It is broken!

Chickens don’t stick to the plan

Sunday was the day I was going to get caught up with the outside home chores.  Well not caught up, more like on schedule since there are always more chores than I have time to complete.  Annmarie and I had walked along the fields looking at water levels and grass height.  It is time to spray the upper prime field with 2-4-D.  I need to kill the broadleaf weeds and give the grass some room to fill in.  The field looks good just too many weeds.  My plan was to hook the sprayer up on the tractor and spray weeds!  A simple basic plan, hard for anything to go wrong. 
I was seriously mistaken.  Annmarie tells me I should plan better and anticipate the hiccups.  I like to think that I can just hop in on the tractor and do it!  I am all about doing it!  I love tasks and lists and things that can be accomplished in a day or less.  Probably one of the reasons I love working in the Emergency Room.  So, I ignore this sage advice every year. I did put the sprayer away into the machine shop this fall.  I did not stop the cows from going into said machine shop.  They broke the weed torch and may have injured the sprayer also. 
I backed the tractor into the shop and drug the sprayer tank over to the tractor.  I cannot use my quick connect on the tractor as the sprayer needs some welding modifications done for this to be possible.  So I got in place without too much difficulty.  The tank is pretty easy to move around when it is empty.  I noticed immediately that the power cord/switch wire was badly degraded in one place for about 8 inches.  I was storing the extra wire under the tractor seat.  It looks like the seat going up and down cut the wire and stripped off the insulator.  I had to wrap the individual wires with vulcanizing rubber tape then tape the two wires together with the same wrap and covered that with electrical tape.  It is sealed up well now and will tolerate moisture.  Once that was done I attempted to fill the tank with water but it kept running out the bottom.  So I lifted the tank up with the tractor and noticed that the filter I had installed underneath the tank was broken.  When I winterized the tank I forgot to unscrew the filter cap and empty the water out of the plastic cap.  It broke in the freeze. 

So I jumped into the car and buzzed into Pendleton, found what I wanted at the store and made it halfway to the checkout register when I realized I had left my wallet at home.  Now this was an actual decision I made first thing in the morning.  I have lost my wallet twice now while doing tractor work as it tends to ride up out of my back pocket after several hours on the tractor.  So I decided it would be safer to not carry it that day.  I had to hide my stash of stuff, drive home, get my wallet and drive back to pay for the needed supplies.  Once this was installed I turned on the spray pump and heard the pump kick on!  I then played with the recirculation line to get the pressure regulated.  Except I could not get any spray to come out of the wand or the three jets on the spray bar.  Nothing I did worked.  There is this fancy pressure regulating valve that I figured out was the most likely culprit.  I took it apart three times trying to figure it out.  I ended up back on the internet looking for an owners manual.  I found one that said I should have a plastic handle on the end of the valve that allows me to open the valve when I want to spray. I remembered this step in the spray process once I read about it.  On the off chance the store had this part, I bought the sprayer from them, I ran to town for a third time.  No go they did not have it.  I found it on the internet and ordered two.  I now order a spare of everything. 

I had to chase the hen off the nest.

I had wasted 6 hours trying to get the sprayer working.  The day was perfect, sunny with no wind it was ideal for spraying.  Instead I started installing two wires on top of our front fence, one would be a ground and the other one hot so we could keep Zeke, adult border collie, in the front yard.  I installed the wires and was working on Sprout proofing the side fence when I heard Sarah hollering.  She was out on the old house porch in flip flops doing some project painting.  She had fallen off the steps.  The middle one has been broken for over half a year.  The puppy chews on it incessantly and has worked it loose.  She reinjured her bad ankle.  There was a lot of speeches on the necessity of appropriate work attire.  I am not sure that the timeliness of my remarks is always good, but I seem to have trouble controlling myself when it comes to “teaching moments”.

My parts should be here by the end of the week.  Sarah is back to using crutches and her ankle brace, and the fence works at keeping Zeke inside the yard.  More work is still needed to keep Sprout in the yard. 

Future garden

Back patio coming together

It is really happening.  We are going to get a garden planted and in at our house for the first time since we have moved back.  We always did the garden at Grandma’s house.  She always loved to garden and there was always too much food for us to bother with planting our own.  We told her that when we made her elevated garden it would not be wasted.  Once she died, we would move it to our house and continue to use it.  She never wanted anything to go to waste.  So today at 0500 a friend came over and we drove the tractor and trailer into town and picked up all the horse troughs and got them loaded onto the trailer.  It went better than I expected.  Annmarie suggested we use the heavy duty straps instead of the chain I tried first.  The straps worked much better.  It only took us a couple of hours to get them loaded and that was with a 15 minute drive each way.  It took me almost 20 minutes just to get the trailer over into the ram pasture.  The gate is too close to the culvert and I have been taking dirt from that area creating a small cliff.  I had to back the trailer in through the gate and it took about 10 tries to get it right. 

