Author: The Lord of The Manor

A Storm Blows Through the Farm

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

I woke up this morning around 2:45 and noticed the ghostly sound of children screaming. Turned out it was just the wind. I was out doing chores last night and noticed the tarp had blown off the hay pile. Well, that will never do. That is one of those fixes that has got to be handled immediately when the forecast suggests rain. I put the tarp back on and fastened it down as best I could with all the bungee cords I could find. The big tarp is not in great shape, and the grommets are not all in place. So, fastening it down was not straightforward. After waking up this morning, I found myself lay in bed listening to the wind and theorizing on the best way to fasten a tarp so that the wind does not catch it and flap it to pieces. The conclusion I came to was ropes pulled taught, not tight, and one on every grommet to prevent any flapping. No metal to prevent any tearing of the tarp too. But it’s too late for the tarp we have at the moment.

I finally got up and dressed, then went out to give it a look when I realized I had nothing else to do but worry about the hay. Our whole winter’s supply is in one stack, and if it gets wet, rots, then generates heat and catches on fire, then we lose everything all at one. That is not acceptable at all. I need to do something about that.

When I went out, I took the tractor along, and it provided lots of light and the loader provided a step to help me up onto the pile of hay to try to get a handle on the bit that I found flapping lose. That is very destructive to a tarp! It also left the two new big bales exposed. The grommets were gone along that edge, so I did what I could do, which was to grab the trailer for the lawn mower and put it on top of the tarp on the hay pile. Naturally, the lovely loader on the tractor did all the lifting! I should go out and buy a new tarp in the morning and put it on before the weather takes a turn for the worse. Saying that, it was nearly 60F out when I was out messing about with the tarp!

In other news on the farm, the electrician came to do the job of installing panels in our two outbuildings yesterday. I am at ease with the work that needs to be done from the panel to each light and outlet. But putting in a proper installation from the service to the panes was not something I was comfortable with. We put in an underground cable, and it required a splice to come to the two buildings, and that was also something I worried about. But having seen it now, I think I could do the same work to some sort of smaller scale if needed in the future. But I foresee only a single breaker from the cottage out to the chicken coop in my future. They could use light and some heat for their water. I also would love to see some lights on the exterior of the barn to help illuminate against the wild animals that come visiting.

In addition to electrifying the cottage, I also will be able to give the shop a proper installation of electrical outlets and lighting. I have been working off of an extension cord thus far, which is ridiculous and unsafe. It also meant leaving a gap in a window on the front porch for the cord to lead out of. I’ll be able to close that up and see how warm we can actually get it out there in the near future. Furthermore, I will be able to install things like my welder in the shop and run enough power to install dust collection and proper power tools and such. I would also like to arrange easy access for a fridge to sell eggs from the front of the shop, near the road. I would also like very much to get a bandsaw in the shop that will allow me to make some flat stock, do some resawing, and make some blanks for the lathe. This is all very exciting stuff! Let’s hope Home Depot has got the breakers I need in stock when I go later in the day!

Progress is always a wonderful thing!

First Snowfall 2022

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Today actually marks the second or third snowfall of the season, but how much does one count before it gets counted? All three might have amounted to enough to put on the car and measure half an inch of the white stuff. The reason I am mentioning it today however is because I went out to get firewood after some sleet had fallen and then the stuff coming from the sky turned to snow. While I was out there under the tarps, I thought I heard the tarps blowing and making a fair amount of noise in the wind, till I poked my head up and realized there was no wind. The sound was still going, and I realized it was thunder. It seemed a bit cold for it, but I guess not!

No matter how hard I look at it, I cannot imagine the firewood we have on hand lasting the whole winter and half the spring from now. Everything inside me says that this is going to be a cold winter, and that I better be ready for it. There are a few different ways to do that still. One guy on the classified ads is listing three cords of slabs for $300. That would last a month or two with aggressive burning. That could be enough to make all the difference. I messaged and am waiting to see what his delivery fee is, and if he’ll take a check.

He wants $150 for delivery here. Too much! I get my wood for free mostly, so that is a bit steep on top of actually paying for the wood. I am passing on it.

As for other things, the electrician is set to arrive here either Friday or Monday to put panels into both shops for us. We are finally going to have proper electric in my shop, and Missus is going to have it in her new shop. Honestly, I am kind of glad I waited to have them both done at once, as it should make the install pretty clean. Once the panels are in, I am doing the interior electrical installations. Should be pretty easy. At least it’s straightforward. Looks like I better pick up some basics like wire and outlets and boxes and switches when I am in town tomorrow!

