Cross brace progress.

 We had a very nice rain and wind storm this morning.  It totally altered the plans of the day.  I was going to spend most of the morning spraying weeds while Mr. President worked on tearing down the granary roof.  The storm totally changed that, wind, lightning and rain does not make it conducive to being on the roof.  I opted to work inside the barn.  We built window frames for the new tack room.  Once we had the frames we then had to cut holes in the end of the barn and then install them.  One was a used bathroom window I picked up at a yard sale for $10 and the other is an old wooden window I got from my parents for free.  We also framed out the door for the tack room.  Mr. President cut out all the overhead broken beams and exposed all the wall framing so we can add new beams to raise the ceiling.

Windows into future tack room.

Tack room windows, inside view.

Bungee automatic door closer.

 After lunch, we started back in on the roof.  I installed the cross beams and Mr. President cleaned up the barn and tack room. 

After dinner I went back outside to try and do some weed spraying.  I only managed to squeeze in one sprayer full.  MILESTONE is a name to remember.  Yes it is very very expensive, but boy howdy does it work!  The star thistle that I sprayed yesterday is already starting to wilt.  It is amazing.  I had to stop spraying because another storm was rolling up to the house.  Luckily, it did not rain, just lightning and wind tonight. 

Ewe #16 had twins this morning, a boy and a girl.  Annmarie and I managed to get her into the yard first thing this morning.  They hung out in the yard all day then this evening we took them over to the barn lot and locked them up with the other mother ewe and her twins.    When I noticed this morning at 0500 she had just had the babies as there was afterbirth still hanging out of the ewe.  We wanted to give them some bonding time before moving them. 

Zeke is doing some weird snorting thing tonight.  Not sure what is going on with him.

Soon to be removed granary.

Roof cross pieces going up

 I started spraying today first thing this morning.  I am going to need more 2-4-D.  The really expensive herbicide I had extra, but I am going to run out of 2-4-D tomorrow.  I forgot how rough the ride can be when you are creeping over and around the rocks on the steep hillside.  Luckily, I wear the seat belt provided in the mule and did not get bucked out.  Almost slid out one time as it was.  I am about 1/4 done with the spraying.  The stuff is amazing, just 2 hours after spraying the weeds some of them were already wilting.  All you non chemical people can just come to our house and bring a shovel and all summer long and you could not do all the weeding I am going to do in 5 days on the mule with some modern chemicals.  Once we get the star thistle back under control then I can go back to spot spraying. It has just been let go too long. 

Lamb shed ready for a new side.  Dung pile gone.

Dexter cows hanging in the shade.

Mr. President finished up the dung pile next to the old lamb shed today.  It is all ready for siding (after I put in some cross pieces to attach the siding.

We did manage to get about an hour on the barn roof.  I screwed down the supports today and we started to put in the cross beams.  I am hoping to get those fully installed tomorrow after the weather quits cooperating with the weed spraying (wind blows).  Mr. President is going to start tearing off the old granary tin roof tomorrow.  We have to install two safety points so he can hook in his fall harness.  Plus the cell phone in his pocket is necessary to call for help.  He tells me he does some rock climbing so he can probably get himself upright.  Hopefully, he doesn’t fall and the safety equipment is just a pain in the butt.  I will make him wear it.  Better safe then sorry after falling off the roof.

The mule spray setup has arms that you extend, four feet to a side so you can spray a 12 foot swath.  These arms are on a swivel/spring setup so if you hit something the arm bends back and then snaps back into place.  What they don’t tell you is the plastic nozzles do not tolerate getting banged into hard objects.  I broke two this morning and had to have Annmarie pick up spares.  The nozzles have very small holes and kept getting clogged up with particles.  I would stop and clean out the offending nozzle and then continue on.  I now have a bucket in the back with some tools and the spare parts needed to fix the sprayer instantly.

Stupid horses got in the yard and would not leave.  Hogs, kept eating the green apples off our apple tree in the front yard.  I tried chasing her away but she just kept coming back.  I finally just gave up.  Especially, since I cannot let the dog chase the horses out of the yard.  Zeke is adjusting to his life in lock down.  When I was off spraying he had to stay on the run, and as soon as I got back I let him off.  After three weeks Zeke will finally let Mr. President pet him.  

The green/blue color on the hillside is star thistle a noxious weed.  The reason I am spraying every thing.

Bees swarming

Hanging out waiting for reports.

 I just saw these pictures of the bee swarm.  I kinda wish I had seen it in person.  Looks pretty cool.  No go on the sheep dog trials today.  We drove over there and could not find any thing so we stopped at a coffee shop to get directions (and coffee).  Wrong weekend, next weekend is the big event.  Instead, we took some back roads home and did our in town shopping.

Once at home I dug in to converting the mule from a mild mannered four wheel transport device to a Weed Killing Nemesis.  I knew this was going to necessitate several trips to the hardware store.  Yep, I managed to get it together and working in two trips, but still need one more trip in the morning to get the last two U-bolts.  I had to rewire the the switch and add in all new wires.  The old ones got ripped off.  I added some wire tires with premade loops and ran all the wires through them to keep them in place and not rubbing on the metal.  I had to add another ground wire while I was at it.  The boom has 8 spray nozzles on it and I replaced four of them.  Amazingly, when I flipped the switch the sprayer came right on.  I added some pressure treated 2x4s on each side and bolted those in place.  This creates a support that I was able to bolt the sprayer arms

Repaired mule ready to be transformed

Weed Killing machine

onto.  I also added in a piece of 2×6 to hold the sprayer tank in place so it doesn’t bounce around in the bed of the mule.  I was going to store all the chemicals in the back of the mule.  But after further thought decided this was unnecessary as I have to fill up with water every time I need new chemicals in the tank.  I will just stage the chemicals next to the hose I plan on using to fill the tank.  Tomorrow I spray the whole place.  I just hope the wind doesn’t blow.

