The weather has cooled down substantially. Last week was in the high 90's and overnight it dropped to the 70's. Friday and yesterday's weather was downright gorgeous.
Rachel came home from school Friday not feeling well. She's been complaining of her throat hurting and a stuffy nose. I suspect allergies and she's sleeping on her back so it's draining to her throat. She didn't look great Friday evening, I gave her some Tylenol and she looked better. The kids and Jeremiah were going to go to the football game but Rachel and I both decided she should stay home and then Drew decided he didn't want to go after all so we pretty much stayed home. She seemed to be feeling much better yesterday but did go to bed pretty early (for her) last night.
Saturday Jeremiah and I were up early. There was some work to do over at the house that was too dusty for me to be there for so I did chores here then went over after he finished. We headed to Lowes for more mortar and interior doors. The pantry door went in easily, didn't need to be trimmed but the doors upstairs, with the ceiling only being 6'10" needed to be trimmed so Jeremiah did that while I tiled. I went as far as I could with the 1 50# bag of mortar we mixed up and we figured out last week we were about 2 boxes of tile too short. That was a dang tile that came from Home Depot in Wichita too so it meant we'd have to go back to get it!!! Not looking forward to that! We hadn't had the pantry in mind when we originally got the the tile anyway so thought we'd buy enough to do that too on the 2nd trip down. By 2 PM we were both hungry so we headed home and decided to knock Wichita out, took the kids down, had lunch, picked up more tile (in which it's been fully restocked and they probably had more than they had last time when they said it was in stock but nowhere to be found!). We were home by 5 and decided there was a lot to do here at the house so spend the rest of the evening working around here.
We still hadn't taken care of the big locust tree that had broken 3 Friday's ago and took out a metal trellis. The blades on the brush hog hadn't been sharpened in a while and the pasture will need to be mowed before winter. The county tries to mow at least one pass along the frontage before fair (which started Friday). This year they went all out and mowed back, where they could, to people's fence lines/tree lines. The brush hogs are wide, at least 10 foot so it's quick but I don't think they have ever mowed that far in and it looks nice all along 4th street all the way to town. I think it's the 3rd time the county has mowed. Our frontage is quite steep and deep and so they usually don't mow way down into the ditch which leaves us a lot along the driveway and the culvert but they did Thursday. I was headed to town, in fact, and saw them working down the road and came home to remove the solar lights. Generally they don't mow enough to bother them but with as wide as it looked liked they were doing, I didn't want them run over.
Pretty much we'd been working since 8 AM solid on through to 8:30 last night minus the trip to Wichita. We didn't come in until after dark. I mowed the yard, which takes forever and that's without moving the lawn furniture. Usually I am in a hurry and mow around but the grass growing up underneath the picnic table made it unavoidable. Some things are becoming eye sores and needed to be put away or thrown away. Jeremiah got the tree taken care of so the front yard looks much better.
It was a really gorgeous Sept. day yesterday. We're in for another really nice day today. It's supposed to heat up to 90 for a couple of days which stinks because I am picking the kids up to take them to the fair tomorrow after school and was looking forward to not sweltering!!! Traffic has picked up majorly in town with it being fair time. Lots of out of towners and trailers, etc. are all over. All the extra people really does make a significant impact.
We're going to get back over to the house today after a couple of errands this morning, shooting for Oct. 1 for this house to be done. Don't know if we'll make it, the "small" last minute things sure add up!
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
Tiling and what not
No new news to speak of really. I could talk about the weather. Things were getting a little dry around here up until about a week-week and a half ago. We had some overnight storm roll through dumping a coupe of inches in total. Thursday seemed rather overcast and sprinkley if I remember right. It's still been pretty warm, in the 90's. The humidity makes it worse! I think we have few more days of 90 degrees before we drop into the 80's and the rest may be history.
Yesterday Jeremiah and I were over at the house house. The weather people predicted strong storms. Most of the time they build out of nowhere, sometimes overhead and head west and sometimes west and they hit hard. The summer storms are quite spectacular how they can just build out of thin air. I've subscribed to a Facebook page called Weather Watchers. They've been a great source of awesome and accurate information, more so than any other other and they are very local. I've learned a great deal about weather in general but more so about the oddity that is weather here on the plains, a place with weather like no other.
Jeremiah worked the concession stand at the stadium on Friday night for the varsity vs. jr. varsity football game. Rachel asked if she could help so I ran her to town and dropped her off. She was very excited to have her first job, as she called it. Completely volunteer. She said she had a great time, she ran the nacho station. Drew and I grabbed an ice cream cone and picked up a couple pizza's, came home, did chores and watched TV.
The kids start school on Wednesday. I'm a little sad about that. It's been a great summer and I will surely miss them! This year, more than any other, it seems they have grown up so much and are so helpful with chores and what not. Not that they haven't been helpful all along but this year more than any other, I can trust they will do what needs to be done by just asking and they are usually very eager to oblige. It's been a really great summer.