Kioti CK 2610 SE HC

Finally, there is a photo of the little tractor. Having a cab in the environment we live in sure is nice. The truck is a GMC Sierra 2500, for scale. It’s not a huge tractor, but it’s not small, either. It sure keeps up with its work.

The New Tractor

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Well, I guess it was October 4th that the new tractor was delivered to the farm. It showed up and I must say, I was not impressed with the dealership’s delivery. They forgot the tiller, they brought it with a broken wiper fluid lid, and they brought the key to another tractor. The coolant was low, and overall, it seemed they just put the tractor on a trailer and brought it right off the lot without reviewing to see if it was ready for delivery or not. It didn’t even have an SMV sign on the back. There were no manuals, and they was no offer to go over anything with me when they dropped it off, but rather, they just wanted to drop it and go. I only noticed after that they dropped it off with only a quarter of a tank of fuel. I called and asked if that was their standard practice. When the guy came back with the tiller, he also replaced the wiper fluid lid, and put the manuals in and topped the coolant and fuel tanks. Later in the week I had to tighten the fan belts on the alternator and on the air conditioner.

Dealership problems aside, the tractor itself seems pretty good. I put it right to work and have put hours on it. I in fact am ready for the machine’s first service already! It wants a service at 50 hours to clear any metal worn from it being new. I’ll be talking to the dealer about it tomorrow. But the work I have put it through so far has cleared a ten year long to do list and caught up on as much as I could possibly hope to with this machine as it is. If I had a backhoe, then I would have cleared more, and that would have cost a lot more.

I killed a goat pen next to the barn, a mess in front of the granary, finished a driveway on the west end of the home lot, and made a pad to set a new shed down on. I have hauled home large round bales of hay and unloaded them and cleaned up messes and the like just about everywhere, including the wood yard, formerly the Service Yard. I also build a massive compost pile and loaded it with horse apples and llama poo from everywhere I could find it. I made a ramp down from the canal path over where the canal people piled tailings so high, I could not get my truck over it to haul down a dead llama last year. I cleaned up the dead llama finally and felt a huge sigh of relief when I put him someplace far less conspicuous till his remains are gone naturally.

Oh, and the firewood I have moved! I brought over the wood that was left across the street a few years ago when that massive cottonwood came down on the neighbor’s farm and delivered here. What a wonder it was to be able to move that at last!

I am set up to lift logs, till gardens, level land, haul trailers, and lift large bales of hay. And all of this with a tractor of only 24.5 HP! But it does have a cab! It has a cab that is more protective than one without if I roll a bale of hay over towards me, and against loose hay blowing in the wind, and the wind, and the rain, and the snow, and the heat. It has a radio, and it has all the bells and whistles I could want to grow old in on my little farm.

So, what’s the plan?

In the coming summer, I want to put the old dog to work making flower gardens and vegetable gardens and cleaning up the property across the street from the canal company mess. I want to be ready when they put the canal into pipes underground to make the land good and clean. I get to clear our own snow this year, and even keep our drives clean inside the gates. I hope that with the tiller, I can beat back more of the grass and weeds that come up in the gardens. I plan to compost the gardens well with the heap I have been building. I will be able to remove dead animals regardless of their size and weight!

There are so many things I can do! And that is the key to the whole deal. I can do! That is what excites me most! And with that, I have been doing. It was lovely today to go out and work in warm air while the weather was cold outside. I went over the road to collect more to feed the compost heap with, and it never bothered me in the least. Granted, this is the beginning of the cold time of the year. I have yet to plug in the block heater. But I suspect I will be doing that soon by the way the old dog started this morning. We are putting electric into two outbuildings where I will soon be able to install a dedicated outlet for that and sort out a proper parking spot for the tractor.

So, for now, all is better than well on the farm. I have not yet come to a chore the tractor could not do. I suspect that may change soon as I am getting the largest bales of hay I can get hold of delivered in the next couple of days. We’ll see if I can even move them once they are on the ground here. Luckily, I will have them put where I can take them apart to use if I really am unable to move them at all.

In other exciting news, the weather has changed from summer like to autumnal. We have gone from warm and lovely last week, to snow all the way down the mountains in the west and nearly as far in the east just this weekend. It has rained, which is a first for the month. But the temperature dropped, and the rain turned to snow overnight. My daughter came in with firewood this evening, and said she was going to go back out and after and watch the snowfall. We lit the woodstove Friday evening, and I suspect it is going to be going constantly from now till Spring. What a time it is! I am glad I got the tractor when I did and have been able to get the farm ready for wintering over and bursting out to life in the Spring!

