Ditch Burning 6_12_!8

A task that seems fun in theory  - playing with fire, but is really just plain hard and hot work.  We spent 5+ hours burning ditches.  It wasn't without a brief bit of excitement, but all ended well.
We were exhausted and a bit singed, but survived.

 Completely exhausted.

 Singed beard and arm hair.

On the Walk

Laura has been good to get me out walking each night.  The view is great, conversation even better.

Dang Dog!

This dog HATES to be groomed.

 He hides under Boyd's chair and won't let me get at him.

 Dang dog!

 And, some cool shadows with Jess on the hillside.

Just Because

Just because the photos include my dad's old hat.

 Just because Boyd hates it when I post pictures of him on the blog.

 Just because it will be one more blog post for the month and I am already really behind.

 And, just because he is always so kind to the dogs.

Lucky Dogs

The poor dogs had been living under a ripped tent for quite some time.  Finding a tarp the same size as the current one proved to be difficult.  We decided to try a shorter tarp we had on hand because it was past time to deal with the issue.

 This is the view from below.  A very nice sky light, but not at all helpful

 The tarp reached in to the goat pen.  The goats use the bungee cords to scratch between their horns.  Very effective at ripping the tarp also.

 While we were at it, Boyd decided to reinforce the frame with a couple of additional 2x4s.  It is SOOOO much better.  I don't clothesline myself on sagging rope anymore!!!

 The new, shorter tarp.  Should be high enough the goats can't damage it.

June News

Every year a pair of robins decides that my rake is the perfect base for a nest.  ??? Every year I carefully move the nest and then spend a month getting dive-bombed every time I need a garden supply.  Finally, babies left the nest, but not until after I spooked them and they took awkward flight right at me. I hope they made it.

 Francine loves to drop and roll right in front of where you are walking.  Sure do enjoy our most recent stray who has chosen to stay.

 Jeff brought over a boat for Boyd to help him problem solve.  I don't even know the problem, but I do think they got it solved.

 Turkey poop, HUGE turkey poop.  Apparently, it is also delicious.  Just ask the dogs.

 Boyd loaded the tractor for me so that I could move some dirt to help my mom with her irrigating.  Took more time to load, drive there and unload the tractor than it did to move the dirt. BUT, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to move the dirt any other way.  Very efficient!

The Dogs June 8 2018

We've had a good amount of Sarge and Maggy time lately.  Always a good time!

Dogs at Canal 06-09-2018

The dogs just love it when they can swim the canal.

Cutting Hay 06 09 2018

Just some shots of the first go round for hay this year.

Aaaahhh, I Missed It!

Seems like I have been a day late and a dollar short as they say lately.  I certainly haven't been very good at documenting even the mundane events of late, let alone the more exciting ones.

Event 1:  My mom handles most of the irrigating of her yard (2 acres) all by herself.  She did ask for some help testing out the new run-off ditch.  So, she and I lifted the tarp out of the last dam.  She warned me that we needed to move the boards out first so we didn't lose them, but I told her they wouldn't go far.  Boy, was I wrong!  They went far and fast!  Neither of us wanted to get cussed out by Kenny, so I slipped and slid my way to the bottom of the slough to retrieve them. This was my view looking up from the bottom.

 And, looking down.

 Some of the trash got caught on the tree.

 

And, the new diversion ditch that takes the run-off over the hill side. 

Event 2:  Laura and I were walking one evening with Laddie, Maggy and Jasmine. However, Jasmine decided she had already had a busy day and decided to rest halfway along the route.  Not a problem, she just stays put and we pick her up on the way back.  Not the first time the poor old dog has opted out of going the whole distance.  Well, at some point Laura noticed a fox heading straight down the dike that separates the two fields.  Sure enough, that fox was headed straight to where Jasmine was resting. Had it been Laddie, I would have been panicked.  Laddie is so fast and has previously actually caught up to the fox before. However, this time Laddie was busy eating wild turkey poop and didn't even see the commotion.  Maggy managed to be oblivious also.  Jasmine, however, who had been too tired to walk with us, suddenly had enough energy to chase the fox all the way to the river. Crazy dog!  This fox, by the way, is exceptionally large.  I don't want my dogs to meet up with it ever as it is every bit as tall as they are.

A lovely after shot of the dike, minus the fox with dog in chase.

 Not an "I missed it" photo, but more of a commercial for how useful my little tractor actually is. It does a lot of work that the other tractors are too big to bother with. :)

 And a bonus shot of this friend, he is a constant companion.

Event 3:  Boyd had me follow him around the field to the river where a tree had fallen and was blocking the path of his disc'ing.  I thought I was videoing the whole event, but nope.  Just one still shot.  It would have been a great video of Boyd almost tipping the tractor as he tried to balance on the uneven hill side while he pushed the huge tree back out of the way.  Dang it!

Event 4: A view of the disc with the harrows following behind before the tractor started smoking like crazy.  Boyd knew something was wrong, but he just kept going.  Hopefully all that is wrong in the  turbo charger.  You know it is bad when your sister calls to ask if you know that there is a fire on the farm because not only does she see the smoke, but she can smell the rubber burning. 

 Another commercial for my tractor.  The weeds were tall at the dog park, so I used the bucket to scrape them down a bit.

Event 5:  Possibly the most exciting event.  No view of the actual fire as I was focused on figuring out what was going on and getting it put out.  Boyd called me because our neighboring farmer (at the South Farm) called to let him know we had weeds on fire heading towards the telephone pole. Both of them thought our other neighbors were burning weeds and had not kept things in control.  He asked me to drive over and see what was going on because he was busy disc'ing.  When I got there, sure enough, the weeds were burning and no neighbors were around watching their fire.  It wasn't large or much of a threat, just some weeds burning that needed to be burned anyway. So, I drove over to their house to see what was up.  Turns out, they noticed the fire, but thought we were burning ditch. When we realized neither of us had started the fire, they got a 4-wheeler with a sprayer and headed to the fire.  I left ahead of them and got back to the fire to find that a random good Samaritan had stopped and called 911.  The fire was not that big, but I can understand why they were concerned. While they were telling me what they had done, the neighbor's husband came with a shovel and fire extinguisher and in no time had the fire all but out.  I called 911 to update them on the fire and tell them it was under control.  They still sent a sheriff and a fire truck, which I completely understand.  The fire was completely out by the time they arrived and we were just squirting water on a couple of spots that were smoldering.  They took our information and didn't even need to attend to the fire. 

The view of the fire looking east. You can't really tell from the picture, but it burned north and west from the far southern corner of the field.

 The telephone pole that was at risk.

 View from the road looking east.