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.