hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Ugh, waiting game. Not fun!
Glad to know you're still hanging in there! Hope it hasn't been too cold/snowy yet!
Glad to know you're still hanging in there! Hope it hasn't been too cold/snowy yet!
Guess I'll try again.
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Icu4dzs
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Well, it has been both. hard to type with dog demanding attention... more later when he's asleep
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Lol, ok!
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Icu4dzs
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It is early morning...(sorta). I have finished the chores; Lou is still sleeping and WW went back to sleep after cooking me some bkfst.
She is working on a sewing project that she needs for THIS WEEKEND so she seems to do better when she has enough sleep. The dogs woke us up at 0530 this AM. Usually when Buddy wants to go out for his morning p, he will whimper a bit but this morning was all out, nearly panic stricken barking. When I opened the door to the laundry room where they sleep now, the floor was covered, (literally) with diarrhea. There was poop everywhere and none to pleasant in fragrance I assure you. I don't know which of them did it but it just wasn't a fun thing to clean up. One thing I can say with confidence is "Thank goodness for nitrile examining gloves..."
The dog palace will be finished today so they can live in that much of the day. I never really liked having dogs in the house and this should help relieve that problem.
Cousin Lou will be driving to Aberdeen to take back his U-Haul trailer since we emptied it completely yesterday over at the other house. I got all of the boxes he shipped by UPS out of my p/u truck into the house by backing it up to the back steps and putting a sheet of plywood from the truck to the door frame allowing me to load the boxes on a hand truck and wheel them straight into the house...no problems with steps or long carrying distances...Whew...that was a relief!
The fog outside is caused by the virtual heat wave we are having here today. I saw it was 32*F this morning...that my friends is some serious heat in these parts at this time of year. It made the chores a lot more tolerable.
The snow is all but melted with a few ice patches here and there. Heating the shop will be a lot easier today. Getting it to 50*F from 32 is a lot easier than from -15*F or so. Makes it a lot easier to work in there.
The tractor started up pretty easy this AM without having to plug in the block heater. I did have to warm the glow plugs but that isn't a big deal. It almost started without the glow plug heater this AM so you can see why I am so pleased. I could have 32*F all winter and would be happy with that. The long months of -20*F in a row are just too miserable because I can't get anything done out in the shop. I finally decided to use a baseboard heater in the cabinet shop but I don't go there as often as I do to the machine shop so I may be wasting money doing it but then I get there, start a fire in the wood stove and boil myself out of there. I put a great deal of effort sealing up the air leaks in it this year and the difference is noticeable.
Once Lou gets a bit more settled, it will be time to teach him some of the "farmers arts" such as how to drive a JD tractor, how to pick up, move and deliver a full round bale of hay to the cattle, how to pick eggs and feed the hens, pigs and llamas. He is the quintessential "city boy" but he comes from my family and they have always seemed to adapt well to the farm once they are there. My dad would have loved to be on this farm. His sister (Lou's mom) has been here twice and she seemed to really like it here. Living here is another story for her now that she will be 88 this Feb but just the same, she is healthy and mentally sharp as ever (a truly brilliant, loving woman if ever there was one).
So in all things are now, after a kind of rough period, doing much better. I am still intending to take my shingle down on 31 DEC and the anticipation of that is becoming more and more attractive to me. Even working one day a week is not all that appealing, particularly since the hospital is rather disrespectful of the physician as a whole. They just don't get the fact that it is the physician who makes the hospital possible, not the other way around.
Life is good out here on the High Prairie for a City Boy out on the farm. Come see me sometime and bring your work gloves...I'll show you a good time!
Cheers,
Trim
She is working on a sewing project that she needs for THIS WEEKEND so she seems to do better when she has enough sleep. The dogs woke us up at 0530 this AM. Usually when Buddy wants to go out for his morning p, he will whimper a bit but this morning was all out, nearly panic stricken barking. When I opened the door to the laundry room where they sleep now, the floor was covered, (literally) with diarrhea. There was poop everywhere and none to pleasant in fragrance I assure you. I don't know which of them did it but it just wasn't a fun thing to clean up. One thing I can say with confidence is "Thank goodness for nitrile examining gloves..."
The dog palace will be finished today so they can live in that much of the day. I never really liked having dogs in the house and this should help relieve that problem.
Cousin Lou will be driving to Aberdeen to take back his U-Haul trailer since we emptied it completely yesterday over at the other house. I got all of the boxes he shipped by UPS out of my p/u truck into the house by backing it up to the back steps and putting a sheet of plywood from the truck to the door frame allowing me to load the boxes on a hand truck and wheel them straight into the house...no problems with steps or long carrying distances...Whew...that was a relief!
The fog outside is caused by the virtual heat wave we are having here today. I saw it was 32*F this morning...that my friends is some serious heat in these parts at this time of year. It made the chores a lot more tolerable.
