Tractor Work

Going to Get Colder!

After our previous report about the cold, today was playing out to be a mellow day when a friend of mine texted and asked if we thought we were going to be in the range of the negative temperature storm heading into the US. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I saw two of the kids were messaging and I looked at the video one posted, and there was my answer. I think you will look back upon this as the Christmas Freeze of 2022. Whatever it gets called, it’s going to get very, very cold. We are anticipating windchills as low as -25F, and we are only going to get brushed by the arctic air as it barrels into the US from Canada in the next 48 hours or so. Wind gusts here are expected to reach 50 mph, but I will be the first to admit that the wind never reaches up to what is anticipated. I suspect based on normal weather predictions compared to reality, we will see wind gusting to 35 mph. That at about 2F is enough to still make it a hellish cold.

I spent three and a half hours today working with our animals that live outside, and prepared them with food, bedding, water, and whatever I could to keep them out of direct wind and show. We are meant to get snow starting tonight, then going on till the day after tomorrow. Again, all we can do is wait and see. But this is going to goof with a lot of people’s travel plans over Christmas, including the kid who posted the video in Messenger who has to travel back home from where he works in another state. He’s excited. He already has the record among people I know for longest commute to work, four days, when we went to work this last week. All of that was due to weather, too.

Well, it is tired time, and I am going to go to sleep. Will probably be clearing snow tomorrow afternoon, or the next morning. It’s going to be interesting!

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!

We Lost a Calf

I had a farrier by last night to look at the hooves of our mare, which have not been done for far too long. just before he arrived, I noticed that one of the calves was lying about looking like he wanted to die. With the gent on his way, I could not address it then, and had to get prepare the horse for her appointment. Once the farrier finished with her, I went right back over to where the calf was and took to dealing with him. There was nothing I could do. I went in to tell Missus that the calf looked like he was on his way out, and by the time I got back, he was gone. I have no idea what did it. I expected one to die before we got them raised. That is just my luck and skill with them. But I did not really expect it to be this one, and so soon.

That was bad news.

The good news was having the tractor to deal with it. I chained his leg and pulled him down the alleyway to the main part of the pen, and then bucket loaded him and carried him across to the field and let him out near the swale at the bottom. He is far from anyone and will no doubt decay in the springtime. It was a snap do sort it out, and I really enjoyed having the cab on to keep warm while at it. It also helped to partition me from the gruesome factor.

That was the good news.

I picked up the cutting edge for the bucket, and the bracket to put on the SMV sign at the rear of the tractor. I am finally legal! I mounted that on tonight and feel a lot better about getting on the road with the machine. Mind, I don’t have to drive it far to get to the pasture. But it’d be my luck I would get the attention of the police in that little stretch. And now I don’t have to remember to put on the hazard lights every time, though I probably still will.

Our forecast for the next week is cold, but dry. Perhaps I can get some things done! I have the pallet forks on so I can take things out of the granary, and put some other things back in. It’s not that I can reach in with them, but I don’t have to carry things across the yard.

I have been getting the parts needed to put in the outlet for the welder on my panel in the garage. There is a bit more to it than there would be with a regular breaker. It has been unexpected, as I have not done this type before. So, I am learning. I think I have everything I need to finish it maybe tomorrow.

Autumn Proper

The first week of November is already by, and I am already starting to lament the thought of that long period between Christmas and spring planting, when the seed catalogues come, and the season never seems to go. Everyone who lives with plants knows just what I mean. As for those with animals, unless they can afford plenty of hay, they will understand the anxieties I have right now about the amount of hay we have on hand, and how well the tarp is staying on it, or not. Anyone who survives the cold with only wood heat and limited access to the wood knows the other anxiety I am suffering right now. I know we could be a lot worse off in so many ways. It is just a part of the agrarian life that one lives with when each year one gets just enough to get by. I hope that during the coming year I will better this situation and get truly ahead.

I have got so much done in the past month since the tractor arrived that I am amazed. I am half done with the land bridge from the main property across the street to the other side of the swale at the bottom of the place. Once that is done, I will be able to wither carry on with the idea of planting trees along there and calling it Willow Bank, or I could let the livestock over to graze at their leisure and have about 4/10ths of an acre more land to feed from. It’s no small thing as that would support a cow for a while. Every little helps. But if we do the Willow Bank idea, it would be best to leave it as an untouched natural space for animals and picnics. Willow trees would just finish it over there, providing shade and play.

