Busy day

The other morning, before my appointment, I went to feed the girls and they were in a place they weren't exactly supposed to be in. All I had to do to get them back was rattle the feed bin and bring out their hay. 

[BW shot with my Infrared Camera out the door]

I just shut them in this large paddock until I could get out to check fences.

The culprits of fence wrecking showed up the next morning.

We did end up counting over 30 deer congregated by the place where our fence and two other neighbor fences intersect.

Well after breakfast, I went out and fixed about 500 feet of hot wire. The barbed wire fence that belongs to the guy west of me is bent over and mostly broken. He knows it is a mess, but he sold his cattle and so he basically doesn't care. 

That said, I don't mind either because I use a hot wire on the inside of his barbed wire. Hot wire was the only way we could keep our jumping mules in our pasture as they were taught to jump fences. That is a competition with a history of hunting behind it. 

The mules I have left don't jump fences. But keeping them out of tangled barbed wire is my goal.

Winter Pasture

The winter pasture looks flat, but it isn't, there are a lot of trees, nooks, and crannies to go around.

Below, my fencing supplies.

It wasn't that hard to repair the fence since I use a fence product that is easy to put back together. By the time I finished in my chore boots, my feet were chilled.

But I had a couple of more spots to take care of before quitting. You know, once you start a job, you finish it before having to put all the supplies away again.

I'll just have to keep a closer eye on the deer. 

After lunch, I decided to get outside as it was so warm! 22 F or -5 C. I'd been bummed about the 'order' not to 'go' hiking so Charlie and I decided to go for a 'walk'. Semantics, it works for me. 

I dusted off my Infrared Camera and thought it would be interesting to see how things looked in a different light. 

Finally an hour to myself to relax! No phone calls to answer, no appointments to work out, no deliveries of meds that need to be signed for. Just me and my little dog.

We went down the good part of the trail to the creek.  It looks quite different with the snow on it. I like to try and get out to 'shoot' this trail before the critters mark it up with footprints. 

That little black dot is Charlie watching 8 deer running up the hill from the valley below.

I turned around and hot straight up the trail. Yep, one isn't supposed to do that with a camera, it causes a lot of sun flares especially when you are using an Infrared Camera. I didn't care, I liked the footprints.

I checked my watch, time to get back and make sure someone had their meds on time and prepare for the 100 questions about "What is for lunch?"

I wanted to take an IR shot of this oak leaf stuck in the snow. Yes, the leaf looks blue as the light spectrum I chose to shoot in reflects anything that has chlorophyll in it a shade of blue in camera. It just looked pretty.

As we walked back home, I kept looking for interesting shapes and shadows in the snow. I like a solo branch sticking up out of the snow with a cool shadow. But our snow is not deep so I was stuck with little weeds. 

Back under the large oak, I found a small spot that did not have animal tracks in the snow and had interesting shadows from the tree above.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house since I hadn't really done so since I'd been sick over a week ago.

A little bit of fence fixing

Off I go with tangled and salvaged hotwire and some nicely coiled wire to redo the fence down near the creek.

The backpack has gear in it, along with some tools and of course lots of water. I'd had this job in mind since last fall.

Over the winter I keep this section closed off as the deer run through the fence during rut and generally take down the fence.

Last winter, some animal chewed through both the lines and the insulators in some spots. I know that raccoon chew on plastic, but I never figured out who the culprits were.

I thought I'd turn on MapMyHike to see what my walking while doing the job would look like. I did get in a little over 2 miles of walking while restringing the fence.

At one time we had a 'ridge-road' or trail that was made by a bulldozer  all the way to the end of our land. Since I don't drive the 4 wheeler back there anymore... [very steep], I haven't had the trail redone. 

I just walk it and go around the obstacles. I am the only person anymore that moves through the land so no need to clear a new path.

Here is someone else who likes to use the 'critter' trail. It is used by the mules, deer, bobcat, raccoon, and coyotes. When I pull the trail camera about every two weeks we have nearly 700 or 800 photos of wildlife moving past the camera on this trail.

I pulled the old hotwire and began to get ready to string up new wire.

Just to the left of this photo is a steep bank that drops about 20 feet down into our creek bottom. With the past drought, the creek is mostly dry, but in good years it flows nicely.

At my feet is a pile of chewed electric wire. And no, the wire was not 'on' over the winter. I don't keep it hot unless the mules have access. 

