Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Yeah.... little sob's..... I put a little bait in the middle of the sticky's too.... These are the small little mice... not the bigger ones... the big eyed deer mice... the last few have been the little small mice. Runs in spells with the sticky traps and then the snap traps.
No, no cats here due to the too close proximity to the road... see cats killed on the road alot along here and not going to add to it right now. Do not want any inside cats at this point in time either.... not dealing with litter boxes, and if they are inside/outside cats then they will get on the road....until I get a small barn with some hay and stuff for the couple of calves I want to keep here... and get the chicken yard set up, cats will roam across street to the woods and this road is just too close and traffic travels too fast.

 

[Mini Horses]

I do same...a treat in center. the run by went for the treat! One less today......

 

[Baymule]

I spent last night at sister’s house, was going to leave, but she was worried about me driving home after dark with Kamakazie deer lining the roads waiting to jump out in front of my little car. Left before daylight and got home. Everything was fine here. Turned water on, no busted pipes, got hot water, everything is good. Cleaning kitchen and going to start on laundry.

 

[farmerjan]

SUN is out.... and went from an overnight low of 22 ... to.....43.... already at 10:30 this morning.... HURRAY.... going to turn the well pump breaker on in a little bit and see how things are looking... Got to go out behind the house, to the door/cover to the crawl space and see if there is any obvious water spraying after I turn the pump on. Want to give the pipes a chance to thaw out some first...

 

[Baymule]

Hope your plumbing is ok!

 

[farmerjan]

Well, I sorta have water. There was some water when I turned on my faucets. Then I flipped the breakers, but it did not increase the pressure. Then the water sorta slowed down. I also have some hot water... but slowed to trickle. I do not see any water leaking in the crawl space... BUT.... I think the water in the storage/pressure tank is frozen.. so it will not call for water until the water is liquid and the level drops and the pressure calls for it to kick on... So, I have made sure there is no extreme pressure at the faucets, have run some water out of all the lines... and then turned off the well pump again AND the hot water heater so that it won't burn out the elements since I ran some of the hot water lines to get hot water... I also got a heater to put in the basement/crawl space... maybe DS will get to it tomorrow??? Plus, it will have more time to thaw out some more...
It got up to 44 today, and is still 32 , so a smidgeon warmer down there... and the pipes are all warmer up here since the house is warmer with the heaters not having to work so hard to keep it warm. In fact I turned 2 of them down a little as it was actually a little too warm...

This whole week is supposed to be mid 20's to mid 50's the next few days... that will really help. If I get the heater set up down there, then maybe that will take care of it even if we get real cold again. But the best thing is there doesn't seem to be any splits or anything so far as there is no wet spots on the cardboard on the floor that DS put down when he was down there to put the new element in the water heater a couple months ago.

Got some game camera's for DS to put up because of several farmers having stuff taken out of their barns.... Hope he gets it done sooner rather than later.

Got about a half a sore throat also... I think it was from being out in the cold air on Christmas.... Don't want it to go any further....

Tomorrow I will get out the calendar and see about the last couple of farms that need to get tested... I am sure this weather has set most of the farmers back a little bit trying to deal with frozen pipes and manure and all that in the barns.....frostbite on udders happens in that kind of cold too. When it is that cold, farmers do not post dip the cows so the teats are not wet when they go out of the parlor. But they still can get frostbit skin and teats. It is rough. But the beef cows seldom if ever get frostbitten teats... go figure... saliva from the calves is different than any water type "wet".

Going to get enough water to get washed up good and then go to bed early. If it doesn't get thawed out tomorrow, I will go to Deb's to take a shower and wash my hair... was trying to not go out in the cold air with a wet head....

Mouse got the bait (peanut butter) off the snap trap....didn't trip it so this time I tried to make it so it is more sensitive and nearly got my finger snapped.... and has not touched the sticky trap bait in the middle.. They just frustrate me.... .

 

[farmerjan]

25 overnight , up to 45 at 10 a.m. Sun is out and it feels WARM... comparative.... amazing how 45 in the sun feels warm when it would have felt freezing 2 months ago !!!.

Got a mouse this morning on a sticky trap. It managed to get the pb bait off the snap trap again... but it is history. Sometimes I wish I could program one to go back outside and tell all the others that coming in the house will be their demise so they all need to stay out...

Chickens out and the buff leghorn hen does not run to the back of the shelter anymore, and will move away from me but then comes back to the others once they are out of the crate. Then they all come out the zippered door that I prop open a bit and run for the bushes there along the yard where they have protection from aerial predators.

Throat is still scratchy... not liking that.

Flipped the breakers for the water and the hot water heater. Still not full force water but think that will get better today... will probably open the door to let warmer air circulate in the crawl space area. Hope it will all be thawed by this evening...

Need to get on phone for a couple of farms... Not really feeling like dealing with farmers at this point.

Going to go up and see about getting in the couple of cows that have smaller fall born calves. They need to go with the bull to get bred back. They have not been very cooperative... might have to get the 3 cows in and lock in the barn lot and then maybe their calves will come in the creep gate to be with them. I cannot seem to get them to come in because the bigger ones push them around and they don't come in much yet. Plus they stay out with their momma's . If I get the cows in then hopefully they will come in through the creep gate, to be with their momma cows. Can't seem to get anywhere the usual way. Maybe because there are just too many other cows and heifers up there. The little ones stay away from the pen because they get jostled around too much, so they don't go through the creep gate bars because they know mom is outside and they naturally want to stay near "safe" mom...

Well, time to get on doing something constructive....

 

[farmerjan]

Opened up the door to the crawl space for a couple hours with the light breeze out here. Closed it back around 3:30 and then went to the pasture; after getting feed for the cows/heifers.
Got the 3 cows in that have the small calves and hopefully the calves will come up along the catch pen and go in the creep gate. DS fed some hay below the pen a little bit so the calves will all be up near there closer. I had fed 2 sq bales in the barn in the bunk and they have water. DS said they were hollering when he went in to feed the hay... so it could have been for the hay and it could have been for the calves. Hope they don't try to tear things up tonight. There is an extra cow in there but I wasn't going to lose the 3, I needed, to get the other one out. I need to check the list anyway... I can't remember when she calved.

Finally think the water is okay... got the well breaker and the hot water heater breaker's both flipped on. Will see how things are in a bit. Of course, DS is too busy tonight to come and see about the heater. He has his arm back in the sling for the torn ligaments or whatever it was that the dr told him to wear the sling... GF is saying he needs to take it easier and not do things that will aggravate it... but he hasn't worn it for a week....not getting into it anymore...

DS hit a deer last night with the bale feeding truck... said it bent up the bumper and grill guard... I have just missed 2 in the last week. Tired of them almost as much as I am tired of the stupid mice. I was talking on the phone the other day and watched 13 go down across the yard around 2 in the afternoon....

It is still 37 out there and hope it will stay around freezing tonight. There is still alot of ice in the shadows where the sun doesn't hit ... ground is still hard but it was a little more "muddy" on top of the ground late this afternoon.

Oh well, time to eat and clean up some stuff in here.

 

[SageHill]

Dang on your son hitting the deer. Thank goodness it's not too much damage. Venison anyone?? Glad that we don't have that problem out here much.

 

[Ridgetop]

Got caught up with your posts after a month off BYH - only took 1 hour and 45 minutes! LOL Going to catch up with other friends now.