The sow was due yesterday. Jeremiah and I moved her over to one of the pens. She was kind of in a foul mood all day yesterday, which, I guess I can't blame her. Some of the piglets are reserved for feeders for others but we plan to raise a few up. We took our boar off recently, he came in weighing close to 500 lbs. or more. That yielded 191 lbs. hanging weight for half the hog!
I've sold a few more goats and the herd, to me, is looking pretty small! I think after these 2 kids leave we'll be down to 20 in all including 4 adult bucks. I was going to keep a younger buck but decided against and he to a family up near the Ne. border. They drove down last Sat. to pick him up. Two other doe kid are reserved with pick up next weekend.
Our milk barn still isn't any more complete than the roof that was put on over the spring but everything in due time, I guess.
I've been sleeping horribly most nights, waking around 1 or 2 and being wide awake for hours. I try o grab a few hours before 7 AM but it's fitful and almost worthless most days. Some days I sleep all the way through the night but most days not. I toss and turn and toss and turn and eventually just get up and sit around.
After few chores around here yesterday morning Jeremiah and I went over to the other house. We sort of lost our drive for a while there to work on it, not to mention there were some serious pressing issues here with the fence that had to be addressed. Now that that's taken care of and we feel a bit more of an invigorated spirit we got some tiling done yesterday. Jeremiah had to take the air chisel to some old mortar to get it up. I swept and vacuumed real good. We let the A/C cool the house down while we came home for a while to grab lunch. The kids were back from church at that point.
We went back and Jeremiah mixed the mortar. He put entirely too much water in the bucket which required the whole bag of mortar. I was near 3 PM at that point and we hadn't intended to stay as along as it would take us to use all that mortar but it ended up we used it quicker than we thought. We got most of the tedious stuff done. Where the bathroom exits into the kitchen there was carpet before along with the first step down into the basement. We tiled all of that which took quite a few cuts. We still have a few more pieces to lay but because we were doing a "patch" job for that area, I had to start at the existing tile and work my way to the wall. I had no choice but to work myself into a corner, so to speak, and needed to leave enough area to be able to jump out. The mortar should be set today and we can finish up that little bit.
The rest goes pretty quickly. We set some tile in the center area where there used to be the island. It was all tiled around the existing cabinet so putting in the new tile makes it a seamless patch job. The bulk is still yet left to do but it's nothing more than laying tile after tile in a row...save for some cuts along the wall, it should go pretty quick! Right now the kitchen cabinets are sitting in the area we need to tile. We had to replace some tile where the existing cabinets were along the wall. We did that yesterday so now the cabinets can be moved in to place. I am hoping to have enough stamina and time today to finish laying tile I can grout on my own some time this week. At the time we bought the tile, I don't think we had intended to put the pantry in so didn't account for extra tile. Now that the pantry is built, I don't know if we'll have enough tile to do that too. We could just put in laminate as well, either way. I don't think it would make a difference either way.
I wrote out a list of "to dos" yet left to do and the list isn't all that big. It seems bigger before I started but it's really not bad. I'd like to be done before Oct. The weather is going to turn at some point and there are things we have to do around here before that happens. We need to replace our back door, at the very least. We've tried all kinds of different weather stripping and nothing is working like we need it to. When that cold north wind hits the house, all bets are off and freezing cold air pours though. Our front door isn't much better, but it's not as bad. Jeremiah hates installing doors but there's little choice.
For years we've talked about putting in a wood burning furnace. The kind that usually go outdoors or in a basement? There are lots of reasons we wouldn't put ours in the basement, #1 being I am not hauling wood downstairs! I think outside would be a good location but Jeremiah keeps mentioning the garage and I guess that would be okay too. I love the wood stove and it works fine but it is a lot of work to keep running and stocked with wood and not that I mind but I think a wood burner would be a lot more efficient and would only require stocking 2-3 times a day. The basement does get kinda cold with the wood stove burning so we don't use it as much in the winter. We still have yet to run duct work from the living room to the back bedrooms though the attic. Jeremiah complains about being cold in the winter. I think most people keep their houses entirely too hot in the winter and I am not really a fan of the cold myself! But I hate sleeping in a hot house or coming in from outside where it's literally freezing or worse and the the house is blazing! Warm is nice, blazing isn't! If only people here would realize it's cold out and winter appropriate clothing would make a big difference! That said, it sure is nice after a long winter to finally go sock-less. But then I look forward to sock winter in the fall too. Funny how that works!
Fall is just around the corner. We have a lot of chores in mind. Back in May we bought a boat load of plywood. Jeremiah wants to put it up along the walls in the shop. Right now the shop is just a wreck! Not that the plywood would change that, putting things away and cleaning up after jobs would change it but that is one of my requests before it's too cold to work out there, that we get that shop picked up!!!
