Mystang's Homesteading Circus

[RollingAcres]

Last year we had planted our grapes. I trellised them all nice and pretty but they didn't really do anything. In fact, one of them looked like it had died. Didn't even think it was possible to kill a grape vine so I went out this year and bought a replacement. Turns out the one from last year sprung up and the one from this year is doing good too. Now we have 3 grape vines. Going to be some GOOD grape jam this year I hope!

My grape vines did the same thing! I planted them last year, they did nothing then they looked dead. They both came back this year! I need to make trellis for them soon. I was thinking to just use 2 t posts and some leftover wire fencing. How did you trellis yours?

 

[mystang89]

My children went outside yesterday to let the sheep into the pasture in the morning but came back in telling me that Bruce, my ram sire, had busted through the barn wall....yes, he took out the barn wall. Now granted, the barn wall has been in need of repair since I moved in and it was on the to-do list, just hadn't moved to the top yet.

I went out to see what they were talking about and sure enough a few slats of wood were missing or broken and some of the wall was pushed out. Much of the barn was in bad disrepair anyway. The previous occupants had kept horses inside but never cleaned out the stalls so there was much wood shavings and straw laying around on the frame and built up around the wall. My son started digging out from around the wall so I could get the rotten wood out and replaced. Almost all wood needed to be replaced. It was a blessing that we had been allowed to take the tobacco barn down on the neighboring acreage. We used that wood to repair what we had and now its nice and fortified. He'll end up with a nice headache if he wants to go through that wall lol.

Afterwards I recieved my milker in the mail but it didn't work as intended. Needless to say I wasn't very pleased. A huge let down. I made a post about it in the milking section. Still waiting on a response from the manufacturer. I've been thinking about trying to convert my wife's breast pump into a sheep milking pump but not sure if the tubes will fit. Suppose I'll find out later.

Also was called for Jury duty and went in today. Now, I understand the reason for having the justice system we have and its great. A panel of your peers and all that. Very nice. But when they ask you if you have any reason you can't be there a few weeks beforehand and you say you are the stay at home parent of 8 children, one at 3 months old, no one to watch them and they still tell you to come in, then we need to think things over. Then you get there at 8:30am after begging your 77 y/o mother to drive an hour to watch them and they ask once again if anyone has any reasons they can't be there and you tell them in person your reason, to which they say, "Thank you, sit down please,"....we need to think things over. Then you are called up to the jury box and the attorneys ask you about what you've already said. They then dismiss you from the panel after you've been there already for 5 hours when they weren't going to use you in the first place and could have saved a bunch of time and tax payer money by simply saying that you were exempted......we need to think things over.

Other than that, no much has happened.

 

[Latestarter]

So all of that to simply say that rams, are aptly named? I know, I know...

Sorry about the civic duty stuff. So while we're on the subject, perhaps retired military or civil servants should be removed from the rolls of jury duty people entirely since they basically spent their working lives in doing just that? Civil service? Maybe you should have packed all the kids up and brought them with you? Course then they'd have probably slapped you with a contempt of court charge Of course in my case I pretty much do hold most courts in contempt.

 

[mystang89]

lol. That's exactly what my mother said. Then myself and all six children would have been calling my wife to come bale us outta jail .

Seriously though, I don't mind doing the jury stuff as it is important. But the selection is a bit broken and needs fixing. That was a lot of money spent and persons time wasted, (not just my own as there were others in there with similar causes). More qualified persons could have been selected from the get go and they would have had a better pool to choose from.

 

[Baymule]

I have tried to get chosen for a jury, but they never want me. Last time it was for felony theft and my comment was that he needed to be taken behind the barn and given a whipping with a peach switch.....now WHY didn't they want me on that jury???

 

[mystang89]

LOL, we need more justice like that! Make him pick his own whip too!

 

[greybeard]

Not much I should say about the jury duty thing I suppose, but when I read things like this, & coming from the perspective of a now 68 yr old former combat Marine that was making (base pay+Hazardous Duty+flight skins) right at $375/mo ($93.75/week) and think back on all the mortal hell I flew into, thru and back out of and the subsequent years of being away from wife and family while afloat, and all the death and misery I saw and caused and have to live with and account for to my maker someday soon, I have to wonder....... if this is what the nation has become, why did I bother?

