Well as in all things in life there must be some adversity. We started marking T post locations with a string and marking paint.  I brought the tractor so I could mow more weeds. As we started driving T posts it dawned on me we were going to have to fix the old fence also. The only problem with that is the old fence is buried in the weeds. So I left johnathon to mark the next run of new fence and went to mow the old fence line. I kept finding old metal pieces next to the fence. These are found by large clanking and banging as I attempt to mow over them. The weeds are so tall I cannot see the ground. 

I was doing great until I wasn’t. I was almost to the end when the hillside just started to get steeper. When you are holding on with one hand and your seatbelt is the only thing keeping you in the seat you have issues. I tried to back up. No go.  I tried to turn the front wheels and the tractor started to roll over!  I quickly dropped the front bucket and stopped the roll over. I crawled off, uphill side of course and both uphill tires were off the ground a few inches. I got a shovel and a breaker bar and we dug into the hillside about 10 inches down in an attempt to let the uphill side touch the ground, 45 minutes later we were ready to give it a try. I do have a Lifeflight membership, I did put on my seatbelt and did cinch it down.  As I raised the bucket the uphill tires dropped down into the freshly dug area and I was able to drive out. Another great save!!  I just paid off the tractor last month. 

The old fence line did get mowed. There was no way to get in next to it without clearing the debris first. I had to make a couple attempts at creating a metal T post H brace. This one uses two posts driven into the ground at an angle then wired to each upright and wired together at their crossing point. It’s surprisingly sturdy. 

We ran out of used T posts so we quit for the day, it was 1300 anyways. My help left so I went to the scrapyard and snagged 119 used T posts. I usually buy them at least twice a year. There was a big stack this time so I sorted through them and took everything I thought I would be able to drive into the ground. Then I went home and finished mowing. I wanted to be ready for tomorrow. 

I would love to be able to label the pictures but our computer died also.  Annmarie is working on that problem, looks like a new computer will have to happen. 

The hay is all baled and ready to come in the barn, so Mother Nature has decided it’s time for rain. It rained every day for a week!  When I went to go look at the hay there were several large sections that did not get cut. The weeds and hidden ditch and soft ground stopped this harvest notion. I also did not go up and spray weeds this spring. I would have had to drive over the green barley.  This has caused the weeds to grow unchecked. They are out of control. So I did the only thing I could think of and fired up the tractor mower. You know it’s bad when you need four wheel drive just to push through the thistle patch. It’s quite healthy. 

This was really my wake up call to get this area fenced in. It serves two purposes. One I can delineate a spray zone to keep weed free outside the fence and two it lets me turn the animals loose into the area after the hay is cut to forage for a few weeks. It will round the corners off in the fields but overall it will help. Mowing was the first big step. I took a good crack at it after work one night but had to stop due to a lack of fuel in the tractor. Of course this was the day our instant hot water heater took a nosedive and quit working. Mowing in July in eastern Oregon is a very very dusty prospect. I mowed alongside the barley hay field. I have some teenager help coming tomorrow. He had asked if I had any work a couple of weeks ago. I asked him if he was busy on Thursday and Friday, and he replied in ear,y afternoon. So I made our start time 0530!  We can still get in 8 hours on Thursday.  

This is not a bull proof gate.  This is one the bull lifts and crawls under.

New gate in progress

I was sure the fencing excursion was complete.  The fence looks great, its been redone all the way to the road.  I had plans to help Sarah unpack and straighten out in her new house but had to go on EMS run.  Then after charting and going home for breakfast, I had a nice visit with a friend who came out to mow the lawn.  The lawn was mowed on Thursday so we had coffee and chewed the fat.  I finally got in to see Sarah when Donna called to say the bull had gotten out into the wheat field.  I was beyond flabbergasted!  How could this happen?  The fence is perfect.  I knew there was no way he could get through yet he was out in the wheat field, so evidence would suggest otherwise.  Unfortunately, at the same time I got another EMS call.  I sent Sarah’s boyfriend out to the house and told him to get the dogs, put Mouse on the 30 foot lead and push the bull back into the bottom pasture and figure out where he was getting out.  By the time I got back out to the house the bull was back in the lower pasture and Julian had figured out that the bull got through the gate.  The gate was just a cow panel wired at both sides across the 16 foot opening.  He had just lifted it in the middle with his horns and crawled right under.  He is no slouch in the mental capacity/Houdini mindset.  I had some old used gates I had picked up this spring stacked and ready to go but had not put them into the fences yet.  I really was trying not to fence very much this year.  It was supposed to be a slacker year on the fence.  Instead I have rebuilt three sections of fence and need to do two more!  I am going to have to find time for the other two sections or they are going to bite me in the rear. 
I had to go get the tractor and Julian brought the gate.  The gate was quite a bit smaller than the opening so we just used the cow panel to create another rock crib.  This does multiple things for us.  One it makes the gate usable, two it stabilizes the wooden rock crib which is starting to twist from the pressure of the fences attached, and three it gives us a place to toss all the large rocks.  We picked up rocks from the adjacent field and an old rotted rock crib.  The first three rocks were almost 800 lbs each.  The tractor could barely lift them.  The first one went over fine, the second one I almost tipped the tractor over on its side, Julian had to stand on the tractor and hang away from the tire to provide enough counter balance to let me lift the rock over the fence, the third one was so wide and deep that the only way to stop the tractor from tipping over was to dump it out.  I left the third rock, it was just too dangerous to move.  We moved six buckets worth of rocks over to our rock crib then had to lift them with the bucket again and drop them in.  It did not go near as far as I would have liked.  Over two ton of rocks and it looks like a drop in the bucket. 

New gate up, still need to finish filling the rock crib. The bull is proving to be a formidable opponent.

Wheat kernels look a little small, harvest soon will see

We chained the gate closed with two separate chains!  The bull should not be able to screw with the gate anymore.  I need to work on getting more rock into the crib and a small piece of cow panel to go over the blue gate so the sheep don’t just crawl through it.  Since there are currently no sheep where they can get to this gate the urgency has been lowered on the panel.  I also forgot to wear a hat so three hours in the sun has created a very red dome on my head. 

We looked at the wheat on our way to inspect the gate tonight and found that the kernels next to the road appear to be very small.  They should be harvesting soon so it will be interesting to see what the yields really are.  Our upper hay field has been cut so pretty soon I am going to have to start moving hay.  I never did buy that hay elevator, so it will have to be moved up onto the hay stack with pure manpower.  I really need to get one for next year. 
I keep saying my farming crisis are finished for the year but I keep being wrong.  I suspect there is a pattern here I just need to figure it out. 

 This is a dumb problem. I had to finish the fence redo.  It’s all stretched tight and rebuilt from Donna’s house to four corners. I had the daughter’s boyfriend out in the heat helping me finish it until sundown on Wednesday night. There is one little section at the end of the barley field that needs to be stretched. That piece will only keep the animals off the road and into the barley field. But since the fence next to the field is all complete there is no need for that little stretch. I can finish it late this fall. 

I have seen over 8 bucks on the property. There is one nice sized buck, we will see if he sticks around until hunting season. There are several does with brand new fawns running all over the property this week. The fawns appear to be only a few days old. 

The chicken coop is all cleaned out. I just need to make the baby chicken area fire proof before the next batch of chicklets are brought home. I will line the entire area with concrete board.