I think we are in for a cold winter. The rheumatism is speaking clearly, and so is the dry patches I get on my hands. Everything about this autumn just feels like we are in for it this year. Only time can confirm this feeling, though. I have some machines to service this week, and a lawnmower to put away for the winter. Once all that is done, I think a trip to pick up some dry wood to bring back to split up and add to the winter pile is in order. I am not too happy with feeling like “I hope we have enough,” and am ready to call it “I KNOW we have enough.” I’d also like to start getting enough ready to start piling up a year in advance now that wood is probably going to be easier to manage, and I’d like to pile up enough to start selling on the side. I can procure in the cold and the hot, and I can saw and split in the temperate seasons. That ought to give some extra money.

I have been too busy to write since the tractor arrived. I have even been too busy running the thing all over the farm to shoot a picture of it. I am familiarizing myself with it from top to bottom and scoop to three-point hitch. There is still a lot for me to learn about it. But I hope to write more as I get settled with it. It has been so exciting to finally be able to start working this farm to live up to my dreams for it.

Without a backhoe I have a few things to either seek help for or hire out for. We have to replace the septic system here and put in a few hydrants to help with getting water to the animals and to the gardens. I think with those in, this place will be able to reach a much higher potential. The only thing it could do with more would be irrigation over in the pasture. Who knows? Maybe such a thing could go into the works. Again, time will tell.

Well, it is getting time to walk the dogs and have a bite to eat before bed. Tomorrow is Monday, and this week promises to be productive and to see a lot of things done to ready us for what could be one of our best winters yet here on the farm. Hopefully!

Late Summer Projects Update

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

I have finished most of the fencing for the old llama pens in the side yard next to the house. These pens are conveniently located and make life easy daily, but especially in winter, for feeding and caring for the animals. I have two goats in the pen I am looking at keeping the calves in for their winter feedings, and I have let the calves out into the pen, too. The gates are in where I want them, finally allowing access to those pens for things like the lawn mower, and hopefully one day a tractor large enough to lift out anything that dies in the pens. It happens. Best to make it manageable. The only bit of fencing left to do there is along the east side of one of the pens where there is electric fencing at the moment.

The new driveway is serviceable to some degree now! It is rough and could really use a smoothing out. I have been hoping for years to get a tractor to do this sort of thing, but one never comes. The resources to do so may come soon, finally. If so, I would like to level it out and push a little out to grade and give it a smooth transition out to the road, rather than through the shallow end of the borrow pit, as is there now.

I have all the hay stacked in one place now, rather than sitting in a trailer. I need a lot more hay for over winter. I’ll have to have help loading it all, as there is too much for me to do on my own. I have about 75 bales now and need a total of around 300. So that’s an ongoing project. I also want to get a feeder to help keep the hay off the ground in the pen, though I have seen one farmer who successfully feeds on the ground in a field all winter. It is an opportunity to get one, and I probably should, though. It will serve more than just these cows.

Firewood had had a moment of pause as I have worked on the fencing and focused a little on getting hay. I have a decent pile in the Service Yard that I brought home in spring. It needs to be cut to length and split and stacked before I will really know how far I am from having enough for this winter. I do need a bit more, I am sure. With the summer being quite as hot as it has been, and the heat knocking out a good portion of working hours, I don’t think I am ready yet, at all, though I am close, and I would really love to be ahead or next year.

As I write this, we had one day of reasonable temperatures. There are more autumnal temps coming, too. Now is the time to act! It is time to boot the projects that need to be worked around the weather forward. Those include hay gathering, wood gathering, and things like getting up in the attic and running an electrical wire that needs putting in for the outlet I installed in an awkward corner of my den. The high temps are forecast now for two mid 80’s and the rest to explore the whole of the 70’s for the next ten days. There is also rain in the forecast, which would be a very welcomed relief from the dry summer we have had. Although, when I checked my weather records on our station, it was surprising to find this year was actually not the driest recorded. Quite the opposite! The summer months have recorded quite a lot more rain than in previous years. August pulled in 3.44 inches, while previous years have hovered closer to less than one inch, for example.