The wire needed to be replaced this year anyway. It has lasted 5 years and had been patched quite a few times.

I finished everything up including detangling a big mess of wire that I'd brought with me. It took roughly two hours and a lot of walking back and forth.  

Below is the tangled up wire that had been in another pasture at one time. I had 3 lines with one low to the ground when we had Dexter Cattle in the woods and pulled it after we sold the cattle.

A good chunk of the time was devoted to de-tangling. But the wire was in perfect shape and there was no reason to toss it.

It was a big job I had been putting off for quite a while. All the summer lines have been checked and fixed. Next up? I'll go through and clear off anything that is under the wires.

Forest Fencing can be a never ending job.

Fencing time?

Lost and found! While hiking through the woods to go get the mail I squatted down to look at an interesting shape on the ground. Excuse the blurry shot, it was just around sunrise and I just snapped it with my cheapo cell phone:

There is a joke in my household. I often wear odd work gloves as I seem to be able to drop one while hiking and can never find it again. I purchased some cheap and really ugly hot pink gloves a few years ago. That worked. I never lost the mates. I wonder how long this glove sat on the forest floor? I mean look at the moss growth!

When I lose a glove I try to match it up with another lost glove and then I wear two kinds of gloves. When the tips of the fingers wear out, I cut them off.

Saturday, the neighbors messaged me and said they'd walk down and help me move a mattress and do two other simple things that required the strength of two people. Justin moved this log off the fence so I could repair it. He'll come back later with his chain saw to cut it up. 

This tree top had been struck by lightening a few years ago. Each year it loses some part of its top from winds.

Over the winter the top fell. I cleaned up all the branches and burned most of what I could up. I was left with two huge logs that I couldn't cut up.

This spot needs a goat to graze it. There are things that the other equine won't eat that the goat does, so I decided with the mild Saturday temperatures, I'd make a new Goat & Pony yard. 

It sure looks confusing to anyone who doesn't understand my method of madness for rotating critters, but since I do understand it...it makes sense to me.

Three hot wires are needed to keep my little escape artists in, so I set up a temporary fence with gate handles and access for the skid steer and 4 wheeler up. Little Richard is 32" tall at the withers and used to duck under hotwires to escape. He is in his late 20's now and doesn't try to escape as often these days.

Sven will stay with Little Richard and do some very annoying things like chew on his friend's tail until the pony gets pissed and chases him. It is a love/hate relationship that only the two of them understand.

These two are together in a lot I made in 2020 to clean up behind our large machine shed:

They have done a great job! 

I'd say it was a pain to build the fence, but I enjoyed it. I'll probably keep this for a year or so to see if my weed whackers do a good job.

My mules can be sorted into rotational pastures with just one hot wire. I worked on some new sections last year and have an idea for something a bit different in the woods this year.

I do miss the small Dexters cows we had. They were experts at cleaning pastures, but a huge pain to fence in. [Just like goats are!]

Looks like I need to get out to the woods and repair the fence damage the deer did to the hot wires so I can be ready to turn the mules out to the back woods to look for goodies.

Fencing and Fencing!

Last year in July I restarted a 'fencing project'. I wanted the mules to be able to get in down into the woods and clean up the briers and some of the other underbrush.

There had been a good two line electric fence there until the 2007 storm which washed out banks of the creek and dumped trees on both the electric and the barbed wire line fence.

I only sectioned off a small section of the woods though. It had been tough hot work and the mules did a nice job working in the woods.

This is a photo from last year. The original fencing went all the way back to the creek. I put this up with a gate so I could walk down ... or take the 4 wheeler to the creek if I wished.

I didn't think I'd ever get up the energy to be able to complete this task. But I decided to work on it a few hours a day if I could to get the brush whacked away from where I wanted to run the lines. Now that was hard work.

At least with both Sven and Charlie for company, it wasn't lonely work but pretty pleasant. Both of them helped me run the new lines.
Well.
Help wasn't really the word I'd use. Sven kept moving into the wire and somehow got it wrapped on his leg .. or neck.. and he'd walk to me dragging wire and stop and look as if I'd offended him somehow.
Or Sven would pick up a glove and walk away with it.

Goat Fencing could be an Art. Much more difficult than Goat Yoga, I'd think.

In the above photo, you can't see it, but this is one of the banks above the creek. Here it drops 20 feet to the left of the posts.

