Cloudy in the morning and just after lunch we had a quick rainstorm that perhaps lasted 10 minutes. I don't think it even made the ground wet. The rest of the day alternated sun and cloud with the emphasis on sun.
I redrilled holes where the cows had knocked off some of the insulators in their scratching and resited insulators where they had fallen off. While looking at the problem of where to put a t-post or attach insulators to the barn, I figured it out. I found a perfect spot to put a t-post close to where the wire comes out.
Then I put in the polywire along the barn. As I mentioned below I had to figure out some way of going above the waterer so I ran 3 - 5 inch extensions above the waterers. I ran the polywire along the bottom set of insulators and then ran both upper and lower wires onto those three insulators and then back to the t-post by the fenceline.
I connected the wire from the circuit-breaker to the polywire, installed two gate hooks along with two connectors (made out of wire with insulator tubing surrounding the wire), and connected everything so that the fence, gate and polywire fence were all connected.
From there I went to the tack room and connected the wire to the charger. I tested the wires on the gate (2.8 mvh) on the hi-tensile fence (2.7 mvh) and on the polywire fence (2.7 mvh). Why so low. I told Chas and after lunch he took a look. Dang, if I didn't attach the electric wire to the ground wire. After I put the electric wire on the proper post we tested it again. Still the low reading. We checked the polywire and then the gate. Both were reading 6.7 mvh so we knew the problem had to be in the hi-tensile fence. We found two shorts and a strand of wire tape that I'd attached to two of the wires to let the animals know the fence was there all of which were shorting out the fence. Once those problems were corrected the fence worked just fine.
Before lunch I got the tractor and pallet and drove the tractor into the barn. I picked up four bales of hay and put them on the pallet, drove over to the green barn and tried to drive the tractor into the barn. The stump from the large tree Gary cut down last year for us was in the way. Oh well, next time I will drive straight into the green barn and unload the bales a lot easier than trying to get the bales off at an awkward angle.
It's going to be a whole lot easier to move hay, large bales and square bales, with the forks. Nothing like good tools to make life easier.
Then after lunch I took the plants I bought yesterday and planted them. I had a lovely oval metal planter that I partially filled with beet pellets that had gone bad and a plastic pot that I also filled with beet pellets. I put three flowering kale and two different kinds of asters in the oval planter. I put a geranium and two pansies (white, and white with purple) in the plastic pot. Both are sitting on the stumps outside the deck.
Before I watered the vegetable garden I planted two different kinds of grass and watered the cottage garden plants, too. I'll have to get the names of the grasses. One is red and about 2 feet tall; the other has variegated leaves and is about 8 inches high. The look nice in the garden.
Dinner was vegetable soup that I put on earlier in the day and garlic bread (bought from Franz's used bread store). It lacked flavor to me. Chas said it was good.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Barn Downspouts; Electric Fencing; Piggy Toy; Hauling Hay with My New Tractor Forks
09/20/2008 Saturday: Overcast and cool.
I didn't paint today. Instead I helped Chas put up the downspouts and while he was working on other things I pounded in t-posts and removed wire from the railroad tie. That is, I removed as much as I could given how far into the post the staples holding the wire were driven.
I got three posts driven into the ground. Chas helped me drive two of them into the ground with the post driver.
I also put up three 5 inch long insulators that can be screwed into the wood holding up the siding. We had to drill a hole first and then screw the insulator to the wall with a wood screw.
I'd have finished by now but I have a problem. The problem I'm having is that the end post supporting the barn has such heavy metal cladding on it that I can't pound a nail or staple in, nor can I drill a hole. Bit of a bummer. I'm not sure what I'll do at that end but I'm sure I'll figure something. But tomorrow.
My plan is to have a regular two wire polywire fence along the side of the barn. Where the wire meets the waterers, the polywire will go up to the screwed in long insulators, across the two waterers and then down to another t-post. I'm having difficulty attaching insulators directly to the side I want insulators. The wood is covered with some very thick metal and I can neither pound nails or staples into it, nor can I drill a hole. This makes it more of a challenge to attach hardware. I don't want to pound in a t-post there as where I want to put it are several sections of black perforated 4 inch drainfield pipe. I'm in a bit of a quandry because I want to be able to use insulators attached to both the new fence and to a gate I want to make.
I drove out near Mary's Corners to pick up a bowling ball. Someone responded to my ad for a bowling ball. I'd requested one on Chehalis Freecycle as a toy for my pigs, something to keep them occupied while they continue to gain weight for their harvest.
While I was out Chas asked me to pick up 4 downspout joiners. I also picked up two different kinds of ornamental grass, some ornamental kale and some flowers. After I finish putting in the fence by the Hereford waterers, I'll have to plant the new plants and water the flower beds and garden. I still hope it will rain tomorrow.
Mike and Mary dropped in in the morning to measure my tractor blade for the revamped forks that will fit on the blade. They also hauled off a 55 gallon drum that we have stationed under the eastern lean to on the cow barn. Mike's going to cut out the top and smooth out the cut out section. Chas wants to raise the barrel up on 2x4s or on railroad ties so that the faucet will work.
In my travels around the farm I ran over a hose and broke the end. I found that out the hard way. No water pressure because it was running out of the end when I tried to fill the sheep's new 15 gallon water trough.
Around 1pm Mike and Mary showed up again with my completed blades.
Later on I took the bale out to the Herefords. No problem with the forks except that the bale wobbled a little. I may have to put a chain around the bale to steady it.
Chas was in the house so I had to figure out how to lift the round bale feeder and roll it into position to drop over the new bale. Fortunately the cows were out grazing so they weren't there to help out with the process. I tried three methods of lifting the feeder. I attached a chain to the far edge but forgot to lift it up as I backed up so I just dragged the feeder around. Dumb me.
Then I tried lifting the feeder with the forks. I could get it almost up but the feeder kept sliding off the forks and crashing to the ground.
My final attempt worked. I turned off the tractor, walked up to the feeder, stood sideways, bent my knees and lifted the dang thing until I got it in position to roll. I rolled it over to the new bale, left it standing while I unwrapped the bale and then dropped it over the bale. Who'd have thought I could lift that sucker but I did?
I may try using a chain to lift the furthest edge from the tractor and see if there's some way I can get the ring up without having to lift it. Nothing like continuing to try the same thing but in different ways.
I called the cows but the wind was blowing toward me and they couldn't hear me. Eventually they came in for water and discovered the tasty bale of hay in their feeder. They love this hay. The bale got put out around 2:30 pm; by 6pm there was only about 2/3 left. Since they're on pasture, too, I give them a bale every three days or so. No one looks too thin so I guess I'm doing ok with the feeding.
I've been keeping track of when I use each bale to give me some sense of how fast it's being used up. The Dexters finish a 500lb bale in 7 days (3 adults and 3 babies). Number 12 has discovered he likes to get into the feeder because the best part is always just out of reach.
This morning I got the 15 gallon waterer from the jeep and set it up in the sheep's pen. Nothing is ever simple, tho'. In order to fill the trough I had to turn off the water to the hose, disconnect one end and attach another 50 feet of hose. Fortunately I'd picked up 2 hoses a week or so ago and had put one in the green barn for this eventuality. Once everything was put back together I filled the trough.
I think I'm going to pick up a 30 gallon or 50 gallon tank for the goats. It's a pita having to fill the existing tank twice a day.
I finally took the bowling ball out of my jeep and tossed it into the pig pen. My white sow played with it for a few minutes but since I'd just put dinner into their trough she was more interested in dinner than in the new toy.
Chas cooked dinner: leftover chicken breasts, rice and succotash. He used canned corn instead of frozen. The canned corn worked better with the baby lima beans than do the frozen corn kernels.
We need to check the plums tomorrow to see if they're ripe yet. If we pick some, Gary and Mary want some to eat fresh.
I didn't paint today. Instead I helped Chas put up the downspouts and while he was working on other things I pounded in t-posts and removed wire from the railroad tie. That is, I removed as much as I could given how far into the post the staples holding the wire were driven.
I got three posts driven into the ground. Chas helped me drive two of them into the ground with the post driver.
I also put up three 5 inch long insulators that can be screwed into the wood holding up the siding. We had to drill a hole first and then screw the insulator to the wall with a wood screw.
I'd have finished by now but I have a problem. The problem I'm having is that the end post supporting the barn has such heavy metal cladding on it that I can't pound a nail or staple in, nor can I drill a hole. Bit of a bummer. I'm not sure what I'll do at that end but I'm sure I'll figure something. But tomorrow.
My plan is to have a regular two wire polywire fence along the side of the barn. Where the wire meets the waterers, the polywire will go up to the screwed in long insulators, across the two waterers and then down to another t-post. I'm having difficulty attaching insulators directly to the side I want insulators. The wood is covered with some very thick metal and I can neither pound nails or staples into it, nor can I drill a hole. This makes it more of a challenge to attach hardware. I don't want to pound in a t-post there as where I want to put it are several sections of black perforated 4 inch drainfield pipe. I'm in a bit of a quandry because I want to be able to use insulators attached to both the new fence and to a gate I want to make.
I drove out near Mary's Corners to pick up a bowling ball. Someone responded to my ad for a bowling ball. I'd requested one on Chehalis Freecycle as a toy for my pigs, something to keep them occupied while they continue to gain weight for their harvest.
While I was out Chas asked me to pick up 4 downspout joiners. I also picked up two different kinds of ornamental grass, some ornamental kale and some flowers. After I finish putting in the fence by the Hereford waterers, I'll have to plant the new plants and water the flower beds and garden. I still hope it will rain tomorrow.
Mike and Mary dropped in in the morning to measure my tractor blade for the revamped forks that will fit on the blade. They also hauled off a 55 gallon drum that we have stationed under the eastern lean to on the cow barn. Mike's going to cut out the top and smooth out the cut out section. Chas wants to raise the barrel up on 2x4s or on railroad ties so that the faucet will work.
In my travels around the farm I ran over a hose and broke the end. I found that out the hard way. No water pressure because it was running out of the end when I tried to fill the sheep's new 15 gallon water trough.
Around 1pm Mike and Mary showed up again with my completed blades.
Later on I took the bale out to the Herefords. No problem with the forks except that the bale wobbled a little. I may have to put a chain around the bale to steady it.
Chas was in the house so I had to figure out how to lift the round bale feeder and roll it into position to drop over the new bale. Fortunately the cows were out grazing so they weren't there to help out with the process. I tried three methods of lifting the feeder. I attached a chain to the far edge but forgot to lift it up as I backed up so I just dragged the feeder around. Dumb me.
Then I tried lifting the feeder with the forks. I could get it almost up but the feeder kept sliding off the forks and crashing to the ground.
My final attempt worked. I turned off the tractor, walked up to the feeder, stood sideways, bent my knees and lifted the dang thing until I got it in position to roll. I rolled it over to the new bale, left it standing while I unwrapped the bale and then dropped it over the bale. Who'd have thought I could lift that sucker but I did?
I may try using a chain to lift the furthest edge from the tractor and see if there's some way I can get the ring up without having to lift it. Nothing like continuing to try the same thing but in different ways.
I called the cows but the wind was blowing toward me and they couldn't hear me. Eventually they came in for water and discovered the tasty bale of hay in their feeder. They love this hay. The bale got put out around 2:30 pm; by 6pm there was only about 2/3 left. Since they're on pasture, too, I give them a bale every three days or so. No one looks too thin so I guess I'm doing ok with the feeding.
I've been keeping track of when I use each bale to give me some sense of how fast it's being used up. The Dexters finish a 500lb bale in 7 days (3 adults and 3 babies). Number 12 has discovered he likes to get into the feeder because the best part is always just out of reach.
This morning I got the 15 gallon waterer from the jeep and set it up in the sheep's pen. Nothing is ever simple, tho'. In order to fill the trough I had to turn off the water to the hose, disconnect one end and attach another 50 feet of hose. Fortunately I'd picked up 2 hoses a week or so ago and had put one in the green barn for this eventuality. Once everything was put back together I filled the trough.
I think I'm going to pick up a 30 gallon or 50 gallon tank for the goats. It's a pita having to fill the existing tank twice a day.
I finally took the bowling ball out of my jeep and tossed it into the pig pen. My white sow played with it for a few minutes but since I'd just put dinner into their trough she was more interested in dinner than in the new toy.
Chas cooked dinner: leftover chicken breasts, rice and succotash. He used canned corn instead of frozen. The canned corn worked better with the baby lima beans than do the frozen corn kernels.
We need to check the plums tomorrow to see if they're ripe yet. If we pick some, Gary and Mary want some to eat fresh.
Modifying Barn Fencing; House Painting; Visiting Friends: A New Food Dryer
09/19/2008 Friday: Sunny all day but not very hot.
