Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

We bought grass seed in Tyler. BJ loved the crimson clover and we planted it out front between the fence and road, along the driveway and front yard. It’s so easy to just go pick up what you want, plus there is someone there who you can talk to.

East Texas Seed Company |

easttexasseedcompany.com

The white ball clover reseeds and comes back. The white arrow leaf clover didn’t come back. I also bought Bahia and Bermuda seed. Wish I’d have known the sheep were going to turn up their dainty noses at the Bermuda before I put all that money and work into it!

 

[SageHill]

Have a safe trip!! Wishing you good weather for driving. And heck a little cool down in TX too.

 

[Baymule]

Cool down! Maybe in October!

 

[Ridgetop]

The weather has been nice since 4th Juy. Cool in the mornings and evenings - down to high 60s. High during the day about 90+ but with lovely western breeze from ocean into our valley. Hotter on eastern side of house which is where the driveway is and trailer loading takes place! LOL

The trailers are both loaded. DS1 and DH finished the flatbed yesterday. Then DH took the black truck to get it gassed ready to go. Today we hitched and loaded the stock trailer. This took all day. The trailer was full of dried sheep manure. It should have been cleaned several weeks ago right after taking the sheep to the auction. But instead DH dropped it out on the field. DH cleaned the trailer and came to get me to inspect it. Then I had to clean it out again since he didn't realize that to get dried manure off the ridged floor mats you have to rake in the direction of the ridges instead of across them. He offered to wash out the trailer but then we would have had to wait for another couple hours for it to dry out so I just did what I could raking and blowing it out. DS1 and DH loaded the dresser and had me bring out the drawers. There was a small discussion between them about which drawer went where. I handed DH the first drawer and told him where to put it. Then they wanted to load the desk immediately. I told them to wait with the desk since I wanted to fill the drawers with smaller boxes. Much huffing by DH who was impatient to get the desk loaded. I finished with loading the drawers, and hopped out of the trailer. That done, they loaded the large half of the desk. I got back in the trailer, and they handed me the 6 fan boxes to stack under the desk. Then they moved the desk (with the fan boxes under it) against the dresser. This keeps the drawers from opening while traveling. Now DH pulled the trailer out onto the field and turned it around to load everything else. But as he was about to come back in on the driveway, DS1 decided to wait to load any more until later since the gardener was there to blow down the driveway and the trailer would be in the way. I had already brought most of the packed boxes out of the living room onto the porch when DS1 told me that. Inside for a cold drink and rest. DH left to take the large box of donations to Goodwill. They have been sitting in the back hall since Christmas. As soon as Miguel finished, I brought up most of the boxes from the shed. DS1 was not happy with me since he said he would bring them up but I used the dolly so it only took 4 trips. He annoyed me by making constant referrals to my fall the other day! No one believes me that the bush reached out and tripped me on purpose!

DH returned in a black mood. Apparently, EVERYONE had taken their stuff in to Goodwill and they were not accepting any donations. DH went to 3 different locations and was told at all of them they were not accepting any more stuff. If did not make him feel better when several other people were also turned away. He sat down and had a cold drink while he got over his mad.

Around 3 pm the driveway was shaded, and we were ready to load the trailer. 5 hours later we finished. We were able to load everything with room for the rocking chair, the lovely chair in the living room I had planned to take, as well as the side table I just refinished. Tomorrow I will go down to the milk shed and move stuff from one shelf unit to the other which has room on it. Then we can take down another heavy-duty shelf unit to bring to Texas. I might bring up the tile saw and take it to Texas this trip. All my other ceramic tile equipment is already there. We still have plenty of room in the rear and will be able to take a cooler with some meat and dry ice back with us.

I hope to avoid having to go to Walmart as soon as we get there since it wastes several hours. We will need to get some eggs, and other items (Blue Bell) but I will send DS1. It will be quicker since I can use the time to unpack boxes and put stuff away. DH wants to do some trimming of the shrubbery and trees around the barn and yard fences. They can do that over the following days while I unpack. DS1 says he can get the fans up pretty quickly. Since he won't be doing the originally planned chain saw work, he will be able to leave for home several days earlier. We will stay and get some other things done. We want to check into getting a generator installed, and have a plumber give us a bid on installing the shower in the main bathroom. I would like to get at least one room painted, and hopefully get the large bathroom wallpaper stripped. I don't know if I can get much else done other than emptying boxes and putting all the stuff away in the cupboards. DS1 and I have to measure the openings on the kitchen cupboards so I can order the blind cabinet pullouts and make the other pullouts when we get home. Lots to do, but by doing as much as possible each time we go back will save me time with the big move.

We won't put up any of the portable corral fences yet, since Cody expects to get at least one - maybe 2 - more hay cuttings. I don't want to impede him in any way and we don't need any corrals or pens up yet. I do need to talk to him about the space he needs to turn to get the hay equipment into the field before we put up the additional fencing for the second gate.

