Category: Forecasted Weather

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.

Late Summer Projects Update

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!

The First Snow That Sticks

Every year around this time we get a snowfall that puts a base down for the winter and will not vanish off again till spring. That is likely what’s falling outside right now. Our youngest and I went out to walk the dogs early this evening and it was raining, and windy, with temps that were quite bearable. I doubt I would have needed a coat if not for the wind and rain. I looked out the back door about ten minutes after we came in and there was a good inch of snow down! It has been falling since, and there is probably four inches down now, or more.

I have been listening to emergency dispatch for the county, where I have got a play by play of troublesome roads on the north end of the county with hills and slick roads stranding drivers who need chains to get up them. At one point someone called for any farmers with tractors to come help! Unfortunately, a house fire call out has also gone out; a direct reminder that nothing should be taken for granted.

We never know what tomorrow will bring. We can do all we can to be prepared, but as recent events have shown, we prepare for whatever may come, and then find out we readied all the wrong things, such as when Covid hit, and all the stores ran out of toilette paper. I am in the middle of a part of America where preparedness is constantly urged, and even here there was a total runout of TP! I guess nobody had long term stocks in their pantries.

I have a cold right now, and it was a lot for me to muster working the tarp back down over the hay today, to try to secure it against winds that had blown it loose. After that, I was knackered! I am reminded why a certain vigilance is maintained at a constant and consistent level, because we never know when a double blow will strike at us.

A look at the weather radar map shows the “atmospheric river” is pushing a lot of water right at us from Southern California. I think we can expect a lot more snow on the ground by morning. It’s nearing 11PM now, and hopefully the traffic situation will quiet down, and Emergency Services won’t have to be pushed by heavy traffic trying to get through heavy snowfall.

Maybe, just maybe, the snow will help button the tarp down on top of the hay, too.

December 5th, 2021

Today we wrapped presents for Christmas and cleaned up that mess. Missus was up from 5Am and took a nap after we finished. That is when things took a slightly strange turn. I went out to change the gate from the old fence panel that was on the front of the pasture across the street to a green gate that was on the front fence of the house, but I had replaced with a grey wire filled gate. It was while I was doing this that I noticed a car parked down the road. The car stayed a bit, then drove further down, then turned around and came back up to the other side and parked again. I carried on working, and it came up and turned around close to me, then went down a little and parked again. It then drove down again, and parked. I watched from the house when I finished the gate, and someone got out and seemed to dump something along the side of the road. Then they parked on the other side again and more dumping on that side of the road. The kind of thing carried on for probably 45 minutes in all that I was able to see. During this time, I also saw the man in the car get out and ring the bell on the neighbor’s house, and the woman got out and went into his yard and waved and clapped her hand at our animals behind the neighbor’s house. It was all very strange. They finally left about 11:30AM.

I can tell you they were city people. The guy got out and shook the wire on the electric fence. He’s lucky it is not working at the moment. I think I will get it going again, in case they visit again. Maybe tomorrow.

After I got the gate changed, I took a rope over and chased down the female llamas. I stayed at the middle of the field while turning my attention to the girl who was leading the run. I kept after her till she wore down and finally made a mistake and went into the pen at the gate crossing the canal. That’s when I finally shut her in and put the rope on her. I made it into a harness and led her and the other llama both across the street, the second one just following the first with no lead on her at all.

I moved the trailers to the back of the house along the fence line. They both fit into the space where the big pig used to have her small pen. That gets them both out of the way bit also in a space where they should be easy to put away, and easy to get out to use. I might be converting that old horse trailer into a mobile chicken coop for the field across the street though.

Those jobs kept me busy till around 4PM.

After all that, I put the male llamas and horse onto the whole field. They will have plenty of feed available till the snow covers it all enough they cannot hoof it. I will be feeding them sooner than that though.

I did all my chores and went in for the evening, happy to put my feet up and sit with the dog in my chair.

So that’s the llamas across the street for the season and on bought hay.

Also of note, it was as high as 52F today, lovely and sunny and warm. This week there are four days with snow possible. But today and the recent days remain mild and nice.

Good Morning Wednesday

This week I have been bopping about on the place, doing different things, but never journaling any of them. So here’s a quick recap!

One of the best parts of any week is when grandson comes by with his dad. But when he was here yesterday, I realized that the toilette seat I bought so he could use our potty like a big boy was still in the back of the car. I ran out, got it, and showed him the box, and then opened it and showed him the inside. Finally I let him sit on it on a chair to see for sure what it was for, not to use, obviously. Then I promised him it would be on by the next time he visits. So I did that a little after he left. That’s the high part of the past few days!

