A Lovely Winter Thaw

After two days of above freezing temps the snow is now pretty much all gone. Along with all the ice that isn't hidden in a shady spot and you know what that means?

Mud.

There is literally liquefied mud everywhere. The barn lot is just a mess and it's slick as hell too since only about the top 3 inches or so is truly thawed right now.

One of the joys of living on the edge of the Southern Plains and Northern Ozarks is we don't have a traditional Spring thaw. No we generally get to experience the joy of slick, nasty, cold mud everywhere ten or more times a year!!!! Lucky us right?

Some of the chickens didn't care though they were just ready to get out of the barn so they braved the mud and puddles.

I had to pull the 8N out to get some more hay bales from the stock trailer and I made some good squishy ruts let me tell you. I use the 8N when it is really muddy because it generally leaves less ruts than the larger 100 or 01 series Fords. Not that ruts in the barn lot bother me that much anyway the sheep do a good job of leveling out the ground when I leave them in at night. Once the mud hits the right consistency those little sheep hooves will beat it down and smooth it out quite nicely.

Right now though the sheep don't like the mud anymore than I do. They prefer to stay on the areas where I have placed round bales for them. As you can see a round bale hay rack does little good at keeping the sheep out. I need to get one with the wire mesh along the bottom but then they just jump over it.

These two ewes were over laying in the left over hay from the last bale. I move the bale placement each time I put out a new bale so I won't get too much hay in any given spot. As soon as it dries I will burn the old hay off and move the temporary fence in because right now the hay bales are actually in the garden area.

Another month and it should be time for the late Winter tilling. Looks like the 861 diesel will be finished just in time too.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!

The Muddiest Christmas Day Ever

One thing that can be said for Christmas around here this year, it certainly is muddy. Mrs. PP and I went out to take care of some barn chores early this afternoon and at times we thought we were going to become permanently stuck.

At one point we walked down to the loafing shed because there were several chickens messing around down there and I warned Mrs.PP to be careful or she would get her boot pulled off as we went through the mud gate. Not 30 seconds later I did the very thing I warned her to watch out for. I damned near fell face first into the stuff and almost lost my sock in it as well.

Back up at the barn I moved the last hay bale out of one of the stacks and found 22 more chicken eggs in a secret hidden stash. I then raked up all the loose hay on the ground and put down some pallets in preparation for bringing some more bales in from the trailer out back.

Every other phrase out of my mouth was "Look out chicken".

At least one of the hens is always right there under my feet seeing what I am up to. I am starting to believe they think I am just a big rooster who's job is to scratch huge sections of dirt off for them to dine and scratch around in.

I started up the tractor and the chickens were even following me around on that too. Running in front of me and then attacking the muddy ruts after I passed.

I loaded up the trailer and went and got another 15 bales out of the big trailer and stacked em up. Another five days and we will be taking the ewes out of the ram paddocks so our square bale consumption will fall drastically.

Of course the hens were immediately all over the new stack of square bales as well.

Oh ya speaking of chickens. When we came home yesterday from our final last minute Christmas shopping trip into town the neighbor's Boxer was running around the yard and laying in the middle of the driveway was one of our Rhode Island Red hens dead. Both our dogs were laying on the porch looking rather scared and they haven't made a move towards a chicken in months that I have seen. Still I can't say for certain it was the neighbor's dog and not one of ours that did the deed. I know when I went to take care of the remains our dogs hightailed it for their hiding spot under the porch. It seems like so much that get's broken, lost, destroyed or killed around here only happens when I am not around and left with only questions as to how to stop it from happening again.

Humans seem to be about as forth coming as dogs with answers too I might add.

I was wondering why Mrs. PP hadn't shown back up in the barn yet when I got the hay bales unloaded and  stacked so I looked out and asked her what she was doing standing by the gate since I didn't need to go back out there.

"I'm Stuck"!!! Was what I got in reply :)

I had to go rescue her from the mud. I am very heroic like that don't ya know. I didn't even tickle her or anything why she was trapped.

This may not be the muddiest Christmas day ever around here but it sure is the muddiest I have ever seen it. This time of year the mud seems to stay around forever too.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!