Pork

A cool breezy start to Tuesday morning. We had a nice storm blow though last night which dumped some rain which was badly needed. Rachel was invited to a sleep over last Friday which we were getting ready to take her to before 6 when the clouds rolled in, the thunder and lightening started. I raced to get the clothes in off the line and not a minute too soon because the sky opened up and then we lost power. I had intended to make nachos for dinner but that was out of the question so Drew, Jeremiah and I headed to town to grab a bite. We got back just before 8 and later I found out exactly what happened but not knowing at the time, it looked like all hell broke loose. It's odd how storms can be so strong in one area and non-existent a few miles away. Not 5 miles north after dropped Rachel off there was barely a sprinkle, at our house though and further south, 70 MPH straight line winds snapped power poles along highway 50 which is what knocked out our power, took down a tree in the front yard smashing a metal trellis and plastering the south side of the house with debris.

The weather has been extremely hot and heat indexes are topping well over 100. We can't complain too much, the summer has been pretty mild thus far and will cool down again just in time for fair "week". We did not enter anything and are not taking the goats. We'll go just to have fun!

The kids start school next Wednesday. There is an open house next Tuesday night that I plan to attend and I will take them all in on Wednesday morning as we plan to carpool with someone who will be bringing them home. I'll get the low down on what traffic conditions are like and let Jeremiah know so he can better plan the morning and what time to leave so that he can get to work within plenty of time. Mornings aren't generally our forte so it may be harry for a while!

I've been feeling okay, not sleeping well so I try to get a nap in mid-day...or rather most days I HAVE to. I am looking forward to the cool down. We've spend a lot of time at the community pool and at a nearby private lake with a friend. Jeremiah works the concession for the football game this Friday, we have dinner plans with friends Sat. and we intend to take Jeremiah to a Mongolian Grill place in Wichita for his birthday on Sunday. Somewhere in that whole mess we have to fit in tiling at the rental house and hopefully a few other odds and ends.


I best go, I'll leave you with some piggy photos I took yesterday morning. They grew out a bit faster than I anticipated on the new hog feed and the next processing date wasn't until Sept 18. Mama Sow is due to farrow Aug. 31st and the whole process starts all over.

Tom Tom

 

Tom and Tom are 2 of our 3 turkeys. The 3rd is a hen and nowhere near as interesting to look at as these guys. Last year we only raised a hen. Turkeys really are fun animals. These guys are so talkative, inquisitive and friendly! And, they are the best bug catchers EVER snatching flies, grasshoppers and everything else mid-air! The bugs and grass have pretty much been their main diet since they left the safety of the roving coop at 8 weeks old when we butchered the broiler chickens. They have done very well for us free range.

Right now they are in their full "dress to impress" outfits. Normally their heads and necks are a pale pink, their snood (the piece of skin that hangs over their noses) is shrunk up to their faces and their feathers aren't puffed out but this particular morning there was a need to show off to the hen. 

The wild turkeys have been in great abundance this year. We have 2 hens that visit the back yard frequently. Between them they hatched out over 15 chicks so we have little turkey poults running around. They like to get into the pigs' pasture and hide in the tall grass. Our turkeys haven't seemed the least bit interested in the wild turkeys and visa versa. I was assured we'd have a hard time keeping our meat turkeys from mingling with the wild ones. Two years in a row and even last year with just a single hen, I guess they figure the vittles are better in "captivity" though their life may not be anywhere near as long...but then again, it may!

Dog days...

The work on the "rental house" has come slow. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel but getting there has been one heavy step at at time. So much for July 1, we're well on our way to Sept. 1 or later. BUT, we're not breaking our backs and trying not to break our enthusiasm. Truth is, we have a lot going on at home too.



The electric fencer (the box that plugs into an outlet and basically supplies electricity to the electric perimeter fence) was the wrong one. All these years we had no idea! The goats had been getting over into the neighbor's property day after day. It's a huge issue when their front yard shares a fence with our back yard and their garden area and lovely lawn is right there. Last Sunday we ran another 3 strands of fencing which doesn't take terribly long but after a little more research on the type of fencer I discovered why we were having issues. Another trip to town to buy the right fencer and all was zapping right! Except...yesterday (Wednesday) evening I went out to do chores and check the pigs mud hole to discover they may not have had water for a little while to do the fact somehow somewhere the electric was jumping over to their automatic water metal bowl and shocking them! Poor pigs! It's been close to 100 since Monday and for the life of us we cannot figure out why or where the current is coming from.The chore this weekend is to get the tractor in there and shore up the area they have dug out nicely for a wallow but it's also under mining the fence, to sink a post to attach the auto-waterer to and call it a day.



