Sorry no pictures today. I meant to take some but time slipped away and then my brother brought his family out to see the new lambs and next thing I knew it was dark.
The ground dried just enough for me to get the 8N out and pull the last few sections of the old fence that had been giving me troubles. I damned near flipped her head over ass at one point as I was pulling out a middle H-Post section. It looked to me like the entire thing was free after I cut out a weed tree that had grown up into it. I was using the boom since I didn't feel like putting the blade back on it and as I was pulling forward I discovered there was actually an anchor set on the H arrangement. The front end of the little 8N jumped 3 foot in the air when that anchor wire sprung taunt. Scared the living beejeebus out of me.
Tomorrow I will get the trailer hooked up and pick up all the rolled up old wire and haul it out of the Alfalfa field then switch back to the blade and start pulling posts. I really need to start putting in the new corner posts and wire but it's still too wet to get to that part of the pasture.
I took a break from old fence line clearing to throw another 48 bales of hay into the loft and put the fixed tire back on the trailer. Everything is now set for tomorrow except I somehow have lost my crossbar for the 8N so I will need to get the post hole auger off the 861 to pull the trailer around. Always something but I got to get that old wire out of the Alfalfa field before the stuff grows up into it.
Other than that not much catch up going on after the three days of rain and three ewes dropping their lambs. I am still way behind where I wanted to be at this point. To make matters worse I think I lost yet another bee hive too. This damned Spring may not have been all that cold but it has taken so long to get the blooms going that I think my oldest hive starved out now. That will bring my Winter losses up to almost 20% the worst I have had to date except for the 2012-2013 drought Winter. I should have started feeding them earlier but I got busy with this fencing project.
Live and learn.
All this work and being interrupted by rain is making me long for Winter once again when all I had to do was cut firewood.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!
Bees / Hives are on our list! Sorry to hear you think you lost a hive.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question a roman shade is kinda like a mini blind, only its made out of fabric on the front and lining on the back, it fully functional with cords and cord lock so pulls up and down etc. It folds up as you pull it up. Some are made with a insulating material that can stop 86 percent of the cold and 79% heat.
Texan - I have noticed a trend this year as the hives I lost were all older ones. I think maybe I took a bit too much honey off them so I may need re-evaluate my process which has worked up until now but something is wrong.
DeleteI see. Roman shades. They sound neat. I bet my wife would like them a lot more than the blankets I had tacked up as window covers before we got married :)
Thanks Texan! I have seen these but never knew that they had a name.
DeleteIt does appear that you are busy my good man, a shame about the Bees as well. Over here the embryo of a wildlife garden now has a reasonable amount of bloom but I have only seen one native wild Bee (a queen Bumble Bee) briefly so perhaps the Winter has affected numbers here too, not forgetting that my lost both his hives to what appears to be starvation. I'm still toying with the idea of a hive but wondering whether or not it will add pressure via competition for wild Bees and also I wouldn't have a clue where to start.
ReplyDeleteJohn - adding in hives really doesn't add much pressure. They forage a long way and most places on Earth are under serviced with pollinators. Not sure what is goign on with my older hives this year. It could be mites but I was doing some good mite counts and didn't see any problems last year. Very disturbing.
DeleteMmmm could be mithering you for Bee keeping advice then...
DeleteJW - Anytime I am always happy to help with bee keeping.
DeleteMine tractor will come off of the ground, I have learned not to pull stuff with the 3pt but hook low which keeps it on the ground better. Sunny and 20s this morning but should warm up nice today.
ReplyDeleteSf - Normally if I am pulling things I use the blade for it's lower center of gravity but I didn't think I was going to be getting into anything too heavy until I hit that anchor. I should have known better and removed the boom since it's center is so much higher.
DeleteGood grief, do be careful. Farming is not for wimps and sissies! I'm sorry to hear about the bees as well. It's a challenge taking care of so many things all at once.
ReplyDeleteLeigh - Ya I am neglecting too many other things this year because of this fence project. I have to get on it fast or the explosive growth will make the job that much harder not to mention the mowing starts. I hate mowing.
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteThe rain won't be forever, soon it will be gone.
Just slow down a bit and re-evaluate, things will get done. Take a deep breath....and don't think about mowing.....that stuff is always there (trust me I know this)......grass cutting will get done once everything else gets taken care of.