Never a dull moment

Kaboom. This is the oak that fell next to the old red shed.

In the first photo, you can see the wood stacked up by Olive

and her hubby in late April.
A slippery elm fell over after
a wet heavy snowfall.

The old oak fell right on a metal fence post and drove it another foot into the ground. The thing I love about my enduro soft fencing is that I can repair it so easily. I just rerouted the fence to go around the fallen tree and it was all good until my neighbor came down.

This photo shows the base of the tree. The one part that is leaning to the right is also dead and hung up in another oak. It may come down yet this winter or years from now. There is nothing holding it in the ground.

My neighbor and I decided to just ignore that for now. I will have to hunt around and get someone with some equipment and insurance to come out and do some work for me.  A dozer could push the whole works over and be done with it.

As it is, it may one day fall and crush my little shed.

Justin did some quick and hard work. He also set aside some nice oak firewood that he'll pick up at some point.

I spent all day cutting up branches with a nipper and rolling rotten chunks of wood to the fire. At least it was 34 degrees out so it was comfortable working hard. I am pooped! 

Tomorrow the neighborhood children will come to trick or treat and show Rich and I their costumes! What nice people I have on our road! Parents making sure that the housebound veteran gets to see kids in costumes. I am really quite lucky. There are 3 homes on our ridge that have children now. What a delight. 

Charlie got a costume to greet children with.
HE is not impressed.

Then he yawned and I got this! He looks frightening. But he isn't.

My cellphone catches more than one shot when the subject is moving. I thought the yawning was hilarious.

Never a dull moment at our place.

Ticks Fences Baskets Toys

Oh well, I had a few things to mull over this Sunday. 

Fences
I worked outside all day yesterday in the cold and damp. I had fencing to fix and posts that were bent a bit. I had an idea to make a goat pen behind one of the sheds that is too hard to mow.

Below is a junction of our fences inside our hard wire fence. I have rotational sections. This old tree fell on the one fence and blasted off the insulators but just stretched the hot wire. Since I can't run a chain saw my solution is simple. Replace the insulators and splice the hotwire after cutting it and pulling it out from under the rotten log.

The 'pasture' here may not look like much but it will green up with things the mules think are tasty. The Dexter cattle ate all weeds as did the Donkeys when I had them. The donkeys stripped all the briers and ate the leaves off from the burdock. 

So the critters alternate through six fenced pastures. 3 heavily wooded pastures and 3 grassy pastures.

Ok. I walked and walked with my insulators and replaced all the ones busted up by deer and whatnot. Not bad for the winter. Only 5 needed replacing. No broken hotwire. I reset several posts and of course got sidetracked by cool little things.

I was curious about a plant I found that was in a few spots that are used as 'lanes' for the skid steer and the 4 wheeler.
It is called Shephard's Purse and is only around for about 3 to 4 weeks and spreads seeds like crazy. It is part of the mustard family and can make can be a livestock  diarrheic if consumed.

I ended up working outside in the woods for quite a few hours. The new goat/pony pen was tested and completed. I strung new wire to the main gate and replaced the handle.

Ticks. 

I follow a strict rule of taking all of my woodland clothes off after being out in the thick of it. I generally take a shower but didn't last night. Yep. I had a tick this morning on my scalp. I had to meet the neighbor out in her yard with tweezers and sanitizer gel. 

All done and taken care of. [Yes, there is an ick factor right?]

Baskets
A blog I read asked 'What is in your Basket?' from equine expressions... and I had to actually smile because I have the same basket she took a photo of. I mean how on earth could that be? Mine was given to me by my cousin and it was full of 'stuff' from my Aunt's house that no one wanted. 

I repurposed it. Um. With toys. The dragons are missing from this basket as they were in a backpack from a past excursion. Don't laugh. These toys have come in handy when my little Grands visited. I'm going to sort through them and package them up for them now that they have moved to Montana.

I have a small basket that is on a wooden stand next to the porch door. It holds Charlie's special outdoor beeper/buzz/vibrate collar and its remote control. It holds a night light that I can put on my head. It has shoestrings in it too. I'm not even sure why I have them. But dang, they could be useful.

I see Charlie's harness and an old plastic snack bag that I reuse often to put tiny dog treats in.
I guess we could call it a Charlie Basket!

[The rattle of plastic brings Charlie in on the run. He is very food driven.]

There is a tiny teddy bear and last year's KVR pass.

Brawn and Brains

The picnic table will get the chainsaw treatment...safely by my neighbor. This was project #2. The ancient glider that was rusted through.

Hubby bought this in 1998 and it was aged then. I painted it a few times and finally just gave up on it. For several years it has just been moved from spot to spot to mow around. No adults really sat in it ever. The kids love it and after the last time kids nearly tipped it over, I figured it needed to be dismantled.

I got out the handy dandy 7/16 inch wrench and 3 got bolts off. None of the other nut thingys would budge. With quiet determination and lots of rolling sweat, I began to saw and rip the old wood away from the bolts.
Charlie supervised.
Again.
No cuss words.

