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 . . . .

 

[Ridgetop]

Well, the simple project of removing the shelves, putting in new metal rod holders, and replacing the same rods came to a crashing halt - LITERALLY - as the heavy galvanized pipe Mr. MacDonald used as a clothes rod fell on my foot. You can't say Mr. M did not build to last - the galvanized 1 3/8" pipe has 1/4" sidewalls. I took a break for a cup of coffee with a package of frozen corn on my bruised foot. I do a lot of these home improvement projects barefoot.

I had overlooked that when replacing the pipe on the new brackets the rod would go wall to wall, forgetting that the old supports were on 3/4" boards attached to the walls. So much for the simple job that was going to take me an hour.

I used the prybar to remove the boards, removed the nails (yes, nailed into the studs with 8d nails), remeasured, and reattached the boards to the walls. Of course, now the drywall where I pried the boards off have holes and gouges in them so must be repaired with joint compound and painted. The pipe fits properly though so that is good. LOL Now on to the upper rod and the top shelf. I will not have to pry any boards off the wall for the rod since there isn't one. I will have to cut a rod to the right size. Luckily I brought some closet rods with me, and Mrs. M was using a couple as curtain pole rods in the living room. Just have to get out the saw and cut it to length.

 

[Ridgetop]

Another roadblock on the road to my double rodded closet. This one is human. DH came in last evening to inspect my work. I was about to install the upper rod supports. DH asked if I was going to paint the closet.
Me: "No, just the areas where I had to patch the drywall."
Disapproving silence.
DH: "I think you should paint it first."
Me, hopefully: "It is a closet and the clothes will hide it. I'll paint it when I do the room over."
DH: "But YOU will know. I just think it is better to do it now while the clothes are out instead of later when you have to remove everything again."
Me, despairingly: "But I want to finish it tonight. The paint would have to dry before I can finish."
DH: "I still think you should paint it first."
Me, cunningly: "But everything is on the bed, where will we sleep?"
DH, more cunningly: "I'll help you move everything to the sofas in the iving room."

I painted the closet. I hate it when he is right.

While we were at the church Friday Night Lent Fish Fry (they had fried okra! Yum) DS1 cut the rod to fit. Today I will install the top rod and shelves. Then I have tocart everythiing bac into the closet and put it all away. Only one shelf now, but a lot ore hanging space. These MB closets are small.
DH likes that there are 2 of them, but they are only 55" wide, divided by a wall so they are his and hers. That is only 4'7" wide! Smaller than the hanging space we had in California. DH fell i love with the double closets. I think DH thinks that he will have a closet to himself without any encroachment by me.

Unfortunately I replaced the lower hanging rod supports in my closet before I realized that I woud not have any shoe storage. I brought a 12"x12" shoe tower. It is in 3 sections of 32" each. Now that I have painted the closet I don't want to remove it and reinstall t on the top. instead I will put it in HIS side of the closet. He will have a double rodded space on one side, and another small full length space on the other side of the tower. Oh wait, DH doesn't have any full length clothing? Well I did paint my closet and I will paint his too so . . . .

DH also mentioned that he needs to get rid of a bunch of his shirts that are torn or stained. I use Oxy on all his clothes but eventually they do wear out. Since he s so bg, when find a closeout on 3XL and 4XL shirts, I buy many. I have a large box with new DH T-shirts. Every so often I go through his closet and replace the old grungy ones with the new ones. He never notices. When our kids were young I used the old, soft, worn T-shirts for night shirts for them. Saved on the clothes budget for a growing family. I will also go through my closet before we go back to CA for our visit and pullout anythig I haven't worn for the past year or so. I have a lot of nice things I used to wear to the bridge club. I will keep my cruise clothes since DH wants to go on another cruise, and all our children want to go with us on an Alaskan cruise. They want to take the older grandkids too - educational. I anticipate having to loan DD1 some evening wear. Possibly DDILs1 & 2 as well. Even though they are not the same size, I have a lot of things that are dressy jackets and tops that can be worn with black pants for evening wear on formal nights. Also some fun costume jewelry.
Made our reservations for the National Dorper Show in Duncan, OK. I used our Best Western points from our trips back and forth from CA and TX. 3 nights in Duncan for free. There will be an ADSBS meeting on one night and a dinner and social on another. Love meeting peple from all around the country. I will have to print up a few more business cards to hand out.

Also got the pix from Travis Blackburn of the ram and ewes he has for sale.
The ram is 8 months old, super thick and long. He is a Burrawang embryo import. DH said that he thought we had enough rams but I reminded him that we lost Moyboy over the winter, and I am sellig the 2 young rams along wth a couple of the older ewes. I used Patton on all the ewes this year and am not sure whether I like his get. Some are really nice, others not as nice. Although I do not show at the moment, the Dorper Standard is completely based on meat attributes so by breeding to the Standard my best lambs would be competive in the show ring. Besides, I like looking at really good animals. It doesn't cost any more to feed a good one as a poor one, and when breeding you have fewer problems with a well constructed animal.

He also sent pix of 2 ewe lambs out of his ewes and some Burrawang semen. They look nice too.
Good length and thickness on them
In this picture good leg thickness.
I need to go through my pedigree book and check the ages of the ewes that I have. Some are older although they have good years left to them. Others didn't keep condition over the winter, possible parasite susceptability, we don't like the lambs they threw, etc. Every so often you need to bring in fresh blood and then go back to the original stuff you really like that does well for you. These sheep have the benefit of being pasture raised (other than graining when they are being readied for a show) and the Burrawang blood makes them parasite tolerant.

In this new-to-us climate, new-to-us pasture feeding, not to mention new-to-us parasites, as opposed to our 30+ years feeding only alfalfa in desert conditions, we are having to relearn our sheep husbandry. Proper selection of ewes and rams is essential for a pasture based operation. Our White Dorpers are more resistant to parasites than English wool breeds but we still have to select for those animals that are even more resistant. We don't want to worm more than twice a year. Dorpers were developed to survive on harsh pasture conditions, thus they will forage as well as graze but we have to select for those that maintain good condition on poor pasture as well as good grass. Our goal is no supplements except during flushing, lactation and the last month of pregnancy. Proper mineral and salt measures must be maintained for good health. This year I will definitely take soil samples on the pastures and have them analyzed to see what needs to be added - lime or more chicken litter. The new well is supplying good water in less than half the time it took with the house water. I forgot to ask Chasen what the GPM was, but we have good well pressure. DH was reading an article about Texas water supply. With so any eople moving to Texas, it looks like there might be an eventual water shortage as the drain on the acquifers increases. Particularly in west Texas the water situation is poor. We are glad we put in our well. Still lots to do, starting with reducing the flock numbers now that lambing is over.