August 1-10 in reverse chronical order

08/10/2009 Monday: Gloomy all day and about 70 degrees F. Around dinner time it started drizzling.

I went into work today. I'm so tired it's hard to get serious about public health indicators. Before work I picked up some money and went to the Farm Store to pick up 4 bags of country livestock equivalent. After work I mailed two letters and went grocery shopping.

The four goats I had the guys help me put into the smaller pen on Saturday managed to escape. I noticed that they were out when I went to do evening chores. I managed to fix the panels, one had come away from the wall that I'd tied it to, and put the two oldest girls, Marcy's daughters, back in. Tomorrow I'll catch the two smaller goats and will put them in too.

On the deck: Pat and Chris put up the roof beams. Chas did the drawings for the ceiling trusses and I faxed it to the company in Vancouver that makes trusses. Chas called and the company, Arial Trusses, will do the figuring and will give us a bid based on Chas's drawing. Dunno how long it will take to get the trusses built but once that's on we'll have to talk to the company from Longview that Pat has selected for the metal roof. Both Chas and I agree that we'd like a green roof. I really wanted a copper roof but decided against it. Neither of us wants to stand out. This way our house fades into the background.

We also need to pick out a door for the deck. We think we'd like a metal door for security reasons. We'll rekey the house and spiff up the front door which really needs to be removed, sanded and restained or repainted. We may stick with basic black on the front door but have a slightly more cheerful color on the deck door. I was thinking red or blue.

We had ground beef patties with french fried potatoes and broccoli for dinner.

I've been thinking of making another duck pen that runs alongside the sheep pen. I'd use the panels from the aborted greenhouse that is now alongside the potting shed. Mike and Mary H gave me the panels awhile ago. I'm still thinking about this.

Speaking of the potting shed. I had hoped to get that painted this year but it may have to wait till next year. It should be done before I put up the greenhouse, though.

08/09/2009 Sunday: Overcast but not cold.

I'm going to have to move the hay and feeder in the small goat pen where I'm keeping the just weaned goats because the older ones steal the grain and hay I put into that pen's feeder which is currently along the stock panel. Having the feeder there is a lot easier than against the wall because I just need to toss the hay over. When I move it I'll have to walk into the pen. I think I will move the feeder to the wall side. It also keeps the goats from using the feeder as a launch pad to jump out of the pen.

I also need to put some hay into the pen for bedding.

I did move the feeder to the wall and the water tub to the stock panel. While it isn't as convenient to toss in the hay and the grain, it does work. If I weren't so lazy I'd go right into the pen to feed them.

I took a good look at the two Rouens I own yesterday. It turns out I have a male and a female. Since they're buried under the tarp and usually at opposite ends of the tractor and I rarely see them side by side. This time I did. The male is really spectacular. Both birds are significantly smaller across the breast than the Pekins are. Pekins have definitely been bred to be meat animals.

I have no idea what the sex of the three Pekins are since they don't show sexual dimorphism. I don't see any curly tail feathers indicating a male. My best guess is that they're all females.

Of the two breeds the Rouen ducks are certainly prettier but I have to say I find the boring white Pekins much more fun and interesting. They have this way of cocking their heads at you and seem to be asking, "Hey, whatch up to boss? Yes, I'd love more feed and clean water."

Maybe I can get Danette to buy the two Rouen ducks.

Course I like the Muscovies even better since they have beautiful plumage and each one is different.

Chas and I put a Gary hay bale into the Hereford's outside feeder. When I brought them in from grazing in the north pastures they were happy to devour it.

Chris came by and dropped off a pickup load of silage. We put about 2/3 in with the Herefords in their indoor feeder and a third we dropped on the hay that I'd put out earlier. Both sets of cows went nuts for the silage. I paid Chris $20.00 for gas and his time but suggested we think about getting silage when he comes to work for me. Chris is such a sweetie.

Dinner was salmon with a baked potato and chard. Yum!

