The Chores Around the Small-Hold Never End

As predicted I was pretty stiff this morning so I spent a few hours just taking stock of what needed to be done. Now that the temps are staying in the 70's for highs whatever it is that I am allergic too doesn't bother me so I am once again motivated and headache free.

After I got the stiffness worked out I began unloading the firewood from yesterday. I filled the racks by the wood furnace and then started refilling my deep reserve section (pictured above). This area should be full with split firewood stacked about five feet high and at least four rows deep by now. However this little spot has been empty since Spring. It is the first time it has been empty in like six years or so when I hurt my knee at work and couldn't cut wood for a few months. I figure another three trips like the one I made yesterday will once again have the reserve section up to snuff if not totally full.

Basically I have three wood stacking areas around the place. The furnace racks hold about two cords ready to burn, The deep reserve can hold upwards of six cords if I fill it that far but I usually don't. Since I have the luxury of leaving a lot of firewood to cure freestanding I have that option. The final area is the need to be split area where the stuff too large to burn resides. The last area is where I turn to when weather keeps me from getting into the woods to collect the stuff I have out there. I also use it for those times when they predict a heavy snow so all I have to do is back the truck down, wheel out the splitter and load the truck for better Winter driving.

Trust me if there is a huge snow storm predicted the Wife WILL go to work and get stuck and call me to come rescue her. The only way I have stopped this scenario from playing out was to steal her keys and hide them.

So at least I am now back on track to get the stores back up to where they need to be. A few more trips and I should be flush with late September levels. Last Winter really sucked the wood stores down let me tell you.

After stacking the wood I needed to go repair the temporary fence for the sheep. This is becoming almost a daily affair now as they have eaten all the good stuff inside their area and want the still green grass in the yard. I used that nylon wrapped foil electric line and standard stick in posts so I had maximum flexibility to move it around and let them eat. The trouble is that light electric line stretches easily.

Now most of the sheep have pretty bare heads however we have this one in the cutting crew that is a Rambouillet and she has proven to be a real pain in the butt.

We bought this girl two years ago from a place up in Northwest Missouri and she was the most sickly, knock kneed, skittish, pathetic looking little thing I ever saw. My Mother wanted a couple of Rambouillets for their wool though and she was the one buying so we brought two of them home. The other ewe the woman who sold em to us swore could only have still born lambs. I asked her where she lambed at and she said right there in the pasture.

No barn, no shed, not even a wind break that I could see. No wonder she was having dead lambs. As a side note the other ewe had triplets this year and proved to be an excellent mother. She bonded well to all three and enjoyed her alone time in a nice inside stall and was very protective of her lambs. This girl was too young to breed this last Winter so she joined the cutting crew.

Now here is the problem. She has become friendly, fat and fearless. She thinks my only goal in life is to give her treats and has decided humans are just big sheep with no wool and those very useful thumbs. She also has wool so thick on her head that she can't see to her front and the electric fence line doesn't penetrate to her skin. She puts that head down and starts eating and just walks right through the fence and doesn't even know it. In most cases all she does is stretch it out until she can finally see it and then she retreats but that is what allows the escape artist ewe Lilly to jump over it because it now sags.

So almost every day I have to go out and tighten the fence back up. I could switch to a more durable line but in only a few more weeks it will be time to move em all to the Winter pasture anyway so I am trying to not have to do that. The grass is almost all eaten in their enclosure and so they are wanting the stuff in the yard that is still green and succulent. I need to open em up a new section but not sure where to do that yet.

Oh well if I don't work tomorrow maybe I will look into that.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!