Tire Feed Tub

A few years ago when J was in high school, he made a feed tub from an old tire.  The trick is getting the tire turned inside out.  Once you do, you have a pretty indestructible feed tub.  That is except for the wooden bottom. 

 J thought Hank might do better with a larger pan since he still dropped a lot of his grain.  So he put a new bottom on the tire and tried it out.

 I'm pretty sure Hank doesn't care much about what he eats out of as long as there is something in there every day.

Looks like the tire tub is Hank Approved.

Just Kit Sunday #127

Kit Kat was a good model this week.  I actually got a picture of him sitting still outside.

 So, ok, not Just Kit.  We got our Christmas tree yesterday! Yay!

It took a little rearranging of the branches but I think it looks pretty good.  There was a pretty big bare spot 2/3's of the was up.  I took some branches that I had trimmed off the bottom, drilled holes in the trunk and stuck them in.  We will see how that holds up over the next month.  Who wants to help decorate?

New Loop

I just mentioned to J the other day how if that cedar tree was cut, it would be easier for me to ride down this little road.  

 And with that, J was out there, chain saw in hand, clearing the way.

 While he was at it, he went ahead and cut out the down trees that were across the road.

 Doesn't that look inviting now?

Otoelene and I sure enjoyed the improvement.  With this little trail opened up, I can add about 10 minutes to my ride around the farm.

New Obsession

So this is totally off most of my topics but I have been obsessed lately with couponing at Dollar General.  There is one on my way home from work, so very convenient.  You would be surprised at how seriously people take it.  I am in a Facebook Group devoted to it and finally had to eliminate it from my news feed because they would be posting every few seconds.  

 I got this haul using digital and paper coupons along with the survey $3 off $15 that prints at the bottom of receipts.

I think my big loss was the Dawn, which was actually the thing that I needed.  Otherwise I could have worked a little harder and gotten my OOP (out of pocket)  down a little more.  Oh well, sometimes you just need stuff.  People may be needing to watch their Christmas stockings for my deals.

Catastrophe Averted

 I have been having problems with an outlet in the barn for some time now.  I keep a radio plugged into it so I can listen to it while I am riding in the barn.  It started tripping the ground fault whenever the wind blew.  And the wind blows a lot around here.  When I had some work done on the house, I asked them to fix the outlet at the barn.  They replaced the outlet which didn't fix the problem.  They said whoever wired the barn did a poor job and put the staples in too tight which cut through the insulation and was causing it to arc.  They said I needed to get the original people back to fix it.  So, I called them.  Said he would be here that week, Never showed up.  Called again.  Didn't return my call.  In comes my wonderful brother in law and son in law.

 Terry is always up for a challenge.

 There was lots of testing, some rewiring, and presto, outlet fixed.  But there were two others that were on the same circuit which didn't work either.  I said I never used those, but Terry was up for a challenge and kept searching for the problem.

And he found it.  Where the wire went between the rafters and the metal siding, the insulation had rubbed off and had arched enough to burn a hole through the metal siding.  I guess it could have started a fire.  So, when the wind blew, it pressed the siding up against the wire causing it to trip the circuit.  I wasn't crazy about the wind thing. 

After the other people had replace the outlet, half my lights quit working.  Apparently, it was a bad switch.

The two in-laws got that working too.   Terry also said that the people that did the original wiring had done a good job.

Then, while we were at it, M installed an outlet in the crawl space for me.  I told him I was watching a YouTube video on how to do it.  He said he could do it for me and had all of the supplies.  Who could turn that down.  Maybe that is all of the electrical work I will need for awhile.

Just Kit Sunday #126

He does get to come inside on occasion.   And don't get the wrong idea, he loves feet.

Happy Thanksgiving

E set up a camera trap here for a class she is taking.  In less than 3 days she had 165 deer pictures.  

 She must have done a great job finding where they like to browse.

 There were not any large bucks but 3 different smaller ones,

and several does. 

And camera trapping isn't complete without a raccoon.