punkin
Don't Quote Me
What a great time you must have had climbing trees. I think that is very self sufficient. Had fun and it didn't cost a dime, did it?
Patandchickens' journal - please think good thoughts for my cat!
- Thread starter patandchickens
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Henrietta23
Yard Farmer
I miss having a climbing tree in the yard. Ours are all too big. I had a willow that I lived in as a kid. I grew up in suburbia but there was a farm at the end of our road. One day I was in my tree and I heard a kid shouting, "Pa, the cow's a-calvin'!" Not something you everyday in central CT!! My son would love to have a tree to climb!
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patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
I am just posting to pat myself on the back (since nobody in this house could care less) on having Gotten Things Done, big time, this weekend.
Yesterday just before dinner I got the clear plastic stapled onto the front chicken run so they will be dry and warm for winter (I am hoping to gain some coop heating from it as well, tho am not certain how that will work).
Today, I:
- checked the attic, found a couple previously undetected leaks around the chimney and did temporary damage-control on them (the big one from the other day SEEMS to have stopped, post-caulking, keeping fingers crossed)
- dug the remaining 50' or so of new ditch to drain the lake that forms behind the barn (only 1 shovel wide at the moment, but flowing *briskly*, and a good thing too b/c we've had over an inch of rain and another half inch or more is expected tonight)
- nearly finished digging out the snaggly old chainlink fence that some doofus put up behind the former manure pile and it's pretty well buried in compost, dirt and grass roots by now,
- dug a 30' trench in the back yard, across the berm of what was a standardbred training track about 30 years ago and builds up a heckuva lake behind it (and this was not just a regular ditch - I peeled back the turf in both directions, about 4' wide, then dug the ditch, and replaced the turf, so it is not an open muddy trench - eventually I want it to be a wider swale but this will be good enough for 'proof of concept' this winter)
and
- disassembled a 700 lb lg square bale (it is too muddy and rainy to get our full hay delivery but I have run out of grazing so the hay guy came and tipped one bale off the back of his truck) and wheelbarrowed it down the driveway and into the barn, in separate flakes, so now we have at least SOME hay on the property <whew> .
(I am still worried about hay, though -- we MUST get the full load, 17 more big squares and 2 roundbales, in before we leave to visit my folks in PA on Dec 5... but the hay guy SWEARS he will find time. Hope the weather cooperates...)
Mind, I have still not transplanted the weenie little plants living in the coldframe, as per my lists on the 'procrrastination' thread a few weeks ago
However, this is several BIG BIG things ticked off my list of things that gotta happen before winter 
Pat
Yesterday just before dinner I got the clear plastic stapled onto the front chicken run so they will be dry and warm for winter (I am hoping to gain some coop heating from it as well, tho am not certain how that will work).
Today, I:
- checked the attic, found a couple previously undetected leaks around the chimney and did temporary damage-control on them (the big one from the other day SEEMS to have stopped, post-caulking, keeping fingers crossed)
- dug the remaining 50' or so of new ditch to drain the lake that forms behind the barn (only 1 shovel wide at the moment, but flowing *briskly*, and a good thing too b/c we've had over an inch of rain and another half inch or more is expected tonight)
- nearly finished digging out the snaggly old chainlink fence that some doofus put up behind the former manure pile and it's pretty well buried in compost, dirt and grass roots by now,
- dug a 30' trench in the back yard, across the berm of what was a standardbred training track about 30 years ago and builds up a heckuva lake behind it (and this was not just a regular ditch - I peeled back the turf in both directions, about 4' wide, then dug the ditch, and replaced the turf, so it is not an open muddy trench - eventually I want it to be a wider swale but this will be good enough for 'proof of concept' this winter)
and
- disassembled a 700 lb lg square bale (it is too muddy and rainy to get our full hay delivery but I have run out of grazing so the hay guy came and tipped one bale off the back of his truck) and wheelbarrowed it down the driveway and into the barn, in separate flakes, so now we have at least SOME hay on the property <whew> .
(I am still worried about hay, though -- we MUST get the full load, 17 more big squares and 2 roundbales, in before we leave to visit my folks in PA on Dec 5... but the hay guy SWEARS he will find time. Hope the weather cooperates...)
Mind, I have still not transplanted the weenie little plants living in the coldframe, as per my lists on the 'procrrastination' thread a few weeks ago
However, this is several BIG BIG things ticked off my list of things that gotta happen before winter Pat
miss_thenorth
Frugal Homesteader
First of all I have to say way to go!!!!!! Then I would hafta say WOW. I tried digging trenches last year, and had two freinds to help. Not easy work. We have had our share of rain, thankfully we put in drainage tile last spring, but we still have some serious ponds.
Have you used the clear plastic before for the chicken coop? We have some and I was going to do it, but hubby thought it wouldn't last long in the wind. I was waiting for tarps to go on sale to winterize the coop. (the birds don't venture out much in the winter). Just curious to know your experience with the clear plastic.
Congrats on all your work. You deserve a "Pat" on the back!
Have you used the clear plastic before for the chicken coop? We have some and I was going to do it, but hubby thought it wouldn't last long in the wind. I was waiting for tarps to go on sale to winterize the coop. (the birds don't venture out much in the winter). Just curious to know your experience with the clear plastic.
Congrats on all your work. You deserve a "Pat" on the back!
dacjohns
Our Frustrated Curmudgeon
Wow. Can you come to my house? I wouldn't mind some help.
Okiemommy
Supermom
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No entries since November 15th? You okay Pat? Are ya still with the Fam? Anywho I just jumped on here and started a journal a couple of days ago, and was waiting for your informative and helpful face to jump on any time. 
Miss ya. And I knew (besides other obvious reasons) there was a reason I liked ya so much. You have PA Dutch Roots. Me too. My grandparents and great-grandparents several generations back are PA Dutch. I don't have them anymore though.
Miss ya. And I knew (besides other obvious reasons) there was a reason I liked ya so much. You have PA Dutch Roots. Me too. My grandparents and great-grandparents several generations back are PA Dutch. I don't have them anymore though. 