There has been rain. We have been on the receiving end of all that rain that went through California earlier this week. It’s never rained hard or been very windy, but I did get new tarps to cover hay and to cover the firewood. I also got a handful of stretchy cords to hold things down, too. This weather may be a fluke, but there is the possibility that with La Nina setting up, and the jet stream waving north and south, we may have a pretty wintery winter. While it is always fun to see what happens, it is always better to be ready for it!

My light arrived for my lathe yesterday. The box was destroyed, the light was damaged, and pieces were missing. It seems like it would be a great light, bright, color changing. It’s real nice other than it looking like they mailed me out a customer return. I sent an e-mail to the shop I bought it through, and they said they usually get back in one to three days. I see…

I turned a couple of whistles on the lathe yesterday to see what I could come up with, and if Missus would like me to keep going at them to put on the Christmas tree and pass out during Christmas as noise-makers. She liked them. I’ll see if I can get them looking seasonable for the holiday. Yesterday was about making shapes, and putting lines around them using the welding wire I picked up this week. Burning the lines in is pretty neat. I have beeswax on order, set to arrive by Friday, I think. Maybe that will make a lovely finish to the whistles? Maybe it will taste nasty.

Those are the real highs of the week. The other is of course the unspoken of hum of happiness that is raising family and being together. I joined the girls in watching the original Star Wars Trilogy. They are carrying on with homeschool. Missus is still working from home. I make her breakfasts and keep her supplied on nutrients and caffeine as needed. I am preparing for winter. There is always a lot to do on that score. I have negotiated our hay for the winter, and will have to get it delivered soon. Aside from that, I try to sneak off to the lathe as I can to get to know it better, and how it works, and how to use the different tools I have. It is a challenge, but lots of fun!

Next Turnings

I did some more turnings today. I wanted to try tops out, and a finial, and that’s what I did. The tops are not great. I can get the short fat one to spin sometimes. The other always spins on its head. It’s a start! I will work on it. At the moment I am trying cuts and letting the bad workmanship lead me. I need to get deliberate with my work, and make cuts without making mistakes. Then I can lead the results. That is where the finial comes in, a bit. It is about making deliberate cuts so that the piece does not fail while working on it. And it did not.

Two tops. Both work fair, but they need improvement.

I know we are throwing the tops right. I looked it up in the University of YouTube. I had a good demonstration complete with slow-mo, by a nine year old kid. We are doing what he showed in his video!

A Finial

You know, I don’t know why the pictures uploaded the way they did. I took photos of the complete objects. I guess this is a new fault in the web-works to work my head around. Never mind the campaign propaganda on the table under the finial. I will probably vote for the other guy, whoever he is.

I think there are definitely a couple of things to get still. Sharpening wheels for the grinder, a good light for the turning station, especially if I am going to carry on with any fine work, and finally, a set of proper stones for all the rest of the workshop, with one for the turning station thrown in for good measure. I am pretty sure at that point I am pretty well covered on the turning station tools. At least for now. I can worry about finer tools to turn with later. I have a good enough set to get started on, and to learn to take care of, and to learn to adjust my grind if need be. Though, I don’t know if it need be, as everyone talks about 40 degree grinds down at YouTube University.

I’ll probably give myself some time on the lathe tomorrow. Monday is a day for some chores. I have to go get some corn from a neighbor who offered it on the stalks. It is a hand loading job. It may rain on Monday, according to the forecast, though that is seldom correct. But tomorrow is meant to be nice.

The Original Weather App

I am looking at the screen on my tablet and seeing that the weather information being provided by my weather station seems inaccurate when compared to the original weather app, the sky. I checked the computer, and it has got the same rain data as what has been uploaded to the internet. It shows nothing for rainfall accumulation over the past 24 hours. Now, I know that cannot be right. It has been raining! The weather station I follow that is down in the south end of the valley, a little over 20 miles as the crow flies, is showing rainfall accumulations of just under a tenth of an inch in the same time period. They get lake effect precipitation down there, but still, I would think that with the amount of noise I have heard on our tin roof, we would have registered some rainfall. I’ll have to get a ladder and go see what is blocking the collector, or if the little tipping spoon is stuck. All of the other data is coming in, so that rules out a dead battery.

