Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Ridgetop]

The lovely cool June Gloom burned off into hot sunny weather. Maybe it would have been pleasant if I had been in the shade but in full sun it felt hot. I climbed into the corral where the shelters and some metal feeders are stored and removed the screws from the bent and torn sheet metal on the corral shelter frames. I stacked the old sheet metal in a corner for the trip to the metal yard. I finished the first one and levered it up and over the corral fence. So easy - why were we fussing about these? The second one had the corrugated panels running in a different direction, but I didn't pay any attention. When I finished and tried to lift the frame to lever it over the fence the same way, I realized it was stuck under the edge of a corral panel. It was also much heavier. That is when I realized the first one was the 6' x 10' shelter DDIL1 had given us years before. The one I had just finished was one of the 7 larger 8' x 12' panels. I had to do some maneuvering to get it out and over the fence. The last two panels were buried under a lot of dirt. The top one was upside down with the screws underneath. I couldn't lift the top one at all to get at them. While digging around I discovered 2 of the support posts with the attachments still in good shape. During the windstorm that flipped all 7 of the 12x24 corrals and shelters upside down on the hillside most of the attachments had ripped off other posts. We originally had 21 posts - 3 for each corral. We found several that we took to Texas and now these last 2. I also found a couple of the attachment pieces that had ripped off the posts still attached to one of the covers. LOL We get 70 and 80 mph winds here sometimes. We have lost the barn roof, a couple of sheds, and the house roof a couple times. Must be why we ignore friends and relatives who mention tornadoes in Texas.

Anyway, after digging around some more, it seems that the 8x12 shelters on the bottom of the pile may be in fairly good condition and still have the corrugated metal firmly attached. We will have to get them in an upright position to check for sure, but I am hopeful that they will be ok. With those 2 and the 4 good ones we are using for sheep shelters now, we will have at least 6 good 8x12 roof shelters to take to Texas for pasture shelters. The other 2 frames we can reroof with either corrugated metal or fiberglass panels in Texas as needed. As per Baymule, we will attach the heat barrier on the underside of the panels when putting them up. While dragging all our stuff to Texas is expensive, it sure beats having to buy new at today's prices. And we usually accomplish stuff when we go back.

Speaking of the heat barrier, I wonder if it would be effective to attach panels of heat barrier to the underside of the rafters in the attic of the house. We could always have more insulation sprayed into the exterior walls, but heat barrier in the attic might be worth trying even though we have good insulation. And we certainly could put it in the attic of the carport that doesn't have any insulation. There is a lot of storage area over the carport. It needs the junk cleaned out, sprayed for wasps, the wasp nests cleared out, heat barrier put under the roof, a light installed, and an access door built to keep critters out and make it hard for wasps to get in. Then it will be a good storage area.

We now have a dozen panels of corrugated metal and a bunch of chain link fencing to go to the metal yard, along with the other miscellaneous metal we have been holding for a trip there. DS1 is going to hitch the flatbed trailer, load most of the sheet metal, chain link fencing, etc. on it, put the small stuff in the truck bed, and haul it down for sale on Thursday. Our dishwasher stopped draining the water out. DS1 took everything apart and checked the drains, etc. He is pretty sure it is either the pump or the float valve. The dishwasher is about 10 years old and he has replaced the control board twice. It has other problems, so we decided to just bite the bullet and buy a new one. Luckily this decision was reached on the last day of the Memorial Day sale and we saved $300.
I got a similar model to ours but without the fancy 3rd rack which doesn't hold anything except a knife. We spent a lot extra last time for that model and it wasn't worth it. It sounded good at the time, but we found that nothing on that rack got clean, and you couldn't fit as much in the top rack with it there. We finally removed it. This time we didn't even consider models with a 3rd rack, or the fancy stainless steel interior. We got a middle of the road dishwasher. DS1 has been babying our dishwasher along until the new one arrives June 11. He has it hooked to drain into a 5-gallon bucket under the sink. After the dishwasher finishes and is emptied, he empties that bucket, turns the washer on again, and immediately cancels the cycle causing it to try to drain. That has been working for a week now, but we will be happy when the new one arrives. The current one has a stainless-steel interior so I hope he can take it to the metal yard with the other stuff.

Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment at 1pm. DD2 called asking for emergency babysitting. Her babysitter broke one shoulder and slammed the opposite hand in a car door. She is out of commission to care for a busy 2-year-old! DS1 and DDIL2 will watch her while I am at the doctor. Then DD1 called to see if someone could go to the school tomorrow at 1:00 for an awards ceremony. Hopefully Annabel will go down for a nap and DS1 can rush to the awards ceremony. We will detour by DGD1's school after my appointment and pick up DGD1. Tuesday we have Annabel again. Wednesday we have a group of sheep/lambs to go to the auction. Then DS1 and I have to do second vax on the ewe lambs, trim ram feet, and 8111's, then sort out the ewes to be bred and put a ram with them on the big field. The older ewes and ram won't tolerate any guff from Ozel so she can go out with them on the field. Everyone else will go into the front pen except the ewes still nursing babies. Once the ewes are bred, we can switch the ewes around with another ram on the big field, and put Junior in with the ewes in the creep. I really need to get everyone bred to lamb before we move to Texas so no one will be pregnant for the trip. Everyone will lamb in November-December. We will stay here for Christmas holiday with the family, then use a commercial hauler to transport the horses and sheep to the ranch. Expensive, but easier than trying to make multiple trips with three equines and 40 head of sheep. And possibly less expensive since we would have to make about 8 trips to bring everybody out. Horses in one trip , 6-8 sheep at a time each with twin lambs per trip, and of course the rams and juvenile ewes. Not to mention having to water and feed on the road.
DH just got back from his annual golfing tournament with all his college frat buddies. One of the guys playing golf on his 4-some lives in Canton, TX. Twenty minutes away he said. More like an hour, but then he is a Sig Delt so who knows how fast he drives! They have already made plans to get together. By the time we get moved probably another 10 of DH's frat buddies will have moved there. There are already about 6 scattered around, another one planning a move, and a couple over the border in OK. The fraternity is no longer active and disbanded their charter some years ago. Many of these guys are older than Marv, some are on walkers and oxygen, they all went to Vietnam and survived, the youngest member is 47. LOL But these guys love getting together for a formal dinner dance in October, and a golf game in June.

DDIL2's family came over today to visit. Her dad, DS2, and DS1 installed the 42" railing along his new patio extension. They needed to make a curved riling. DS1 brought over a 50 gallon metal barrel and they bent the railing over it in a curve. Worked great. A couple of DDIL2's cousins came over. They enjoyed playing with Robert and Nicholas. After the guys finished installing the railings, they decided to order Chinese. Such a nice time with family.

 

[Ridgetop]

Today doctor appointment. Started drizzling as we left. Continued heavy drizzle all the way there, during appt, all the way back home. Just to need wipers and wet pavement but not enough to soak in ground.

Got home and helped watch children. Pair of 2-year-olds and 6 month old baby. No one wanted to take a nap except DH, me, and DDIL2. LOL

Finally got DGD3 down for a nap and heard Ozel barking loudly. Looked out and at the other side of the field saw a dark shape run past with the Anatolians after it. Coyote in the yard?! Opened the gate and Ozel was through like a flash and hightailing it over to the other dogs. Went out to check and there it was, bold as brass on the other side of the fence yipping at the dogs. Too bad, hoped I would find it's body. Checked along the fenceline and found a low spot under the fence the coyote had enlarged and obviously come through. Probably where it managed to escape back out. Filled it with rocks, then walked the fence line for a bit and filled another low spot. That spot didn't have any signs of anything coming under the fence, but just in case I chucked some large rocks in there. About 50-75' of our fence wire extension along that side is bent over from the weight of weed vines. Checked that and the T-posts strapped to the fence with pipe clamps have broken in half. They were not the heavy-duty ones, just light-weight short T-posts. We need to cut the vine off the wire and reattach new posts to hold the wire back up. The wire is bent over lower than 5'. The coyotes are getting bold. Ozel is watchful and a good barker to alert us.

