A Cold And BLUSTERY Day

It was nice this week - high temps mainly in the upper 40's, lows in the twenties. Thursday and Friday, we had highs in the 50's and even lower 60's!

That came to an abrupt halt this morning.

Around 4:00 am, it was nice outside - light winds, 45° - but it would soon change. By 7:00 am, the cold north wind was howling at about 30mph, and the temp had dropped into the 20's. By 11:00 am, it was 15° and wind chills in the 5 to 10 below range.

What a difference a day (or night...) makes! I was out in the barn in a sweat shirt, working around on a few things, marveling at how nice it was. It LOOKED cold, but was still in the 50's at 9:00 pm.

This morning, the wind was tossing around a bird feeder by the kitchen window so much that it was hitting the glass. I got out some wire, a screw, and proceeded to "lash" it down so it wouldn't swing so wild. When I came in the house, Peaches, met me at the door. She looked up at me with a worried look on her face as if to say " Yeah, dummy, it's cold outside and you VOLUNTEERED to be out in it..."

More like FORCED.....

Oh well, it was a productive week before the weather hit. Our Blind Angus bull is no longer walking around in circles in the pasture - he's safely camped out in the freezer. It took us all of Wednesday, most of Thursday, and a little of Friday to finally get all of him in, but the freezer is full of dead cow and dead deer.

A friend came over Wednesday to help kill/hoist, and skin "Chuck", but had to leave after we got the meat into the house.

I keep things like the tongue, tail, heart, kidneys, and testicles (where applicable...). Deb doesn't like much of any of them (and won't touch the "oysters"), so more for me!

All I know is - Yani, the cats, chickens, and possibly a few coyotes (if they can dig them out of a brush pile), are a pretty satisfied bunch right now. There were plenty of bones, fat, "innards", skin, and hooves, to feed an army of critters for a long time.

As for the fence, we still need ditch crossings and gates for the line fence, then cross fencing. I managed to find some more woven and barb wire for free, but still need more. So far, we've used two NEW rolls of barb wire on the line fence - both of which we bought years ago when it was still $35 a roll - now it's $65 or more.

I even managed to paint a few F-20 parts this week! OK, so FOUR parts isn't a LOT, but it still counts as progress! It's getting too cold to paint now, anyhow. I might have to move some smaller parts into my shop and light the stove so I can get SOMETHING done on the beast this winter. The main frame will (most likely) have to wait for warmer temps, but I can at least get some small items done.

Come on, SPRING!

Hot and Muggy....

It started out today as a cloudy, nice, cool day. We even had a slight breeze coming in from the north east to keep the humidity down. There were also even a few rain drops (about 3 dozen, I think....)!

Then the clouds left and the wind died down......
The humidity climbed with the temperature.....

I decided to do a few "odds and ends" on the brooder house and chicken house. Nothing spectacular, just little things.

The one thing I did manage to do that was worth while, was to bring down the stock tank I scrounged from a nearby farm. I have it setting up on pallets and filled with water to make sure it doesn't leak. I will let it set a few days - while using the water for chickens and goats - and fix any leaks I find. After that, it's down to the new goat pasture for use.

I still need to finish about 60' of fence to make the pasture usable, but I hope to get it SOON. The goats are gonna LOVE it when they get out there! LOTS of nice TASTY stuff.

One thing I have learned with all this fence is: you NEED to have a good T post driver - and the ones they have for sale ain't no good!

I have THREE post drivers. One is home made, the other two I bought. One of the ones I bought, is a light weight one designed for use with chain link fence posts. Useless on anything else.

The other driver I bought, is made for T posts. It is to light, and is the kind with two handles on it. If I use the handles on this one, I make it about 2 posts before the vibrations get to my hands. After that, I can forget driving anymore posts for an hour or two. I tried grabbing it around the "barrel", but there isn't really enough room to get a "proper" grip, and it makes it to short to use.

I found that the BEST kind of driver is an old piece of 3" pipe, with a heavy plug welded into the end. This way, I can grab it at whatever height is comfortable, and there is no vibration . The bigger tube is also easier on my hands then the small diameter handles of the bought type.

