#stewartcreeksomethings

Spring activities continue

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Despite the need to finish the bathroom other work still has to happen on the farm. Mr Rainman came out on Monday evening to help me sort and load cows. We wanted to sell off our four largest Dexter cows, there were 11 for sale and we don’t have enough meat customers for that many animals. I happened to look into the stock trailer while Mr Rainman was hooking it up and spotted the kittens. I just tossed two pallets over a couple of horizontal telephone poles to make a cubby and then moved the kittens out into that hiding spot. It was only about eight feet from where they were originally. I figured out the momma would hear them and deal with it. She did, Annmarie spotted her moving the kittens an hour later.

We got the four cows separated from the other seven and loaded them into the trailer. Only one refused to go into the trailer. She had gotten turned around and would not back up. We just let her out of the chute and ran her around again. This time we did not let her slow down in the chute so she could not turn around . As always it was a five minute gig to just drop off the cows at the auction. We got the check on Saturday. We had one heifer and three steers. The heifer sold for $2/# and steers $1.75/#. They did very good. I was hoping for $1.50/#.

I was able to get another friend to hatch out a dozen straight run chicks for me. She will replace any roosters with new chicks when I can determine gender. I thought I had eliminated all but two of the roosters from the January batch but yesterday I saw two crow that were not on my list! I only want two roosters so I will be looking a lot closer to determine who is a rooster and who isn’t. I will have to thin out at least three more I think. One of the new chicks died by fratricide. Its fellow baby chicken sat on it after it got behind the feeder. So now there are 11 chicks.

Our asparagus did not die last year! We had four shoots pop up from the strawberries this week. We planted ten plants but it is just now starting to warm up at our house consistently and we think that is why we are behind our neighbors on growth rate. We still only have four shoots buy there is still some life and we thought we had killed it all. We want to get another container going for just asparagus.

We had a lamb that got sick and had to be put down. We have had two more sets of twin lambs and think we are all done lambing. We have put all of the sheep back together into one herd. We are only locking them up into the ram pasture now at night. They can go in and out of the barn freely as they want.

Annmarie is working on getting all of the garden, lavender, herb water going today but as always there is some part we are needing to get the job done. She has a shed full of drip line and 1/2” PVC connectors but there is always one thing. We will keep working on this until it is done.

Bathroom remodel day 41

Steve HardinLeave a comment

The bathroom is chugging along just like the little train that could. I spent all day Friday getting three valves onto the copper pipe sticking out of the wall. The toilet valve was the easiest as I had a long chunk of pipe sticking out that had to be cutoff. The sink side had two short stubs that I needed to heat up and remove the copper caps. I ended crushing one of the tips with a set of pliers and then had to cut it off. I had to use the sawzall to cut it as it was too close to the wall for a pipe cutter. This then made a not even cut which messed up my compression tightening valve.

I had to go to Pendleton for a second time that day to get a new brass compression ring and a 12” hose for the toilet. On the plus side the toilet works and after soldering on an extension pipe the sink valves are in place and they do not leak. I am just not very good at plumbing.

We installed a curtain as a door so the toilet could be used on Friday. I had been working on the door all week. I had a wood insert glued into the end of the door and I purchased a 1” and 3/4” dowel so I could drill out the old door handle and lock holes. Once I had that all dried, cut off and sanded smooth I filled the cracks with an epoxy based filler. After that was sanded down I drilled the new holes for the new handle. It just made it easier to start with an intact door again before trying to make new holes. I am going to brush on a little stain after the door is hung.

Saturday we moved furniture! Sarah and Grant were given a nice set of Spanish style bedroom set. We cleaned out the old room, moved the box bed back into the sewing room and moved out several items from both rooms. We then cleaned up both rooms and all of the furniture. All of this we did in the morning, then I had enough time to install the door handle in the bathroom door. I need the door gone so I can get the corner trims stained then start working on the custom bathroom cabinet. Gingerman went out to their farm and started discing a five acre field that he is prepping for seed. The disc he got last week is working great.

