Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[SageHill]

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.

I like the syphon and also the pump ideas. Cattle panel? Why not a hog panel that can flex to fit?

 

[Baymule]

No hog panel or cow panel. They would fail. It’s the Ridgetop way! Better to leave them locked up until we back my trailer up to yours.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yep! Not taking any chances. Once the back of the trailer is unloaded feeding and watering won't be a problem. Just a problem on the road. These are not tame sheep or bottle fed dairy does, these are fairly handleable sheep in a well fenced area, but they are not pets. Baymule will be able to gentle them down using her already tamed "lap sheep". Eventually I expect they will be following her around asking for crackers. LOL

 

[SageHill]

Yep! Not taking any chances. Once the back of the trailer is unloaded feeding and watering won't be a problem. Just a problem on the road. These are not tame sheep or bottle fed dairy does, these are fairly handleable sheep in a well fenced area, but they are not pets. Baymule will be able to gentle them down using her already tamed "lap sheep". Eventually I expect they will be following her around asking for crackers. LOL

Ah yeah - forgot that -- I just have to remember how the 4 I got last summer were. LOL the folks that had them took a couple weeks to eventually get them in a trailer. At that point I didn't have a trailer (do now) and was just waiting it out. They were not handle-able dog and people shy. Now they are a different story.
Have a safe trip out and back.

 

[Ridgetop]

DS1 went looking and found six 10' pipe panels with welded-on cow panel we are not using. Three have gates and three are plain panels. With the front gate closed for the sheep, we have 10'6" of space in the rest of the stock trailer. We might have a couple of 10' rodeo panels out there too. We have other pipe panels with the welded-on cow panel but they are 12' panels. DS1 will look tomorrow. He said he needs to load some corral clamps as well. He is going to load half the panels on each side of the stock trailer for weight distribution and tie them to the side rails. We will load the boxes and shelving in the middle. We can fit a lot of boxes in the truck bed as well. Just have to leave enough room in either the truck bed or the trailer for our suitcases, bale of hay, and water for the sheep. There were a couple of ads in Livestock Weekly for alfalfa in New Mexico. I will call them, price it put, and get their location. We will go by on the way back to California and load the trailer and truck with alfalfa. Maybe we can bring enough alfalfa back each time we go to TX to save a bit on our feed costs. Since we will be pulling empty trailers, the extra gas we use should be a wash.

Cleo's registration papers arrived yesterday so I can bring them with me. All five ewes are registered now. Stil have to trim hooves on the last 5 sheep. Our 3-year-old fridge had a repair call yesterday so we weren't able to do them. The repairman said the problem was the condenser and he had a new one with him. It would cost $900.00. Told him OK. Then he tested the condenser and it turned out it was fine, the problem was the fan instead. Replacing the fan the repair will only be $400. Replacing the refrigerator would have been $2800 since there are no big sales on right now. The freezer on the fridge is still working, but after the repair guy left we realized that the icemaker and lights in the fridge no longer work. He must have disconnected something and did not reconnect it. He is coming back on Monday with the part to fix it so we will leave a note on the fridge about those things. They were working when he came out so he must have disconnected them. DDIL2 will be here and she will take care of it. HOWEVER when the fridge repairman came out the freezer had defrosted because DS2 has LEFT IT OPEN when he got ice packs for his lunch box. I tossed all the frozen fruit we had in there for the baby since it had defrosted and was mushy, along with the popsicles DDil2 makes for Robert. I got the breast milk into the other freezer so it was ok.

Ash Wednesday today so our foreheads are all smutty. No meat, and fasting today. I got a call to play bridge, then went shopping so didn't have a problem not eating. Now I am hungry and will make crab and cheese in tortillas for everyone. No candy for lent - that will help me on my diet. I will feel holy while getting thinner. LOL

 

[Baymule]

I’ll bet when you start packing up panels, you will find more than you thought you had.

I have a side by side refrigerator here and hate it. Can’t fit anything in it. I would love a bright shiny new one, but the hefty price tag makes this side by side look better and better.

 

[Ridgetop]

It has been raining here since Wednesday night. Dried up a bit yesterday just enough to get us to moving boxes from the milk shed to load, then started HAILING big chunks of ice. When the hail stopped the ground was covered 1-2" thick! Looked like we had snow all over the ground. Melted off last night and then the rain started in with a vengeance. FLOOD WARNING ADVISORY on cell phones for our area. DH wanted us to go load the trailer but we said wait till it stops. That was this morning and it hasn't stopped since. DS1 did go out and take apart the shelving in the milk shed and bring the parts up to where everything is sitting under the porch overhang. DH is watching the weather reports and wants to leave NOW! He is warning us that we will be chasing the storm into Texas and that we will hit snow. Can't be helped. I keep telling him that we have a lot of inside stuff to do before going out in the rain to load the trailer and truck. I have to pack all the suitcases, we have to trim the last 5 sheep hooves, I have several boxes of canning jars that need to be repacked properly for the move, 3 loads of laundry, etc. If we leave now, we will just sit in a motel at $125/night doing nothing for several extra days before we meet the family in Athens. Better to be here, not drive through the night and spend just one extra night in a motel on the road. Much cheaper than spending several extra days in a motel. Not to mention eating in restaurants. Once we can stay in the house, it won't matter