We have got to get metal on the milk barn before it starts to snow. The subfloor won't last long. Working diligently can often times be a problem, keeping at the " to do" list seems a little relentless but I know if we keep at it, we won't feel like we're always playing catch up and if it's not one thing it's another around here! The yard looks nice for now, I mowed on Saturday. The fences are fixed. The processing date or the 2nd hog is made and we have a month to get the other house done!
We're hoping to put a steer in the pasture next year. Prices are sky high though and I cannot fathom spending what they're running! Forking out $500+ for a weanling calf that we'll have to feed for 12-18 months seems daunting. If the rain keeps up there's pasture 4-5 months out of the year but boy howdy, $500 is a small fortune for an animal you hope doesn't DIE! We're near out of beef and will have to buy another 1/4 from someone but the prices are just awful. It's bad all over, of course and I try like heck not to buy a single scrap of meat from the grocery store, organic or not. I bought some grass fed hamburger the other day and I reminded myself why I don't do that often...I really prefer grain finished. I don't see what people see in beef that isn't grain finished. Yuck. We've gotten to the point though of having non-feedlot non-commercially raised meat and honestly, there is no comparison to farm raised! Regular grocery store meat is tasteless, not to mention I shutter to think what's in it! Brainwashed or educated, whatever the case may be on that commercially raised meat, I can taste the difference and that's enough for me!
I hear the thunder roaring outside. It's not storming overhead but it is somewhere close enough by that the lightening is lighting up the house. I think I will try to grab a couple more hours of sleep before the sun's up and the day begins. I'm trying to get a blog post in here and there. None of this news seems very exciting to me/us, it's every day "mundane" but maybe mundane and uninteresting is neither to someone else.
Bye for now.
Yesterday Jeremiah and I were over at the house house. The weather people predicted strong storms. Most of the time they build out of nowhere, sometimes overhead and head west and sometimes west and they hit hard. The summer storms are quite spectacular how they can just build out of thin air. I've subscribed to a Facebook page called Weather Watchers. They've been a great source of awesome and accurate information, more so than any other other and they are very local. I've learned a great deal about weather in general but more so about the oddity that is weather here on the plains, a place with weather like no other.
Jeremiah worked the concession stand at the stadium on Friday night for the varsity vs. jr. varsity football game. Rachel asked if she could help so I ran her to town and dropped her off. She was very excited to have her first job, as she called it. Completely volunteer. She said she had a great time, she ran the nacho station. Drew and I grabbed an ice cream cone and picked up a couple pizza's, came home, did chores and watched TV.
The kids start school on Wednesday. I'm a little sad about that. It's been a great summer and I will surely miss them! This year, more than any other, it seems they have grown up so much and are so helpful with chores and what not. Not that they haven't been helpful all along but this year more than any other, I can trust they will do what needs to be done by just asking and they are usually very eager to oblige. It's been a really great summer.
The sow was due yesterday. Jeremiah and I moved her over to one of the pens. She was kind of in a foul mood all day yesterday, which, I guess I can't blame her. Some of the piglets are reserved for feeders for others but we plan to raise a few up. We took our boar off recently, he came in weighing close to 500 lbs. or more. That yielded 191 lbs. hanging weight for half the hog!
I've sold a few more goats and the herd, to me, is looking pretty small! I think after these 2 kids leave we'll be down to 20 in all including 4 adult bucks. I was going to keep a younger buck but decided against and he to a family up near the Ne. border. They drove down last Sat. to pick him up. Two other doe kid are reserved with pick up next weekend.
Our milk barn still isn't any more complete than the roof that was put on over the spring but everything in due time, I guess.
I've been sleeping horribly most nights, waking around 1 or 2 and being wide awake for hours. I try o grab a few hours before 7 AM but it's fitful and almost worthless most days. Some days I sleep all the way through the night but most days not. I toss and turn and toss and turn and eventually just get up and sit around.
After few chores around here yesterday morning Jeremiah and I went over to the other house. We sort of lost our drive for a while there to work on it, not to mention there were some serious pressing issues here with the fence that had to be addressed. Now that that's taken care of and we feel a bit more of an invigorated spirit we got some tiling done yesterday. Jeremiah had to take the air chisel to some old mortar to get it up. I swept and vacuumed real good. We let the A/C cool the house down while we came home for a while to grab lunch. The kids were back from church at that point.
We went back and Jeremiah mixed the mortar. He put entirely too much water in the bucket which required the whole bag of mortar. I was near 3 PM at that point and we hadn't intended to stay as along as it would take us to use all that mortar but it ended up we used it quicker than we thought. We got most of the tedious stuff done. Where the bathroom exits into the kitchen there was carpet before along with the first step down into the basement. We tiled all of that which took quite a few cuts. We still have a few more pieces to lay but because we were doing a "patch" job for that area, I had to start at the existing tile and work my way to the wall. I had no choice but to work myself into a corner, so to speak, and needed to leave enough area to be able to jump out. The mortar should be set today and we can finish up that little bit.