Today I hooked it all up and drove the 4 Wheeler down to the end to test if it was 'hot'.

It sure was. And the grass I'd seeded had come in quite nicely.

This is how the area looked when The Bulldozer guy was working on it last June.

Looks better now doesn't it?

So as I was driving the 4 Wheeler back to the house, I thought to myself. A job well done! I had completed the project! 

And then after I started mowing the yard I looked at one of the areas that is impossible to mow. It is a section of yard that never got landscaped after the basement was dug. It was a series of holes, bumps and two washed out areas.

Last year and the year before, I had spent time with the weed whacker and chopped it down.

I stopped the mower and looked over at the mules.
Why indeed!
I could build a mini fenced in area and ... hmmm...
let them do the work.

They could handle the rough ground better than I could and then I'd just be left with a few odd weeds to cut down.

I started to smile and then chuckle. I like making temporary lots and using them wisely to feed the critters.

Maybe I am a fencing Diva?

The Kids, Sven and Charlie

I took Sven and Charlie along with me to trim back some brush from the electric fenceline I'd just checked a few days ago. I took my machete and a big pair of nippers.

My Kenosha Pals said I could get it done it just moments if I used one of those weed whackers with the blade.
I replied that I'd cut my foot off. Then I pointed to the instrument that my husband used to use with a blade for that purpose.
It is huge with a back-strap. I'd never be able to control that huge piece of equipment. Thus, the machete and nippers. I also have a hand saw. My husband's chainsaw is too heavy and large for me to operate.
Again.
I'd probably cut something off with it.

Besides March and April are perfect times for fence clearing. You can see where the lines will be running into small patches of briers and other brush. I am going to replace the old electric line just above the creek in the next few weeks and fix the hole in the barbed wire that runs as a line fence. The mules leave the barbed wire alone and as a precaution, I've run a single line on the inside of it to keep them from being too curious about the briers and multiflora rose bushes on the other side.

Charlie was pretty unsure of my machete and wisely stayed well out of the way. He even stood behind me and occasionally put a paw on the back of my legs.

We finished up what I'd set out to do and we went down to the creek where it was play time.

It looks like Charlie is pushing Sven, but he wasn't. I think Charlie was trying to balance on the rock with Sven. Amazingly enough, Sven backed up and did not fall in.

And Sven claims King of Moss Rock.

Off they went trotting and leaping across the rocks, two odd playmates. Sven may not even know he is a goat. Charlie is enamored with Sven. He goes back across the creek if Sven gets 'stuck' by a larger spread of water. He will whine and cry and push Sven around until Sven follows him.

On the trail, Charlie leads and Sven follows. The difference is that Sven stops and grabs a bit to eat as he travels. Charlie thinks Sven is his personal tasty poo machine.
Ick.

When the two of them get to the open pasture, the races are on. Charlie zooms in large circles. Sven runs and leaps sideways with him.
I think it is safe enough to say that these two are enjoying each other's company.

Sven really keeps close. He even helps with the chores and keeps his distance from the mules on the other side of the fence. He and Charlie are nearly inseparable.

This is turning into quite the fun adventure with animals.

Sven comes home...

Sven.

Well what can I say? Charlie thinks he has a new best buddy. They are nearly inseparable.

On our hike Saturday, Charlie went back across the creek more than once to 'get' Sven to cross to us.
Of course the Kenosha Gang was there and we all called to Sven. Sven cried a baby goat noise and Charlie charge across the creek to him.

Today I raked the yard to pick up more of the pine-cones and  debris left by the two day storm. I tied out Sven. Charlie stuck close by.
They were perfectly content to watch me work.

Sven was fine being tied out and only got frustrated when I went out of his sight. Later on the two of them lay in the sunshine together while I made lunch for us.

I dragged two sleds full of sticks and pine-cones to the brush pile and burned it.
Sven decided to nap.

After yard work they assisted me in checking fences and redoing the 'above' the creek fence section.

Sven decided to check out the hot wire by Mica and jumped into her paddock. Mules have a tendency to chase or hurt an unknown animal in their territory. Thankfully, Mica just nosed him and he ran out of her paddock, ducking the hot wire.

The rest of the day was spent on outside work and hanging sheets and blankets in the fresh spring air.

Now I have had goats before, but only used them basically for dairy and not for fun like this.
And make no mistake.
I am having a LOT of fun.

As...
is Charlie.

