Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

We will be doing laundry and packing clothes over the weekend. I need to collect everyone's dress clothes which will be riding in the truck cab with us in garment bags. We will just have a cooler, thermoses, travel junk, and overnight bags in the truck cab as well. Our suitcases will probably be in the trailer.

Trash cans have to go down the hill on Sunday night and back up Monday morning in the truck. We will load the truck bed and trailer Monday afternoon and Tuesday. We are thinking about loading the sheep Wednesday evening for a middle of the night departure but can delay to Thursday 2/21. We will spend one night on the road at a motel and arrive in Yantis Saturday. The sheep will remain in the trailer while we unpack it on arrival in Yantis. If it makes it easier for you, Baymule, we could wait to leave until Thursday. That would get us to Yantis on Sunday. (And give me an extra day for Cleo's registration papers to arrive.) We want to go to visit our puppy in Leander on the way to meet th family in Athens on Thursday so we could leave for Leander Wednesday morning and stay in a motel there, then go on to Athens Thursday morning. Asked DS1 if he wanted to go meet Erick in Leander and see the puppies. Gave DS1 the choice and he said, "Who wouldn't want to see puppies? Everyone loves puppies!" I wish we could pick her up and take her home with us this trip. Erick said if we came back for a month to work on fence, he would take her back with him for more training, so we'll have to see.

Trimmed another 4 sheep today, only 4 more pregnant ewes and 2 rams to go. These are slightly older ewes and have raptor feet. Using the chair is wonderful and having the Hoof Boss with the cutting blade makes things easier on rock hard hooves. We have found that adjusting the chair slightly smaller helps since the large ewes become trapped inside and have less opportunity to struggle. The smaller 6-month and younger lambs are small for the chair so DS1 just flips them while I trim. Using the Hoof Boss cutting blade means we can cut off the raptor claws by putting a groove in them and then using the trimmer to remove them. Then I use the hand trimmer to finish off the hooves. The grinder makes me nervous, and that chain cutter blade terrifies me. The chair to hold them in place, and the Hoof Boss cutting blade cuts the work by about 90%! I only have to bend over to do the rear feet, so my back only hurts half as bad! LOL Vaxed the ewes too since some have not had a booster in a year. A couple look really big and we think most are pregnant. I am not sure why a couple have not been marked, but the ram has been with them long enough that we are pretty sure they are all pregnant, due in March-April. We will finish the last 4 tomorrow and then do the rams on Monday.

DS1 and I got the large tarp he used during the bad rainstorms for the sheep pen and cleaned it up. There were some bad tears in it so we cut it apart. It was 20' x 40' and we got 3 usable tarps out of it - one 20' x 18', and two 12' x 16'. We will use the large tarp in the bed of the truck to keep any water from running under and soaking the cardboard boxes of books. The tonneau cover is good, but water can leak inside.

DS2 is cooking a standing rib roast on his Trager tonight. I was going to roast it in the oven, but he saw it defrosting and asked if I would like him to cook it for me. Since he had his recipe book in his hand, I accused him of just wanting to get his hands on my rib roast. He started laughing and admitted to it. LOL He is doing a herb crusted rib roast.

The ground in the barn is very uneven and I think I twisted my foot or ankle a bit. Hopefully a long hot shower and putting it up while waiting for the rib roast to cook will help it. My wrist is hurting also, but not from trimming hooves. I think it is from using the spring action hand strengthener thingy I found in the kitchen drawer. I have been using it to try to strengthen my grip for those gnarly hooves. Instead, I think I may have over done it and now it hurts. Put ice on it when I came in from the barn. Dumb, right?

 

[Baymule]

Y’all come in on Saturday or even Friday. I’ve cleared the way. I can take the girls to son in laws cousin on Friday and he and DD can pick them up on Saturday there. Or I can take them on Saturday. You just let me know, I got it covered either way.

 

[Mini Horses]

So-- with the trimming, exercising challenges (abuse?) and uneven barn doing a number on your ankle, hands, wrists and back -- how's the new knee holding up?? . Did you damage it in the earlier fall? ( You  finally went to Dr to ask)

Why do we keep torturing ourselves? Because we have to "do" things...... Yeah, a couple aspirin and go again

 

[Ridgetop]

New knee is fine. Surrounding bits and pieces are painful. DH and I agree that we are still in our Prime. Barely.

