SageHill
Herd Master
Dang on that ram lamb. Finger crossed for the ewe lamb.
Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along
- Thread starter Ridgetop
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Ridgetop
Herd Master
Bottle lambs for us are just waiting to die - usually after I spend $100 for a 50 lb. bag of replacer because the feed store doesn't have the 25 lb. bag. LOL Last year sealed everythng up in Ziploc bags ad stored it in the freezer. This year I opeed the 50 lb. bag, moved it all to Ziploc bags, and stored them in the empty Christmas popcorn tins. I had 5 because DH loves those cans of popcorn. Hopefully this lamb will use up some of the formula o I donthave to find space for 50 lbs. of formula powder in the freezer. I need that space for Bluebell ice cream! On sale again at Brookshires this week. LOL
The well has been dug and the drill folded up and the pipes all stored back on the truck. The truck is still here since it is too wet to remove it and the workers are not allowed to drive the drill rig truck. Bryan is working on the pump shed foundation now. He installed the fors the other day and stayed until about mdnight trying to get them in. Good thing he did since we had a major windstorm, thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and tornado warnings the next day. We lost power for about 5 hours but the generator kicked on so that was ok. More power loss that night which interfered with DH watching the State of the Union speech, but again the generator came through. Unfortunately, the cable (or whatever we have) dropped off for about 10 minutes and had to reboot so he missed some of it.
This morning the well guys came back and finished filling in the ditches and loading their equipment. They are not finished since they have to wait for the pump shed to be up or partially finished so they can install the well equpment. Not sure what I am looking forward to most, a water source for the barn and sheep (without hauling buckets or connecting 300'+ of hose) or the storage inside the pump shed.
This morning DH and D1 suggested just building a wall across the front entryway and converting it to a storage closet.
Everyone comes to our kitchen door anyway so we don't need a front door. There isn't even a path to the front porch from the driveway! Eventua;y we will do some landscaping to the front yard and put one in. Now if anyone comes to the front door we just go around nd holler at them to come to the kitchen door! LOL Can't open the front door with all the Christmas deco boxes stacked there. There are 2 overhead lights on the front porch that I will eventually switch out for outdoor ceiling fans and lights. Too bad we are on the highway since the front porch is really nice and would be a lovely place to sit on summer evenings. The ceiling fans will help to keep off the mosquitoes. For super hot Texas evenings I can install misters on the porch eaves tohelp cool it off.
In two weeks we will set up the chute and sort out the older ram lambs for the Muslim auction the end of March. Some of the lambs are looking exceptionally good but I have not sent in any registration applications yet. I may send some ewe lambs to auction too. This sire is anew one and although he is an embryo import I am not sure how he will work with my flock lines. I will see if I like him when we sort the lambs. I also have to shear any ewes with leftover mohawks or wool to check condition. Some of them have 2nd year wool that is being held in place by new growth and it all needs to come off. We'll use the electric shears. At least we only have to shear on the top for the ost part. The wool line on Dorpers runs from the elbow across the sides to the vulva, and there is no wool under that line. Somewhere I have 2 sets of good hand sheepshears that I could use on them but I am not sure where they are. I may have left them packed in boxes in CA with my horse tack. I also have lamb coats, steer ropes, pig brushes, and show sticks packed there somewhere. We will be bringing all that back this summer. Any ewes that did not keep acceptable condition (2 or higher) over the winter and through lambing will be culled. I have quite a few in good condition but a few are very thin. They need to be easy keepers to survive on pasture and grass hay. I don't mind graining to flush them and during lactation but they need to keep condition and be resistant to parasites. Again, I don't mind worming the flock once or twice a year, but if they need more than that they will go on a cull list. All ewe lambs out of ewes who remain in good condition will stay in the flock as replacements.
The well has been dug and the drill folded up and the pipes all stored back on the truck. The truck is still here since it is too wet to remove it and the workers are not allowed to drive the drill rig truck. Bryan is working on the pump shed foundation now. He installed the fors the other day and stayed until about mdnight trying to get them in. Good thing he did since we had a major windstorm, thunder, lightning, heavy rain, and tornado warnings the next day. We lost power for about 5 hours but the generator kicked on so that was ok. More power loss that night which interfered with DH watching the State of the Union speech, but again the generator came through. Unfortunately, the cable (or whatever we have) dropped off for about 10 minutes and had to reboot so he missed some of it.
