Work work work

 Patrick promised he'd be back and fix the side yard.
And he did show up!

This is how I have been 'mowing' it for 10 years now. 

I tried using a push mower and a weed whacker. 

I tied Little Richard out there and also moved him around. For the past 10 years since the house was remodeled, this area has always been rough and full of huge high and low spots.

Basically, when construction was done some dude [husband] pushed all the sand and dirt around to the west side of the house and called it good.

That pile of stuff below next to the old house? That got pushed into the side yard and never properly graded. 

[Rich had a stroke that next spring when we were going to get that done]

Just for reference, the picture after contstruction was completed.

Finally...

The side yard mess is leveled off matted and seeded. 👇👇👇

Yes, it cost me about $$$$ to get it done, but dang, I don't have to weed whack, and kill myself mowing, fencing, and putting animals on the yard to keep the place looking somewhat like a yard!

Color me happy!

For reference the photo with the mules and this one both have the same stump in it. 
I can't wait for the grass to come in and the yard to reappear.

Patrick's magic machine.

Patrick then brush hogged the pastures to keep down the weeds and tidy things up. A regular mower cannot handle this land, it is crooked, dippy with divots, and rocks that would kill any rider in about 20 minutes.

Hiring someone with equipment is less expensive than constant mower repairs.

If Rich had stayed in good health, we were going to get a brush hog attachment like this for his skid steer. By the time we priced it, he was no longer able to get in and and out of his skid steer so it was a no-go.

Patrick will repeat this job in August to help me fight the weeds.

Now I have too much pasture. Crazy, right? 

[Because this doesn't include the meadow out back.]

Don the Junk Dude came out and picked up a pretty heavy load of stuff. I have to move the tractor tire and move the old wooden posts yet. Then everything in front of the machine shed will be cleaned up except for the T-posts.

At some point I'll move them into the now...cleaner shed and stack them.

Here is a shot of Don's trailer full of heavy stuff leaving the property. I can see what they were doing with the security cameras. 

Strange world we live in right?

We start with the top left shot being the day before Don and his brother came. The right hand shot was after them coming for a month.

And now....

I'm going to throw cosmos in the dirt next to the door. 

The tub has marigolds coming up in it. I may as well toss extra harvested seeds from last year into the bare spots of dirt where metal used to live and see what happens.

The cord is for the fencer on the back of the busted garage. I need to move the fencer. So many things to take care of!

The Garage. 

After the storm in June 2015:

The Garage mess is ugly but so far I am beyond pleased with the progress I have made this spring.

I've decided the structure is too dangerous now for anyone to even try to go in. I'm going to call Frank and tell him I'm ready for him to come and give me an estimate to clean it up.

It is demolition time.

I know it will cost, but I have budgeted for it.

I've always considered it an eyesore after the trees fell on it. But my husband assured me that he would take care of it himself. Perhaps it was just too huge of a project for him to tackle. 

I'm glad in a way that he left it for me. 

Less angst and stress about the cleanup.

And that is it for this week's contracted work.

I do want to look back at what I went through to clean this area up. It was often a sore point in our relationship. I like a tidy place. He did too, but he also liked his 'stuff'.

Below is one of my favorite photos of hubby during our construction. He was supervising the guys working in the basement part of the addition. His stance sums up his character. 

Geeze, I miss him!

That look !!! 

Who can argue with this guy???

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.

Wow what a day!

 Here is my Foodie Photo / Foto.

I never 'present a dish' but I am not knocking those who do because...well, I AM jealous because you folks that cook and make beautiful dishes are awesome. 

I decided to decorate Fred's morning meal. Fred is a pony mule who is 37 years old. He is retired and now gets special grain mixed with alfalfa pellets that are softened. I bring it in and let it soak. I had some cut flowers that I was going to toss out. 
Instead, I decorated his meal.

Yeah. Hubby rolled his eyes and shook his head. Why not though? Fred was/is probably the only reason we met each other so many years ago. I admired the little mule and recalled the man telling me his name was Fred.

I didn't recall the cowboy dude's name for most of the week we rode together. But I recalled the awesome little tough mule he rode.

Fred was at our wedding. He was best mule.

The farrier was to show up at noon and I got Rich up from his nap so he could visit with them while I got out ol' Fred and cleaned him up.

The father son farrier team has been with us since 2017. They always make the appointment with us so that they can spend extra time visiting with Rich. They also come out once in a great while during the months they aren't so busy to sit and chew that fat with Rich.

I couldn't catch Rich's old mule Mica later on, so I left a pen open and got our little pony for a trim. Rich walked out and told me he'd go catch her. He was annoyed that I didn't run around the pasture to chase her down.

