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

[Denim Deb]

We had more rain earlier today. The good news? It's stopped raining. The bad news? It's now SNOWING!!!!!! OK, I know some places normally get snow at this time of year, but we don't! We had snow in October several years ago, 1979, and didn't enjoy it then. And, I'm not enjoying it any more now. We haven't even had a good frost yet, just some on my windows a couple of days, and that's it. Tomorrow night it's supposed to get down to 30. I have a fire going, but wasn't ready to start w/that yet-need the chimney clean, and need some new insulation at the top, but I didn't have much of a choice. I did feel bad though, when I opened the door to the stove, I found 2 dead wrens in it. Apparently, they flew down the chimney pipe, and couldn't get back out. So, I guess I'll have to keep an eye on the stove during the warmer months next year. If I had found them in there earlier, I would have rescued them.

 

[Denim Deb]

It's getting colder here, but for now, we have some lovely fall weather, highs in the upper 50s, lower 60s w/cool nights. I'm trying to ride my bike as late into the season as I can, so at times that means I leave for the farm late. (It has to be around 40* min for me to ride, otherwise I freeze!) I've been riding Misty some, but not as much as I'd like because of my knee. I'm still working on cleaning the house, but I'm getting tired of it. On Monday, I'll start on getting stuff done outside.

I had planned on waiting until February to have my knee done, I've changed my mind. I have an appointment w/the doctor for the 17th. I don't know how much time he needs for scheduling the surgery, but if at all possible, I'm going to have it done the week between Christmas and New Year's. I'll let y'all know after I see him. But, it's causing me to miss out on too much. It hurts to ride Misty, it hurts to ride my bike, it hurts if I drive too much, it hurts if I walk too much, it hurts if I've been on my feet too long, etc. I missed prayer meeting again because of the pain.

 

[BarredBuff]

I hope your knee gets to feeling better!!

 

[Marianne]

Ouch! Hang in there!

 

[Denim Deb]

Today, a friend of mine (LK), RU and I went kaynoeing. Once again, we went to Parvin. And we went past the point LK and I had gotten to B4. We thought we were finally going to make it all the way upstream as far as we could. Then, we got to a place where the stream took a turn. The water was rushing thru there, and I could just barely maneuver my canoe. Out of the 3 of us, I think I'm the most experienced in this type of condition. And, I figured if I was having this much trouble, it was probably worse for them, so we turned around and went back. All told, we went out for more than 2.5 hours. That's the most I've canoed at one time in years! But, I found that even sitting in my canoe was bothering my leg. So, even though the weather is going to be nice at least for another week, I've hung up my life jacket and stowed my paddles for the year. RU and LK hit it off, so RU wants me to bring LK out to the farm. She used to ride years ago. If she's able to ride OK, the 3 of us will probably go riding some together! I can hardly wait!

Right now, I'm supposed to be cleaning my house. But, all that canoeing really took a lot out of me. I'd rather be sleeping. But, I guess I should really get up and get some done. I'm expecting my hubby to call at any time and tell me he's on his way home. And, I need to make it look like I've gotten a lot done-even if I haven't.

 

[Denim Deb]

I woke up this morning w/pain in my back-right by my right shoulder blade. I have a feeling I overdid it yesterday. I couldn't find my Motrin. I couldn't find my heating pad. I couldn't find the majority of those things you stick in the microwave to heat up. The only one I could find was this little tiny one that you're supposed to use on your face. So, I heated that up. Then, heated it again, and again. I don't know how many times I had to heat the dumb thing and apply it B4 I started to feel better. I finally started to feel better around 10:30 or so, so I headed out to feed my horses. I get to the farm. Licky is quite calmly eating one of the RBs that I have set aside. She had her chest up against the wire, so I knew the electric wasn't working. Great, just great.

Yesterday, the solar fence charger wasn't working. I think the battery had gotten drained, so I had disconnected it and hooked up the one I use for camping. I wasn't sure how good the batteries were in it, but it was working fine when I left. I figured that the batteries must have died over night. So, once I had them fed, I rehooked up the solar one. It STILL wasn't working. So, that meant that someplace, the fence was shorting out.