This morning the well guys came back and finished filling in the ditches and loading their equipment. They are not finished since they have to wait for the pump shed to be up or partially finished so they can install the well equpment. Not sure what I am looking forward to most, a water source for the barn and sheep (without hauling buckets or connecting 300'+ of hose) or the storage inside the pump shed.
This morning DH and D1 suggested just building a wall across the front entryway and converting it to a storage closet.
Everyone comes to our kitchen door anyway so we don't need a front door. There isn't even a path to the front porch from the driveway! Eventua;y we will do some landscaping to the front yard and put one in. Now if anyone comes to the front door we just go around nd holler at them to come to the kitchen door! LOL Can't open the front door with all the Christmas deco boxes stacked there. There are 2 overhead lights on the front porch that I will eventually switch out for outdoor ceiling fans and lights. Too bad we are on the highway since the front porch is really nice and would be a lovely place to sit on summer evenings. The ceiling fans will help to keep off the mosquitoes. For super hot Texas evenings I can install misters on the porch eaves tohelp cool it off. In two weeks we will set up the chute and sort out the older ram lambs for the Muslim auction the end of March. Some of the lambs are looking exceptionally good but I have not sent in any registration applications yet. I may send some ewe lambs to auction too. This sire is anew one and although he is an embryo import I am not sure how he will work with my flock lines. I will see if I like him when we sort the lambs. I also have to shear any ewes with leftover mohawks or wool to check condition. Some of them have 2nd year wool that is being held in place by new growth and it all needs to come off. We'll use the electric shears. At least we only have to shear on the top for the ost part. The wool line on Dorpers runs from the elbow across the sides to the vulva, and there is no wool under that line. Somewhere I have 2 sets of good hand sheepshears that I could use on them but I am not sure where they are. I may have left them packed in boxes in CA with my horse tack. I also have lamb coats, steer ropes, pig brushes, and show sticks packed there somewhere. We will be bringing all that back this summer. Any ewes that did not keep acceptable condition (2 or higher) over the winter and through lambing will be culled. I have quite a few in good condition but a few are very thin. They need to be easy keepers to survive on pasture and grass hay. I don't mind graining to flush them and during lactation but they need to keep condition and be resistant to parasites. Again, I don't mind worming the flock once or twice a year, but if they need more than that they will go on a cull list. All ewe lambs out of ewes who remain in good condition will stay in the flock as replacements.
- Thread starter
- #4,593
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Well is finished. They did a terrific job and came in under estimate! Folmars is a 4th generation well digging operation. Can't recommend them enough! 
Bryan knew of a place that rented small concrete mixers with concrete in Greenville. He picked it up and DS1 returned it after pouring the slab for the 10 x 10 pump shed. Then Bryan connected all the electric ready for the well pump to be installed. The well people (Folmar) came back yesterday, connected the well pump to the electric and installed it on the slab. They connected a hose and turned it on. It has to run dumping water until Monday to make sure to clear any impurities out of the water. Bryan ad DS1 got thelumber and stuff for the shed. Brya has started on it.
Unfortunately the cute red windmill will not work to mark the wellhead for DH so he doesn't hit it with the tractor in tall grass. DS1 bought it and ut it together thn found out that the concrete surrunding the wellhead is too large in diameter to sink the legs into the ground, and our winds are too strong for it just to sit there. DS1 took it apart and returned it to Atwoods. DS1 is investigating new things to protect the wellhead.
We will buy a 5' wide x 6' tall heavy duty shelf unit to stand in the pump shed for storage on the tall wall. I ordered heavy duty wire shelves to hang on the walls in the pump shed as well over the ump and other equipment. I ordered enough of the 2' x 6' wire shelving to hang on the wall in the feed room over the feed barrels to provide storage for the feeder buckets etc. Have you noticed that I LOVE storage. Everything I store is in clear plastic bins with locking tops and prominently labeled. Can anyone say OCD? This morning I scolded DH for leaving his drinking glass in the "show" bathroom. LOL
Ridgetop's motto should be "I came, I saw, I repaired, I built more storage, I organized". Or maybe it will be my epitaph.
I finished my farm tax records and have cleared all documents and papers off the dining room table. Next tax work is to collect all business and travel expenses. That may not be as difficult, although after that I will have to do the end of year statement for the bank which is a LOT of work.
