Mystang's Homesteading Circus

[mystang89]

I sure wish lawmakers and insurance companies here would takea couple lessons then. I've been seeing many places where they are wanting to outlaw wood fireplaces because of the pollution. I told my wife that if they feel like outlawing them then they'd also better feel like paying my electric bill too.

 

[mystang89]

Few updates here as I'm not going to come close to remember what all has happened since last time.

My nephew graduated high school the other day and had a party at a park near them. We took the whole family and had a great time. I think I spent about 5 hours playing Volley Ball that day, jumping, diving, bending backwards and anything else I could do in order to get the ball. This was on Monday. I'm still paying for it today lol. Back has been spasming for the past few days but today its now to the point that I can't yawn without severe pain in my back. If this keeps up I'll probably have my wife rub some Icy Hot on my back and see if that helps the muscles release and calm down. All the pain and it was still worth every minute. I haven't gotten to let loose like that for a very long time. It's one of those things where you know you're going to pay for it and still go head first.

About 2 weeks ago we started searching for some hay and were able to find some around here thankfully. The man lives about 5 minutes down some of the back roads. He's an 84 year old man who does the whole process himself. He still picks up those bales and tosses them around like they are rag dolls. I was impressed. Since he's getting older though, his daughter and son both moved back so they could help him around the farm. THAT is what this world is missing. The parents have children, then raise the children who then move far away and are so wrapped up in their own life to help the same people who gave them that life to begin with. Those same people who sacrificed that nice new car or that vacation, that date they wanted to go on are now being shipped off to nursing homes because no one has the time to spend on them. Don't get me wrong about nursing homes since I've already mentioned them. I do understand there are those people who are needing to be there because their medical problems are just so extensive that they need that extra care and I'm glad they are around, but when you have people who are simply being placed in nursing homes to get them because its easier, that's when you have a society which forgot where it came from. Ingratitude upsets me, which is why I was so edified to see these people helping their parent around the house, continuing to show care and affection that was so apparently shown to them.

Another thing that gave me delight by going to this man's house was how willing he was to impart that wealth of farming knowledge which the years of experience have given him. The knowledge in elderly persons heads should be treasured and absorbed by younger people. If we can learn from them we will be so much better off. So much pain could be saved by listening. I'm glad he's right down the street as I plan to take the children over and see if we can help him around the house sometime but also I want to hear his stories, learn what he knows. I think that knowledge is worth any price.

We've been working on part of the house which was void space. It was about 308 sq ft of dead space that was behind a wall. The previous occupants had built on to the house which meant they extended the roofline. This gave a large space behind the wall which was nothing other than pipes, insulation and framing. I decided it would be a good place to make as a play room for the children which would then open up the room they were using as a playroom as a new bedroom. This would then let us get 5 girls out of one room. Brain cells would be saved by myself and my wife because that was a hotbed of a mess.

The above pics are the pictures of what it was before I started working on it. The spray foam had to trimmed down with a handsaw so the rafters could be exposed. With the rafters exposed I could then nail the dry wall to the ceiling and walls. Unfortunately for me they spaced the 2x4's apart every 24" to 27". This really through me off because I'm using to them being every 16". That left me with dry wall that was hanging on the ends. It wasn't ideal but I tried to make it work. I'm aware that I could have cut the dry wall to fit the studs but that thought didn't come to me till after I had already put up a few pieces. By then the damage was done.

This was after I had laid the floor and the drywall. Fortunately the older children helped me hang the drywall on the ceiling. If they hadn't i would have had a much more difficult time than it already was. My oldest, the 11 year old, was awoken to the fact that when working on construction projects, things tend to be heavier when you are having to hold them above your head, especially if its a 4x8' piece of drywall lol.

This is the after picture. Not perfect but the children love it and they are going to tear it to pieces in time anyway so I'll just redo what's wrong when they leave the house. The carpet came from a friend of mine house. His house caught on fire and burned a portion down so they were having to replace parts of it. He ended up with JUST enough carpet left over and gave it to me. Literally, just enough. God always provides. The carpet was going to cost me $120. Now it's free.

I painted the facing wall with chalk board paint. What child doesn't like drawing on walls?! You can tell that I'm raising Michelangelo's here right?.....RIGHT?!

That project being done I decided to fill in the sink hole that was in the front pasture. The previous owners simply through a bunch of brick in it and left it. Snakes galore lived in there so I took my tractor and pulled the bricks out, replacing them with wood chips. More aesthetically pleasing and it'll decompose one day filling in the hole. I know that as it decomposes it'll end up being lower than the level is right now which is fine. I'll simply put more chips on top.

