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

[Denim Deb]

Every morning, I wake up stiff and sore. I tried flipping my mattress to see if that would help, and it didn't. I'm thinking rather than buying a new mattress, I'm going to get one of those toppers they sell and see if that makes a difference. It might make me less tired, and help me to sleep better as well.

Today, I'm not planning on doing a whole lot. OK, in a way I am, since I'm planning on getting wood, but I'm not going to have a very long list. So, my list for today:

1. Do dishes
2. Go out to breakfast
3. Finish rearranging the hay shelter and take stuff out of the back of my truck
4. Get at least 1 load of wood. I don't know how wet it is in the woods since it rained some, but it was just light rain, so hopefully, the woods won't be soaking wet
5. Clean out my truck
6. Feed Stormy, take care of chickens and put out hay
7. Feed goats
8. Make and eat dinner
9. Do dishes

I'm keeping an eye on the weather for Monday. We could get more rain then.

 

[Denim Deb]

Rain that we got overnight didn't amount to much, so I'll be able to get into the woods this week if I need to w/out worrying about everything being soaked. I have no fire right now-it's in the 50s out!-but I'll need one tonight, it's going down to around freezing.

I have the farrier coming today, so I'm not doing a whole lot this morning. I have to be sure everyone's fed and ready by 10:00. So, my list for today:

1. Fold up and put away a load of clothes
2. Work in living room-hopefully hubby will be up to moving furniture around tonight.
3. Feed animals
4. Clean field
5. If I have time, work on getting more weeds out of the field
6. Feed Stormy, bag feed, put out hay and take care of the chickens
7. Work on wood. If I can, I want to get the wood holder in the basement full
8. Make and eat dinner
9. Feed goats
10. Dishes
11. If I have time, practice piano
12. Maybe butcher one of my chickens

I feel like I'm missing something, but can't figure out what. Oh well, if I figure it out, I'll just do it anyway.

 

[Denim Deb]

I was able to get some more of the weeds dug out of my field, but didn't do a chicken. I was going to, but w/the amount of wood I wanted to get cut up, I decided it was better to not push it. Plus, I need to review how to butcher one. I haven't done it for a few years, and have only done 3 in my life. I'm slow at it, which is why I'm only doing 1 a day. I have to do dishes, but that's it.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've come to a conclusion. I cannot do dishes at night. More often than not, hubby is in the kitchen, and he's in my way. So from now on, I think I'll be doing dishes after I eat lunch. And, I'm going to start making dinner for lunch. That way, I'll know that I'm eating properly. He cooked again last night, and again, there were no veggies,just pork and rice. I'm about sick and tired of his cooking. I do need to get some stuff though, the next time we go shopping so I know I can cook what I want.

Hubby took my truck today, so that means I can't do everything the way I wanted to. I was going to bring home a pallet from the farm so I have 2 here, 1 for stacking wood I bring home out of the woods so I can cover it w/a tarp, the other for stacking seasoned wood I cut and split since I want to get the greener wood in the wood shed. This will give me a way to store the burnable wood until I get another wood shed built. And, since he took the truck, I'm not bringing home a chicken. I don't want to bring it home in his car. I'm sure if I did that, I'd have to hear about it from him. So, my list for today:

1. Iron clothes (done)
2. Practice piano (done)
3. Go to bank
4. Feed animals and get hay out
5. Work on getting weeds out of my field
6. Work w/Stormy and groom him
7. Feed Stormy, bag feed, take care of chickens
8. Do dishes
9. Clean bathroom
10. Work in yard
11. Work on firewood
12. Feed goats
13. Go out to dinner w/some friends

 

[Denim Deb]

Hubby wanted the truck today because they were supposed to get the last stuff out of his mother's apartment. Well, that fell thru. (And he called to tell me when I was in the RP working w/Stormy.) So then he wanted my truck tomorrow! I need it tomorrow, so instead of going out to the farm early so I can get home and do wood, I'm going to have to go out to the farm later so I can take the truck to him when he's done work.

I've started putting hay out when I have the horses locked up for feeding. It's much easier on me. I'm not fighting w/a horse to get the hay out. And since I'm doing it that way, I now have a little bit of extra time when I'm giving Stormy his 2nd feeding. So, I'm able to do a bit more of the weeds then.

I was a bit disappointed in dinner. I've never been there B4, but ordered something that I've had at local diner. It wasn't anywhere near as good as what I've gotten at the diner and I was still hungry when I got done eating. This was w/my motorcycle group. And, they were saying about since were not riding now, that we need to do some more physical activities. Just joking, I told them they can come and help me get firewood. I had a few of them say, no problem! And, they're talking about setting up a date to come over and give me a hand! If that happens, that will be a big help! So, we'll see.