I decided to add some bricks to our back deck area before I toss on the paver sand and form a solid slab.  Hopefully, next year we can get the clear roof over this deck.  We will be able to go outside during the summer rainstorms!  I love the smell after a good rainstorm.  I used up about 2/3 of our brick pile so there isn’t a lot left to work with.  I think I want to install one more pad where you step off the steps over by the heat pump.  It’s a high traffic area.  Tomorrow bright and early we are going to unload the troughs and place them in the back yard. After that is done then I need to get a custom gate and fence built over by the back porch to keep the sheep and dogs out of the garden area.

Brick pile is a lot smaller now

Zeke is still jumping the front fence.  I have not had time to put up the two hot wires so he is discouraged from jumping.  The hot wires would not work if he was not cheating.  He jumps up and pushes himself off of the top railing. 

I am still looking for house jacks.  Home Depot does not carry them, color me surprised.  So I will be calling the local rental tool store in the hopes that I can rent them..

Five days worth of eggs

Well, its crunch time!  Annmarie wants some progress on the house and I am starting to get stir crazy with the new job.  I keep trying to play catch up but there is always another crisis at work.  I am starting to learn to just work on certain tasks and deadlines while leaving a lot of free time to deal with the inevitable issues.  I am not sure I understood how much is involved in being the manager.  On the plus side, I can see the end of the tunnel.  Its time to set things in place and quit changing stuff for a while.  Let everyone get used to the newness and let it turn into the normal.  This has prevented me from getting a lot done on the farm.  The weather was incredible over the weekend and I had to work. 
I told Annmarie I would bring over the bins from Grandma Ruby’s house so we could put them in the back garden and have an elevated garden out our back door.  The only problem is I need some help.  My normal help is in Alaska and I don’t want to wait.  So I asked around and got some help from a friend who is working this week in town.  The only catch is he has to leave at 0730.  So he will be out at our house at 0500 to help me. 
This meant I had to get ready for tomorrow this evening after work.  I went out and gassed up the tractor, moved it around to the front of the house and on the way by the lambing shed I attached the box blade.  I need the additional counter weight on the back half of the tractor.  I went to attach the trailer to the pickup and realized I never unloaded the fencing stuff off the trailer.  I had to get that done before I could move the trailer.  I tossed in some spacer boards, a shovel and a lever in the back of the pickup and made sure the heavy duty straps were present.  We may try the straps instead of a chain.  The chain worked but the strap might not slide as badly.  Once I came inside I had to cook some bratwurst so we can have cold bratwurst, fresh apple, slice of cheese and a slice of sourdough bread for breakfast on the go.  Coffee, lots of coffee. 
I went out to the chicken coop and got eggs, I had not done that for five days.  I obviously need to collect them a little more often.  The chickens didn’t even need feed, I was amazed.  Now I just have to figure out how to find a couple more customers.   

3000# chicken food

Well the last day of the farm supply store was today.  Luckily, last weekend I decided to make the annual run with the lovely bride.  We had a long list of items that needed to be purchased for the summer projects.  So I had to pump up all four trailer tires and hook up the trailer so we could haul all the stuff.  The nice part was the new shocks on the pickup work very well!  There is hardly any sag at all in the back end of the pickup.  I may have gone overboard on my purchasing quantity but the mouse only got into about four bags out of the 50 last year and just small holes.  I have mouse poison all over the storage area.  I got a great deal on chicken feed.  Only $11.99 for 50# of layer pellet, $9.99 for 50# chicken scratch and $7.99 for 50# cracked corn.  The corn is for winter only as a supplement.  I picked up 50# of oyster shell also.  Its a little expensive when you buy a total of 60 bags but for the year I will never get it cheaper. 
The Alpaca have eaten their pasture down and the cows have been out on the lower pasture.  So we decided on locking the cows out of the car/house area and letting the alpacas roam free.  This has worked out great.  They are super benign and don’t damage anything.  
Pretty soon it will be fencing time!  I am looking forward to getting outside and getting some new fence built.  The weather was great today but I could not get off of work to get anything done.

Chicken food stacked in back of coop ready for another 16-18 months.

Alpacas are now running around out by the cars and houses.