08/08/2009 Saturday: Overcast and cool which made it pretty nice to work outside.

I can always tell Saturday's from other days. I just wear myself out but lots of work gets done.

Juan, Enrique and I moved four baby goats into a separate pen so that I could wean them. There were just too many goats in the regular pen and way too much confusion when feeding time came. Later in the day I found out that one of the small male goats had gotten out. I have no idea how. I put him back in with the others.

The two larger goats are Marcy's offspring. The two smaller goats are.

Enrique and Juan moved 12 bales of hay into goat barn. I was originally going to have them move 4 bales in but they brought 6 and then asked if I wanted more bales. It seemed reasonable to have them bring more bales since they had the tractor out. I had Enrique lift up two bales to see if they could put them in the loft fairly easily. It would definitely be easier with an elevator. Gary has an elevator and said he would loan it to me. I don't think he uses it much any more since he started making round bales.

Enrique weed whacked around the equipment shed and around the green barn and then moved down the driveway to whack the area to the wood shed. Enrique also whacked around the bottom concrete deck.

While Enrique was weed whacking Juan trimmed brush along the east fence line of the road pasture. He and Enrique also cleaned out the back of the well house flower bed which was full of weeds. I'd done the front but not the back of that bed. He got driven out by all the yellow jackets. I keep forgetting that that area is full of yellow jacket nests.

Everything looks so much better when the grass is trimmed around the barns and back towards the creek. It brightens my spirits when the grass is cut and the place looks tidy.

While Enrique and Juan were weedwhacking and trimming brush I went out to begin spreading compost on S2. Laura called in Enrique to bring in loads of compost to fill in several large holes in the S2 paddock. He brought in the compost and dumped it while I spread and leveled it. We got some of the compost from the large compost heap moved and got quite a bit of the poop and digested hay scraped off the pasture near the driveway into the road pasture barnyard.

I napped the morning away. I just plain wore myself out yesterday. I was on my feet from about 6:30am till the guys left around 2:45pm and then I had to go do chores till 3:45. Then we were expected at Laura and Willie's wedding. My wedding present was very boring: $150.00 cash. I had totally forgotten about their wedding until Gary reminded me of it when he was here for a visit on Wednesday.

We went to the VFW hall in Pe Ell for the reception. The food was great. Mary N supplied a terrific taco salad made with noodles. Yum. They also had beef with BBQ sauce. I didn't see the sauce but the meat was very delicious. Chas and I left early. We are both exhausted from all the activity these past few weeks.

08/07/2009 Friday: Cool and some misty rain. This is a lovely change from the past several weeks that were so hot.

It was so crazy around here this morning that although I wasn't going to go into work, I just had to to get away from everything. Glad I did. I just worked with no interaction with anyone. I'm going to value the silence when everyone is gone for the weekend.

Took two square bales out to the Herefords and one to the Dexters. We need to put a round bale into the Hereford's feeder this evening. I may also let them out to graze. There will be better conductivity with the grass being a little wet from the mist.

I stopped at the Brooks' Produce Stand that sits on the road to Doty and bought some beets, enough for a mess of greens and at least two meals of beets. Cost of $4.00 ($2.00/lb which is a bit more than I wanted to pay, but did). I have Todd Brook's phone number. He's the owner/manager. He's going to have green beans for sale shortly, maybe even Sunday. Todd Brooks is the brother of Ron Brooks who loaned us his wood splitter for several weeks two years ago when we were splitting up the leftovers from the trees we had removed for safety reasons.

I stopped in at the Doty Store to get a Nickel. Who was there but Bill K, Jr. We had a nice chat. He's been retired for awhile, June, I think. He's keeping himself busy trying to maintain 3 homes.

We got our tax assessment. It's down about $22K so our taxes won't be as much next year. Wonder if our land in Redmond will go down in value.

Chas and I put a bale of Gary's hay into the Hereford feeder.

08/06/2009 Thursday: Cool. Boy the weather has sure changed in the last two days from really hot to cool.