As I predicted, the old mule walked right into the catch pen as soon as I was busy with something else and she waited until Rich walked in and haltered her. He was quick to point out that HE caught her.

We all watched with our mouths wide open in amazement. 

I murmured something to the affect that I thought all the exercise he was doing during his PT appointments were obviously paying off well. Chalk one up for exercise!

I took over for him after the Danny finished her first hoof so he could sit down on a stool they'd put in the truck just for Rich. [What thoughtful people they are!]

The guys finished up and then stayed to visit. 

I got a text from Daryl the hay guy who said he would be by in the late afternoon with our winter hay. Daryl is a kind soul. Rich used to go get the hay from Daryl, but since his stroke, he doesn't drive and we never have to wonder too much where we will get hay from. Yes, it costs more to have it delivered, however, it gives me peace of mind to know I can depend on him as a source each year.

Daryl and Rich visited. Rich complained about the price of hay. Daryl reminded him of how much he loved watching his mules and was that worth the price? 

There was a discussion about brush hogging the pasture. Daryl pointed out that he could probably have the pasture brush hogged twice a year for about 15 years for the price of the one he'd pay for his skid steer.

Rich moved the bales into the shed, never missing a beat and had them all stacked up neatly for me to feed out this coming year.

Charlie and I took down a temporary fence that we'd put up for the summer near all the old 'stuff' parked in the weeds.

With all that done, Rich said he was exhausted.

He had to be! All day he had to be sociable!

It was amazing, he laughed, he told jokes, he caught a mule. He wrangled the skid steer and 20 huge square bales. 

All in a day's work.

Pretty Birds and critters

I took the bird feeder down a while ago when the DNR in our area notified the public regarding the Avian Flu that was in our state. However, this little tub is my boot tub where I rinse the mud off from my boots before going on to the porch.

I'm kind of anal about keeping the porch clean. 

We were having our morning coffee when I spotted some color on my porch rocks and the boot tub!

I was lucky to have my camera right next to me and I had removed the screen from the window to take shots out the window this winter so I got some sort of clear shots of these guys!

They are Yellow-rumped Warblers that migrate through our area and head north. 

Chalk this up to another bird I've never seen before.

The one below should be either a Hairy or Downey Woodpecker. All the woodpeckers love this tree!

Here is Sven, the goat in the new little lot that he is supposed to work on cleaning up. He seemed more concerned about the new area and where I was going than eating.

And here is my 24 yr old red mule lazying about:  

Sunshine.
Yes she is wooly! The mules are just starting to shed.

Deer. 
This one looks pretty thin. The hot wires are on my side of the barbed wire fence that separates my pasture with the neighbor's pasture. He rarely maintains his fence so I put up a hot wire to keep my guys from going through to his side and getting caught in the barbs.

Our littlest mule used to jump the fence and browse on the neighbor's land and then jump back when he wanted to be with the rest of the herd.

At 37, he doesn't jump fences anymore. Poor old fella he is running out of teeth but no one makes dentures for aged mules. He is really starting to lose weight. His comparison to human years could make him about 105 years old. 

Well, that is the farm report.

Nothing too exciting here. Cold weather and cloudy. 

I worked on the fencing back in the woods. Clipping back multiflora rose and briars is not a job for those with faint hearts or those who don't have heavy gloves.

Enough with boredom stuff...a bit of Infrared

I've been struggling with Infrared photography. Perhaps struggling isn't the proper word for it.

I am experimenting and enjoying it. Now that the older Olympus is converted I can take that camera with me all day and take photos and swap to the hot mirror which makes it a regular camera.

Instead I've taken my two Olympus cameras in a shoulder bag and shot with regular light and IR light. The Oly cameras are super light and not cumbersome like my Nikon is.

I have left the prime 30mm lens on the newer Oly and had some fun with it while walking the creek and checking the forest fence.

The snake is a custom made tiny sculpture by an artists who made custom ornaments for me years ago of Morris. I just love the color and detail of this little coiled snake!

Some of my Infrared shots turned out. Most were a wash as the sun doesn't shine strong enough in the creek bottom.

I want the creek to be spectacular but it is so heavily shaded that the IR light spectrum does show nice bright foliage but not much else.

In the yard I took two shots of the trees that will be coming down in a bit. My favorite trees that have incredible smelling flowers in the beginning of each June.
I will miss them, but don't want them on top of the house.

Here is a shot I took from the neighbor's garden back looking at our place.
I took it in IR but added the pink arrows to the trees that are to be taken down.

Things will look a bit different after this job is done. Looks like I'll be piling wood for a while this fall!
However, not having these trees fall on buildings is a better idea than worrying every time we get a storm in the summer or an ice storm in the winter.

Two pines are not pictured here. They are up behind the house.