DS1 is fed up with mud tracked in from the barn being deposited on the living room carpet. This is in spite of taking our barn shoes off at the door. We tried plastic runners but they were not large enough. He had to return the rented concrete mixer to Greenville and took the oppottunity to go to Staples. He finally found an oversize office mat designed for desk chairs. He moved the furniture out, vaccumed, put down the mat, and replaced the furniture. It is working well. Between DS1, DD1, DGS1 and myself OCD runs in the family.
The tool shed has taken a small hiatus because of the rain. DS1 has decided to wait until the pump shed is finished, the shelves installed, and the stuff moved from the house into the storage area. Some of the stuff we remove from the tool shed may be able to go in the pump shed.
While at Staples DS1 found hmself an office chair on sale (every time I came in to do computer work my chair was in his room LOL). He also found a desk on clearance ($365 regularly on closeout for $45). When we go back to CA we will pick up the small gray file drawer cabinet for DS1 to use in his room with the esk which only had 2 pencil drawers. Now I can move my dresser out of his room, exchange it for the spare room dresser in my room which will go in th spare room, and put the mirrors up on the dressers in our room. That gets the last giant picture boxes out of the spare room. Complicated, but isn't all moving? LOL
Hazine has entered her "chew everything I find" stage. Unfortunately she is very sart and has figured out how to remove the screw on caps from the septic box. She also chews hoses and cords. She steals tools while you are working on projects. If she could figure it out she would probably remove them from your hands! Nothing is safe unless it is at least 4' above ground, within a vehicle, closed door room, or attached to your body. This phase will pass, but in the meantime it is very exhausting. While the well diggers were here we kept the dogs confined. Not only to keep them away from the well people but to preserve the tools they never completely picked up.
Bryan knew of a place that rented small concrete mixers with concrete in Greenville. He picked it up and DS1 returned it after pouring the slab for the 10 x 10 pump shed. Then Bryan connected all the electric ready for the well pump to be installed. The well people (Folmar) came back yesterday, connected the well pump to the electric and installed it on the slab. They connected a hose and turned it on. It has to run dumping water until Monday to make sure to clear any impurities out of the water. Bryan ad DS1 got thelumber and stuff for the shed. Brya has started on it. Unfortunately the cute red windmill will not work to mark the wellhead for DH so he doesn't hit it with the tractor in tall grass. DS1 bought it and ut it together thn found out that the concrete surrunding the wellhead is too large in diameter to sink the legs into the ground, and our winds are too strong for it just to sit there. DS1 took it apart and returned it to Atwoods. DS1 is investigating new things to protect the wellhead.
We will buy a 5' wide x 6' tall heavy duty shelf unit to stand in the pump shed for storage on the tall wall. I ordered heavy duty wire shelves to hang on the walls in the pump shed as well over the ump and other equipment. I ordered enough of the 2' x 6' wire shelving to hang on the wall in the feed room over the feed barrels to provide storage for the feeder buckets etc. Have you noticed that I LOVE storage. Everything I store is in clear plastic bins with locking tops and prominently labeled. Can anyone say OCD? This morning I scolded DH for leaving his drinking glass in the "show" bathroom. LOL
Ridgetop's motto should be "I came, I saw, I repaired, I built more storage, I organized". Or maybe it will be my epitaph.
I finished my farm tax records and have cleared all documents and papers off the dining room table. Next tax work is to collect all business and travel expenses. That may not be as difficult, although after that I will have to do the end of year statement for the bank which is a LOT of work.
DS1 is fed up with mud tracked in from the barn being deposited on the living room carpet. This is in spite of taking our barn shoes off at the door. We tried plastic runners but they were not large enough. He had to return the rented concrete mixer to Greenville and took the oppottunity to go to Staples. He finally found an oversize office mat designed for desk chairs. He moved the furniture out, vaccumed, put down the mat, and replaced the furniture. It is working well. Between DS1, DD1, DGS1 and myself OCD runs in the family.
The tool shed has taken a small hiatus because of the rain. DS1 has decided to wait until the pump shed is finished, the shelves installed, and the stuff moved from the house into the storage area. Some of the stuff we remove from the tool shed may be able to go in the pump shed.
