Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[Denim Deb]

I am going to sleep good tonight! First off, I left for the farm early. They were calling for rain, so I wanted to get as much done as I could. I spent about 3 hours working on the stones. I've made a HUGE dent in them! Another few hours like this, and I'll have them done! If they had been done when I first got them, it wouldn't be so hard. They were all in a nice, big pile. But, the horses of course had to walk in them, roll in them and spread them all out. Then, there's stuff growing in it, so I have to get that out. If I don't, it's hard to shovel it.

I also had to replace a fence post and fix a fence for RU. She's still away, and a couple of donkeys and minis got out. At first, I couldn't figure out where they were getting out. The fence post was upright, so it wasn't real obvious. And, it was a place where the fence had been mended and it had separated. They were walking thru it! I'm glad that not more of them got out! It's more secure now, so hopefully, they'll all stay in now!

Just when I got Stormy fed, it started to rain. I got hay out real quick, then covered the RB. This is my last one, and the horses turned their noses up at it. It smells fine to me, so I hope they're just being picky. Go to put the chickens away. 2 of them couldn't figure out how to get past the RB. I had to chase them down to get them in. And, Ralph decided to come out while I was trying to round them up! I finally had to lock the door, then chase them over 1 at a time, then open the gate to let them in.

By the time I got home, I was cold, hungry and wet. But, it had stopped raining. I ate a quick salad w/a hard boiled egg, went out and fed the animals, then started working on the garden. Since it's been so long since I had gotten it ready, I had weeds coming up in places, so I weeded part of it, got half of my tomatoes in, and 1/4 of my onions! I would have had more of the onions in, but it was starting to rain again, I was tired, hungry and had to go to the bathroom, so I figured it was a good time to call it quit. Tomorrow, I should be able to get the rest of that stuff in! It is so nice to actually see good plants in there instead of weeds.

 

[Denim Deb]

The weather today was iffy. It was one of those days where you're not quite sure what you want to do.

First off, I wasn't sure what to wear. If it was cloudy out, and I was in short sleeves, I knew I'd be cool. I finally decided on a tee shirt w/a sweat shirt over it. I have a long sleeved button down at the farm, so figured if I was too warm w/the sweat shirt on, but needed something on my arms, that would work. And, that's what I ended up wearing for awhile.

Next off, what mode of transportation did I want to use? I really thought of taking the bike. After all, when I went out and checked on my plants, it wasn't raining. Nor was the radar showing anything. But, by the time I was ready to leave, it was sprinkling a bit. I don't like to ride in the rain, so I drove the truck.

Lastly, I needed to figure out what I was going to do. I needed to wash clothes, but don't like to dry them in the dryer. The one thing that I really needed was socks for hubby. But, since it was trying to rain, I decided I'd wash a load of towels later on, and throw a couple of pairs of socks in w/them. They're in the washer right now. I'll throw them in the dryer B4 I go to bed.

Because of the weather, I left a bit late this morning. Wasn't sure if I was going to attempt to do any stones or not. But, since it was trying to rain, I decided not to. I had one fence post that I had to get in. I was lucky! Since I yanked out the old pole, the new one fit right in the old hole. So, I didn't have to dig any. That's one down, 2 to go! I decided to check all my electric-only to find that it's not working properly. I can't quite figure out what the problem is, but figured I wanted the electric up at least for the section I have roped off.

RU is still away, so I had to feed, hay and water her horses. Plus, her one horse injured itself right B4 she left. It's one of these injuries that you can't figure out how they did-he ripped off part of one hoof! So, I had to change his bandage today. I don't know what the injury looks like-it's on the inside of his hoof. But, he is doing better. He's walking more normal on it, and didn't give me as much of a hard time changing it as the last time.

Once I was done all that, I gave Stormy his 2nd feeding, cleaned my field, put out hay, rounded up the chickens, put the horses away, fed Cindy and left. I got home later than I wanted, but at least it was earlier than yesterday!

Got home, grabbed a quick bite and debated on whether I was going to do some house work, or if I was going to work in the garden. I decided to work on the garden. I got more of the weeding done, put stuff around the tomatoes I planted, and planted more of the onions. I also weeded a bit where the asparagus is. And, while I could have done more in the garden, I decided that instead I was going to go in the woods and find the last of the cedar I need for posts. Got them found, and drug them home. I'm going to attempt (weather permitting) to get the rest of my tomatoes and onions in tomorrow. Then, on Friday, I'll get the area for the corn, beans, squash, melons and cukes are ready! If it doesn't rain on Saturday, I'm going to work more on the asparagus patch. Hopefully, I'll be able to find more.

Now, I need to get something to eat, then get to bed. I need to leave early tomorrow. I'm meeting some friends for breakfast-at 7:00 am!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Enjoy your breakfast and your friends tomorrow!

 

[Denim Deb]

I plan to. I just finished dinner, so I'll be heading to bed soon.

 

[Denim Deb]

Today's going to be another iffy day weather wise, so I don't know how much I'll get done outside. But, if I can't do anything outside, I have a TON of work to catch up on inside. Tomorrow is going to be the only good day all week. So, I'm hoping I'm able to get the seed down. The only thing I'll probably attempt outside today is going to be getting the rest of my maters and onions in.

 

[Denim Deb]

I REALLY need to do some laundry! The only clean jeans I had this morning were my good ones. So, since I was going out for breakfast, I wore those. I figured I have a pair at the farm, after breakfast, I'd just change into those. I didn't bother to take my barn boots cuz it was so wet, I figured I'd just change into my muck boots.

