Farm

50% completed front yard rock wall

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I decided to just finish the front wall today. After Saturday, I decided to finish the right front rock wall. I noticed that the ground was quite a bit lower next to the wall. So I started spreading the dirt farther out into the yard to make everything level. I used over 10 yards of soil to build this back up. The tractor bucket only holds 1/3 yard of dirt. I planted orchard grass so we can see  what it looks like. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The best part was this wall was rebuilt from an original one that was buried about 45 years ago. It had probably been up for 50 years before that. There is an identical wall on the other side of the bridge. I need to spray the grass and kill the greenery so I can easily dig up the wall. 
The barn swallows have returned to nest and raise their young. I was headed to the house with a load of dirt and off to my right eight swallows were swooping around each other. Just as I focused on the group one of them dropped a white fuzzy feather. It fluttered in the wind as each bird dove attempting to snag the coveted nest liner!  It took about ten seconds of watching the feather flutter in the wind before a talented flyer snagged it and raced off. 
 
Since this was day 2 with the tractor I decided to do a little more work. One of the problems we had with the back barn lot was the sheep want to go over the fence.  The hillside makes it look like it will be an easy jump to get over the fence. I wanted to cut a four foot wide road/path next to the fence. Unfortunately, this is easier said then done. I tried to go from the bottom next to the creek but the tractor was on a slant and almost rolled into the creek. I managed to get it headed up the old road I made a few years ago. I then decided that if I picked up a bucketful of dirt along the upper side of the hill I could then get lined up and create a road. I would have my uphill tires in the rut allowing me to create a road. I managed to get into the rut and tried to make it flatter. When I got to the bottom near the water I started to slant toward the creek. I then tried to back up the road and the tractor slid into the fence. The only way out was forward. I ended up with one front tire on the bridge and one in the air. I used the bucket to keep the tractor from rolling and then got lined up to drive directly up the very steep hill. The tractor went up the hill no problem. Luckily it has been three days since any rain. I drove back up to the top of the new path and made it flatter. When I got near the bottom I kept going back and forth on the loose dirt near the spring runoff and compressing it down. Eventually I was able to drive out the bottom on all four wheels. 

 

Yard work can happen

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I spent Friday relaxing and reading a book. I do occasionally take a little time for myself. It had been a long week at work. I still managed to get in one bucket of mastic on the library floor. I only have the outside edges to tile now. I need to go through and cut all the tiles to fit before I mix any more mastic. I will use a piece of blue painters tape to mark the top of the loose tiles. Otherwise I won’t be able to tell they are not stuck to the floor. When cutting that much tile I tend to get very wet. The tile saw uses water and I think I need to change out the blade. I am pretty sure I have a new one out on the wall. It’s pretty slow cutting the tiles. It has not been the same since I used it to cut all the granite tiles for the kitchen countertops. 
 
Saturday was amazing!  The weather was perfect and I just could not stay inside. I decided to work on our front rock wall. I had visions of getting it done but it has been in the works for several years. I don’t have enough rocks available to get it to be height I think it needs. I went out in the barn lot and snagged the extra rocks that were hiding in the sheep manure pile. I also picked up the few loose rocks in the barn lot. Several years ago I had piled a bunch by the old chicken coop. I had found a buried pile and finished digging them out of the ground. I also found a pile half buried in the ram pasture. It took the tractor to get them out of the ground. I had to back fill the area as I created a hole in the ground that would have injured any human trying to walk in the area.  I still have a small pile by the waterfall and a small pile over by the lamb shed left. Probably only three buckets full and not near enough to finish off a project. As I was picking rocks in the barn lot I think I am going to bid this year on labor from one of the sports teams. I would like all the metal scraps and wooden pieces policed off the ground in the barn lot. I think 4-5 people could do it in 4-5 hours. I would like to get it all neat. The sheep and horses were enjoying the day also. 

I worked on the wall most of the day. It looks pretty good but I noticed it slants down away from the yard. There used to be a chain link fence across the front of the yard and the ground slipped away toward the creek. You can still see that slant. I would like to get that leveled out. Hopefully, the weather will be good enough on Sunday that I can finish. 
  

 

Water everywhere

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 It rained again Wednesday night. All night long. This would not be a bad thing but the ground is absolutely saturated with water currently. By the time we got home that evening the back runoff creek was at its highest for the year and all muddy. We were super glad that we have not yet lowered the fences over the creek.   This very well could have been disastrous. 

We decided that this year we would shave the border collies. They get super hot and dirty during the summer. The weeds stick to them and they are just generally messy. Sarah came out and was going to do both dogs but Mouse jumped in the front spring. 
I suspect her was onto her nefarious plot to make him bald. So instead she was only able to shave Zeke. I have been laughing for days!  He does not even look like a border collie. Sarah tells me I should of gotten a blade that allows the dogs to have some amount of hair left. I did, she just didn’t know it so now Mouse will get shaved with a number 7 blade. It got down to the high 30s right after the shave so Zeke had to spend two days hanging out on the breezeporch with Sprout.  He would go out in the morning and start shivering. He has been fine these last couple of days. The shock of being naked has worn off. 
 
Our bull on the back hillside out our kitchen window. The boy sheep are out there also. Look at that flat back!!  He is a beautiful animal that throws amazing calves. We are so happy with him. He is going to get to stay well into his old age. Until he starts to have performance issues then he will have to be hamburger. 

Where be those doggies?

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I left for work early and AnnMarie took care of the dogs. I was just going to sign timecards but ended up having to stay. AnnMarie called me in the early afternoon to say that the neighbors thought one of our border collies was up the road chasing cows. Now Zeke can jump out of the yard but usually stays on the place. We don’t trust him any more so we have started putting him on the overhead run. It has been a few years since he got off of it. He used to chew through the rope. It’s now a metal chain and wire cable lead on the overhead run. No way to chew through it. 
When I got home Zeke was laying down on the old house front porch out of the rain. Mouse was running around the yard getting wet.  I snapped a picture and sent it to AnnMarie so she could let the land owner know it was not our dog.  
We are suspects as we have a black and white border collie, the other one is grey and white. 
Zeke has been jumping over our yard fence bordering the orchard. Years ago I had cut this fence to allow me to drive a tractor into our yard for some reason. I loosened the wire from the posts and restretched the entire fence. I then used some of the leftover 2x6x16 foot long boards to put a top rail above the woven wire. This should be tall enough to keep Zeke inside the yard. We won’t test it out until we can be home to watch him for any illicit escapes. It rained almost the entire time. I got a two part coat for Christmas and the outer part is waterproof. It has come in mighty handy this year. 
 

Our ground is so saturated now that the rain is causing our back creek to rise.  The water is really starting to move. 
  

One tile at a time

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A mouse war update is required. The dogs are falling behind with only 16 verified kills. The mouse traps in the coop have killed 38 mice so far.  This is just cementing the need for more cats. I have started cleaning up the coop and am removing all the empty bags.  I am trying to discourage any mice from living in the feed area of the coop.


I unloaded the first 150 of 500 wooden Tamarac fence stays. I still have 350 more to pickup.  I will fix the trailer tires in the next two weeks. 

I have increased the number of mouse traps by another six traps. It is a truly death defying run to get from one side of the coop to the other. The mice tend to run along the walls but occasionally a brave one runs out away from the wall. I laid out some more tile yesterday. I have one more serious finish attempt then I will cut and fit all the outer odd pieces then pull them all out and lay them next to their spot and mastic them all down at once.