The back pasture fence line is finally cleaned for the most part. I asked the man who owns the pasture behind me if he minded me taking my bush hog to the fence line on his side of the fence and he didn't mind at all. In fact that was the quickest reply I think I've ever received from him. It looks MUCH better now. On the same topic I was able to complete the fence line to the side of the back pasture as well. My sheep were continuing to go on my neighbors yard and eat which was worrying me since they seem like the type who like to sue. I had asked a question on here a while back about how to make a fence line along bed rock and I mentioned using tires and cement.

So far it has worked out wonderfully. I'm still trying to tame the back area past the spring which you see in the picture. It's the part which the hog fence is covering plus the stones are keeping my animals in and other animals out. I've had no problem with the fence being pushed by the water coming through though I suppose the big test will be spring time next year. Each tire took 3 to 4 bags of concrete just like @greybeard had mentioned. Good call. I believe in all I had to use 3 tires. I still have the other side of the back pasture to do which will be a bit more time consuming but it's doable as you can see.

Another project in the making is trying to fix the spring house. It's built over a nature spring coming out of the ground (hence SPRING house lol) but the stones are starting to shift. The person before me used mortar on some of the stone but I believe they used the normal mortar you find at Home Depot or Lowes which is for brick. I looked up a few sites and they've mentioned that when you are dealing with a wall that is in constant contact with water, such as a retaining wall, that you need to use a mortar that has a higher bonding rating. I'm still doing my homework on this one but if anyone has any experience or knowledge here I'm all ears....or eyes since I'll just be reading your comment.

The chickens food dispenser which I had made for them wasn't working the way I had anticipated. It was gravity fed but for some reason the food just continued to get stuck in the shoot no mater how much I expanded the opening so I made a different one.

The one on the left is the old one and the 55 gal barrel is the new one. I'll be taking the old one down and scraping it for parts. The barrel has a similar problem in that the food creates cavities when the chickens are eating but I think if I simply open the PVC pipe further in the inside that will take care of the problem. I'll also be getting caps for the end and cutting them in half so the chickens can put there grubby little necks in for the food but can't scratch any of it out past the half moon cap.

That of course is the inside of it. Again, I think if I cut a portion of the pvc pipe back that will allow more of a flow for the food to fall. The piece in the center is an old funnel which I'm using to displace the food when it fall in there so I don't have a large lump of food in the middle of the barrel that tease the chickens. Like putting a steak just outta reach of a lion.

While I was upstairs working on the play room I figured it would be a waste of time to not check the floor in the room that used to be a playroom. It was carpeted with this really old nasty looking yellow shag carpet so I decided to look under it and to my excited surprise it was that old farmhouse hardwood flooring. There was only one catch. The idiots...I mean, wonderful people before me had painted portions of it white. Yes, I said portions. Part was painted white, part was speckled, part was still the floor color. The wood was old cedar. I ripped that carpet up and got to work refinishing the floor. Rented the drum sander and edge, bought the sanding paper to use for them and went at it. Learned a few things along the way too. First, always, always, always buy more sand paper than what you think you're going to need. You'll thank your younger, less aggravated self when you feel older a week later. Second, don't use a belt sander. Use the drum sander, then edger, then orbital. Third, don't go diagonal against the board no matter what they tell you. That'll leave lines against the grain. I listened to them against my better judgement. Every carpenter fiber of my being was telling me, "Don't do this, that's going against the grain. You won't be happy." But did I listen to myself. Nooooo. I said, "Self, be quite, these people on youtube know more than you." Stupid self lol. Either way, just go with the grain, any tough spots you can use your edge and orbital. Take your time. Don't use min wax stain. Use Duralast stain which is from min wax but not the same. Has a faster drying time and other positives. Get more polyurethane or whatever you are using to seal the floor than what you need. Short story, more is better. Can never have too much.

Before picture. Well, after the carpet but before the finished product. You can see the white areas they painted to the right of the picture but also the areas they didn't to the left. You can also see I'm going diagonal to the grain. Don't do that. After you don't go diagonal to the grain that way, don't go diagonal to the grain the opposite direction. Two wrongs don't make a right. K?
Finished product in the following post. CLIFF HANGER!!! HAHA

 

[mystang89]

Continued.