I still can't drive all day, like I used to, but I can get more done then with the others.

This morning, I went out to milk our two "cows". Usually, I separate the kids from the moms at night so there is milk in the morning. This is also the time I feed the kids. Normally, Sally, one of our milk goats, is waiting at the gate to get her breakfast while she is being milked. This morning, however, only Annie was there.

I found little Miss Sally in with the kids.

Evidently, she had figured out how to climb over the gate to get the food I put out for the kids.

Needless to say, she was pretty much on "empty" when I got her on the milk stand.

I have a surprise for her tonight, the kids are going in with the Boer kids - in a different part of the barn.

Probably going to be a bit noisy in there tonight.....

Happy Goats...

SHHHH! Don't tell anyone that this is the second post today.....SHHHHH!

I decided to put up a temporary fence this afternoon. I made it from three cattle panels that the neighbor gave me because they were bent up. I just flipped them over and bent them back into shape.

I put the panels up between the barn and the exiting fence about 40' to the west of it. The whole patch is only about 80' x 40', but it needed mowing. I decided to let the goats have fun - WAY cheaper then the gas it would have taken to mow it....

It took a little coaxing to get them to realize they could get into the patch, but once they saw it, they only left for water and to "chew it off".



They all are happily munching away in their new found "Gold Mine".

There is even a nice, juicy, Cedar tree in the back ground. A couple of them tasted it but decided that the nice fresh grass was better tasting.



If you look close, you can just make out part of a white goat's back under the tree.

They were all VERY happy to mow it for me, and promised to work on it again tomorrow, and even the next day - if needed.
I went out about 5:00 this afternoon and everyone was lounged around behind the barn, rubbing their tummies.

Everyone was happy....

Well, not EVERYONE.....



This hen was chewing me out for blocking her on the wrong side of the fence, and in with all them GOATS! She just paced back and forth, letting me know she was VERY unhappy about having to walk ALL the way to the other end of the patch, through the barnyard, and back out through the barn (Do you KNOW how many black jelly beans there are out there...?). I reminded her that she could fly over the fence, but she was too busy flapping her lips.......er......beak, to have heard me.

I had a bad day with the animals today - first the heart attack milking, then this hen chewing me out. Earlier this afternoon, I saw the Evil Twin eating an egg, so I harpooned her with my walking stick, then her two kittens hissed at me. This evening, I picked up one of the 11 week old pullets to put her in the coop, and she pecked my hand (I pointed to The Stump and The Axe, and she got REAL apologetic....).

And TOMORROW is Monday......

Gettin' HOT.....

Well - it's THAT time of year again! The time where it starts to get HOT out! I figure, if it gets above 70°, then it's too hot. This coming week it is supposed to be in the 80's to near 90°! Way to hot for me!

I have been trying to finish up on a bit of fence that I needed to do before cattle came. I had to "re-arrange" a little bit, so I could make room for a new goat pen, so there were a few spots that needed attention. I guess I finished just in time, too. The cows are supposed to begin arriving this afternoon.

There is a culvert tube that comes across the road from my neighbor's pond. It has been there for several years, and always causes a washout and degrading of the road edge with a heavy rain.

Since I had to take that part of the fence down - it was all brambles, patches, trash and brush - I called the county Road Department to see if they wanted to do anything while it was down. Thursday they started, and yesterday, they finished most of it except for rip-rap.

I went down to watch for part of the operation and the men doing the work, said "Hey, look at that"! Down by my feet was a HUGE Crawdad (Crayfish, Crawfish, whatever....)! It was as big as my hand. I reached down and grabbed him behind his back and held him up. He was about 2" wide at his "beltline" and a bit longer then my hand. He had large, meaty claws and arms. He was also BLACK!

I've seen hundreds of Crawdads, but I have never seen one this big nor have I seen a black one before. Most of the ones I've seen have been a reddish brown, or a greenish color. The other guys said the same thing. One of them told me it would make nice catfish bait. I said, "Go ahead, but I sure wouldn't want to latch into a fish who could swallow THAT Crawdad!"