There are other projects to tackle in the cooler weather, as well. I can get back to the shop, where I can work on the lathe, and candle making. It needs a little clean up in there. I’d also like a proper workbench for wood working. In addition to all this, there is the apparently annual cleaning of the barn that is required before the snowy season starts. The granary has some things stored in it that should not be there. I want my cast iron out! The woodstove will need a servicing before the burning season begins, as well as the chimney cleaning out. I also have some firewood that wants splitting to use in the woodshop. There will be a period when the autumn is too cold, and the shop will be too, and it will want a little heat to keep it, till the winter sets in properly, and makes it all too cold to do anything in for more than a few minutes. That will be the time when I will have to transition any light work into my den, and I can make candles and do leather working in there. All of that must be arranged for.

So that’s where things are as of September 10th, 2022. Let’s see how much we can get done before the end of the month!

Projects Right Now

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor
This calf gets called Brownie. It is one of our calves we are feeding out.
Our four calves in a temporary pen while I get the bigger one ready for their winter over on hay feed.
A sampling of the old fencing that is being replaced with new like in the next photo.
New Fencing installed on the east end of the pen I intend to keep the calves in while they start out on hay over winter. It will be easier to feed them on this side of the street.
The Truck and Trailer with 57 bales of hay onboard.

We have a lot more going on here than usual right now, and in spite of the heat, though I do have to take it easy in the midday sun. We have started piling up hay for winter, finally. I have the firewood coming along, and we are bottle feeding four calves that will be sold, or butchered, or both, depending on the situation come the end their time being raised up. The kids are in school on top of all this, and I am their home liaison, or teacher, depending on the child. Meanwhile, Missus is trying to set up a home-based business and see how it goes. She is doing that while holding down a full-time job, as you do.

I was working on the fence in the south pen on this side of the street when the dogs out back started barking. Turns out the goat and dog that live together had got out again. That turned our priority yesterday into replacing the fence that kept the older dog safely in. That dog lives with a goat; long story.

We got the fence on the dog run replaced by the end of the day and put the Odd Couple back into it. This morning I put in an N-brace in the end of the pens that I had started working on yesterday. I am setting those pens up to have large gates at their west end, so I can get things in and out, like the lawnmower, eventually a tractor, and haul out anything that dies in them. It is a practical move.

A real question I am kicking around right now is if I should let the Odd Couple continue on like they are and eliminate the goat’s old pen, making more room for another firewood bunk, or should I put it back together and keep them separate? I could use the space!

On the far west end of the property, where the gates will let out from the pens, I am building in an access driveway. I could put firewood along that, or I could line it with some poplar trees. I think I like poplar trees to shade the animals in the pens in the afternoons and to shade a place to park the truck. Just another thing I am kicking around. The drive is meant to make it easier to access the back with a trailer in tow and allow me to not have to back it. I have no troubles backing trailers, but I don’t trust there won’t be someone there at some point. I don’t want to run someone down.

Oh, and today I am watering the orchard trees, as one of them appears to have died. That’s not good.

Today’s Calf Report

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

The Holstiens did great today. Both feedings went well. They were eager to eat, and all of them got through their bottles fairly quickly. I dropped in a bit of hay to see how they might take to it. But as I recall, I need to feed them out on the bottles till the six-week mark because their digestive systems are not made to handle hay only right now. I’d not want to feed them and them starve to death.

Speaking of hay, I am figuring on the need for 300 or so bales of hay over winter. I started collecting that today. I went to the dealer I used to buy from before our neighbor started to deliver large bales. But he took the year off, so the old guy it is. He has an honor system with a mailbox for the money to go into, and the hay out in the open (under a shelter) to pick up.

I picked up 57 bales today. I am not fit to pick up 57 bales. Holy crap! I thought I was going to die while lifting them, I thought I was going to die after I got home with them. I napped twice and rested the whole day till after that second nap. Can I have my tractor now? The hay is, of course, still on the rig out in the yard. The new fencing is not up yet, and the firewood pile that needs to be stacked only grew after I got to feeling better this evening. So, I have got a chores list waiting for me tomorrow.

A Cow Update & Etc…

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

The first two evenings we fed the cows, there was one during each feed that gave us troubles and did not eat. Aside from those two evenings, they have all eaten just fine. I don’t know if it was the stress of the move, but we have had the last two feedings, and indeed all others, go very, very well. We have three cages that we put the bottles into on the fence, and they all do a great job of keeping to their bottles and clearing them out. The fourth bottle gets held by our youngest daughter, and she does just fine with it. I need to go look for a fourth cage, to ease her efforts, as she has had enough time to get at least a rudimentary understanding of how strong a calf is, and the way it ‘bumps’ for more when it is out, or when the bottle nipple is not flowing fast enough for it.

