Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[farmerjan]

Egg drop soup and a sandwich of some sort for T-day..... Some friends are having dinner on Sunday... hope I feel good enough to go....

 

[rachels.haven]

Cream of tartar and lemon juice paste might help too. My mom used it when raising us 6 hellions. I think I'd be afraid to use alcohol either straight or hand sanitizer or acetone on wood. Whatever they do they should probably test it in a non visible place first to make sure it doesn't cloud the finish. GEEZE KIDS.

 

[fuzzi]

How are you feeling today, Jan?

 

[Ridgetop]

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We gave thanks for all our blessings and for Trump. LOL

DD2 and children came over around noon. DSIL2 showed up around 2 pm and surprised the kids - they thought he was on a long delivery run but ended up on a short one. DSIL went out to the pond to see if anything was biting but too cold. We sent the little girls out to play with the puppy - Hazine. She took one look at the 2 small humans bearing down on her, got a look of horror on her face, and tucked her tail under and scampered for safety in the barn. She has never seen children. We asked DD2 and DSIL2 to stay for dinner. I ended up baking all 4 of the potatoes, made corn pudding and a tossed salad, and the men grilled the steaks I had thawed 2 large ones (they were 2 in a package) and we cut them in half which was plenty for 4 adults and 2 small children. Blue Bell for desert. DH asked what flavor they liked and the kids' eyes got big as DH pulled out 4 half gallons. LOL
DH takes a sale on Blue Bell seriously!

This morning we got up at 6:30 to hitch the trailer and take 2 lambs to the butcher. I ran the lambs into the small 5x5 holding pen and then DH and I made a chute to the trailer gate. I pulled out 2 of the larger lambs from the holding pen and we ran the lambs into the trailer. I really need to build a ramp for loading. It would make life so much simpler. DH took a long time getting into the truck and since the truck and trailer was between us I didn;t realize he had slipped and fallen down. He scolded me for not coming to help him but I hadn't seen him. He said that the running board was icy and his foot went out from under him and bent his knee funny. We delivered the lambs and the butcher said he could probably sell as many lambs as I want. I told him to give me a call and I would bring them up to him if he had customers. I also said that I was not happy with these lambs since they had not grown as well as they did in California on alfalfa. I told him that we had transprted them right as they were lambing. I asked him to grade the carcasses so I can compare it with what my lambs were grading Calfornia. I might have to creep feed the lambs more this year.

Then we decided to go to the Co-op and see if they had any of the protein tubs since they wereright around the corner. Otherwise we would have to try Mt. Pleasant Atwoods - 30 mies away. They had 9 and they were a lot more $$ than Atwoods, which we found out later when we talked to DS1. But I compared the Coop and Atwoods brand and the main ingredient in the Coop brand was cottonseed meal, and it also had higher ppm minerals . Also, the feeding ratio was much smaller for the Coop tub so it should last longer. Either way, DH said he was not going to return them and we would use them and see how the sheep did on them.

2 blocks from the Coop we lost the trailer! It jumped the hitch. We stopped and the crank was caught under the bumper. What to do? Luckily a nice man stopped and asked if we needed help. He had a jack but it wouldn't get the truck high enough. He had a piece of 8x8 and we had a 5" thick slab of tree trunk and between the two of those we jacked up the truck enough to pull it forward off the trailer crank. The trailer immediately tried to roll backwards! Luckily the chains held it. Then we used the wood and jack to jack the trailer high enough to get it back on the ball. BUT not on the ball it had been hitched to. Apparently the stock trailer takes a 3" bl and the traier we had take the tractor t Cleveland in took a 2" ball. DH forgot to change the balls and when I cranked the trailer down oti the smaller ball I didn't notice. No problem with 2 lambs in the trailer BUT when we loaded 1300 lbs of feed and tubs in the rear end of the trailer it was enough to make it pop up off the hitch when we hit a dip. The man that helped us said he had done that himself abd once lost a trailer with a horse in it! A second man had stopped to help and said he had done the same thing. Then just as we were finished the sheriff showed up. The trailer jumped the hitch right in front of the Sulphur Springs Sheriff's Station! LOL With those 2 nice gentlemen telling DH that the same thing had happened to the a couple times he didn't feel so bad. Also, if he had been cranking the traier down onto the ball he would have nticed the difference in how it loaded.