Either way, Mr (Mrs?...) Crawdad went back into the hole and left to take their chances with the construction project.

This time, they extended the tube about 10' and dumped a few loads of dirt/rocks/concrete into the hole over the top. When they finish, I will be able to get the fence done. It will be the hardest part of the entire project. I'm just glad it's only 60' to 70' long.

Snakes Alive!

The last couple of days, I have been "piddling" on the fence row and trying to get a few other things done around here. Nothing TOO exciting, but at least I AM accomplishing SOMETHING.

Last evening, I was out taking care of a couple of small things on the fence. I turned off the road and into the pasture, when I saw a piece of wood post laying in the road. I stopped the truck and got out to pick it up.

I got out of the pickup and saw something else laying on the ground:



All I had with me was my cell phone for a camera, and it didn't want to work right.
Here we were, a startled snake watching a crazy guy trying to take it's photo....
It lay there, curled up for a good 5 minutes waiting for me to get it over with. The camera FINALLY decided to work, and I got a few so-so photos.

The odd thing was, he tried to bite my foot several times and he even held his tail up and shook it like a rattler. He finally decided that he had had enough and slithered off a few feet and into a hole in the ground. It's good to have his kind around - they eat all kinds of vermin.

He is a "Prairie King Snake".

I also scared the feathers off a hen this morning. She was trying to make a nest in the goat's hay feeder in the barn. When I saw her, she had burrowed into the hay, leaving only about half of her hind end showing. She was busily burrowing away when I leaned over the top of the feeder and said - in a very low, quiet, voice - "What do you think your doing?"

I was only about a foot away from her when she launched into orbit. Feathers and hay everywhere! She squawked all the way back to the hen house! I didn't really mean to scare her THAT bad. She was intent on what she was doing and lost in her own little world. I guess it was a shock when I brought her back to THIS world....

This morning, after the "Milk Maid" got done with her chores, the neighbor came over and cut down a big Elm tree that was near the fence line I am building. It was about 8 feet away, but it was dead. We figured that it would be a good time to fell it, since the fence needs replaced anyway. Better now, then to have it fall on the fence later. There were also a couple of 8" round Mulberry trees that had to go. They were about 2' off the fence.

This area hasn't had much done to it since the 60's. It's pretty overgrown, too. It needed done 25 years ago. It's gonna look TOTALLY different when we get done!

Feeding Day...

Well - the six new babies are still SIX! Doesn't look like the others are gonna hatch.
I moved the whole bunch out of their nest box today and into a "pan" that will be easier for the youngsters to climb out of and get to food/water.

Mom wasn't too keen on this at first, but is actually gives her more room to move around and she can still watch her brood.

Today was first day of school for the babies. Up for study - FOOD 101....
I set in a pan of whole corn for mom (which she was eager to get...). It was funny to watch her kids stand around and watch mom eat. A couple even tried "poking" at the corn.

The lesson went MUCH better when I set in a container of feed small enough for the chicks. Mom dove right in, came up with a beak full, then proceeded to tell them all how yummy it was. Then another beak full, and more raving over how good it tasted. Then ANOTHER beak full.....wait a second, mom! Save some for the babies......

I wish I'd had a camera! All six standing around the food container, watching mom show them how to eat, then "talking" amongst themselves, then trying it out to see if mom was right.

When I last saw them, they were "diving" right into their food - in more ways than one. I'll give them a day or so, then use the small feeder I have.

For now, mom really like the room service she's getting. She doesn't seem eager to get outside at all. Her attitude will change in a few days, though.

I got a little work done on the new fence line, today, too. It won't take much longer to get it ready for wire. I have all but 10 or 12 posts in and one creek crossing. HOPEFULLY, I can get it done in the next week or two.

It's WAY to Hot already...

So, last night the weather gypsies were forecasting today was going to be windy, like yesterday. We were SUPPOSED to get 20-25 mph winds and gusts to 35.
Instead, we get 5 mph winds and nearly 80° temps!