Last night when I went to bed, there was a decent lightning storm overhead. I’d like to say I watched it for a while, but I tend to fall asleep when my head hits the pillow. Luckily, I am up at six in the morning this morning, and there is another one hovering above. Rain seems to have woke me up this morning.

According to the forecast, I have till Monday at the latest to finish cleaning the chimney. But I have already cleaned the top portion from the roof, including the spark arrestor, and everything down to the 90 in the masonry. I just need to vacuum the 90, and brush the black pipe from it to the stove. I also replaced the gasket on the door, a lot easier job than I thought it might be before I had ever done it. The worst of it was cleaning up the old silicon from the shallow channel the gasket sets into. So apart from about eight or nine feet of pipe, we are ready to go with the stove, and next week’s lows are meant to reach down to the mid 20’s. The mornings at least will want for a fire to warm the house. The midday sun never overheats the downstairs on this house, except in the hottest of summer days. Old Man Winter, on the other hand, holds a mighty grip down here without the aid of a fire to keep us warm.

Finally, I am awaiting the arrival of my new lathe for the workshop. It made it to Chicago, and has apparently stopped in transit there. Today is the third day the transport company’s horse has rested. I called them yesterday, but the agent could only attach a memo. She said then she expects it will be delivered on Tuesday. Sooner the better! I am eager to get to work! There is a lot to learn. There is a lot to make! I have pieces lined up in the shop that I want to replicate. Those will help prepare me to start making my own, and then replicate entire furnishings from days gone by.

Finally, weather being what it is, suddenly, I guess it is best time for me to get the firewood pile finished. Maybe we will have a more normal winter? ’17 was rough. That one gave us a lot of snowfall. Cache Valley wise, it is due for another.

Today’s Been Cool

With a cool day on us, I took it fairly easy today. I did a run to the dump to drop off some boxes and junk that needed to part ways with us, then ran to the store a moment. After that, it was home again, and lunch and then the girls had class and I took off out back to sort out something.

We have a bunch of really ratty old windows from the 80’s, aluminum frames and double panes with massive water stains between them. They were beyond hope, and beyond ugly. Not worth putting to use anywhere, even a greenhouse. So, I shot them. My youngest wanted to be out there to watch it happen. Well, I have a fairly powerful pellet gun for sorting out predators that can’t be sorted out any other way, and I know better than to foolishly have a kid running around while shooting. So I took care of breaking out the glass from the aluminum frames with the pellet gun while my youngest was in class. I still have not told her, either. Most of it was tempered glass, but there were two panes from large old sliding doors that would not break, and the shot unexpectedly ricocheted off it like one in an old west movie. I was glad she was not there for that! I’ll clean up the glass tomorrow and get the aluminum up to the salvage yard soon.

I did some practice work in the woodshop tonight. I did some dovetails and I made a concealed mortice and tenon joint. They are rough, but they are better than my first attempts, and not as good as the next ones I will do.

The weather will be cooler tomorrow. I better go shut off the frost free hydrant so it does not get inclined to burst on us where the water is stopped in the water timer attached to it. No good having to fix a busted water pipe right now!

Two Pigs Sold

Today the people who bought the pigs the other day came to pick them up. That’s two down and two males to go, which is great, because they cannot possibly become pregnant or get any other thing on the farm pregnant, either. There is no way we get swamped with pigs again! No more worrying about that fence between the pens. And I have moved the two males into the pen the females were in, which is more secure, so no more worrying about the boys getting out! The guys who picked up the girls today said that in a week or two they expect one of their friends to come and get the males from us, too. I will keep them listed, of course, but if he does, that is good enough for me.

I think that per pound, pigs are by far the most expensive animal to keep on the farm. For four small pigs, we were buying eight 80 pound bags of feed at about $16 each per month. That works out to about $128 per month before Uncle Sam puts in his bill. They were eating a little over 5# per day by that reckoning. I am sure glad to have this at least part way off our feed bill. There is enough in the bins right now for the pigs to go a full month from now without buying more. This coming new month will be pretty cheap compared to where we were in the springtime!

After I moved the boys into the girl’s pen, I took their old pen apart, and gave the llama pen more space for now. I am using the old fence from the pen to reinforce some of the weak points in the property boundary fence. I was able to put both of the water barrels into the pen with the boys, and I will repurpose the extra house for the dog to use in place of the one he has had. Hopefully that will be a huge improvement for him!

Finally, a quick mention. The temperatures are going to drop over the next two days, with the highs in the 50’s and the low’s dropping into the low thirties, even below freezing! Nice way to ring out summer!