We are trying to decide when to actually leave since our tenants are not out of the house yet, we are not pulling our 5th wheel, and will have to stay in motels which are pricey. Here is what is happening:

The wedding in Athens, TX, is on Friday, March 3. We are meeting the rest of our family on Thursday, March 2, in the motel where we are all staying. Since we are only bringing back the stock trailer and truck full of items, we only need a couple days to unload in Yantis. We will then drive to Leander to visit our puppy, spend the night, then to Athens, spend 2 nights, return to Yantis with our family to see the property and spend a couple more nights in a motel so we can meet with various people to arrange a PO box, utilities, cable, trash p/u, tax man, gardener, etc. before driving back to California. Since we don't need a lot of time to take care of these things, we can drive back later to save money on motel and meals. Now we are thinking to leave Friday, allowing 2 days to arrive Sunday morning or early afternoon. Unload everything, meet Baymule, transfer sheep, do a couple things on Monday and Tuesday, then leave for Leander Wednesday am. Once our tenants are moved out of the house, spending more time in Texas won't be as expensive since we will stay in the house and cook our own meals. Departure is a work in progress. LOL

Trimmed hooves on 2 more ewes. The chair webbing on the Premier deck chair broke in 2 places today while trimming the first ewe and shows signs of wearing through the rubber on several other places. The broken and worn areas of webbing are where the metal rings hold the webbing together. Also, the support rope stretched out and the end came out through the clamp. DS1 switched the webbing around to put the broken part at the head and took apart the clamp and rethreaded the support rope. We still have 3 more sheep to trim and hope the webbing will hold together until we finish. I am ordering another webbing but had hoped to get more than 25-30 sheep out of it. We found that the chair worked better if it was slightly narrower so the sheep were held tightly. They struggled less when they were closely held. It was also very easy to vaccinate while they were in the chair after trimming the hooves.

I will call Premier about the problem with the broken webbing. I wrote a review as well so we will see what they will do about it. Other than the broken webbing, we like the chair and it certainly made trimming a lot easier for ME. I did not have to chase crazy sheep around and flip them into the chair like DS1. However, DS1 did say he liked it since he did not have to lean over restraining the sheep once it was in the chair. Unruly ones were easier to control with a towel over their eyes and he only had to hold a foreleg. The rear feet still required me to bend over, but at least the hooves were in the air and the angle did not require me to crouch on the ground under their bellies! LOL We did have one pregnant ewe who struggled a lot and when she was turned out of the chair had popped out a small rectal hernia. I pushed it back in, removed some poop, and doctored her with Preparation H. I have had pregnant ewes do that before - more like a giant hemorrhoid. She should be OK. BL14 is a grade 5 ewe out of the grade 5 Axtel ewe I lost in August and my good Moyboy ram. She is due in late March or April. I have one daughter out of her by my Axtel ram and am hoping for another out of Lewis. Lewis throws beautiful stylish lambs with elegant fronts and plenty of meat. His lambs are also very fast growing to weaning. Love that ram.

 

[Mike CHS]

Hoping Premier takes care of you. That was odd that it has problems that fast. Our chair is on it's 4th year and no problems.

 

[Ridgetop]

We are not sure why it happened but hopefully Premier will take care of it. I took pictures. Other than that we really liked it.

 

[Baymule]

So now y’all are leaving Friday? Ok, let me know. Would I meet y’all Monday morning?
Call Erick. He texted me, hasn’t heard from you in a couple of days.

 

[Ridgetop]

Talked to Erick. Missed his 2 calls - Saturday we were doing hooves in the barn. Then Sunday we were at church. He wanted registered names for the puppy. He gave me seven Turkish names but I liked Mezut which means Happy and Ozel (accent on the zel) which means Special. After getting off the phone I chose Ozel since we have been waiting for this puppy for 5 years (even before Angel). Also I can just hear our family talking to her in baby talk "Oooooohzel". LOL Also with DH and my names hollering for Mezut might be confusing. He wants to keep her for us until we have our fences up in Texas but we will be taking her home to California on the next trip out to Texas. Probably April. Can't leave her any longer because he is already in love with her. Also the other dogs need to meet her as a puppy and start training her.

