Weird, cool stuff you found in the woods.

agreed! it seems like both Florida and Georgia state programs, for small non-industrial private landowners, were planned around longleaf. One of the companies that I worked for was attempting a huge restoration on the far end of the panhandle too. All those acres require Rx fire for regen. nearer the densely populated spots which also happened to have the highest water table, a double pass bed was usually the modus operandi to help reestablish but also did a great job on slash. Great pulp market helps too. Smoke management in Florida is a hot subject and tough to do on the peninsula. I know National Wildlife Refuges will or have burned down south but I don't have much experience past Ocala....

 

..... is my face red right now? Yes it is, as red as a controlled burn. I don't know why I never thought we had them, I just remember hearing that about 10 years ago and never questioning it.

 

no worries mate, welcome aboard BTW! A dry Florida is a scary issue for A LOT of folks so we're with you. I was just remembering cattle farmers that would attempt to clear palmetto with fire and having accidents in south central Florida but the worst I ever saw was a grass fire in south Dade that threatened the power grid to the Keys, not to mention an enormous bunch of homes.

 

On the subject, remember that "science hippie" (ZFrank TrueFacts) I mentioned finding in the woods earlier?



if she wakes up I'll ask if there was a fire element to her time in the Everglades. This was coastal Mississippi I believe. I'll have to ask where her Nomex was too ???

 

I’m basically coastal Mississippi and I support this message. Controlled burns seems a thing of yesteryear. I remember as a youth helping family control burn fields and some wooded areas. I personally burnt off some of last year’s cogon grass so I could herbicide the sprouts and not dead foliage. Maybe a patch 30x60 yards and literally had 4 people stop to offer to call the volunteer FD. It was barely dry enough to burn and I’m standing there with a water hose, couple of buckets, large garden sprayer, tractor with FEL bucket, shovel leaned up, and some cold beers. I had also low bushhogged a fire lane around the 8 acre field in question.

 

Blue jeans on a burn. I still see it occasionally

 

Ox shoe on the lower left. What are the others?

 

Ox shoe yes! lower right is a 19th century maple syrup tap. The brass item up top is a curiosity. That rectangle on the bottom is a square hole and it shows some wear. I have always thought it was a spur or a tsuba of some sort. All were found in New England....

 

Bent row boat oar guide?

 

Okay, so a shoe for an ox and a spile.

I haven't a clue on the third, other than thinking it is intended to be mounted on something and it holds something else in the cradle. It looks large enough to cradle a rifle stock, business end. Did you find them separately?

 

maybe, the little arms are <1/4" and brass though, but I did find it in a river bed while searching for hellgrammites, lol.

 

all spatially and temporally (well in western Mass). I was looking for bait when I found this... (see post 2274)

 

Was the river large enough to support a row boat? It's a pretty fancy, ornate casting.

 

not precisely where I found it but several miles upstream there is a dam over a natural waterfall. The impoundment above could have supported a boat for all four centuries Europeans settled in that country (before the dam was constructed)

It's pretty tiny, like 3.5" at its widest points and someone scalloped all of the edges. Are you thinking fancy andiron embellishment that survived oxidation?

 

Doesnt seem sturdy enough for boat/canoe..

 

My first thought was it’s the remains of a boot jack, but I’m not going to hold my breath in that either.

 

Agreed. Here’s another shot with scale and different angle

 

It’s amazing how fast a fire runs through dry grass lands. We see it a lot out here, it’s easy to get over run on a grass fire

 

Nomex, her greens, line pack, helmet…lmao