hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

Hahaha that's too funny, FEM!
I don't really enjoy washing eggs. The sink is deep, and my back and knees end up hurting pretty quickly. Thankfully it's only a couple dozen, not like the 10 or 12 dozen at a time that it used to be. The new girls haven't started laying yet, so it wasn't bad. We pretty much sold out every day so I had to keep up with it to have anything at all for sale.
Yesterday the weather was CRAPPY. It was rainy in the morning, and then the cold front blew in and it got COLD. The wind was just icy! And when I started opening up the chickens, I realized the net blew down on their yard. Of course it was the coop with the mean rooster. And of course he was right out there with his ladies having a grand old time walking around outside the net. Thankfully I remembered there were a few extra bags of greens that were probably bad, so I grabbed them, and started calling all the chickens and tossing the greens into the yard away from where the fence was down. I was able to get them back in, and distracted for a few seconds so I could get to the fence and get it back up off the ground. Of course, I'm trying to hold it up, it's about 4 posts worth that blew down, and about that time Basil (pronounced Baa-sil as opposed to Bay-sil) sees me and comes zooming across the yard. He's still featherless for the most part, and he looks terrible. He eyes me up and then takes a lunge at me. So now I have to kick at this cussed rooster through the net while I'm trying to make sure that no other chickens get out or get caught in it. Thinking back, I should have just flipped the whole net down on top of him and left him there while I went to get the other posts set up and eventually it would have lifted off of him again. I wish he would get a new rooster, and quietly dispatch of Basil because I hate always looking over my shoulder. I love animals. I do not love animals that I can't trust.

Saturday I had a FANTASTIC first lesson of the year with KN. The weather was PERFECT, and I was able to ride out in Storm's pasture. He's lost a LOT of weight because I'm a bad horse mom and forgot to have his teeth done last year, so I have to call the dentist this week. He's eating me out of house and home at the moment, and I've got to get that fixed! I was just thrilled with how thoughtful Storm was, and KN noted that he was doing several things that he hasn't done before, so that was great. He is really working hard to find his balance, which I love. She's back in 2 weeks due to the schedule being wonky, so I have to figure out how I can get some work in between now and then.

We got the shed floor built this weekend! It went really quick!! We had the bricks set for the footers, and so it was just a matter of getting the wood put on top. We're gonna need a ramp to get into it though... oops. Didn't really think that part through when he decided to put 4x6's down with 2x6's on top... LOL. Next step is to get the old shed cleaned out so we can start dismantling it. I'm SO ready to get this project rolling! We have a little rain coming this week, but I don't think it will be bad, so we should be able to get the shed cleaned out soon and then get started on the next steps. I'm hoping that we can get it cleaned out this week (maybe after the rain I guess) and then it taken apart this weekend so we can start getting the frame moved over and getting it rebuilt. We will have to make a dump run (probably more than one) to get rid of the old parts and the old floor that we're not going to use, so maybe we can get ourselves organized to do that early on Saturday. It's annoying that the dump has such limited hours, but I get it. I wish the truck were more reliable and I could drive it because that would help a lot, too, but it is what it is.

That's about all there is to update at this point. We still have to figure out how to clean out Cowboy and Coyote's paddock. We need to make a trip up to the tractor place and see what they can tell us about pricing to figure out if this is going to work or not. Hopefully we can get that done this week, too. Oh, and the BF got a 2 loads of cut tree from a coworker. So now we have wood to split, too... As if there weren't enough to do. I'm glad that we're getting started early, though, because I don't want to end up running out of wood again like we did this year!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ya'll are always making progress...that's a good thing! I know you will be thrilled to get the shed job finished. Good luck on getting all that wood split - it will help ease your mind going into next winter.

 

[hqueen13]

Yall!!!!! We're getting a tractor!!!!!!!!!!
Sooooooo SH (Cowboy and Coyote's owner) talked, and he and I came up with a bit of a plan to get the manure cleaned up. KD, the hay guy, has told us we can use his bobcat any time to help clear it out, and we can dump the manure over at his place as much as we want since he's got a big farm. Honestly, we can use the manure, so that's not really that much of an issue, we just have to figure out how to spread it first.
Ok, but that aside, SH and I talked, and we agreed that for the initial clean up, and he wants new stone dust put down and some repair work done, we'll start with figuring out how much time it takes, and then come up with an hourly rate from there. Once we have that established, then we'll do a monthly rate for the management since it will be a lot easier. I'm going to make him an offer of two options, and see which one he likes. One way will be to keep paying me for exactly the days they're away, and then just a monthly rate for the manure removal. The other way will be to go to a monthly fee for all of it, based on the average of their travel time over the course of the last year. That will basically mean I'll be on retainer, and if I'm not available I'll make arrangements for someone else to be there. I would rather have the second option because then I know I have reliable income coming in every month, which will help me get myself organized better, and reduce my stress level. So that's my preference, but I don't know if he'll want to do it because I know sometimes they pay me out of the business account, and sometimes out of their personal account. So I don't know what he'll want to do.
But the cool thing is that the tractor will be pretty much entirely paid for out of what they pay us. We spoke with the Deere dealer last night, and the sales guy actually recommended a smaller tractor than what the BF originally looked at. He gave us the specs and said that the smaller tractor is a better buy, and for the cost difference, you don't get a whole lot more power/size/payload/etc out of the slightly bigger size. I'm like well, ok, that works for me. It's ME sized!!! It's so stinking cute!! And for all the attachments that we want to get right away, it's only going to cost us about $275/month once we make the down payment, which we should be able to make the down payment from what we make off of the initial manure removal, or at least really close to it. In order to get it going as quickly as possible, we'll take some cash that the BF has, and then I'll pay him back from the business when that happens. I need to email my accountant today with a couple of questions to make sure we handle this appropriately, but it shouldn't be that difficult to set up at all. The monthly payments are reasonable, and it is a zero interest plan, so that's awesome. I can't wait to be able to do what we need to do OURSELVES without borrowing equipment, and without needing to ask somebody else to take care of it for us. Oh, and it's ME sized, so I'll be able to drive it easily! And it's hydrostatic, so no clutch, either! If we go ahead and commit this week, we should have it in about 2 weeks, he said if we wait, it'll be over a month due to the demand, and their open house that's this weekend, which is how we're also getting an extra $500 off the price!

 

[sumi]

All this sounds wonderful! Yay on the tractor! I learned to drive on one, they are so awesome and you can do so much with them!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Tractor envy here!!!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yay tractor! Our lives have been immensely easier since we got ours, even if it is tiny. We're anti-John Deere here, lol, but a tractor is awesome regardless!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Yay tractor! Our lives have been immensely easier since we got ours, even if it is tiny. We're anti-John Deere here, lol, but a tractor is awesome regardless!

What brand do you favor? What size/model do you have, and what do you have for equipment to go with it?

 

[NH Homesteader]

We have Kubota. Kubota, Kioti, Mahindra, all good. John Deere doesn't let you buy all the parts and work on your own equipment. Not cool. Not sure what model ours is, DH is the tractor person in the house.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Kubota is a big name here.

 

[NH Homesteader]

They're great, Kioti is a slightly cheaper machine but the exact same thing like Lexus/Toyota or Audi/VW. My stepdad and neighbor have Mahindras and they're good too.