Tomorrow I will try to finish the hardware packing in the shed, seal, and mark the boxes for Texas. Having the boxes ready always makes the loading easier when both DH and DS1 are on either side of me demanding to know what has to be loaded. In 2 different trucks and trailers. At the same time. Right NOW! LOL

Also tomorrow I will take the wrecking bar down and pry the 14" bolts out of the crossarms on the path. We lined the edges of the horse path from the front pasture across the yard to the barn with cross arms held in place by hammering those bolts into the earth. Then we filled the path with decomposed granite pounded flat. We don't need that path anymore and the yard has "grass" on it now so I am going to pry out the bolts and save them to use with the crossarms to build shelters in TX. Then I can lever the crossarms up with a pickax so they can go to TX also to build the pasture shelters. Good creosote soaked 4"x5" posts. Waste not, want not.

Since the corral covers are made using an 8' x 12' metal pipe frame with 8' corrugated galvanized metal sheets screwed onto it, I figure by putting the covers with the 8' sides together I can build 12' x 16' shelters easily. We will sink 8 posts with cross rafters for the frame, and add the heat barrier, then add the roofing panels using U bolts to secure the pipe frames. If we position the frames a couple feet apart, we can attach one 8' sheet of the corrugated galvanized roofing over the ends where they meet to make them watertight. Last we will add a wind break/wall on the north side which is where the heaviest winds come from. If we need a second wind block, we can add it later. Ths will make a pasture shed 12' wide by 18' long with heat barrier and a north side windbreak. We have enough material to build 3 of them, one in each of the larger pastures. We also have another 8x12 frame that can become either an extension to one of the 18' shelters, or a small shelter on it's own in the small pasture. I still have the 6' x10' top frame which we can replace the corrugated roofing panels on to might use as a shelter with the kennel panels for penning the dogs when necessary. (Or as a chicken/duck pen.)

I also counted the number of horse corral panels we have - (2) 24', (5) 12', (3) 12' gates, (1) broken gate panel, 2 10' rodeo panels, and some miscellaneous pipes, etc. The number of wired dog kennel panels we have are (5)12' panels, (3)10' panels, (1)10' gate panel, (2)12' gate panels. The we have an assortment of welded pipe panels with welded heavy wire - hog pen panels (3)12' panels, (3) 6' panels, (2) 6' gate panels; (5-6) 10' gate panels, (10) 10' pipe panels, etc. Then a bunch of miscellaneous different size gate panels that need to be rewired. That doesn't include the portable panels that pin together, or the 50+ 10' rodeo panels we are currently using for the sheep that will be the last to take apart and move. Several 50-gallon barrel feeders made to hang on pipe corrals, etc., 50 gallon metal barrels for feed storage, assorted buckets, troughs, etc.

WOW! I didn't realize how much stuff we have that we will be able to use in Texas for our ranch! Of course, we will have to restring a lot of the panels, but still beats buying new! And that doesn't include specialty equipment like medical stuff, syringes, vaccines, antibiotics, Bo-Se, wormers, etc. I think I need a bigger trailer. Probably be making moving trips to Texas for years!

 

[farmerjan]

Just a thought... if you are ordering anything from Premiere for electric netting, they also carry some antibiotics in their sheep section... warning that ONCE THE LABEL IS CHANGED to show the new regulations going into effect, they will not carry it... but they have it now... All places will be able to sell existing stock on hand... so if you are ordering stuff, see if there is any of that you can use... cannot send to CA address... but you could get it sent to TX.... Just a thought....
I am going to probably get a shorter section of poultry netting since what I have is way longer than what I have to fence in... OR maybe cut it to length and put in a new end post?

 

[Ridgetop]

I think I am good on antibiotics right now, having bought some more when back in Texas in May.

Someone reported in a post some years ago that you could freeze antibiotics. I have read conflictng views on this - some yes, some no.
Does anyone have any information on this?