Here is to having best friends....

We don't have to be the same to be best friends. We can be as different as night and day. ~~ Charlie and Sven

Blue paint & a Saw

Adventures in fencing.

What is a perfect time to go out and see what needs to be done to make the woods above the creek usable as pasture?
A storm had destroyed most of the electric fencing down near the creek in 2007 and then again in 2012. In 2015, it was our intention to finally
clean up the barbed wire fenceline and replace sections of it for the Dexter Cattle.
2015 was the year that Throat Cancer put everything on hold.

Oh, we'd get to it 'next' year. 2016 saw us remodeling the house and I kept thinking about that pasture and how nice it would be to have the cattle or the equine in it.

2017. Rich had his stroke. Dreams of working on the pasture went to the back burner as we tended to downsizing the equine. Our dreams changed and we decided to concentrate on organizing and figuring out what came next.

Thank goodness things seemed to settle down in 2018. I started to think about those woods again.

This summer I even temporarily fenced in a small section of the woods just to see how well the mules would do clearing the underbrush.

Donkeys are much better and so are Dexter Cattle, but the donkeys had been sold and the Dexters were all sold in the fall.

The temperatures were hovering around the mid thirties and the winds promised to pick up later. I grabbed a can of blue spray paint and a saw. I was going to walk the line fence and mark the areas with paint that needed work.

I marked missing clips and X'd a few trees that could be hand sawed down. Big X's went on the large log that was laying across the barbed wire fence. I peered at it. I'd need a chain saw or an axe to clear the fence and fix it. The good news was that this was the only spot that needed barbed wire attention.
I could run a singe line on the inside of the fence that would prevent the mules from reaching through the fence.
I made it to the creek and sprayed some lines on a tree to mark where I wanted the new 'creek' gate to go.

I walked above the creek and noted that all my work last spring of clearing was still pretty good. I'd given it all up when it got too hot and nasty last summer.

I spritzed some saplings that needed to get chopped down and swiped at the berry briers that I'd have to come back and clear. I didn't want to use a killing brush spray but there were so many of them.

Again I wished I had at least a donkey or two left. They delighted in eating multiflora rose and briers.
Goats?
Hmm.

I kept walking and marking. I cut down a fair sized pile of brush and had to stop when I heard the winds overhead begin to howl.
Off across the north hillside I heard a tree crack and crash with a huge thump that shook the ground.

It was time to head back home.

I entered the house after dropping my dirty boots off on the porch. I closed the door softly as not to disturb Rich.

That pasture was doable.
Now I had a good winter project to work on.

And it sure wouldn't be sweaty and buggy.

I fell asleep on the couch for a short nap with Charlie and dreamed of spray painting blue X's on trees... and chopping down briers.

Sunday Stuff

I thought I had my day planned.
Sunrise with Charlie. That went well, we drove to our sunrise 'spot' and watched the sun come up. Yes, I DO use my Subaru to go find beautiful places to photograph! Indeed I do!

To fans of 'Ru's...
How do you Subaru?

Charlie did not get sick or drool!
I consider this a huge improvement. But I made it so he could watch out the window and get fresh air. Perhaps he is maturing or maybe I was lucky. Either way, he enjoyed his morning sunrise jaunt with me.

After chores were done, I drove to Genoa to drop off some photos to some friends. I'd taken photos last weekend of their daughter in the softball playoffs and thought they'd like them.

I had a few errands to run in town so it worked out nicely.

The road on the ridge is curved, the telephone poles are in a straight line.

The sky was amazing, one of those days where the clouds made you want to stop what you were doing and just sky watch.

After lunch it was time to see if the mules would like browsing in the forest section.

It was rather ho hum. They stayed on the ridge road first and then wandered down the trail to browse.

I decided to take some time for myself. Weed eating was on my list as was picking green beans and other garden items, but I decided to walk to the creek and get some quiet time in.

Our neighbor came down and started to cut up and brush out the two trees that Jeff, the bulldozer man knocked down.
Rich was in bed.

I couldn't resist taking some Bears along.
These two cooled off in the creek.

Rabbit and Bear.
Doing their thing.

An isolated thunderstorm moved in and my day was done.

Today is Monday.
The green beans are calling my name and as soon as the dew is off the plants, I'll be picking.

There are phone calls to make and phone calls to take.
Appointments to get ready for and ... it looks like my day of rest is over.

