Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

We always deduct mileage since we have rentals in Texas. All of our trips are deductible, but we do not deduct our farm expenses. I think I will collect all the expenses from this year and show them to the tax man in Quitman and see what he says. DH says we can file an amended tax return, but I think the IRS will look closer at that than if we just file it all together in the first place. Since we have to pay quarterly taxes anyway, I don't think they will audit us. After all we have been selling some lambs for the past several years and I have all the receipts.

4 more ewes to trim today. Then we will clean out the barn again and DS1 will bring up the 11 ewes in the breeding pen, and the last 2 rams. Some of the ewes are definitely about 3 months into their pregnancy and I am not really eager to tip them into the chair but DS1 said that some have bad feet so it is necessary. If we wait until we return from Texas mid-March they will be closer to their due dates and definitely not good to tip.

Our just over 3-year-old fridge (end of November 2019) has stopped chilling. The freezer portion and icemaker are still working. It is just past the 3-year warranty we purchased. We have a call in for the repair people to call to set up a visit. We have moved the perishables out to the other fridge in the laundry room. Life . . . .

 

[Baymule]

3 year old refrigerator? Boy, that didn’t last long. Appliances are not as good as they used to be. Are ANY appliances even made in this country any more? ANYTHING?

 

[Ridgetop]

The much older one in the laundry room is still working. The vegetable drawer has cracked but at least it is still cold.
If I don't hear from the repair people today, I will call someone else.

Finished trimming hooves on last 4 ewes in the barn yesterday. Vaxed and gave 2 shots of Penn, one to abscess ewe, and one to little ewe with infected tag. DS1 got his foot stomped again and is limping around so we will wait to do the others for a day or so. We will start loading the stock trailer this weekend. DH and I have pretty much accepted that we will not be bringing the flatbed back this time. Since we will only be coming back with one trailer, we will probably not stay in Texas more than 2 weeks - including our time at the wedding. Just enough time to get back there, unload the trailer, transfer the Texas Five, put the shelving units together in the sheds, put everything on the shelves, head to Leander to visit our puppy, Athens for the wedding, then back to Yantis for kids to see property, measure the rooms, check out the house, meet the tax guy, gardener, etc. hitch up the trailer and home.

 

[Margali]

@Ridgetop Maybe your husband son-in-law should get steel toe shoes with metatarsal guards? That's what I wore when working at Y horse camp with the a**hole horses after one almost broke my foot.

 

[Ridgetop]

DS1 is son not husband. DS1 wears old soft shoes to work in so naturally nothing to protect his toes. He will be fine in a couple days, probably just badly bruised. We don't let DH help with the sheep much anymore since he is not steady on his legs - needs his "good knee" replaced pretty soon. Has an appointment when we get ack from Texas to arrange for it. LOL Also he is pretty deaf so can't always hear our instructions at the best pf times much less when the sheep are screaming! LOL He feeds in the mornings, and uses the small tractor to clean pens. He will do a lot more in Texas when we have the large tractor and are on flat ground.

DS1 brought the last 10 sheep up from the breeding pen to the barn and also notified me that 8189 lost her war tag so we need to retag. Of course, now she is out in the big field so . . . . We will start trimming hooves tomorrow on the last sheep. DH and DS1 plan to clean out the stock trailer tomorrow and get it ready to pack for Texas. We need a bale of straw to bed the front compartment for The Texas Five. I will measure the new pallets we have in the old hay shed to see if they will fit in the stock trailer. Using the pallets on the floor of the trailer will take up 6" of height in storage but will keep any urine from the sheep from getting on the bottoms of the boxes. Once the trailer is raked and hosed out, I will see how we can attach water buckets to the gates to avoid spillage on the road. The girls will have to eat their hay off the ground though. I don't think I still have any hay nets, and the sheep would probably chew them up anyway so it will be safer for them to just add water to their buckets during the day, and toss a couple flakes of hay in on the floor am and pm. I also have to find my chains and padlocks for the gates so no one will be able to steal the ewes on the trip.

Friday:
DH and DS1 cleaned out the trailer today and washed it out ready to load. Health Certificate received from vet and printed out, put in file with other paperwork on Texas Five, ready to load. Need to remember to load it in the truck instead of suitcase so I can get at it at inspection points! DH got a bale of straw ready to load for the comfort of the Texas Five. The trailer floor and mats have to dry out before it can be loaded. We can't start loading the trailer until Saturday or Sunday when it is completely dry. I will start bringing up boxes from the milk shed tomorrow ready to load into the trailer. DS1 wants to load about 10 or so 10' heavy corral panels in the trailer along with the shelving and plastic bins of reno stuff. Since we are not using the panels, they might as well come back to the farm with a bucket of panel clamps. I think we can fit everything in the trailer and truck bed we planned to bring except for the long corral panels on the flatbed.

Discussion with DH and DS1 as to how they plan to load ewes. They are going with their own idea of loading through small side door. I am staying out of this since they rejected my superior strategy of leaving an aisleway through trailer to slide gate and loading through the rear then finish loading the aisleway. LOL DH wants to leave Wednesday around midnight. Since he and DS1 will be able to switch off driving I will just plan to sleep in the rear seat.

DH checked on the truck today and it is finished except to test drive it. Naturally there won't be enough time to drive it for 500 miles then have an oil change before Texas. And if we have an oil change anywhere except the Galpin shop at the 500-mile point, it will void the warranty. GRRR! At least it will be finished when we return, and we can also bring the 5th wheel trailer home from that shop. In March DGD3 and DG5 turn 2 years old while the first Saturday in April is Nicholas' baptism. The parents are planning a large joint birthday party on our patio with a large BBQ.

Hopefully we will make another trip to Texas the end of April with another load. I am actually considering renting a second flatbed trailer so we can bring Big Blue back on the second trip as well as the corral panels. Have to see. Taxes have to be filed in April, and then we can load up more stuff for another trip to Texas. I got my farm tax exempt card for Texas and will bring it with me to record it at TSC, Lowes, etc. for all farm purchases. I have a feeling that this year will be a series of fast turnaround trips to Texas with equipment interspersed with intervals of fence building. I will be glad when the moving is over, and we can just stay there and do the fence building and renovations we need. Driving back and forth is a real waste of our time but at least we are starting the move.

 

[Mini Horses]

At least the commitment is moved. you'll have your "stuff" there, so makes it less attractive to rent it and stay put. Then there's the CA crap ya want to leave -- laws, politics, taxes, yeah those things.

This is a huge move -- probably never thought you'd be doing this in your prime of life.

 

[Ridgetop]

No and it is very hard to move away from the grandkids. The 2-year-olds are getting interesting and fun. The 9-year-old is a joy, the boys are fun, and the 2-month-old baby precious. But like I told DD1 yesterday, if our children don't relocate near us, we will probably move back when we are past our Prime since we may need them to take care of us. Not something I look forward to, but one has to be practical.

 

[Baymule]

Do you have an ETA date in Yantis yet?
I’m meeting son in law to get the 2 little granddaughters today. He’s taking the oldest to his cousin’s house in Kingwood and I’m meeting him there. It’s a 2 hour drive one way for me. He and DD have to work all week, they probably won’t want their children back until Saturday. I’m thinking y’all will get to the ranch on Friday and I should pick up the Texas Five on Saturday. Maybe DSIL’s cousin would like a slumber party with all 3 girls Friday night? Then I could roll out Saturday morning for Yantis.

 

[SageHill]

We need a bale of straw to bed the front compartment for The Texas Five

Love the name "The Texas Five"

 

[Baymule]

Love the name "The Texas Five"

Me too!