Well, it was wet-too wet. I had planned on getting the field all ready to rototill tomorrow. But, there's puddles, so that's means the field is too wet to rototill. And, we may get more rain tonight. Hopefully, I'll be able to rototill it next Friday. Instead, I decided to work on finding the edge of my stones. But, I was uncomfortable in the muck boots. I had an old pair of hiking boots in the shed, so I put them and my shorts on. I'm busy working on the stones when PT drives up. The stone pile is near the lane. She stops and tells me the water's off. That's when I remembered that the one road I crossed had been blocked off because there were downed wires. No electricity, no water! I had noticed that my water tank was empty the other day. And, since I want to move it, I hadn't refilled it. It was on my list to do today. From the rain, there was about an inch of water in it. Plus, since the horses were in the parking area, there was a kiddy pool w/water. They were drinking out of that.

The "fun" part came when I had to go and and hay, feed and water. The main herd has a pond, so they were good. The "mares" have a stock tank that was about 1/2 full-I filled it yesterday. But, there's a herd of minis that I have to water every day. And, there's the horse w/the injured foot. I have to water him every day. Then, there's one horse that's by himself. No matter where he's put, he's causing problems. He also has a stock tank. And, it was almost completely full. So, I went over there w/empty kitty litter jugs. And, I put them in the tank, filled them up, then carried them where they needed to go, dumped, and repeated. It took me 8 trips to do this. I did everything I needed to do and hoped the horses would have enough water for the night. I checked the auto waterer when I was getting ready to leave-and noticed it was full. So, the electric came back on.

Since my peppers never germinated, I needed to buy them. I wanted different colors. I had people try and tell me that the regular bell peppers will turn yellow and orange if you let them go. They'll turn red, but that's it. :/ So, I decided that I was going to a place I don't normally do. It's kind of out of my way. I'm glad I went! They had the orange and the chocolate! I decided to stop at a couple of other places as well. They only had the regular peppers. Then, I went to a place where the guy is selling them at an honesty stand in front of his house. He has the yellow-but was out. I'll stop again tomorrow.

Got home, and had to relax for a bit, then went out and got to work. I got the area for my maters cleaned up, and got them in. And, I'm trying something. I took newspaper, then wrapped it around the sides-but not the bottom. I'm hoping this will keep the cutworms out. (I lost a pepper to a worm overnight. ) Then, I took some thin strips of cardboard and started putting them around what I've already planted. I got done peppers and eggplants, but not the rest of my maters. I could have worked longer, but I was really getting tired. Came in, did some dishes, and got a shower. Now I'm sitting here relaxing B4 I hit the hay. For some reason, I'm tired.

 

[Denim Deb]

Found one more thing that needs to be cleaned-my in box! I don't delete PMs a lot, and realized this morning that it was full.

 

[Denim Deb]

OK, it's time for some changes in my life. And for some of them, people are in for a rude awakening-or at least a shock!

First off, I'm needing to start leaving for the farm earlier. It's getting nice out, which means warmer weather is coming. So, I want to get out there while it's still cool.

Secondly, I'm going to start to making up a daily schedule. I'm now at the point w/everything that I need to do that I don't need to spend so much time on any one thing any more. And, I'm tired of not being able to work w/the horses. So, that's going to go on the schedule. Then, if I don't have time to do everything I had planned on doing out there, at least I'll FINALLY get to ride!

Thirdly, I'm not working as long every day. W/the longer daylight and warmer temps, lots of times I'll go until dark trying to get stuff done. Well, I've decided I'm not going to work any later than 6:30. Plus, the crossword puzzle that I normally do in the morning I'm now going to do in the evening.

And lastly, I'm going to start giving people deadlines. The following are the first:

KN and RU are going to be given until next Friday to figure out a different place to put KN's horse food. I'm tired of having it in my trailer. I CANNOT use my trailer w/all her stuff in it. And, that's not fair to me. I can't get hay, go for a ride, or ANYTHING w/all that in there. And, I'm NOT taking it out, then putting it back when so I can use MY trailer. I've been w/out my trailer since Sandy blew thru, and I'm tired of it.

Hubby is going to be told to pick a day when he can come over and help me put the hydrant in my field. I've had it for over a year. He doesn't want me to put it in myself, so he's going to be told if he won't stop, I'm doing it myself.

It was dryer at the farm than I was expecting today, so I TRIED to rototill my field. Well, the rototiller is horrible! All it wants to do is skip over the ground. I tried for quite some time to get it to work properly, and the only way I could was to really wrestle w/it, or go back over an area several times. Our rototiller is much easier to work. Hubby promised to fix it quite some time ago. It needs some welding. If it's not fixed by next weekend, I'm renting one. W/out rototilling the field, it's not worth it for me to seed it.

Once I have the money, I'm getting a window for my tack shed. And, I'm going to tell hubby he's either going to help me install it, or I'm doing it myself. And, I don't think I'm going to wait for his help on the lean to.

In other news, I got all my plants in the garden, and the rest of my onions! Next week, I'll have the first of my corn planted, as well as all my squash, melons and cukes! Plus, I've been finding more asparagus, so that section is going to get weeded so I can figure out where all the plants are. That way, come fall, I should be able to transplant it w/no problem!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Alright! You go girl!

 

[Corn Woman]

I know how you feel. If you want something done............... I cant stand a tiller that acts like a jack hammer. I hire a guy that does tractor work for mine. I figure the time saved for me is much time I can do other things.