I took a bunch more pictures, mostly of the Dexters. I just can't seem to figure out which cow is which. It is hard when they're all black. Now I have to figure out which cow has the yellow tag in her left? ear.

Chris and Pat showed up to continue working on the deck. They're framing in the step and the wheelchair ramp today. I'm dying to see the decking laid down. Maybe tomorrow. Nope. We're not putting down the decking till later on. Pat is putting down some inexpensive siding to protect the deck and so that he has something to walk on instead of the joists.

Chas sanded some of the decking, the boards with the rough spots and stains. He also sharpened the blades on the brush hog.

After chores I ate breakfast and then when Merlin showed up to see the Shorthorns, I took him out to see them. He really wasn't interested in the cattle. He's not sure that they'll produce good beef for him. I just laughed since I knew differently. He really liked the animals and mentioned several times how healthy they looked and how tame they were but he really wanted beef cattle to raise over the winter. I told him that if he couldn't find what he wanted at a price he could afford, he could contact me and see if the steers were still available.

After that I came in and had a nap. Selling cattle is hard work, that and staying up way too late at night reading.

Around 3:30 Lucky started barking. It was the Charlene. She came by for some beef. I'd promised her some at the last flood get together.

Then after she'd left the PUD guy came by. Busted. Likely we'll get a visit from the building folks asking where our permit is. Pat said we didn't need one just to replace the deck. We'll see.

Dinner was Massamun curry. Yum. I made it with two chicken breasts, three carrots, an onion and three potatoes.

08/05/2009 Wednesday: Another cool morning. It did warm up but the wind kept it cooler.

Pat and Chris, a friend of Pat's from Adna, worked on the deck today. Chris will be coming tomorrow to help out. He's out of work and needs the money. The guys laid out the wheelchair ramp and step. I asked for at least a 4' step up to the deck. All the joists except for a few have been laid in on 16" centers (it looks like). I'm not sure what the guys will do tomorrow but they have to lay in the ramp and fill in some missing joists and install the step up to the deck. I suppose then they will begin installing the deck.

Chas was told he'd have to sand some of the deck boards where they were stained in the lumber yard and where they are rough, especially the boards that he's already put stain on.

In the morning I put out three square bales in the Hereford's feeder. After I got back from work Chas and I put in a bale of Wally hay in the Hereford's feeder. You'd have thought I didn't already put in 150 lb of hay this morning the way they attacked the hay.

Richard S showed up to see how we were getting along with the deck. I didn't get a chance to talk with him because I was busy finishing up evening chores.

Gary showed up around 4:30. He reminded me that Laura's wedding is this Saturday. I have to find the invitation. I hope it's on the kitchen table otherwise I will have to call Mary and get directions for everything.

Dinner was onions, garlic, chicken cubes and yellow and zucchini squash all cooked together. I liked it even if it was pretty bland.

Tomorrow Merlin comes to look at the three Milking Shorthorn steers. Maybe I can talk him into buying all three. I'd like to have those cattle gone. I'm for sure certain that I won't bother to raise Shorthorns again as much fun as they are to bottle feed. They just don't put on the weight as fast as a meat steer. I'm sure the meat is tasty.

I sent Susie a long email today bringing her up to date on the Dexters and on farm happenings.

08/04/2009 Tuesday: Cool this morning till about 10:30am. Then it warmed up some but it didn't get as hot as it was earlier in the week.

Pat showed up around 9:15am without his buddy. He's only hiring help when he needs two people. His buddy will be by tomorrow morning. Pat got a lot of work done today. Most of the pier posts have been set on their holders. Just a few more piers to go in the middle.

Chas did some more painting of the cedar decking. Pat and I talked about the fact that we are likely to need more cedar decking. The deck looks huge. A 10 foot wide by 24 foot long deck is a large deck. Pat says we'll have a wheelchair ramp that doesn't go quite as far as we had originally thought it needed to go so we'll have lots of room to spread out. We'll no doubt spend quite a bit of time out there.