Pouring rain all day. The sheep are all crowded into the A-frame shelter in their pen. No room to lay down, about 30 ewes in the little shelter. When the hail ans hard rain starts they race for the shelter. So funny! Yesterday morning we were at the Connex getting stuff and Snowflake, 7088, and 13 came up to check out the wheelbarrow. That is how we take the flakes to the pens so they think it means they will be fed. There were a lot of loose alfalfa leaves in the wheelbarrow so I scooped up a handful and offered it to Snowflake and SHE ATE FROM MY HAND! Then 7088 (my oldest and first ewe) and P13 (9 months old-7088 granddaughter) also ate alfalfa leaves from my hand. they would have continued eating and others were coming but DS1 was in a hurry so duped the alfalfa leaves onto the ground to get the sheep away from the wheelbarrow where we were loading stuff to bring to TX. I guess I need to start sitting outside with a bag of alfalfa and treats.

Had to go to DD1's house last night to see what they were wearing and approve their jewelry and wraps . It's going to be cold for the wedding, so I have packed dressy coats for us all. That took up most of the space in the one garment bag type suitcase, so I had to pack the men's stuff in a second one. I am hoping to get everything else into one big suitcase keeping one overnight bag for the motel, toiletries, jewelry, pjs, and clean undies for the road. We are bringing all the dressy clothes with us, since the airlines only allow one carryon bag for the family flying into Dallas. DDIL2 is trying to decide if she wants to send the large stroller so Nicholas can nap in it. They will take the car seat on the plane since they will need it for the rental car. I wish Kylee had chosen a warmer date for the wedding. LOL

I guess I will suit up and go down to the milk shed to pack canning jars in boxes. I didnt realize that there were about 5 dozen jars of all sizes that were in boxes with no tops, or too large boxes that were collapsing in on themselves. I need to repack them. DG suggested just tossing them in the trailer - - but I really don't want to unpack and be picking broken canning jars out of everything. A stitch in time, and all that. We are still trying to figure out how to attach the water bucket in order to be able to fill it on the road. It will all come together.

 

[SageHill]

Oh man - you had rain all day ?!!! We've had dark clouds, wind and threats of rain but only maybe 10 spit drops.
Though we did have some very loud and very percussive BOOMING -- not thunder, and not Pendleton either. Even made the news as "Mysterious Booms" on the news so I'm told. They were from ~8-10 in the morning - rattled the barn and the house. Called DH while I was in the barn - at the same time he was calling me. My first question was "Is it Pendleton or are we being bombed." Still have no idea what it was.

 

[Baymule]

It’s hard enough to pack up the truck and trailer without hail and pouring rain! Gheesh! Hope the rain stops soon.

 

[Ridgetop]

We had terrible weather from Thursday through Saturday. Friday was the worst. We started with the 2" of heavy hail and finished with torrential rain and winds through the night. Cleared for an hour Saturday morning, just long enough to count the broken branches, split and downed trees, before it started up again. Today weather has cleared enough to see mountains covered in snow - not just tops like usual after winter northers but entirely from ground to top! Beautiful!!! Trailer loaded last night and turned around during pause in storm last night. Today we will load the truck then shower and pull out. DH hops to get art of the way ahead of the next big storm that is due in Monday and Tuesday for several days. Hope it is not so bad that it affects the kids plane trip.

The torrential rain started with a drip in the skylight in the laundry and ended with drips through all the ceiling vents in the house. The roof is new (3-4 year) but the seal around vents etc. dries out in these hot areas and with no rain for years, when it comes they leak. We will reseal when we return from Texas. In the meantime, we are using the stack of 5 gallon buckets we got in Texas. They have a big Lone Star state on them to remind us of our goal. LOL DS1 used the Gorilla tape that is supposed to adhere even under water. Big ripoff! It wouldn't stick to the trailer roof (which he had dried off before applying) and when DH turned the trailer around it blew off! DS1 returned it and got the other brand. We will see.

I am not taking my computer this time since this will be a quick 10-14 day trip so no posts till I return. I will be in phone contact with Baymule about sheep though. Got to go out and load truck bed now. Sun is out but don't know for how long so need to hurry. Spreading tarp in truck bed, then stacking in boxes, wrapping them in tarp, and closing the bed cover. Sheets in washer, will put back on bed after they dry. Will take showers after loading truck before leaving. Load coffee thermoses, sleeping bag, water, etc. and emergency stuff. I don't take chances - 51 years with DH and Ridgetop had taught me if I am prepared nothing bad happens so . . . .

Another adventure starting now.