The snow is all but melted with a few ice patches here and there. Heating the shop will be a lot easier today. Getting it to 50*F from 32 is a lot easier than from -15*F or so. Makes it a lot easier to work in there.
The tractor started up pretty easy this AM without having to plug in the block heater. I did have to warm the glow plugs but that isn't a big deal. It almost started without the glow plug heater this AM so you can see why I am so pleased. I could have 32*F all winter and would be happy with that. The long months of -20*F in a row are just too miserable because I can't get anything done out in the shop. I finally decided to use a baseboard heater in the cabinet shop but I don't go there as often as I do to the machine shop so I may be wasting money doing it but then I get there, start a fire in the wood stove and boil myself out of there. I put a great deal of effort sealing up the air leaks in it this year and the difference is noticeable.
Once Lou gets a bit more settled, it will be time to teach him some of the "farmers arts" such as how to drive a JD tractor, how to pick up, move and deliver a full round bale of hay to the cattle, how to pick eggs and feed the hens, pigs and llamas. He is the quintessential "city boy" but he comes from my family and they have always seemed to adapt well to the farm once they are there. My dad would have loved to be on this farm. His sister (Lou's mom) has been here twice and she seemed to really like it here. Living here is another story for her now that she will be 88 this Feb but just the same, she is healthy and mentally sharp as ever (a truly brilliant, loving woman if ever there was one).
So in all things are now, after a kind of rough period, doing much better. I am still intending to take my shingle down on 31 DEC and the anticipation of that is becoming more and more attractive to me. Even working one day a week is not all that appealing, particularly since the hospital is rather disrespectful of the physician as a whole. They just don't get the fact that it is the physician who makes the hospital possible, not the other way around.
Life is good out here on the High Prairie for a City Boy out on the farm. Come see me sometime and bring your work gloves...I'll show you a good time!
Cheers,
Trim
hqueen13
<Insert Snazzy Title Here
Oh no, poor dog! I always know when that happens that my dogs were sick from something. They don't do that unless they really really can't help it. Definitely my least favorite thing to clean up!
Ha, 32 can be a heat wave! Though I have to say we've been lingering above freezing now for several weeks with lots of rain... I'd rather it just bloody freeze! The mud is unbearable! So I'm not so sure you'd be pleased with 32 after a while when things thaw to the point of poop soup, LOL.
Take care of yourself, and Merry Christmas!
Ha, 32 can be a heat wave! Though I have to say we've been lingering above freezing now for several weeks with lots of rain... I'd rather it just bloody freeze! The mud is unbearable! So I'm not so sure you'd be pleased with 32 after a while when things thaw to the point of poop soup, LOL.
Take care of yourself, and Merry Christmas!
Denim Deb
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We have mud at the farm that's about the consistency of pea soup. I wish it would dry up as well.
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Icu4dzs
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SD...to your left from MN
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Icu4dzs
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So, it is still raining every day. Not the big, hard rain, just the fine mist that moistens everything. It isn't so bad, but the mud left behind by the torrents we got (~3") made the entire farm a wet, muddy mess. I have to wear my snow boots to walk around because all my work boots are now drying from all the deep puddles in the mud that manage to soak into your shoes. Yucchhhh!
The project for the past week has been cleaning out the tractor shed and putting stuff in places that don't require access for a while as well as making room for the things I do need to use in the tractor shed.
Not sure if I ever explained it but the machine shop and the tractor shed are one quonset style building about 80 feet long and about 32 feet wide. The machine shop in the first 30 feet, the tractor shed is the second 60'. I had been storing all manner of things that folks either brought me or I got for myself with the intention of doing a multitude of projects with those materials, once I was retired. Well, here I am retired and I am actually getting to it. That in and of itself is (IMHO) nearly a miracle that I am able to "get a round tuit". (I keep one in my tool box just to remind me that there are things that need to be done!)
Along with the cleaning out of the tractor side, I have been moving the collection of things to another shed (also a quonset style building) and arranging it so I can keep my baler, sickle mower, log splitter, and some other odds/end equipment. That is where I keep my slide-in camper during the winter so it takes up a lot of room. Right now it is on the back of the p/u truck. I used it for a "shake-down" cruise when I went to get the bees. (they are doing well currently)
Then after seeing that I need some storage space for some things I want to keep under cover, I realized I would have to repair the floor of the hayloft on the east side of the main barn. It had a number of rotten spots in the deck and you were afraid you'd fall through if they don't get repaired. Sooooo...I got to that starting yesterday.
Basically there are now 3 large "holes" in the deck" where I removed the old "ship-lap" siding that was used for decking and started cutting the 3/4" PT plywood to fill the holes. I decided NOT to use that same style of lumber because if it rotted once, there is a distinct possibility that it could get "leaked on" and rot again. Not wishing to repeat that job (much harder than I though prying up all those old boards with the rusty nails holding them down to the joists below) I decided to go with PT plywood. I'm NOT sorry for that decision.
