Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[SageHill]

Woah - that was a freaking scare for sure. Glad it was read wrong (guy probably didn't do well in basic < and > math symbols).
You're sooooo organized - wow.
Ohhhhh weather -- we've got more rain coming?!?!! Looks like ~maybe we'll see some 29th-31st -- ~maybe. HA - just when my coral will be nice again. Thank God for the rest of the ranch, the hills are good.

 

[murphysranch]

I gasped when I read the less than 49%. Yep, takes years off of one's life.

 

[Baymule]

Whew! I was really worried about that! What a dummy doctor. What does the VA hire? Med school rejects?

That’s a good idea on the puppy, I know you have been worried about her and all the trips back and forth.

8 pounds! Congratulations! Amazing what lack of food will do!

 

[Baymule]

How bad are the front end loader arms broken on your Farmall? I know somebody… it might can be welded back. A front end loader is mighty handy, so is a grapple. Get pictures of the broken arms. I know people who know people!

 

[Ridgetop]

How bad are the front end loader arms broken on your Farmall? I know somebody… it might can be welded back. A front end loader is mighty handy, so is a grapple. Get pictures of the broken arms. I know people who know people!

I am so glad to know people that know people! LOL

I am not sure about what is wrong. DS3 said that this Farmall model had lots of power on the rear end, but the front end was not designed for the amount of lift Farmall put on it. Not sure if I got that right, but something like that. I was going to contact the New Holland dealer in SS to take a look and see if it could be repaired. However, if your guy can jury rig it to work for a lighter front loader and a grapple that would be terrific. I would lile a grapple to pull any dead wood and stuff away from fencing. Also DS3 used a grapple to set his fence posts - he gets the old electric poles from work after they replace them.

We will probably bring the little orange Kubota back too. It is the smallest Kubota made (in fact I don't think they make them anymore) and has a front loader, but the tractor is so light weight that it tips with a heavy load! It is the tractor that ran away with me downhill since the brakes are on the rear tires and when I went to dump the loader on the hill the rear tires lifted off the steep hill and the brakes didn't work. Instead, I abandoned the tractor and jumped off. It hit our oil pipe fencing and stopped but we had to repair the wire. DH said I should have dropped the bucket and that would have stopped it. (Or maybe made it flip over?!) DH says it is only a motorized muck shovel and uses is for cleaning the sheep pens and horse corrals. The person we bought it from used it to drag a length of chain link fencing across their arena DS3 to clean it for working her cutting horses. DS3 made a flat deck attachment that goes on the back hitch. DH puts concrete blocks on to add weight when he wants to use it for anything heavy. It is a little guy, but DH uses it a lot.

We are getting another horse from DDIL1. It is the little 14 hh mustang that she couldn't get in the trailer. She is sending him down with a shipper. Oh goody! Another mouth to feed with expensive alfalfa! In Texas the horses can go out with the cows. He is not experienced, so I will check around with my horse friends to see if any of them need a mount for their kids. He is broke to ride, but has not been ridden much. If I loan him to a kid he will get a lot of miles on him. He is a cute little grulla mustang that I adopted from the Wild Horse roundup when Skittles was a yearling to give her a friend. DDIL1 was horse crazy and gentled him then got a trainer to break him to saddle. I like him because he is short! Josie the Mule is comfy to ride but is 16.3hh.

Been packing more stuff to take to TX. Got out DH's thermal shirts that he likes in winter to wear under his overalls. Also got my long underwear and flannel lined jeans. I am thinking about collecting some of our work clothes to leave in Texas when we come back. That way we don't have to pack as much and will have work clothes already there. I haven't bought much since Covid started since I bought a lot of new t-shirts at a sale when we came back from our last cruise which was just weeks before the pandemic. I think I will just bring some stuff back to the house and leave it there instead of trying to drag large suitcases back and forth. Too bad it is such a long trip to and from. At least we have actual beds!

I told DD1 that we had 2 king beds and she tried to claim one for herself. DSIL1 is not coming this trip. I told her that she would have to battle her brothers for the bed since we get one and there is only one left. DS1 is bringing his good air mattress and bedding, and the other 2 couples can fight DD1 for it. They are evenly matched. All the bedrooms have carpet so any air mattresses will be comfortable. I think DD1 has one and so does DS2. They can send them with us along with sleeping bags for the 3 kids. The baby can either sleep with mom and dad, or they can send a Portacrib as well. 4 bedrooms with no furniture so plenty of room for the couple days they will be there. Maybe we should wait to unload the extremely heavy panels off the flatbed until our sons arrive at the ranch. Hee hee hee. I won't tell them that plan.

