Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[Denim Deb]

I think I have more chiggers.

 

[Denim Deb]

OK, I want to know, since it's not's Friday, how I managed to kinda sorta trade places w/Pinky. Got up this morning, got all ready to leave and couldn't find the head band I wanted to wear under my helmet. (If I don't wear something over my ears, I'll get an earache.) Finally gave up looking, decided I'd wear a thinner one than I'd plan, get all my stuff together and find it! W/where it was, if it was a snake, it would have bit me!

Since I spent all that time looking, I got out to the farm late. So, I was kind of rushing to get everything done. Fed CL's horses, but forgot to tie them, so I can only hope the one horse got to eat his feed. The chicks had managed to get their waterer completely full of dirt. So, all they had for water was mud. Opened the gate, get that out, shut that gate, and went to clean it up and fill it. Forgot to shut the adults in. So, I get back w/the water and find the rest of the flock out. Give the chicks their water, feed them, then get out my scratch grains and start calling them. They all come running, but 2 of them couldn't figure out how to get in. I had to chase them in.

My guys are almost out of hay. Plus, they somehow or another managed to partially dismantle the RB feeder. I thought I had more nuts, bolts and washers but couldn't find them. So, that meant I had to take one out to take to the store so I could buy more. It wasn't easy to get it out-especially since I had 2 horses trying to help.

Get to work. We had an open program today w/about 14 people signed up. Well, we had about 2x that many! We were doing a lake study. That's one of the most popular lessons we do, but we NEVER had that many people.

Get back in the nature center, and after lunch, I managed to hit my head on something. So, that really made me wonder if I had changed places w/Pinky.

 

[Dawn419]

Hope tomorrow goes better for you!

 

[Denim Deb]

By the time I got to the store, got all the stuff I needed to fix the RB feeder, fix it and then get hay out not only for my guys, but for all the other herds, then get home, it was almost 8:00! I'm hoping tomorrow is better. I'm taking off the afternoon so I can go back in the evening to help w/a group coming in to go kaynoeing. Having me there in the evening will be more of a help to JT than to be there in the afternoon-plus more fun. (Especially since this group normally brings goodies w/them to share. )

 

[moolie]

It sucks when something that seems simple takes way longer than you expect

Enjoy your time off today

 

[Denim Deb]

It sucks when something that seems simple takes way longer than you expect

Enjoy your time off today

It shouldn't have taken that long to get the hay out. I love RU, but at times she can be in her own world. (I tell her it's cuz she's a blonde. ) I called her during my lunch break to be sure that the tractor was running, that it had gas and let her know when I'd be there. It's much easier to put hay out w/2 people. I get there, and her husband was fixing the power washer. Then, she started to power wash stuff and didn't want to stop because she wasn't sure she could get it to start again! I did everything else I could and she STILL wasn't done! So, she suggested I put gas in the tractor and get started, then when she was done, she'd help. So, instead of just opening and closing gates and moving tarps off of hay, I was doing it all. I did all the easy herds first, but I still had to get down a few times, then I got a bale for my guys. And that's when RU was able to help. She opened and closed the gate to my horses.

Today felt kind of weird. I'm not used to being home at that time. I wanted to goof off, get on the computer and play, etc but was afraid I'd lose track of time. So, I did some house work. We almost didn't get to go out. There were some very isolated thunderstorms in the area. We could hear thunder so waited. We got out on the lake later than we'd plan, but were kind of glad we did. For the first time we saw the beavers. I'm hoping to go out somenight and see if I get a better view of them, maybe get some pics.

It's getting late. I need to finish reading on here and get to bed.

 

[SSDreamin]

I love watching beavers work, but man they can mess up a good thing! We looked at a 35 acre property once - a beaver dam had flooded almost 20 acres. I don't know how it works elsewhere but here, you can't 'encourage them to leave' and get the land back :/ Decided to pass on that property!

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

Beavers are amazing. Glad you got to see them.

btw: I do the same thing with looking for stuff all the time with my car keys. :/

 

[Denim Deb]

I love watching beavers work, but man they can mess up a good thing! We looked at a 35 acre property once - a beaver dam had flooded almost 20 acres. I don't know how it works elsewhere but here, you can't 'encourage them to leave' and get the land back :/ Decided to pass on that property!

I don't know what the regulations are here, either. But, they're becoming more and more of a problem. I know of 3 lakes that you can no longer canoe upstream because of the beavers and have no idea how many more are affected. I do plan on going out late one afternoon (after I'm done working) and seeing if I can get some pics. It will mean just sitting there very quietly, and hoping I get to see them.

I'm trying to figure out where the summer has gone. I only have 1 more week left of work. It just doesn't seem possible.

 

[Denim Deb]

Today I had a fairly good day. I had to go to the feed store and get a bag of feed for Stormy. And, even though I didn't quite need it, I also got goat and rabbit feed as well as a big bag of horse treats. Buying that big bag is going to save me a ton of money! It cost just a little more than some of the smaller bags of treats! And, the horses seem to like them, so I don't need to buy them any more carrots, apples or other treats! (OK, I'd admit it, they're spoiled. ) I decided since I had to take the truck I was also going to take out some sand. I'm tired of taking sand out by the bucketfuls. So, hubby and I shoveled a bunch of sand into the bed of the pickup and I took that out. I also took my generator and chainsaw.

Got my feed (it's all gone up by at least 50 cents a bag! ), and headed to the farm. I got everyone fed and while they were eating, I got the truck in the field. (Meant I didn't have to chase horses away from the gate since they were all busy eating. I needed to refill the water trough. There were some weeds growing behind it, so I decided I was going to get rid of them first, then scrub the trough, then refill it. Got them out, scrub the trough and started to refill it. And while it was filling, I got rid of all the weeds growing along the front of the barn as well as in the small space between the barn and the trough. It looks so much better.

Once the horses were done eating, I let Misty out, then moved the truck a bit, and got started. I got the area all filled in! Now I just need it to rain so I can see whether or not I need to take out more sand! Later in the day, I took the rest of the sand and put it in a puddle in the parking area. I even swept out the back of my truck! Bed of my truck hasn't been this clean in years!

Next thing I worked on was trimming trees. There's a whole line of white pines along the road. And most of them had branches that were just too low. In places, they just cleared the fence. Plus, once I start getting hay stored, they're in the way for stacking it. So, I got started on trimming them back. Didn't get all done, but made a good start on it. Some of it I've brought home for the goats-they're happy. I'll be bringing more home each time I have the truck, then when it's all gone, I'll do some more work.

And, I got started on putting the wire fencing on my gates. I had to get rid of weeds in front of the one gate, but I got the wire up. I have one more I HAVE to do, as well as nail some boards to some of the fence posts where the gap between the post and the gate is pretty wide. But, I should get that all done soon, which will mean I can finally let my chickens out!

Came home, and took a nice long nap. Now I'm sitting back relaxing. We have a chance to get some rain, so I'm just sitting here waiting for it. It's cloudy and cooler out, so that's a GOOD thing.