Blurry picture but you get the gist. One thing I would have done differently was to get a full gloss sealer instead of a semi gloss. I'm honestly not sure why I did that. I remember thinking when I bought the semi gloss that I didn't want semi gloss but continued on with the purchase. Once again, ever do something that you know you're going to regret and continue to do it even though you are regretting it at the moment you are doing it? Welcome to the story of my life.

Our strawberries have really come through for us this year. We've been getting tons of them.

A bit freezer bitten but still yummy when mixed with rhubarb or just about anything else.

Corn in the garden is not doing good this year and I'm not sure why. Out of 40 seeds only 2 sprouted. Blueberries are which we are looking forward to greatly.

The tractor is working now. I took the power steering cylinder to the mechanic and he said the rod was bent, which it turned out to be true. He told me to buy another one was going to be $1000. I told him he was cute. Bought one for $300 and installed it. Still have the problem with the bucket drooping after a bit but I can live with that for the time being.

Hmmm, bought a new mower as well since I blew up the other one's engine. This is a 48" walk behind Bunton. Original bunton, not when they got bought out, sad story, them getting bought out. I like it but the engine seems a bit weaker than the 36" bunton I had. All in all its an upgrade.

Wife got a new car. She loves it. Went from a 97 Ford Taurus to a 2004 Lexus ES330. She feels like shes driving a Bentley.

I'll be putting some more lights in the barn when I get a chance and rewiring part of it. They have some of the wire going out the hay loft. Bare wire.....still connected to the breaker box....just chilling outside in the elements....I looked at it in a very confused manner. Like when a dog hears a noise that it's not familiar with. Kinda cocks its head off to the side, then to the other with that funny look on its face. Yep, that was me as I looked at it.

Children are on summer vacation. YEY!! YEY!! Rejoice. Anyway, if I think of anything else I'll post sometime.

 

[Bruce]

That floor looks great. And you can let the kids play on the roof without worrying they will fall to their untimely demise

 

[mystang89]

Lol, yeah, they love the roof. I'll be downstairs and hear them sliding down the roof.

 

[Mini Horses]

Nice job on the playroom & floor refinish. I enjoy an update

So why don't you add us to the bill list? When paying & crossing off, there we will be "update BYH"....

You seem busy & doing pretty well. How are the sheep?

We all have issues, some costly I have a DIY spirit. Working on my tiller, I removed my glasses, then stood and stepped on them The tiller drive belt was $14, new glasses & eye exam $320 Had thought "take to shop" -- like you say, "listen to yourself".

Update soon...….you must have a lot to tell. Oh, Absorbine Jr for those sore muscles, from the feed store.

 

[Baymule]

That is a great remodel job on the kids play room. You did good on that! You did a beautiful job on the floor too. I bet your wife is proud of you on that. You have been busy, chicken feeder, fence, bush hogging, fixing tractor, the garden......Whew! I'm tired just from reading that! LOL

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sure good to hear from ya again and it sounds like ya have been pretty dad-gum busy!!.....the floor looks really good and with the kids out of school....maybe "little hands" can help some with the chores.....

 

[mystang89]

So why don't you add us to the bill list? When paying & crossing off, there we will be "update BYH"....

LOL I like it!

You seem busy & doing pretty well. How are the sheep?

Sheep are doing well. I tried to shear one of them a week or so ago and cut straight into him. I immediately stopped before butchering him anymore and called someone. It'll cost $65 for him to shear all 5 which is WELL worth the cost of my patience, sanity, and the sheep health and well being. It might be different if there was actually someone to show me on each sheep but there isn't. I've tried the local 4h and others around here who have sheep but no luck. Perhaps one day.

 

[Bruce]

5 for $65 is a great deal! I wouldn't think 1.000001 times about taking that. I nearly had the opportunity to have my 2 alpacas sheared on Wed. The guy (who I do not know) called at 8:45 AM to say he was going to be doing the neighbors 2 boys and did I want him to do mine (she must have given him my number). You bet I did, especially since DD1 announced last year that she wasn't helping with Laddie again. He's a kicker, wears you right out even with 4 feet tied to the platform I made.

So I said yes - no idea what he is charging, I think $35/animal was the last rate but that was a couple of years ago. Then he tells me he is doing the neighbor's boys at 9 AM. TODAY?? Yes in 15 minutes and he's leaving the state tomorrow to do some shearing. Well DANG! I had a chiropractor appointment at 10:30 no way I would be back before he finished the neighbor's animals and I really doubt he'd want to hang around waiting for me to show up at 11:30 or so. HOPEFULLY he'll call back with a little lead time.