The gardener (Jeremy) is putting in the 2 apricot trees I wanted and says the mini orchard is doing well. Hopefully the deer and hogs won't find the trees until we can fence them out and get back there with our dogs. I have figured out how to give the dogs access to all the pastures except the ram pen. A friend, Bill Turnquist, raised sheep and Boers on a large piece near the stream bed in Norco, CA, and kept Pyrs. Bill was the Livestock Superintendent at Los Angeles County Fair for years and a sheep judge. He retired to Kentucky years ago but had become a good friend. Our last Pyr was a granddaughter of our first Pyr sired by Bill's male. He only had about 3 Pyrs but they had access to all areas of his ranch by way of "swinging doors". He would hang 2 pieces of plywood about 18" x 24" over a 15" x 20" hole that he cut in the lower half of his sheep pens. One piece would swing one way and the other would swing the other way - in and out. They were held in place by wire at the top and the dogs knew which one went in and which one went out. They could cover the entire 25 acres easily using these swinging panels. The sheep and goats never figured out the panels. I think I will try them on a couple fences but I will brace the wire with wood strips bolted on, or pipe wired on. If it works, I will be able to police all the sheep pens in Texas easily. This only works if your LGDs get along with each other. I have Anatolians so will have to make sure that none of them take against each other. The new puppy is a female and there is enough age between all of them that they will be fine. When I get another male Anatolian I will only be able to have one male on the property with this system. The dogs can also be allowed access to the fenced back yard to come to the house to visit. The panels can easily be secured immovable with a hook system when we want to deny access to any pen.

The doctor put me on some new medications. I had stopped taking blood pressure meds since it had caused my potassium level to plummet dangerously low. Blood pressure was 160/93 at appointment last Thursday. He has put me on another blood pressure medication and also something for cholesterol. Back up to 5 pills a day including a multivitamin. Headaches have stopped at least. Seeing my orthopedist next week for xrays and checkup after fall. Knee is still not back to where I was, but hopefully the doctor won't find anything wrong other than residual muscle tenderness. DDIL2 has an exercise bike and zi will ask her to set it up and use it. I have told DH that we will put a Murphy bed in the spare room and put exercise machines in it. With a TV we can do exercises during super hot and cold TX winter and summer.

DS2 and family went to a dinosaur exhibit with lifesize dinos yesterday. They took DGD1 and met other family members there. Photos show DS2 attempting to feed Robert to Tyrannosaurus and other dinosaurs. DGS5 was displeased. LOL

 

[Bruce]

DH said I should have dropped the bucket and that would have stopped it. (Or maybe made it flip over?!) DH says it is only a motorized muck shovel and uses is for cleaning the sheep pens and horse corrals. The person we bought it from used it to drag a length of chain link fencing across their arena DS3 to clean it for working her cutting horses. DS3 made a flat deck attachment that goes on the back hitch. DH puts concrete blocks on to add weight when he wants to use it for anything heavy. It is a little guy, but DH uses it a lot.

ANY tractor that is used to carry weight in the bucket NEEDS ballast in the back. Get the tires loaded, that helps. Unless I have the backhoe on, I leave the 5' flail mower on the back of the compact Mahindra, it weighs 750 pounds and that weight is close to the rear of the tractor. If you don't have a weighty rear attachment (not a blade or rake) it might be easier to get a dedicated weight box rather than having to deal with concrete blocks.

 

[Ridgetop]

I think that is what they called it - a weight box - but it's actually a platform since that way DH can carry stuff on it. He loads the horse barrels to transport them to the truck. Why he doesn't just dump the horse manure barrels into our deep gully is a mystery to me. The manure would eventually help the soil and it will take several hundred years to even partially fill that deep pit. Instead he loads them on the tractor platform, drives the tractor to the truck (4-WHD so sits high) where he and DS1 struggle to load them. Then drives 1/2 mile down to street to unload for dump pickup!

 

[farmerjan]

No offense, but why anyone would purposely remove organic matter from the farm to go to dump pickup is totally beyond me. We strive constantly to add organic matter back into our land. Because of phosphorous levels you are only supposed to put x amount of poultry litter on fields so that is one reason there is poultry litter available out of some of the areas where the phos levels are high... and we have plenty of places to put it so will never probably get in that position.,... but then we don't have several poultry houses to deal with.
Sorry, but your DH and DS are making work for themselves that is totally unnecessary and doing the land a disservice. And really, at this point, if you are planning to leave there, WHY???? make more work for yourself. It is not like it is trash they are dumping...

 

[Bruce]

We are "landfill poor" here, they don't want ANY organics in there anymore. We have mandatory household organic pickup for people who don't have animals or compost piles to eat it. The only thing I put in my green bucket every so many weeks is dried corn cobs and bones after the chickens pick them clean. Can't do that if you live in an apartment.

Yeah I am surprised your DH and DS want to haul the manure anywhere off the property, that is what the tractor bucket is for and yeah, right into the ravine if you don't want to compost it. I suspect you could sell that composted horse manure for a lot of money in So. Cal.

 

[Ridgetop]

RIGHT? But I am a mere woman. Their man code says that I cannot comprehend their reasons. I have told DH just to push or dump all the manure over the edge of the ravine, but he gets THAT LOOK of superiority on his face before giving me a lecture about the necessity of removing the manure.

It is hard enough work to load all the trash and recycle barrels into the truck to go half a mile to the road pickup, why would you do it with manure? We can only fill the manure barrels half full due to weight and they cost $10 each a month (they are brown, the trash barrels are black, the recycle barrels are blue, and the green waste are green.. Get rid of the barrels and just dump into the gully. It is about 150 feet deep! The barrels are useful to clean the jugs into, but that wet hay and poop can also go into the gully to decompose. And I use the green barrels to clean the jugs.

Go figure