Category: Dogs

Taking Steps Forward, and to the Side

The farrier came by this morning and give the horse a bit of a trim. We are trying to recover her hooves from a bit of neglect on our part, and she needs to be done in increments. The guy I hired has been willing to come twice on a single appointment, so I paid him more than he asked me for. He said he did not want to charge me till he had done the job right, and he felt that he was unable to the first time. Well, that was not his fault! He is going to come by again in three weeks to work her over again, which will be on a different appointment than these last visits, which were the original appointment. Anyway, the mare’s hooves are coming down, and I am glad it is not all at once, not just to let her be less tender under the hoof, but also so she can adjust her stance back to a more upright position.

After the farrier left, I had some things to take care of for Missus, then I went to town to get a new gas lid for the truck, and new coolant reservoir lid for the car as it just broke on Tuesday, and some electrical supplies to hardwire in a heater for Missus’ little cottage out back. I was almost done with that just after the sun had gone down when all the girls came into the cottage with Bandit, our half border collie, half Alsatian.

The dog had blood on him which turned out to be from his roommate, the Billy goat. The goat is rutting, and acting like a real jerk, and won himself a good bit on the ear. But then, that is not the goat’s fault. Anyway, the dog found himself a way out of the pen and took his leave from the goat in order to get some peace. I knew right away where he had done it, so I finished the wiring, put on the heater, and went after the fence.

The fence repair was one of the easiest I have done on the farm, day or night. In this case, it was night. But I picked up the roll of fencing and brought it over on the pallet forks of the tractor, measured off a piece as if I were measuring off some paper towel, and then used the lights on the tractor to illuminate my work! The light was coming from behind me, so the goat and I cast shadows, which I watched to make sure the goat was not charging me the way he has been the dog. I finished fixing the fence, and am secure the goat isn’t getting out, and I put the dog elsewhere for the night. I will have to get some fence supplies tomorrow and build a new pen, I think. It’s time that goat got his own place again and stopped pestering the poor dog. They were okay together for a while, but the goat’s tongue has been hanging out and flapping. He is in a mood.

Tomorrow I would like to put the new heater into my shop, too. I have what I need to do it. If I don’t quite get to the new pen, I am okay with that as I have an auger on the way, and would like to set posts with it, since the ground is already frozen up to a degree here. The auger should be here on Monday or Tuesday. It would be good for it to arrive first, so I can not only get into the ground as necessary, but also get in deep enough to set the posts in properly. All of my posts up till now are set to shallow as I cannot get the manual post hole diggers to clasp any dirt beyond about two and a half feet down. The handles won’t spread enough, and I don’t want to dig the hole any wider so the earth around the hole is undisturbed and firm. The auger ought to make a big difference in getting deep enough, keeping the surrounding ground firm, and just plain being easier. It should also help me to reset several fences around here and set in the new paddocks whenever the canal company buries the canal. I will probably set in small shelters with it, too. Oh, and I could use a couple of woodsheds.

Everything is under control on the farm again, for now. Slowly, we are improving things, too. It’s good to feel the progress!

Projects Right Now

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.

So Nearly Spring!

It is almost Spring! Along with the recent time change, the weather is acting accordingly. There are geese in migration and there are other birds showing up, though I have yet to see my first Robin of Spring. The temperatures are warming up with higher daytime highs and nights that are not nearly as cold as they once were. The days after the time change come to sunset later than before, giving us more time to do our evening chores and walk the dogs without having to carry a light. Mud season seemed worryingly early this year, and I wonder if the ground will dry up before the sun warms the ground enough to start the pasture grass and trees. But we will have to wait and see on that still, as the dead grass from last year is now fully exposed, and nothing has even hinted at the blossom.

I have a couple of things on order from eBay and from a reputable antiques replicator that specialized in 18th century products. The first is a corn sheller from the late 19th or early 20th century. I want to grow and dry our own corn to give to the chickens. The one I have on order is in excellent condition. I hope to see it put to good use. From the replicator I have a cast iron cauldron, for fun, and a colonial candle mold, to make candles for my replica tin punched lantern that I received for my birthday. I am really excited about it! I remember first seeing one pictured in a history book in high school and swearing then that one day I would have one. Well, my birthday was finally that day! It looks as new as a Colonial American would have seen it the day he bought one in the 18th century. When the mold arrives tomorrow, I may just melt the wax in the cauldron and make me some candles. I will have everything I need to do it! By tomorrow evening I will be lighting the lantern for the first time.

