Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

It will probably take the lambs being born on the ranch, to be fully acclimated. Even buying sheep in Texas and bringing to my place shows a difference in their ability to make the change.

With all that gorgeous grass, you sure don’t want to keep pumping that frightfully expensive alfalfa into the sheep. A treat, but not the main meal!

Alert! Alert! All ewes will now eat grass! LOL

 

[Weldman]

"IF" they somehow managed to knock a fuse out while doing a fuel filter change that took talent. With that talent you wouldn't have tail lights on your truck either as they function on the same wire. It's in the plug or towards the plug from the truck with that prognoses.

 

[SageHill]

Safe trip. There’s a fire (350 ac last report) 50% contained near Palm Springs. Tuscany Fire
Another 890 ac 100% containment near Beaumont off the 10
And last - and you’re not going that far the Post Fire Lebec I-5 and Gorman 15,611 ac with 24% containment (you might smell that one).

 

[murphysranch]

I've been monitoring the Gorman fire. Huge motorcycle area from my past. Hope the smoke isn't bad.

Oh wait. Here is a smoke monitoring site. Zoom into Calif and then Gorman to see the forecast of smoke movement.

Smoke Forecast - FireSmoke.ca

 

[Ridgetop]

Back in CA and computer hooked up again finally. Caught up on BYH postings. Took care of soe business stuff, 3 doctor appointments finished, a couple more to go before surgery scheduled for July 8. More doctor appointments for DH after surgery and PT for months before I can go home to TX.

I keep thinking that the knee is not really a problem yet and I am wasting a lot of time on this surgery nonsense. I should cancel it and go back to Texas to take care of all the stuff I need to do there. About the time I start thinking I really don't need to do the knee yet, it pops, hurts, or buckles, and I figure I better just go ahead with it. I resent taking time off to get it done and do the PT though when I have so much to do in TX.

I got a lot of bruising working with the sheep the day before we left. The bruises haven't quieted down yet. My good knee got a lot of buffeting, the hip on that side is giving me pain, so is my back all from the same reason and making it hard to walk. Probably bruised all over from when I fell flat on my back while struggling to hold a lamb. Heard a loud crunching in my upper back as I hit the ground. Pretty funny at the time but still haven't gotten over the bruising. The trip home didn't do me any favors either, along with the continuing Diverticulitis. I did finally get over the Diverticulitis, but at the pre-op the doctor said if it came back, they wouldn't do the surgery so call him immediately and go on antibiotics if I got any pain. He also told me to "rest and take it easy" before the surgery. I really resent taking off the time to do the surgery and PT when I have so much to do in TX.

I do have a lot to do here as well. I have a lot of stuff left over from packing for TX stacked in the living room that needs to be cleared out. Lot of stuff to be moved into storage in the Connex, stuff to go to various kids, and stuff to dispose of. I broke down the cardboard boxes I unpacked in Texas and brought them back here to store along with the bubble wrap and packing paper. That stuff is expensive, and I always keep it stored for the next move by someone. Some of our packing boxes have been used 4 times! LOL Having a lot of storage space can save money. I have to empty the living room so we can send the large Persian rug to be cleaned and stored in the Connex as well. don't want to leave it down for the grandchildren to eat and spill over it. It is well over 100 years old, made with vegetable dyes, is 11 x 21'. It was my Godmother's, then my Grandmother's, then mine and it is valuable. If our children don't want it and we don't find a place to put it in a home where we will live, I might sell it. I have a large Chinese handloomed rug as well so might sell them both. We need a larger tractor, a new well, and a hay barn. Selling both would pay for a good portion of those. DH is opposed to selling heirlooms though so . . . .

I think DH will go home the end of July for two months since no more Dr. appts until October. He and DS1 can put in the water lines from the well to the barn, garden, etc. He ran the well for several hours and the water cleared up. Maybe most of the settled discoloration and sediment is in the tank. By piping from the current well we can water the sheep and garden using the well water without the work of dragging 300' of hoses all over the property. I checked on a filter ad we can get a filter recommended for wells for $500. The reviews said it cleared the water. We need a new well for house drinking water, but we can use the current well for livestock and garden water. Just will have to run it for a while each time to clear the water before filling the livestock tanks. Since we won't be drinking the water from the well it should do the job until we can put in a new well.

DH will have to come back in October for cataract surgery on his other eye. The eye he already had cataract surgery on several years ago has developed some sort of membrane behind the lens. The eye surgeon said that should be removed with laser surgery and was simple to do. I set those appointments, and they will correspond with my knee follow ups. So we will be here until the first week in November with those appointments.

We did get some good news about insurance coverage. We will have to switch our coverage from our UCLA HMO to a PPO but with the PPO we can go to doctors in TX and come back to UCLA for any surgeries with our current doctors. We will just have a co-pay instead of 100% coverage for everything with a PPO. Combined with our Medicare it shouldn't be too bad.

Lowes got in our 26 KW Generac finally. Unfortunately after waiting a week for it to arrive at Lowes, when they unloaded it at the store, they dropped it and broke it!
Lowes managed to get another one and it was delivered. Now DS1 is waiting for Bryan to come hook it up. That will be the first of the major items on the list done. We are not sure whether we will buy a new tractor or haybarn next. We need the larger tractor with a bucket and forks to move the hay bales, so probably a tractor.