However, (now the main reason for today's story) I looked over at the framing of the barn where the east door is on the south side. The barn is divided into east and west sides by some fencing and I generally keep the llamas in the east side and the cattle get fed on the west side. (the cattle now think that ANY time I am in the barn that they should be fed. That ISN'T going to happen but then they think like cows...what can I say?
As I looked at the framing over the door, I noticed something I had NEVER seen before in my life. I decided to take a photograph of it with my smart phone and include it here for you all to see. A DOUBLE DECKER BIRDS NEST!!!! I've never seen "twinning" in birds nests before today and am NOT sure when I'll see that again... (Photo below)
This was so cool I had to share it with you all. What you are seeing is the "skeleton" of my barn which is actually a half-circle made of 1x6 boards in groups of 3, glued/nailed together. They were cut in such a way as to create just enough of an arc to create a complete semi-circle. I will take another picture later to show this because it is unique to this area of my state. It was devised by the mother of the Navy Admiral who "lured me here" with promises of a better life (and he was dead-on right). His mother was a school teacher (one room type) and a math wiz. She designed these barns and I only know of about 4 of them in existence. A very rare and clever design. The barn is about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide with the apex of the arc about 22 feet at the apex. A very clever design and an even more clever technique to build it. The 1x6 is cut in 3 pieces of which the two outer pieces are reversed, giving it the amount of arc needed to become an exact semi-circle. I don't think you'll see this anywhere else that I know of!
Anyway, the purpose of this story was to show you the "double decker" birds nest.
More work tomorrow.
Cheers,
Trim sends.
The project for the past week has been cleaning out the tractor shed and putting stuff in places that don't require access for a while as well as making room for the things I do need to use in the tractor shed.
Not sure if I ever explained it but the machine shop and the tractor shed are one quonset style building about 80 feet long and about 32 feet wide. The machine shop in the first 30 feet, the tractor shed is the second 60'. I had been storing all manner of things that folks either brought me or I got for myself with the intention of doing a multitude of projects with those materials, once I was retired. Well, here I am retired and I am actually getting to it. That in and of itself is (IMHO) nearly a miracle that I am able to "get a round tuit". (I keep one in my tool box just to remind me that there are things that need to be done!)
Along with the cleaning out of the tractor side, I have been moving the collection of things to another shed (also a quonset style building) and arranging it so I can keep my baler, sickle mower, log splitter, and some other odds/end equipment. That is where I keep my slide-in camper during the winter so it takes up a lot of room. Right now it is on the back of the p/u truck. I used it for a "shake-down" cruise when I went to get the bees. (they are doing well currently)
Then after seeing that I need some storage space for some things I want to keep under cover, I realized I would have to repair the floor of the hayloft on the east side of the main barn. It had a number of rotten spots in the deck and you were afraid you'd fall through if they don't get repaired. Sooooo...I got to that starting yesterday.
Basically there are now 3 large "holes" in the deck" where I removed the old "ship-lap" siding that was used for decking and started cutting the 3/4" PT plywood to fill the holes. I decided NOT to use that same style of lumber because if it rotted once, there is a distinct possibility that it could get "leaked on" and rot again. Not wishing to repeat that job (much harder than I though prying up all those old boards with the rusty nails holding them down to the joists below) I decided to go with PT plywood. I'm NOT sorry for that decision.
However, (now the main reason for today's story) I looked over at the framing of the barn where the east door is on the south side. The barn is divided into east and west sides by some fencing and I generally keep the llamas in the east side and the cattle get fed on the west side. (the cattle now think that ANY time I am in the barn that they should be fed. That ISN'T going to happen but then they think like cows...what can I say?
As I looked at the framing over the door, I noticed something I had NEVER seen before in my life. I decided to take a photograph of it with my smart phone and include it here for you all to see. A DOUBLE DECKER BIRDS NEST!!!! I've never seen "twinning" in birds nests before today and am NOT sure when I'll see that again... (Photo below)
This was so cool I had to share it with you all. What you are seeing is the "skeleton" of my barn which is actually a half-circle made of 1x6 boards in groups of 3, glued/nailed together. They were cut in such a way as to create just enough of an arc to create a complete semi-circle. I will take another picture later to show this because it is unique to this area of my state. It was devised by the mother of the Navy Admiral who "lured me here" with promises of a better life (and he was dead-on right). His mother was a school teacher (one room type) and a math wiz. She designed these barns and I only know of about 4 of them in existence. A very rare and clever design. The barn is about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide with the apex of the arc about 22 feet at the apex. A very clever design and an even more clever technique to build it. The 1x6 is cut in 3 pieces of which the two outer pieces are reversed, giving it the amount of arc needed to become an exact semi-circle. I don't think you'll see this anywhere else that I know of!
Anyway, the purpose of this story was to show you the "double decker" birds nest.
More work tomorrow.
Cheers,
Trim sends.
Denim Deb
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Oh cool! Are they barn swallow nests? If so, the swallows will return every year.