I went out to do some work in the shop yesterday but noticed the llamas giving attention to something at the bottom of the property. I could not see what it was, so I went over instead, and found three hounds had trapped a raccoon and were biting and barking at it. The raccoon was in a struggle, but I could not do much to interfere with frenzied dogs who would only ignore my pleas for them to stop and let it be. I checked with some people who I saw on the next property, but the dogs were not theirs. I went back and the raccoon was still alive, but had no fight left in it. I thought the dogs were being fairly inefficient at killing it, then realized what was going on. They had worn it down, then one bit on its throat till it choked to death. It was a maneuver that they could not have pulled off with the raccoon fighting back. It was a sad thing to see, but they were not my dogs and I could not stop them, and I did not want to get tangled up with a raccoon. If there are rabies, then I’d be the final victim. No thank you. I now know who’s dogs they are, but there is not much I can do about them, as they live close enough that unless they are going to keep their dogs permanently locked up, they will always end up over on ours. Also, we have had horses break lose and end up in their pasture before, too, so it is probably best to keep an understanding with these particular people. It was a raccoon. It was not one of my animals. But it does mean that I have limits to what animals I can keep over there, as small ones and waterfowl are probably out of the question. It is best as a grazing pasture.

I am nearly done setting up for a welder in the shop. I need to clean up in there, so I don’t set a fire or cause an explosion. I just need to install some gear I have got in order to plug the welder in, then I need to get some practice in. I have got me some learning to do. I put in all the electrics into the cottage for Missus, and now I am doing a bit of work on the shop. Much of it is done already, and things are working much better in there. For example, the air compressor is kicking on at full power now and runs without tripping a breaker. It sure feels a lot safer without worrying about all the power coming into the shop down a single extension cord from the house! That has also relieved a circuit in the house, too! The kitchen ought to run better, and we have finally closed that window on the front porch all the way. There is the door out there that could do with being replaced, and I think it will keep much warmer in there going forward from that.

So many years ago I picked up parts of an old walk that went from the front door to the roadside. I did it when we decided to put in a fence and cut off access straight in with it, circle drive, and a tree. I used some for crazy paving in Missus’ herb garden, and I used two big square pieces under the garbage bins so they could be sort of roadside, but on the outside of the fence, ready to take out on garbage day, and easily accessible with the kitchen rubbish on all the days of the week. It has worked really well, apart from the slabs having gone in crooked, and they were too heavy to fix at the time, as it took all I had in me to get them there in the first place. I promised myself then that when I got a tractor, I would fix it.

Today came the day it got fixed. I took out the slabs, and leveled the dirt under where they belonged, then put them back. It was nowhere that easy as the area is fenced in, and it took a lot of patience and care to avoid damaging the fence! But finally, when it was all done, I put the bins in, and instead of sitting all wonky, they are straight and true, and since they live near the roadside, we finally look like we did this with intention, rather than on accident.

In addition to fixing the bin slabs, I tried again at grading the roadside where the main driveways are. Water comes off the road in the rain and puddles right next to the pavement. Passing drivers easily come off the side of the road a little in that spot, in addition to our passing through from the drives, and with freezing temperatures, we have been at risk of the roadside crumbling into a massive pothole that we could count on the county not addressing. So, I have been trying to grade down the dirt next to the puddles to let them come off the roadside. That is not entirely straightforward as the place where the water should head off to is the front of our house. I needed to level the dirt gently, then slope it past the place where the garbage bins sit, and into a grassy area in front of the cow pens where nobody really drives. Hopefully this will eliminate the pooling of water in that spot! I’d like to prevent the road being destroyed in front of our house!

I finished putting in several electrical outlets in my wife’s cottage yesterday, making electricity available along her entire workbench. I need to set in some outlets in the comfy side of the cottage next. That should be easier. It is a lot closer to the panel, so there will be far less drilling involved, anyway.

I also started rewiring my shop, setting up for all of the lighting I want to have in, and outside of it. I also got some of the outlets sorted. I have been running power in the shop off an extension cord for the last ten years, so this has been very exciting to me!