I finally decided that I didn't like the length of the stock panel that attaches to the (stock panel) gate (and separates the goats from the feed and hay storage area) so I did something about it. I took one 8 inch section off the end attached to the gate using the heavy duty bolt cutter that Mike gave to me. I re-installed the curly wire. Now the length is just perfect. The main reason I wanted to fix the length was because snapping the three clips onto the stock panel to close it was getting difficult.
Yesterday I nipped off one small corner on the long edge and one on the gate. Now both the ends fit over the concrete footings which makes it easier to snap into the clips.
I spent the morning painting the cracks in the siding on the back deck. I didn't quite finish painting the siding over the doors and windows but did paint all the cracks. I painted the bottom and top of the siding so that Deana wouldn't have to worry about getting paint there. Deana tells me rolling is hard work so I'll let her paint the deck ceiling. I may cut in a border to make her life easier.
We got some nice white paint from Mary and Mike. They have lots of paint that they got from the hazard hut at the dump. Yup. At the dump you can get white and other colors of paint for use on your own home. In the spring, especially, Mike H tells me, folks unload their unused paint which makes it available to others for their projects. It will certainly help us make the deck look better. First we'll lay in a white under/base coat and then one or more coats of regular paint (both white).
I got in from painting about 1pm and ate a salad for lunch. Chas collected lettuce from the garden for his lunch. I'm kicking myself that I didn't plant a second crop. I expect that it's now too late but I could try planting in a pot and seeing what happens.
Then I napped in the afternoon until it was time to do evening chores.
Deana wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. I think she's exhausted plus she got too much sun the other day when it was so hot. She asked if she could come tomorrow but I told her no. Given that it's going to be overcast and possibly showery next week that might have been the wrong thing to say. Oh well, we just have one major wall to paint (the most difficult) on the south side. In addition the deck needs finishing (trim, ceiling, railings) and two upper sections on the south ell and on the east wall.
I think I will paint the deck floor next year after tearing up the carpet. The carpet is so awful looking I can't stand it. The back deck is exterior grade plywood and will certainly look a lot better after it's painted. I was reminded that many folks back east paint their porches and they look quite wonderful. I was thinking a cream color like the ceiling would make that area a lot lighter and bounce light around more.
I'm planning on hanging a seat from the roof if I can figure out where the joists are. Or perhaps I'll look for a swinging seat on its own supports rather than hanging the seat from the ceiling.
Tammy (Deana's sister) came by and picked apples from our growning trees. She plans on drying them in their dryer for winter storage.
I did run over to Mike and Mary's place to see what they'd done with the tractor. Mike rototilled where the garden will be and he smoothed the rest of the surrounding area.
Tomorrow Chas and I will put out another bale of hay. I did move the Herefords to N5 but there's probably only enough grass for a couple of days grazing.
After dinner I ordered a refurbished Excalaber 2900/3900 Dehydrator today from eBay for $149.00. I've wanted one for a long time. I'm looking forward to drying fruits like apples and plums. I'm glad I didn't give Deana all my storage jars.
I finally decided that I didn't like the length of the stock panel that attaches to the (stock panel) gate (and separates the goats from the feed and hay storage area) so I did something about it. I took one 8 inch section off the end attached to the gate using the heavy duty bolt cutter that Mike gave to me. I re-installed the curly wire. Now the length is just perfect. The main reason I wanted to fix the length was because snapping the three clips onto the stock panel to close it was getting difficult.
Yesterday I nipped off one small corner on the long edge and one on the gate. Now both the ends fit over the concrete footings which makes it easier to snap into the clips.
I spent the morning painting the cracks in the siding on the back deck. I didn't quite finish painting the siding over the doors and windows but did paint all the cracks. I painted the bottom and top of the siding so that Deana wouldn't have to worry about getting paint there. Deana tells me rolling is hard work so I'll let her paint the deck ceiling. I may cut in a border to make her life easier.
We got some nice white paint from Mary and Mike. They have lots of paint that they got from the hazard hut at the dump. Yup. At the dump you can get white and other colors of paint for use on your own home. In the spring, especially, Mike H tells me, folks unload their unused paint which makes it available to others for their projects. It will certainly help us make the deck look better. First we'll lay in a white under/base coat and then one or more coats of regular paint (both white).
I got in from painting about 1pm and ate a salad for lunch. Chas collected lettuce from the garden for his lunch. I'm kicking myself that I didn't plant a second crop. I expect that it's now too late but I could try planting in a pot and seeing what happens.
Then I napped in the afternoon until it was time to do evening chores.
Deana wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. I think she's exhausted plus she got too much sun the other day when it was so hot. She asked if she could come tomorrow but I told her no. Given that it's going to be overcast and possibly showery next week that might have been the wrong thing to say. Oh well, we just have one major wall to paint (the most difficult) on the south side. In addition the deck needs finishing (trim, ceiling, railings) and two upper sections on the south ell and on the east wall.
I think I will paint the deck floor next year after tearing up the carpet. The carpet is so awful looking I can't stand it. The back deck is exterior grade plywood and will certainly look a lot better after it's painted. I was reminded that many folks back east paint their porches and they look quite wonderful. I was thinking a cream color like the ceiling would make that area a lot lighter and bounce light around more.
I'm planning on hanging a seat from the roof if I can figure out where the joists are. Or perhaps I'll look for a swinging seat on its own supports rather than hanging the seat from the ceiling.
Tammy (Deana's sister) came by and picked apples from our growning trees. She plans on drying them in their dryer for winter storage.
I did run over to Mike and Mary's place to see what they'd done with the tractor. Mike rototilled where the garden will be and he smoothed the rest of the surrounding area.
Tomorrow Chas and I will put out another bale of hay. I did move the Herefords to N5 but there's probably only enough grass for a couple of days grazing.
After dinner I ordered a refurbished Excalaber 2900/3900 Dehydrator today from eBay for $149.00. I've wanted one for a long time. I'm looking forward to drying fruits like apples and plums. I'm glad I didn't give Deana all my storage jars.
A Trip to Town; Sharing Glass Jars; More Caulking Pre -Painting
09/18/2008 Thursday: Overcast and kind of cool today. I'm not sure it hit 60 degrees F where we live. It drizzled a little bit on our way to town but not enough even to wet the road. We need rain, but that's coming soon.
Chas and I went into town to do our shopping. We bought some parts to build a compressed air gutter cleaner at AirGas. We also purchased an elbow for our 4 inch perforated pipe for draining the eves and water away from the barn. Of course we did shop for groceries and feed. I purchased 3 bags of alfalfa pellets and one bag of rabbit pellets. The calf and the goats enjoy the alfalfa pellets. The littlest Boer doeling gets half Country Livestock (cattle feed) and half rabbit pellets in addition to the local grass hay I put out.
I was lucky enough to get some day old bread in a garbage can, well, enough to fill a garbage can for $9.00. There's less bread to feed animals these days because bakers (Franz) just aren't baking as many loaves as they used to. I gave all the animals a bread treat when I got the alfalfa pellets unloaded. The goats are mad for bread. The pigs love it and so does my shorthorn bull calf (which I still have not gotten up the courage to castrate with the new California castrator).
When we got back Sherry had finished up cleaning the house and Deana had caulked around the remaining upper deck windows and was working on painting the dips in the siding on the south facing section of the ell. I think the bottom is all painted. Then we really need to start on the south wall. We have the primer on so the wood that was exposed when we pressure washed it is covered, but I really want that side of the house painted. It's the weather side. I think it needs at least two coats of the cover paint.
Deana and I went through my glass jars and selected the ones she could use for her dried fruit and vegetables. Giving her the jars really emptied my shelves. It's nice to have space again.
Both Chas and I were bushed when we got home.
I cooked hot noodles for dinner with leeks and squash from our garden and green onions and red peppers from the grocery store. I like to use up the green onions as soon as possible otherwise I forget that they're in the fridge and they end up rotting in the compost pile.
After dinner I took q-tips and cotton pads and cleaned off my keyboard using rubbing alcohol. It looks a lot better but isn't entirely clean. At least I'm not afraid to touch it and I have gotten rid of most of the grime and dust.
Chas and I went into town to do our shopping. We bought some parts to build a compressed air gutter cleaner at AirGas. We also purchased an elbow for our 4 inch perforated pipe for draining the eves and water away from the barn. Of course we did shop for groceries and feed. I purchased 3 bags of alfalfa pellets and one bag of rabbit pellets. The calf and the goats enjoy the alfalfa pellets. The littlest Boer doeling gets half Country Livestock (cattle feed) and half rabbit pellets in addition to the local grass hay I put out.
I was lucky enough to get some day old bread in a garbage can, well, enough to fill a garbage can for $9.00. There's less bread to feed animals these days because bakers (Franz) just aren't baking as many loaves as they used to. I gave all the animals a bread treat when I got the alfalfa pellets unloaded. The goats are mad for bread. The pigs love it and so does my shorthorn bull calf (which I still have not gotten up the courage to castrate with the new California castrator).
When we got back Sherry had finished up cleaning the house and Deana had caulked around the remaining upper deck windows and was working on painting the dips in the siding on the south facing section of the ell. I think the bottom is all painted. Then we really need to start on the south wall. We have the primer on so the wood that was exposed when we pressure washed it is covered, but I really want that side of the house painted. It's the weather side. I think it needs at least two coats of the cover paint.
Deana and I went through my glass jars and selected the ones she could use for her dried fruit and vegetables. Giving her the jars really emptied my shelves. It's nice to have space again.
Both Chas and I were bushed when we got home.
I cooked hot noodles for dinner with leeks and squash from our garden and green onions and red peppers from the grocery store. I like to use up the green onions as soon as possible otherwise I forget that they're in the fridge and they end up rotting in the compost pile.
After dinner I took q-tips and cotton pads and cleaned off my keyboard using rubbing alcohol. It looks a lot better but isn't entirely clean. At least I'm not afraid to touch it and I have gotten rid of most of the grime and dust.
Our Cows' Appetite for Hay; A Round Bale Feeder Fails; More House Painting
09/17/2008 Wednesday: Kind of a strange day, weather-wise. The sky looked overcast but the sun was shining. The sun was a peculiar shade of yellow (gold). Chas thought it might be the results of the fires in Eastern Washington. So, it wasn't very hot today. The mornings for the past two weeks have been hovering around 40 degrees F. Burrr.
When I wandered over to look over the Herefords I was surprised to see that only about half of the round bale I put out late yesterday afternoon was still uneaten. I guess 12 cows and their babies plus one bull can go through a lot of hay. Anyhow, the cows ate, laid around and burped and slept. Late in the afternoon I noticed they were wandering out to the pasture to graze. They must have gotten tired of the hay.
I'm going to force them to graze by only setting out a round bale about once every 5-7 days.
Chas covered the perforated drainage pipe in the ditch he dug. He's going to wait till the rain settles the dirt and then smooth the ground over the pipe and trench into a smoother look.
While Chas was doing the work on rerouting the water from the barn, I started painting the rest of the tool shed. I had some rafters (2x4s) to paint and the door, both sides. I finished it about noon. Dean came around 11am.
After lunch I noticed that the Dexters were playing with something. Dang, I said to myself, they've taken apart my feeder - and they had. I put that back together again muttering and cursing under my breath. It didn't help that the bull spent his time growling and pawing at the Black Angus bull.
I began filling in the stripes and painting under the sofits along the east wall of the living room. Painting the cracks/stripes and touching up the missed areas overhead was sort of fun. I got that one side pretty much painted and started on the deck side of our living room. I didn't get that much done because Mike H showed up to pick up the pieces of the fork lift apparatus that he'd welded for me and which I managed to destroy in about 30 seconds. He's going to try putting it together with bolts which he will smooth off so they don't catch on the hay.
Deana asked me why I wanted a fork lift kind of loader instead of a lance-type hay carrier. I told her that I wanted something that would let me pick up a pallet loaded with at least 6 bales of hay and carry it from my cow barn to the goat barn. This would make my life so much easier. Just bring the tractor into the barn, set the pallet down, load the hay bales, back up and drive over to the green barn. Very cool. In short, the fork lift tool would be more versatile for me since I need to feed hay bales to the goats. Well, I suppose I could haul in a round bale and strip off leaves but that's a lot of work.
When I wandered over to look over the Herefords I was surprised to see that only about half of the round bale I put out late yesterday afternoon was still uneaten. I guess 12 cows and their babies plus one bull can go through a lot of hay. Anyhow, the cows ate, laid around and burped and slept. Late in the afternoon I noticed they were wandering out to the pasture to graze. They must have gotten tired of the hay.
I'm going to force them to graze by only setting out a round bale about once every 5-7 days.
Chas covered the perforated drainage pipe in the ditch he dug. He's going to wait till the rain settles the dirt and then smooth the ground over the pipe and trench into a smoother look.
While Chas was doing the work on rerouting the water from the barn, I started painting the rest of the tool shed. I had some rafters (2x4s) to paint and the door, both sides. I finished it about noon. Dean came around 11am.
