Earlier in the week I was out at the barn and noticed a new momma and her baby hanging out by the barn (ewe#13).  Turns out there were twins, a boy and a girl.  I thought they had just been born that morning as Annmarie had not said anything over the weekend.  Once she came home and looked at the babies it was decided that they were several days old.  The mother had been hiding and sheltering them from our view.  We kept them separated for a couple of days and then let them out into the orchard with the herd and the horses.  Two days later Annmarie had to remove the horses as they were harassing the babies and both of the babies were limping.  This morning when Annmarie was out moving sprinklers in the orchard, Zeke tore off after the sheep.  The momma ewe refused to give any ground and Zeke tore into her.  He cut her side and nose in two places before Annmarie got over there and called him off.  The dog doesn’t even get to pee now without a command!  He is on total lockdown and we are now looking for a trainer for him (and me…).  We may have found one today while helping out at the local swim team meet.  We will see. 

Mr. President worked today on removing the hog/sheep dung pile so we can put the siding back on the old lamb shed.  He got it all cleaned up and ready for new siding!  I spent a couple of hours screwing down the roof supports.  I also went and picked up all the roof cross braces today.  Unfortunately, the weed spraying is going to take priority of my time this weekend.  Tomorrow morning we are going to go see the sheep dog trials at the local Caledonian days.  After that, it is fixing the sprayer to attach it to the mule so I can kill some weeds.  On Sunday, I think we may be able to start in on the roof again.  I would like to get all the braces in place and lay up the tin we currently have.  Next week, Mr. President starts tearing the roof off of the granary. 

I need to get the roof done so I can work on the sheep jugs so we have a place to put those new babies and mommies.  After that, I need to make four feeders for the winter.  Annmarie also said that our bee hive swarmed over the weekend.  This means they sent out a queen bee and about 2/3 of the hive to live someplace else.  The hive was still active today.  Looks good for us getting some honey out of it this fall. 

Rising moon last night.

 It is time to wage war on the weeds again.  I have mowed twice already.  The mule is running, I have emptied out the back and started measuring for the wood support.  I went to the grain growers and asked about herbicide that will kill star thistle as it is taking over the entire back hillside.  They told me there was a great new product called “Milestone” that stops the star thistle when mixed with 2-4-D and does not kill grass.  The trouble is this stuff is more expensive than good whiskey.  Enough chemicals to spray 30 acres cost just over $1600.  I was way under dosing on chemicals earlier in the year.  So this weekend, the weed war will begin again. 

I don’t want to plan too much for the weekend because we are going to go to the sheep dog trials on Saturday.  Zeke is staying home.  We are looking for some pointers on training the dog. 

The barn is moving right along.  I want to be done!  Unfortunately, it just keeps going.  Yesterday we cut out another 6 feet of roof and tugged it out of the barn with the tractor.  I love the tractor.  The support boards were split in two and not salvageable.  We also added another 6 feet of elevated walkway supports.  I also managed to get the grain silo elevated on its own platform.  It was very heavy and Mr. President and I almost did not get it up on its stand.  Today, we concentrated on finishing the roof beams.  I only miscut one out of 12.  They were easier with the six feet of roof missing.  The two we had to finagle in under the roof were painful.  Mr. President managed to get his hand pinned against the underside of the roof by one of the beams.  The problem with this is the roof is covered in cedar shake nails.  He drove a nail about 1/2 inch into one of his fingers.  I let him go early today.  Last week he stepped on a nail.  I checked last week and he is current on his tetanus. 

I attached hurricane straps to the support beams on the low wall today.  I used three large screws and attached it to the wall then I added the hurricane strap.  There will be no more wind tearing off the roof.  The only thing is the hangers are pretty ugly, but function is trumping beauty at this point.  I am going to attach the hangers to both ends of the beams.  All the beams are in place and just need to be attached at the upper end.  I had plans for using some of the 1x12inch boards to run across the beams, no such luck.  Leaving the cedar shakes on the barn raises the roof 2 inches above the beams.  I talked with Annmarie and I am going to have to make another lumber yard purchase of 30 boards 2×6 inches 20 feet long.  The nice part about this is the hole is only 19 feet long wide.  I can just screw on the boards and then come by with a sawzall to cut off all the hanging edges.  By next week the metal roof will be in place and I can move on to fixing the jugs inside.  We still need to pull off the part of the roof that blew off.  It is laying upside down on the roof of the barn.  My ladder is leaning up against the broken part of the roof.  I am hoping to just hook onto it with the tractor and pull!

Soon to be roof.