I had promised the better half that I would spend part of Saturday doing some things for her. So Mr Rainman and I drove over to Milton Freewater and repaired a couple of items on the outside of the church that required a 30’ ladder. No one was injured. I did notice that I now actually pay attention to where I am putting my feet as I go up and down the very tall ladder. I used to just scramble up it without a care in the world. I am getting a little older every year.

We had picked up a “farmer pack” of 2×4 boards from Tum a Lum. They were warped boards of various lengths that they just bundle together and sell as a unit. We needed to make branch props for the fruit trees and $3/board seemed like the right price, considering they were just going to be out in the weather getting warped. We cut notches in one end and went out and propped up branches on our little plum tree. It is sagging horribly. I used a couple on the apricot tree also. This is the first year we have had apricots. We have had that tree for over seven years and I always thought it was decorative. This spring Annmarie was out working on the bees and told me to just cut the tree down as we were not getting any fruit and suddenly we have fruit!

After we had that done, Mr Rainman went home and I went out to attempt to repair our grain cracker. It had one too many rocks go through it earlier and the auger portion kept getting jammed. I needed to weld the ridge back on top of the auger, the three feed windings needed to be raised. The trouble is that Mr Gingerman converted the welder from a stick welder to a flux core wire feed. I did not take the second half of the welding class where we were taught how to weld with a wire fed machine. I had tried the day before to get an arc without any success. I gave up and then that night while talking to the Gingerman at dinner he figured out I was not pulling the trigger! You don’t have a trigger when you are stick welding! I was able to get the welder working and to get some material built up so I can make the auger work correctly. I did have to hit it with the grinder when I was done but the grain cracker is back in business! It won’t do as fine as it used to but if I can milk it along for another year it will have been a solid investment. We have already saved over $1000 on feed for a $200 purchase. It has really worked out well and the chickens love it.

On Sunday we worked on getting a temporary fence up in the front yard. This is so we can bring the animals onto the front hillside to knock it down. Milo got three pieces of cheat grass in his ears and had to go to the vet on Fourth of July, Ugh. So now the plan is for the animals to take it down to a couple of inches. We have been watering it so with this heat and water the clover should just snap right back nice and strong. The fence took about three hours to get in place and situated. Our border collie, Chance does not like it. We put it close enough to the rock wall that it is an eight foot leap for her to jump it. Even with the animals on the hillside she has not tried to scale the fence.