Change of plans (again) on date we are leaving: Big storm coming in from the north tomorrow due to last until Sunday. Super cold, lots of rain, and dangerous high winds across the desert. DS1 said that we should not try to head over the mountain passes in ice and rain since there is no requirement to be in Yantis before Tuesday. That will give us time t unload, drop tailer and head to Leander Wednesday, then meet family in Athens Thursday. We are trying to avoid too many expensive nights in motels particularly since we are heading back in April with 2 trucks and trailers. We will have a couple days after family leaves Yantis for Dallas to take care of our business. Now we will be watching the weather reports for Texas weather starting next Sunday. We will be loading the truck tomorrow after DS1 picks up the trash cans. The trailer can be loaded during the week in between storms since those items are in plastic boxes and are metal.

 

[Baymule]

Ok so now you are coming in on Tuesday. What time. I’ll be there!

 

[Ridgetop]

I will call when on the road to let you know. My computer froze up so I posted the above without finishing my post.

I sorted out the dress clothes to pack and decided that I can't all the garment bags in the truck - too many suits, etc. Instead I am packing all the dress clothes in the 2 garment bag type suitcases I use for cruises. 3 men's suits, dress shoes, ties, belts, socks, and possibly dress shirts in one. The other will hold the women's (and DGD1's) formal wear, jewelry, shoes, bags, shawls, and possibly dressy coats since the weather may be bad. Doing it this way, I can avoid packing everything too tightly and crushing things. The only things to iron when we reach the hotel will be the men's shirts. Spent an hour looking everywhere for DH's tie clips. I keep them in my jewelry case but they are not there. I will have to buy him a new one. I will wrap the suitcases in plastic and they can ride in either the trailer or the covered truck bed. Our other suitcases will ride in the same place with just overnight bags and toiletries in the cab. All we are bringing other than the wedding clothes are heavy jackets, work clothes, rubber boots, and thermals.

I got a call from Premier this morning and was very happy to have the man tell me he was sending a new webbing. He said that sometimes the little meta rings can cut through the webbing. I don't remember if he said it was because they were squeezed too tight, or not enough and it ended up cutting through. Either way he is sending a replacement webbing free of charge. I told him that the chair was recommended by several friends and that we were all surprised when the webbing broke. I will post another review and tell everyone how quickly they responded. Back up to 5 stars now.

We still have 3 ewes and 2 rams to finish trimming but have decided to load the truck and trailer tomorrow before the rain arrives. We can trim sheep hooves in the barn when it is raining this week. DS1 and I vetoed DH's idea of how to water the sheep using a 5-gallon Sparkletts bottle, opening the side door, and pouring it into the water bucket with the door open. DH insisted that the sheep would not make a break for it through the open door, but DS1 and I both corrected his false beliefs. Instead, we have a pump that fixes onto a 5 gallon Sparkletts bottle and you can pump the water out. We are going to buy a piece of tubing that we can feed into the bucket, balance the Sparkletts bottle on the bumper, and pump the water into the bucket. The thought of the Texas Five making a break for it while we are on the road made DS1 and I break out in a cold sweat. The only other way to be able to water them with the door open is to fix a piece of stock panel (cow panel) across the doorway somehow. Since we have to do it after loading the sheep through the doorway, not sure how it would work. Anyway, we will be bringing a full bale of alfalfa with us to feed on the road, so half of it can go with the sheep to Bay's place.

Actually, now I think about it, we could just use a length of tubing and siphon the water out of the Sparkletts bottle. That is how DH used to gas Daddy's truck that we took our honeymoon in. DH wanted to bring his motorcycle with us so he could ride me up and down Lombard Street in San Francisco. That old Ford Ranchero was one of Daddy's "deals". Not only did the gas gauge not work, necessitating the 50 gallon barrel of gas in the bed with the motorcycle, the truck only started in reverse, the parking brake and horn were defective, there were no turn signals, the motorcycle was tied on to the passenger door handle, which meant that I had to crawl over the driver's seat, the center console, - you get the picture. Our luggage included a 50 gallon barrel of gasoline, a hose with which to syphon the gas into the tank when we coasted to a stop by the side of the road, and a 2" x 12" plank on which DH pushed the motorcycle into the bed to load it. Our honeymoon was memorable in so many other ways as well. It was typical Ridgetop! Still together after 51 years! Must have been true love.