Thanks for the update and the pictures! Itâs good to know that your trees healed well. I was curious how they did because Iâve got a ton of rabbit and vole damage to deal with. Iâve got about 200 apple and pear trees in a fenced-in 60â x 60â nursery. The trees are 1 to 4 years old, ranging in size from less than a foot to 7 feet tall, with each one wrapped with a 24â plastic vole guard. Even though the nursery is surrounded by an 8-foot polypropylene mesh deer fence fortified with a 28-inch welded wire rabbit fence, it was no match for the 2 to 5 feet of snow thatâs been on the ground for most of the winter. With the snow higher than the rabbit fence, they easily chewed through the polypropylene mesh, and, in a single night, nipped almost everything down to snow-level (about 30â). The bigger trees are missing big patches of bark, maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the way around the trunk. Oh - and under the snow, on the smaller trees, voles skeletonized everything above - and sticking out of - the plastic guards like piranhas. I saved what I could by wrapping what was still standing above the guards in aluminum foil, made some patches in the fence with poultry netting, and dug a trench in the snow all the way around the nursery. In the process of mending the fence (which took a few days), rabbits got in only once. They ignored all the aluminum-covered trees, and gnawed on raspberry canes instead. Once mended, the rabbits havenât got back in. As for the vole guards, they can only save the wood that theyâre guarding. I wonât know the full extent of the damage until the snow melts. It stands at a little under 2 feet deep right now. Itâs just devastating to see such damage. Heartbreak aside, my concerns/questions are: Will there be new growth (from the scion/variety Iâm trying to grow) if there are no visible buds? Is there anything I should do to keep disease (scab, canker, fireblight) from entering the wounds? Good luck!

Thanks Otis, I have enjoyed reading various comments here as well and frankly I have a lot more browsing to do. I have noticed quite a few posting by yourself as well as Yan here. I'm sure we have a great deal of information to share. I'm looking forward to our discussions. Yan, although Helena proper is listed a zone 4, I am in the center of the valley, whereas the city of Helena sits on the side of Mt. Helena on the south-west side of the valley. My weather patterns are a lot different even though I am only five minutes or five miles from town. Winds here can be three times higher than in town, and the moisture levels are considerably lower. Our frost lines do get down to about two feet but that is where my garden stops and the bed rock begins. My six raised beds are dug down into the bed rock or approximately four feet. The deepest raised bed is dug down five feet and contains well aged cow manure/straw. This bed has a combination of red wigglers, Euros, and Canadian night crawlers added to it. The red wigglers have pretty much taken over the bin, however I do see evidence of the other two worms from time to time. In the fall I dig a sizeable hole in the center of this raise bed and fill it with garden scraps. In the winter I cover the surface with black plastic and place three window panes over this bed and let it sit until spring. Worms will migrate to the lower levels, but by spring they will have pretty much devoured all of the garden scraps. I use the composted cow manure for potting mixes and filling large garden holes with a 50"50 mix of compost and top soil for tomatoes, squash, pumpkin and cucumbers. I also add a cottage cheese container teaming with red wigglers to these holes as well. I have an unlimited supply of well aged cow manure. and horse manure in various stages of decomposition. I add horse manure with straw bedding to an above ground out door compost bin which sets under my deck. Like my raised beds it is 4'W x 8'L, and 3.5'D. By sitting under my deck and next to the concrete wall of the house, I get some protection from the cold. I cover this bin with a wooden 1" x 4" frame which has 14ml opaque plastic sheeting (painters drop cloth) stapled to the frame and a tarp thrown over that. This compost bin under the deck also gets a healthy dose of garden and harvest scraps before winter. The only difference in the two outdoor bins is the under deck bin gets dosed with hot water periodically from an outdoor faucet I installed a year ago. Some of the horse manure in this bin is fairly fresh so adding hot water helps to boost the decomposition process in the winter months. By spring a few turnings is all that is required to complete the pulverizing process of the 'horse biscuits'. This may seem like a lot of compost but I never have enough. The main garden 60' x 100', four 4' x 60' rows, six 4' x 8' raised bed, fruit trees, etc., use a lot of compost. I also bring in three pickup loads of the well aged cow manure to till in each spring. I would like to figure out how to post pics here to help explain some of the things which I have been posting. Will do that as a follow up as soon as I can determine how its done. As a side note Yan, I wore out a shovel and pic ax establishing my garden, bins and planting fruit trees, and I have a rock wall 200ft long, 10ft wide and 6ft deep extending my back yard into a 40ft barrow ditch along my back year. This wall has been a dumping site for corn stalks: potato, bean, pea, squash and cucumber vines; and layered with horse manure as well. I have added another riser to my 20 riser irrigation system to plant this area next spring. It already has dill growing in one corner, and I figured I would decorate this area with an assortment of colorful gourds and maybe some small pumpkins this spring. Each year I now have people stopping who want some of my corn stalks for Halloween decorations. Figured they could help themselves to some gourds as well. morgan

We won't go into the why of this lifestyle change as it's none of my business so let's make sure the 1985 is not going to be a major money pit. Have you checked out the flooring to make sure it's solid and hopefully not pressed board. Look underneath the bathroom toilets and the kitchen sink for water damage. If the floors are not good sub flooring there will be major problems there. I'd hate to see you get up in the wee hours to go to the bathroom and fall through the floor. Do your homework regarding the different types of surfaces in your MH and what it takes to get a coat of paint to stick. Most of the surfaces in these older MH's are some form of plastic. Not properly done paint just peels off. What you want to do can be done but just do your homework so that you don't have to spend money later removing it and doing it over which would be much more costly. How about the roof. Check the ceilings in all rooms including closets for water stains and also go up and check the roof for problems. Why buy someone elses problems? Good luck.

whats your prefrence? I like weathered. but it would depend upon type of wood. lots of non painted or stained board & batten cypress houses in my area 100 years old. but cypress is getting rare, folks tear down for just salvaged lumber. my house was originally board & batten. battens removed in 70's & asbestos tiles installed. this house had 8,700 cfm of air infiltration when I first tested it with my blower door. numerous cases of caulk & years of diagnostic experience later, I'm to the point of needing to add fresh air intake to my whole house dehumidifier if I do more air sealing. my point is that if I were to do board & batten today.. it wold be with foam sheating under the board next to studs. board caulked together..battens caulked to board. air leakage is an expensive thing. cheap to address when putting together..pita to retrofit. the things you learn! hows it going Snidley? whats happning at your place these days? I'm hoping OP comes back with pics. there is a lot a competent carpenter can do on fixing up houses. with the right guidence this could be a success. have a good weekend everyone.