Early afternoon we went and picked up the furniture. It was heavy. We were able to get the horse trailer across our spring by driving through the spring. I had brought in 2-3” rock when we thought the septic truck was going to have to drive around to pump our tank. It still makes a land bridge that the water flows over 1-2” deep. The truck and trailer went over it just fine. We used arm lifts to help move the furniture and they made all the difference. I don’t think I could have gotten the one dresser upstairs without them. As it was I had to place both feet wide on either side of the dresser and lift it up one step at a time. By the time we got to step 16 I thought I was going to die. When we made it to step 19 I told myself there were only two steps left and if I let go Gingerman was still holding up the lower end and could not do that indefinitely. As soon as we had it on the top landing we took a five minute break.

I took the low side on the long dresser and the Gingerman was surprised at the different muscles used on the uphill side. The lower side carries more weight but it is in your legs not your mid back. I told him it was much worse with the heavier piece of furniture. We forgot a piece of the bed frame. Once we tried to install the bed frame we realized there had to be more parts. All the parts fit in the bedroom and the kids have an actual bed to sleep on. I told the Gingerman when we left to go disc until dark that I was done working.

I ended up installing the actual bathroom door. It was a tight fit but I was able to get it in place and adjusted. It looks good. I think I will still hit it with one more coat of conditioner to seal up the wood. I was able to do a little work on the crown molding on Friday after the plumbing and now we have crown molding in the main section of the bathroom. All that is left is the shower enclosure. Now that the door is in place Annmarie is already talking about finish trim! We attempted to put the vanity in place but there is a cross piece that needs to be routed out about 1” to make room for the wall plumbing. I will also need to readjust some of the drawers in the vanity. The plumbing is more to the right of the cabinet than I anticipated.

Lambing update

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We had two more ewes give birth this week. We think there are two left maybe three but that is it. So I flopped the barn back to its lamb starting position. The main area is now for all of the mommas and babies and the small portion is for the rest of the herd (14 sheep). We have also opened up the back hillside behind our house to the main herd of sheep. They are working on converting their intestinal bacteria from a dry food to wet food (green grass), it always makes for mandatory rubber boot ware.

The sheep are just really stupid. I was headed inside yesterday when I thought I heard someone hollering. I had already pushed both herds into the barn and almost let this single ewe stay outside. I did not realize that her head was stuck in the fence until I got closer. I just had to turn her head and trip her so her body dropped when her head was turned to get her head unstuck. She ran right back to the barn and wanted inside with everyone else.

I found a little boy lamb that I had to carry off the hillside yesterday. Today, I had put everyone away in the barn and was headed into the house. I had not gotten chicken eggs yet so I did that and went the back way alongside the creek. Normally, I go around and go through the yard but for some reason I went the back way. I spotted the lamb I had moved yesterday. Francine had only taken one of her two bottles so I fed this lamb and brought it inside the house. Momma made the cull list since she only had one lamb to keep track of and she is not feeding it or being a good mother. Our normal nursery caregiver came and picked him up to go home with her.

Francine is doing well. She drinks a bottle in the morning and evenings. Tonight she only wanted 16 oz, she had been up to 24 oz but seems to be cutting back. The lambs always look like they are dead when they are on sunning themselves on the back hillside. They love laying in the sun.

The Gingerman got a set of large discs moved off the property. He had to take down a section of fence to get it out of the alleyway. The fence is all repaired and now the cows and sheep cannot play on or around the equipment. I was able to spread a little gravel on our main road in the problem area.

The plan for this week is to take the four largest feeder cows to the auction this Tuesday. I am told the prices are really good and we have 11 cows getting fat on the lower part of the property. We have moved all of those cows into the fields next to the Mother-in-law’s house. They are cheat grass and we are getting the cows and alpaca to overeat and stress the field. We are going to kill it with Roundup and keep it killed for the year then replant in the fall or spring.

