Saturday, March 14, 2015

Saturday Catch Up - The Thaw Continues

At this point I am almost ready to concede Spring is here for good. Things are thawing out so fast and with a little rain we been getting on top of the thaw everything is super wet, soggy and muddy. The clover is coming up under the dead grass and weeds now and you can see the green creeping in. I noticed today that the Maples and Box Elders had some huge buds on them so they are about ready to bloom which will officially kick off the new season of honey.

The long range forecast doesn't show any real dips either. Maybe some high 50's next week is all. It would be nice if the water would evaporate as fast as the ice is thawing though.

Still cutting firewood for next year now although I am not hauling it for the most part as I can't really get in close enough to load it. I also have several new fence and corner posts laying out in various spots ready to load as well. Until the ground dries a little though I am basically stuck and cannot put the posts in either so I went back to tearing down the old fence. For this step the thawing ground is working out well and I was able to get some of the old woven wire that was deep in the frozen ground out.

I have also admitted defeat on cutting through the plow I am trying to restore/convert. I have completely eaten the teeth off of six metal blades on my sawzall and barely cut a half inch into the metal tang that needs to be removed. They sure don't make metal like that anymore that's for sure. I might try picking up a cutting wheel for my hand grinder and see if that works or may just take the thing up the road to a local who has a cutting torch. I will need to hook up the boom on the tractor and move it out of the barn because of the sparks anyway so once I have it out it would be just as easy to put it on the truck and run it over.

Other than the slight progress I been making on the fence project the only interesting thing of note was one of the pregnant ewes rolled over onto her back in a pile of hay and got stuck. She is so fat (I am betting triplets) you could use her as a dining table if she stood still and for some reason she decided to roll over and the soft hay made a bowl under her and she was stuck with all four legs in the air. Luckily my son was over visiting his grandma and heard her breathing heavy and attempting to kick around and he quickly came and got me. I was able to roll her over while avoiding her frantic kicking and get her back upright. She immediately went over and started eating and has been fine since so no permanent damage appears to have resulted from the ordeal and I am guessing we got lucky and she wasn't stuck very long before my son noticed.

Slaughter day is Monday,  shearing day is set for next Saturday and lambing should start right after that. We only have 19 ewes bred this year but that could mean as many as 40 or more lambs if the numbers of twins and triplets continue like they have the past few years.

Things are definitely going to start getting super busy here quickly over the next week.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!


2 comments:

  1. Some old guy was telling me it was going to be single digits again in a little over a week but I just don't see it happening. I noticed clover growing and hope the grass takes off soon. Rain here so it is too muddy to even cut wood but the good thing is that on these warm days I can burn up some of the old stuff that is laying around to get rid of it. We really need some weeks with little or no rain.

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    Replies
    1. Sf - I saw a forecast that said it was going to coll back down but nothing like what I call COLD. Maybe a bit below normal temps but that's nothing.

      The mud is leaving in some areas now but not around the barn or the fields I want it to leave from. The wife actually complained all morning today until I made her a damned fire. No real need but she was cold.

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