Tomorrow is DS1's birthday and he wants to take it easy. We plan to leave on Sunday or Monday. I need to get a cake for DS1 and while I am out I will try to get over to the local Home Depot to pick up the woven bamboo pull down blinds tomorrow. The 7 windows in the bedrooms and laundry room are 36" wide so I will get what I can. I don't know how many of that size they will have in stock. I may have to drive to the Mt. Pleasant Home Depot to get the rest of the window blinds. There is room in the trailer for them if I can get them here and it will save me a couple hours back there. I still have to measure the high window in the MBR for that blind so if I can't get seven 36" blinds here, I will get it when I go to get the others. The living room and dining room windows have faux wood venetian blinds which are in good shape, and I will leave them up until we replace those windows next year.

We have to trim ram hooves before we leave since poor Lewis is having trouble again. I am afraid he won't last much longer. I may have to take him to the auction before we head to Texas. I hate the thought because he gives me beautiful ewes, but I don't want to keep dealing with foot problems. I have a really pretty Lewis son that I kept. He is 1 year old now and has developed into a really handsome fellow. He will replace Lewis. I have not seen any signs of hoof rot but just in case, after we trim Lewis's feet again, I am going to put Coppertox on them. I want another lamb crop out of him. I would really like another good ram out of him and one of my 2 Paul Lewis ewes. We have decided to wait to breed until late September or October. This year is screwed up for us so might as well plan our next lambing in Texas in February or March.

 

[Baymule]

On your breeding schedule, just remember that February is the coldest month. There will probably be a snow, it usually lasts several days. That means having to deal with feeding, water, etc in unpleasant conditions. Toss newborn lambs in it and it’s just a lot more work. I used to plan for February birth, so in March when the grass was up, lambs were ready to start eating it. Snowmeggdon of February 2021 cured me of that! 10” of snow, 3 ice storms, 15 newborns, 2 snowstorms and taking 3 hours twice a day to feed and haul buckets of boiling water to the livestock made me rethink February births. Lambs were fine, but it was a lot of extra work.

Granted, that was a freak storm that shut down the state. Snow usually is 3-4 inches, then it STOPS and is melted and gone away in 3-4 days. Just enough to be fun and before you get sick and tired of it, it’s gone. But you still have to deal with frozen water buckets. You might think about water heaters. It will save a lot of work. You may only need them one week out of the year, but you’ll be glad you have them.

 

[Ridgetop]

Ugh, nasty weather for lambing. Will hang heat lamps in barn if we have electricity by then. Haven't heard anything from the electrician that was supposed to fix problems in attic wiring during the winter. I think he wrote us off when I told him that I had no plans to gut the house so he could do a $20,000 rewiring job! I don't know where he got that idea. He did the wiring for the septic when we bought the house, added more breakers to the panel, and did other work later. DH will rent a ditcher and put the wiring in underground. We have $4,000 in wire in the barn we bought for the job so can go ahead with it ourselves. We'll pull the wires through PVC conduit and bury it. Also have to reconnect the water lines from the house (and well) to the barn. Will probably need a filter on the well line. The ditcher will dig that trench also if DH doesn't put the water line in with the electric conduit.

As to winter lambing in barn, I'll make a communal lambing pen and transfer the new lambs and moms to individual jugs from there. I read an article about a guy in Michigan or somewhere in the north that does that. He pens the ewes up together and lets them get on with it. He says they are calmer staying together to lamb, then when he separates them they have their new lambs to focus on. The earliest we would be bl to have lambs would be December and that is right when we will be moving the flock to Texas. If I breed in October, the lambs should be arriving in mid-March. Not optimal and I don't like leaving ewes open that long, but . . . ?

No sleep last night - dehydrated, legs cramping badly all night with charley-horses. Really need to keep bottles of water with us when we are working. And drink from them. LOL

Everything I packed is loaded now. I'll get dressed (7:30 am here) and start moving stuff off the shelf I want to take apart to load for Texas. Then check for anything else we can fit in trailer. I hate dragging a trailer that is not full. The weather has been lovely here - cool for July (80-90) with a nice ocean breeze. Then I will head out to Home Depot for those blinds before it gets warm. With luck I can get all that done and be back when the doctor opens to make the appointments. Better hustle!

 

[SageHill]

Then I had to clean it out again since he didn't realize that to get dried manure off the ridged floor mats you have to rake in the direction of the ridges instead of across them.

One word - GUYS

They have been sitting in the back hall since Christmas. As soon as Miguel finished, I brought up most of the boxes from the shed.

DH returned in a black mood. Apparently, EVERYONE had taken their stuff in to Goodwill and they were not accepting any donations. DH went to 3 different locations and was told at all of them they were not accepting any more stuff. If did not make him feel better when several other people were also turned away. He sat down and had a cold drink while he got over his mad.

one word - Guys --- always think the last minute is ok until .....
.
You're practically going to be moved in to TX before you move. So exciting. And when you make that last trip things will be soooo much easier.

 

[farmerjan]

I can't believe that your doctor has hours on Saturday's.... even just to make appts. Forget that around here.

You are certainly making headway with getting things moved... so much easier to get things put where you want them without having the room full of stuff all at once. Good for you.

 

[Baymule]

Go ahead and breed for January/February lambs. That’s your best time slot. Moving is hard! Just be aware that it may be nasty weather.

 

[Bruce]

Have a good and safe trip!