We had to unhook the invisible fence (for the dogs) when we put up new fence lines and for 3 days in a row now Snow has been out in the early morning. It's just never ending it seems! This evening's chore, as if there weren't enough is to hook the fence back up for the dogs except we have to do some rearranging because the line their fence was running on is now electrified so we have to go around the entire perimeter and hook it up to another line. Sigh.



I am feeling better as far as the nasuea goes, it's all but gone but I still tire easily. Granted, I am not sleeping well at night either. I'll sleep a few hours and be up or a few hours, try to get a few hours before he break of day but wake up so tired that sometimes it's better had I not fallen back to sleep. I've had that horrible sleep cycle since Drew was born. Occasionally (every couple of weeks) I'll get one good interrupted 8 hours of sleep and be "good to go" for another couple of weeks. I am not one for naps, but generally I have to catch a 1.5-2 hour one daily. I guess it's a good time for it though because it's so hot out during the day anyway that there isn't much else TO do.



The temps the last couple weeks have been unbearable. I won't complain too much. The reality is the summer has been pretty nice and we're in for another cool down, so they say. The garden went to heck while we were in Ca. ll the rain we got really got the pigweed growing well and it was just too much to deal with when we got back. We tried, Jeremiah and I, spend a good few hours in there but it just did so little bit of good that we gave up. I've weed eated a bath through the bermuda and pig weed so we could get to the tomatillos and tomatoes and so that's what it's been. The luffa and gourds are still growing, I expect once things start to die back I can get in there and gather those.



My first sonogram was last Monday. All looks well. I had an AFP (Alpha-fetoprotein- screens for Downs Syndrome, Trisotomy 18, Spina Bifida) test done by blood work. The test results came back normal. I debated having it done. I am not "old" but odds do increase quite a bit after 30 compared to being in one's 20's though still the odds are quite low in the broad scheme of things. On that note, if something like Trisotomy 18 were to show up, I'd want to know so that we could prepare ourselves ahead of time. I hate the thought of having a bunch of sad people after being so excited to hear the news. That said, the test isn't fool proof but is 80% accurate.



Our next sonogram is Sept. 15, the half way mark and that should be it unless something comes up. The insurance plan has us at a hospital in Wichita. I am not thrilled about that due to distance and potential weather in Feb. but it is a good hospital and for that I am grateful. I will give the insurance company a ring and see what the odds are of changing it but if it's Wichita, it's Wichita.



The goat herd has been whittled down quite a bit. I still have a couple of individuals for sale and will have a few more later in the year. We've had a lot of hens go broody and hatched out quite a few new chicks this summer. It looks like we have one last hen sitting on a nest that is probably due to hatch any day now. We've lost a lot of the chicks to hawks and such. Once they leave mom at about 4 weeks they tend to get taken pretty easily. I don't feel like putting them all into a chicken tractor (roving coop) as that means extra feed and filling water. Right now we feed so little with as much as they all forage that I figure the cost of loosing some is worth the savings of work and feed. That may sound kind of awful but it is what it is. One mama hen has successfully managed to keep her brood of 8 safe. She's taken refuge in the pig pasture where there is a lot more tree coverage. We'll see how many chicks end up making it to pullet size, determine which are hens and which are roosters and then cull the rest of the flock based on those #'s. I know we have entirely too many roosters currently. We caught quite a few and send them home with a friend. They aren't worth our time to butcher them for dinner. There are 2 more I'd like to catch but they've gotten smart and have started roosting in the trees.



Our boar (male pig) went off to the processor a week ago. Keeping him at near 500 lbs. was getting too expensive. I have a couple of ideas for breeding our sows but for now, we don't need him. We have a sow due at the end of the month. In fact, I have to get out there and try to get her moved over to a pen and shelter. She shares the pasture with her 2 Feb. piglets, one of them our new gilt we'll keep as a breeding sow (another reason for moving our boar on as he was her sire). I only took 6 piglet reservations for the next litter. I expect to keep a few for us to raise up too. We need to get 1/4 beef too but there's still plenty of time for that. What there's not plenty of time for is putting up hay. We were in Ca. when brome (grass) was cut. I had wanted to put up 100 bales of those but it would have been a special request to have small squares done by our supplier so we just asked they everything be put in to rounds. We've picked up 5 already and will be going out for at least another 6 some time this weekend I think. I thought about maybe going back to alfalfa hay instead of the pellets. For a while there the girls weren't eating them but all the sudden they changed their minds and so I think we'll just keep on keeping on with that. They are more expensive but take up so little room, are always available and there's no waste.



