Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[farmerjan]

Yeah, he's an A$$...... and another of the "elite" that thinks they can dictate and not follow because HIS RULES are for the peons below him.
This is what so many of those far left nutcases are believing..... they can make rules for the lower masses and they will be able to sit up there and lord it over the rest; and benefit from the suffering and the sacrifices of these "lower peons".

 

[Bruce]

I read the same thing. It smacks of dictatorship.

I don't know about dictatorship but not too much thought spent on what he was doing and how it would be perceived.

 

[Ridgetop]

I have not been on for several days. Been doing lot of sewing. Made 2 Advent calendars - red felt banner with green Christmas tree to hang on the wall. 24 numbered pouches underneath to store small Christmas ornaments that go up on the tree every day in December. The children love it and fight over who gets to put up their favorite ornaments. I made one for DS2 and DDIL2, and another one for DD2 since she seems to have lost hers when she moved back from South Carolina. Also making small felt ornaments for the calendars.

Hired the photographer for the wedding. 2 hours only. Checked out what the provisions would be if it rained and was told that the restaurant would probably just sneak us into a room. It the governor or mayor cancel all weddings etc., we will get our money back fro the Odyssey and hire tents, tables, and chairs at our house. We have enough flat space for parking. We will call everyone to tell them of the change of venue and tell some not to come. Then put up signs stating "BLM Rally". This wedding is going ahead no matter what!

Yesterday another first freshener lambed a single ram lamb. 9.4 lbs. This morning I checked the sheep through the bathroom window with my binoculars at 6:30 am. One of the larger ewes was starting to lamb with a massive mucous plug. I went back to bed for another hour then checked again around 8:00 am. Still no lamb but now a nose was presenting. DH fed a flake or two and she waddled over to the feeder so decided to wait a while longer since the last ewe I pulled might have been able to have the second lamb by herself. I thought I rushed to pull it too soon. At 9:30am DS1, DH and I trooped out to pull the lamb which was still just a nose and no labor from mom. The ewe had returned to the shelter and was laying down seeming to push a little so DS1 let out the rest of the flock. Still no progress so we decided to bring her into the small catch and put a halter on her. DS1 held her and I checked her progress. She had a ginormous lamb head trying to come out, no legs or front feet!

After about 15 minutes of trying to find a front leg, I found it but it was too big to pull up and out. After another 5 minutes of struggling with the leg, I decided to push the entire lamb back in to get more room. Naturally the ewe objected and began to vigorously push the lamb out. Finally i got the lamb back in enough to coax out the leg but I couldn't get him out. I switched places with DS1 who pulled the lamb out.

It looked pretty dead but I grabbed it by the hind legs and swung it vigorously. Just as DH told me that it wouldn't do any good and ds1 said it helped to clear the lungs, the lamb snorted and wagged its head. The ewe was exhausted nd the lamb was weak. I checked the ewe inside and it felt like there might be another one but pretty far up inside so we brought the ewe and lamb into the 5th jug where we continued rubbing the lamb and iodined the cord. The ewe was still exhausted but was encouraged by the lamb noises to start cleaning him off. The ewe had a drink and ate a bit of hay. She was no longer contracting so DH stayed to watch her for a while, then DS1 took a turn. I went up and cleaned up and had my coffee. DS1 eventually came up and said it looked like she was passing the afterbirth. Half an hour after that I went down and she had a much smaller lamb laying on the pen floor. It was a ewe lamb, more lively than the ram lamb. I iodined the cord and left mama cleaning her baby. Tonight the ewe lamb is up nursing and the afterbirth is on the pen floor. Tomorrow I will weigh the lambs and double check their conditions. The ram lamb seems rather weak but after his ordeal it is natural. Hopefully after a good rest he will be up and around too.

Tomorrow the grandsons come over and clean pens for us. We will weigh all lambs, do the second vaccinations on the older lambs and transfer them and their mamas into the creep pen. The younger lambs will get their first vaccinations. In another week or so they will get ear tagged and then transferred to the creep pen. Still 10 ewes to lamb between now and January/February.