The rest goes pretty quickly. We set some tile in the center area where there used to be the island. It was all tiled around the existing cabinet so putting in the new tile makes it a seamless patch job. The bulk is still yet left to do but it's nothing more than laying tile after tile in a row...save for some cuts along the wall, it should go pretty quick! Right now the kitchen cabinets are sitting in the area we need to tile. We had to replace some tile where the existing cabinets were along the wall. We did that yesterday so now the cabinets can be moved in to place. I am hoping to have enough stamina and time today to finish laying tile I can grout on my own some time this week. At the time we bought the tile, I don't think we had intended to put the pantry in so didn't account for extra tile. Now that the pantry is built, I don't know if we'll have enough tile to do that too. We could just put in laminate as well, either way. I don't think it would make a difference either way.
I wrote out a list of "to dos" yet left to do and the list isn't all that big. It seems bigger before I started but it's really not bad. I'd like to be done before Oct. The weather is going to turn at some point and there are things we have to do around here before that happens. We need to replace our back door, at the very least. We've tried all kinds of different weather stripping and nothing is working like we need it to. When that cold north wind hits the house, all bets are off and freezing cold air pours though. Our front door isn't much better, but it's not as bad. Jeremiah hates installing doors but there's little choice.
For years we've talked about putting in a wood burning furnace. The kind that usually go outdoors or in a basement? There are lots of reasons we wouldn't put ours in the basement, #1 being I am not hauling wood downstairs! I think outside would be a good location but Jeremiah keeps mentioning the garage and I guess that would be okay too. I love the wood stove and it works fine but it is a lot of work to keep running and stocked with wood and not that I mind but I think a wood burner would be a lot more efficient and would only require stocking 2-3 times a day. The basement does get kinda cold with the wood stove burning so we don't use it as much in the winter. We still have yet to run duct work from the living room to the back bedrooms though the attic. Jeremiah complains about being cold in the winter. I think most people keep their houses entirely too hot in the winter and I am not really a fan of the cold myself! But I hate sleeping in a hot house or coming in from outside where it's literally freezing or worse and the the house is blazing! Warm is nice, blazing isn't! If only people here would realize it's cold out and winter appropriate clothing would make a big difference! That said, it sure is nice after a long winter to finally go sock-less. But then I look forward to sock winter in the fall too. Funny how that works!
Fall is just around the corner. We have a lot of chores in mind. Back in May we bought a boat load of plywood. Jeremiah wants to put it up along the walls in the shop. Right now the shop is just a wreck! Not that the plywood would change that, putting things away and cleaning up after jobs would change it but that is one of my requests before it's too cold to work out there, that we get that shop picked up!!!
We have got to get metal on the milk barn before it starts to snow. The subfloor won't last long. Working diligently can often times be a problem, keeping at the " to do" list seems a little relentless but I know if we keep at it, we won't feel like we're always playing catch up and if it's not one thing it's another around here! The yard looks nice for now, I mowed on Saturday. The fences are fixed. The processing date or the 2nd hog is made and we have a month to get the other house done!
We're hoping to put a steer in the pasture next year. Prices are sky high though and I cannot fathom spending what they're running! Forking out $500+ for a weanling calf that we'll have to feed for 12-18 months seems daunting. If the rain keeps up there's pasture 4-5 months out of the year but boy howdy, $500 is a small fortune for an animal you hope doesn't DIE! We're near out of beef and will have to buy another 1/4 from someone but the prices are just awful. It's bad all over, of course and I try like heck not to buy a single scrap of meat from the grocery store, organic or not. I bought some grass fed hamburger the other day and I reminded myself why I don't do that often...I really prefer grain finished. I don't see what people see in beef that isn't grain finished. Yuck. We've gotten to the point though of having non-feedlot non-commercially raised meat and honestly, there is no comparison to farm raised! Regular grocery store meat is tasteless, not to mention I shutter to think what's in it! Brainwashed or educated, whatever the case may be on that commercially raised meat, I can taste the difference and that's enough for me!
I hear the thunder roaring outside. It's not storming overhead but it is somewhere close enough by that the lightening is lighting up the house. I think I will try to grab a couple more hours of sleep before the sun's up and the day begins. I'm trying to get a blog post in here and there. None of this news seems very exciting to me/us, it's every day "mundane" but maybe mundane and uninteresting is neither to someone else.
Bye for now.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
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.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
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!
Thursday, August 21, 2014
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
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
Thursday, June 5, 2014
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.
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 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.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
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
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)