If any of my neighbors were watching today, they probably had a heart attack. For the first time in I don't know how long, I raked out my front flowerbed and started to weed it. I need to finish this one, then get the other one done. Then, I can transplant my asparagus and rhubarb. I also worked on the wood that I have a bit more. I split more than I burned today, so that means I'm moving in the right direction!

 

[Denim Deb]

Not sure what all I'm going to be able to get done today. I want to clean my kitchen, and have gotten some of it done. But, I'm out of pine cleaner. I'm thinking what I might do is leave early enough to hit the store over by my MIL's B4 heading over. Then, if I can get hubby to just let me take his car home, I can get home, finish the kitchen and maybe even do some wood. So,my list for today:

1. Practice piano (done)
2. Wash and hang out a load of clothes (they're in the washer)
3. Clean kitchen (partly done)
4. Sort thru a whole bunch of socks I found the other day
5. Feed animals and put out hay
6. Pick field
7. Work w/Misty in the RP
8. Feed Stormy, bag feed and take care of chickens
9. Go to my parents
10. Go to MIL
11. Go shopping
12. Feed goats
13. Make and eat dinner
14. Do dishes

I might go to be real early tonight. I got to bed late last night since I was out, and I didn't want to get up this morning.

 

[Denim Deb]

I thought that when I took the truck over for hubby that I was just dropping it off and that our son was going to be there to help load that up as well as take some stuff in his car. Nope, it was just hubby and me. So instead of leaving, I had to help him load it up. And now I have more stuff in my house that I either need to figure out what to do w/it, or get rid of it. I'm so glad that instead of finishing cleaning the kitchen this morning I put stew ingredients in the crock pot. It was after 5:30 when I got home. I had to feed the goats and unload the car, get the food put away plus get the fire going. By the time I was done, all I wanted to do was get a shower and relax. Dishes I'll worry about in the morning. I'm hoping that I can finish cleaning the kitchen tomorrow as well.

One thing that I still need to get done at the farm is to get the rest of my stones in the run in. Well, it's going to be a LOT easier than I expected! W/this new tractor that RU has, we should be able to use that to get most of them up and dumped in the doorway. I don't know that the bucket will fit in the run in itself since it only has 4 ft doors, but even if the stones dumped in front of the doors, I can then just shovel it where it belongs and rake it out! That's on the list for next week, either Wednesday or Friday. I'm planning on bringing home manure those days, so since the tractor will already be in the field, we'll just do the stones as well.

 

[Denim Deb]

I did good today. In fact, I even took some time to relax and read a book! And, everything on my list is done! I'm finally getting into a schedule that works and doesn't leave me exhausted. I'm seeing real progress and am finally eating right. I had some of my stew for lunch, had chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies for dinner and have a good dinner planned for tomorrow. And, I should be able to get to bed at a decent hour tonight.

I'm hoping I'll get a good night's sleep. I was going to flip my mattress, but realized real quickly that it's not made for flipping. Then I remembered that I had a mattress topper that I had bought last year, so I went and got that and put it on the bed. I'm hoping that this will help. If it doesn't, I just might flip that mattress and using that to see if it helps. If it doesn't, I'll have to get a new mattress.

 

[Denim Deb]

Had to change my original plans for today. They had been calling for a nice day w/some showers overnight. Now we could get showers at any time, so that means I can't put out a load of clothes today. I had been going to wash them yesterday, but since I got home so late on Wednesday, I never got clothes down so that meant I couldn't do any yesterday-unless I dried them in the dryer. I'm trying hard not to do that. So that means I'll have to put out a load on Sunday. I try not to do that unless I have to. So, here's my list for today:

1. Work in basement (done-I actually have a cleared path to my washer and dryer!)
2. Practice piano (done)
3. Fold and put away a load of laundry (done)
4. Feed animals and put out hay
5. Clean field
6. Work w/Misty
7. Feed Stormy, bag feed and take care of the chickens
8. Send 2 roosters to freezer camp
9. Work on firewood
10. Do dishes
11. Feed goats
12. Make and eat dinner

I slept better last night. I'm still a bit stiff and sore, but I think that just might be because I wasn't comfortable for so long. I have a chiropractor's appointment on Tuesday, so hopefully, that will help.

 

[Denim Deb]

I'm about ready to leave or something. I've about had it.

