Month: September 2020

Forever Friday 25/45 correction, we all make mistakes

Steve HardinLeave a comment

It has been pointed out to me recently, last night, that I may have miscounted how many days off from work I was taking. In my defense I am taking five weeks of PTO, but to the dismay of those covering for me I will have been gone 6.5 weeks. In my defense I was mostly just counting how many days of pto I was going to take and not how many they were going to have to cover. So to correct this grievous error I have updated my Forever Friday count to the 45, not 44, days that I will have been gone and working on the farm.

I spent about 6 hours outside on Sunday, wearing a N95 the entire time due to the smoke. This caused me to decrease my fluid intake, even coffee! It’s painful to pull down the mask, drink,, wipe your lips and replace the mask. My solution was to just not eat or drink anything, to skip lunch and just keep working. It took me over two hours just to dig three post holes with tractor and breaker bar. September is really not the most ideal time to be building fence in a climate that has had no rain for over two months. I have managed to get 19 of 21 railroad tie posts set in the ground in gravel. I only have two left and I am sure that the one opposite the gate I need to install will need to be moved over another eight inches to meet the gate. This means more hand digging, so I am saving that section of the fence for last.

I am now ready to go purchase a 8 foot & 6 foot gate and a bunch of cow panels to make the crossings. I have enough cable on hand and this time I am going to make the H braces using high tension wire and tensioning spools. I think it will go faster and make for a more adjustable brace. I am going to experiment and see how they do.

I just kept working and working until I finally was just spent. This caused me to need to go inside and wolf down some cottage cheese and tomatoes so I could make it through my shower. After dinner, I laid on the couch and was headed to bed by 2030. I had so much muscle fatigue and strain that in my sleep all of my muscles kept getting spasms. I ended up on the couch so Annmarie could sleep! I slept like a baby on the couch and didn’t wake up until 0430 then was back asleep until 0630. I vowed that on Monday I would do no physical labor. I need a break from that thing called manual labor.

Instead I drove to the Tricities to pickup Annmarie’s Bernina sewing machine she had dropped off for a service and repair. We have to now drive 90 miles to get the sewing machine serviced. They did it for a reasonable price. I did no manual labor on Monday and will be back at it tomorrow. My goal tomorrow is to build rock cribs and start putting up wire and horizontal boards. I need to get this done so I can get onto the momma/baby area next.

Today we spotted two separate covey of quail on the place of about 25 birds in each covey. We are going to see if they will stick around the house if we feed them. We have decided to start feeding the on the front hillside. I did place the little gnome doors against our rock walls out front. I definitely need to be more accurate when mixing epoxy, the backs are still a little sticky. My eyeballing it methods are not working and are being disparaged. They may be accurate also!

Forever Friday 23/42

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It’s fencing and more fencing time!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but when I am drawing it out I am not so sure. I was attempting to explain to Annmarie the work I was doing on the barn lot to fix the flood damage and mitigate it should it occur again (probably gonna happen). So I drew out our current surviving fence below. The left side of the paper is where our house is located. the bottom of the paper is where the barn is located. The road is the road we use to get from the ram pasture to the behind the barn. It is not really a road but its what we use so we can move the tractor and the animals follow it. We cannot get to the barn without the road when the dirt gets all muddy.

I then edited the sheet to show Annmarie all the changes, the house is now at the bottom of the picture and the barn is to the right side. The green lines are all the changes. The green hatch spots are new rock cribs. I will be installing five new cribs. I am trying to build anchor points so I can have the fence break at certain sections to prevent the wipe out we got this year. In doing the planning I also decided to straighten out a couple of fences and create more of a V-shaped entrance to the bridge area and wider to allow the animals to be funneled into the barn lot when we want to sort them.

I worked for about seven hours on Friday outside with no mask. As the day progressed I could see the smoke layer getting thicker until I finally just gave up around 1700 and went inside. I did not feel well due to smoke exposure.

On Saturday, I wore an N95 mask. It made all the difference, I was able to spend 5.5 hours outside working on more fence. September is not a good month to attempt to build new fence. I am having to drill down into the ground a few inches then fill the hole with water and then step back and wait for it to all soak in. Sometimes I have to do this a couple of times and even use the dig bar multiple times to get down through the clay layer.

