Farm

Table done!

Steve HardinLeave a comment
Sarah and I worked on the alpaca table today. I had gotten more supplies and more cut pipe on Thursday. She had to run to the local hardware once for bolts and then I had to go a second time!!  One would think I could count. Sarah learned how to put galvanized pipe together today. She had to assemble and reassemble pieces a few times. It was a hot and miserable day. We had to modify the table design on the movable leg. To create the H brace we needed to have a right and left handed thread on the same cross piece. We had to use tape to hold it together. This would be why the plans talk about using fencing clamps. 
I need to write all this up and make up some new plans but I probably won’t. I may out curiosity find those weird pipe fence clamps. 
 
Sarah insisted we eat lunch in a timely fashion. We had lunch at 1215. I had plans for us to still sort cows after we finished the table. We went back outside and finished up the table. The thing is super heavy. I tried to start the gas tractor but the battery was dead. This would be why the negative terminal connection used to be removed. I need to charge the battery and put it back on the tractor. 

We tried to move the table. No way!!  I went and got the Mistress and she carried it over near the barn. It was so heavy and hanging so far forward that the rear wheels kept bouncing off the ground. Once outside the milking area we had to shovel horse poop before we could move the table inside. It was super heavy and Sarah was petered out by then. We wrestled it into place. 
No cows today. We went inside and laid in the living room floor. We were hot and I took off my glasses and laid them on the floor. I kinda fell asleep but noticed the puppy next to me chewing on something. It was my glasses. I tossed them up into the couch and laid there a while longer. He had been at the glasses a while. Both ear pieces a chewed up. One is barely there. I am missing a nose piece and one lens looks like I was in the movie Birds and the only thing that saved my eyes from being plucked out was my glasses. I have scratches and teeth mark over both lens. One lens is providing about 60% clarity. It’s like looking through glasses someone licked after eating ice cream or drinking milk. The worst part is we leave for Taiwan in a week. I am not sure I can get them replaced before then. I did need new glassses but had planned on taking care of that when we got back from Taiwan.  
  

Tile work is done!

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Well I did it I finished the floor in the library. I even managed to do it before AnnMarie got back from Berkeley. I stayed up till 0130 Thursday night working grout in and washing it off tiles. I ended up with a large blister in the palm of my right hand. I should of thought about rubber gloves but it took me almost five hours to complete. I don’t think the gloves would have stood up and if they did my hands would have looked like raisins with multiple blisters from all the moisture trapped under the gloves. I showered before crawling into bed. I was supposed to be off all weekend but I messed up the work schedule and got called in to cover a shift the next morning. It was my own mistake. 
Unfortunately, the tile makes the room look like it needs something so we will now be picking out some new paint schemes for this room. I think I want to keep the ceiling the same and just paint the walls.  We will have to get sample cards and get this completed at the end of July so we can move the loom out of the living room. We have the book shelves stashed in the office upstairs. The goal will be to thin everything before it goes back in the room. 
Having to work on Friday threw off my alpaca shearing table build schedule. I went in today and had them cut another ten pieces of pipe and they recut my two 48 inch pieces into five threaded pieces plus cut another 5 threaded pieces for me. It is in the low 90s today and the pipe was in the bed of the pickup so it’s really too hot to handle. This means first thing in the morning I need to get out there and finish putting it together. 
 

 

Alpaca table that would be

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We need to shear the alpaca. This is going to be facilitated by a table. The trouble with a table is the only directions we have is a diagram from the Internet posted a few years ago. There were no instructions and they did not show the connectors needed to attach it all together. Instead they talked about some kind of clamp that let you clamp sections of pipe together without threading them together. This was not something the local hardware store had in stock. I sat down at the kitchen table and tried to figure it out. I wrote up a list and purchased said list. Today, I attempted to assemble said pieces. This did not go well for me. The diagram did not account for the added joint lengths. This threw off everything and for some reason unbeknownst to me I had the legs cut as 48 inches. On hindsight, this was because I was following the flawed diagram with the weird unavailable clamps. What I really needed was 24 inches x4 not 48 inches x2. So after putting things together as much as possible I took inventory. I had five extra joint pieces and am short two T pieces. I can have the 2-48 inch pieces cut to 3-24 inch pieces, 1-14 inch piece and 1-10 inch piece. Plus, I will need 5 more 14 inch pieces and 3 more 10 inch pieces and 4 2.5 inch hangar supports and I will need 8-3.5 inch carriage bolts. And 8-3 inch carriage bolts. 
So off to hardware store again tomorrow and another $100. 
The 2×4 and 2×6 bolted to the plywood are to stiffen it plus I will be trapping my central pipe shaft between the two middle boards by clamping a 2×8 over the top of them. The boards are 1 5/8 inch thick and my pipe is 1.5 inches. It should work. In the eventuality it doesn’t I can always rip the middle down on the 2×6. It will fit eventually. 