UGH! More sister drama Sunday with DS1 getting angry with DH who apparently called sister anyway. Loud shouting by DH all over the house into the phone at DS1 who was also shouting. Then both claimed that neither one was angry with each other. DS1 intervening, and ending with peace between father and daughter until the next day when DD1 showed up to vent about my sister. Apparently she had texted one of her well known long self pitying rant to DD1 which has peeved her. In them she explains how she is known for her sweet nature and kind heart and everyone is mean to her . . . the crowning glory of this text was telling DD1 that she should look into her heart and soul and consider her obligations to her religion, etc. DD1 came over to read it to us and tell us all about it. She and DH went over the whole thing again while I returned to my sewing. DS1 got them all calmed down which was not that hard since they all turned their anger against my sister. Like DS1 said "Why annoy the last people in the world who are willing to speak to her?" It cost me 4 nights without sleep until I gave in at 3am and took a tranquilizer. I really hate doing that because it makes me groggy the next day. We are beginning to worry that my sister might really be going a bit insane. Probably not enough to get her committed though. I don't understand why it is apparently MY fault that I have this crazy sister!
I told DD1 to block her calls but she says she can't do that because she feels sorry for her! I feel sorry for me for having to live through this drama!
Tomorrow I will recut the new jacket I made and change the style from kimono sleeves to regular sleeves. No rain in the forecast for a while.

 

[Baymule]

Sometimes it is just not worth it to keep in touch with certain relatives. If she was not related to you, I'm sure no one in your family would choose her as a friend. I have a cousin, mother's brother's daughter, that is nuts. Full of drama, nothing is ever her fault, problems all the time and will talk for hours, complaining the whole time. I was the last one in the family to have anything to do with her and it finally got to be too much, I cut her loose too. Life is much better without such narcissistic people in it.

 

[thistlebloom]

What Bay said. It only compounds the drama when the complainer knows they have an audience. Then when it is repeated to the family, which the complainer intended all along, it's not a ripple effect, more like a tsunami.
You can't keep your sympathetic daughter from partaking, but if it were me, I would ask her to not share. It upsets everyone and is nonproductive.

I have two relatives who seem to make it their ambition to divide and destroy. I understand the turmoil it creates.

Glad you were able to birth that big ramling and he survived!

 

[Ridgetop]

Yes to what you both said. Oh yes, she told DD1 that Trump personally murdered her 90 year old husband who had a super bad heart, diabetes, etc. by "bringing Covid to America" himself! My BIL did not even contract Covid, but died of a heart attack which had been expected for years! my sis told DD1 that she believes the doctors changed his medicine and it killed him - obviously on Trump's direct orders! Straight jackets anyone? Even though all flights were grounded at the time, I should have rushed to her side when he died. This in spite of being told BY HER that we should wait for the memorial service which still has not taken place or even been planned! I haven't spoken to her personally in years. Sad not to be able to have a good relationship with a sister though. I am so glad that all my children enjoy getting together with their siblings. God has been merciful to me and mine. Luckily 1200 miles separate us. Not far enough in my opinion.

The little ram lamb looks perkier this am. Both lambs cuddled up with mama. Will weigh everybody today and vaccinate. No ewes looking likely to deliver today or tomorrow.

Got the move out pix on the Yelm rental Friday and it took a while to down load them into a format I could use. Some were blurry but not too much damage. The doorknob on the bedroom door is missing and will be difficult to replace since it was the original knob from 100 years ago. You can't just remove those old doorknobs and replace them since the hardware is made differently with a large plate. You almost have to replace the entire door as well since removing the plate and catch take out so much of the wood in the door. The tenant stuffed a paper towel or something in the doorknob hole. Anyway, it looks like the carpets are ok, maybe need cleaning in the living room. Appliances are fairly clean although a few food items were left in the fridge and a package of frozen vegetables in the freezer. Glad I instructed the management company to clean it out, toss any food, and unplug it with doors propped open. No photos of exterior but through the windows I could see some trash left around the property.

