Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[murphysranch]

I know exactly what that plant is. Its an early bloomer, along with forsythia. Its on the edge of my brain. These "prime" moments have been very frustrating.

I'll let you know later today, when the hard drive warms up, and the files can be accessed. Don't know exactly when - could be at 2 a.m. tomorrow.

AAUUUGHHHHHH

 

[fuzzi]

I know exactly what that plant is. Its an early bloomer, along with forsythia. Its on the edge of my brain. These "prime" moments have been very frustrating.

I'll let you know later today, when the hard drive warms up, and the files can be accessed. Don't know exactly when - could be at 2 a.m. tomorrow.

AAUUUGHHHHHH

Camelia?
Azalea?

 

[Ridgetop]

Maybe use your phone app to ID that bush?

Use an app? What is that and how do I do it? I have barely mastered taking photos and sending the to my email.

The roof rafters are up now, metal sheathing is on around the base. Wiring going in for lights and outlets. Hwever, we are in hiatus on the shed since Bryan has another job tomorrow, and mainly we had to order some of the building materials. They won't arrive until Monday.

Installed my trash can pullout today. Hurray! No more open trash can in front of my cabinets. However, I was keeping my mixer in that empty cabinet and now it is on the counter while I find a place to store it. Also the potato bin. I also installed some Ikea baking sheet racks. Simple metal hoops that screw to the bottom of the cabinet to hold baking sheets in an upright position. Another thing accomplished.

Next the 3rd pullout for the bathroom cabinet arrived, along with the 2 narrower ones for the lower cabinets. The smaller ones have to go back since I ordered and paid for 14" wide pullouts and received 12" wide ones. I will install the correct one in the top shelf but am spared crawling into the narrow bottom cabinets until I reorder the 14" ones. I wish I could get 15" pullouts since they would be the right size, but haven't found any yet. Back to Amazon.

Friday we will sort out the larger ram lambs for the Saturday auction.

 

[murphysranch]

OK. I'm going to fess up. I had to google it for early blooming shrub.

Flowering Quince. I used to have one in the Grants Pass OR place. It was stunning.

 

[Baymule]

Yep, flowering Quince. Pretty bush, enjoy!

Don’t use railroad cross ties for leveling shipping containers. They do breakdown and rot in our much wetter climate than sunny Southern California. Use 4” X 16” X 16” pads with solid 8” X 16” X 16” concrete blocks.

You can have a couple of cross ties to shove under the container as it’s unloaded to make jacking it up easier, but I wouldn’t use them as the foundation.

 

[Ridgetop]

DING DING DING! Blue ribbons to both contestants! Flowering quince it is!

DS1 also identified it this morning (actually he showed me how to use the app). This just shows that you should not remove "ugly" shrubbery around your house before a year has passed and you can see what it is. There is also a straggly old rose bush out near the street I thought was dead that bloomed with gorgeous flowers last year. Both of them will stay. In fact, I hope to eventually plant more roses along that side fence line where they get full sun since they will withstand a few weeks freeze in the winter when they are dormant. I need to read up on plants that will survive in Texas winters and summers. I am good on California plants and shrubs (family lived in San Fernando Valley over 100 years, but this is a new climate and drainage. My favorite shrubs are those that grow big, extend out to cover lots of bare space, and bloom. I love Plumbago and Lantana for that reason but the gardener ran over the entire row of 12 plants with his mower right after they were planted and they did not recover. At any rate we are too busy to do much in the way of landscapingrght now. I do have a bunch of metal painted sunflowers in 2 heights that I bought on closeout at Hobby Lobby in CA last October. They can go in the front yard front of the porch until I can put in flower beds. The bright yellow sunflowers will match the supement tubs that I can plant with annuals or bulbs. (Or just set pots of plants in.) I need to spray paint the porch glider I brought fron California so we can use it on the front porch with the other porch furniture, and hang up the chimes, antique scale and basket, and maybe the metal triangle. On the other hand, I might hang the triangle at the back door to summon people from the barn. I also have 6 metal cornstalks which can go in the garden area. Let those ground squirrels get their teeth into those! LOL

Major change in auction plans. Was talking to @Baymule yesterday and she reminded me of the dates for the end of Ramadan. I had the date I wanted to take lambs to the auction down a week early by mistake so we don't have to sort ram lambs this week. That gives them another week to grow. I also decided not to keep any ram lambs this year. I can rebreed the ewes whose ram lambs I like to that sire again. I would like to sell as many lambs as possible to replenish my cash supply. I have 2 yearling ram lambs from last May that are looking good now that can be sold with exposed ewes and ewe lambs as starter flocks. They have different sires than all the ewe lambs.