The rental house we still him and haw about what we're going to do with. I think with everything that's going on, it may be best just to sell it when it's complete. I cannot imagine having a rental property to deal with too. We aren't disappointed we bought it, life has just changed a bit and we're trying to decide what's the best decision to make. It still  has to be finished though and that includes a little more painting, finishing the tile floor in the kitchen, 6 interior doors, installing 2 exterior doors, fixing the little roof on the ornamental well out back and  few other odds and ends. The upstairs bathroom and pretty much the entire upstairs, aside from some baseboards in the bathroom, is done. 



Hutch. schools are back in session. The kids don't go back until after Labor Day. It's been a nice longer summer. Their school class roster came out yesterday, they are excited. I know being at a bigger school will be a change but they will enjoy it I am sure. It's farther away of course but we're set up to carpool with one of Rachel's friends. Jeremiah will take them in in the morning and they will be brought home afterward.



With Hutch. schools back in session the pool in Hutch is now closed. The Buhler pool though is still open and I took the kids up yesterday afternoon to swim for a couple of hours. Drew desperately needs to work on his swimming skills. He wants to go off the diving board but is just not swimming well enough I am confident there won't be issues. Rachel has always been a great swimmer and we've asked her several time if she might like to join a team but she's quite happy just being a guppy for fun and will literally spend an hour and a half jumping of the board over and over and over. The Buhler pool is small but was pretty quiet yesterday. Mostly moms with their younger kids trying to beat the heat. We'll try to go a few more times before the end of the month I think. It's cheap and close enough entertainment, that's for sure. In fact, driving up to Buhler is closer than driving all the way over to the west side of Hutchinson.



Mot days seem to roll one right into the next. Some days we're busy, other days are slow.Time to get started with the day.



New baby's first photo

Drew helping with barn chores in his PJ's

Life in photos

The kids have already been out of school for a month! We've gotten a decent amount of rain with another couple of storms supposedly moving in tonight so the grass looks great and it looks like the hay situation may be good this year. The wheat, however, is a different story and much of it is beyond help. Most people said they've never seen it so short and if rain doesn't come at the right time of development, it's all lost. I would imagine most people will cut and make it for hay, but without grains, I can't imagine it would be better than straw. Nonetheless, it is what it is and sometimes that just happens.

We're been working long hours on the "investment" house and there is quite a bit more work that we made for ourselves than we had to although, doing it now means we won't have to do it later and updating it just makes it that much more marketable, whether it becomes a rental or a flip.

Here is a link to the house photos and video if you'd like to take a look: CLICK HERE I doubt I'll post any "during" photos, it just takes a lot of time but you can go to this link as often as you'd like to see how we are coming along. There is also a 12 minute video. I apologize if you cannot hear all that well, my camera is so so with taking video but at least it should give you a better lay out of the house. The flooring is almost done in both upstairs bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom is ready for the stud walls between the master bedroom and the bathroom and where the new tub will go. I should be done by the downstairs laundry room today (Wednesday), but I am publishing this post for tomorrow. I will also need to paint the one wall in the kitchen (stairwell wall) because we're picking up cabinets today.

A couple of weeks ago we roped off the woods by the pond for the goats with temporary electric wire and posts. They enjoy getting out there and eating all of the delicious treats, we enjoy that the woods are kept a bit more tame.

 Our garden is completely in. I made some garden trellises for the pole beans and melons. We used a 16' cattle panel bent into a hoop between two t posts for our gourds and luffas to climb up. We use cattle panel sections for the climbing cukes too, it saves space in the garden when we can get as much as we can to climb vertically. When all was said and done, I think we have over 50 tomato plants in, 12 melons, 4 cukes, lots of pole and bush beans, cabbage, broccoli (both green and purple), lots of herbs, tomatillos, squash (butternut, patty pan, yellow & green and spaghetti)...and sunflowers =).

I have the trellis here over the cabbage so that once the pole beans start to grow up (I still need to drill holes in the horizontal beams and install cordage for them to wrap around), the beans will shade the cabbage and hopefully keep it cooler. We didn't have a problem growing cabbage this time of year last year with the heat except the grasshoppers were of biblical proportions and we lost them all. 

