JUSTUSNAK...Summer coming to an end!?

[justusnak]

21 June 09

I worked on the stall...Friday and Saturday. Even tho my building skills are quite lacking...and all I have is used materials...I have to say..it turned out quite well.

The area is about 8 x 10. Little Mary will be quite safe from Nelly in there. I just hope she grows fast.
I will take her outside for trips to the grass a few times a day...but will have to keep the others from getting to her.
Today we are going to Ohio, to have a day with the inlaws. :/ I just hope the day passes quickly. I guess I am a homebody...when I am away from the farm...I miss it! Strange hu!? Well...its getting to be " that time" I hope all you dads have a WONDERFULL Fathers Day!

 

[justusnak]

22 June 09

So, its early afternoon, and I am inside. Why you might ask? Well....We are haveing the septic pumped...and we ALL know..when you stir stink, you get a smell... Just about 10 feet from the tank, we were cutting firewood.....a few trees we dropped last weekend. Between the fumes from the chainsaw...and the fumes from the tank...I wanted to stick my face in a chickens butt..Im SURE it would have smelled better!!!!!
I had to come inside..and get some tylenol..my head was splitting from the smells...and the heat and humidity. Now I am hideing down here in the family room on the computer. Ahhhhh, sweet clean air!!! Guess I better get back out there.....in a few minutes.

 

[modern_pioneer]

Good job on the pen...

Not to worry about your building skills to much, give it a good shake, if it holds it might be okay. LOL...

 

[Farmfresh]

Get some water in yourself. That will help that headache as well.

In the summer time I often get on what I call my "siesta schedule". I get up EARLY and out to work - come in between 11:30 and 12:00. I then eat some lunch and take a little rest (sometimes NAP) in the cool of the house for a couple of hours. During this time I try to drink lots of water and just really rest and relax. At around 2:30 or so I usually do some house work stuff (start dinner or clean something) then after about 5:00 or some days even later depending on the heat, it is back outside till sometimes I run out of light.

That rest and hydration in the afternoon may seem at first like you are being lazy, but after you recharge you can get a lot more done.

 

[justusnak]

Thanks modern....I TRIED to shake it...it doesnt move! LOL Guess its pretty solid. The upright 2x4's I burried in the gravel about 6 inches...then nailed to the upper beams. Its pretty solid....just looks...well....like left over wood. LOL Nothing matches...but I dont think the sheep will mind.

Farmfresh....thats exactly what I did, drink lots of water. I can't stay inside too long...when I get hot, and then try to come inside, in the AC...I get to shivering. And the AC is set on 78 degrees! I have to sit outside for a while in the shade, untill I am cooled down, then straight to the shower. I like the choice to have AC...and especially for sleeping...but I really get too cold....to fast. Guess I am getting acclimated to the heat.:/ Winter is gonna be hard on me I think this year! LOL

My BIL is a roofer/buil;der by trade. He came here for the week to help tweak the new coop. Extend the over hang..and put up some new shingles. We have leaks...already! UGH!
The neighbor girls came over, wanting to make $3.00 each, so they can go to the city pool tomorrow. My coops needed cleaned...and I needed to get feed...soooo...I "hired" them to unload the feed...6 bags....and shovel out the coops ( 4 of them that are about 8 x 8 ) spread the old shaveings in the runs...sweep the coop floors, walls, and cobwebs....clean the waterers..and fill the feeders. They are real troopers..actually fighting because one was getting done faster, and the other wanted to make sure her sister didnt do " her coop" ( they each did 2) They really did a swell job, so I gave them each $5.00. They were so excited...but not as excited as I was I am sure. ( I didnt have to clean them)

 

[homesteadmomma]

Isn't it great when kids want to make a few extra bucks. I also always try to pay them a little extra too. They go home, or in the house in my case, happy and I am extremely happy too.

 

[Farmfresh]

I WISH I had some really working kids on a regular basis. So jealous.

My "big teenager" was great when he dug my ditch and hopefully for some other up coming big jobs, but I could sure also use some little minions like yours!

Last summer I had a neighborhood boy (big kid about 12) who came up asking to mow my lawn or some other work. He had a cell phone and his parents were requiring him to pay his own phone bill. Jack pot ... I thought.

I offered to pay him $8.00 an hour to help me in the garden. I had some old carpet strips that needed put in the dumpster and a wheelbarrow to haul them there. (Probably about 200 feet to the dumpster) and then we were going to dismantle part of a fence. The kid started putting carpet strips in the dumpster. Within literally minutes he was talking about how hard the work was and how he would be needing a rest very soon. He took not quite 1/2 a wheel barrow to the dumpster and then he just HAD to sit and rest. While he rested I filled the barrow and dumped it and started to fill it again. (All of 10 minutes). He started to S-L-O-W-L-Y fill it again. I gave him $8.00 for his 20 minutes "work" and told him to go on home and not bother to come back. Pathetic.

(On a side note: My ditch digger boy cleaned up all of the carpet left in the garden for me - while he was waiting for me to get back with the load of gravel for the ditch. It took him about half of an hour.)

Those little workers of yours are true GEMS!

 

[justusnak]

Those little workers of yours are true GEMS!

I couldn't agree more!! I just wish I had more for them to do..that they COULD do. They come over a few times a week, wanting to work..and make $3.00 They set the price, altho I always give them more...depending on the job. The oldest girl said yesterday.." I love to clean..I will clean your house, for free" I am thinking of "hireing" her for some light housecleaning..once a week. I get so busy outside..I cant seem to get it all done! Of COURSE I would pay her...even just to run the sweeper, and sweep and mop the kitchen. What a big help that would be!

 

[punkin]

I'll steal her away from you and double her pay if she'll come clean my house.

It's great when kids want to work. It helps to teach them the value of a dollar.

Although, I think you came out better on the coops.

 

[justusnak]

24 June 09

So yesterday...my BIL and I went to our FIRST livestock auction. I have to say....it was an experience. Chickens went between 1 and 4 dollars. There were sheep of every breed I think...and goats...goats..goats!! There was a little Alpine...I ALMOST got her. Ohhh, she was sooooo pretty.A medium brown, with white floppy ears, and a white blaze on her forehead. However, I was not there for goats...chickens or sheep! I wanted pigs. MOST of the pigs for sale had hernias..or some sort of prolaps problem. A few of them had TERRIBLE looking legs...swollen, deformed, and just painfull looking. :/ I was able to get 2 pigs, pretty decent shape... weigh about 75 pounds a piece, for $20.00 each. We didnt get home till dark, as it was an hour and a half drive one way. So, I am headed out in a few to check on the new piggies. What a relief to FINALLY find pigs for the freezer. Im telling ya's, I have been looking for a month or so, and haven't been able to find feeder pigs anywhere! I was getting nervous thinking I was out of luck. They had quite a few calfs there, but I have NO WAY to move a calf...in my S10 pickup! LOL Altho, I told my BIL I was tempted..he said...well....get one and I will ride in the back with it. What a trooper! We couldn't stay any longer tho..had to get home. Maybe another time. OH, and BIL saw the pile of galvanised steep pipes we have from some old chain link fencing...and asked what I was planning to do with it. I told him our plan was to cut it into smaller pieces, and recycle it. He said he has a welder...and will come back one day soon, and make a frame for the bed of my truck...for hauling livestock...like calfs!! HOW SWEET! Oh, and Hubby told me last night..a co worker had a new house built last year...and that there were several trees laying next to his driveway...he wants moved out. He said there is about 25 ricks worth of wood. We will start getting it next weekend. We have truley had a blessed day.