The driver from Lincoln Creek Lumber showed up with the replacement beams and 2x6s that were unsuitable for using on the deck. I have a small credit at the lumber store that will get eaten up when we buy the roofing materials.

Chas headed up to Lacey to get an enhanced driver's license. He stopped at Franz's to get some bread. Now I have to figure out how to get that bread into the bread freezer which is already packed to the top.

I took a bunch more pictures this morning. There are still two cows born in 2007 that I can't identify; that is, I can't tell which cow is which. I may be getting closer though since I found baby pictures of Angel's Carolina. She has a brown stripe down the left side of her neck near her head. Thank heaven's I took those pictures. I'll see if I can take more pictures tomorrow of the two mystery cows, one with a baby and one without. I think the one with the baby is Carolina.

I worked on APHA Film Festival work this morning and was kept pretty busy reading my UW email.

After lunch I took the ATV and put the rabbit cage on the trailer and drove the ATV over to the chicken tractor where I picked up the remaining 6 Red Rangers and moved them to the chicken coop. I used my new chicken leg catching tool which worked great. If I could get close to the birds (which is not easy when the chicken tractor is nearly 10 feet long and 6 feet wide and the length of the catcher is 4 feet and the length of your arm. It came up a little bit short). I did catch them all and put them into the pen with the other Red Rangers, the two turkeys and 5 Barred Rock hens and 4 Buff Orpington young hens. Quite a collection of chickens.

Now the question becomes, do I want to buy more Buff Orpingtons and more Pekin ducks? Meyer's Hatchery has them on sale right now. I could brood them in the green barn.

After moving the Red Rangers to the chicken yard I jumped back on my ATV, gathered up the gas mix, cut plastic wire slices and weed whacker and headed out to weed whack under the north corridor fence. I went from the (new wire) gate to the cross fence dividing the large pasture from the northwest and southwest pastures and was able to get some of the west corridor fence cleared. It looks so much better and shouldn't be interfering with the electric fence. I forgot to check to see if it made any difference in the voltage.

I let the Herefords out to graze. They behaved themselves and didn't try to get through the corridor fence. I suspect that was because I was out there with them most of the time and because they know that they only get a few hours of grazing and that they needed to get their bellies full while they could. No smart moves, only grass grabbing and swallowing. I brought the Herefords in after I did evening chores. They weren't happy to be chased in but after kicking up their heels, went back to the road pasture and to their hay ring.

I'll need to put in a bale of hay tomorrow afternoon with three square bales in the am to keep them from starving.

I was actually surprised to see that there were actually some green blades of grass in N5 where Chas had mowed and which we'd left to rest. The green won't last long with so many hungry mouths on the pasture.

I got a call from someone who might be interested in purchasing the two youngest Milking Shorthorn calves. He'll be coming by Thursday at 10am. His name is Merlin and he lives on Bunker Rd.

08/03/2009 Monday: Cool in the morning but toasty in the afternoon. Nice breeze around 3:30pm. It chills off nicely at night. It was hot enough that I watered this morning again. I want to be sure the beet and chard seeds germinate.

Pat and his helper got here early and while I was gone got quite a bit of the deck uprights and a few horizontals (joists) put in by the time I got home around 2:30pm. They removed the burlap that was keeping the concrete from curing too fast and drilled holes in the concrete pads with Pat's new drill. It has a special name but I can't remember what the name is. Basically we have two joists on 4 posts with a lot of 2x4s used to support the beams. The 2x4s are braced against the ground and against the posts.

Pat finally got around to examining the boards that we got delivered last month. Most of the beams were wowed and the 2x6's were also wowed and twisted. I called the Lincoln Creek Lumber and spoke with Diane and complained. She's sending out replacement boards tomorrow and the driver will take the old ones away. I also ordered some additional brackets. I guess Pat had forgotten to buy them.