After we got the trailer back on the hitch, DH decided we should buy a jack to keep the truck just in case this happened again or we needed to help someone else. We went to Lowes but they didn;t have any jacks. I did get more trash bags and we got a small 5' Christmas tree. They were 25% off Black Friday sale. Then we bought a plastic tree box to store it i. The tree box cost more tha the tree! LOL Next we went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and got a jack. When we got home he limped inside and I put ice on his knee.

I brought in the sheep this evening and one ewe can hardly put any weight on her rear leg. She has a terrible cut on her foot. It was too dark to take care of it tonight so I have everything ready to move her into a small stall tomorrow. I put the head catch in the stall. Tomorrow we will move her in the side barn and put her in the headgate so I can clean it and give her a whack of Pennicillin. Looked over the ewes and they all look good. Some are starting to show their pregnancies. I will start setting up the jugs in the side barn next week. My back is finally starting to feel better.

Rika asked to come inside tonight. She has officially retired. After 12 years of protecting our flock she deserves to be babied. She has the scars to prove how well she fought off the coyotes!

 

[Baymule]

BJ didn’t fasten the trailer latch on the ball one time and it jumped off the first chance it got. After that, I double checked his hitching up!

Awwww……. Rika……. She looks content.

 

[murphysranch]

Sweet old gal. She did her job and did it well!!

 

[Ridgetop]

She has never been housetrained, but never made a mistake in the houseso we didn't know what to expect if we kept her in overnight. The temps kept going down so we took a chance and kept her in. No mistake overnight and this morning she went out and pottied like sje had been a house dog all her life! LOL Then she went off to check up on what the youngsters had been up to during the night with her sheep. She can come in at night from now on and stay in overnight. I will feel better when DH goes back to California for his doctors appointments with her inside with me, too.

Time to work on finding space for all the stuff we brought out and just left here in boxes. We have less storage than we had in California - mainly because for 30 years I continualy built storage in the closets and made sure we had plenty of storage. Here I will have todo soe work on the closets and different storage cabinets. They are half the size of what I had, but I think I can make it work. DH is planning to put in a Connex here. I told him to get one that is set up as a construction office with a side door, insulation and electric inside. We can connect it to the second farm meter and maybe install a small A/C to run at 85 degrees in summer and 65 degrees in winter. We can use that Connex for DS1's workshop with the tools - table saw, mitre saw, etc. set up in it.

One problem I have is that there are no mediciine cabinets in either bathroom which makes storing any meds or spray bottles awkward. I do have 3 brand new medicine cabinets (left from the apartment renos) in the barn which I can bring in and put up in the bathrooms. That will help, since the bathrooms have deep cabinets for linens instead of any shallow cabinets for anything else. I have been putting all the meds and first aid stuff in plastic boxes which means that I have to unload thecabinets to find what I want. A real time waster! I may be able to bring in a 12" deep wall cabinet and attach it on the end of the master bath cabinet. That would help and I have some cabinets in the shed that I could use. I have a 4" oak cabinet that I had in the master bathroom in California that I could remove when we go back ths summer, but I left it because I had to add it and a medicine cabinet behnd the door since the CA master bath doesn't have medicine cabinet storage either. On the other hand, if I take it I will have to repair holes in the wall when I take it down and leave them with limited storage space. I need the storage space long before summer so will see what I can do with the medicine cabinets and wall cabinets I have in the shed and barn.

Took the 2 lambs to the butcher yesterday. I will have to inspect the ewe lambs and see if anything looks good enough to keep. Then everything else can go to the Emory auction. I might advertise in Craigslist first. One ram lamb looks to be developing bottle jaw but I couldn't get a close look at him. I will try to check today or tmorrow. They are out on an acre of pasture so will be hard to round him up to worm him. Everyone else looks ok.