We are also thinking about another truck. We went to Galpin so DH could talk to the mechanic and "discuss" why he had not changed out the fuel filters in 3 years of working on our new engine. Apparently, the spec book says they need to be changed out every other oil change! These are the original ones! DH never did get to talk to the mechanic since he was "in a meeting". We were there for 4 hours waiting. He is finally disgusted with Galpin and said that he would not buy anything from them again and is going to switch his service repairs elsewhere. Better late than never I guess. Galpin used to be renowned for its attention to service for its customers. When Burt Boeckman retired and let his sons and nephews take over the dealership service went downhill fast. They were more interested in muscle cars and tricking them out for car shows. Burt passed away 2 years ago, but must be rolling in his grave over the way his service department has gone downhill. Anyway, while DH waited to talk to the mechanic we looked at new trucks. All the trucks Galpin had were short bed crew cabs or highly tricked out weekend warrior stuff. We were going to buy a smaller truck for DS1 to use, but since Twinkles is 25 years old we may retire her to heavy duty farm towing and buy a new truck for ourselves. Not sure. We certainly don't want one with as many fancy thing as DS2 has on the Black Dragon. Luckily most of the stuff that was an add on when we bought Twinkles are now standard in the newer trucks. Except for running boards! Running boards are considered an "option"! They are a necessity for us! We looked at one 4WD without running boards and I couldn't even climb into it! We will look for a truck when we get back to Texas. Maybe a good use one.

We had 2 lambs die. Both were about 6 weeks old. After Baymule told me about losing so many lambs to worms and Coccidiosis and the worm load her sheep had, I wormed the lambs along with the adult sheep. Those two died about a week after being wormed. DS1 thinks the heat might have killed them since the temperatures skyrocketed after we left. He said they looked like they had messy butts though so I told DS1 to treat them all for Coccidiosis since our pastures were flooded badly too. I had ordered Corrid and it was delivered after we had left. He is going to have to pen the sheep up and limit their water intake to make sure they get treated.

DS1 is working on the barn and doing some repairs while we are in CA. He is also putting up some additional pens to move the weaned ewe lambs into so he can put the new ram in with the ewes to be bred. When DH goes back to Texas, he and DS1 will sort lambs and take a load to the auction. While we were sorting and worming lambs and ewes, DH and I saw 2 beautiful ram lambs that we decided to keep entire, and they will go into the ram pen. When I get back to Texas, we will look all the ram lambs over, select what we want to grow out, and advertise them. We might sell some ewe lambs as well depending on what we see.

Also, when I get back DS1 and I will have to do some shearing. While we were running the sheep through the chute a couple of them had heavy wool mats that just peeled off to the skin! At first, I thought they might have some sort of wool rot, but when we looked closer, we could see that the skin underneath was healthy. It looked very dirty and grainy but we realized that the heavy rains had washed dirt through the fleece to the skin. The new wool where the dirt had not washed through was snowy white. They had shed their old coat, but they didn't scratch the wool off, and it just stuck in mats onto their new wool. The new wool was short enough that the thick mats peeled off of the short new undercoat. I think if we shear those that still have wool on them, they will shed out properly next year. Poor Lewis looked like a stuffed wooly sheep. He also has wool that wants to peel off where successive years of shed wool did not fall off. Instead, it matted to the new wool as it grew in. He has about 4 years of dead wool stuck on him trying to peel off. Some of it did peel off his hindquarters, but I didn't have time to work on him before we had to leave for CA. We will take care of it when we go back. In the meantime, he looks like a poodle in a show clip with the naked rear end!

I am growing my hair out. I was too busy to schedule a cut and DH decided he wanted it longer. I finally chopped off a couple inches in the back where it was too shaggy, and it looks sort of like a bob now. I have an appointment to get it trimmed tomorrow and she will cut it so it falls naturally into a chin length bob. Then it can keep growing out for DH. Once it is long enough, I can wind it up in a clip. lol Also nail appointments before going in for surgery.

Robert is talking a lot and clearly since getting his tongue tie cut. Annabel is learning American sign which is what Robert conversed in before the tongue snip. He is in summer preschool and loves it since he sees his little friends. Nicholas wants to stay at preschool with Robert. LOL Nicky will probably start when he is 2.

Going to load the car with the stuff for the Connex and drive it out.

 

[SageHill]

Dang — stuck in CA until November! Eeeeyikes and you just barely got to TX! I know how important PT is, been there done that, but can’t you do PT in TX? On the plus side you’ll miss the Texas summer.

 

[Baymule]

Maybe y’all can fly back for a week to get your Texas Fix. LOL

I have a ewe shedding out that has that dirty grainy gunk underneath. Thanks for the explanation, it’s just the dirt that all the rain tight packed under her wool!
Sorry about the 2 lambs that died. Hopefully your ewes will go back to the cool barn in the heat of the day.

Lots of Dr appointments! Surgeries! Therapy! Get everything fixed, y’all got work to do in Texas!

 

[Margali]

It is well over 100 years old, made with vegetable dyes, is 11 x 21'. It was my Godmother's, then my Grandmother's, then mine and it is valuable. If our children don't want it and we don't find a place to put it in a home where we will live, I might sell it. I have a large Chinese handloomed rug as well so might sell them both.

How big are these rugs? Could they be used as wall or ceiling art in TX house if there isn't a spot on the floor? I saw a special where someone prepped one like a quilt with the sewn on curtain rod sleeve.

 

[Weldman]

I vote for tractor first to help build a hay barn...along with implements of destruction...
Just ask Arlo Guthrie about that one.

 

[Baymule]

I vote with @Weldman . If selling rugs would pay for what I consider to be more practical and needed things, like a TRACTOR, then load those babies up and take them to wherever!

Would you rather roll up rugs to store in Conex, die someday, your kids sell them and enjoy the proceeds, OR you sell them now and your dear sweet much deserving husband be riding around on his new tractor?