I asked Pat to check the lumber when it comes tomorrow to make sure it's okay. I was a little unhappy that he hadn't checked it before he started work. Pat is not ready to be a contractor yet; he has lots to learn. His carpentry skills are really good. And I guess he's a good roofer. We'll see when it comes time to put the roof on.

I retrieved some articles for Rachel, the Medical Director for the Lewis County HD and worked on the health indicators. Jane and I also talked about her vaccination manual. She wanted an index or table of content. I suggested to her that I make bookmarks so that her table of content takes folks to the exact section of the document with the information of interest.

Chas picked yellow squash and zucchini. I don't think he got all the zucchini. He only picked one and I'm sure there must be more. With zucchini there are always lots of baby squash especially with four plants.

I'm toying with ordering 25 straight run Buff Orpingtons and 20 Pekin ducks. The ducks are good eating and many of the Buffs will be roosters so they can be eaten, too. The Barred Rock hens must be getting close to giving up on the egg laying. They'll go into the pot soon, too.

I think this weekend I'll have the guys help me move the rest of the Red Rangers up to the chicken coop. The coop will be a little crowded but should work okay. I'm thinking of expanding the chicken pen with more stock panels to give the additional birds more space. We'll also move the Pekin/Rouen ducks up to their new pen in the goat pen. I'll need a shelter for them but will use a tarp temporarily to give them some shade.

Or, I might move the Muscovy drakes into the new pen until I can get them butchered. I need to start butchering birds soon.

I want to separate out the goat kids that are old enough to wean. They'll go into the old calf pen under the lean to. I want the milk from their mothers for the pigs.

If I ever get rabbits they'll go under the stairs in the lean-to. There should be enough room for two does and a buck. I should make my own cages to save money. Rabbit meat is really good.

This morning at the Farm Store I picked up some more beets. I purchased cylindrical beets and will try to plant several rows of them tomorrow. I still have a fairly sizable bed left that needs filling with something. I don't believe I've ever tried succession planning before.

I do need to plant some leek seed so that we can harvest it over the winter. I guess now is the time.

Dinner was chicken breasts. I cooked 6 breasts. We each ate one. I plan to use the others for lunches. Chicken breast makes great sandwiches. I had mashed potatoes with corn. The potatoes weren't very good. They probably had sugar/fructose in them and the chives had no taste.

08/02/2009 Sunday: Cool in the morning but the temperature rose steadily all day. The temperature must have hit 88 today but I'm guessing. Around 4pm the sea breeze came out and cooled things down considerably.

Chas and I put a Gary bale of hay in with the Dexters and one in the Hereford's outdoor feeder. The cows seemed to like it although they prefer Wally's hay. With 5 babies and hungry mothers it doesn't seem to make any difference in the hay consumption even though I butchered two bull calves. The cows seem to devour more than half of a 500lb bale in one day.

After I finished chores I had breakfast. Around 10am I went out and watered the garden and pulled some weeds. I also planted more beets and some chard. I put three packages of various kinds of chard together in one package and shook the package to mix them. Then I planted them in the row where I'd planted cabbage seed - but only one ratty-looking cabbage plant came up. I pulled it up and tossed it. I'm hoping the weather will cool off soon so that my plants don't look wilted even with twice a day watering.

I picked chard for dinner tonight but we never got around to eating it. It's one of my favorite greens which is why I planted another row.

Pat came by in the afternoon with a pickup load of sweet smelling silage (actually it wasn't ensiled just yet but it was on its way to being silage). We used the tractor to put 1.5 bucket loads in the Hereford barn feeder. The cows are mad for it. We also half filled two 30 gallon round buckets, put them on the ATV and rolled out the contents in two lines when we got in the home pasture. The Dexters like the pre-silage as well.

I gave Pat a nice beef roast for his family to enjoy. He said he might pack it in a slurry of salt and then bake it. He says the salt chips right off and that the meat underneath is delicious and tender. Probably too much salt for me.

I was going to weed whack under some of my fence lines after lunch but fell asleep and had a really nice nap.