Last night the LOW was 54°.

I'm a FIRM believer in - if it gets above 70°, then it's too hot. I was out working on fence for part of the day. I don't know which is worse - fighting the posts or fighting the sweat dripping on my glasses....

I DID manage to get 7 wood posts in their holes, though. Yesterday, I laid out all the posts and drove in a few steel T-posts (8 of them). The howling wind made it difficult to keep the string line I was using straight, but it worked well enough.

I usually use a string line to lay out the fence line. If it were barb wire, then I'd just run the first wire on the ground and use it as a line. With woven wire, I use the string. I have the piece of PVC pipe cut to the correct space between posts, so laying out posts goes pretty quick.

My neighbor has a son who works for a large seed company. Every year he does "test plots" on his dad's farm. This involves marking out several plots and keeping track of LOTS of things. Last summer, after he was done with his plots, I asked for some of the small orange stakes he had used to mark his plots. I took about 50 of them, but there were LOTS more. I have used them for tons of things around here, but they work EXCELLENT for marking out posts.

When I drill the holes for the wood posts, the orange stakes make an easy target for the auger on my post hole digger. MUCH better then the spot of marking paint I used to use! I end up breaking a lot of them, but they served their purpose well.

Yesterday, while I was working on the fence line, I was nearly run over by "El Pollo Loco" - actually about 7 of them!

Anytime I do just about ANYTHING outside, I have 4-5-6 "Inspectors" follow me around in case I kick up something tasty. I was out there, minding my own business, when a small Garter Snake zipped between my legs. The thing was about a foot long and about as big around as your little finger. I had time enough to BLINK and the "Thundering Herd" was upon me! They came out of the woodwork - they were EVERYWHERE! I BARELY managed to escape with my life as they chased down their prey and then played keepaway with it. I ALMOST felt sorry for the poor snake, but there was NO way I was gonna get in between it and the crazy chickens - I would have been lunch, instead of the snake!


I walked into the barn this afternoon and found Thomas (the Tomcat) lounging. This, in itself, is not unusual. What WAS different about it was that he was receiving a "sponge bath" from 4 of the 5 female cats we have. All at the same time. All that was missing was one of them feeding him grapes while another fanned a palm branch over him. He looked REALLY content...

A neighbor wanted to get a few pieces of scrap metal out of his way (one being an old golf cart), and I had a few pieces, so we decided that today would be a good day to load them up in his trailer. Some of the stuff I added was "left overs" from building the barn last summer. It will be nice to get it out of the way.

WINDY Day....

It's THAT time of year in SE Nebraska......

FENCING SEASON! No, not the kind where you put on funny white suits and yell En Guard! I mean the kind that involves posts and wire. It is easiest to do this time of year because the ground is still soft.

I have been trying to get as much done as I can, but it is slow going. So far, in about 3 weeks, I have managed to complete about 400' of it. I am trying to get another 100' or so done by this weekend. What I am fencing in will make a nice new pasture for the goats - LOTS of brushy stuff to eat, and they will clean it up for me!

It will be great to have another pasture for the goats to browse around in. This will greatly help my ability to do "rotational grazing", too. By this winter I am HOPING to have my hay field fenced in so I can let them "fertilize" it for me.

It was REALLY fun to do anything today. The south wind was blowing steady at 30 mph, with gusts close to 40. My wife was going to try out the new clothesline we put up, but it was just TO windy.

I had a cousin call the other day and ask if he could turkey hunt on my place for a couple of days. When we first got this place we told people (family) that if they wanted to hunt, ask US (my wife and I), not the prior owner, because he doesn't have hunting rights (even though he THINKS he does). That way, we know who is out there in case something happens. This was the FIRST time someone actually contacted us before going out to hunt! (We did get a garbled message a few years ago that we THINK was about hunting....). Work with us, and we will work with you. Thanks for asking, Tom.

