May 29, 2008

was given a riding lawnmower for use as a tractor and a cart is being built for it, so I can use it for utility work around here, like hauling firewood in the summer months to put into the woodshed. The price was right. It was free! I brought it home yesterday and mowed the lawn which was resembling hayfield. I like hayfield, but not up to my front door. The livestock were just not eating the grass fast enough. It is a very used mower, but it works quite well. It only costs $2 to mow my yard.

Today I am finally changing my snow tires over for my summer tires, fixing the lawnmower tractor tire and tilling the garden hopefully this evening. I did not have any time before. I am about a week late on tilling, but it will all work out in the end. 

The pastures/hayfields are coming along nicely and I have a plan for fencing my front pasture this week as well. I have gates that someone else did not want, so I will have proper gates on all the pastures finally. I need to get it done, so I can boot the heifer and goat into the front to get them out of the yard where they can do mighty damage to the garden once it is planted.

Picture Above: 'Blossom" mowing. She is really starting to show her 'dairyness'. She is still quite loveable and much like an overgrown dog. She has decided to be a cow to 'Cyrus' though and has started to swing her head/horns at him if he gets too close. 

Picture Below: 'Dixie' asking what is up since we invaded "HER" pasture. She is shedding out nicely (and quickly!).

Picture Above: A couple of my Plymouth Barred Rocks checking me out through the fence. 

I skipped picking eggs up for a day as I got home really late a few days ago and all of the sudden I have 4 hens which went broody on me. Since I lacked time and equipment for incubating this year, I decided to let them keep the eggs. I marked them and returned them to the hens. When they hatch I will pull the hens out of the main pen to give the chicks half a chance. The older birds were even picking on the older juveniles last year. 

Last weekend I got to do some cool things for my job. I was in a 1949 Navigon WWII trainer airplane. Clive was very gracious in letting me in it. 

Picture Above: The blue one at the 'bottom' is the one I got to go in.

Picture Below: The 1949 Navigon I got to go in. It is all original except for the 'dashboard'. 

Picture Above: Me releasing some of the 25,000 Kokanee fry into the lake. You can see the fish down by my toes too. 

I also went to a fairly local lake and helped release 25,000 Kokanee fish into the lake. Kokanee are land-locked salmon. I asked Ken how many of the fish would make it to catchable size and he replied 'only about 2,500-3,000'. It was pretty neat when I released them out of my 2 gallon bucket as they were tickling my toes. I had taken off my shoes and socks to go into the water. It was really cool, until I realized when I started to walk that the fry had gotten inside my pant legs!!! I like fishing, so it was nice to help stock the lake. 

I have started carving with a friend for DTTR projects and I was given some wood carving tools & equipment by another friend. He no longer uses these tools so he was happy to give them to someone who would use them. 

'Crystal' has started to come into milk again. I have been milking her onto the ground as there is not enough to mess with yet, but soon she will be giving a gallon a day. Not bad for an old gal. She was 7 when I got her, so she must be 11 years old now. 

Picture Above: Good ole'  "Crystal"! I think I ought to shave her for her summer cut soon. 

The Canadian Cancer Relay for Life was also last weekend. Although I was not officially signed up, due to working, I still walked 15 kilometers in it. The bags with names and candles are luminaries. They have the name of someone who has been effected by cancer or is a survivor. I bought two bags and put my mom and dad's names on them.

Picture Above: Over 500 bags with candles were lit towards the end of Relay for Life circling the track that people had been walking for the last 10 hours.. There are too any names.. and too many people I knew. One friend had been diagnosed 11 days prior to this event. One day maybe the word 'cancer' will be a thing of the past.