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

[Denim Deb]

I was too beat to post this yesterday. And, right now, I'm waiting for hubby to leave for work so I can go back to bed! I'm exhausted.

RU is away. And normally that means if someone has a problem, I get a phone call w/them wanting me to fix it. Yesterday I got a call that shocked me. It was from PT. She wanted to borrow my post hold digger because there were a couple of broken fence posts for the fence going into her field, and Honey kept getting in! And while I didn't let her use mine, I did tell here where RU's was. Not only did she do the posts by herself, but she also got Honey out!

I had my appointments yesterday. Normally I take nice clothes w/me and get changed in my tack shed. Yesterday, I forgot my clothes. I get everything all done, and am ready to get changed when I realize I don't have them w/me. I had to run home and get changed real quick. That meant I had to take a different way to get there. I'm driving down the road-and miss my exit. I'm not overly familiar w/the roads in that area since I don't drive them a lot. I had to real quick figure out which direction I needed to go once I got off.

Get home and go to work in the garden. Hubby's decided he wanted an area of the garden. I've been planning on putting in a small orchard but haven't had the time, so he took that area for now. And, he's driving me nuts! He lost a plant to a cutworm. So, he wanted the toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls I've been saving for MY plants. I hope I have enough left. Then, he's almost stepping on the pea plants I have coming up. Plus, he's planning on using chemicals in his section! I NEVER use them.

I've already decided that if he wants to garden next year, I'm splitting the garden in half. He can have the one half and plant anything that he wants, but I ain't putting it up for him. And, I'll grow enough food in my half for me. The asparagus and rhubarb are going to be moved. I'll be putting them in front of the house. That will give us more room and HOPEFULLY, he'll stay outta MY section!

I did get some of my posts in the ground, and did some weeding. I have a bunch of branch ends sticking out of the posts, so I'll be getting them all cut off today. And, I'll be putting up some fencing for my potato bins, then filling them w/old hay etc from the goat pens. And, if I can get the rest of the posts up in the one area, I'll FINALLY be able to get my onions in. Next year should not be as difficult since I should finally be able to do the prep work in the fall.

 

[2dream]

What an exhausting day. I got tired and broke out in a sweat reading it.
Now tell me about planting potatos in old hay from the goat pen. Is this hay off the ground? Did you compost it first?
I don't have my potato bins ready and with all this rain looks like its not going to happen quickly enough. I need to clean out the goat pen as soon as possible and you have me thinking.
Maybe between all the goat pellets and trampled down hay on the floor, add in some leaves, I might have potato planting material.

 

[Wannabefree]

It is SOOOOOOOOOOO nice to see you finally are getting a little bit of help on the farm! WOW! I bout passed out when i read that, had to read it twice!

 

[Denim Deb]

2dream, that sounds perfect! This is a mixture of old hay and goat pellets. I'll be covering the taters up w/loose hay, leaves, straw, etc.

WBF, she didn't get done. She didn't have the time, so says she'll have to do it on Saturday. At least she didn't ask ME to do it. I just don't have time. And, I'm about ready to shoot RU. I told her B4 she left to be sure and leave gas for the tractor. Well, she didn't and I ran out of gas. So that means I'll have to go to the gas station tomorrow and get gas so I can get RBs out. I'm getting a receipt. Too often, I end up putting gas in the tractor when she's away, and never get paid for it. I don't mind if I have the money, but I don't. I'm short as it is. And, I HATE the RBs she gets from this guy. They're so hard to handle. It's very difficult to spear them. Plus, any others, I can stand on end so you can peel the hay off. I CAN'T w/these bales!

Took my parents some eggs today. My mom gave me a couple of butternuts. She told me she's not liking butternuts that much any more. And, I think I know why. These were volunteer plants and they just don't taste quite right. (We had one for dinner.) So I have a feeling that the plants got cross pollinated w/something else.

I decided that I wanted to make my potato bin a bit smaller. I wasn't sure I'd be able to reach all the way in since I had it as 4 ft across. Plus, I'm growing all my squash, melons, etc on trellises and wanted to leave a bit more room to work around them. So, I moved the posts to 3 ft. And I'm glad I did! I had literally JUST enough fence to go all the way around it. Everything that I cleaned out of the goat pen already is in there-except for some loose hay! And, I found some big grubs in there. So, they'll be going out to the farm. I'm sure the chickens will LOVE them! And, if I had wanted to go fishing, I could have. There were plenty of worms in there. I'll finish getting the stuff in there tomorrow. Once that's done, I can get the rest of the posts in for my maters, then weed that section again and I'll be able to plant my onions. I plant them along the edge of my maters. It takes up a lot less room doing it this way. Then, I'll get the area for my peppers and eggplants weeded again, mark where the plants go, then in between, plants carrots, turnips, etc. All I'll have left to do then will be to weed my peas again, then set up the trellises for my vine crops! This will mean that for the first time in years, I'll have my garden done and ready for planting early enough to actually have one!