 The meat chickens have been put in to the roving chicken tractor. They get moved once a day for now but when they are a bit bigger it may be twice a day although by that point they are allowed out of the cage during the day through a door on the side and they can free range. They all go back in to the cage at night for safe keeping. They are already 4 weeks old and will be processed in about another 4 weeks. We also bought 3 turkeys as well.

The piglets are getting big. We kept 2 back. One sow and a male we castrated. We may keep the sow on as a breeding sow and sell off her sire, our big boar. We have a friend with a boar who would stud him out and keeping one sow and one boar is NOT cost effective.

 

Lastly, here are just some random shots.

 

Bees!

We picked up our bees on Saturday and the transfer of the frames went off without a hitch! We love them and are perfectly enthralled with them! They are SO docile, proof of being well handled. We do not need a veil to work around them, now that may change when we start collecting honey but for now, we can stick our faces right into the hives and they go about their business.

Jeremiah and I built these hives in April. They are top bar hives.You can read more about there here if you'd like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_top-bar_hive

Because we bought "nuc" colonies (bee colonies that were already established), they came in a "nuc" box with frames the bees were already building on. We took out the frames and slipped them right into our hives and within an instant, they went right to work doing what they do.  We placed them on a  hill up behind the pond. They are protected by the trees there and the animals won't mess with them. Additionally, we don't have to mow around the hives and disturb the bees.

 

 

 

House

For those who visit this blog who I don't speak to on a regular basis, a house down the road came up for sale after a foreclosure. We bought it are now in the midst of renovating it.

I took some video to give an idea of layout. More photos to come as we progress through the demo. There were several things that absolutely had to be tended to (leaky water pipes in the bathroom. FOUR so far and one in the yard), the kitchen was not well laid out and the step up living room with the way the center island sat was very dangerous.

We've since torn up the carpet in 2 upstairs bedrooms and the living room and pulled up the raised portion of the living room which was raised with cedar planking and plywood. Jeremiah has fixed the leaky pipes in the bathroom and it will need new drywall in spots now and has fixed one broken pipe in the yard but there is still another going to one faucet because when turned on it has no pressure. These are the downfalls to buying repoed properties especially in cold climates. The the property is not "winterized" soon enough, freezing and thawing is inevitable.

I have since painted 2 of the three upstairs bedrooms, ceilings and walls. The master bath had an open concept from the master bedroom and no access from the other 2 bedrooms which I thought odd as the landing upstairs is big enough for another door and if the bathroom is large enough for  a huge 2 person whirlpool tub, it's big enough for a tub shower combo instead! The other bedrooms could only access the bathroom upstairs through the master bedroom or walk all the way downstairs and through the kitchen. Can you imagine doing that in the middle of the night?? No thank you. Changing things around a bit will make the house more usable and it's not too much time or money extra.

The kitchen will need new tile in place of where the old cabinets and counter used to be as the cabinets were in place before the "new" tile floor. Fortunately it was laid in such a way that we can pop up a few cut pieces and install whole tiles and it will be seamless. We'll also tile the rest of the living room that was raised before.

These videos were taken early this week when we did not have some of the work done we have now. I'll take updated photos as we go. My apologies if my voice is low. I was talking normally. I am also not a videographer, apologies in advance if your head spins a little when the movement or if it's dark. We did not get the electric turned on until Tuesday.

In the first video I walk through the existing door right into the kitchen. The glass pane to the right has been removed and is now the entry way into the living room. The previous entry way will be a walk in pantry off the kitchen. When you walk in the front door there will be a new wall to the left.

The closet upstairs where the furnace is is dark and you probably cannot see it. Sorry about that. These may be out of order.  

I will get photos today of the progress now that the electric is on. The basement would have been pitch black before the electric which is why it's not shown.

I've been bad

I've been terrible at posting, absolutely terrible. Here's a pathetic attempt at updating:

I think all of the does, as of April 13th or so, have kidded. I say I think because we put a buck out with the does to run with them while we were gone in Ca. but I don't think I left him long enough to "clean up" which is just as well as it is we had 10 does to kid this year and that just seems like way too many.

We're looking to downsize, in the process of actually.

The weather has been crazy, on again off again cold and for the next 5 days it's supposed to be over 90! So in one week's time I'll have gone to using the wood stove to the A/C!