 

[farmerjan]

Can't freeze antibiotics in glass bottles, the bottles will break 99% of the time... been there done that. You can freeze the powdered forms of things like Corid.... have never tried to freeze any in the plastic bottles like Spectinomycin... don't think there is enough head space. Once you break the sterile seal, even to take some out... don't know how it would freeze... we just refrigerate everything... even what doesn't say it need it; if we are going to keep it for a long time...Since we have a good relationship with the vet, not really a big concern except for when we need something on a Saturday night and they are not in the office........ at least this way we will have most everything we need for awhile, and will make sure to get more from the vet once we get down a little bit.

 

[Ridgetop]

I refrigerate everything too. Also, I have heard that most stuff will still be good up to a year or so after expiration. It may lose a little efficacy but can still be used, maybe just increase the dose slightly.

DH just told me that he made a mistake on paying a credit card bill. He thought he paid the bill off. Instead they notified him we have a $1000 credit. He told me to use that card to order the electronetting and charger. I will see if the coupon I have is still good for Valley Vet.

 

[Baymule]

On the TEG coffee thread, a member in the UK posted a video of a lady born in the late 1800’s in Los Angeles, talking about her life there as a small child. I tried to copy the YouTube link but couldn’t get it. So I copied the TEG page, scroll down to the video. I think you will enjoy it.

Coffee

i'm pretty picky about coffee and even if some people might turn up their nose at instant coffee i can at least get it down. what i can not get down is coffee that has sat on a burner for very long. from the time i brew a cup (if i'm not using instant) to the time it is down the hatch is...

www.theeasygarden.com

 

[Ridgetop]

Yesterday we had Annabel again. She is a very active child. Climbs everything in sight, fell off a chair, luckily got her off the table before she could fall off that too. Finally got her down for a 2 hour nap. I had moved all my receipts out to the kitchen table to work on the tax books and had a hard time working while watching her. Caught up a lot during her nap and finished most. Then had to vaccinate the lambs with 2nd CDT shots. Sorted out a couple of the largest ram lambs to take to the auction, DS1 hitched the trailer, and we loaded the lambs and 4 older sheep. I thought we had 8 ewe lambs out of 14 with 1 dead ram lamb (coyote). But we ended up with 6 live ram lambs and only 7 live ewe lambs so somewhere I must have written down the wrong sex. I will know when I match the ear tags to the ewes at weaning. I wrote down the ear tag # of the dead lamb but can't find where I wrote it down!

Got the sheep to the auction this morning. Got there a little early because we were going straight to Burbank to play bridge and of course no one was at the stock yard. Finally other people drove in with trucks and trailers. DH kept having me call but no answer and he said maybe they were not coming in today. We just waited. Finally at 9:15 someone arrived and unlocked the office. They are supposed to open at 8:30. Apparently, all the office staff were late this morning. Prices were down last week, so will have to wait for the check to see if they went up. She did say that the sheep they had last week were not as nice as mine, so . Got to the center at 10:40. Bridge started at 11:00. Had terrible cards but DH had good hands so one of us had a good day.

Today I finished packing a couple more boxes to go to Texas the end of the month. One of the boxes I packed holds the cabinet screws and hardware to hang the cabinets in the shed. I want to go to Habitat and get some more cabinets if I can get them cheap. I need to install cabinets into which to unpack everything I removed from the current shed. LOL There are Habitat for Humanity stores in Mount Pleasant and Pittsburgh, TX. I will go check them out to see if they have any cabinets. Also one in Tyler but MP is closer.