After lunch I noticed that the Dexters were playing with something. Dang, I said to myself, they've taken apart my feeder - and they had. I put that back together again muttering and cursing under my breath. It didn't help that the bull spent his time growling and pawing at the Black Angus bull.
I began filling in the stripes and painting under the sofits along the east wall of the living room. Painting the cracks/stripes and touching up the missed areas overhead was sort of fun. I got that one side pretty much painted and started on the deck side of our living room. I didn't get that much done because Mike H showed up to pick up the pieces of the fork lift apparatus that he'd welded for me and which I managed to destroy in about 30 seconds. He's going to try putting it together with bolts which he will smooth off so they don't catch on the hay.
Deana asked me why I wanted a fork lift kind of loader instead of a lance-type hay carrier. I told her that I wanted something that would let me pick up a pallet loaded with at least 6 bales of hay and carry it from my cow barn to the goat barn. This would make my life so much easier. Just bring the tractor into the barn, set the pallet down, load the hay bales, back up and drive over to the green barn. Very cool. In short, the fork lift tool would be more versatile for me since I need to feed hay bales to the goats. Well, I suppose I could haul in a round bale and strip off leaves but that's a lot of work.
New Chicks; House Painting, Welded Forks Fall Apart
09/16/2008 Tuesday: Hot today. Of course we think anything over 80 degrees is way too hot.
When I went to feed the chickens their cracked corn what did I see but two newly hatched chicks. We'll see if they survive. I have no idea if the mother hen has ever raised babies before. If they do survive, chances are one or more of them is a rooster. Quite delightful as it/they will become dinner one day in the future. If hens, both will become egg layers.
Right after breakfast and a short rest I took the wooden gate I'd removed from the green barn and brought to the middle stall on the trailer and installed it. I hammered in some fencing staples, put the gate outside the doorway and, using the farmer's handy tool, binding twine, tied the gate to the side of the barn.
The stall that the Dexters like to lie in is just filthy and very wet. I need to clean it out and lay in some wood chips. In the process of clearing the doorway to the stall with my pitchfork I also tossed some rocks over the fence to get them out of the way. They'd been a PITA for quite some time.
Maybe tomorrow I can scrape away the built-up manure and hay and spread it out on the Dexter's winter pasture. Plus I can also clean out that stall.
Deana and I both painted today. I painted most of the tool shed by the garden. I started with the east side, did the west side and then finished the south side. I also painted around the inside where the door closes but did not get the door finished. The siding we have on the house requires a lot of brushing in the cavities between what is supposed to look like panels.
Deana put primer on the south side of the L and on the east side. She also started to put primer on the south side of the main section of the house. It was really hot work. We're trying to get as much of the outside done as possible before the rains come this weekend. After I get the door of the tool shed painted I'm going to help Deana on the house. I'm sure she can find something for me to do - maybe put primer on the roof of the upper deck (east side).
Mike H came with the tractor and with the new forks for me to use to pick up round bales without having to use a chain to keep it on the tractor bucket. The idea was to be able to slip the forks under the bale and easily lift it up and carry it to the feeder. Unfortunately when I went to pick up the first bale the tool fell apart. It broke into three pieces. Mike hadn't tested it against a real bale of hay; he did tell me that with the high carbon steel forks made from car springs (no that's not the word) that the tool might not stay welded.
Sooooo, Chas and I used the bucket and a chain to put a round bale in the Dexter feeder and one in the Hereford feeder. I am so happy to be able to feed round bales again. The Dexters came right over once I'd finished unwrapping the bale and started chowing down. When I called the Herefords who were in S5 right nearly at the end of the property ("Moo Cow", they came running, Myrtle in the lead. They all investigated the hay but didn't seem very excited since there's still some grass left - but not much. In a few minutes they did begin eating the hay.
When I called Mike to tell him the bad news he just shrugged and said that he'd try something else. That's fine with me. He did fix the bucket which is a good thing. It doesn't sag in the center any more. It's well reinforced with 1/4 inch channel steel along its whole length.
When I went to feed the chickens their cracked corn what did I see but two newly hatched chicks. We'll see if they survive. I have no idea if the mother hen has ever raised babies before. If they do survive, chances are one or more of them is a rooster. Quite delightful as it/they will become dinner one day in the future. If hens, both will become egg layers.
Right after breakfast and a short rest I took the wooden gate I'd removed from the green barn and brought to the middle stall on the trailer and installed it. I hammered in some fencing staples, put the gate outside the doorway and, using the farmer's handy tool, binding twine, tied the gate to the side of the barn.
The stall that the Dexters like to lie in is just filthy and very wet. I need to clean it out and lay in some wood chips. In the process of clearing the doorway to the stall with my pitchfork I also tossed some rocks over the fence to get them out of the way. They'd been a PITA for quite some time.
Maybe tomorrow I can scrape away the built-up manure and hay and spread it out on the Dexter's winter pasture. Plus I can also clean out that stall.
Deana and I both painted today. I painted most of the tool shed by the garden. I started with the east side, did the west side and then finished the south side. I also painted around the inside where the door closes but did not get the door finished. The siding we have on the house requires a lot of brushing in the cavities between what is supposed to look like panels.
Deana put primer on the south side of the L and on the east side. She also started to put primer on the south side of the main section of the house. It was really hot work. We're trying to get as much of the outside done as possible before the rains come this weekend. After I get the door of the tool shed painted I'm going to help Deana on the house. I'm sure she can find something for me to do - maybe put primer on the roof of the upper deck (east side).
Mike H came with the tractor and with the new forks for me to use to pick up round bales without having to use a chain to keep it on the tractor bucket. The idea was to be able to slip the forks under the bale and easily lift it up and carry it to the feeder. Unfortunately when I went to pick up the first bale the tool fell apart. It broke into three pieces. Mike hadn't tested it against a real bale of hay; he did tell me that with the high carbon steel forks made from car springs (no that's not the word) that the tool might not stay welded.
Sooooo, Chas and I used the bucket and a chain to put a round bale in the Dexter feeder and one in the Hereford feeder. I am so happy to be able to feed round bales again. The Dexters came right over once I'd finished unwrapping the bale and started chowing down. When I called the Herefords who were in S5 right nearly at the end of the property ("Moo Cow", they came running, Myrtle in the lead. They all investigated the hay but didn't seem very excited since there's still some grass left - but not much. In a few minutes they did begin eating the hay.
When I called Mike to tell him the bad news he just shrugged and said that he'd try something else. That's fine with me. He did fix the bucket which is a good thing. It doesn't sag in the center any more. It's well reinforced with 1/4 inch channel steel along its whole length.
Bulls Bellow, Painters Paint, Fencing and Fixing Downspouts
09/15/2008 Monday: Should be fairly hot today, in the low 80s. When it starts off foggy, we know that it's going to be hot.
The two bulls are still bellowing at each other but it has dropped in volume and number of times.
Work on painting the house is going slowly but where it's painted it looks like (milk chocolate) velvet. Deana and I pressure washed the south side of the house today with me holding the ladder (one leg on the ground, the other on a builder's brick).
I also picked three different kinds of apples from three of my trees. The windfalls went to the pigs, or at least they will once I carry the bucket to where the pigs are sited. The rest will go in my basement for winter eating and cooking.
I think that Deana and I are going to try to castrate my Shorthorn bull tomorrow morning with the new CA bander so that I can put him in with the other Herefords. It's getting to be a PITA to have to feed him separately. He looks great but sure can pack away the alfalfa pellets and hay.
I drove into Pe Ell to the hardware store and picked up some carpenter putty to fill the holes where knots have popped out on the siding.
Fencing must be nearly everyone's least favorite thing to do especially if you have to brush the fence line first. The two remaining stretches of field fencing are overgrown with buck brush and other weeds. I've weed whacked once but I think that I should spray with Crossbow while the weather is still good to kill the brush. Otherwise it's going to be impossible to remove the field fencing. That's why I dislike field fencing; it's so hard to remove and it rusts out so easily.
Chas and I have decided to put in an electric gate instead of a steel gate between the barn and the electric fence along the driveway (the little piece that I fenced off) between the barn and the main gate into the road pasture. Chas has run special well-insulated wire through the tack room and along the roof tresses at the front of the cow barn but cannot finish till we get some of our round bales moved out of the way. I purchased 165 feet of this insulated wire from Premier Sheep and will barely have enough to reach the gate and thence the fence.
Chas is getting closer to putting up the 4 inch pipe along the side of the cow barn to drain the water coming off the roof away from the barn. I've been thinking that that water is a valuable resource and that I need some kind of cistern to store water that comes down during the fall, winter and spring to use in the summer. I may actually run water off the lean to addition on the east side of the barn into the cistern, but not this year.
We'll pound in several t-posts and put on insulators and will run polywire parallel to the barn to keep the animals off the barn wall and off the black perforated pipe that we'll be using to drain the water away from the barn.
I can't remember if I told you but I did move two water troughs yesterday, one in the Dexter's home pasture and the second in the Hereford's home pasture. The Hereford's trough sits up on gravel and on top of that 3/4 inch horse stall pads. I'm hoping that this method will work to keep the animals from sinking into the mud until I can get concrete poured.
I moved the Dexter trough to the middle of the pasture along the electric fence with the hose under the electric fence in the middle pasture. It was a PITA to pull the hose through the ties that hold it up out of the way of the Dexters but in the end it was worth the time. I'll have to keep a close eye on the Dexter trough since it's in the sun and will collect algae much faster than troughs in the shade.
The two bulls are still bellowing at each other but it has dropped in volume and number of times.
Work on painting the house is going slowly but where it's painted it looks like (milk chocolate) velvet. Deana and I pressure washed the south side of the house today with me holding the ladder (one leg on the ground, the other on a builder's brick).
I also picked three different kinds of apples from three of my trees. The windfalls went to the pigs, or at least they will once I carry the bucket to where the pigs are sited. The rest will go in my basement for winter eating and cooking.
I think that Deana and I are going to try to castrate my Shorthorn bull tomorrow morning with the new CA bander so that I can put him in with the other Herefords. It's getting to be a PITA to have to feed him separately. He looks great but sure can pack away the alfalfa pellets and hay.
I drove into Pe Ell to the hardware store and picked up some carpenter putty to fill the holes where knots have popped out on the siding.
Fencing must be nearly everyone's least favorite thing to do especially if you have to brush the fence line first. The two remaining stretches of field fencing are overgrown with buck brush and other weeds. I've weed whacked once but I think that I should spray with Crossbow while the weather is still good to kill the brush. Otherwise it's going to be impossible to remove the field fencing. That's why I dislike field fencing; it's so hard to remove and it rusts out so easily.
Chas and I have decided to put in an electric gate instead of a steel gate between the barn and the electric fence along the driveway (the little piece that I fenced off) between the barn and the main gate into the road pasture. Chas has run special well-insulated wire through the tack room and along the roof tresses at the front of the cow barn but cannot finish till we get some of our round bales moved out of the way. I purchased 165 feet of this insulated wire from Premier Sheep and will barely have enough to reach the gate and thence the fence.
Chas is getting closer to putting up the 4 inch pipe along the side of the cow barn to drain the water coming off the roof away from the barn. I've been thinking that that water is a valuable resource and that I need some kind of cistern to store water that comes down during the fall, winter and spring to use in the summer. I may actually run water off the lean to addition on the east side of the barn into the cistern, but not this year.
We'll pound in several t-posts and put on insulators and will run polywire parallel to the barn to keep the animals off the barn wall and off the black perforated pipe that we'll be using to drain the water away from the barn.
I can't remember if I told you but I did move two water troughs yesterday, one in the Dexter's home pasture and the second in the Hereford's home pasture. The Hereford's trough sits up on gravel and on top of that 3/4 inch horse stall pads. I'm hoping that this method will work to keep the animals from sinking into the mud until I can get concrete poured.
I moved the Dexter trough to the middle of the pasture along the electric fence with the hose under the electric fence in the middle pasture. It was a PITA to pull the hose through the ties that hold it up out of the way of the Dexters but in the end it was worth the time. I'll have to keep a close eye on the Dexter trough since it's in the sun and will collect algae much faster than troughs in the shade.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Resting on Sunday. Not. Water Troughs
09/14/2008 Sunday: Quite hot today after a foggy start to the day.
I vegged out till 11am (after doing chores, naturally) then went outside and started watering the vegetable garden. I refilled the chicken waterer, too. I also fed them some cutup windfall apples.
I got about half the garden watered when Chas called me for lunch (salad with lettuce and cucumbers from our garden among other veggies). I also had a nice cup of tea. I love tea with milk.
But, I still haven't harvested any apples for our use, just picked up windfalls for the pigs and cows and chickens.