We may have to go up there to sort things out. While we don't like leaving the property vacant, DH says better to do that and wait to see if the moratorium on evictions is lifted by the liberal Gov. Inslee before renting it again. We haven't had another offer on the property which is ok. I think builders are waiting to see what happens with the election and Biden. After Christmas I will see if we can get DD2 and SIL2 to stay at our place part of the time to feed for us. Most of the ewes will have lambed by then. That way we can go up ourselves with DS1. I suppose he will have to help my sister remove the years of junk she has at her place. Currently, according to DD1 and DS1 she plans to move into her basement and rent the upper house. Since the only thing keeping her from repossession is the Covid shutdown, I don't hold out much hope of her being able to come out of this with anything. Luckily she never had children so her genetics won't carry on. Anyway, we will probably rent it again if we can't sell on our terms. When this listing runs out, I might list it with another broker. I am instructing our current agent to list the property in the nationwide multiples.

No problem finding a tenant for the property. Rentals are at a premium up there, When we go up, I am considering adding Ikea closet to both bedrooms, then it will become a 2 BR house which will rent for much more. Current rental value is about $1200-1400. As a 2 BR it will definitely become a $1400-1500 rental. I am also considering emptying the 2 room bunkhouse, closing off the rear room, and running new electric and water lines to it. That way the finished half could become a laundry room where the tenant would have storage and a washer/dryer. Since I don't want to put the money into adding a bathroom and making it a second rental, it might make extra rent. On the other hand I could rent a PortaPotty and let my sister live in the bunkhouse!

Today I am going to empty out the dining room of all the wedding items for DD2's wedding. I need to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner which I am having here. We will go to DD1's house again this year for Christmas. That way we can leave when we get tired and come home, leaving the siblings to play board games until dawn if they want to. Before, I would go to bed while DH and the children played in the family room. Eventually DH would join me while the children played on. My house stayed much cleaner on Christmas Day last year!

The dogs were going absolutely crazy 2 weeks ago in the evenings and all night long. They would start out around dusk in the front of the house after the sheep were put up, then by bedtime would be working in the gully. Something or somethings were out there that they really were worked up over. This constant aggressive warning barking lasted about a week, then calmed down. It was not the normal "I am on duty so stay away" barking. This was really aggressive "I know you are out there and if you come on my property I will kill you" barking punctuated by occasional snarling.

 

[Ridgetop]

Oops, apparently I hit post. This is the season the cougars start coming down from the hills so it might be a young cougar checking out properties. The smells of birthing ewes would draw them in. At any rate, penning up the sheep at night helps the dogs in their protection. It is easier to protect the boundaries of the property while the sheep are in pens at night. The rams are in front of course, but the dogs have access to that field. The dogs have calmed down over the past few days so whatever it was has probably moved on. Hard to break in and steal a sheep when the burglar alarms are making a lot of noise and are armed! LOL

 

[Bruce]

You almost have to replace the entire door as well since removing the plate and catch take out so much of the wood in the door.

"Kind of" All the wood was removed to put the latch system in the door. You might be able to find a casement latch at an architectural salvage place. Given the age of the door it might make a nice "accent" piece rather than installing a new door and modern latch.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yes, we liked the old door knob. The tenant had worked for a house flipper then gone into business himself as a 'flipper". I would think he had taken the doorknob, except that without the doorknob assembly it really wasnt worth taking. Oh well, we will think of something to repair it. Maybe we can find one in Yelm.

The grandsons came over today and cleaned out the hayshed. Then they came with me to the barn and caught the lambs to weigh and vaccinate. After the 2nd booster on the older 4 lambs we transferred them into the large pen with the attached creep. The little guys had a lot of fun figuring out the creep gate and running out onto the hillside, scaring themselves at the openness of the hillside, and absence of mom. They will have a lot of fun in the larger pen and will grow better. I really like the older ewe lamb so will have to watch her as she grows. She is 7 weeks old now. Not so sure about the younger ewe lamb but she is only 5 weeks old so needs to grow more. Rate of gain is good on both sets of twins.

