Mooving

Just a few more days before Joe leaves out with Emily and Keiran for their epic hike.  The Long Trail got changed to the Shenandoah portion of the AT trail.  Much shorter, easier hiking and closer to home.  All good choices for Joe's first outing.  Meanwhile, I have been shadowing him more since I will have to take care of things while he is gone.  

We moved the cattle at Julian's to a field with more grass.  

I always think moving cattle is very picturesque.  

Then we moved the replacement heifers to a different field and moved the cow/calf pairs back here from across the creek.  

Then we got ready for hay to be moved.   That is Joe up there in the tractor bucket with a chainsaw.  Isn't that how you are suppose to trim limbs?  Tree limbs that is.  None of Joe's limbs got trimmed in the process.  

We buy all of our hay and it is hauled in on a big flatbed truck.  Trimming the branches and covering root and rocks helps out the hauler.  

And the goats enjoyed the trimmings. 

Last Revision (Maybe)

You may remember me making a birdbath HERE.  It went through many revisions as multiple parts broke.  The last straw was when we had a new roof put on last December.  The roofing crew backed over it and shattered the white glass lamp base.  Today I decided to try to resurrect it.  

It is not as elegant as before, but maybe it will be more durable. 

I used the same hubcap and weighted base that I constructed before.  I used some old lamp and ceiling fan parts, a doorknob, 

and an insulated plastic cup from Dollar General that I got for a penny a couple of years ago.  I don't know what I was saving it for, this I guess.  

To top it off, I used a bubble glass light shade that I got from the Big Bens Dealz Store on $1 day. 

                                          
 I think it turned out good enough.  Now  I need to dig down and bury the base a little bit for more stability and to make it look more balanced.  

Camp Mimi

Yesterday Mike brought Sadie and Allie over early. I thought it would be great to ride Clyde in the morning before it got too hot. I talked them out of playing dress up and we headed to the barn. 

Allie is very proud of herself that she can walk across the cattle guard without any help now. 

We had to make a stop at Golden Boy (not his real name) for some comments on how cute he is. 

Draper and GB followed us into the barn so he got some brushing also.  I love how calm he is so far. 

After rock, paper, scissors Sadie got to ride first. She did a lot of trotting. She is holding on less than not now while posting. (Sorry, no pictures, it talks all my effort to keep Clyde trotting). Allie might have lost the going first game, but Joe entertained her with scooping poop. When it was her turn she even let Sadie lead her around. 

Then she wanted to ride all by herself. She did great but still no trotting.  After that, they doubled up and I lead them 1/2 a mile down to the mail box and back. I think we managed 2 hours with Clyde. 

After that, I took them to town for some errands and stopped at Wendy’s for a late lunch.  Then back home for naps before Virginia camp to pick them up. Another fun day a Camp  Mimi. 
 

All Night Long

We weaned our fall calving cows yesterday.

It was pretty uneventful but a long process.

After sorting off the cows, we loaded up the calves, 

15 at a time. 

It took 4 trips to haul them all to the house. 

Then we got to listen to this, all night long. 

 

Halter Breaking

Golden Boy (not his real name) is a month old now.  It is time to start formal training. 

I have been having to handle him a lot already in order to pull ticks off.  There is no good chemical tick control option for a foal under 3 months old.  In a couple of more weeks, I can give him an ivermectin dewormer that might help some.  But until then, it is a matter of rubbing him with fly spray and pulling off the ticks.  

The tick bites are very itchy.  You can see all the rubbing he has been doing. 

He has been doing great with letting me put the halter on and take it back off.  I have started adding some pressure to turn him side to side.  He seems to be a quick learner.  His reward is getting his tick bites scratched.  
 

Back Track To Wednesday

I am a little behind on my blogging.  Wednesday was Sadie and Allie day.  Once again, we went to the free movie in town, Paddington Bear Goes To Peru.  I would not recommend it for an adult.  Sadie and Allie said they liked it but I think it was more the atmosphere of the movie theater.  I bought the drink and popcorn for them again and was again unable to control the speed at which Allie drank hers.  Two more trips to the bathroom.   After the movie I told them I was going to a boring store.  Virginia had taken them to the Big Bin Dealz Store before and they were not impressed.  They kept saying, couldn't we go to Walmart?  No, I want to go to the $1 day at the boring store.  

Well, it wasn't so boring after all.  I found this costume for Sadie.  

And I didn't get a picture, but a similar dinosaur outfit for Allie minus the head and feet.  She wore it all around the store and had a great time with it back here.  She even wore it home.  

And Sadie picked out two giant spiders.  I don't know what Virginia will be doing with those.  

Back at the house, we baked cookies.  It had been awhile since we used the Easy Bake Oven.  They were very good at taking turns on mixing and adding ingredients.  

They spent the rest of the hot afternoon playing in the water.  They started before I could even finish blowing up the pool.  Another fun day at Camp Mimi.  

 

Roofing Crew

We have an old shed with an old roof.  Some of the tin was blowing up so Joe had thrown an old tire and a fence post up there to try to hold it down.  Yesterday he asked if I could help him fix it. 

There really wasn't much to work with.  He had brought a piece of tin from some other old shed to repair it with.  The repair piece was only slightly better than the needing repair piece.  

Then it turned out the rafter on the end wasn't solid.  It broke while Joe was hammering in nails in the tin.  I guess the outcome was better than what we started with.  But I don't think you would want to hire us as your roofing crew.