Now to bend the metal at it's stress points and make it smaller so I can toss it away.

Next on my agenda was fencing in the forest. I need/want to stay busy and productive.

The 4 wheeler loaded with fencing supplies and a partial bucket full of pasture grass seed. I'm seeding the 'ridge road' that was re-dozed by my farmer friend.

I want to get the mules into the forest to browse on the undergrowth. I used to have donkeys, mules, and horses in the forest but after 2007, the repairs were just too overwhelming for my husband.

My idea is to do a bit at a time. I'm using electric braid fencing which is easy to manipulate and string. The hard part is pounding the t-posts and carrying the post pounder along with all the posts into the woods.
Hah! I now know how the 4 wheeler operates so I can use the trailer to transport the items I need instead of hiking back and forth, I can use my time more wisely.

Bless the person who invented these little pound in posts. That means a lot less pounding of the T-posts and less pain to those arthritic hand joints. I must laugh though. Yes it hurts sometimes a lot. But my OT person said "Use it ... or Lose it."
I'm using those hands.

I had a round about discussion with my neighbor regarding fencing and straight lines. I argued that yes...he could saw down a tree if it was in his way. However, I'll use that tree with a temporary nail in insulator and make my fence according to ease of use and the lay of the land.

My idea was to use my brains to make things easier for me. He wanted [as my husband used to do...] perfect straight lines. I argued straight lines are for line fences and not 'sections'.

He promised to help.
Yep.
I got this too.

I'll take a photo of this area after the mules have been in for a week or two and see if you can spot the difference.
Tomorrow, if it isn't pouring cats and dogs, I will string the soft wire.

I must be getting much stronger. A year ago, I couldn't squeeze the hand break on the 4 wheeler, I'd given up all thought of ever operating it. My Occupational Therapist told me to work my hands. I did. Out of necessity I've worked my hands, elbow, and shoulders. I'm stronger now than I've been in a few years.

Yesterday I unloaded 50 bales of hay and stacked it in the shed. I felt fine after that. However I did take breaks often.

Tonight was another story. I couldn't for the life of me, sit inside the house after supper and let daylight fade away.
I went out to the garden and picked.

I tossed weeds over the fence to the mules. They liked it.

I picked an ice cream pail of green beans and set them on the porch.

I asked Rich to come out and see the beans. He hesitated, I told him the temperature was fantastic on the porch. He and Charlie came out.
I started to snap the ends off. I have time tomorrow afternoon to blanch the green beans and freeze them.

Rich surprised me by sitting on the bench that my Kenosha Gang made for us...he asked if he could help with the green beans.

We spent an hour in silence. Listening to the birds, the cattle, and the mules all make their evening noises as we silently snapped beans together.

And it was good.

This is a plus in my book. He is taking interest, he is participating. He doesn't see it as a big deal, but I do.

Charlie observed.

So I count this day as a good one.

It started with a gorgeous sunrise....


And ended with a warm and loving sunset...

No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.
~~Aesop

Meanwhile at the Farm

Here is hubby with his new spring haircut and beard trim visiting with his mom who is in rehab for a fall she had at the beginning of the month. The staff a Vernon Manor have been stellar. She's had intense Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy along with decent meals and her meds have been monitored.

The difference from before her fall to now is pretty amazing. Yet the woman of course is set in her ways. She is set to be released on Good Friday. I am of the opinion that she needs 24 hr supervision. Mostly because we've discovered that her mobility is still and issue [but good enough for Medicare standards] and her memory is a huge issue [but not 'bad' enough to warrant skilled care].
Medicare will only pay for up to 30 days in a Skilled Nursing Facility, thus the other reason for her release.


That is all on that front.

Hank is now a confirmed steer. He and his mom Stella will be moving to a larger pasture on Good Friday. They will share a fence line with Stella's old pasture mates. Hank will be 3 months old tomorrow. He and Charlie share a birthdate.

After a few weeks of being reacquainted with a fence in between them, they will go into the larger dry lot to await pasture rotation once the woods pastures begin to green up.

I've spent the past few days removing worn out soft braid wire and replacing it. All five of of pastures now that are in rotation have been 'Dexterized'. The Dexters clean the woods of berry briers and brambles along with eating ragweed and burdock.
The mules eat what the Dexters don't and we end up with a great way of keeping the woods and noxious weeds under control.

The 'other' usual suspects. The red headed sisters, the bay horse we call 15 and Fred hovering in back. Missing is the grey mule, Mica who was over eating hay in the feeder. I'd just finished up a session with the shedding blade and I am again their best-est ever friend.
Sundance is on the right, she is the younger mule who will get her education this year.

I worked with Charlie in the cold wind to string new wire and test the fence. I needed one lower line for the Dexter cattle.
Charlie is a very distracted helper. He was more interested in the mud he could get into and chewing on clumps of grass.

