Month: November 2025

Sickness cannot halt progress

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Sickness cannot halt production on the farm, it can merely sideline it! I was very ill last week and ended up catching pneumonia. Ever since that first bought of Covid my lungs have not snapped back and I get pneumonia pretty easily now. Of course I got it and finally had to reach out to my PCP when my oxygen saturations started to drop into the mid 80% range. This caused several days of missed work but Mr. Rainman was coming out for the weekend last week and I needed to take advantage of the help. The plan was to get the sand down and compacted in the Gazebo so that we could lay the pavers. There are about 1200 pavers that have to go down to fill up the space. This does seem like a lot but they just have to lay down then we can put special grout down and seal them all in place.

The real problem was we had still not managed to get the compactor to function correctly. We have done multiple things to get it going. We ended up having to change the oil as this model somehow gets fuel into the oil which then causes the motor to kill itself when it gets up to speed. Once we did that it worked but the throttle cable was still not working correctly and Mr Rainman ended up touching the hot exhaust plat and burning a couple of bolt patterns into his palm. We decided that this project was going to have to wait until the spring. We need to fix the throttle cable again and we need some water available to water down the sand as we compact it. I managed to find a throttle cable that is used on a concrete cutter that allows you to set it at various locations and the cable will not retract with vibrations. I have ordered said cable and it should be here this week. I am sure I will have to fabricate some type of holder to hold it in place but if the throttle cable stays in place it will be worth it. I just need to get a tarp and cover up the compactor for the winter. This chewed up five hours trying to get things up and going before we finally just called uncle and gave up. There is a plan in place and we will pick it up in the spring.

I have several other items that need to get done before the ground freezes so I have to pivot my to do list to get these items knocked out soon. If I were not sick they would have been done now but I have been having to rest. Rest is a four word cuss word when you are talking to a farmer/rancher. It is fairly derogatory and tends to get in the way of all progress. It is not one I like to hear in regard to my work output. I have been hearing it a lot lately from a lot of different directions. Ultimately, despite my will I have been forced to rest and recuperate.

Bathroom remodel day 50

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The deadline for the bathroom to be completed is our daughter’s wedding in January 2026. This seems to have become a mantra whispered, sung, stated regularly to ensure I do not forget. It is going to be close! After our grandson’s baptism today, Gingerman helped me get the cabinet into the bathroom.

The first thing I had to do was kill the power and get the outlet attached to the back of the cabinet. Luckily, my measurements were good and the hole lined up with the box on the wall. I was able to get it fit properly in my electric nook. I have another small extension that needs to be plugged in so I have enough plugs for all the various bathroom electric items. I just cannot remember at this point what safe spot I chose nine months ago. I am still in contemplation mode, I have not started tearing apart the mud room or old house yet. I think it’s in the back room of the old house but I am just not sure. We have been moving things around so there is no telling where it is actually located.

I was able to get four countersinked screws in the upper portion while leveling the cabinet. The trim near the wall is going to be painful to get lined up correctly. The wall is slanted and the wooden and tile portion are different thicknesses, I am going to have shape the trim piece to fit into the gap. Annmarie ordered metal hooks Sunday so we can hang hand towels next to the sink. I also think this will cut down on water splashes against the cabinet. I am going to carry the ceiling trim around the top of the cabinet to help incorporate it into the room. I had to bend the trim during removal so I will have to hope I have two more intact pieces out in the cellar. I know there is at least one leftover but I think there may be two. I will need to check that this week so I can order some if needed. I will also need to buy four feet of 4-5 inch oak for the foot and top of the cabinet.

When we turned that cabinet on its side to get it into the bathroom, there is about a 1/4” clearance from the ceiling. If I had made the cabinet any taller we would not have been able to stand it up in the bathroom. I would have had to try and shorten the bottom equally. I am not sure that would have gone smoothly as I would not have torn the cabinet apart again to do that.

I had some more straight run chickens grow up. I had to kill two extra roosters as I only want two. When I went into the coop for eggs tonight I saw one more extra roosters that will need to go. The chickens adjusted to daylight savings time well. They were all in the coop when I went out to get eggs.

Our first 30 bales of small round bales has been eaten by each group of cows. They each got another 15 bales today. The grass is green and the cows were not really interested in the hay. Not a single cow even budged or gave me a sideways glance when I was putting the hay out into the feeders.