There is a lot to rearrange here on the farm to carry on with plans we have talked about lately. Missus wants a shop to sell things from. I want a workshop to make things in. Both require a lot of work, and to accomplish them, I think we will need to arrange the layout of some of the internal fencing differently. We will also have to put some animals over the road permanently. In other words, I have a busy spring ahead of me. On top of it, there is the usual with firewood gathering. I need to get a lot of it before it warms up too warm to do such hard work. The splitting can be done any cool morning on the farm. But gathering is away, and just for that reason is inherently more dangerous. But while I am splitting, I can easily take a break, get a drink, and so on. Much safer as it is at home. It also does not require a long drive, so can be started and worked on any day of the week, rather than the days there is no school for the girls, and so on. We expect to be working wood in a new part of the yard, too, and I have to set up a good workspace. Time to review my workflow.

I have the shop reduced to just things that are supposed to be in there. There is a lot to clean up and find homes for, though. I don’t have the space I need for it all and will need to set up some sort of cabinets or workbench still. I would also like to get a jointer’s bench, if I can. I’d like to be able to work in the shop on nay day there is no power, just as well as on the days there is. There are a lot of ideas floating around in my head that will keep me busy redoing it for the whole summer, I’m sure!

With the nights only getting to the mid 20’s, and the days hitting the mid-forties, the house is lovely and comfortable, and easy to keep warm when it needs it. I am thrilled that there is still wood in the woodpile! It is not all well-seasoned, but in a pinch, it will do!

I am still adjusting to the time change. This may be why I am up so late right now. It is approaching eleven o’clock. It is best I get to bed. Tomorrow will no doubt be a bust day! The repairman for the dryer will finally come to replace a part in it. That has been two months in the ordering. I’ll be glad to get it in and be done with it.

Emptied the Trailer

Yesterday was momentous! I got the trailer hooked up to the truck and went down to the thrift store, only to remember then that the thrift store here is not open on a Monday. I wasn’t going to waste the time or the fuel, so I went over to the salvage yard and began sorting the stuff in the trailer onto the ground there for the big electromagnet to pick up and put to use in something new. One that was done, I went to the dump to take care of the rest of what could go from the bottom deck of the trailer! When I was done, there were only a very few items left that I knew Missus wanted saved, and that I was not quite ready to throw out myself. After I got home, I rested from the chores a bit, then took out those few items, and emptied the trailer out once and for all!

Why is this momentous, you may ask? Well, the trailer deck is much lower than the truck bed, AND the trailer has a ramp leading into it! This is something worth everything when one is loading in firewood! It has been tied up with this load of ‘not sure what to do with it’ stuff for ages now, and with this done, I can now easily get firewood (as compared to hefting the wood into the bed of the truck) as well as get more if I should decide to heft wood into the bed of the truck. I might have to plan a trip to fetch wood this week! It would be good to top off against what we have used this year so far and it never hurts to pile up against next year. With our plans in flux and the hot summer we had, this year did not see the accumulation that I wanted, but it is still not too late. On top of that, I need to get wood that will be ready to turn on the lathe come warmer weather, or when I can get the shop heater cleared away from for burning.

The dogs left only one bomb overnight yesterday morning, and I got ahead of them and thought that we may be onto getting them trained to go outside only. Then yesterday evening, they spotted over four places and left two bombs. So much for progress! So when I woke up at 4AM this morning I got up soon after and stayed up to be ready when they woke, that way I could walk them straight away, and probably a couple of times (as it is still early now) to try to get them out enough to not have excuses to mess. You ever have such things running around making noises, and sometimes walking by sniffing as they go? It does not help one’s trust. I feel like the dad in some sitcom, or worse, in A Christmas Story as he looks over his newspaper to have just missed the neighbor’s dogs running through his living room on the way to the Turkey in the kitchen. What’s that smell? My imagination? Good! Incidentally, they spotted once that I could tell, but did not bomb overnight last night! Good doggies! I think it might be progress of a sort.