We ate a t-bone steak plus rice and green beans (frozen) with a couple of slices of my first attempt at zucchini bread. It's ok but not wonderful. The meat on the other hand was soooo good. I would have eaten more but decided to only cook one package.

08/01/2009 Saturday: Another hot day although the morning started off fairly cool.

I can't believe it's really August. With all that's going on in our lives time is just flying by.

I took two bales of local grass hay out to the Dexters and spread it on the ground in the south pasture for them to munch on. They still have hay in their feeder and will likely clean that up by tomorrow. I fed them several alfalfa leaves for their dinner.

The Herefords still have hay in their round bale feeder but I dropped one square bales onto the pasture and one into their feeding during morning chores. In the afternoon I dropped two square bales into the large tire and one on the ground. That makes about 250 lb of hay. Since they eat a 500lb round bale in two days I figured 5 bales of local grass hay ought to be about right.

While Enrique and I worked on the fences, Juan pruned back the undergrowth in the pasture along the north side of the driveway and by the equipment shed. It looks a lot better now. Juan did some pruning around the trees on that side. Those trees often send up suckers that need to be pruned off. The burn pile is enormous now.

Enrique and I went out with our fencing tools and equipment and did several things to try to keep the cows in the paddocks and from going through the electric fence into the corridor. We raised up the bottom strand one notch. I also raised up the top strand by one notch. We also replaced two t-posts with an extra post (three posts where there were formerly two) and rotated them so that the notches were facing into the pasture. I rehung insulators where they had popped off and tightened the fence.

I also pulled one post that was leaning over and replaced it facing into the paddock. I also replaced missing insulators where the cows had popped them off.

We removed the polywire gate and installed a 12.5 gauge wire gate with gate hooks on each end of each strand. Enrique did the squeezing with the fencing tool while I got everything ready. I'm hoping that the 12.5 gauge wire will conduct electricity better than the polywire.

The charger was reading 5.9 when we started and 6.7 when we were done. I imagine that when we get the area under the fences weed whacked and sprayed we will get an even higher reading.

I had Juan and Enrique bring in 4 bales of local grass hay to replace what I fed this past week. While they were at the barn I had them smooth out the area where the tree stump used to be. There's a small bump but the soil there will pack down eventually. Now we can get in and out of the car without slamming the door into the stump, plus, we can get the tractor and ATV into the barn a whole lot easier.

Enrique weed whacked the road pasture corridor. I raked the grass and thistles into the Hereford's pasture where they proceeded to munch the grass and thistles with every indication of enjoyment. Next we'll need to spray it with a Roundup + Crossbow mix to kill the brush along the highway fences. While Enrique was weed whacking I used my pitchfork to collect the grass and thistles that he cut and tossed them into the pasture for the Herefords to munch on. Still lots of fences to weed whack under.

After lunch Enrique, Juan and I added a short panel to the pen I'm trying to make for the Pekin and Rouen ducks. To make the bottom level we had to dig a small trench. I always use those curly fasteners I get from Premier Sheep to hold stock panels together. It's worth the money for the ease in putting two panels together and for removing the fasteners when I need to make changes to a fence.

I gave the guys some beef and some zucchini squash. I have lots of squash to share.

Chas and I sprayed the still curing concrete several times today. I can hardly wait till I can let the cows into the third bay for the first time. Having that bay concreted will give the cows extra sleeping space in the winter time and will provide easy access to their salt mixture.

Chas stained more cedar for the new deck. He likely only has another day left of staining - unless he decides to put a second coat on.

Chas took me out to dinner. Pe Ell was having its Polish Daze and we decided it would be fun to eat authentic polish food. We ate under a large tent and had pieroski, polish sausage, cole slaw, a roll with butter and ice cream. We were too late for the cabbage rolls. Maybe next year. The pieroski were delicious. Bill Schulte, one of the County Commissioners was there. We talked briefly. I met lots of interesting folks there.