My Country Life

Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge Photo by Jack D. Culpepper Jack D. Culpepper March 2, 1959 - April 21, 2018 Eulogy by J.D. Bricken Wildlife Refuge Manager Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge Jack the Forester Jack served as the forester for Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge and Pee Dee National WildlifeRefuge , and I had the opportunity to work with him for 11 years. Jack loved his job. Not only did he care about the forest as a whole, but he seemed to care about each tree. He oversaw the timber harvest of thousands of acres at the Sandhills refuge and hundreds of acres at the Pee Dee refuge. His strategy for thinning timber was always based on the overall health of the forest and improving the habitat for wildlife.  photo credit: unknown Jack the Forest Ecologist photo by Cliff Berger/USFWS When Jack first came to help at Pee Dee NWR, we were eager to harvest several tracts of timber...

My brother visited last weekend, and while he was here he built a simple wooden structure to fit overtop the big fake rock that covers and protects the well-pump. This gives me good workspace where before there was just wasted, unusuable space. The big wooden counter is solid and sturdy but can be easily removed for well-pump maintenance. We used materials that I already had onsite, so I didn’t spend a dime. I love being thrifty and making use of stuff I already have.

Longleaf Forest Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge photograph by Jack Culpepper I finally made a decision on flooring for the cabin. Last week I placed an order with Goodwin Heart Pine Company for antique longleaf pine flooring. Longleaf Pine once covered the southeastern United States, but it was harvested to near extinction during the building boom of the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Only a small percentage of original longleaf remains, and for the most part, it's not planted anymore because of the slow growth rate.  It might take 100 years to get a mature longleaf and no one has time for that anymore. The slow growth is also what produces the highly sought after, beautiful, tight grained heart pine.