A little while ago, RU tapped into my charger. One of CL's horses is a PITB and was constantly tearing down the fence. Her charger isn't working. She doesn't know if it just needs a fuse, or if she needs a new one, and she hasn't had time to look. But, she needed to get electric up in this one section, so she tied into mine. It wouldn't be a problem-except for one thing. The wire goes in front of the door to the RP. So, anyone that needs to use the RP needs to unhook the wire to get in. She has a handle on it, so you can just unhook it, then hook it back up. Well apparently someone used the RP yesterday, and rather than hooking the wire back up hooked it to the metal fence. As soon as I hooked it up properly, my fence started working again.

My plan was to feed, pick my pasture, and work on finally getting Licky's and Honey's stalls completely clean. Even though the electric was back on, Licky was STILL trying to get the RBs, so I put a couple of pallets in front of the one. I thought that would do the trick. Nope, not in the least. I chased her off. She went, but had a really bad attitude about it. She kicked out at me. She's done that in the past, but never from that close. If my leg hadn't been bothering me, and if I wasn't pressed for time, she would have been going right in the RP and having a refresher on manners. As it is, if I have time next week, I'll be doing that. (It's supposed to rain Thursday and Friday!) To hold the wire in place, I just had a step post in for temporary. My plan was to put a regular post in, I just haven't had time. I tried to rig something up by just running some more wires on the one side. The step post wouldn't cooperate. So, in spite of the fact that I didn't have the time to mess w/this, I had no choice.

Earlier, I had let Misty and Stormy out in the parking area to graze. Normally, it's not a problem during the week cuz I'm the only one there. Well, CL took the day off. (If I had known she was doing that, I wouldn't have fed her horses. ) So, I had to stop what I was doing and put the wire down so she could get in. Of course, she had all 5 of her dogs w/her. Misty and Stormy decided this was no place for them, and wanted back in the field. I let them in, and went back to work. I'm busy working when I see on of CL's dogs chasing my horses! It didn't do it long, but still, the dog doesn't belong in my field. I'm going to have to work to get "my" area fenced so they can't get under that gate. And yes, I did tell her about it. I finally get the post in, get the extra wires strung, and test it. Everything was working fine. I put my tools away, then notice Licky. She's heading back for that RB. That hay is the same as what she has, so I don't know why that one was better. She walks up to the wire all set to get some hay. Didn't take her long to realize she could no longer get to it. I'm sure she was probably cursing me out.

KN had asked me if I could give her horse another feeding B4 I left. I told her I would. I give Stormy his 2nd feeding, then head down to feed her horse. She's done some work to the stall. She now has it set up so that there's 2 ways in and out. Good idea, only problem being, she had nothing but baling twine to keep the doors opened. I had to undo this baling twine in order to close the doors. And, it was a pain! When I let her horse out, I kept the doors shut. I am NOT dealing w/that if I feed her horse.

I so want my own place. I'm trying to make it so I'm as separate from everyone else as possible, but sometimes I still have to deal w/them. I know one thing for sure, next week, I'll be doing a bit of work so that if someone disconnects the one gate, it will no longer make it so I have no electric.

 

[Farmfresh]

Sorry you are feeling bad. I understand THAT one. We have been running around all week dealing with my dad's move and I was pretty worn out at the beginning of the day. Then today dawned sunny and nice and of course I got busy doing some of the "chores" on my list. Now my left arm will barely lift and my shoulder is shot. I have been up in a hot shower and took some meds, so I hope I can get to sleep before too long.

Even though that solar charger is solar powered they still have batteries inside of them. It sounds like the battery might be dead. Mine did that last year. You can take them apart and get the old battery out to find out the type. They sell the replacements and Tractor Supply and other places.

 

[Denim Deb]

The battery just needed a chance to charge up. We've had a lot of cloudy days, plus people keep leaving gates hooked to the wire fence. And, I found one spot where the wire had come out of the holders and was touching the wire fence-all of which helped to drain the battery. It was working fine when I left it. But, I did talk to RU about it. She's going to be doing something soon about her charger. I told her that it was just too much on my charger. Mine's not the most expensive charger in the world. I got it in Harbor Freight. It had poor reviews, so I did get the extended warranty on it. I just couldn't afford the better one in TSC. I figured if it doesn't last, they'll give me my money back, and by then, I should be able to get a better one.

 

[Denim Deb]

Got out to the farm this morning, and once again, I had no electric! Once again, someone had unhooked the wire from the door to the RP, and never reconnected it. Quite truthfully this was the worst they've EVER left it. They managed to get the wire OUT of the holders on the fence posts, so the wire was just dragging on the ground. They're lucky one of the horses didn't get their leg stuck in it. I'll be fixing it when I get back out there. I would have done it this morning, but I need to stick some gate connectors in the posts there. (RU couldn't get them, they were out of stock, but I have a couple) The battery for my drill is dead, so it's charging right now. So, unless something happens, I shouldn't have to worry about this ever again.