 

Chicken coop done

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Saturday the boys came out again at 0800. I had worked the night shift and told them to start in on the barn when they arrived.  I had gone to work 30 minutes early, the previous evening, so I could pick up some wood pellets for the chicken coop. I showed both boys what I wanted done in the coop: vacuum walls, wipe walls down with bleach water, dig out right hand side of floor and toss outside, fill all feeders and waterers, move old pellets from left side of coop to under perches and put new pellets on left side, clean out nest boxes, vacuum feed area and move all feed bags around to clean up floor. I went back out 30 minutes later to drop off the cooler with lunch when I was approached with the burning question of the day, “Mr Manners cannot figure out how to set the mouse trap” per his compatriot.  Now don’t think for a second I don’t know that the two of them had been screwing around for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to set an old fashioned mouse trap. I demonstrated the technique twice with the warning to not hold the trap incorrectly or your fingers would pay for it. What are we teaching our youth?  Where are the valuable life skills needed to survive on your own coming from? 
 

 

I told them when they were done with the coop to finish the barn. I reinforced to them I thought it was possible to do both that day. They agreed, and when I went out to feed the horses that evening they had gotten close. There is about two hours of work left in the barn. The chicken coop is done and looks much better. The coop windows still need to be cleaned but the rest is good enough. 
The next big thing is to build the alpaca shearing table then actually shear the alpaca. 
 

  

Teenager solution

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I had help out on Friday, 2 teenage boys. It was their first day working for me this year. “Mr Manners” had worked for me one day last year. I like the money hungry teenagers. They tend to work harder and it allows them some perspective when putting up with me. 
My real goal was to get the barn and chicken coop dig out but as I was only going to supervise the boys during the morning I decided to work on odd jobs around the place first. Since the first step in their work ethic trial was to arrive at 0630, they passed, it was before the trash guys arrived. So the old grill from the front yard is gone. All the trash from the old house is gone. All the trash from the chicken coop is gone.  All the trash and old drip hose from back yard/garden is gone. 
 
I needed to finish vacuuming the tile in the library so I could bring the shop vacuum out for the old house and chicken coop cleaning so I vacuumed. I then sorted all the tools and supplies spread all over the house and had them taken out to the old house (shed/shop).  I also had them move all the hardiboard I no longer needed to the old house porch. We cleaned up the old house porch. I “forgot” to take before pictures. It was so bad I did not want it documented for posteriority. We picked up the inside floor as it was totally obscured by all the tools, bins, bags, trash and buckets laying around. I only found a couple of things I was missing but I do have tools again!!  

Being able to walk around in the old house is amazing!!  We took all the yard tools and put them away in the wood shed. All the trash and leaves were removed from the back yard. I even hosed off the house on two sides and the back yard concrete. It looks good! I had one planter that had quit draining. The one with our tomatoes. So I had one of them take a pitchfork and drive it into the soil from the top and a long screwdriver in the bottom drain hole.  It had six inches of standing water. I also removed the drip hose. In a few days I will put the drip line back in the container. 
I had them take down the temporary sheep fence from the front yard then tie the two strings I used from that fence onto the side yard in preparation for a new fence along this side. I looked out and they were trying to untangle the string. The string was straight and stretched tight before they removed it, fifteen minutes later it was still not done. Both of them were screwing around unraveling their respective string mess. We then discussed the benefit and loss ratio of labor cost as a function of time vs $4 roll of string. Two minutes later a string was up with new string and the old was in the trash. 

I always feed anyone who comes out to help. I had Mr Manners grab all the sandwich fixings from the fridge and some grapes and then they sat at the table while I fixed sandwiches. I asked Mr Manners to hand out grapes and he proceeded to ask for scissors. SCISSORS?!!  I asked what they were for he replied “To cut apart the grape clusters”. He received much ribbing about “using your hands” and lost man card points. I told him he truly was his mother’s child. 
  
After lunch I went out to the barn with them and had them start in on it. I was sure it would not be finished as there was too much left. They did very well while being directed and passed so I asked them to come out the next day.