I'd turned out the Herefords to S5 (the large pasture). Later on I noticed that some of the cows were in yesterday's pasture (I'd forgotten to close the gate). In my hurry to move them out of there I forgot to turn off the power to the fence, a fact I didn't remember till I got zapped, hard. Even so, after I moved out the cows I unwound the temporary polywire (I wind it up and attach the length of polywire and the gate handle to the polywire behind the first post) and did manage to get it connected to the t-post where it ends. I used a fiberglass rod which doesn't conduct electricity to put the polywire back on the insulator that forms the beginning of the gate into that pasture. It was a painful experience.
I still cannot get the fence back above 6.1 even though I had it up to 7.3mvh. I must have a short somewhere that I haven't discovered yet. Even 6.1 is enough to make a cow pay attention.
After lunch I had a nap. I got worn out last week. Around 2pm I went outside and assembled the waterer and trough in the Hereford's road pasture. This is the waterer on the gravel and mats. I put a scrubber and automatic waterer and a small board in a bucket. I dragged the "new" waterer to the old trough and using the bucket dumped in a few bucket loads of water so that I could scrub the trough. After the trough was scrubbed I attached the automatic waterer using the board on the back where I attached the waterer to prevent the screws from damaging the tank as I screwed them in.
Next I moved the trough back to the site where it will rest permanently, removed the hose from the old waterer and attached it to the new and watched while the trough filled up. It was quite satisfying to get this job done.
I need to add more gravel to the area in front of the waterer, out beyond 6 feet.
Still having some energy left I began work on the Dexter trough. It was crammed up against the barn wall which is a bad location for it. It needed moving. With the leaky eves that area is always full of mud. So, to fix the problem I attached a new 50 foot hose to the end of the old hose and pulled it through all the ties that are holding it up out of the way of the Dexters. When I got most of the hose outside I ran it on the middle pasture side of the electric fence as far down as I could go toward the middle of the Dexter's winter sacrifice pasture.
When I got as far as I could go and still be able to attach the hose to the automatic waterer I emptied and scrubbed the trough and dragged it to its new location tiptoeing gingerly through all the water. A hundred gallons is a lot of water to wade through.
With the automatic waterer attached I went back to the front of the stall and attached the hose and turned on the water. I went back to see if the the waterer was working the way it should. It did.
Then it was time to do my evening chores. By then it was 4pm. I was late and the goats were giving me "what for" for being late.
After feeding all the critters residing in the vicinity of the green barn (calf, pigs, sheep and goats, and ducks) I came back to the main barn and fed the Dexters. I did not give them any hay this morning since they had lots of hay left from yesterday but they sure wanted hay this evening. One of the little Dexter bulls (Cheddar's son) keeps climbing into the feeder. Good thing I put the gate on the back of the open end. At least he stays in the feeder and doesn't wander out to visit my vegetable garden.
After setting up the two troughs with their respective automatic waterers, I was plumb wore out. I sat for 15 minutes and drank a pop. Lucky and I tried to decide what Chas and I should have for dinner. I decided tortillini with a small packet of surimi and some pesto sauce would make a fine dinner. It was delicious.
The bulls still growl and bellow at each other but much less frequently. I think they're getting adjusted to there being two of them on the property. It was nice of Gary to lease me his bull. Speaking of the bull, when I was rearranging the fences this morning before turning the Herefords into S5, the bull just looked at me and waited patiently for me to open the gates. I did have a fiberglass post with me to give myself some confidence but didn't need to use it.
I vegged out till 11am (after doing chores, naturally) then went outside and started watering the vegetable garden. I refilled the chicken waterer, too. I also fed them some cutup windfall apples.
I got about half the garden watered when Chas called me for lunch (salad with lettuce and cucumbers from our garden among other veggies). I also had a nice cup of tea. I love tea with milk.
But, I still haven't harvested any apples for our use, just picked up windfalls for the pigs and cows and chickens.
I'd turned out the Herefords to S5 (the large pasture). Later on I noticed that some of the cows were in yesterday's pasture (I'd forgotten to close the gate). In my hurry to move them out of there I forgot to turn off the power to the fence, a fact I didn't remember till I got zapped, hard. Even so, after I moved out the cows I unwound the temporary polywire (I wind it up and attach the length of polywire and the gate handle to the polywire behind the first post) and did manage to get it connected to the t-post where it ends. I used a fiberglass rod which doesn't conduct electricity to put the polywire back on the insulator that forms the beginning of the gate into that pasture. It was a painful experience.
I still cannot get the fence back above 6.1 even though I had it up to 7.3mvh. I must have a short somewhere that I haven't discovered yet. Even 6.1 is enough to make a cow pay attention.
After lunch I had a nap. I got worn out last week. Around 2pm I went outside and assembled the waterer and trough in the Hereford's road pasture. This is the waterer on the gravel and mats. I put a scrubber and automatic waterer and a small board in a bucket. I dragged the "new" waterer to the old trough and using the bucket dumped in a few bucket loads of water so that I could scrub the trough. After the trough was scrubbed I attached the automatic waterer using the board on the back where I attached the waterer to prevent the screws from damaging the tank as I screwed them in.
Next I moved the trough back to the site where it will rest permanently, removed the hose from the old waterer and attached it to the new and watched while the trough filled up. It was quite satisfying to get this job done.
I need to add more gravel to the area in front of the waterer, out beyond 6 feet.
Still having some energy left I began work on the Dexter trough. It was crammed up against the barn wall which is a bad location for it. It needed moving. With the leaky eves that area is always full of mud. So, to fix the problem I attached a new 50 foot hose to the end of the old hose and pulled it through all the ties that are holding it up out of the way of the Dexters. When I got most of the hose outside I ran it on the middle pasture side of the electric fence as far down as I could go toward the middle of the Dexter's winter sacrifice pasture.
When I got as far as I could go and still be able to attach the hose to the automatic waterer I emptied and scrubbed the trough and dragged it to its new location tiptoeing gingerly through all the water. A hundred gallons is a lot of water to wade through.
With the automatic waterer attached I went back to the front of the stall and attached the hose and turned on the water. I went back to see if the the waterer was working the way it should. It did.
Then it was time to do my evening chores. By then it was 4pm. I was late and the goats were giving me "what for" for being late.
After feeding all the critters residing in the vicinity of the green barn (calf, pigs, sheep and goats, and ducks) I came back to the main barn and fed the Dexters. I did not give them any hay this morning since they had lots of hay left from yesterday but they sure wanted hay this evening. One of the little Dexter bulls (Cheddar's son) keeps climbing into the feeder. Good thing I put the gate on the back of the open end. At least he stays in the feeder and doesn't wander out to visit my vegetable garden.
After setting up the two troughs with their respective automatic waterers, I was plumb wore out. I sat for 15 minutes and drank a pop. Lucky and I tried to decide what Chas and I should have for dinner. I decided tortillini with a small packet of surimi and some pesto sauce would make a fine dinner. It was delicious.
The bulls still growl and bellow at each other but much less frequently. I think they're getting adjusted to there being two of them on the property. It was nice of Gary to lease me his bull. Speaking of the bull, when I was rearranging the fences this morning before turning the Herefords into S5, the bull just looked at me and waited patiently for me to open the gates. I did have a fiberglass post with me to give myself some confidence but didn't need to use it.
Putting the Deck Contents Back; Windfall Apples for Apple Brown Betty
09/13/2008 Saturday: Foggy for a long time this morning but the fog finally cleared off and it was lovely outside. By 5pm it was about 76 degrees.
In between naps I rearranged the upper deck. Everything that I didn't put elsewhere is back where it was before but just not right against the wall. The paint is still drying.
In the morning I also dug potatoes. The potatoes weren't very large mostly because I didn't do a very good job of watering. Too many things going on in the past few weeks and months.
After lunch I had another nap till 3:40 pm. When I got up I fed the animals.
Then I picked up some windfall apples for the animals and also for Chas and myself for dinner. I made an apple brown betty (apples, raisins cooked for 10 minutes in water), lemon juice to cover the apples to prevent browning, cinnamon (1 tsp), rolled oats and flour.
The bulls are still bellowing at each other but there's less of it.
In between naps I rearranged the upper deck. Everything that I didn't put elsewhere is back where it was before but just not right against the wall. The paint is still drying.
In the morning I also dug potatoes. The potatoes weren't very large mostly because I didn't do a very good job of watering. Too many things going on in the past few weeks and months.
After lunch I had another nap till 3:40 pm. When I got up I fed the animals.
Then I picked up some windfall apples for the animals and also for Chas and myself for dinner. I made an apple brown betty (apples, raisins cooked for 10 minutes in water), lemon juice to cover the apples to prevent browning, cinnamon (1 tsp), rolled oats and flour.
The bulls are still bellowing at each other but there's less of it.
Rearranging the Green Barn; A Clean Computer; A Leased Angus Bull
09/12/2008 Friday: Foggy in the morning and hot in the afternoon. It would have been hotter but the wind was blowing and that helped to cool things off.
This was a busy day in terms of folks coming to work or drop off animals.
Deana showed up and began painting the under deck on the east side of the house. She did a lot of caulking yesterday and was able to paint that section.
Pat M, Jr. came by to work on my computer. He cleaned the dust bunnies and dirt on the inside of the case, removed unnecessary programs and shortcuts and installed a new Microsoft program that is supposed to work wonders for identifying viruses and for backing up. I forgot what Pat called the windows program. (09/13/2008: It's Windows Live OneCare. I downloaded it and installed it. It requires an annual fee of $49.00. I'm going to wait to see what it does before agreeing to get the subscription).
When I turned on my computer this evening, the only problem I identified is that my DSL didn't seem to be working. So, I disconnected the modem and router and plugged in the phone cable and rebooted my computer and voila, up came my DSL. So, that's one problem solved.
In the process of cleaning my keyboard I managed to pour a bunch of rubbing alcohol on my keyboard so now the spacebar is acting flaky and either doesn't work or adds a bunch of spaces. I guess I'll have to wait till it all evaporates. Lesson learned: don't open fluids over your keyboard. (09/13/2008: The keyboard seems to work, even the keyboard.)
Around 11:30 am or so Mary and Mike N showed up with their young angus bull that Gary is leasing to me for two cow cycles so that I can get my Herefords bred. My Dexter bull, Huck, and the Angus bull are growling at each other and bugleing loudly through the electric fence. I hope they don't go through the fence. I'd really be pissed. Gary is going to charge me $150.00 for the lease which seems pretty reasonable. I think it works out to about $25.00 per cow. They bugled in the middle of the night. I got up and closed the bedroom window so I couldn't hear them very well.
After lunch I rearranged the green barn. The cans of feed are now against the futon gate that separates the milking room from the feeding and hay storage area. The hay is stored on the west wall closest to the door and the feed sacks (I usually purchase half a ton at a time) are also against the west wall between the hay that's currently being fed and the stored hay for later on in the year.
This was a busy day in terms of folks coming to work or drop off animals.
Deana showed up and began painting the under deck on the east side of the house. She did a lot of caulking yesterday and was able to paint that section.
Pat M, Jr. came by to work on my computer. He cleaned the dust bunnies and dirt on the inside of the case, removed unnecessary programs and shortcuts and installed a new Microsoft program that is supposed to work wonders for identifying viruses and for backing up. I forgot what Pat called the windows program. (09/13/2008: It's Windows Live OneCare. I downloaded it and installed it. It requires an annual fee of $49.00. I'm going to wait to see what it does before agreeing to get the subscription).
When I turned on my computer this evening, the only problem I identified is that my DSL didn't seem to be working. So, I disconnected the modem and router and plugged in the phone cable and rebooted my computer and voila, up came my DSL. So, that's one problem solved.
In the process of cleaning my keyboard I managed to pour a bunch of rubbing alcohol on my keyboard so now the spacebar is acting flaky and either doesn't work or adds a bunch of spaces. I guess I'll have to wait till it all evaporates. Lesson learned: don't open fluids over your keyboard. (09/13/2008: The keyboard seems to work, even the keyboard.)
Around 11:30 am or so Mary and Mike N showed up with their young angus bull that Gary is leasing to me for two cow cycles so that I can get my Herefords bred. My Dexter bull, Huck, and the Angus bull are growling at each other and bugleing loudly through the electric fence. I hope they don't go through the fence. I'd really be pissed. Gary is going to charge me $150.00 for the lease which seems pretty reasonable. I think it works out to about $25.00 per cow. They bugled in the middle of the night. I got up and closed the bedroom window so I couldn't hear them very well.
After lunch I rearranged the green barn. The cans of feed are now against the futon gate that separates the milking room from the feeding and hay storage area. The hay is stored on the west wall closest to the door and the feed sacks (I usually purchase half a ton at a time) are also against the west wall between the hay that's currently being fed and the stored hay for later on in the year.
Railroad Ties Put to Good (Re)Use
09/11/2008 Thursday: Foggy in the morning and hot in the afternoon. We had to take lots of breaks and drink plenty of fluids to keep going.