Yard Rearrangement

Today was pretty warm for the second day of December. It was so nice that I went out and worked on rearranging the garden spaces to ready them for next year. If we are staying here, we are going to change some things around. one specific change will be to put a driveway around the west side of the property to give better access to the shed/barn and make it more usable than it currently is. The drive will come around back, and back out the center drive, or when entering through the center, should allow the trailer to back easily up to the barn, then exit through the west gate. It is not as garden focused, but it will allow us to raise animals and hopefully grow flowers for Missus. The goal will be to grow less food and more creative material.

I’d like to have the llamas moved soon. There is little feed left, and it would be great to get the girls over this side of the street and allow the males and the horse to roam the entire field. If it stays as warm and dry as it has been, there should be no problem for them to access the grass on the back pasture.

I wanted to get the goats up to the front pen ready for sale, but I had a plenty busy day today, and have not got to it. I split one of the llama pens, removed several metal posts and almost as many well placed in wood posts. We used a high lift jack to pull everything out. It was a good chance for our youngest to help out and show off how strong she is!

I think there will be better parking for the trailers we have. The barn will have the garden tools in it, along with some other things. I’d like to say we will be growing things across the street, but the irrigation shares are currently $9,000 each. WE could do with ten shares, if we are to look into the future to when the canal goes underground, which may be within the next two to three years, as I have heard it on the grapevine. It will be cheaper to drill a well!

Our two dogs are training to use the outdoors to go to the bathroom. It is not going perfectly, but they are getting the picture. It’s not bad for their age. We are using the orchard as a space to walk them in. Speaking of walking the dogs, it is almost bedtime, and it is time to walk them now.

Final Run Till Christmas!

With the Thanksgiving weekend over, we are on the final run till Christmas, then New Year’s, and the long drag through winter. In January the seed catalogues will begin to arrive, tempting us with plants to grow over the summer. Then when spring finally comes, we will be out from under the snow, and thawing the cold out of our bones. But none of it comes till we slog through winter. Spring doesn’t seem that far away right now, but it never comes quickly when I find myself outside day after day, dark evening after dark evening, cold as can be as I do the chores and keep the poor animals alive that live right through the cold seasons that I struggle to go out in at all.

This weekend we talked about the state of our youngest daughter and her social wellbeing while she homeschools. She does pretty good, but she does get lonely for friends, and often wants company from us when we are busy trying to keep our family afloat on our daily tasks. Missus said to me that she doesn’t know why she didn’t think of it before, but the girl needs a dog. So, we discussed breeds and such, and decided on something close to a Beagle. We are not particular about pure breeds, so we looked and found some Beagle, Australian Shepherd mixes for sale only a couple of miles from our place, just over the Utah state line. I got a reply Saturday morning that if I could come within the hour, I would be able to pick one up before the seller goes out for the day. Right on that!

I brought him in tucked inside my jacket, and Missus took him off me and dumped him on our daughter’s lap. Do I need to tell you how a nine year old reacts to a puppy being dropped in her lap? Probably not.

The dog was a good boy on the way home, and a good boy all the way up to town a bit later to get him some supplies, feed, and leash. The only trouble was that he was sick in the car, and spent the day being pretty quiet, and mellow. I then noticed by late afternoon that he was kicking his leg similar to a horse with colic. So, I talked to Missus about the state of him and was soon out the door to pick up his sister from the guy who sold him to us. He has been perfect since.

That is how we got two dogs this weekend. They are nine weeks old, so that would put them around September 25th as a birthday. He is a good boy and she is a good girl. My daughter named her dog Spot, and I took our older daughter with to get the girl, and I told her, I don’t care the gender, my Beagle is going to be called Snoopy. That is how we got a boy named Spot, and a girl named Snoopy!

Tonight, as the weekend comes to a close, and we begin that final run towards Christmas, the two dogs are lay on a stuffed dog my wife had up on our bed, sleeping sweetly, and close to each other. I think if dogs could smile, that is what I would see on their sweet little faces right now.

I picked up some firewood with our oldest on Friday. As he loaded his jacked-up truck, he was moaning, “get a big truck they said. It’ll be fun, they said.” Pretty sure we both slept well that night. The wood is wet, and will have to hold out till next year, barring we don’t run out of this year’s wood. I guess we’ll see.