Rainy Day Update

Yesterday was the weekly wood cutting day. For the last few weeks however I have been  cutting at a co-worker of Mrs. PP's house. A good guy who bought a wooded 5 acre lot kinda nearby us a couple of years ago. When I say wooded I mean wooded too. I used to hunt nearby his place when I was a kid and it was all new growth Oak (which meant it had been logged about 100 years earlier) and Cedar. Now he has a couple hundred or more Oaks in what I would call the medium range of around two foot trunks all standing within a few feet of each other and about half of them are dead due to the disease we been getting here the last few years. There is the occasional Hickory and twisted Oak that didn't get logged and some of the best Cedar for posts I have seen around here in years.

It was nice and dry and a good day to cut. The down side being that the trees are so thick I have to take my dad's little Mazda pickup because my F-150 can't squeeze between them. Basically I just been getting half loads because of this but with all the felled trunks I picked up earlier this year I think I already have this Winter's supply taken care of.

What this guy wants to do is turn his 5 acre lot into a park so we are basically clearing it to the point he can drive his little Massey garden tractor on steroids around.

And to think he got rid of a beautiful Golden Jubilee for that Massey. Some people jst don't appreciate the finer things in life.

I hafta admit he has made some nice progress towards his goal so far this Fall. I been going in each week and clearing dead trees and fallen limbs as big around as my torso for him and the bonus of all bonuses..... Taking out Cedars that are in the way.

Not just any old scrub Cedars either but old growth Cedars that have grown almost straight up in mixed hardwoods. Very little sapwood on them. It's almost a crime to be honest as I am betting those Cedars have stood there 500 years or better. I downed three yesterday that should make at least five excellent fence posts when cut to length.

As a token of my appreciation I showed his teenage daughter how to flood out the gas powered leaf blower he had her using so she could take a break from the park terraforming for a bit.

She appreciated it anyway.

When I got back to the Small-Hold it was time to finish painting the first two hay mangers I got built with the final design.

I used a heavy Barn Red oil based paint for em and added in a fifth vertical bar this time. They are now inside the barn out of the rain curing for the next couple of days as it takes that oil paint a little while to dry properly this time of year. I still need to figure out some type of top for them yet.

I really need to get the other two mangers finished and start using them. We are burning through square bales  at a pretty good rate right now and will be until I move the breeding ewes back out of the ram paddocks. We are averaging a little over two bales a day so if my count was right I should have enough to make it until I take the slaughter lambs in about January at which point the ewes go out into the West pasture and go back to round bales. Days like today however we use closer to three bales as I feed the yearling lamb and invalid flock a bale inside the barn as well. The sheep really don't like standing around in the rain.

Who can blame them?

So things are still progressing here albeit more slowly now with daylight savings time. It seems I barely have enough daylight to get much done before I have to start picking up before dark. After the mangers are finished it will be time for some much needed barn repairs.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!!