I built a small goat shelter in a pasture behind the barn so the Kinder Billy would have a place out of the weather to sleep in. He is in his own pasture, but doesn't like not being able to be with the girls. I used some pallets I cut in half and put a small half dome tin over the top. He's above ground on a pallet, and it SHOULD be fairly rain tight. I built it yesterday, but tied it down this morning - just in time for the wind!

We have been milking the goats now for several days. We had bought a milker, but it wasn't working right, so we returned it. For now, the "milk maid" will just have to take care of it. I keep telling her (milk maid) that I'm used to cows, and am used to bigger things to play with. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it......

The Kinder kids are starting to warm up to me now. I'm the mean so-and-so who separates them from mommy at night, and steals their milk in the morning. I try to go out and sit with them for awhile every day, and I give them grain at night. They don't fight as hard going into their night stall, either. I'm hoping that they get as friendly as their moms.

I also found another roll of wire today. It is woven, but it has smaller "holes", so it will be used for dog fence - or chicken fence. It is only about 30' long, so it won't go far. I'll take what I can get.

Tomorrow is supposed to another windy one like today was. HOPEFULLY it won't be QUITE as rough.....

God has a Sense of Humor....

Ok, so I'm only a year behind on some fencing I need to do. Last year, about this time, a neighbor's wife drove off the road and took out some of my fence. They offered to fix it, but I told them that I was planning on "re-doing that stretch this summer, anyway". I got busy with other things and didn't get around to it. I figured last Fall, that I'd be able to work on fence into December, but circumstances and weather made it difficult, to say the least.

I've decided that I NEED to get another 3/4 acre (or so) fenced off for the goats. This includes where she went through the fence. Yesterday, I set two corner posts and today I started laying out the posts and driving a few steel T posts. I try to put them at 12' intervals, so I needed to make a tool that would be easy to just move along the ground to get the posts the right distance apart.

A few weeks ago, I picked up several 20' pieces of 2" PVC pipe. I figured that one of these would be light weight enough, durable enough, and also be easy to spot in the grass.

After I had cut one of the pipe sections to the required 12', I also needed to make a mark at 6', since that would be the distance I was aiming at for the brace posts. I carefully measured the 6' from the end of the pipe and made a mark with my ink pen. Now I needed to make the mark visible at a glance. What I needed was some paint to mark a small line around the pipe - all it had to be was contrasting to the bright white of the PVC pipe, so I wouldn't have to look for the mark as I went along.

Since I was in the barn, I looked in a storage cabinet I have in there. It still has a lot of items from when we were building the barn last year. I opened the door and immediately saw the can of paint. I snapped it up, turned it around and - there it was, in nice big letters - "WHITE". I had one other place in the barn that MIGHT have some paint, so I checked there.

I saw the can from about 10' away and knew as soon as I picked it up that it was also WHITE. Hmmmmmmmmm.........
Guess I could check the old pickup I have that I use for a "chore truck" around the farm. I looked in the window and saw a spray can but, under further review, it was a can of WD-40.

I decided that my wood shop was the best bet to find paint. I KNEW I had some red there......
On the way up to the shop, I was saying to myself, to God, and to anyone in earshot - "Well, I don't care WHAT color it is. Red, Purple, Green, Yellow, Black...just as long as it ISN'T WHITE!"

I got to the shop, opened the door, and looked across the room and into a cabinet, through it's open door. Imagine the excitement I felt when I spotted the can of paint within the first 5 seconds of being there! I triumphantly marched across the room, took up my prized can of paint, rolled it over in my hands and read the label -
In black letters big enough to read without my glasses - here is what I found -

"CLEAR GLOSS"

AAARGGGGH!

I immediately broke out in laughter.

There are some times when God just can't HELP but mess with your mind.....


I DID manage to find a can of orange marker paint a few minutes later......

It's Been awhile......

It has been awhile since I last posted! It's been an eventful month. I have been busy with planting a little corn and milo, putting in fence, working with my goats and other assorted things. Not to mention the 10 days that I was sick in May - part of it over Memorial Day Weekend!

