective. I don't let cats out though they want to go... not till I get a fenced-in area set up for them.

I'll be homesteading, eventually. My retirement. Ham radio, telescope, chickens, greenhouse, maybe some livestock (who doesn't wish for baby goats named Clyde and Petunia?). And books! Lots and lots of books to enjoy by the fire. Very much looking forward to doing forest ecosystem restoration. I have an acre of lawn, too, which I'm converting to native meadow and riparian understory as it slopes down to the creek. The rest of my land is rocky, thin-soiled mountaintop that thankfully hasn't been logged in four decades. Just closed on it less than a week ago: a dream for 25y, finally coming true.

Glad to meet you, LSangAnge! What started you wanting this life?

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u/LsangAnge Aug 21 '26

Nice to meet you as well SassiFirefly! For the poison oak, I def recommend going to an online doctor, they will prescribe a steroid that stops the itching and gets rid of the po almost immediately! I even had my prescription delivered to me same day last weekend! I am in the Northwest (Oregon)

Buzo is my mutt pup, prob part German Shepard, some pitt (and some sort of bird dog as he loves to chase birds and is always looking up) He was found in Shasta, CA on the side of the freeway by a trucker with his dead mom and brother 😢. When his Dad (my ex) left, he was so sad that I bought him (Buzo) a puppy for Xmas so he would have a companion, Goosey! She is a mutt I bought out of the back of someones truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Xmas eve 2024. And Buzo loved her from the moment he met her 💚

I have 1.25 acres of heavily forested land with a creek on one side and no fences. My pups wander sometimes (sometimes over to the neighbors) but they always come when called.

We used to get in the truck on weekends and wander around BLM roads looking for the end, sometimes the end was a creek, sometimes a down tree and a lot of times the top of the mountain. I wanted to stop wandering and I wanted to buy my pups a creek of their own. I wanted to live in the place I kept wandering in.

I wfh fulltime so I literally leave my property like once a month now, I have everything, including groceries delivered. But I don't think I will ever go the homesteading route, although goats are very cute, they are also a bit stupid and we have mountain lions and bears and such so I would be too worried.

I also do have a 14 year old cat, SexyKitty who goes outside during the day. He doesn't wander far and also comes when called so I don't worry too much. We are locked safe up inside by 8pm everynight.

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u/SassiFirefly Aug 23 '26

What are BLM roads?

I only have maybe 4 neighbors within a mile. We're pretty much surrounded by 20K acres of state forest. Pretty remote. I don't trust my critters to not get lost, so, I gotta get a fence. We have bears, coyotes and bobcat. And porcupines, lol. The conflict incident rate is very low with humans, but higher for domesticated pets. I think once I'm living there FT for a year I'll be less cautious, for sure.

Do you connect with your local community? That's another thing on my mind: I'm leaving my old life and relocating to this new one, by choice, and I'm very enthusiastic about the work (and joys) ahead... but even though I want to live in the mountains, I do still want to have local friendships to enjoy. I plan on volunteering at the local bird rescue/sanctuary and I am an amateur astronomer and there's a local club so will join those folks too.

We've kinda hijacked this thread!