The next project

I should take photos of what I am doing. A before... and some in between shots of progress.

I got tired of the 'waiting' for things to happen. Rich kept saying that he was going to get out to the shed and organize things.
In truth, since his stroke, he hasn't had any interest in going out there except when he was to use the skid steer to plow.

Last year the Pulmonary Emboli set him back again. And now? He hasn't ventured to the big old shed at all. I don't think it is a good place for him now anyway with his lung damage. It is dirty, dusty, bird poop, mouse poop, and ... well you get the point. Dirt and dust have a way of accumulating.

In the shed---- once upon a time--- Rich started to work on an Allis Chalmers tractor. He pulled part of the engine out. And then decided to find a larger one at an auction. He did find one and used it for a long time. Until he decided he wanted a skid steer. So he got a tiny one from another fellow that lasted for about 8 hrs before it broke down. He started to take that apart until he decided it was too hard to fix.

Now we have a pretty nice skid steer. It can do the jobs of either old tractor and the tiny skid steer. One tractor and one skid steer have become fixtures in the shed. Along with a Toyota pickup he purchased for hunting. It needed a master cylinder. It still needs that but hasn't run since he parked it there.

Indeed. We can't move that! The bed of that truck is where fencing supplies got stacked.
There are broken down boxes of all sorts of huge bolts pails of nails, light fixtures, metal chunks of 'stuff' plastic pvc pipes and a bit of this ... and that scattered everywhere.

I want to put a stall back in the shed for the elder mules this winter. I was pretty amazed how organizing 'stuff' can open up space. I decided to go on a hunt and gather long pieces of metal...I've been moving all of it to one part of the shed. Aluminum in one section and other metals in another.
Eventually I just stacked and decided not to separate things. I just wanted to move the stuff.

I collected all the shovels and put them in a huge plastic barrel. I have more shovels than I can ever use!

Before this year, the 'stuff' in the shed was off limits to me. It was Rich's personal man space. Now I have told him what I was doing and he just looks at me.

The guy I used to know would have had a cow if I organized HIS stuff. This guy seems vaguely aware that I am doing something. He has asked me not to throw things out.

Well, the scraps of metal will get loaded and taken away.
As will the old tires.
But my neighbor and I had a discussion about the 'stuff'. He said he'd been at auctions where ... he waves at the stack of metal is leaning, the wood that is leaning against another wall, and the buckets of bolts....along with rolls of barbed wire....
"People go nuts for this stuff! Sell it at auction!"


He has a point. I've seen used T posts sell for more than what a person can buy them new.

I am wearing a dust mask. When I peel back an old tarp to reveal a prize underneath it...I am amazed and the air is turned into a cloud of nasty un-breathable dust.
I knew my husband collected things he purchased at auctions and I always cringed when he came home and unloaded his precious cargo into the shed.
It has been an ongoing fight since he started to fill the shed after filling the small shed and the garage. I called it crap, he called it useful stuff. And once in a while he'd prove it to me too.
Something would need fixing and he'd disappear into one of the buildings and come out with the parts that would were needed. Or he'd grab some metal and cut and weld it, fabricating a custom hay fork for the skid steer, or modifying a plow.

The garage was crushed by falling trees 6 years ago. That is a project that will have to be hired out. It too is on my list.

The shed was supposed to be an indoor riding arena for me. That really never happened.

Maybe one day yet? Well. After an auction, that is. Lots of treasures are in that shed!

I am very happy though that the other end of the shed has plenty of open space for our winter hay.

I guess I need to take some photos of the place. Be prepared, it is ugly!

I figured this would be a good October-November project. I'm sort of wondering if I bit off more than I could chew. However, I'd like to create enough space to park the lawn mower, the 4 wheeler and the working skid steer in the shed and have enough room to lead mules in and out and of course pull out my sled of hay and sweet feed each day.

I'm even looking forward to the day when I can park my Subaru and Truck in there. At once time we could park everything inside.

I will be happy with just getting the stall set up before the weather turns really bad.

Dust mask, gloves, and coveralls! Yipee!

Time to catch up!

Rich had surgery on Thursday morning.
This is Thursday afternoon with Nurse Charlie keeping Rich occupied and making sure he keeps his knee up.

The doctor said he removed the bursa which looked like nasty cottage cheese and said he sent the necrotic tissue to the pathology. The lab results were posted for us to see already. I read it, but will wait for the follow up appointment to see what the doctor says about it.

So Friday and the weekend were spent with lots of ice, rest, and the leg raised.

I hauled a mattress for our neighbor to the local landfill. Since I was going, I filled the back of the truck with pieces of metal and 'junk' that I'd cleaned out from a corner in the Big Shed. Tossing the metal 'junk' onto the huge pile at the land fill felt pretty good.
I'm working up to loading the truck up with some larger stuff and heading to the 'junk' yard where I would return with some cash.

Since our grill was murdered by a falling tree, I got a new tiny one and spent the afternoon putting it together. The grill is small enough for me to cook on the porch! This winter I can cook steaks on the grill under cover!

I spent Saturday clearing the old busted up metal gate panels from around one of the locusts that will get cut down. I tied up Sven to the tree and let him do some cleaning too. Little Richard was staked nearby and he did some trimming.
I tried my weed whacker on some of the tougher weeds just north of the pen to no avail. I'd need a blade on the 'whacker'.

I was stumped for a while and then recalled that there was a Scythe in the shed. It was a bit too large for me to handle well, but it did knock down the weeds. The blade probably needs sharpening but it served its purpose.
In fact, I went all around the north paddock and knocked down thistles and Smartweed. Sven loves the blossoms of the Smartweed. Now if I could rent my neighbor's goats for a few days they'd clean up what the Dexter's used to eat and the mules DO not eat!

I was tempted to do more with the Scythe but my arms and forearms were aching so I quit. The handles on it are meant for someone much taller than I am. But I admired the job I'd done. The mules walked around and ate the wilting nettles and the thistles.

I decided to take a walk down to the creek and check out how the mules were doing with browsing in the woods.

They are making good headway on the berry briers and widening the deer trails making it easier for me to wander around in the forest and look at interesting things.

They prefer to stay in the meadow which is really needs a rest now. Time to rotate again until I have to take them out of the south pasture when the tree trimmers come to work.

I took my camera...you knew I would, right? I'll have some photos from my walk later.

Sunday.
Day of rest. And I mean rest. I sold the cattle headgate to a neighbor and he came down to pick it up. All I had to do was point it out in the weeds and he loaded it on his truck and paid me cash. I can live with deals like that.

Next up on the sale block will be the aluminum hound dog box. Raccoon hunting season is coming up as well as coyote hunting season and dog boxes will be in demand.

I look at the piles of 'stuff' and wonder sometimes how I'll deal with all of that.

One step at a time I suppose.

My To Do List is still quite long. But I've done some large projects this year and I'm pretty happy with it so far.

That's it.
Boring stuff.

Rich's knee looks really good. We changed out bandages today. That nasty huge gross lump is gone. The knee is swollen from the surgery, but still looks [and feels better] than it did before surgery.