This summer we need to get onto fencing again. We have to make better use of our electric netting to section off pastures for rotational grazing. We have some areas that the sheep have never gone into that will be good for grazing ewe lambs or flushing open ewes. I think we will put up permanent gate posts and gates in different locations. (No permanent fencing yet.) Wwith permanent swing gates we can attach our electric netting to the gate posts and have walk/drive through gates that are not charged. Also will put up small shelters in each paddock so we can use the yellow tubs left from the supplements to hold loose salt and minerals under cover. Each paddock will need mineral blocks, supplement tubs, and loose salt/mineral mix. With those permanently in each paddock we won't have to move the every few weeks. The gates can have those V shaped openings that the sheep avoid but the dogs jump through. Or possibly hanging pieces of plywood hanging over openings that act as swinging doors - one going in and one going out. Relocated the stand mixer in the pantry but will order a slidig shelf for it since it is super heavy to wrestle out of a bottom shelf. I considered mounting the remaining sliding shelf under the kitchen sink and utting the mixer there but the piping is in the way. However I will still mount that shelf under the sink and put my potato and onion baskets on it.

Installed another sliding shelf in the top of my bathroom cabinet last night. Then I sorted out everythingand rearranged the shelves with marked plastic bins. Found a lot of stuff that i had forgotten was there whch is good and can be crossed off shopping lists. Next things to sort are all the partially filled pill bottles with vitamins and partial prescriptions in them. Have to put them all in the latest prescribed bottles. I found 3 half bottles of Vitamin D! I had planned to put the medicin cabinet in my room behind the door, but I will have to partially cut out a section of stud, reframe around it for support, and then instal the med cab. Having it behind the door in the MB will be a good place to store prescriptions meds and items for DH and I. Like the Arnica and arthritis meds for us Prime people. LOL

Today I may see what I can do about double rodding my closet. I found out accidentally the lower shelf lifts out so no closet destruction need take place. Just lift out the shelf and closet pole, then reinstall the closet rod. The shelf will be retained to install in another closet. So happy since need the extra space to get clothes out of other closets or from under the bed. I think I will sort through all my clothes and shoes and take a bunch of my nice things back for DD1 to look through. Also DDIL2 takes a lot of the good clothes and her mother mails them to relatives in the Philipines. I don't wear sandals here as much, and nice clothes are not necessary in the barn. When I was playing bridge 3-4 times a week, I needed those nice things but not as many now. One thing about Texas, you can do a seasonal swap of most of your clothes into storage between winter and summer. In southern California you generally can wear vthe same things year round, except for a couple weeks in winter (whever that occurs). LOL

Later we will go out to the barn and I will mix the 50lbs salt with some mineral mix and put it out for the sheep.

 

[Ridgetop]

Didn't get out to the barn yesterday. Instead went shopping with DS1. First to return the slideouts that were the wrong size (ordered 14", got 11"). Next to Atwoods for another bag of salt, also picked up a bag of grower lamb with 16% protein. Hoping to get more growth on the lambs. Next stop Brookshires. It was Thursday so seniors (sorry, Primes) get an additional 5% off their groceries. Got a few things, Rick got his complement of sale soda. Walmart next looking for birthday gift for Annabel and robert - both turn 4 this month. I wanted one of thse olded tire shaped swings r a sand box. Neither one available but DS1 remembered that DD2 bought a small plastic kiddy pool for Annabel last summer and it is in the shed. After being thrown into the shed for a year it may have cracks so won't hold water but with the purchase of some sand will make a good sandbox in a corner of the yard. We bought some beach toys for the sandbox and a hippity hop ball. Wheeled toys won't do since here we don't have the giant patio and wrap-around driveway for the kids to use them. We do have those big trees so I will look online for the swing. Final stop Lowes for a door knob for the pump shed, and a plastic trash can for the salt and mineral mix. The metal cans will not work for salt. Got home, put away groceries, fixed lamb bottle, made dinner, and ran out of daylight. Today DS1 will drive back to the barn with the salt and feed. Hopefully I will get out to the barn today. We have another lame ewe that has to be caught and checked. Honey locust thorns? Snake bite?

Started on my closet today. Removed all the clothes, etc. and started to lift out the lower shelf. It is wider than a standard closet shelf and I couldn't get it out with the top shelf in place. Just as I started to think bad thoughts, I realized that the top shelf was not fixed in place either. It will lift out too. I will take out the top shelf, then the lower shelf, hang the rod supports, then reinstall the upper shelf. I wonder if all the closet shelves lift out like those? That will make double rodding all the closets much easier. I will lose a shelf but I can think I can use the shelves to make better storage in the other closets by only having hanging space in half the closet. That is down the road. For now back to the closet. The only problem (sort of) s that I may have to paint the areas where I remove the shelves. On the other hand, once stuff is on the shelves and hanging up I won't see those areas anyway so . . . .