I got the second coat of oil onto the $25 sewing cabinet we bought. It turned out really nice, a little Formbsy’s, tung oil and a lot of elbow grease made it a gem.

Bathroom remodel day 49

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Saturday was incredible, the temperature got up to 78.8 F! It is November 1 and it should not be that warm, to compensate the wind gusted up to 38 MPH. It was the perfect day to get the finish on the bathroom cabinet. I rolled on the Tried & True finish then after it sat for 30 minutes I rubbed it all off with a dry lint free rag. Luckily, I was able to run inside and steal three old T-shirts from my drawer as I could not find the lint free rags. I found them about half way through cleaning up the cabinet and they were no longer needed. I want to get the bathroom cabinet installed in the bathroom tomorrow so I can start working on the custom trim. I am going to have to trim it in place to account for the slanted floor and ceiling and walls!

Annmarie had me pick up a sewing end table a few weeks ago. The finish was in very rough shape. I opted to get some Formbsy’s product to help me fix it. So I spent a few hours rubbing the old finish off and getting the new one on. It turned out very nice. I still need to add a second coat of Tung Oil finish tomorrow before I bring it inside the house. I am not sure where it is going to go but that is not my wheelhouse.

The gazebo needs to get done but I am told for the bricks to actually stay in place and me not have to constantly fix it we need to use the compactor on the sand before the bricks are placed. This sounds reasonable as we do own a compactor but it needs to actually run for it to be really effective. Otherwise it is a very heavy obstacle. I tried to get the old O-ring gasket back on and simply could not make it stay in place. Over a decade ago my mother got me a small box of 402 ring gaskets. At the time I was unsure when I would use that, but over the years it has proven to be a lifesaver. It came through again and I went with a slightly larger gasket and was able to stop the fuel leak.

I tried to start it for about 15 minutes before I pulled the spark plug and cleaned it all up. I tried starting it for another 10 minutes. At some point I looked on the front of the machine away from the fuel tank, choke, and spark plug and spotted an off/on switch. I turned it on and was able to get the compactor started 5 minutes later. It died three more times before I could get it to the gazebo but in reality it just needed to warm up. It was running great when I ran it dry in the gazebo. We have been super careful to make sure that no fuel stays in the compactor to prevent any issues with the fuel system. Mr Rainman is coming out next weekend and we are going to try and get the entire gazebo brick floor installed! It is going to be a steep climb but I think it’s possible.

Predators 2/ Farm 7

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On Monday, my mother-in-law called to say that the raccoon was out in her front yard in the tree. It was around 1700 but I was still at work. I called Annmarie and asked her to go up to the house and shoot it. There was much discussion around where was a gun with open sights. The only one we own is an old pre64 lever action 30-30 but she did not want to put lead into the tree in case she missed the raccoon. She ended up taking the HMR17. I could not remember where the bolt action 22LR was located. I thought it was in the closet but the first two rifles she pulled out of the closet was my 30-06 and 243. I knew where the HMR 17 was located. The suppressed 22 pistol would be the best tool but she does not like the pistol, she feels more comfortable with a rifle.

It turns out that by the time she got to the house the raccoon was no longer in the tree. It was in the center of a blackberry bush in the back yard. She killed it in the exact middle of a very large blackberry bush. When I got home late I changed clothes and grabbed a couple of flashlights. I did also take the pistol just in case. I could not reach the raccoon carcass. I tried laying in my belly and crawling into the center of the bush and could not make it in as deep as the raccoon had. I ended up spotting a shovel over by the house and chopped my way into the middle of the bush. From the hole I created I was able to bend down and reach in further with the shovel to remove the carcass.

I did not think the mother-in-law would call about the raccoon but it started to pick on her cats. Once it was caught roughing up her cats, the gloves came off and she was ready for it to disappear permanently.

We have been working on trying to tame down two more cats for our backyard shelf. Luna is over 18 years old and will not last forever. We need two cats to live back there to keep the mice population in check. We are making progress, the cats don’t run at the first sight of us. They will even stay in place while we set out food. Another 1-2 months and I think they will at least be comfortable enough to just sit on the ledge and wait for food. We don’t expect them to be tame enough to touch.