Deana was back painting around 10:30 and left about 5pm. She painted the north deck face (upper deck) all the way across and caulked the windows in the loom room. She also told Chas where he needed to spray for mildew. Charles sprayed and rinsed off the mildew solution after an hour or so.
Chas also sanded the railing along the north and east sides of the upper deck. He did a great job. It was covered with a strange paint that basically disintegrated over time in the sunshine.
I fed a square bale of grass to the Dexters in the morning and one in the afternoon. The Herefords got moved to a new paddock (N3) but also got hay in the morning and a bale in the afternoon.
I was kept busy moving things around including bales of hay. I was totally out of hay in the Dexter stall (the one nearest the tack room). Since I'd fed a bale in the morning I only got 5 bales, enough to last me till the tractor comes back, I hope.
The little Boer seems to be adapting to life without her sister. She still cries a lot when I appear but really isn't too noisy otherwise. I moved the ducks out of their pen and gave the Boer a half can of feed. I'm not going to overfeed this beastie.
On the way to pick up the mail by the front gate I stopped and gathered a bucketful of windfall apples which I cut in half for the pigs and in quarters for MSB02. MSB02 is wild for apple slices. He practically comes through the fence to get them. Of course the pigs enjoy their nearly daily treat, too.
Mike and Mary came by to pick up a bunch of railroad ties that we'd removed from the corral we tore down a few weeks ago. I had most of them in the burn pile but we were able to retrieve quite a few that they could use. I also gave them some ties from my secret stash in the equipment shed. I guess I have about eight railroad ties left. Mike told me that ties are going for $20.00 each in the local feed and gardening stores. Expensive. I was happy to share my ties with them. Mike will remove the gate hardware that we were just going to burn out and will return them to me. They'll be using the ties to make a 4 x 32 foot raised bed as part of their garden. An additional bed will be used for their asparagus patch. They'll line the bed with Taipar/plastic.
It sounds as if Mike will be finished with the tractor soon. He'll take it over to Gary's to weld the already cut metal into my forks for moving hay. He's also going to weld 1/4 inch channel steel to support the top of the tractor that we bent moving logs. He's removed the chain hook, straightened out the fold and will be doing the welding. I can hardly wait to see what it looks like.
I got a call from Mary N tonight. She wanted to know if we'd be home tomorrow morning (Friday). I said we'd be home all day. It looks as if Gary and Mary will bring over their smallish Angus bull over for breeding my Herefords. The result will be more black baldy babies similar to the ones I got from an Angus-Hereford breeding last year. This cross is particularly good because you get the flavor of the Angus with the flavor of the Herefords, a double taste sensation. I'm hoping I'll get a couple of heifers out of this cross to sell. Maybe Tye L will want to purchase them. He did say he's going to reduce his Corriente herd (but I will believe that when I see it) and go into Black Baldies.
Gary will also bring over his orchard ladder. Deana wants to see if it will work to support her and the pressure washer hose on that great slope on the south side of the house. I'll help by steadying the ladder while she washes and probably while she paints. I'll have to bring a book to read - or talk to Deana while she paints.
The sheep are doing well. They look well fed.
We had leftover roast beef, succotash and home raised red potatoes, boiled.
Deana was back painting around 10:30 and left about 5pm. She painted the north deck face (upper deck) all the way across and caulked the windows in the loom room. She also told Chas where he needed to spray for mildew. Charles sprayed and rinsed off the mildew solution after an hour or so.
Chas also sanded the railing along the north and east sides of the upper deck. He did a great job. It was covered with a strange paint that basically disintegrated over time in the sunshine.
I fed a square bale of grass to the Dexters in the morning and one in the afternoon. The Herefords got moved to a new paddock (N3) but also got hay in the morning and a bale in the afternoon.
I was kept busy moving things around including bales of hay. I was totally out of hay in the Dexter stall (the one nearest the tack room). Since I'd fed a bale in the morning I only got 5 bales, enough to last me till the tractor comes back, I hope.
The little Boer seems to be adapting to life without her sister. She still cries a lot when I appear but really isn't too noisy otherwise. I moved the ducks out of their pen and gave the Boer a half can of feed. I'm not going to overfeed this beastie.
On the way to pick up the mail by the front gate I stopped and gathered a bucketful of windfall apples which I cut in half for the pigs and in quarters for MSB02. MSB02 is wild for apple slices. He practically comes through the fence to get them. Of course the pigs enjoy their nearly daily treat, too.
Mike and Mary came by to pick up a bunch of railroad ties that we'd removed from the corral we tore down a few weeks ago. I had most of them in the burn pile but we were able to retrieve quite a few that they could use. I also gave them some ties from my secret stash in the equipment shed. I guess I have about eight railroad ties left. Mike told me that ties are going for $20.00 each in the local feed and gardening stores. Expensive. I was happy to share my ties with them. Mike will remove the gate hardware that we were just going to burn out and will return them to me. They'll be using the ties to make a 4 x 32 foot raised bed as part of their garden. An additional bed will be used for their asparagus patch. They'll line the bed with Taipar/plastic.
It sounds as if Mike will be finished with the tractor soon. He'll take it over to Gary's to weld the already cut metal into my forks for moving hay. He's also going to weld 1/4 inch channel steel to support the top of the tractor that we bent moving logs. He's removed the chain hook, straightened out the fold and will be doing the welding. I can hardly wait to see what it looks like.
I got a call from Mary N tonight. She wanted to know if we'd be home tomorrow morning (Friday). I said we'd be home all day. It looks as if Gary and Mary will bring over their smallish Angus bull over for breeding my Herefords. The result will be more black baldy babies similar to the ones I got from an Angus-Hereford breeding last year. This cross is particularly good because you get the flavor of the Angus with the flavor of the Herefords, a double taste sensation. I'm hoping I'll get a couple of heifers out of this cross to sell. Maybe Tye L will want to purchase them. He did say he's going to reduce his Corriente herd (but I will believe that when I see it) and go into Black Baldies.
Gary will also bring over his orchard ladder. Deana wants to see if it will work to support her and the pressure washer hose on that great slope on the south side of the house. I'll help by steadying the ladder while she washes and probably while she paints. I'll have to bring a book to read - or talk to Deana while she paints.
The sheep are doing well. They look well fed.
We had leftover roast beef, succotash and home raised red potatoes, boiled.
A Death in the Farm Family and a Trip to Town (Chehalis)
09/10/2008 Wednesday: Foggy in the am and sunny in the pm.
I tossed a bale of hay to the Dexters and turned off the power to the fences so that I could let the Herefords into another paddock. They're in N4 now.
The baby Boer doeling that was sick was dead when I got down to do my chores this morning. She did not look well yesterday so I didn't hold out much hope for her survival. I'd brought down a syringe containing the LA-200 antibiotic which I decided to use on the goat with foot rot to see if that would finally fix the problem. I've been fighting it for weeks. We'll see if it helps.
I fed a bale of broken hay to the Herefords just in case they wanted a change from grass. The paddock I moved them into today is slightly smaller than yesterday's. I thought supplementing them with some hay might help.
Dang, I want my tractor back with the new fork attachment so that I can take a round bale of hay out to them. And put one in with the Dexters. With any luck I'll get my tractor back this weekend. Moving individual square bales around by hand is a PITA.
I moved a bunch of stuff away from the walls on the upper deck - mostly the dog house. Then Chas and I went downstairs to move the wrecked couch off the bottom deck and out onto the lawn. We moved my Union loom out onto the lawn, too.
Then I quickly made myself some breakfast before we headed into town. Today was Chas's chiropractic visit. We had our usual list of things to do: banking, library, grocery shopping and feed store. We also hit Rhodda to get more paint. Our house is going to be beautiful when we get it done.
I'll also be painting two outbuildings, the tool shed and the potting shed. Maybe I'll do the tool shed tomorrow. It actually came pretty clean with the pressure washing yesterday.
I also stopped by Country Tractor while Chas was in having his back adjusted. I purchased two O rings. I was smart. I stapled both rings to the schematic and noted the date I purchased the rings on the schematic. All the tractor materials will go into one of the bins I got from Mary H (which I haven't had a chance to wash out yet).
When we got back from town I phoned Deana to see why she wasn't painting. She's left the pressure washer and her stepladder on the deck and Lucky wasn't about to let her on the deck since neither Chas nor I was home and he was chained up. He didn't growl or snarl but he did curl his lip up. That was enough for Deana. Off she went home but did come back.
She pressure washed both the upper deck and the lower and did some painting. Tomorrow she and I will finish the back of the house (the south side which is also the weather side). I'll hold the ladder while she sprays. She's almost got it all done but since the land slopes down sharply, it's hard to set a ladder up. We tried digging a hole for the top hill side but the ground is so dry we hardly made a dint. I suggested she pour water into the hole but she forgot to. I'll try to find some blocks and a couple of pieces of rebar to pound in to support the blocks. Maybe that will stabilize the ladder for her.
The sister to the dead doeling was so bummed out about being separated from her sister that she yelled the entire day. I finally decided for the sake of both of our sanities that I would put her in with the big goats and let her duke it out with them. Before I did I put a collar on her so that I could catch her if I needed to do some petting and gentling. When evening chores came and I put out the feed for all the goats she muscled her way into the feeder with the other goats and seemed to be doing just fine. That was a bit of a relief.
I tossed a bale of hay to the Dexters and turned off the power to the fences so that I could let the Herefords into another paddock. They're in N4 now.
The baby Boer doeling that was sick was dead when I got down to do my chores this morning. She did not look well yesterday so I didn't hold out much hope for her survival. I'd brought down a syringe containing the LA-200 antibiotic which I decided to use on the goat with foot rot to see if that would finally fix the problem. I've been fighting it for weeks. We'll see if it helps.
I fed a bale of broken hay to the Herefords just in case they wanted a change from grass. The paddock I moved them into today is slightly smaller than yesterday's. I thought supplementing them with some hay might help.
Dang, I want my tractor back with the new fork attachment so that I can take a round bale of hay out to them. And put one in with the Dexters. With any luck I'll get my tractor back this weekend. Moving individual square bales around by hand is a PITA.
I moved a bunch of stuff away from the walls on the upper deck - mostly the dog house. Then Chas and I went downstairs to move the wrecked couch off the bottom deck and out onto the lawn. We moved my Union loom out onto the lawn, too.
Then I quickly made myself some breakfast before we headed into town. Today was Chas's chiropractic visit. We had our usual list of things to do: banking, library, grocery shopping and feed store. We also hit Rhodda to get more paint. Our house is going to be beautiful when we get it done.
I'll also be painting two outbuildings, the tool shed and the potting shed. Maybe I'll do the tool shed tomorrow. It actually came pretty clean with the pressure washing yesterday.
I also stopped by Country Tractor while Chas was in having his back adjusted. I purchased two O rings. I was smart. I stapled both rings to the schematic and noted the date I purchased the rings on the schematic. All the tractor materials will go into one of the bins I got from Mary H (which I haven't had a chance to wash out yet).
When we got back from town I phoned Deana to see why she wasn't painting. She's left the pressure washer and her stepladder on the deck and Lucky wasn't about to let her on the deck since neither Chas nor I was home and he was chained up. He didn't growl or snarl but he did curl his lip up. That was enough for Deana. Off she went home but did come back.
She pressure washed both the upper deck and the lower and did some painting. Tomorrow she and I will finish the back of the house (the south side which is also the weather side). I'll hold the ladder while she sprays. She's almost got it all done but since the land slopes down sharply, it's hard to set a ladder up. We tried digging a hole for the top hill side but the ground is so dry we hardly made a dint. I suggested she pour water into the hole but she forgot to. I'll try to find some blocks and a couple of pieces of rebar to pound in to support the blocks. Maybe that will stabilize the ladder for her.
The sister to the dead doeling was so bummed out about being separated from her sister that she yelled the entire day. I finally decided for the sake of both of our sanities that I would put her in with the big goats and let her duke it out with them. Before I did I put a collar on her so that I could catch her if I needed to do some petting and gentling. When evening chores came and I put out the feed for all the goats she muscled her way into the feeder with the other goats and seemed to be doing just fine. That was a bit of a relief.
Painting the House, Pe Ell and Doty Hydrology Meeting
09/09/2008 Tuesday: Sunny all day although the nights continue to be chilly.
Very busy day all in all. Began by cleaning off much of the stuff (and I do mean stuff) off the deck. Deana will be pressure washing it tomorrow so we'll need everything away from the wall. That includes the dog house. It took me the better part of the morning to get things out of the way and haul them off to their new homes. I put stuff in the tack room (tools, Chas's golf club, and so on), in the potting shed and in the barns.
Deana came about 11am. She pressure washed the potting shed and the little tool shed. Both look a lot better. Even better, Deana got up on the potting shed's roof and cleaned it off for me. There were ferns growing on the roof. Tells you how long it has been since the roof of that building got cleaned.