DS1 and i are pulling out the cross arms along the old horse path. I thought these were shorter pieces, but they are actually 14' long. There are 6 of them. The 5' cross pieces will stay since they help hold the slope. There are 4 more 14' pieces in the front, and anther couple in the barn corral. They used to be fence posts, but the slope has eroded. The chain link fencing was removed several years ago. Now the posts are starting to come down as the concrete they were sunk in has eroded up. We will remove them and take them to Texas. We can use them to build the field shelters. I was walking around the field today and found more corral panels. I found a 12', and 3 24' panels - they were clamped together and had fallen over during some of the high winds. We couldn't see them until the sheep grazed off the field! LOL They can go back with us too. That ups the number of corral panels to 5 24' panels and 6 12' panels. We can put wire on the bottom rails and they will make ok temporary corrals for sheep. Or use them for the horses until we have a fenced pasture for them. I need to go out tomorrow and sweep all the dirt off the last 2 corral covers. They are laying flat and need to be cleaned so I can see if the corrugated panels are still good. Once we have the cross arms out, we can start loading the flatbed trailer with the corral panels and the corral covers. Then check the Connexes for any stuff we want to bring back to Texas. There is a rocking chair that can come in the house to replace one of the recliners we can take to TX, or bring the rocking chair. Also, a nightstand and a dresser. The dresser needs to be refinished so maybe I should do it before we move. I also need to refinish the tabletop to the dining room table. MJ put a paste wax finish on it but it didnt hold up so I need to sand it off and do a Varathane finish. I am taking that dining room set to Texas. It was my grandparents' set out of quarter sawn oak. beautiful grain. My great-grandfather was a master cabinet maker from Germany who immigrated after the Spanish flu epidemic killed his first wife and children. He made the china cabinet and buffet to match the table and chairs using only hand tools. Our family had outgrown the table so when we needed a new kitchen table, we bought a pedestal table that extends to seat 18. That one will remain here for family occasions but the older one will go with us. The old table extends to seat 12 so it will be large enough for any family that comes to visit. Hopefully it will fit in the dining room. I took measurements and will check when we go back. I use painter's tape on the floor to mark out the size of furniture. Also measured height of furniture to make sure it fits under the windows.

I'm limping around today with the entire calf of my left leg purple! In the barn yesterday I was emptying unneeded water buckets. I placed the empty buckets behind 7' portable panel. I turned around to return into the barn and the heavy panel (35 lbs.) fell onto my leg. For a few minutes I couldn't even move from the pain. I was able to eventually limp away. I kept walking for several hours hoping to ease it up. Finally, I went inside and tried to lay down but the bruise and swelling were so bad I couldn't even let my calf touch the bed! Got up and applied arnica all over the bruises - multiple bruises, the giant one on most of the calf and several smaller ones below that where the panel apparently bounced its way down the leg. It continued to swell all afternoon. Still sore and purple today but able to walk normally. I showed the bruises to my whole family. Did they fawn on me and urge me to sit down. Bring me drinks and the TV remote? Their comments? "Ugh, that will teach you to knock a heavy panel onto your leg!" This is not a family for wimps.

DS2 is home today. His foreman is on vacation, so the crew was told to take today off. I am hoping to get him and DS1 to lift the corral shelters so I can check for damaged panels. Also hoping to get them to bring the cross arms up from the various places so they can be loaded on the trailer the end of the month. I am willing to chance the accusation of nagging to get this done. The days of doing it myself or instructing the children to do it with me are over. Now I have to ask - or nag! I want to get all the stuff brought up near the connexes so everything can be easily loaded in another 2 weeks.

 

[Bruce]

On the TEG coffee thread, a member in the UK posted a video of a lady born in the late 1800’s in Los Angeles, talking about her life there as a small child. I tried to copy the YouTube link but couldn’t get it. So I copied the TEG page, scroll down to the video. I think you will enjoy it.

Coffee

i'm pretty picky about coffee and even if some people might turn up their nose at instant coffee i can at least get it down. what i can not get down is coffee that has sat on a burner for very long. from the time i brew a cup (if i'm not using instant) to the time it is down the hatch is...

www.theeasygarden.com

Haven't watched it yet but it should be interesting. My maternal grandfather's family moved to L.A. from near Chicago for his health in the early 1900's, maybe 1905ish. Paternal Grandmother moved there from Spain, around 1910.

 

[SageHill]

Keeping my fingers crossed for the auction prices for you.
Man - you are finding all sorts of unexpected great things to take to Texas - lost/forgotten and found panels - SCORE!
OUCH OUCH OUCH on your leg - I feel for ya, esp after my face/shoulder/"padding" plant Wednesday. Was going to say slather on the arnica - but you've done that -- I'll add in one thing - cold laser - OMG I started using mine yesterday and HUGE difference. Picked mine up off Amazon for about $130 +/- -- got it for the dogs - works on them, and glad I have it.