My sister and I have been able to get most of the posts in on the new fenceline. We SHOULD finish up this next week. It has taken nearly 2 months, but the end is in sight - at least for putting posts in - next comes the wire, but it might have to wait until this Fall or next Spring.

My sister has been a HUGE help to us around here, she has helped me do a lot of things that I could not do by myself. A couple people have said that we are "using her" , but they just don't get it. If they were really concerned about much of anything except their public image, then they would be over here lending a hand so I wouldn't be "abusing" my sister. I haven't even asked my sister for help - she just "does" out of kindness and family values. I guess those values are just plain foreign to some people.

Some time in the next few days we will have to bale hay. There is a chance for rain all week, so we will have to work it in.



I have recieved a few e-mails about the Black Walnut "poles" I was wanting to use. Just to clear a couple of things up - the ones I cut down were only about 6" to 8" in diameter. On a Walnut tree, the dark wood is in the core of the tree, and surrounded by "sweetwood" that is white. On a 6" tree, the dark wood is only about 2" - 3" thick at the base and gets thinner as you go up the tree. These trees were cut because they would not get much bigger around and were already 50'+ feet tall. I had them thinned so the others would have room to grow. I HAVE cut up a couple older Walnut trees for the wood, but most of the ones I have growing are too small for any wood working projects.

Fencing

I FINALLY got started on the new fence! A couple of weeks ago, my sister and I had managed to "shoot a line" with the level, and put out a few stakes. Over the past week, we were able to drill a few holes, set 4 posts, and run a "giude line" between corners. We marked out where the posts would gand sprayed "marking paint" where they went. Over the past 3 days, my neighbor helped me drill the rest of the post holes for the run we wanted done first.

Yesterday (Saturday) some relatives stopped by and set all the posts. There were 45 "T" posts and 30 Hedge posts in all. I now have over 800' of posts ready for wire! It didn't take long, either! there were 7 people working, so it only took about 3 hours. Hopefully, I can get another section laid out and they can come back for another "go-round"! This part was an incrediblely HUGE help. It would have taken me a month to get this far!

I used a few posts that were crooked, but as long as they hold wire, it just doesn't matter! I can't afford to buy posts, so I use what I have on hand. All of the "T" posts were bought at farm sales - some for 20¢ each - and are used. New posts are now over $3 each, and will probably go higher. I also managed to "collect" a few good used Hedge (Osage Orange) posts. These had been used in an old corral that was taken out. They will still last another 40 years, and the price was right!

We found out that it is DEFFINATLEY Tick season, though! There were thousands of them out in the grass! Next time I think we will use some sort of repelant.

I had another neighbor tell me to come by and pick up a trailer! This one is another "grain hauler". It is part home made, and has a good hoist on it. It is still over at their house, but I will get it in the new 2-3 weeks.

Getting ready for fence

I've been out in the "forest" over the past few days. I need to build a couple of fences so I can enlarge my pasture. I am only able to work at it for an hour or so, then go back to the house for a couple hours, then back for a couple more hours of "fun". I maaged to cut a swath in the ever-present cedar trees about 35' wide. The worst part was trying to get rid of the "bodies" after I cut them down. I planned to pile them in a small ditch for burning, but there were so many trees in the way I had a hard time getting them to the ditch! I had to cut a few, drag a few, cut a few, drag a few......A lot of it was "tractor work" so it wasn't too bad. This first photo iwas taken after I had cut down enough trees to make a "path" so I could cut down more. I was working toward another ditch that I have to cross with the fence. In all, I had to cut a path at least 35' wide and about 125' long.




After a lot of shoving and cutting, this is what it looks like now:





I'm not straight with the world in the photo, but the fenceline will be just to the left of the big tree in the center of the photo. One of these days, I'll get the rest finished so I can cut hedge posts and put a fence together! Here's what it looks like from the opposite end.

Almost done with August!

Well - here it is the end of August already! Fall is on the way, Football season is upon us, and COOLER weather!

It has been hot here lately, but we HAVE been getting a bit more rain then earlier. The grass hay is actually taller then it was before we cut it in June! Don't know if we will get a second cutting, though, I don't have room to put it!