I still have three holes to dig and two more to finish to get the current fencing completed. I have to set six posts still and will need to pull over five more railroad ties from my used pile. So I really have 11 more posts to set! Each post takes about 1/6 yard of gravel to set. I will be setting 22 posts this time, I will still need to fix the momma baby area fence when I am done. I am still working on the repair in my head, I know I need two more rock cribs but I am trying to determine if I can put them 16’ apart and then connect them. This lets me use a single panel and makes it move easier/harder at the same time. There is no way I can get the large culvert crossing completed this year. I simply do not have time. I did manage to salvage all of the posts from the mass of twisted flood damaged fencing. I am still deciding if it is worth the $1.50/ea to pull out all the wooden stays from this mess. There is probably only about 15 stays and they won’t be easy to get, I could just throw the mess on the burn pile and pick out the wire for the scrap heap after the fire is out. I am leaning toward this option. I will be cutting up most of the bent panels and maybe even some woven wire to use inside the rock cribs. I install the wooden cross beams and then line the inside with wire so the rocks don’t fall through as easily. this seems to work better then just getting all big rocks.

The new center piece and blades I put on the tractor post hole auger are making the difference! I will need to not let this set get so worn before replacing them.

My tractor hydraulic leak is bugging me. It needs to get fixed, I am just unsure when I can afford for the tractor to be gone for two weeks.

Forever Friday 21/42 halfway mark accomplished

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I did it, I made it to the halfway mark! This has been an amazing rest and I am getting lots of stuff done. The best part is I hardly think about my paying job!

I posted the below picture to show why it is that the quail survive. There are over 23 quail in this picture. They come out every evening and eat on our back hillside and we watch them from the kitchen window, look dead center and just below midline for them.

I started out the day with coffee on the front porch. I then cooked a potatoe egg scramble for breakfast and then went out to put the tractor tire back on. I had managed to go to the auto parts store yesterday while killing time and got the bolt that fell out for the tailgate strap on the passenger side. I of course broke the first one off in the hole and had to use an Easy out to get it out and then installed the second one with a ratchet instead of a battery impact hammer. Who could of guessed that outcome? The impact hammer was just sitting there begging to be used.

I did go install the tractor tire, moved it then retightened the lug nuts. the sheep came up on their own so I let them into the upper pastures to eat. There is more green grass in the upper pastures. The back creek stopped last week but the upper pastures are still about 50% green from subterranean water.

I had the box blade on the tractor so I drug some new paths for new and improved fence lines. Annmarie has pointed out that the cows and sheep do not want to go through a gate in the middle of a fence. I am reworking the fence line to make a V like shape toward the gate so the animals will be funneled toward where they need to go. I am unsure why I did not think of this the first time. It was probably due to my love of straight lines and 90 degree angles. This will help and honestly it is not very much more effort to make the changes now as most of the fence has been destroyed.

I parked the box blade and installed the auger and noted that I was probably the last one to use it as the shear bolt was broken and one of the bolts holding the auger on to the shaft was bent and missing a nut. It took me two hours and a trip to the hardware store to get everything and to cut the shear pin head and beat it out with my new flat punches I just ordered and received!

I am slowly cleaning up the machine shed and making sure that all new parts go into the appropriate labeled bin. Each piece of equipment has a large bin and all new parts for that machine go in the correct bin. This keeps me from losing or mixing stuff up.

I moved the new compressor out to the machine shed, blew out the dirt from the tractor, added hydraulic fluid and fueled the tractor. I have a hydraulic leak from the pto takeoff under the tractor. It’s for a deck mower that I don’t have and will never use, but the leak is making me crazy. We have added hydraulic fluid twice this year already. I may have to get it fixed.

I went out and started to drill post holes with the auger. I have a new center piece and new teeth as of this spring and boy can you tell I have all new parts! The thing works great, I was able to dig six holes completely and start six more. I went back and filled those six holes with water and will do the same thing first thing in the morning. Once the water is in place I will clean out the completed holes with a hand post hole digger. I may even set some posts and refill the water a third time before trying to dig out those holes. I have five more holes to start but I need to run some string out before I do that so my holes all line up. I am hopeful I can get six posts set and all the holes dug tomorrow. If I can do that then I should be able to get the rock cribs built on one day and ready for rocks. The rock part alone will take 2-3 days to fill them all. I am hoping to be done with fencing in seven days. We will see.

Forever Friday 20/42

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It’s getting there, tomorrow is the big day, the halfway mark! I am so excited about it that I needed to mention it today.

Monday was a great day. We got our company out the door and on the road first thing. They are going to stay on the coast for a couple of days. We are headed to the coast at the end of the month if everything doesn’t burn down before then. There are fires everywhere and we are not even in the official fire season yet. We had another neighbor stop by around 2100 to tell us we had a sheep out on the road down by four corners. Our sheep are pretty distinct and everyone around us knows what they look like. We drove down there in the dark and sure enough we spotted a boy lamb out on the road. I use the term lamb loosely as he is nine months old and full grown almost. I was supposed to drive up and drop Annmarie off so she could chase the lamb up to the gate I was going to open. It did not work that way and the lamb got away in the dark. We gave up and came home and the lamb was up at the grain bins eating on the hay with the alpaca. We have no idea how he got there. We opened the gate up into the orchard hoping he would go in there overnight. He did along with a bunch of alpaca but we locked them all up in the orchard anyways. There is plenty of green grass for everyone and the lamb can hang out with the alpaca for a few days.

