OC Outdoors

Welcome back to OC-Outdoors!  I know I haven't been able to get many posts or videos uploaded here lately.  But our area of the United States is seeing temperatures none of us have seen before (or at least wind chills).  Currently looking at the local weather radar, it is -18 degrees Fahrenheit with a feels like temp of -39° and it's 10:30AM!! So needless to say I haven't been able to get many of my outdoor activities completed lately.  So I thought it would be a good opportunity to write about some cold weather safety tips and how to keep warm in this winter weather.   Tip #1 Stay inside as much as possible!  This probably goes without saying, but if you don't have to leave the house, don't!  I understand there are some business that either cannot or will not shut down just because of cold weather.  Luckily I work for a company that decided their employees safety was more important and gave us the last couple days off. If you must travel out, ...

Hello everyone!  Today, I'd like to start something new and a little bit different.  I would like to try out a photography contest to try and get our readers more involved with the blog!  What I would like to do is to come up with a different subject each month and have readers submit their photos to me.  I'll then create a post with all of the entry's where readers will be able to vote on their favorite photograph. Rules: Since this is OC-Outdoors, the monthly contest will focus on outdoor topics.  Some may stray off somewhat since "outdoors" is a very broad subject, but I'll keep it within that topic for this contest. The topic will be announced on or around the 1st of every month All entries must be received by the 20th of every month All entries will be posted the 21st and votes will be tallied thru the 30th Winners will be announced on the 30th Everyone that wants to enter may email me 1 and only 1 photo for each months contest All photos submi...

Welcome back to OC-Outdoors!  We've got a nice little how to article for todays post.  I needed to replace the flue on the wood burning stove in the garage.  So made a quick trip to tractor supply company to pick up the materials. What do you need to replace the flue  Black stove pipe Slip pipe Self tapping screws Screw driver and or drill Possibly angled pipe depending on the layout of your exhausting system(mine is just straight through the roof) Process of replacing stove pipe flue The first step in the process for replacing the flue on the wood burning stove is to remove the old stove pipe currently in place.  Pretty obvious right!?  However, this really can be the most difficult part of the whole project as I came to find out.  My pipe was rusted and corroded together, which was the whole reason for this project to begin with. You can kind of see this in the picture to the right. So, I sprayed mine with WD-40 and let it sit severa...

I was finally able to get down in the woods a couple days ago.  I've been attempting to clear some trails that used to exist on our property. Since my wife and I just moved here a couple months ago I really didn't have much equipment to do this with.  So between weather and gathering equipment like my chainsaw and pole saw its taken a while to get out there.  Eventually I'd like to get a small tractor, like a John Deere or Kubota compact tractor to help with these kind of tasks.  But for now, the chainsaw and RZR 1000 work alright. The first priority was to cut a rather large tree that had fallen across the trail. Here is a video I was able to upload. https://youtu.be/bWzJHpQgjYE Originally I planned on cutting it up into firewood but after getting down there it seems to be a nice candidate for a saw log. So I decided to hook it up to the Polaris and pull it up to the top of our property. This successfully opened the trail! Now I can continue clearing the trail...

This past spring my wife and I took a trip with a group of friends to Baldwin Michigan.  We rented a camper and pulled our Polaris RZR 1000xp up for the weekend.  It was a very cool place to visit as you can ride your ATV or UTV pretty much anywhere up there.  There were only select roads marked prohibiting offroad vehicle traffic.  We definitely had a fun time and will more than likely make it back up that direction this year.  Since it's the middle of winter I figured I would upload a short video of that ride and try to cure the riding blues a little.  Take a look at the video and let me know what you think! https://youtu.be/87qJK0XC6zI

My previous post titled  Chainsaws  was asking about which chainsaw brands you guys would recommend.  Well, I ended up picking up my new saw yesterday and got a chance to play with it some today.  I know I was leaning toward a Stihl or a Hasqvarna which are chainsaw brand names that come to mind, but in the end I ended up going with the cheaper option.  I found a Poulan Pro 42cc 18" chainsaw for $135 at the Home Depot.  Since I had received gift cards, it made it a no brainer to try this saw out instead of spending the cash for a name brand unit. I'll include an Amazon link to the model I bought below. The saw came with a nice carrying case, the 2.6oz of 2-stroke oil, and the fully assembled chainsaw itself. After filling it with recommended mix of fuel and adding the bar and chain oil it started on the 4th pull! Definitely an easy starting machine so far. Time will tell if that remains the case. But so far, initial impressions of this saw are very goo...

I'm looking at getting a new chainsaw to maintain some of the woods that we have on our newly acquired 5.5 acres.  Currently I have an 18v battery operated cordless pole saw which works awesome for high up limbs and smaller trees and brush.  Now I'm to the point where I have most of that type of material cleaned up and  need somwthing with more power. I've looked at several different models of new chainsaws. I think I've decided to go with something with around 40cc and a 16-18" bar.  I know there are tons of different brands out there, but is it worth the extra money to go Stihl chainsaw or Husqvarna chainsaw?  I am very new to the chainsaw world so I would love some opinions and experiences from others.  What do you feel is the best chainsaw?  Please leave your comments and let me know what you use and how you like it or maybe some things you don't like about it!  Help me decide what chainsaw to buy!