I have been gathering more materials for fence building. The neighbor brought some more woven wire and I got a call from a lady today who had 8 rolls of used "hog wire". I'll take all I can get! I MIGHT go over to pick it up tomorrow as she works night durring the week. I have been out with my Surveyor's level shooting a line for fence. I had my nephew help for a bit when he was here for a few hours a couple weeks ago. We put flags out and the next day I put pins into the ground next to the flags. ***NOTE*** If you have cattle, sheep, goats or other livestock in the same pasture that you are surveying - take paint along with you! The kind of paint that construction companies and surveyors use to mark the ground. I spent about 2 hours one day trying to find the pins I had set out the day before. It seems that livestock like to munch the pretty red flags! I am still looking for one of the pins, but I can live without it. I made sure to spray a circle about a foot around the pins.

I also scouted out the area for fence posts - I just dead-reckoned about 250 posts in a very short time and a small area. There are several trees Hedge (Osage Orange) trees that are HUGE - I will be able to get 25 posts from ONE TREE! I can't wait until it cools off a little more so I can get started!

I also (FINALLY!) hung the gate to the pasture I fenced off a couple months ago! I used part of an ancient hay feeder and some horse panel. I decided to "Macgyverize" a wheel onto it so it would be easy for my wife to open. Here is a photo.


Well - I better get going!

Finally! Another Blog Entry!

My wife has beaten me over the head with a 2x4 so many times, that it's starting to work in revearse!

I have been busy! I FINALLY got another section of pasture fenced in for the goats! Between my bad knees, back, hips etc, etc and the heat, I was only able to work on it for 2-3 hours, or so, a day. I had to clear a path beside existing fence and mow next to it with the 8N so I could add woven wire fence to the barb wire that was there. I also mowed a "path" for the new fence so I could work easier. All told, the fence was 1100' long, about 650' being existing, so I didn't have to add posts (just wire).



I drilled 21 holes for Hedge posts and drove another 23 steel posts. I also had to build a creek crossing and a drive-thru gate. All of this fence costs less than $12. I scrounged the steel posts, we (neighbor and I) cut the wood posts from trees in the pasture (got 18 posts from 2 trees!), the four gate posts were old bridge piers that came from a bridge the county tore out several years ago. My brother manamged to drag them home when he worked for the county. I even scrounged the gate!



The neighbor who helped cut posts gave me three "cattle gates" he had lying around. He even gave me an old cattle panel to add over it so the goats couldnt walk right through it. All I bought was staples and T-post clips! Be sure to check around with area farmers - a lot of them have woven wire fence that they have torn out or WANT torn out. Even if it is rusty it will work - just so it is not brittle. I need more pasture fenced, but I am "recovering" for a bit!

I had someone call the other day to tell me that they were replacing the Bi-fold doors in all the apartments in the place where he lives. He wanted to know if I wanted the old doors. I said "Sure!". Now I have 80-some doors sitting in my shed! I wanted them for the hardware and hinges, but wasn't expecting this many! I will use a few for light-duty shelves (they are "hollow-core" doors),but don't know what I'm gonna do with the rest! I am open to suggestion.......



My wife's brother stopped by this past week. He brought his (nearly) 16 year-old daughter up for a visit. Her and my wife are very close and stayed up late to do things on the computer and play games. Even the dogs thought it was noisy in here, with all the "cackeling"! I guess they enjoyed themselves, though! Her brother also brough 6 pieces of used OSB he had taken off of a house. I plan to use it either in the goat barn or chicken house.



Well - that's about it for now! I'll add some more later - when my headache returns....

Another busy week so far!

Well, last week was pretty busy! My wife and I managed to pour concrete in the forms for a small "stoop" and a ramp onto our patio! The ramp still has one more section to complete, but it is WAY closer to being done than it has been since we first built the forms last Summer! One more 5' x 12' section and it will be done!. We would have had MORE fun doing it, but the truck driver did a lot of the work! Would have been hard without him!

Friday was also my wife's birthday (19th)! She is now a bright and beautiful 29 year old!