All work and no Play?

This should be a day for me to rest up for the coming week...

But...
There is always a but...

I think I am done with the 4 wheeler for a while now. The fence is connected and tested. I will release the mules into the forest later today...this afternoon so I can walk down with them and see how they react. They should be just fine.

I have learned quite a bit about fencing and electric fences from this project. I won't bore you with the details however it can be a challenge to get it to shock properly. As of right now a very minimal pulsing current is enough to keep my mules in. They don't even touch it.
The cattle respect it also.

I did find out that if we enter a very dry spell that the grounds get weak and the fence drops in its effectiveness. We are in that very dry spell, so I did some research and used a sprinkler to dampen the earth by the ground spikes.

Okay, that was pretty boring. But testing this morning shows my fence power is back to normal!

Last note.

When Charlie begins to disappear in the grass, it is time to mow.
I mowed yesterday and finished all but the weed whacking in 2.5 hrs.

I tried some motivation for Rich to get up and get off the farm today to go with me to see some kids and their fair pigs. I have a memory stick of photographs from last weekend's softball game to drop off to our 'hay' man and his family.

No such luck. Rich will generally jump at any opportunity to go and visit with Ed and his family.

There's always some reason

To feel not good enough

And, its hard at the end of the day

~~Sarah McLachlan

In the Arms of an Angel

Have a good Sunday. Charlie and I just got back from watching the sun come up on the ridge. The fog is pouring into our hollow now bathed in golden light.

I think I'll go start our chores.

Gardens and Fences and stuff

Remember when I gave the neighbor kids a bucket of seeds to toss in the dirt next to the porch?
Well it is blossoming right now. Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, 4 o'clocks, and green beans all in one place.
The humming birds are swarming the flowers. No need for messy feeders. I can have coffee and watch the hummers fly in and then sit on the pine tree.

Yesterday I figured it would be a piece of cake to finish up the fencing project.

I guess my cake was in shambles.
I took some line we'd used already at one point and strung it out. It all went very nicely until it got tangled up in briers and multiflora rose.

I carefully got it untangled and it got tangled again. Solo fencing is the pits. It goes much faster with another person.
Oh well.

If you look carefully there is a little brown spot in the photo. Two small brown Teddy Bears.
They are my fencing pals. They supervised everything going on at the gate.

I was so excited to get both lines to the 'ridge' road finally!

However I didn't have enough to finish the project and it was time to go check on Rich anyway.  It was close enough to noon to have lunch also.

I put the one gate handle up and took a photo so Rich could see what I was doing.

To turn around the cart and the 4 wheeler, I have to take the yellow cart off and manually turn it around. Then drive the 4 wheeler to the creek where it is wide enough to safely turn around ... and then come back and re-attach the cart and go on my way. This method, while not perfect, has saved me so many trips of carrying heavy items.

I had to stop and admire the flowers by what I now call the Morris Garden. This is where Morris was buried. Flowers do help ease the pain. However, I do know this is where he loved to go first thing every single morning....
Funny how it is such a lovely spot now that he doesn't pee on it.

We had lunch and Rich put the mower deck back together for me. The good intentions were that I would quickly finish the fencing project and then jump on the mower and start on the yard.

I got an email from MIL's cousin telling me that I should go over to Folsom School and check it out. Her husband went there and was doing the painting and cleaning to prepare for a get together and school reunion.

I ran over and took a peek inside the school house.

It is a one room school that operated from 1880 to 1961. I found the little school chairs to be adorable. The atmosphere inside was one of hushed respect. I don't know why I got the feeling but I could almost hear the teachers talking to the classroom full of different aged children.

I wanted to linger but I knew that time was 'a--wasting' as my Grandfather would have said.

Back to the fence. What a job it ended up being. I had to go back once for more wire and then I had to get some of those heavy T posts and pound them in.
My neck and back were feeling the effects of a heavy lifting 'work week' and too many hours driving back and forth to the VA in the car.

Finally! The last thing I have to do is connect the wires to the other fence so the electric pulse will follow through the wires ... and I am done with a project I started over a month ago.

I plan on finishing the work this fall and winter along the barbed wire fence all of the way to the creek and revamping the old fence that Rich had put up somewhere around year 2000.

I consider this a start at least.

After supper, I decided it was too late to begin mowing. So I picked green beans and some pea pods.
I froze 12 packages of green beans and the plants have just begun!