2.5 hours worth of digging.

starting point for the day.

I worked for 2.5 hours today digging.  My plan is to do this every day until my vacation is over.  I will be begging them to let me come back to work by the end of the week!  I broke out a Pulaski so I could break the soil up before shoveling it.  It made things much easier.  Luckily, I have managed to not break the berm so the hole is nice and dry.  I had to get up onto the dirt pile outside the hole and shovel all the dirt off onto the other side.  I sure wish I could get the tractor over here and level the area with it.  I am thinking about laying some railroad ties across the stream and driving said tractor across.  Still weighing the benefits against getting the tractor stuck in the ditch.  Until I can decide I guess I will be using a human powered shovel. 
Zeke is going to be no use when it comes to the alpacas.  He is an attractant to them.  They all bum rush the fence in an attempt to get at him so they can stomp on him.  He would be okay with a few of them but eight of them and one of him are not good odds even for the Zekemeister!

I had another chicken die today.  It is so frustrating to walk in the coop and find another dead chicken.  It occurred to me that the only chickens dying are my buff orpingtons that are 7 months old.  No one else is sick or dying.  It is very strange.  Annmarie pointed out that they are eating in a different place than the other chickens.  We are watching them all and I only have one or two still alive.  I lost another chick yesterday.  I have 2 out of 12 still alive.  This is not a very good survival ratio. 

Zeke and his new nemesis.

Kitchen window completed!

Robert came over and we installed the kitchen window trim.  I only had one eight year old reject trim board out in the old house.  It was just long enough to split in half and do the kitchen window.  No mistakes were allowed or there would not be enough trim.  We measured everything a few times and then I wrote down the dimensions then we went out to the yard and set up the table saw in the grass.  We had to rip the board into 4.25 and 5 inch widths.  We cut the bottom five inch piece first and it fit perfectly.  We tapped it into place and then I marked the two 1/4 inch x2 inch cutout spots for the window.  Then took it out and I trimmed those out with the jigsaw.  It fit perfectly and we just shimmed the back up to make it level front to back.  A repeat of the top board was done then I accidently cut one of the sides too short!  Luckily, there was enough leftover to tear a five inch board down to 4.25 inch and cut the side out of it.  The sides were a pretty tight fit but we managed to get them in place and everything nailed in place.  It looks very good and Annmarie is happy. 

No more honey bees in barn wall.

I was outside showing Robert the barn when I decided to check on the honey bees.  The weather was warm and I had seen some honey bees in our yard.  No go, I looked outside and listened to the wall and heard no activity.  While Robert was missing the rock chucks with a rifle, I tore down the boards and found an empty dead nest, no honey and no bees.  I tore it all out.  We still don’t know where the honey bees are living that we keep seeing all over the farm.  I am still reading books on how to raise honey bees. 

New gates into the upper wheat field done.

Back of chicken coop cleaned and storage organized.

2300# of layer pellets!

Today was another day spent working on the farm.  Phil and I vacuumed out and cleaned out the entire back half of the chicken coop.  We organized and made room for 2600# of chicken food.  I did actually drive the pickup around to the chicken coop so we didn’t have to pack it all across the bridge.  I spread out 14 of the poison packs all around the area in the hopes that I can keep the mice out of a years worth of chicken food.  The coop is much cleaner and I can now find the things I need. 

We then went out and worked on the new 36 foot gate area into the upper wheat field. The equipment needs to go through the middle of the property for ease of access.  The old stretch fence was not working as the bull was hooking it with his horns and then walking over it.  We had to tear up the metal T-posts that I had used to keep the bull inside.  We shrunk the opening and installed a new H brace.  I had to go pull up two other old rail road ties that were no longer in use.  I tried using a figure 8 tightening wire with high tension wire and a inline tightener.  It took me a while trying to tighten it with a pry bar to realize that the 8 pointed star was really the receptacle for a 1/2 inch drive ratchet.  Once I used the ratchet it was easy to tighten.  I read about this in a book and the best part is you can retighten it after the fence is in place annually.  I cannot do that if I use smooth wire and twist with a board.  I am getting faster at the fencing and gates.  We had the entire fence and gates done in 3.5 hours.  I am also now setting all posts in gravel.  I am hoping it makes them more secure. 

stove cabinets stained, they look great.

Yesterday, I tore into my vacation work and sanded then stained the new kitchen shelves.  The color is just right and the oak plywood turned out great.  Both of us are very happy with the outcome.  After a couple of hours staining I was starting to get a little headache and buzz.  There was one small detail I forgot about.  The baby chicks were in the dining room.  Two of them croaked in the first hour.  I guess we know why miners carried canaries down into the mines.  They don’t do toxic fumes well.  I moved the chicks up to the breeze porch and opened all the windows.  Another one died in the next four hours.  My mother volunteered to watch the babies at her house.  So we took them over last night, maybe they will have a fighting chance.  As of tonight there are only four left out of the dozen and one was looking a little off.  I don’t know that any will survive. I am going to have to order more.  I did not even think about the chicks when I started staining. 

Pallet of layer pellets.

Sarah and I went to town for more chicken food.  She had picked up 12 bags of food during the BiMart sale and I wanted more.  Turns out they were shipped too many pallets of layer pellets.  I got to buy a whole pallet at the sale price!  A great deal for all involved.  Sarah and I loaded it into the pickup and then went to go pickup gates and cow panels for the new cow sorting chute and pens.  We could not get the small gates for the chute area.  Everything else but railroad ties are stacked and ready to go.  Its hard to believe that railroad ties or the lack thereof are going to be my single biggest hindrance.  Crazy problem.  So be on the lookout for 20-30 railroad ties, cause I need them. 

layer pellets in pickup.

Gates and cow panels for cow pens.

The pickup pulled the whole load no problem.  I love the V-10 engine. 

Baby chicken time!

It is that time of the year again, and I don’t mean Easter.  It just happened to be coincidence we have baby chicks in the dining room for Easter dinner.  I bought 6 buff brahma and 6 dark brahma chicks.  Between chicks, feed and bedding I just about spent my accrued profit to date.  Unfortunately, they won’t be productive for 6-8 months.  When they get so noisy we cannot hear the television I will put them out in the baby area in the chicken coop.  That criteria has been working well for us. 

I needed to get out and exercise again today.  I like things to get accomplished when I exercise.  It is why it is so hard to do at home.  My solution to this is the back rock wall.  When I need to exercise I use it as a form of therapy and exercise.  There is something relaxing about building something simple and massive.  I use a shovel and an old heavy duty T post as a pry bar.  Some of those boulders were buried pretty far in the ground.  I managed to snag five huge boulders out of the ground and get them in place.  Soon I will have to fire up the tractor to drag in some dirt behind the rock wall.  But for now it is just digging up rocks and building up the wall. 

rocks finding new home

I had a stash of rocks on the West side of the creek from when I had the tires stacked for planters.  The rocks stayed when the planters got torn out.  I started tossing them to the opposite side of the stream to be used in the future rock wall.  This cleans up the West side and gets me more rocks for the East side.
I need some new glasses soon, I can hardly see the rock chucks up on the back hill side with naked eyes.  The closing of PGG is still haunting me.  I tried to buy used railroad ties for building fencing in Pendleton and D & B does not have any, maybe 3-6 months!  That will not help me get the corral installed.  They do have a bunch of gates in different sizes and weights.  I priced the material from them needed for the new corral pens. 

Upper shelf worked on today.