I get to the farm today. I really, really wish that my mower was running. It is such a pain to hook up the cart to my truck. But, the mower isn't important to my hubby, so he hasn't touched it since I brought it home. I was able to get the field cleaned-at least until the horses pooped again.

I'm in the middle of doing that when I hear someone blowing a horn over by RU's house. At first, I ignored it. Then, they started to really lay on the horn. So I stopped what I was doing so I could see what was up. I'm walking over and see an unknown vehicle pulling out of the driveway. So I figure, something must be out. I keep walking. There's a line of white pines along the property line. Thru a break in them, I can see a mini and the mini mule in the neighbor's field. So, I head for the barn. Of course I can't find a bucket. So, I just get scoop of food and head over. I figure they'll come for that. Nope, they take off running towards the back of the field. I follow. They don't stop. I keep an eye on them, and when they're almost all the way to the back, I see them head over to the fence. Next thing I know, they're now running in RU's field.

OK, I could have just stopped since they were in. But I knew if I did that, in just a short period of time, they'd be out again. But, I had made a mental note of where I saw them cut over. I get there and see the problem. When RU originally fenced this field, she used high tensile. Well, the bottom strand is up high enough that the minis can go under it. She had an old gate up against the fence there, but it was on the ground. So, I climb thru the fence, pick up the gate and tie it back in place. I had just one problem-I had to poop! The farm is about 25 acres. There's about 400 ft of road frontage. I'm on the wrong side of the farm to get to my porta potty easy. If I had just had to pee, I would have peel off my jacket (it's red), and gone behind a tree. But leaves do not work that well. And, I couldn't walk across the field to go that way. She has a "pet" zebu bull. And I don't trust him any farther than I can spit-which isn't that far. Plus, I had the scoop of food. I knew if I walked across the field w/that, I was going to get mobbed. So that meant I had to walk all the way down the fence line again. Then, I had to dump the feed back where I got it, then walk over to my area. I JUST made it. If it had been another 2 ft, I don't know that I would have.

Of course, having to round these guys up put me behind schedule. And, I'm tired of NOT getting my stuff done because of doing other stuff. So, I kept on. I don't know why I put down that I was going to work w/Misty today. It was Licorice I wanted to work with. So, I got her out, and worked w/her. When I was done, I went ahead and groomed her. Problem I had w/that was where I needed to tie her. The fence for the RP is not the greatest. Some of it is cattle panels, and they're not in the greatest shape. There's a goat pen on one side of it, and other than an aisle leading to it, the rest of the RP is surrounded by horse fields. And, the horses have beat up the fence-including what's in the goat pen. (They've torn down the fence into that and gotten in the goat pen) The goat house is not overly high, so it's a good place to put grooming tools. But, the only place to tie is onto one of the posts. I prefer to have my grooming tools on the left side of the horse. But, if you tie onto that fence posts, there's a really nasty cattle panel on the right. I'm always afraid that the horses are going to get hurt on it. There's a ring that can be used for tying up a horse on another post. No one uses it anymore. So, while Stormy was eating, I got my drill, bits and a screwdriver and took them to the RP. Using the screwdriver, I got the tie ring out, then put it halfway along the goat house.

Stormy wasn't done eating by the time I got that done, so I started to dig out more dock. I'm done the area that I want to plant. But, I've decided I'm going to let the horses have the whole field for now. Later in the winter, or early spring, I'll go ahead and close it off. So, I'm now working on the other section. It's not anywhere near as bad!

When Stormy was done eating, I let him out, then went to take care of the chickens. It was later than I wanted it to be when I left and I debated about taking home the roosters. But, I need to do it. So, I was able to catch 2 of them, put them in feed bags, tie the top and bring them home. I got a bit to eat, then started to get stuff together to do the deed. I got one done. Hubby got home B4 I finished, and he helped some, but he gave me a hard time the whole time. He went in the house and started complaining about the apples in the fridge. Yes I know that they have bad spots on them, but I also know that I could probably use quite a bit of it when I made my applesauce. Not now. He put them outside. I still had to do wood. I didn't do a whole lot because it's dark out and I was using an outside light to see. Come in, and tell hubby I'm going to get a shower. He keeps stopping me and talking. Finally I get mad and he shuts up. I get my shower, do dishes and get a pizza in the oven. Then he starts in about the plants that need to be watered. These are plants that people gave us when his mom died. W/where they are, I can't get to the easily. So he waters them and complains all the time. Then he asks for the dried fruit. There's no room for it upstairs, I put it down in the basement. Then he finds something else to complain about. I'm tired. I've done a lot of work today. I want to relax. Is that too much to ask?