While at Staples DS1 found hmself an office chair on sale (every time I came in to do computer work my chair was in his room LOL). He also found a desk on clearance ($365 regularly on closeout for $45). When we go back to CA we will pick up the small gray file drawer cabinet for DS1 to use in his room with the esk which only had 2 pencil drawers. Now I can move my dresser out of his room, exchange it for the spare room dresser in my room which will go in th spare room, and put the mirrors up on the dressers in our room. That gets the last giant picture boxes out of the spare room. Complicated, but isn't all moving? LOL
Hazine has entered her "chew everything I find" stage. Unfortunately she is very sart and has figured out how to remove the screw on caps from the septic box. She also chews hoses and cords. She steals tools while you are working on projects. If she could figure it out she would probably remove them from your hands! Nothing is safe unless it is at least 4' above ground, within a vehicle, closed door room, or attached to your body. This phase will pass, but in the meantime it is very exhausting. While the well diggers were here we kept the dogs confined. Not only to keep them away from the well people but to preserve the tools they never completely picked up.
Baymule
Herd Master
The well is in, shed is going up! 
I think I already mentioned that we could have been separated at birth or something. My dad used to say "A place for everything, and everything in its place", to which I totally agree.Well is finished. They did a terrific job and came in under estimate! Folmars is a 4th generation well digging operation. Can't recommend them enough!
View attachment 115812View attachment 115813
Unfortunately the cute red windmill will not work to mark the wellhead for DH so he doesn't hit it with the tractor in tall grass. DS1 bought it and ut it together thn found out that the concrete surrunding the wellhead is too large in diameter to sink the legs into the ground, and our winds are too strong for it just to sit there. DS1 took it apart and returned it to Atwoods. DS1 is investigating new things to protect the wellhead.
We will buy a 5' wide x 6' tall heavy duty shelf unit to stand in the pump shed for storage on the tall wall. I ordered heavy duty wire shelves to hang on the walls in the pump shed as well over the ump and other equipment. I ordered enough of the 2' x 6' wire shelving to hang on the wall in the feed room over the feed barrels to provide storage for the feeder buckets etc. Have you noticed that I LOVE storage. Everything I store is in clear plastic bins with locking tops and prominently labeled. Can anyone say OCD? This morning I scolded DH for leaving his drinking glass in the "show" bathroom. LOL
Ridgetop's motto should be "I came, I saw, I repaired, I built more storage, I organized". Or maybe it will be my epitaph.
I finished my farm tax records and have cleared all documents and papers off the dining room table. Next tax work is to collect all business and travel expenses. That may not be as difficult, although after that I will have to do the end of year statement for the bank which is a LOT of work.
DS1 is fed up with mud tracked in from the barn being deposited on the living room carpet. This is in spite of taking our barn shoes off at the door. We tried plastic runners but they were not large enough. He had to return the rented concrete mixer to Greenville and took the oppottunity to go to Staples. He finally found an oversize office mat designed for desk chairs. He moved the furniture out, vaccumed, put down the mat, and replaced the furniture. It is working well. Between DS1, DD1, DGS1 and myself OCD runs in the family.
The tool shed has taken a small hiatus because of the rain. DS1 has decided to wait until the pump shed is finished, the shelves installed, and the stuff moved from the house into the storage area. Some of the stuff we remove from the tool shed may be able to go in the pump shed.
While at Staples DS1 found hmself an office chair on sale (every time I came in to do computer work my chair was in his room LOL). He also found a desk on clearance ($365 regularly on closeout for $45). When we go back to CA we will pick up the small gray file drawer cabinet for DS1 to use in his room with the esk which only had 2 pencil drawers. Now I can move my dresser out of his room, exchange it for the spare room dresser in my room which will go in th spare room, and put the mirrors up on the dressers in our room. That gets the last giant picture boxes out of the spare room. Complicated, but isn't all moving? LOL
Hazine has entered her "chew everything I find" stage. Unfortunately she is very sart and has figured out how to remove the screw on caps from the septic box. She also chews hoses and cords. She steals tools while you are working on projects. If she could figure it out she would probably remove them from your hands! Nothing is safe unless it is at least 4' above ground, within a vehicle, closed door room, or attached to your body. This phase will pass, but in the meantime it is very exhausting. While the well diggers were here we kept the dogs confined. Not only to keep them away from the well people but to preserve the tools they never completely picked up.
Ron was a "lay it down anywhere, where is it?" type. I'm slowly getting things in places, sorted and labeled. I picked up some locking lid totes at one of the dollar stores, have already designated one for my new jigsaw and its blades.
My current project supplies...
Oh, and the reciprocating saw and blades fit on top, woo!