Larry (former tenant and now friend) came by with some lemons. He said his tree was loaded. I didn't know citrus fruit would grow here. He is over in Alba and surrounded by woods so maybe the tree is more protected than we are here. We are surrounded by hayfields and the wind blows a lot from the north. DH saw a small kit-built greenhouse and really liked it so maybe we can eventually put in smething like that or build one made of cow panels and plastic. He keeps insisting that "WE" will be planting the entire 1/3 acre garden in 2025. He said the first thing he plants will be squares of sweet corn.

 

[Mini Horses]

You may find you can do with LESS storage here than CA....once you realize you don't need to support the needs of the entire family anymore. This downsizing is the hard part, after years of a previous life. I wish you luck.

Rika looks very content with only a PT job She's earned her retirement. Enjoy the company.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yes, there is lot to be said for only cooking for 2 or 3 (when DS1 is here). Groceries do not need to be bought in carloads, and only one freezer seems to be adequate. LOL Once I have everything sorted, the closets double rodded, and shelves added, we wil be fine.

We will need more storage for animal products, but we can bring out the large industrial shelving units from the Connex for the tack shed in the barn. We also have to remove the tin siding which is falling off th tack room walls and put up new siding (not tin). We will save the good sheets of tin for animal housing. Some sheets are severely damaged on ne end but we can cut tht end off and save the half sheets. DS1 wants to extend the barn in back. The main barn is 25' x 50' while the side barn is 12' x 60'. He wants to extend the barn out to be 60' overall. And add a 12' side barn on the other side of the main barn. Currently that i the gathering yard for the sheep barn pen.

I went out today and put up a chute with out portabe panels to drive the sheep unto the side barn so I could catch the ewe with the bad foot. I went out the rear entrance and got a bucket of water for her for when she is left in that isolation pen. DH came out and I asked him to help me move the sheep over through the chute into the side barn. We finished putting the last panel in the chute than went in with our flags and moved the sheep thrugh the chute. They were not used t it and it took 2 tries. Finally they all ran in and I went behind them to close the gate. As I moved nto the ide barn I saw them all leavng through the gate at the end that I apparently forgot to close when bringing in the heavy bucket of water.
DH offered to hep run them through again, but that gate leads to the rear pasture so no point trying to get them back in. They will come in this evening and in the morning they happy to g through the chute thinking it leads to the open gateinto their pasture. The injured sheep was walking a little better this morning so another day won't hurt her. I took the chute apart so we could get into the barn.

Marv brought Baby 'Bota back to load the protein tubs. We needed to put one in with the rams and 4 in for the rest of the flock. DH had me drive the tractor with the tubs so he could load them into the bucket then pull them off. I have not been aboard Baby 'Bota since he threw me on his downhill rampage and tried to escape through our welded pipe fence in California. DH was much more informative this time and since we are on the flat B'B was unable to get the bit in his teeth and make a run for it. While not very competent I was able to drive it and use the bucket. I did have one near miss while in reverse but I stopped just as we were about to run into a gate post. We got 5 tubs unloaded and placed. The one in the buck pen was done with the tractor I just had to unpin the rodeo panels and en a 10' pane for the tractor to get thrugh. The next 4 needed to be unloaded into the tractor bucket and moved to the barn. Then DH loaded one at a time on a heavy dolly to put in the sheep pen in the barn. That dollyis so heavy that I can hardlymove it empty! Once the tub was on the dolly he pulled and I pushed it into the pen. Then we unloaded the 3 bags of feed from the CoOp and put them in the cans in the tack room. DH proclaimed he was exhausted and needed to rest - whether from dragging those 125lb tubs around, then carrying 150 lbs of feed, or mental exhaustion watching me jerkily try to maneuver the tractor is anyone's guess. LOL

Now more unpacking and moving stuff around inside.

 

[SageHill]

Now that all sounds like settling into Texas!!