I had wanted to start getting the garden in this weekend but our rototiller's carburetor needs a good cleaning so Jeremiah took it in to school with him and it didn't make it onto the docket before the weekend.

I have been sick fighting some sort of sinus/respiratory nastiness. It all kind of hit Thursday with a cough. Our last cough lingered for a while but there weren't any major issues with it. Drew had it something bad. I almost took him to the dr. just to get him something to quiet his cough so he could sleep but I found an alternate home remedy that worked just dandy! As for me, yesterday my head ached something awful and the Tylenol I took took forever to finally work and for the first hour didn't even take the edge off. I am sure I had a pretty high fever too, I could feel the heat radiating off my face. Nevertheless, I honesty cannot lay in bed, it makes me feel worse so I got up and did regular chores yesterday morning and a few things here and there. I feel a little better today.

Bees: I have been in touch with the individual/company that we'll be getting our bees from. This might tell you how bad/long/crappy the winter was, as of 3/4 of the way through April, they were still about a month out from separating the colonies to sell off because there wasn't enough flowers out yet for them to eat from. We ended up building the hives ourselves, we're almost done for them. I have photos I'll post once they are and painted up. It wasn't too difficult and we're happy with them. I am very excited for the bees!

Kids: Their last day of school was Wednesday. We got a letter in the mail with their new school assignment which is where everyone else from Obee will be going also.

2 weeks ago Wednesday we attended band sign up for Rachel to see which instrument might be best for her. She tried out the flute (which was her first choice originally before trying any of them but she has a widows peak in her lips which doesn't make playing impossible but it would take extra determination to learn to account for that. As a downfall to having beautiful lips, it makes it harder to play the flute, or so we're told. Oh well, she leaned she liked the clarinet better anyway so we're buying her a clarinet and she goes to band came for a week in May. Tomorrow she starts an hour long poetry class at 10:30 to noon with a friend of hers at a bookstore in town. Drew and I, I guess, will hang out at the library.

Drew's 2nd grade class always attends "The Magic Treehouse" (series of books) field trip. The 2nd grade teacher's parents have this beautiful piece of property about half an hour west of town they have turned into a kid's paradise. Jeremiah took off work to go this year and we had a blast.

The farm: The piglets are 2.5 months old now. All but 2 have been sold. Of the 14 born eleven made it past 2 weeks old and it wasn't pleasant having them in February. We had to rig up a brooder to keep them from freezing to death so I don't think I will farrow again in February...or March! As it is we are on track for the sow to farrow again in Sept. and I consider selling the pigs off completely but now with this swine disease going around, I have to wonder if that's really the smart thing to do. We kept a gilt (female) and barrow (castrated male) back to raise up to butcher out. Keeping a boar is expensive for just one sow an a few neighbors and I are considering keeping one between us to use.  We have a friend about half an hour away who has one we could borrow but the whole swine disease kind of has me scared about using outside services at all.

Who knows what the best answer is. Pork prices are only going to soar, just like beef did- Supply and demand. It's not even the finished product that is the issue, it's finding the animals to raise up to begin with! 50 lb. feeder pigs were going for as high as $200 an individual at the sale barn last month! Keeping 2 sows and no boar would be more cost effective but a boar has to be available. 

Onward and upward though....we got our delivery of 160 meat chicks in the mail day before yesterday. They are delivered to the post office and we go and pick them up which is usually a late night proposition. All 160 are not for us. We went in on a group buy. We kept about 50 some and in about 6-8 weeks we'll be butchering again!

Rental property: We're on track for the rental property to close on or about May 16th. We have to get the septic tank pumped and do some general yard clean up but we won't rent a dumpster until a busted pipe has been fixed in the downstairs bathroom wall. Otherwise all it needs is some kitchen cabinets, appliances, carpet if we can afford it (otherwise what's there just gets a good cleaning) and some paint.

Jeremiah: One of his students won gold for welding sculpture so he'll be going to Nationals at the end of June for a week in Kansas City.  He's also signed up to finally take the CWI (Certified Welding Inspection) class and CWE (Certified Welding Educator) the first of June at the college for a week.

His college classes are almost done (or are done) this week.

I'll update with photos later but I want to get this posted before I forget and it sits as a draft like all the other well meaning posts I've been meaning to get posted.

I'll end for now. The heat is supposed to be near record breaking this week in the 90's+ so I'd like to get started on chores before it's too hot to!