The day before yesterday I went out to buy a roll of four-foot horse fencing, and the shop I went to had them marked at $199.99. I asked for one, and the lady at the till said they were in the computer at $209.99. It was clear they intended to raise the price, and they had not yet been marked on the actual fencing. She said she would sell it to me at the price marked. So, I asked her if she would sell me two? “Yes,” she said. So that is how I came to have two 100-foot rolls of horse fencing in the back of my truck. The plan is to measure out and use it for the original intended fence repairs to the dog and goat runs, and then sort out one of the llama pens for the calves to stay the winter in, then move the goats to that pen come spring, when the calves get moved to the pasture for summer grazing.

I kind of wish I could have blown another $200 on more fencing to put up on the property line and keep the over-all place in order. That fence is old, and of mixed type, and could really do with being replaced with something new that will hold in any animals that escape from their pens and into the main yard. There are plenty of places they can escape! In addition, it would make it painful for stray dogs and the like to get into the place.

Once I get that fencing up on the llama pen, I think I may allow the calves out of the hospital pen they are in together now and let them go around in the bigger pen for their benefit. I could turn some goats loose in there to rake down the weeds first, and to that end, it’s best I see how everyone is doing, and how I feel about it when the fence job is done. But if the goats will take to the weeds, that ought to save me a few bales of hay.

To do this fence update, I have to take down some electric fencing first. I will surely put up a wire at the top to keep penned animals from stressing the fence. Nobody likes the grass on their own side, especially among cows.

So, hay. That is going to be expensive this year. I will be paying $10 a bale, which is still $9 cheaper than the most expensive hay I have seen since coming back to America 12 years ago. There was a shop in Nevada that was selling them at $19 a bale, and that was back in the first year since we arrived. So, $10 does not entirely intimidate me. Besides, I may be able to talk the seller into a lower price if I am buying a hell of a lot of hay from him, which I will be, if he has it. I will be starting today, so maybe he will. But then again, with gas prices so high, I’ll understand if he doesn’t.

I’d go with another seller, and buy big bales, if I could. But I have no way of unloading them from the truck and trailer. That brings me to the tractor. I have none. I want one. I thought about buying a cheap one for the field, but I would still need one with a loader to do things like unloading the hay. So why blow an extra $3-grand? It gets hard when deciding priorities like a cab, which would benefit for long stretches of the year when the weather is bad. And after a recent sinus infection, that was a good reminder that protection around me from even little things blowing in the wind are worth the extra cost. I have picked up an infection before from just handing alfalfa hay. Conversely, that is a little more expensive than adding a backhoe to the tractor, which would help me get pipes for the water supply to places such as the garden, and the animal pens, rather than having to deal with long hoses that freeze in the winters. Sure, I could rent for that, but there are so many other jobs to do, too. I need a septic system installed, and I need to dig out old stumps, and sort out some of the waterways here. There is also the use in stirring compost, though to be fair, I could probably look at another way, using the loader, and should probably do that. Perhaps that is the crux of it. Otherwise, in a short amount of time, it would probably be cheaper to own than to rent.

I split more firewood last night. Looking at what I have got, I could probably make it through the winter with what is done and what is still on the ground. It won’t take long till the stuff that is cut is through the log-splitter, and I can get the last of the long branches into the mown clearing and cut them down to go through. At this point, I think anything I bring home from the wood-yard is ready to go towards next year’s burning. Then that wood will be properly seasoned! The miracle of being ahead! If I could just do that every year! Honestly, I am torn between getting firewood later today, or getting hay. But hay is in seriously limited supply if I don’t get it now and get a lot. So, it is probably best I do that. I have till about November to get the wood. And I still have permits to go into the mountains to get some maple, too! Hopefully that will come soon. I need the help of one of the older kids to do that. With no cellphone service up there, a person wants the help of someone who can drive to a hospital.

So, this turned out to be more than a cow update. It is just gone 4:00AM, and these are the thoughts that get to me at night. Now it is time to see if I can get some sleep, since loading hay is probably on the agenda for today.

Masks: A Cautionary Tale

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

I have always been the one who has not masked up for a bit of sanding, cleaning with bleach, or running the leaf blower. Who can be bothered? Besides, it does not bother me that much. But now, I actually do own a decent quality mask, and when I went to clean out the chicken coop two days ago, I brought it along with, and I put it on. Then I went crazy with the leaf blower and cleared out loads of loose feathers and lots of dust and debris. After a session of that, I took off my mask when everything had settled and cleaned up some of the larger things in the adjacent tool shed. More dust! I ran the leaf blower again for a short bit and did not bother to put on the mask.