I had his new super-light weight cord on him so he couldn't just take off.
He made multiple trips with me to the large shed and back to the pasture. The cold wind didn't seem to bother him as he was 'busy' discovering the world.

The pastures had been set up for equine. I'd come up with a rotation plan and my husband actually agreed to it.
Since his stroke last May, I've been left to more and more of the decisions.

The remainder of the Dexter herd will be trucked out and sold at local auction. The two large bulls we have will be sent off for meat and sold.

I found a new cord for Charlie. It is super lightweight. However he doesn't seem to mind dragging it or allowing me to guide him with it as a leash. The new cord is a piece of my clothesline. It works very well.

However, Charlie is a master at getting into small places and thinking it is a game.
He is still very young so I don't get too upset with him. He is still a pup. The outdoor world is a huge adventure and his acute sense of smell leads him astray...well, astray in only human terms. If I had his sense of smell I'd probably have to investigate every mouse, deer, rabbit, and squirrel smell I came across too.

This weekend ought to be a wild one. My Kenosha Gang is coming up Thursday night to spend the weekend. We'll be coloring eggs and doing some farm work. I don't know what I'd do without these helping hands!

Charlie always seems to come up with a good solution for busy days. Cuddle up and take a nap!

Crazy

Wednesday:Trees fall down...
We have had so much rain this month that trees are just tipping over. Of course most of the mess is behind our little red shed.
This has been a problem all summer long since the giant oak fell over. The oak fell on a box elder and split it and took three other trees and bent them over at the same time.

One locust was damaged, an elm lost its top and was caught up in another small oak tree.
That one decided to just complete its fall the day before yesterday.

I did what any person with electric rope fencing might do. I restrung it over and under the downed trees.
Fence restored and ready for the next small disaster.

I spent most of the afternoon cutting weeds off from the cattle's wood pasture fence. I've given up on maintaining the Merry Meadow, Rich can't trim the pasture with the tractor and brush hog this year. I'm pulling the mules out of there as the pasture is not very good and very weedy.
The burdock is getting pretty bad there too. I have 5 mules with burdock tails to clean up.

I won't put them back in that section again. The Meadow is not our land but we have kept it mowed and cleaned for over 10 years so that the absent landowner could drive through it during deer hunting season.

Now absent landowner wants to charge us for keeping the weeds clipped and grazing it.
Since we sold off most of the equine, there is no reason to keep trying to maintain land that isn't ours.

Saturday morning was incredible. I didn't think I'd go up to the ridge to watch the sun come up, but for some reason I decided to go and take a peek.
It was worth the effort.

I tried a new method of trying to catch both the sunrise and the foreground with the camera.

I liked this result. I focused for the sky for shot number one, and focused on the soybeans for shot number two. I used a tripod of course to keep things steady.
I merged the two shots together and am pleased with the outcome.

When I drove back to the house I was met by Little Richard, the guard pony. What a hoot. He has no fear of machinery or vehicles. I love it that he will stand in the driveway and wait for you to come out and pet him.
He will move then.

On Thursday we went fishing. Rich loves to fish. I know there are things I need to be doing at home but since his stroke Rich finds fishing to be comforting and peaceful.

And Friday night we ate like Kings. Fresh produce from the garden along with fresh fried pan fish and ... a first for us...Catfish!

Saturday was bug catching day with the neighbor kids. I went hiking at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve afterwards.

I know my sequence of events are not in order. But I sure have had a busy and productive few days.

Today is adventure day at Awesome Creek. Since the last flash flood there is an area that was created that will be perfect for young children to play and splash in. No large boulders, just sand and small pebbles.

Which reminds me. I need to take a bucket to collect some small pebbles.

Let's go fencing!

We don't have the normal pastures, no nice flat land, no nice even terrain.  Steep hills, steep terrain and a lot of woods.

The downed trees were supposed to be moved, and piled but since hubby had to put these things off due to going for cancer treatment, I decided to go ahead and fence around and through the 'downed' stuff.

The mules need to get back in this section of the woods and do some cleaning. After a year's rest, many areas had grown back with lots of grass and good mule browsing.

At the upper end of the property Annie, Speedy [the calf], and Valerie watched me set up the connections for the new fence on the wooden post.

All that is left for me to do is run the Enduro-soft electric fence.  The breaking strength is 1800 lbs and has a life time of up to 25 years.
The fencing is pricey, but I've had trees fall on it and it didn't break the fence, but did stretch it.

The fence is like a soft rope and can be used as a permanent fence.

We use a combination on some of our fences. Here is a sample of what we use around the cattle's meadow.

Once I finish this project I have only one left.

We also use electric to keep our animals off from the line fence which is barbed wire.

It works great.

Since I have become the 'head' fencer this summer, I've enjoyed the work.

Soon we'll have the last of the mules on summer pasture.

SHHH, don't tell my husband that I actually have enjoyed this work. The only really difficult part was carrying everything to the woods and using the old method of 'post pounding' to set the posts.

Well...it can keep an old lady in shape!