But as I so well remember thinking one night about sundown, after a very hot, long, bloody day of getting my butt shot at about 40 times, it was a small price to pay to be among the Nation's Finest

 

[mystang89]

I wonder the same thing, being an army retiree, having served in Iraq during it's height, watching my friends take an early leave of me, but I didn't serve because some legal system was broken, I served because I love my family.

Many good things need working on. I can look at myself for example. I think I'm a fairly decent person, however there are a great many things "broken" about me that need fixing. When someone brings it up to me then that's a cause for joy because I now know something else I should work on to become better.

By the way, thanks for serving in that hellish place before I was born. I've never seen it but read and heard many accounts. By my standards, Iraq was a cake walk compared to then.

 

[mystang89]

Today was spent working more on the barn, still trying to fix it up from where it was let go into disrepair. It's being noticed by the people around though. A man stopped by yesterday as I was out near the rode with my children and told me he was glad I was trying to get things back in shape. The "feel goods" were felt.

Since Bruce decided to give me a kickstart on fixing the sides of the barn I figured I would continue on with what I started. Where his stall is located happens to be at the left side of the barn. From the left side all the way to the far right side, the face of the barn was literally crumbling. I set out to put the cookies back in place, unfortunately however, the barn was terribly infested with termites at one point and still infested with lovely ants, living in my wood.

As I work my way past Bruce's stall I get to the pigs stall. In order to fix it I already know what's necessary. I need to go into the messy, nasty, stinky pigs stall, hands and knees and rip out and replace the support column that is completely destroyed and lay down another floor runner so I can nail the slat boards to it. In I go. The pigs were thrilled to see me. The started chewing my shoes to show me how much they love me. The wanted to give me kisses. It was a lovely time spent bonding with Sizzle N. Sausage and Chris P. Bacon. I took the Reciprocating Saw and went to work on the support column in the middle of the barn. This 8x8x20 piece of wood was nothing more than a shell for the first 5 foot. I took it out and replaced with wood I, thankfully, had laying around. The pigs were very grateful for the ants. I've heard of chocolate covered ants but not mud covered ants. New delicacy!

Finally finished up the middle and went around to the right side, repairing as I go. On the right side of the barn is a large light. It was placed on the barn by the electric company but according to the previous occupants, the electric company says they won't touch it anymore. Don't know why, haven't bothered asking the company. Anyway, it was put on the barn in about the same manner as everything else not originally built onto the barn.......shoddy. There is on large bolt holding a 8 foot pole with this light on it to the corner post of the barn. This pole runs through the roofing. They never put flashing around where it ran through the roofing. There is a nice 4"x2" hole in the roofing between the pole and metal . It must have been there for decades because the corner post, rafter, runners and anything else around that area is rotted out. Out come the drill, screws and whatever other tool I can get my hands on. The main problem is the electricity. I hate electricity. I was born in the wrong time period. I can't stand working near or on it. I walk up my 16 foot ladder, unaware of (not paying attention to) the wires running from this light down to the breaker box. My cheek brushed one of the wires. The wire kissed me. I don't like electricity. Now, I'm no electrician, but these wires were being spliced together with.....wait for it....you ready? Duck tape. Quack quack tape. The duck tape is, of course by this time, falling off and low and behold, bare wires. Bare wires, running from this very powerful light, to my barn. Consider this light the same as a light you see in a neighborhood at night near the street. Same thing.

I did as much as I could. Fixing it up as well as I could. I'm going to turn off the electricity to the barn from the breaker box before I do anything with those wires. I'd like to hook those wires up to a light switch so I could turn that light on and off as I saw fit in the future. For the present, I'd just like for there not to be bare wires around my barn. I wasn't able to get a fix in place for the large hold going through my roof either. Honestly not sure how to fix it. I'll get together with the pigs and figure something out.

I'll try to get a picture of this electrical nightmare up tomorrow.

 

[Baymule]

Bonding time with the pigs......time well spent. We have a neighbor that deals with electricity all day and he is slowly wiring our barn. I don't like or understand electricity either. Kudos to you for making repairs on the barn. I hate to see old barns in disrepair.