I was barely out of that end of the barn before I knew I had given myself a sinus infection. I could feel it on the right side, and soon my eye felt that corresponding irritation that comes along with. I gave it that night and the next day to see if it would feel any better, and it did. But now that the overlying sinus infection pain has settled a day on from that, I feel pain that resembles that sharp hurt one gets with a sore throat. Only it is above my throat, and below the sinuses.

Lesson learned; wear the mask! Always wear the mask! I watched my stepdad nearly die when I was younger because of a sinus infection that exploded into his brain cavity. It is not something I want to replicate. And now, with kids of my own, I don’t want them to have to see their father go through something like that, either.

It’s early in the morning on that third day from the cleaning. It is abundantly clear I could have avoided this situation. It is also abundantly clear to me that I am not young and impervious to the things I once was. I also have little people looking up to me to set them a good example, and to treat things like masks as though they are serious, not silly.

Beef Cows

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Yesterday I went just up the canyon and bought off a guy four Holstien beef steers that he had listed on the local online classifieds. They turned out to be on average three weeks old, so they should wean around the first day of autumn. We have fed them once now, and I think it is fair to say which one I think is going to die before we get to raise it. He is a brown and white cow, and he has as much interest in his feed as a Jersey. He fell over a couple of times while trying to eat, too. It could be that he was not interested in the change of feed, as the dairyman I bought them from said he has been feeding the cows milk every day from his herd. I have milk replacer, and I don’t think it would be near as good, from what I can tell of it.

The next real trick is going to be getting enough hay to last them the winter. Along with the llamas and goats, there is going to be a real need for it around here. Lucky enough, the llamas and goats are all grown up and won’t require more than they eat now. But the cows will grow and will want more in the early spring than they do at Thanksgiving. On the other hand, come late spring they will be able to go on the back pasture, and hopefully finish out on that, which will be good for both the cows and the pasture.

On another note, my hand is itching where it was stung by a wasp the other day. The swelling was not near as bad as it could have been, based on previous stings. I sure don’t blame the wasp for it, as it had me dead to rights when I went to move that log and put my hand right on it. I think I’d have done the same.

I need to pick up some animal feed today and work out how I am going ot get the hay I need over winter. It’s going to be an expensive year with the extra mouths to feed, and the high cost of hay. I think though that those costs will be passed on to consumers come next year, when they are being absorbed into meat prices. So, I don’t think it is a bad move to have these little guys starting to get ready for the freezer this year. I expect some of their cost to get picked up by others in the family that have expressed an interest in having meat, too. Maybe they will help with the cost or the work in bringing home hay?

Sharpen The Saw

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

The wasp was just minding its own business while getting a drink from the wood in the log I had on the log-splitter. I put my hand on top of it, so it had me dead to rights. It had not gone looking for trouble. Neither had I, to be fair, but I was the one that seemed to be on the attack. So, it stung me on the wedding ring finger. It was not hard to quickly tell what I had done wrong. I grabbed my finger and tried to cut of the circulation to the rest of my hand, because after all, I did not want a swollen hand. I thought that if I could stop the venom from spreading, I might not swell up all over my hand and arm, as I am prone to doing when these things happen. I don’t know if that is what helped, or if it was just a little sting, but I put on some Campho Phenique and it turned out pretty good in the end, for a wasp sting.

I managed to split most of what we brought home from our last trip to get firewood. I also cleaned up the logs hidden in the tall grass on the south side of the Service Yard, yesterday. I still have a good-sized pile on the north side to work through.

I have not been working hard in the Service Yard for reasons. The main one is that a saw gets dull slowly. Like a frog boiling, it takes too long to realize what is going wrong. So I got out the little electric grinder for the first time yesterday and sharpened the teeth. Then I cut the rakes down a little deeper than I usually would. That saw now eats its way through the wood! It is a lot more dangerous on the end of the bar as far as kickback goes, so care must be taken. But the cuts are much quicker now. I think it will not be hard to finish the woodpile now. Just got to find all the wood in the tall grass! I think when I do, I will have enough for this winter, and anything we go get now will be a start to next. Although, there is the fireplace use to account for if Missus is going to burn extra. And I need to account for how much of our wood this year is poplar and might burn quicker than other woods usually do.

Lastly to consider is that with the saw cutting so much faster now, the trips to go get wood ought to be a lot more profitable, and the cooling weather will certainly also help.

Lastly also to consider is that I still have permits to go into the mountains and take maple wood. I really need to go get the maple wood!