I also have corn coming up! I planted a few rows on the 11th and it is about 3" tall already! Didn't plant much, but had fun playing! Next year.......

Over the weekend I picked up the Letz Corn grinder from the neighbor I bought it from. I haven't had a chance to try it out, but I will in the NEAR future!

Today, I started cleaning out the property line fence that is overgrown with Willow rushes and wild grape vines, and cedar trees, and, and, and! I am planning to fence of another "padock" for the goats. I also managed to pick up our "new" horse trailer that we plan on using as a "goat hauler". I had to help the lady clean up around her place, for it, but I got a lot of other stuff with it, so it cost me a days work and gas for the tractor. Not a bad deal!

Been a busy week!

MONDAY 10 APRIL 06 started out fairly quiet, I was working on the fence around our new goat pasture and trying to get it ready for our "herd" of two momma goats and their four children. Nothing really exciting went on! Things would pick up by Tuesday, though!

TUESDAY 11 APRIL 06. I started out by going to a neighbor's house to borrow a trailer. I was on my way to clean up around some buildings on a friend's mother's acreage. Not only did I borrow the neighbor's trailer, I borrowed the neighbor! He volunteered to come help, if I helped him cut firewood later in the day. We spent 2 hours dragging things out of head-high weeds and small trees, but managed to get a lot accomplished! I managed to scrounge 5 "goat" panels with angle iron frames and three without frames! These panels are similar to "Hog and Cattle" panels, except that the entire panel is made up of the small 2x6 openings. They measured 16' long and 6' tall!

In addition, there were 9 pieces of 26" x 10' corrugated "Barn Tin", 20' of shed door upper track (the kind the door rolls on), a pile of angle iron (some twisted, but a lot useable), and a three "stall" rabbit hutch!

After loading it all up, heading home for lunch and UNLOADING the trailer, it was off to return the trailer and fire up the chainsaw!

The neighbor cuts and splits wood for another man to sell. He has done this for 10-12 years, and enjoys it. We got most of what he had left cut up, but managed to save some for today! I came home and worked on fence for awhile before supper.

TODAY WEDNESDAY 12 APRIL 06. I figured out what I needed to finish the goat fence and found all the pieces for the three walk-through gates I needed to finish. One of the gates needed welded, and I needed a couple of other small pieces made. My neighbor again volunteered to weld them if I would help him finish the wood! We had what I needed done in about 45 minutes. It was 11:30, so we decided to start the wood at 1:00 pm . I headed home to finish the gates. I decided to cut one of the "frameless" goat panels into pieces that would fit the gate frames I had. I would then wire these together and hang the gates. I finished one and decided to temporarily wire the panel pieces into the openings in the fence where the gates go. This being accomplished, it was decided that today was the day - MOVING DAY for the goats! They would FINALLY have their pasture, and I would FINALLY reclaim my tractor shed (of course, now I have to clean it out!)! After a leisurely, uneventful stroll at the end of a 15' dog lead around both momma's necks (and youngin's following closely), we arrived at our new home. Both Nanny goats ran to the nearest clump of fresh grass they saw, and all four little tykes enjoyed their new freedom by kicking their heels and running around as fast as they could! It was a funny site to see!

I finished up the day by screwing down some tin on the goat shed roof. Most of this tin was procured on the trip Tuesday.

One other important scrounged item story from today:

I have also been trying to work on the OTHER pasture fence. I wanted to move the fence farther away from the house and make it a little more "permanent". We rent the pasture out every year and the renter uses an electric wire fence. The gate is normally electrified. I wanted to make a permanent gate without it having electricity going through it. I figured on running a wire under ground to bypass the gate. Problem was, I didn't have, and couldn't afford, the underground rated wire! On an trip to town this morning at about 8:30, I found about 150' of 6 gauge underground wire laying in the middle of the road! I only needed about 35', but the extra will be used for something else! I've got the posts in the ground and am gonna hang the gate in the next couple of days. Then I'll dig a trench with my 8N and bury the wire!