Tuesday I had to fix the spring fence crossing as the mother in law wanted the cows to be able to come in near the house. She feeds them apples and they eat her yard clippings but the bull broke through the crossing and it still needs repaired.

This required some planning as I had originally added a low cable to prevent the bull from crawling under but attached it to two screwed in anchor rings. The bull pulled one out and the other looks like a question mark now. I wanted the water to be able to pull them out. Not now, I wrapped them around the bottom of each pole and clamped them in place! I also turned the long panel 90 degrees it was all along the spring crossing. Instead I only attached four feet to the crossing and tossed the other 12 feet out into the water bed. I also lashed a wooden pole to the distal 1/3 to make it hard for the bull to lift it up. My hope is he will be standing on it as he tries to lift the crossing. Lastly, I put up T posts close together to force the bull to walk toward the panel in the waterway. I did not attach any wire or fencing to the T posts as the bull just hooks fencing with his horns. he cannot pull the T posts out of the ground with his horns if there is nothing attached to them. I opened the gate when I was done, the cows can now come into the field.

Once I finished bull proofing the spring ditch I went onto laying the bridge in place. I even added two more railroad ties to the side so it is super easy to drive across now. I need to attach a piece of plywood over them so they stay in place better. Now I just need to start working on the wooden posts so the fence can get rebuilt.

The dogs also spotted another tree rat. Luckily for us the dogs staring up at the tree and refusing to move is a good indicator that I need to go out and eliminate the problem. We do not need another batch of freeloaders on the place. Problem temporarily solved as this is the second one the dogs have spotted this year. We have never had them before.

Wednesday I had to take the child to work and get her deer clobbered car worked on. I came home and jumped on the tractor, I wanted to take 2-3 loads of gravel to the far side of the bridge and then switch out to the post hole auger so I could start building fence! I made it 20 feet before the tractor tried to roll downhill on me. The back right tire was completely flat!

It took me a while to get the tire off and then I had to add a bunch of blocks underneath to make sure the tractor did not sink down onto the rim. It literally took all day to get the tire fixed. They were kind enough at the shop to only charge me for the inner tub, no labor due to the long wait. I managed to do all my errands in town and have the pickup break down in the Bimart parking lot. I had to replace the positive terminal clamp as it had rotted. I had all the parts I needed after three trips back into the store for items.

I even drew up a wiring diagram for the side by side to add the second battery. When I got home I looked at the charging switch I got and realized that I will need to redraw my wiring diagram! I am also going to hard wire in the spray tank switch to the dashboard. I want the sprayer to draw from the marine extra battery.

I was even able to install a new shower head and I knew it was needed but I showered directly after the install and I should have done that six months ago! It is amazing.

Forever Friday 18/42

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We had very good friends over for the weekend. It was a wonderful weekend and the best part is we will get to see them on their return trip! We ate good food all weekend, Doom got to take pictures, but he did not get the quail and had a hard time with the humming birds. I think he did finally manage to get a hummingbird. He had to use his cell phone to take the dragonfly picture and he missed out on the hawk that swooped out of the tree, into the wild rose bush and a minute later flew out with a finch in its claws and then flew up on the tree to perch for thirty seconds. He had no camera for that one.

Sarah’s new boyfriend took the alpaca picture below. He takes pretty good pictures.

I was sleeping Saturday night when I woke up to this banging sound. I was sure it was a raccoon on the back porch. But does one sneak downstairs to grab the 22 LR pistol and jump out the back door and blast away when one has company? I did think about it but this is war and I aim to win so I snuck downstairs and leaped out the back door, in pajamas, to battle my nemesis and it was nothing. I went back to bed and still heard the sound but it was not raccoons. I did not have to explain to our company what those gunshots were.

On Sunday, Doom and I walked around the barn lot and he found two more piles of pine lumber I have stashed away. He may work a trade on a new bathroom vanity for some lumber. We will see how negotiations progress. We had a call by a neighbor about a new calf out in the bottom pasture near the schoolhouse. The problem with this is we should not have any calves born until March 2021. But one should never not go investigate. Annmarie and I drove up the road and found a pile of twine out in the field that looked like a newborn calf laying down. I need to pick it up eventually.