I fed Deana lunch when I made lunch for Chas and myself. Our standard fare when there are visitors - ham and cheese sandwiches.
After lunch I made up a mixture of yogurt and a little water and fed it to the little goat using a 20cc syrnge. I also gave her two more srynges of water just to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated.
Then she started on the weather side of the house. She climbed up on the roof and pressure washed down the wall. Then she worked from the bottom up. It was way too hot to work on that side. It was right in the sun. I suggested that she do the rest tomorrow morning. After that she did the east & south L out to the deck.
While she was working on the south wall I chopped back the undergrowth along the east and south sides. I must have taken away a trailer load of climbing rose and ground cover.
Tomorrow Deana will power wash the rest of the south wall. I may hold the ladder for her. That pressure washer could knock her off the ladder. Then we'll have to move a loom and and a ratty couch out of the way. The couch is going on the fire as soon as I can get it loaded into the trailer. The upper deck should be ok. I've moved most of the stuff out of the way. I just have to move some firewood off the deck. There's no good place to store firewood where you need it.
We had a quick dinner of cold cuts before we left for the Doty fire station. There was a water meeting at the station. Public health was concerned about the high levels of e. coli and coliform bacteria in the area water supply and got a grant to study the problem. They were just reporting on this. Chas and I were concerned that we might end up having to join a water district and pay lots of money for a connect fee, but apparently they are just doing a study.
I spoke to Gary N at the meeting. He says his Angus bull is fairly small, but larger than my Dexter bull. He's got him in a pen and when he gets his trailer back will bring him over. That would be good since my girls are in season off and on and are driving Huck, my Dexter bull, nuts.
Our tractor is working again. We found out what the problem was: gas in the diesel. A neighbor borrowed our tractor and had to replace 5 gallons of gas and 5 gallons of diesel. Apparently she got the two cans mixed up and filled the two cans with the wrong kind of gas/diesel (i.e., gas in the diesel can and vice versa). The wind was blowing and Chas couldn't smell that it was gas instead of diesel and filled the tank to loan it out again. The result was that Chas had to drive our trailer into town with the tractor on it and then come back. The service person jumped on the tractor and smelled the mixture in the tank and explained that that was the problem. Dang!
Chas had to drain the full(!) tank on the tractor. In addition when he replaced the fuel filter he lost the O ring when he tipped it over to drain the filter - so now the fuel filter leaks. In town tomorrow we'll pick up two O rings and hopefully the tractor will be working properly again.
I need my tractor back but will have to be patient. When our friend Mike H finishes leveling the soil on his property and moving rocks he's going to take my tractor to a friend who has a large generator with a welder attachment. At Gary's place he'll weld up the fork lift attachment for me. It will be made for my tractor and should weight about 150 lb. He says he's going to set it up so that I can drive the tractor onto the fork lift attachment and then just lift it slightly to chain the forks to the bucket. He's also repairing the bent section on the top of the bucket where we bent it lifting too heavy a tree trunk. He found some 1/4" channel that he's going to weld into place and then put back the chain attachment (the hook that we attach chains to when we're lifting things). I had three chain hooks welded to the top of my tractor blade. They've been invaluable in lifting things.
Anyhow, the blade will be much stronger and with any luck I can keep the forks on the tractor once winter starts most of the time.
I'm going to have to feed square bales to the Dexters for the next few days since they're going to be finished with the current bale by tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to save the square bales for later on in the year mostly because I have to move them from the cow barn to the stall and throw sections over the gate. I'm a bit lazy when it comes to hauling those bales of hay. Bit of a PITA but it will be worth it when I get my tractor back and can move those big bales with ease.
Yah, feeding round bales sure saves me time. Course I spend the time watching the animals so that although I have reduced the time I actually spend doing chores it takes me the same amount of time by the time I've admired my animals and scratched the ones who don't mind being scratched. The cows all love apple sections. I've taken to gleaning the fallen apples and cutting them up into sections. Last night I had drool all over me from the cows waiting for their piece of apple (the Herefords were the culprits this time).
My CA bander arrived last night. I've been playing with it but have not yet got my courage up to do a bull calf. I need to do some more practicing on a stuffed sock before I try the actual process on a live animal.
Very busy day all in all. Began by cleaning off much of the stuff (and I do mean stuff) off the deck. Deana will be pressure washing it tomorrow so we'll need everything away from the wall. That includes the dog house. It took me the better part of the morning to get things out of the way and haul them off to their new homes. I put stuff in the tack room (tools, Chas's golf club, and so on), in the potting shed and in the barns.
Deana came about 11am. She pressure washed the potting shed and the little tool shed. Both look a lot better. Even better, Deana got up on the potting shed's roof and cleaned it off for me. There were ferns growing on the roof. Tells you how long it has been since the roof of that building got cleaned.
I fed Deana lunch when I made lunch for Chas and myself. Our standard fare when there are visitors - ham and cheese sandwiches.
After lunch I made up a mixture of yogurt and a little water and fed it to the little goat using a 20cc syrnge. I also gave her two more srynges of water just to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated.
Then she started on the weather side of the house. She climbed up on the roof and pressure washed down the wall. Then she worked from the bottom up. It was way too hot to work on that side. It was right in the sun. I suggested that she do the rest tomorrow morning. After that she did the east & south L out to the deck.
While she was working on the south wall I chopped back the undergrowth along the east and south sides. I must have taken away a trailer load of climbing rose and ground cover.
Tomorrow Deana will power wash the rest of the south wall. I may hold the ladder for her. That pressure washer could knock her off the ladder. Then we'll have to move a loom and and a ratty couch out of the way. The couch is going on the fire as soon as I can get it loaded into the trailer. The upper deck should be ok. I've moved most of the stuff out of the way. I just have to move some firewood off the deck. There's no good place to store firewood where you need it.
We had a quick dinner of cold cuts before we left for the Doty fire station. There was a water meeting at the station. Public health was concerned about the high levels of e. coli and coliform bacteria in the area water supply and got a grant to study the problem. They were just reporting on this. Chas and I were concerned that we might end up having to join a water district and pay lots of money for a connect fee, but apparently they are just doing a study.
I spoke to Gary N at the meeting. He says his Angus bull is fairly small, but larger than my Dexter bull. He's got him in a pen and when he gets his trailer back will bring him over. That would be good since my girls are in season off and on and are driving Huck, my Dexter bull, nuts.
Our tractor is working again. We found out what the problem was: gas in the diesel. A neighbor borrowed our tractor and had to replace 5 gallons of gas and 5 gallons of diesel. Apparently she got the two cans mixed up and filled the two cans with the wrong kind of gas/diesel (i.e., gas in the diesel can and vice versa). The wind was blowing and Chas couldn't smell that it was gas instead of diesel and filled the tank to loan it out again. The result was that Chas had to drive our trailer into town with the tractor on it and then come back. The service person jumped on the tractor and smelled the mixture in the tank and explained that that was the problem. Dang!
Chas had to drain the full(!) tank on the tractor. In addition when he replaced the fuel filter he lost the O ring when he tipped it over to drain the filter - so now the fuel filter leaks. In town tomorrow we'll pick up two O rings and hopefully the tractor will be working properly again.
I need my tractor back but will have to be patient. When our friend Mike H finishes leveling the soil on his property and moving rocks he's going to take my tractor to a friend who has a large generator with a welder attachment. At Gary's place he'll weld up the fork lift attachment for me. It will be made for my tractor and should weight about 150 lb. He says he's going to set it up so that I can drive the tractor onto the fork lift attachment and then just lift it slightly to chain the forks to the bucket. He's also repairing the bent section on the top of the bucket where we bent it lifting too heavy a tree trunk. He found some 1/4" channel that he's going to weld into place and then put back the chain attachment (the hook that we attach chains to when we're lifting things). I had three chain hooks welded to the top of my tractor blade. They've been invaluable in lifting things.
Anyhow, the blade will be much stronger and with any luck I can keep the forks on the tractor once winter starts most of the time.
I'm going to have to feed square bales to the Dexters for the next few days since they're going to be finished with the current bale by tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to save the square bales for later on in the year mostly because I have to move them from the cow barn to the stall and throw sections over the gate. I'm a bit lazy when it comes to hauling those bales of hay. Bit of a PITA but it will be worth it when I get my tractor back and can move those big bales with ease.
Yah, feeding round bales sure saves me time. Course I spend the time watching the animals so that although I have reduced the time I actually spend doing chores it takes me the same amount of time by the time I've admired my animals and scratched the ones who don't mind being scratched. The cows all love apple sections. I've taken to gleaning the fallen apples and cutting them up into sections. Last night I had drool all over me from the cows waiting for their piece of apple (the Herefords were the culprits this time).
My CA bander arrived last night. I've been playing with it but have not yet got my courage up to do a bull calf. I need to do some more practicing on a stuffed sock before I try the actual process on a live animal.
A Time for Computers and a Sick Tractor
09/08/2008 Monday: Some fog this morning but it's shaping up to be a wonderful day. In fact, it may be hot.
One of my little goats does not look well. It's my fault, too. I overfed them and she was such a pig she overate. Now she has bad diarrhea. I'm going to try giving her some yogurt and an antibiotic shot to see if that will help. I've stopped feeding the two of them in the pen any grain at all. They're not too happy about it but they are eating hay pretty well.
I'm setting up another external hard drive. I hope I put it together and that the computer will recognize it as a drive. I pulled the plug on the generic drive and on the Maxtor which finally gave up. Actually they both gave up on me.
Well, the Cavalry drive installed beautifully but the Seagate barracuda 7200. 750GB HDD isn't being recognized by the computer. I tried the setup command but the computer just hung. I am not having much luck with this drive. I did contact the folks who sold it to me to see if they could help at all.
Giving up on the Seagate Hard Disk Drive I drove to Winlock to pick up some iris plants for the cottage garden. I hope to have time to plant them tomorrow - after I move things about so that Deana can pressure wash the walls of the house prior to painting. The deck especially needs spraying.
I gave the sick little Boer doeling a sub-q shot of antibiotic. I also fed the two doelings about 1/2 a can of feed during evening chores. Just enough to keep them from whining too much but not too much that they'll be able to overeat. (I hope).
We attempted to eat canned clam chowder that we purchased from Costco on one of our trips to that store but the soup was so salty even Chas, who loves salt, couldn't eat it. It was waaaaay to salty for me. I'll have to contact Costco tomorrow to find out what to do about the bad batch.
I also have to contact Country Tractor to see about getting our tractor serviced. Mike H says he can work for 12 minutes before the tractor loses power and quits. Doesn't sound good.
One of my little goats does not look well. It's my fault, too. I overfed them and she was such a pig she overate. Now she has bad diarrhea. I'm going to try giving her some yogurt and an antibiotic shot to see if that will help. I've stopped feeding the two of them in the pen any grain at all. They're not too happy about it but they are eating hay pretty well.
I'm setting up another external hard drive. I hope I put it together and that the computer will recognize it as a drive. I pulled the plug on the generic drive and on the Maxtor which finally gave up. Actually they both gave up on me.
Well, the Cavalry drive installed beautifully but the Seagate barracuda 7200. 750GB HDD isn't being recognized by the computer. I tried the setup command but the computer just hung. I am not having much luck with this drive. I did contact the folks who sold it to me to see if they could help at all.
Giving up on the Seagate Hard Disk Drive I drove to Winlock to pick up some iris plants for the cottage garden. I hope to have time to plant them tomorrow - after I move things about so that Deana can pressure wash the walls of the house prior to painting. The deck especially needs spraying.
I gave the sick little Boer doeling a sub-q shot of antibiotic. I also fed the two doelings about 1/2 a can of feed during evening chores. Just enough to keep them from whining too much but not too much that they'll be able to overeat. (I hope).
We attempted to eat canned clam chowder that we purchased from Costco on one of our trips to that store but the soup was so salty even Chas, who loves salt, couldn't eat it. It was waaaaay to salty for me. I'll have to contact Costco tomorrow to find out what to do about the bad batch.
I also have to contact Country Tractor to see about getting our tractor serviced. Mike H says he can work for 12 minutes before the tractor loses power and quits. Doesn't sound good.
Garlic, Harvesting Potatoes, Cows and Escaped Goats
09/07/2008 Sunday: Cold in morning but sunny and nearly 80 degrees F by about 3 pm.
I spent my time in the cottage garden and in the vegetable garden. I cut down two bushes by the Dexter fence so I could see through the fence to the Dexters. I'm not much worried about trimming back those plants because I know they'll bounce back next year.
I also cut down some hazelnut trees (10-12), in one of a set of two coppices, using a bow saw and loppers. These trees are 20-25 feet high. I really need to use my chain saw. My shoulders hurt a little from the unusual exercise.