Bathroom remodel day 40

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Well it is a mere 40 days I have vested into the bathroom remodel over the last 11 weeks and we are still closing in on it a bit at a time. I had a few grand delusions and figured I could get all of the crown molding up over a holiday weekend. First of all the crown molding is taking forever. I did not order the precut corners as there are 12 in the bathroom. This is causing me to cut each corner about 12 times before I am getting the angle right. I am just making little cuts but I put it up, measure it, then cut it and measure again and repeat it until it works. On top of that the nails do not want to go into the plywood ceiling so I am now pre-drilling holes with smaller diameter bit and driving the nails in with a nail set when they stop moving with the hammer. I love the way the cut glass light shades break up the light, it looks great on the tin ceiling.

I did get the toilet lid installed. It only took me three tries to get all the pieces in the correct order. It has a push button that releases the toilet lid from the anchor bolts. I had plans to install the three shutoff valves for the bathroom but Annmarie was making rolls on Saturday and I did not want to turn off the water then get in a bind the day before a holiday. I opted to do nothing with the plumbing. My track record with plumbing is abysmal, no need to flout my efforts before the gods. We would all pay for that attempt.

I was able to cut down a board and get it glued into the pocket door. My next stop is to pickup a two pine dowels, one 1” & 3/4” so I can fill both holes in the door. I will just drill a hole the entire thickness of the door and drive in the dowel. This will also help my large piece I just glued in stay in place. Once I have everything glued in place the end will be filled in with some stainable wood based putty. Once it is all smooth and ready for stain I will drill the lock and handle holes in the door.

Since this is Easter weekend I did laundry and cleaned up the house. Mostly, this meant putting away tools from the bathroom. They were stacked up in the mud room and before I could use my new birthday present, coffee bean roaster I needed a spot to store it. This meant cleaning out the mud room and installing the bean roaster and cooler on top of the food dehydrator. The coffee roaster only does 4 oz at a time, so I will need to do two batches to fill up my coffee grinder hopper. It took three batches of beans roasted to get something drinkable. Green beans are only $10/pound so I figure I can drink coffee forever now. The fresh roasted is super smooth and has zero bitter taste. The mud room does get a little smoky, so we have to keep the laundry room door shut. I have been opening up the back door but that is not going to work during winter.

I will keep plugging away at the bathroom. The progeny and Gingerman both got to use the shower and loved it. I need to get the door done so I can start working on the custom cabinet. I need the sawhorses and working space that the door is taking up.

Spring is here

Steve HardinLeave a comment

This is where it gets tricky. Spring is here and there are things to do outside yet our main bathroom remodel is still in progress. I have to stay focused on the bathroom but some projects still have to get done.

The pears and plums are in full bloom but we have had two nights of hard freeze so I am not sure that we will get any fruit! I sure hope we do this year.

I am mowing the lawn with the sheep again this year so Mr Rainman moved our chive planters to the back garden for a week so the sheep don’t scalp them. They tried to eat the roots last year they liked it so much. Unfortunately, our little dog Milo has learned that he likes to chase the sheep. It is cool. Our side fence is not a barrier for our little dog, he squeezes around the end and our border collie just jumps the fence. We tried locking them in the orchard but then both got into the lavender patch and then got into the garden area. The fences don’t seem to be much of a deterrent or barrier. So on Sunday the Gingerman helped me install the side fence. We made it very tall and the dogs are now contained in the garden area. It works great.

Mr Rainman has been spraying 2-4-D and Milestone on the bottoms. He has already managed to spray fields 1-3 and will work on the schoolhouse bottoms tomorrow. He is also going to spray the edges of the CRP ground we just purchased. The weeds are starting to creep in on the edges, so we are going to spot spray and see if we cannot get them stopped. We will also kill a little spot alongside the fences so the weeds don’t choke out the fences. It is way safer than trying to burn the fence lines later in the year.

I had to add a small 1”x2” board on the end of the shelf in the mud room that is over the outside door. Opening and closing the door is causing the items to move closer to the edge and then leap off to their potential death. The board is installed and now you do not have to wonder if something is going to fall on your head when you use the back door.

Annmarie and I have made a list of all current projects and it has ten levels of priority. This actually works nicely as it lets me plan out projects better and if I have a project I want I can add it to the list. Finish the bathroom is priority 1!