 

[snapshot]

I think my blood pressure goes up when I read your posts. I get mad at folks being inconsiderate, rude and lazy when you already have plenty to do. I'm calming down now.

 

[Denim Deb]

Well, I didn't finish up as early as I wanted. It was 5:30 B4 I was able to leave the farm! So, I didn't get anything done at home. Part of the problem is RU is almost out of hay. Someone was supposed to be delivering RBs-and they didn't. I got the tractor started, and was able to move a RB into position. I'm having to peel off the hay to put it out. That takes a lot longer. There are 2 more on this trailer-but the guy left the trailer in such a way that I can't get to them w/the tractor. For one herd, I'm putting out sbs. I have enough to last until next Thursday. I hope there's enough w/the RBs to last until she gets back. If I run out, I don't know what I'm going to do. I have one RB left myself. I did tell RU that if I got more hay, I'd sell her that one. I haven't heard anything from the guy I'm supposed to get hay from, so I may just have to go to the hay auction on Tuesday.

Found out that not only did PT not get the posts in, but that post hole digger actually belongs to LF. And, she was looking for it today. (PT didn't put it back) She was NOT happy about it being missing. If I had known it was hers, I wouldn't have told PT to use it. And, that's also the reason why I have my own tools and don't let people borrow them anymore-unless I'm there and they return them right away. There have been too many times that I've had to hunt for my tools when I wanted to do something. Plus, someone used my spading fork-and never returned it. I have hunted for it and can't find it, so I'm going to have to buy a new one.

Tomorrow, there's a clinic that I signed up for months ago at the Nature Center. And, it's an all dayer. KN has a hen sitting on eggs-half of them are mine. (Her suggestion) She assured me that she'd have a proper area set up by the time the eggs hatched. They're due to hatch at any time now-and she doesn't have it set up. When we made my chicken pen, I made it w/an area for raising chicks. But, the holes in the fence are too large. I got chicken wire awhile back to put up on the inside, and got started, but didn't finish. So, tomorrow morning, I'll be leaving at around 6:00 so I can finish that. Then, if my eggs do hatch, and she doesn't have a place to put the chicks, I will. I also have a chick feeder and waterer-she doesn't. I get that done as well as cleaning my field B4 I go to the clinic, I'll just have to feed RU's horses and hay them when I get back, feed Stormy, bag feed, put hay out for my guys, pen up the chickens and take care of Cindy. I'm hoping that the clinic gets done earlier rather than later. It takes me about an hour to do RU's horses, and about 30 minutes to do my stuff.

Oh, I did get the tiller out to the farm. The farrier was out today, so he helped me get it out. I won't have to take the truck again until Monday, and then only because I'm going kaynoeing w/a friend. So, that will help me save some money for gas. Even if I do go to the auction on Tuesday, I'm not taking the truck. It's not supposed to rain, so if I do get any, I'd pick it up on Wednesday.

 

[Wannabefree]

:/ Nevermind my last post...

 

[Denim Deb]

I can't really blame her for the hay. She got a new boarder in and told them B4 they ever came that she had very little hay. They supposedly could get a trailer load of RBs and have them delivered as part of their board (they have 3 horses). And, that's why she let them come. I don't know if they decided that since she wasn't home they weren't going to bother or what-especially since their horses are hanging out in the back field, grazing. I haven't seen them, so I can't even ask. Plus, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that-it's not my farm.

I go to a Bible study on Thursday morning, and we've been talking about simplicity. Today the question was asked, what could you do to make your life more simple? My response? Move. If we stay in this general area, I'd want to be far enough away so that no one thinks I can come over whenever they have a problem. But, that won't be for at least another year. :/

 

[Denim Deb]

Last night was one of those nights that I was so wound up that even though I was tired, I wasn't sleepy. It wasn't until after 11:00 that I finally decided to go to bed. But, it was probably a good thing I HADN'T gone to bed. 11:30, I get a call from RU. One of her neighbor's had called to tell her that there was a grayish horse out. RU had tried to call LF because she thought she was spending the night, and she hated to call me that late. But, since she couldn't get her, she had no choice.

There are 3 grayish horses on the farm and 2 of them are mine. W/where the neighbor saw this horse, it made no sense that it would have been the other horse. My first thought was that someone had been there, messed w/the gates and Licorice was out. So, I grabbed my jeans, put on my boots and left for the farm. I slowed way down when I got close for just in case she was out in the road. Well, the neighbor must either be color blind, or else she didn't get a good look. I saw what looked like Honey out in the neighbor's hay field. OK, providing she would lead easily, I wasn't expecting a problem. My only problem was that I don't have a halter to fit her. So, I grabbed KN's halter and lead, found a flashlight in my truck and headed out in the field.

