My supervisor/project manager is so mad at me right now she is still meowing her displeasure as she sits on my computer desk looking at me.
You see I tricked her this morning. I went out and took the ladder down from the emergency barn roof repair and then started gathering the tools I needed for the final fence line clearing push. The winds had stopped this morning and there was more rain headed our way but today was perfect for getting this fence line clearing finished.
The trouble is there was no way I was going to be running a chainsaw, pulling fence posts and other debris and throwing around wire etc. with my supervisor under foot. For some reason this cat seems to think that whenever I am around there is absolutely no danger to worry about. Last time I was cutting up a small tree way down in the pasture I looked down to see her sniffing the end of the chainsaw chain. When I moved her she came around the tree and jumped on my back as I was bent over cutting. Then once when I was splitting a load of wood and throwing it into my truck I tossed a big chunk in and did not see her in the truck bed and almost squished her.
So now when I am doing any thing where she can get crushed, pinched, sawed, slashed etc. I leave her in the house.
After I put the ladder away and gathered all the tools up I told her that was all we were doing for the day and since she was already on my shoulder I took her inside and pretended I was going to surf the net for a while. She fell asleep in her spot and I sneaked out the door and did not return until justa few minutes ago.
Yes I had the nerve to leave her inside and out of the loop for almost eleven straight hours today.
But the fence line is cleared. I estimate it at about 125 yards of road frontage that prolly hasn't seen any mending and maintenance for at least 30 years. My arms are bloody from all the rose bush scratches and I had to perform emergency blood stoppage on my dad's finger when he didn't do as he was told and got off the damned tractor.
Ya I had help today. It's much easier to pull all those old posts when I can put my dad on the tractor. He maybe getting old and doesn't get around so well anymore but he can drive the tractor better than me no argument there. We even switched out the post puller blade and brush hogged the entire line. We managed to save the corner posts for the new fence and only ended having to destroy two cattle panels that had been patched into the line. They were buried almost 12 inches into the ground and we finally just yanked em out.
I think we managed to salvage twenty or so good posts too and now that all the little trumpet vines, grape vines, weed and Cedar trees, not to mention those damned wild Rose bushes are all cut out I can keep that section mowed and never have to clear it again.
Just when we dropped the brush hog and I started burning off the first round of broken posts it started sleeting on us.
So my main before the rains start objective for the year is finished. It's still raining outside now and the forecast is for rain the next three days as well but for the moment I don't care. Let it rain.
I am sure I will be pissy about not getting my garden tilled early but getting this fence line cleared was more important than a few early plants this year.
Now I need to catch up on everyone's blogs for the day...
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
I would have enjoyed working alongside you today. I miss it, farm work. Then again I'd probably spend the night in the hospital if I had...damn, middle age sucks. (Insert silly smiley face here.)
ReplyDeleteStephen - I will say at 49 I almost couldn't get started this morning I was so sore. Hauling that tree out of the ravine Sunday then climbing all over the barn roof yesterday almost did me in. I suspect I will not be doing much tomorrow....
DeleteSounds like a productive day, and it's always helpful to have another hand around.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, how many hours a week do put into the farm?
K - That's hard to say. Alot of it is fixing and mending because this place hasn't been touched much for 30+ years. I also have to slow down due to money restraints sometimes I run out and have to scale back so I could put a lot more hours into it. I would safely say Spring/Summer I do at least 60 hours a week but they are 60 hours at my speed not someone elses.
DeleteMakes it easier :)
I should have been home working today, nice weather here. The supervisors here have learned to stay clear of me when I am busy, it must just be part of their barn cat genes, all the ones that got around people working were eliminated from the gene pool. I have a great dislike for wild roses but greenbrier which is the next thing to barbed wire.
ReplyDeleteSf - Every other cat and dog on the place scatter and hide when I fire up an engine... Not this one she is fearless as long as a human is around and so curious she is always in the way really. Honestly she is the oddest cat I have ever been around and I am thinking she was an attempt at one of those munchkin cats that didn't have all the right looks. She also corkscrews her tail up like a pig when she is being petted.
DeleteHer legs and tail are about half the length of all the other cats around here and she is only about half their size too. Makes me wonder where she came from because when she showed up in the barn she could fit in the palm of my hand. Kittens that size don't just wander in.
DeleteI wonder if she has a special corner of her mind to banish you to I hope so:)
ReplyDeleteStvRayV - Oh she will get over it when I stop typing and lean back in my chair. That's when I hear her purring from two rooms away as she makes her way towards her spot which happens to be my neck and shoulder. She will nuzzle in and not move until I go to bed. It's her nightly ritual.
DeleteSpoiled Kitty...LOL
ReplyDeleteGlad you got your fence line cleared. I am contemplating electric fencing for a pig area. Since that pig virus has hit many states so hard, raising pork may be more beneficial than I first thought.
I managed to get two rows of pole beans planted and that was it. I had planned on getting tomatoes and peppers in the ground but due to a bee project that did not happen I am behind again.
Hope Dad's finger is OK.
MB - I think I am going to put electric in with a solar charger for this section. Of course I may not fence it for a while because we sowed alfalfa in there last year and graze animals shouldn't be eating that until it has been cut a time or two. I may leave it open until the alfalfa gets choked out.
DeleteHis finger bled like the dickens. He got off the tractor because I was having trouble feeding the chain through a rose bush to wrap around the post. He stuck his hand in and was bleeding like his finger got ripped off. I won't let him near sticky plants anymore for that reason. I had to use liquid skin and two bandages to get his bleeding stopped.
And the cat is laying on my neck as I type this. She forgave me already.
Beautiful weather here today. 75 , sunshine and no wind.
ReplyDeleteMy brother T had an old gray cat named Smokey. He had him for many years. Then one day the cat got behind the truck and got backed over. You can never trust them not to do something stupid.
We have more snow coming Yippy
ReplyDelete