Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Frozen Ground and Catching Up





All the mud and water that was left behind from this last storm is now frozen pretty solid. I don't mind as it makes walking around the barn lot easier at least. One thing I can say for the sheep is they tend to knock the ruts down pretty quick without tearing the ground up near as bad as the old nag horses.

At least I can say some things remain constant in this world. There are a few things I have come to expect whenever I am forced to be gone for more than half a day in a single stretch.

The wood furnace will be full of ashes because no one ever sees fit to empty it but me. Something will be lost or broken or both. If it's cold the firewood rack will be almost empty and all the feed buckets will be scattered all around. At least one gate will not be latched properly and the batteries will be dead on at least one flashlight.

It never fails.

When I ask who left XXXX in YYY position I always get the same answer regardless of the age of who I ask. They can 12, 20, 50something or past 70 and it's always the same.

"I don't know I never touched it"

I swear it's like raising a bunch of kids around here.

So this morning I gathered up all the feed buckets. Found all but one of the feed scoops, no telling where the third scoop ended up at this point. Cleaned the ashes out of the furnace so it would work properly again. Replaced yet another two way splitter on the water spigot......

The water spigot is my biggest question. I don't understand how they break them so fast. I have several I have been using without incident for years now and yet when I am gone they get torn apart or split in less than a day.

Latched up two gates that had at least been left closed but the chains were hanging unused on them. Luckily nothing tested them to see if they would open. Replaced and put two sets of batteries into the charger and located one of the missing flashlights in the process.

Now I can get busy with the other chores for the day.

I have one day to try and catch things up and then it's back to work for another 12 hour shift tomorrow again.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!


17 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. I too am trying to catch up on chores. Yesterday was a lazy day for me. Done half the dishes and helped with half the wash. We have a 40 gallon HW tank but with our ice cold water its more like 10. Hope your safe from the flooding.

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    1. Rob - I hear ya. Flooding never reaches the Small-Hold we are well up from any flooding. Well except the basement I guess and the run off going into the barn :)

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  2. Hey that's the excuse I give the Moose all the time! ;)

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  3. I would fire those tractor girls for goofing up like that. What am I saying? Hell no I wouldn't fire them, I might cut their uniform allowance or something like that.
    Still warm here with lots of mud and more rain just to the south. I usually get your weather a couple of days later, I am not looking forward to it.

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    1. Sf - That's a good one!!! Cutting the uniform allowance :)

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  4. Still pouring rain here.
    That is really weird about the water spigots. It just doesn't seem like a thing that could break easily.
    At my house it is the vacuum that isn't working. Sounds like a hose is ripped or not connected. Not sure why things like the vacuum always break right before company stops by.

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    1. Lisa - Karma. I must have a lot of it to repay :)

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  5. PP,

    I hear you my friend, this are always have done, broken or left for someone else to do. Were trying to get caught up too, then it's back down to TX. Give us all strength to get through these next couple of months :-)

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  6. Sigh. I hear you about everything going to hell when you're away. I hope your homestead was unscathed by the storm. Some folks have it bad up there.

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    1. Extex - All we got was some runoff flooding into the barn and leaking into the basement. That and it forced me to have to work three twelve hour shifts and now I am behind on everything.

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  7. Apparently "I never touched it" is not just limited to my own household...

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    1. TB - LOL we need to catch that guy!!!

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    2. i think that's why our forebears believed there were gremlins or elves.
      they knew somebody 'did it' they just couldn't find the culprit.

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  8. The duel spigots can't take any side force from someone pulling on a hose. A piece of bailing twine can help.

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    1. MV - Ya I figured. I have seen em when they get hung on something just pull harder and was pretty sure that's what does it but when you mention it it's always "Not me I don't do that"... Sigh

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