I keep remembering that winter is just around the corner. I'm not exactly frantic to get things done but I do hear a very definite time-driven drum beat. It's playing "It's almost too late to finish your projects for this year. It's almost too late to finish your projects for this year.
After lunch I planted the garlic I bought from Cranky Carl's Gourmet Garlic Farm. It arrived yesterday. He has an unusual way of selling his garlic. You can buy 3 heads of one kind or 3 individual heads of different garlics. I asked him to surprise me with the 3 individual heads. Somehow I ended up with 6 mystery garlic and 1 regular trio. The heads were numbered at the top of the neck and the list of garlics was provided on the paper sack. Great idea.
I'd layered the dirt in the stock tank I'm planting the garlic in with llama dodo and with chicken manure to top it off. I had to rough up the surface to get ready to plant. I planted in 7 rows. Most of the heads had from 3-7 bulbs depending on the variety and size of the head. It worked out really well. There is plenty of space between the bulbs so I'm hoping I'll get lots of garlic next year.
I got the following garlic heads from Cranky Carl's Gourmet Garlic Farm (http://crankycarlsgourmetgarlicfarm.com/):
1. Chrysalis Purple
2. Georgian Chrystal
3. German White
4. Zemo
5.Chesnok Red
6. Asian Tempest
7. Metechi (3 heads)
Carl recommends that I plant on October 1 and mulch well. Around this area we plant much earlier. I perhaps jumped the gun by a week or so but I don't think it will do the garlic much harm.
I watered the cottage garden flowers and gave the thirsty garden a good drink. We should be getting corn soon. The collard greens are pretty much ruined from the cabbage butterfly. Now those beasties are attacking the red cabbage. I'll have to find some kind of insecticide that won't end up in our bodies to kill them off.
Before I went in I harvested two different kinds of potatoes. I got enough red potatoes for a later dinner and enough Yukon Gold potatoes for two dinners. I like to boil the red potatoes and either bake or mash the Yukon Golds.
When I went down to do the morning chores I saw that most my goats had escaped through the gate to their pen into the barn proper. I was not happy. They had eaten grain from the covered garbage cans. I'm afraid I was really mean to them. I just gave them hay but no additional grain. I also did not feed them any grain for their dinner. I can be mean when I have to be mean. None of the goats looks sick from overeating. That's a relief.
I did get them all back into their pen. Fortunately I have an exterior gate (made up of stock panel) that I keep latched so they didn't escape into the outside.
We loaned our tractor to a neighbor on Friday and it stopped working at his place for some reason. It worked perfectly fine at our place just a few hours before. Chas is going to see him tomorrow to see if we need to take it to town to get worked on. We're hoping it's something simple like the air filter being fouled but who knows? Bummer. My heart sank. I use that tractor nearly daily. Without the tractor I'll have to roll a bale of hay into the Dexter feeder. I am not looking forward to that.
Myrtle's calf went under the single strand electric fence into the pasture where I had them up to yesterday when I moved them into the last section of the central corridor. He escaped in the middle of the night - naturally. Myrtle bellowed and bugled for me for hours. Around 1:30 am I finally went out and drove the calf back into the paddock with his mother. Blessed silence was achieved.
Susie says she has a Dun that she'll sell me next year if I want it. She suggested I charge $200.00 or more per cow to breed Dexters in someone else's herd since he's red and thus more valuable.
We ate home raised beef and yukon gold potatoes and beets from my garden for dinner tonight. For someone who hasn't raised a garden for over 25 years I seem to have remembered how to do it pretty well. Corn should be coming on pretty soon. I plan to pig out. It's close on being one of my favorite veggies. I think I'll have enough to give away to neighbors and to share with the cows. Fortunately the Dexters are close to the garden and I can toss goodies - like worm-ridden collard greens - over the fence. Cheddar seems to find the goodies before the others. She has a good nose.
I spent my time in the cottage garden and in the vegetable garden. I cut down two bushes by the Dexter fence so I could see through the fence to the Dexters. I'm not much worried about trimming back those plants because I know they'll bounce back next year.
I also cut down some hazelnut trees (10-12), in one of a set of two coppices, using a bow saw and loppers. These trees are 20-25 feet high. I really need to use my chain saw. My shoulders hurt a little from the unusual exercise.
I keep remembering that winter is just around the corner. I'm not exactly frantic to get things done but I do hear a very definite time-driven drum beat. It's playing "It's almost too late to finish your projects for this year. It's almost too late to finish your projects for this year.
After lunch I planted the garlic I bought from Cranky Carl's Gourmet Garlic Farm. It arrived yesterday. He has an unusual way of selling his garlic. You can buy 3 heads of one kind or 3 individual heads of different garlics. I asked him to surprise me with the 3 individual heads. Somehow I ended up with 6 mystery garlic and 1 regular trio. The heads were numbered at the top of the neck and the list of garlics was provided on the paper sack. Great idea.
I'd layered the dirt in the stock tank I'm planting the garlic in with llama dodo and with chicken manure to top it off. I had to rough up the surface to get ready to plant. I planted in 7 rows. Most of the heads had from 3-7 bulbs depending on the variety and size of the head. It worked out really well. There is plenty of space between the bulbs so I'm hoping I'll get lots of garlic next year.
I got the following garlic heads from Cranky Carl's Gourmet Garlic Farm (http://crankycarlsgourmetgarlicfarm.com/):
1. Chrysalis Purple
2. Georgian Chrystal
3. German White
4. Zemo
5.Chesnok Red
6. Asian Tempest
7. Metechi (3 heads)
Carl recommends that I plant on October 1 and mulch well. Around this area we plant much earlier. I perhaps jumped the gun by a week or so but I don't think it will do the garlic much harm.
I watered the cottage garden flowers and gave the thirsty garden a good drink. We should be getting corn soon. The collard greens are pretty much ruined from the cabbage butterfly. Now those beasties are attacking the red cabbage. I'll have to find some kind of insecticide that won't end up in our bodies to kill them off.
Before I went in I harvested two different kinds of potatoes. I got enough red potatoes for a later dinner and enough Yukon Gold potatoes for two dinners. I like to boil the red potatoes and either bake or mash the Yukon Golds.
When I went down to do the morning chores I saw that most my goats had escaped through the gate to their pen into the barn proper. I was not happy. They had eaten grain from the covered garbage cans. I'm afraid I was really mean to them. I just gave them hay but no additional grain. I also did not feed them any grain for their dinner. I can be mean when I have to be mean. None of the goats looks sick from overeating. That's a relief.
I did get them all back into their pen. Fortunately I have an exterior gate (made up of stock panel) that I keep latched so they didn't escape into the outside.
We loaned our tractor to a neighbor on Friday and it stopped working at his place for some reason. It worked perfectly fine at our place just a few hours before. Chas is going to see him tomorrow to see if we need to take it to town to get worked on. We're hoping it's something simple like the air filter being fouled but who knows? Bummer. My heart sank. I use that tractor nearly daily. Without the tractor I'll have to roll a bale of hay into the Dexter feeder. I am not looking forward to that.
Myrtle's calf went under the single strand electric fence into the pasture where I had them up to yesterday when I moved them into the last section of the central corridor. He escaped in the middle of the night - naturally. Myrtle bellowed and bugled for me for hours. Around 1:30 am I finally went out and drove the calf back into the paddock with his mother. Blessed silence was achieved.
Susie says she has a Dun that she'll sell me next year if I want it. She suggested I charge $200.00 or more per cow to breed Dexters in someone else's herd since he's red and thus more valuable.
We ate home raised beef and yukon gold potatoes and beets from my garden for dinner tonight. For someone who hasn't raised a garden for over 25 years I seem to have remembered how to do it pretty well. Corn should be coming on pretty soon. I plan to pig out. It's close on being one of my favorite veggies. I think I'll have enough to give away to neighbors and to share with the cows. Fortunately the Dexters are close to the garden and I can toss goodies - like worm-ridden collard greens - over the fence. Cheddar seems to find the goodies before the others. She has a good nose.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday: Thursday's Project Completed.
Cool pretty much all day although it was sunny in the afternoon. It just never really warmed up.
Chas and I finished the project we were working on yesterday. We finished putting in a layer of rock and then dropped in a layer of gravel in front of the cow's water trough. I smoothed the surface and then took the three horse pads and laid them in. The area directly in front of the feeder is higher than the sides so the water should drain off. Plus, the entire area is higher than the surrounding land so that even if it rains and the water drains down the slope it should run around the mound.
I put a second trough in place of the trough I usually use. It needs to be washed out and a new automatic waterer attached. We have the waterer all assembled; Chas did it for me. I just have to install it. I was just way too tired to do anything more today.
Then I can fill the "new" trough and empty and clean the old trough I've been using for the last year. Plus it will be handy to have a second full tank when the power goes off for three days as it sometimes does. It will mean more water for the cows. I usually try to fill the troughs when I hear that cold weather is coming. I don't know what farmers in the midwest do when things freeze solid for weeks at a time.
Course we can always go down to the stream and get water from the creek but it's always better to have water that can be filled with a hose than to have to go and get it. It's really hard work filling a 55 gallon drum by hauling it out of the creen. Then you have to either haul it out of the drum by the bucketfull or use a syphon which takes forever.
It feels really good to have a better spot for the cows to get their water. If I have to I can use a heater to keep the tank defrosted during the really cold days. I haven't purchased a heater yet but will.
After lunch and a nap I went out to do my evening chores. Chas in the meantime had dug a trench between the barn and the edge of the driveway for a continuation of the 4 inch perforated plastic pipe that runs alongside the barn. When he gets done three downspouts will drain into the perforated pipe.
Before doing chores I took a bunch of pictures of the barn, the cows, the hay stored in the barn, the sheep, pigs and MSB02, the Shorthorn (soon to be) steer.
I did give the goats a small amount of alfalfa pellets. I am not giving the Boer babies anything but hay for the next few days. The one has really bad scours. She's such a pig. She eats as much of the grain as she can get. They're complaining mightily but I've got to be hard hearted or I'll kill the little pig through overfeeding her.
Mike and Mary showed up just as I was finishing up my chores. They came to borrow our tractor. Chas had topped off the tank and we gave them a full 5 gallon gas tank just in case they ran out of fuel. Mike is going to make me my tractor blade attachment while he has my tractor. It looks like a fork lift but is chained to the bucket. It will make it much easier to move those large bales of hay. He'll be doing the work at Gary N's place because although he has the wire he has not set up the 220 panel out in his shop. Gary has a large generator that can also be used for welding. Mike said he would also straighten the top of the blade and weld in a support that will make the top of the blade much stronger.
What more could you ask? Loan a tractor and get your tractor fixed and another piece of equipment. Plus, Mike and Mary offered me a white arch that I can spiff up and use in the cottage garden. It's quite high and about 6 feet wide. I think I'll put it in the two beds that surround the middle path. And maybe paint it bright RED to match the other arch. Or maybe a bright shade of BLUE. I want more color in my garden.
All in all it's been a lovely day. I feel pretty good. Nothing like hard physical exercise to get your blood flowing.
I opened a box of Zataraine's Jambalaya mix, added some additional rice, some Polish Sausage and a green pepper. Yum.
Chas and I finished the project we were working on yesterday. We finished putting in a layer of rock and then dropped in a layer of gravel in front of the cow's water trough. I smoothed the surface and then took the three horse pads and laid them in. The area directly in front of the feeder is higher than the sides so the water should drain off. Plus, the entire area is higher than the surrounding land so that even if it rains and the water drains down the slope it should run around the mound.
I put a second trough in place of the trough I usually use. It needs to be washed out and a new automatic waterer attached. We have the waterer all assembled; Chas did it for me. I just have to install it. I was just way too tired to do anything more today.
Then I can fill the "new" trough and empty and clean the old trough I've been using for the last year. Plus it will be handy to have a second full tank when the power goes off for three days as it sometimes does. It will mean more water for the cows. I usually try to fill the troughs when I hear that cold weather is coming. I don't know what farmers in the midwest do when things freeze solid for weeks at a time.
Course we can always go down to the stream and get water from the creek but it's always better to have water that can be filled with a hose than to have to go and get it. It's really hard work filling a 55 gallon drum by hauling it out of the creen. Then you have to either haul it out of the drum by the bucketfull or use a syphon which takes forever.
It feels really good to have a better spot for the cows to get their water. If I have to I can use a heater to keep the tank defrosted during the really cold days. I haven't purchased a heater yet but will.
After lunch and a nap I went out to do my evening chores. Chas in the meantime had dug a trench between the barn and the edge of the driveway for a continuation of the 4 inch perforated plastic pipe that runs alongside the barn. When he gets done three downspouts will drain into the perforated pipe.
Before doing chores I took a bunch of pictures of the barn, the cows, the hay stored in the barn, the sheep, pigs and MSB02, the Shorthorn (soon to be) steer.