Mr. President almost finished with the hog pile of poop.  I went up today and spent a little time cleaning it all up away from the building.  He will still need to pick up the last of the pile.  After tomorrow it will be all done.  I am going to have him work on the other two piles after that.  I need to spray then we can work on the roof again.  I need to kill a lot of star thistle.

Earlier in the week I was out at the barn and noticed a new momma and her baby hanging out by the barn (ewe#13).  Turns out there were twins, a boy and a girl.  I thought they had just been born that morning as Annmarie had not said anything over the weekend.  Once she came home and looked at the babies it was decided that they were several days old.  The mother had been hiding and sheltering them from our view.  We kept them separated for a couple of days and then let them out into the orchard with the herd and the horses.  Two days later Annmarie had to remove the horses as they were harassing the babies and both of the babies were limping.  This morning when Annmarie was out moving sprinklers in the orchard, Zeke tore off after the sheep.  The momma ewe refused to give any ground and Zeke tore into her.  He cut her side and nose in two places before Annmarie got over there and called him off.  The dog doesn’t even get to pee now without a command!  He is on total lockdown and we are now looking for a trainer for him (and me…).  We may have found one today while helping out at the local swim team meet.  We will see. 

Mr. President worked today on removing the hog/sheep dung pile so we can put the siding back on the old lamb shed.  He got it all cleaned up and ready for new siding!  I spent a couple of hours screwing down the roof supports.  I also went and picked up all the roof cross braces today.  Unfortunately, the weed spraying is going to take priority of my time this weekend.  Tomorrow morning we are going to go see the sheep dog trials at the local Caledonian days.  After that, it is fixing the sprayer to attach it to the mule so I can kill some weeds.  On Sunday, I think we may be able to start in on the roof again.  I would like to get all the braces in place and lay up the tin we currently have.  Next week, Mr. President starts tearing the roof off of the granary. 

I need to get the roof done so I can work on the sheep jugs so we have a place to put those new babies and mommies.  After that, I need to make four feeders for the winter.  Annmarie also said that our bee hive swarmed over the weekend.  This means they sent out a queen bee and about 2/3 of the hive to live someplace else.  The hive was still active today.  Looks good for us getting some honey out of it this fall. 

Rising moon last night.

 It is time to wage war on the weeds again.  I have mowed twice already.  The mule is running, I have emptied out the back and started measuring for the wood support.  I went to the grain growers and asked about herbicide that will kill star thistle as it is taking over the entire back hillside.  They told me there was a great new product called “Milestone” that stops the star thistle when mixed with 2-4-D and does not kill grass.  The trouble is this stuff is more expensive than good whiskey.  Enough chemicals to spray 30 acres cost just over $1600.  I was way under dosing on chemicals earlier in the year.  So this weekend, the weed war will begin again. 

I don’t want to plan too much for the weekend because we are going to go to the sheep dog trials on Saturday.  Zeke is staying home.  We are looking for some pointers on training the dog. 

The barn is moving right along.  I want to be done!  Unfortunately, it just keeps going.  Yesterday we cut out another 6 feet of roof and tugged it out of the barn with the tractor.  I love the tractor.  The support boards were split in two and not salvageable.  We also added another 6 feet of elevated walkway supports.  I also managed to get the grain silo elevated on its own platform.  It was very heavy and Mr. President and I almost did not get it up on its stand.  Today, we concentrated on finishing the roof beams.  I only miscut one out of 12.  They were easier with the six feet of roof missing.  The two we had to finagle in under the roof were painful.  Mr. President managed to get his hand pinned against the underside of the roof by one of the beams.  The problem with this is the roof is covered in cedar shake nails.  He drove a nail about 1/2 inch into one of his fingers.  I let him go early today.  Last week he stepped on a nail.  I checked last week and he is current on his tetanus. 

I attached hurricane straps to the support beams on the low wall today.  I used three large screws and attached it to the wall then I added the hurricane strap.  There will be no more wind tearing off the roof.  The only thing is the hangers are pretty ugly, but function is trumping beauty at this point.  I am going to attach the hangers to both ends of the beams.  All the beams are in place and just need to be attached at the upper end.  I had plans for using some of the 1x12inch boards to run across the beams, no such luck.  Leaving the cedar shakes on the barn raises the roof 2 inches above the beams.  I talked with Annmarie and I am going to have to make another lumber yard purchase of 30 boards 2×6 inches 20 feet long.  The nice part about this is the hole is only 19 feet long wide.  I can just screw on the boards and then come by with a sawzall to cut off all the hanging edges.  By next week the metal roof will be in place and I can move on to fixing the jugs inside.  We still need to pull off the part of the roof that blew off.  It is laying upside down on the roof of the barn.  My ladder is leaning up against the broken part of the roof.  I am hoping to just hook onto it with the tractor and pull!

Soon to be roof.