The remaining 3 ewes are being kept in the jugs with their much younger lambs - 2 weeks, 2 days, and 1 day old. The ginormous ram lamb weighed in at 13.1 while his smaller sister weighed in at 12.1 lbs. The ram lamb was a little dozy yesterday but today is recovering well.

After moving the 2 ewes and their older lambs into the creep pen, the DGS1 and DGS2 cleaned out their jugs and put down Dry Stall. Al water buckets were removed and cleaned then replaced and the ewes with only 1 lamb moved over into the clean stalls. Next those stalls were cleaned out and the entire barn (not very large) raked out and cleaned. DS1 noticed that ACC 0100 had bagged and looked like she was dripping a bit. After shoveling up everything from the barn and moving the barrels out of the barn, the GSs drove the ewes back up out of the gully and into the night fold. DS1 separated out the heavy ewe and out her into the catch pen for me to look at her, She definitely looks like she is ready and when I checked her breeding date she is due today. DS1 said that maybe she will be the first one of this bunch to actually lamb in a jug! LOL I don't mind them lambing in the open pen with the rest of the flock around since they seem to be calmer with the flock around them. Lambing in the gully is a NO NO though! Hopefully she will lamb tonight or tomorrow morning. This is her 3rd time, first a single ewe, then a single ram that she lambed on the steep gully hillside at night and it died. I put her back in with the ram immediately and she rebred a month later. I hope she has twins this time otherwise I will consider removing her from the flock. She is a very nice ewe with good genetics though so I hate to do that. We will see what she has.

The Maid of Honor is supposed to come over today or tomorrow evening to try on the dress. I hemmed it up and basted in the hem to make sure it is right. If it is the right length, I will cut off the excess and do the final hem. I used some ribbon in the exact dusty rose shade as the gown and made ribbon roses for her mask. Hopefully she will like it. The mask was covered in sequins in white with a rose cast but I thought decorating it with the ribbons roses would m wake a nice touch, DD2's wedding mask is completely beaded with pearls and is really pretty, The groom has a black wedding mask with a bow tie. These masks are ridiculous. I really don't think they do that much good since everyone has been self quarantining.

DD1 called today to say that DSIL1's aunt wants to come for Thanksgiving from San Jose in northern California. She wanted to know if the entire family would consent to getting Covid tests done to make sure we didn't infect her. I told DD1 "No". With this new government taking over and some lawmakers wanting to make testing mandatory and put the results on your cell phone so they can track people that supposedly have Covid or have been exposed I don't want the government testing me at all! When AIDS was so prevalent, the government wouldn't allow positive AIDS test results to be released because of "privacy". Covid has everyone hysterical. And the hysterical people are about to run the country!!! That is more frightening than Covid itself!

Anyway, since our entire family has been hanging out together I don't see why anyone should be tested. I would like to see Louise, but she is more likely to infect us than we are to infect her since she is coming from northern California.

I am just not afraid of Covid anymore. I am more worried about the incoming government rationing our toilet paper! I was traumatized by having to use only 1 or 2 squares of TP for 8 months. The emotional scarring is still there.

 

[Baymule]

DD1 called today to say that DSIL1's aunt wants to come for Thanksgiving from San Jose in northern California. She wanted to know if the entire family would consent to getting Covid tests done to make sure we didn't infect her. I told DD1 "No". With this new government taking over and some lawmakers wanting to make testing mandatory and put the results on your cell phone so they can track people that supposedly have Covid or have been exposed I don't want the government testing me at all! When AIDS was so prevalent, the government wouldn't allow positive AIDS test results to be released because of "privacy". Covid has everyone hysterical. And the hysterical people are about to run the country!!! That is more frightening than Covid itself!

Obviously she is a government spy, sent to see if you are complying with the number of people eating turkey and wearing masks. You are suppose to heap your plate up with the Thanksgiving dinner goodies, run it all through a blender and drink dinner through a straw so you don't have to remove your mask. You are wise, grasshopper to refuse her demand for an invitation.