burn pile

Still doing Fall catchup

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Last weekend Mr Rainman came out to help for the weekend. The plan was to knock out the Lavender and get it all trimmed and weeded so it was all ready for spring. Fortunately or unfortunately, however you view it Saturday was a burn day! We have been trying to burn the pile for the last two months but we keep missing the burn days. So we got the pile of cardboard from the old house, the mud room and the pickup and then proceeded to light the pile on fire. It took off straight away so we decided to go down the driveway and start pitchforking the tumbleweeds over the fence and stuff them in the back of the pickup to be tossed on the burn pile. My Mother-in-law came out and said she had a bunch of stuff for the burn pile so we piled that on then noticed that the apple tree broken branch had been cut out by one of the nephews so we piled that onto the burn pile and kept one branch to start the new burn pile behind the grain bins out of sight of both houses.

We kept forking weeds over the fence until the wind was blowing so hard that we had to hold them on the fire with a pitchfork so they didn’t just blow away before they could catch on fire. We were losing weeds and figured that it was a waste of time to just keep going.

Annmarie has been cutting stuff out of cow hide for the progeny’s wedding on the laser. It smells like charred leather so I offered to hang them out in the old house. This way they can air out and start to smell good. It worked amazingly well! Nothing the smell of dirt and old wood cannot fix.

My car battery died because I left the dome light on. I let it sit around for a week before I put the ancient charger on it. Mind you when I put the charger on it you could turn the key and get the radio and dash lights. After 12 hours on the charger the battery was totally dead, nothing worked. I tossed the ancient broken charger into the trash can. Mr Rainman offered to come out during the week and install a new battery. I had been driving the gas guzzling pickup for over a week and had already filled the tank twice. I looked at the battery compartment and was dreading the attempt to install it. He had it changed out in no time and it works like a champ again.

The bathroom deadline is approaching quickly so I have been working on getting it completed. We shimmed out the wall on the inside of the door so it is ready for trim. The entire inside of the bathroom is ready for trim. I need to get the Sheetrock repairs completed so that I can put primer on the wall and get it painted. There is a lot of height difference in some places so I am going to have to build it out with the mud to make it look right. I am not the best sheetrock person but I can muddle through.

On Sunday it was supposed to rain so after feeding the cows and getting the barn ready for the momma sheep we went out to the lavender patch to trim it up. We had intentions of keeping nice individual plants. In places it is growing into a single row and we are going to let it. While Mr Rainman cut the lavender I worked on pulling weeds next to the yard and in the next walkway. The weeds were the worst in those two rows. In the spring after we spray the grass we are going to have to use some kind of growth inhibitor to keep the grass from invading again. We even spotted a few honey bees on the lavender despite the wind blowing pretty hard.

Fencing shed good enough

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Friday, Mr Rainman and I worked on the fencing shed some more. Our goal was to keep the rustic look on the outside. By putting vertical boards inside we were able to cover up almost all of the holes in the walls. We turned the boards with the most aged color to the outside and you cannot hardly tell when you look at the building. We pulled most of the 2×4 boards off of the burn pile. They were pulled off of our house this summer when the siding was done. They were the window trim that was covered by metal trim. The old 2×6 boards I put around the bottom were in the building already. I had salvaged them from somewhere and put them in there years ago. It rained off and on all day on Friday and of course it was not a burn day. We have been trying to burn our big debris pile for three weeks and it’s never a burn day.

I got the solar light installed but the thing has a light sensor on it so it will not turn on when it senses too much light! So even though it’s a little dark in the building without lights it won’t allow you to turn on the lights. I had to go out in the dark to ensure the light does work, it works just fine and it is quite bright inside at night.

Saturday was a burn day! We got the last of the scraps from our work on the shed and there was a pile on the other side of the machine shed. The fire started right up and we ended up having to watch it for about 90 minutes until it had burned down and we could work on the fencing supply shed. We ended up going to the old house and pulling all of the leftover plywood from various projects and loading it up for use in the shed. The shed was pretty solid but once we started putting those spare scraps of sheeting and boards the entire thing is now rock solid! Unfortunately, the 12” anchors came and they are not long enough. They will only get into the railroad ties about one inch, so I ordered 14” anchors and when they come we will anchor the building to the railroad ties. At this point I do not see the building blowing over ever again.

Once we started piling up the burn pile we went out to the fencing supply are and dug up another load of rotten wood to toss on the fire. We really need to clean up this entire area but I have fence posts and fencing on the old wooden parts of various structures. It is keeping them all off the ground and I am unwilling to give up this luxury yet. I could lay out old tires and use them instead? It’s an idea and not a bad way to keep everything from rotting or rusting. We still have quite the pile of used tires.

Mr Rainman and I had a spirited debate on how well either of us can eyeball 2-6”. He was on the outside of the building screwing inwards and I was directing him from the inside. This continued for two days and a tape measure had to appear a couple of times to determine who was right and wrong. He is a good sport. Plus, I am working on increasing my fiber and the steady stream of farts was enough to keep him out of the building.

The bill from the plumber arrived this week. It was a mere $120 for the plumber to tell me that the drain shut off valve was closed. Some lessons are hard learned. I am sure everyone at the office had a good chuckle at my expense.

The County soil and water conservation district manager reached out to me a few weeks ago to talk about a grant to install some more fencing along the creek. This works for both of us and I have done it in the past before Covid. He came out on Friday and we walked the property. I am looking at putting some more fence up on the hillside. I already have two sides on a four acre spot done. The only two sides left are along the creek and up the hill. He will work up a proposal and submit it, I would not expect to know for six months if it is approved. This will let the animals knock down the weeds on the hillside also so we can use less herbicides.

We are going to start spraying Rejuvra on the upper bottoms and down by the schoolhouse. We are going to try and get control of the cheat grass. It’s going to be a race now with the weather. We are finally starting to get some regular moisture.

Mr Rainman was able to get my future craft room in the old house cleaned out. We have already started to stage supplies for the bathroom but I am getting ready to order some more tile this week and then we will need to bring down the vanity so I can start working on it. February is going to come sooner than I would like.

Once we had the inside of the shed done I could not help but fill it! I was able to sort most of the fencing buckets and hang the tools on the walls. I have an entire four gallon bucket of loose fencing staples but am now using the DeWalt stapler exclusively. If anyone wants enough loose staples to do 1/2 mile of fencing holler you can have them. I am never going back to hand nailing them! I probably need another two boxes of staples for the amount of fencing we are going to do next year. I did find a bunch of the smooth wire tighteners! I had quite a few, they were just scattered all around. The next thing is for a wall organizer but that can come later. In 2025, we will get the used tin up on the roof and get a solid door built then it will be 100% completed.