The tractor was stuck yesterday, and I needed to put out a RB for the horses. I couldn't quite roll one out on my own. I had CL help me. But, because of not having the electric and Licky eating on it, it wouldn't roll properly. We manged to get it out, but not far enough away so I can get more RBs in there. I had planned on calling my hay guy this week, now I have to wait. I so want to move.

 

[Denim Deb]

Today's the day I start getting my winter wood. I would have liked to have gotten it in the spring, but just didn't have time. But, today I'm going out where I used to work. She has 2 trees that she said I could have. I will do as much as I can w/my saw. But, for parts of both of them, I think I'm going to need hubby and his chain saw.

In other news, I checked out RU's fence charger that she was under the impression didn't work-it works! So, I unhooked her fencing from mine. I no longer have the problem of not having my electric on.

I got the one section of fence up! This week, I should be able to finish the fencing, plus get the hydrant in. Then, I just need to move Mt. Manure. I probably won't get anything else done at the farm until next year.

I am slowly but surely getting my house clean. By the end of the week, the bedroom will be completely cleaned, and I will have started on the basement. My goal is to have the bedroom done, half the basement and the living room cleaned by the first week of December. Then, if my hubby can finish the bathroom, and I get the kitchen cleaned, I won't feel so bad when I have my operation.

Saturday, I had been going to spend cutting up what wood I already have (not a whole lot, but I wanted it done), plus work on the yard and garden. Well, hubby had to pick up his mother's car. The plan was to go early in the morning. We were going to stop at the farm long enough for me to feed the horses and go from there. (His mother only lives about 5 miles from the farm.) Once home, I was going to work on the yard and wood. Then, later in the day, I would go back to the farm, feed my horses as well as RU's, plus put out hay for her horses. Well, that didn't happen. By the time he decided he didn't want to go out to get his mother's car until later, it was after 9:00. Stormy had enough feed to last until Thursday morning, and the feed store had been out last week. They normally get shipments in on Thursday, so I decided to take the truck and go to the feed store first. They had the feed, so I got that, went to the farm, and got my horses fed. While I was picking my pasture, KN showed up. I decided to go ahead and get the hay then because of where I needed to get it from. RU had some RBs that had gotten wet and didn't look the greatest. She wanted to use them up first. But, in order to get to them, you have to drive thru my field, then thru a gate into CL's field. Then, you have to open a gate from her field to the back of the pile of RBs. The main problem in doing all this? The horses. They see an opened gate, and it's an invitation to get out. So, it's easier having someone doing the gates for me.

I got done picking my field. By this time, PT had also gotten there, so I figure KN will come over and help me. I needed to move the tarp in order to get the the hay, and that tarp is heavy! I moved it the best I could by myself, then went and got the tractor. Earlier in the week, I had had to get hay out. And, since I was working on the fence, I had moved my horses into the riding arena. And, KN decided to let CL's horses into my field, not where I wanted them, so of course when we were all done, we had to chase them out. This time, my horses were in the field, so that meant she needed to be sure not to let them out and not to let CL's horses in. It wasn't a problem getting thru the gate, but coming back is a different story. Since we haven't moved that gate yet, it means you have to BACK the tractor up to get out. And, since the power steering isn't working, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do. So, rather than watching the horses, she was watching me. All of my horses got out of the field and into CL's field. At least she did go and round them up while I was putting the hay out for the donkeys and putting the tractor away.

By the time I got home, it was close to 12:00. Hubby STILL wasn't ready to leave. I didn't eat because I figured he might want to go out and eat. He decides to make himself a sandwich. There was nothing in the house I wanted for a sandwich, so I didn't eat. We finally leave, but he wanted to do some grocery shopping first. I hate going shopping w/him. It takes 2x as long and is more expensive than if I go myself. It was around 3:30 by the time we get out of the store. But, at least his mother lives almost directly behind the store, so we go and get her car. I take hubby's Durango and head straight to the farm. There was no way I was going to be able to get home, get either my truck or bike, get out to the farm, feed and get home B4 dark. And, it was getting dark by the time I was able to leave. So, I wasted a whole day. However, next Saturday, RU should be home. I won't have to feed her horses, so as long as the weather's good, I should be able to get a ton done.