I start walking up to her when I see there's a darker horse beyond her, then I saw another horse, then 2 minis! That's when I realized it WASN'T Honey! Same color, but much bigger. Instead of looking at a Halflinger, I was looking at a Belgian, a TB, a rocky mountain walking horse, and 2 minis-LF's horses! They took off running for her field. I get down there, and there's her car. She's in her tack shed sound asleep and the gate to her field is wide opened! She forgot to latch it, and this wasn't the first time she's done that . I go to grab a scoop of food-but she had no scoop in her feed area. So, I knock on her door. Scared her half to death, but I had no choice. The horses are all standing there, but won't go in the field, and won't let me walk up to them. She gets up, gets a scoop of feed-and they all take off running towards the road.

We start walking towards the road. Get up to my area and she sees my truck. That's when she realized that I had had to come from home. She tells me to go home, she'd catch them. I knew she couldn't. Plus, she had an operation not too long ago. The horses are up by the road. I go out in the road to make sure if any cars came by, they didn't get hit. She rattles the feed scoop and starts to walk-they all follow her for a little bit, then take off again.

Now they're in the neighbor's hay field again. The hay is about up to my knees-and soaking wet. So now I'm getting wetter and wetter by the minute. Try going around them to chase them back the other way-they take off. I thought they were heading towards her. I get up that way, no horses. She figures I'm spooking them, and she was going to see if they'd let her walk up to them if I wasn't there. So, I stayed put. She walks all the way down to the road-then disappears. She can't find the horses. I walk down that way. She tells me again to go home. But, like I said, I knew she wouldn't be able to catch them by herself. She continues walking along the road in the opposite direction from where we had seen them.

By this time, my flashlight is starting to get dim. So, I go in my tack shed and grab a bigger light. Only problem being, it doesn't really shine out. It's great for lighting up the area where you are-but not for spotting horses in the dark. I take it and my flashlight, but forget a lead. I walk all the way back down the lane and to the road, and start walking along the field looking for the horses. I find them. So, now I try a different approach. I start walking to them very slowly, stopping every couple of feet to talk to them, and speak horse. The one was letting me get closer, but still not close enough. I see the lights on LF's car come on. She drives down the lane and turns-the wrong way. And, I couldn't call her cuz she left her phone at home. So, I continue my slow approach. It worked! I was able to catch the TB. He leads fairly easily-which is good since I didn't have a lead w/me. I'm able to lead him to her field and put him in.

Head back down the lane, stop and grab and back along the road. She comes driving up. I tell her I had S in the field and the rest of the herd was just down the road. So, she drives a little bit farther-and stops. I walk up, give her my big flashlight and take the scoop of feed from her. I was hoping I'd be able to walk up to the one. Well, they take off running in the direction of her field again. By this time, my flashlight is almost dead. But, I was able to see the horses. S was calling to them, and they started to walk along the fence. There's a sweet gum tree right there, and I'm thinking to myself, stay on the far side of the sweet gum. If they did, they were caught since there's old, electric fencing up along the lane there. J goes on the wrong side, the Belgian and minis go on the right side. I start to run. I get there B4 they realize they're trapped. I pick up the piece that serves as a gate, fasten it and am able to walk right up to the Belgain. Clip the lead rope on him, and was able to lead him right into his field. The 2 minis follow. That leaves J. Now he's out by himself-and he ain't running! I start walking towards hi shaking the scoop. When I get about 5 ft away from him, I reach in and grab a handful of it. I hold it out to him. He stretches his nose out. So, I walk just a bit closer and he eats it. I'm now able to clip the lead on him and get him back in his field. By this time, it's almost 12:45 am. My jeans are soaked. My boots are soaked. It's 46* out. I get home and go to bed. But, I didn't really sleep.

So, my plans for the day are shot. KN knew I was going to be out early, and texted me. She's able to go out this morning, so she'll feed. I'm going back to bed for a bit. I threw my jeans in the dryer, so they're dry. But, my boots are still soaked. I'm going to have to find something different to wear this morning.

 

[2dream]

Now I feel better. I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself because I only got a couple of hours sleep last night because I had to get up at 1 a.m. and go out in the rain to check and see what was making my chickens crazy. It was nothing but a crazy rooster. His name will be changed to STEW this afternoon. But after being soaking wet with rain, changing clothes, etc, I could not go back to sleep. Of course this morning at 4:30 I was sleepy, but why bother since I had to be awake at 5:30. LOL

Life with livestock is always a thrill a minute.