Friday, April 19, 2013

Maybe!!?

I don't think we got all the way down to frost level temps last night but the wind sure made things damned cold. By the looks of things we should be moving into another few days of warming up and except for maybe Monday drying out as well. The high winds are good for drying out exposed dirt so perhaps...just maybe... I can start to get some planting done this weekend.

With a little luck we are past our frost danger or at least close enough that I may risk getting some of these seedlings out of the house. Some sites say we can get frost as late as Mid-May here believe it or not. The place is starting to look like a jungle inside now and I don't have any space left to get the next wave going for the late May/early June planting.

I am eager to get back to work. I left several half finished mini-projects laying around when the rains came in again last week and my truck broke down and I would really like to get back to them. Haven't heard anything out of the truck fixing yet except that the transmission is going to have to be pulled no matter what the final problem ends up being which means the mechanic isn't going to be in an all fired up hurry to get to work on it and it is going to cost a lot. Nothing unusual about that I guess.

The snow baby kittens are nibbling at solid food now and starting to explore a bit. I had to rearrange their nursery from the dog house into a kennel cage and place boards in front to keep them contained a bit longer but allow mommy an escape route. The barn is still full to the brim with ewes and lambs and the mother cat had those kittens in the dog's house which is right off the main walkway for the horses on their way to the food. Not a good environment for scampering kittens and trust me those old retired nags can't see very well anyway and nothing is more important to them than their special soaked grains. This arrangement will buy us another week or so before the little boogers learn to climb out I suspect. After that it will be kitten wrangling before the gate to the pasture is opened and locking them inside. Besides the dog really looks pathetic laying outside in the rain without a house to sleep in. Not like he doesn't have plenty of bedding down space inside the barn. I think he lays out there hoping I will take pity on him and let him in the house at which point he is happy for about five minutes until the closed space makes him nervous and he whines to get back out.

Animals are really a pain sometimes. 

I think we are up to 16 lambs now? I don't know I lost count and interest after a few days of milking one ewe because her lambs weren't getting the job done themselves. After that problem worked itself out I gladly left the lamb tending to my mother and step dad. I did see the dog running around with a lamb tail in his mouth and my mother chasing him demanding he give it back. That was mildly amusing. The dog goes right into the sheep area and those sheep don't seem the least bit worried about his presence, a couple of the more grown lambs have even determined he is fun to play with so I am not worried about him eating one but still he is under a strict observed visitation only program. The cat isn't worried about him and her kittens either as he sticks his head right in with them and sniffs and she doesn't even seem to care. Those two slept together in that dog house all Winter anyway so I guess she trusts him.

By the sounds of things the wind has died down a bit and the Sun comes out occasionally to make it tolerable enough outside to go get some work done this afternoon. I need to go get those three swarm traps completed.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!



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