I did give the goats a small amount of alfalfa pellets. I am not giving the Boer babies anything but hay for the next few days. The one has really bad scours. She's such a pig. She eats as much of the grain as she can get. They're complaining mightily but I've got to be hard hearted or I'll kill the little pig through overfeeding her.
Mike and Mary showed up just as I was finishing up my chores. They came to borrow our tractor. Chas had topped off the tank and we gave them a full 5 gallon gas tank just in case they ran out of fuel. Mike is going to make me my tractor blade attachment while he has my tractor. It looks like a fork lift but is chained to the bucket. It will make it much easier to move those large bales of hay. He'll be doing the work at Gary N's place because although he has the wire he has not set up the 220 panel out in his shop. Gary has a large generator that can also be used for welding. Mike said he would also straighten the top of the blade and weld in a support that will make the top of the blade much stronger.
What more could you ask? Loan a tractor and get your tractor fixed and another piece of equipment. Plus, Mike and Mary offered me a white arch that I can spiff up and use in the cottage garden. It's quite high and about 6 feet wide. I think I'll put it in the two beds that surround the middle path. And maybe paint it bright RED to match the other arch. Or maybe a bright shade of BLUE. I want more color in my garden.
All in all it's been a lovely day. I feel pretty good. Nothing like hard physical exercise to get your blood flowing.
I opened a box of Zataraine's Jambalaya mix, added some additional rice, some Polish Sausage and a green pepper. Yum.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Moving Rocks from Here to There
Cold in the am; hot in the pm.
Sherry came to clean the house, thank heavens.
While she was cleaning our place Chas and I went out to the cow barn, actually to the north exterior wall of the barn and continued cleaning the area up. We found two metal pipes, flashing, more slabs of metal and a funny piece of automobile equipment that I'm not sure of buried in the dirt alongside the wall.
We moved two of the old barn doors to the burn pile and one to the green barn. I plan to lean the door against the side as a temporary shelter for the sheep. Or build a short enclosure out of a couple of stacked railroad ties and a barn door.
Chas and I spent most of the day moving dirt and rocks. Chas is trying to put up new downspouts for me along the north side of the barn. I wanted to lay in a foundation for the waterer so that the animals wouldn't sink up to their hocks in clay mud in the dead of winter when the monsoons hit.
So, we took the tractor and a shovel and dug a trench for the 4 inch perforated black pipe that we're using to take the water away from the barn and that required we dig the trench by hand using a shovel. We did the digging after we'd first leveled and then piled dirt in the hole where the old fence used to run. After that it was putting in a layer of mixed, but mostly >3 inch rock, every one placed by hand. It took us five hours to do that work even with the tractor. I worked three hours, went in for lunch and had a nap and then went outside and moved rock for another 2 hours. It's not that the rocks were all that huge but there were a lot of them. We have more to put in tomorrow and then we're going to put in a layer of gravel, then some sand and gravel mix, then top everything off with 3/4 inch horse stall rubber mats. We'll do that tomorrow.
But then I'm hoping that the area will remain clear. The good news is that I can hose the mats off when they get yucky.
We siphoned off the water from the trough. It took forever but didn't get water in the area where we'll be working.
We'll be doing the same thing in the Dexter pasture although it's going to be a little trickier since there's less room to maneuver there since the fence is pretty close to the lean-to addition. Plus, I have to buy another mat. These mats are 4'x6' and 3/4 of an inch think (oh, I said that already. It's worth mentioning again).
It takes my (four adults and three babies) Dexters between 7.5 and 8 days to finish off a 500 lb round bale. I'm keeping track of the start date and the end date when I put a bale into their feeder (and will also count and date the bales I feed to the Herefords). Man, does having a round bale feeder ever save me time.
I'm a little worried about picking up the Herefords round bale feeder to put over a round bale. I haven't done it yet and don't know what to expect. I will probably use the tractor since I'm not strong enough to lift it into the air and roll it to the new location. The Herefords still have plenty of grass to munch on so I haven't put out a bale.
I will rotate the Herefords into a new pasture on Saturday. They'll be complaining that they're starving by then.
Sherry came to clean the house, thank heavens.
While she was cleaning our place Chas and I went out to the cow barn, actually to the north exterior wall of the barn and continued cleaning the area up. We found two metal pipes, flashing, more slabs of metal and a funny piece of automobile equipment that I'm not sure of buried in the dirt alongside the wall.
We moved two of the old barn doors to the burn pile and one to the green barn. I plan to lean the door against the side as a temporary shelter for the sheep. Or build a short enclosure out of a couple of stacked railroad ties and a barn door.
Chas and I spent most of the day moving dirt and rocks. Chas is trying to put up new downspouts for me along the north side of the barn. I wanted to lay in a foundation for the waterer so that the animals wouldn't sink up to their hocks in clay mud in the dead of winter when the monsoons hit.
So, we took the tractor and a shovel and dug a trench for the 4 inch perforated black pipe that we're using to take the water away from the barn and that required we dig the trench by hand using a shovel. We did the digging after we'd first leveled and then piled dirt in the hole where the old fence used to run. After that it was putting in a layer of mixed, but mostly >3 inch rock, every one placed by hand. It took us five hours to do that work even with the tractor. I worked three hours, went in for lunch and had a nap and then went outside and moved rock for another 2 hours. It's not that the rocks were all that huge but there were a lot of them. We have more to put in tomorrow and then we're going to put in a layer of gravel, then some sand and gravel mix, then top everything off with 3/4 inch horse stall rubber mats. We'll do that tomorrow.
But then I'm hoping that the area will remain clear. The good news is that I can hose the mats off when they get yucky.
We siphoned off the water from the trough. It took forever but didn't get water in the area where we'll be working.
We'll be doing the same thing in the Dexter pasture although it's going to be a little trickier since there's less room to maneuver there since the fence is pretty close to the lean-to addition. Plus, I have to buy another mat. These mats are 4'x6' and 3/4 of an inch think (oh, I said that already. It's worth mentioning again).
It takes my (four adults and three babies) Dexters between 7.5 and 8 days to finish off a 500 lb round bale. I'm keeping track of the start date and the end date when I put a bale into their feeder (and will also count and date the bales I feed to the Herefords). Man, does having a round bale feeder ever save me time.
I'm a little worried about picking up the Herefords round bale feeder to put over a round bale. I haven't done it yet and don't know what to expect. I will probably use the tractor since I'm not strong enough to lift it into the air and roll it to the new location. The Herefords still have plenty of grass to munch on so I haven't put out a bale.
I will rotate the Herefords into a new pasture on Saturday. They'll be complaining that they're starving by then.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Weekly Trip to Town (where we spend lots of money)
Cold this morning - only 40 degrees F when I went out to do my chores. It did warm up later on in the day.
Chas and I went to town to do our weekly shopping. We shopped for groceries and feed. I also picked up 3, 3/4 inch thick 4'x6' horse stall mats to use in front of the cow waterers to keep the cows from sinking into the mud, alfalfa pellets, a small salt block for the goats and bird seed.
We also hit the library where I found more wonderful books to read.
I was tired when we returned. I've been staying up way too late at night reading. Naturally I slept. Sleeping so long makes me grouchy - unless it's at night.
Mary H came over around 4pm. I'd just finished my evening chores. We picked chard, cucumbers, zucchini and beets for her to take home. We also dug two hills of potatoes, the Yukon Gold starts I planted from what were originally grocery store potatoes two years ago. We did some weeding and I hacked back the Hubbard squash that was growing into the tomatoes and potatoes. I need to get out and water.
Dinner was stir fries with squash and leeks from the garden, leftover beef and green peppers served over rice.
Tomorrow Chas and I hope to dig out the Hereford's watering trough area and lay down small rocks covered with gravel. We'll put the horse mats in front to keep the cows from sinking into the mud. I sure hope this works.
Chas and I went to town to do our weekly shopping. We shopped for groceries and feed. I also picked up 3, 3/4 inch thick 4'x6' horse stall mats to use in front of the cow waterers to keep the cows from sinking into the mud, alfalfa pellets, a small salt block for the goats and bird seed.
We also hit the library where I found more wonderful books to read.
I was tired when we returned. I've been staying up way too late at night reading. Naturally I slept. Sleeping so long makes me grouchy - unless it's at night.
Mary H came over around 4pm. I'd just finished my evening chores. We picked chard, cucumbers, zucchini and beets for her to take home. We also dug two hills of potatoes, the Yukon Gold starts I planted from what were originally grocery store potatoes two years ago. We did some weeding and I hacked back the Hubbard squash that was growing into the tomatoes and potatoes. I need to get out and water.
Dinner was stir fries with squash and leeks from the garden, leftover beef and green peppers served over rice.
Tomorrow Chas and I hope to dig out the Hereford's watering trough area and lay down small rocks covered with gravel. We'll put the horse mats in front to keep the cows from sinking into the mud. I sure hope this works.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Reconnecting with an Old Friend & Storing Water for Emergencies
It was cold and foggy this morning but was sunny the rest of the day. I actually turned on the heat to warm up the house enough so that I didn't freeze when I took my shower. I turned it off after Chas took his shower. We really didn't need it during the day.
In the morning I rearranged the basement pantry. I started by removing all but three containers of water. Those I'm going to leave in the basement; the rest I will take out to the well house and store them in the west corner. Some of the water was purchased water in one or two gallon containers but most are empty containers that I will need to fill. I do need to replace the water and add a drop or two of bleach but can't see doing that until the beginning of November when we generally have big wind storms.
We can always haul water from the creek and from the 55 gallon barrels we have under the down spouts to use as toilet flushing water.
Ryan did not show up today. I think he must have gone back to work at TNT Trailers but since he lost my phone number probably couldn't call me. I should have had him come yesterday to finish cleaning out the goat barn. Oh well, I guess can finish it myself. There's not much left.
I emailed Susie (of the Dexter cows) and she returned my email. We haven't talked for awhile since we're both so busy. We discussed all sorts of things including the California Castrator which her vet now uses on her bull calves, the new feeder I made by punching a hole in the barn wall and using 2/3 of a round bale feeder attached to the wall and about my possibly getting a bred cow with a heifer by her side. She wants to get rid of four more cows so I might get lucky. Hay is going to be a problem for her.
That California castrator costs $54.00 delivered but can be used on adult bulls to turn them into good tasting, tender steers. Takes awhile for the critter to become a steer - at least in terms of tenderness. I have 5 bull calves to neuter but I'm going to wait awhile to do the Black Baldies. They're still pretty small. I will do the Dexter and the Shorthorn bull calves
I hauled the water bottles out to the well house in the afternoon and put them in large boxes for storage. I also took three broken boxes and put them on the nearest burn pile for disposal.
Dinner was pasta with shrimp and pesto (store bought from Costco). Chas loves that dinner, too.
In the morning I rearranged the basement pantry. I started by removing all but three containers of water. Those I'm going to leave in the basement; the rest I will take out to the well house and store them in the west corner. Some of the water was purchased water in one or two gallon containers but most are empty containers that I will need to fill. I do need to replace the water and add a drop or two of bleach but can't see doing that until the beginning of November when we generally have big wind storms.
We can always haul water from the creek and from the 55 gallon barrels we have under the down spouts to use as toilet flushing water.
Ryan did not show up today. I think he must have gone back to work at TNT Trailers but since he lost my phone number probably couldn't call me. I should have had him come yesterday to finish cleaning out the goat barn. Oh well, I guess can finish it myself. There's not much left.
I emailed Susie (of the Dexter cows) and she returned my email. We haven't talked for awhile since we're both so busy. We discussed all sorts of things including the California Castrator which her vet now uses on her bull calves, the new feeder I made by punching a hole in the barn wall and using 2/3 of a round bale feeder attached to the wall and about my possibly getting a bred cow with a heifer by her side. She wants to get rid of four more cows so I might get lucky. Hay is going to be a problem for her.
That California castrator costs $54.00 delivered but can be used on adult bulls to turn them into good tasting, tender steers. Takes awhile for the critter to become a steer - at least in terms of tenderness. I have 5 bull calves to neuter but I'm going to wait awhile to do the Black Baldies. They're still pretty small. I will do the Dexter and the Shorthorn bull calves
I hauled the water bottles out to the well house in the afternoon and put them in large boxes for storage. I also took three broken boxes and put them on the nearest burn pile for disposal.
Dinner was pasta with shrimp and pesto (store bought from Costco). Chas loves that dinner, too.
Non-labor, Labor Day
I finished off Nancy's professional evaluation and then lazed around the rest of the day. It's nice to have a non-labor Labor Day.
I did spend some time watching the TV for news on the various hurricanes.
Dinner was left-over stew with bread machine Zoom bread. It was pretty good.
I did spend some time watching the TV for news on the various hurricanes.
Dinner was left-over stew with bread machine Zoom bread. It was pretty good.
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