fencing

Rock Wall

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Last week I was still waiting on the parts from Delta to fix the bathroom sink so I had a free weekend from the bathroom. The weather was gorgeous and I am ready to get the front yard fence up. We have a decorative metal fence, purchased years ago, that needs to be installed on the front rock wall. The plan is for it to keep the dogs on the hillside during the day and allow us to use the sheep to graze down the hillside. When the sheep get in the yard they eat some stuff I don’t want them to eat. We also want to start planting more flowers for the bees and the sheep will eat those also. Long story short, the rock wall needs to be completed before the fence can be installed. This entails a lot of tractor work and the moving of a lot of heavy rocks.

The ground is dry enough now that I can go up on the hillside and dislodge rocks. You do not want any slick surfaces when you are coming down the hillside and with a bucket full of rocks. As it was a bucket full would still put me onto three tires when I turned downhill. I had to drop the bucket several times and bounce it off the ground to level myself out. I moved rocks and dumped them into the yard for half a day then spent the next two and a half days building the rock wall. The left side was already done, I just had to raise it about a foot and add some more dirt. I am stealing dirt from the area behind the old chicken coop. I am trying to make that area flat so I keep stealing from there. I had been using it for the secondary dike I installed alongside that part of the creek.


The dike is in my field and it is only about 18 inches high. I would have only needed about eight inches during the last flood. By the time it gets that high it is really wide, it just needed a little help to stay in the correct channel. I doubt we will have any more floods as bad as the two we had but I think I have finally gotten all of the areas reinforced and added to so we don’t get widespread flooding.

I remembered why I did not want to do the project about two hours into the hand digging portion. I had to get a pick axe, shovel and breaker bar to move the old rocks out of the way. I ended up digging down to the original footing from the previous rock wall and building back up from there. I made it about half way on the new side. I still need to raise it about another ten inches but I figured I would get the wall up and then work on raising it and adding more dirt. I am only going to go over to the rose bush, end of the upper wooden fence.

As I was driving back and forth collecting rocks I got to study my favorite tree on the farm. I keep thinking I should go up and thin out the dead wood out of this tree but I love the way it looks and the birds use it as a primary stopping point. It is slowly dying and has been for the last 20 years.

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.

Spring is here

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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!

It’s cold outside

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Winter is finally here. It is down in the low 20’s F at night and barely over freezing during the day. So it is not super pleasant to be outside. I have been so busy that I have not done much around the farm. Luckily, Mr Rainman is still cleaning up and working on small things. He was able to get the three posts installed on the corral. The two internal posts required that the old posts get reset and tightened up also. There is not a bit of wiggle in that side of the corral now! You used to be able to grab the rail and move the fence a few inches in each direction. The last thing for the corral is to finish building the rock crib. It just needs some wooden sides and wire mesh inside that to hold all the rocks inside. It will take 4-6 hours to fill the entire space with rocks but by the time it is completed there will be no moving that side of the corral and the new gate will be anchored securely.

The Gingerman spotted that our main gate into the barn lot broke at the base on the hinge side. When the gate was used it was starting to flex apart due to the break. In true farmer fashion, he plugged in the welder, dug around in the scrap pile and dirt to find some old small metal pieces then proceeded to just randomly weld them in place until the crack was repaired. He then tack welded the hinges as the bolts were not holding them rigid. He also raised the gate a few inches and dug out the hinge side so it no longer drags when you open and close it. The gate works better now than it has in 15 years!

Mr Rainman also got all of the holes dug around the bee platform. I had to make a run over to Home Depot last week so I was able to get all of the pressure treated lumber necessary for building an arch over the bee platform. I am going to use the same 1×8”x8’ pieces we used on the inside of the fencing shed to sheet the outside of the arch. I also have some leftover metal roofing from working on the barn that I will use for the roof. The wind just tore up the empty hives we had on the platform. If there had been bees in them I am not sure we could have salvaged them after the storm. The bees are hard enough to keep without us just letting the wind destroy them. We already have a new Nuc ordered for the spring and Annmarie is fairly confident she can split the hive fairly easily now. I would like to see us going into next winter with three hives.

We are still getting ready for the bathroom remodel. I have ordered the tile for the last two walls, which look like linen wallpaper. I am looking at the custom cabinet design for the right side of the vanity that I want, so I can start in on it soon. This has to be wife approved, it will be made out of oak plywood.

I did the cabinet mock up and the wife did not like the single door on the sink side of the cabinet. It will house all the electronics, my electric razor, hearing aids and any other items that need electrical outlets. This will clean off the countertop. So I had to move it to the front. Now I just need to go buy my three full sheets of 3/4” oak plywood. I will have to do the doors last but they can wait for now.

Fencing shed good enough

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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.