Parang

My new machete came this week. This is the one my parents got me for my birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad! It’s from the Gerber Bear Grylls signature collection. I had to go down and check it out. It wasn’t hard to find high weeds.

I got the two lower pastures mowed before the storm came on Saturday.

We had to fix the chicken yard so Lulu couldn’t get in. This is the bantam hen that looks like a little song bird.

Her tail feathers are getting bigger so she is looking more like a chicken.

The silky. She’s easy to spot. We worry about hawks seeing her.

She’s been bad but Lulu is looking good. She’s turning out to be a solid little ewe. That’s Curly and Shemp behind her. They are filling out nicely too.

It is July, but still…

It’s freakin hot out.

The bunnies were too hot behind the garage in the morning and early afternoon so we decided to build a bunny port for them. It is going to be similar to the tractor port but not as wide.

This is what 100 degrees looks like in Kentucky. Beautiful, isn’t it? It eventually went a little over 100.

We put up the canopy the other day because we though the bunnies were going to die.

The first hole. It’s nearer the fence than the other two, the property line angles away from the back of the garage. It’s nearer to the wild rose thorn bush too. We had to dig the holes manually because the auger wouldn’t run.

I was removing the siding and finding the studs to get ready for the ledger board. I used the existing bunny cage for scaffold. It must be strong if it held me up. We’ve had to wait until the afternoon to work out there. The wall faces east so it’s too hot in the morning.

Post Post

This post is about fence posts. We got holes dug for all the fence posts we had on hand plus four extra. We went to Lowes and TSC to get concrete, stretchers and the four posts to fill the extra four holes.

The four wheeler works great for moving around the posts. Can you guess where we got the idea?

The tractor was taking a break under the walnut tree. We hit rock in three of the holes. Two of them were the next two in line from where we got the auger stuck a few weeks ago. We think it was all one big rock or rock shelf. The posts are all just sitting in the holes, they aren’t set yet. After we got back from Tractor Supply we set the posts in the gully transition with the concrete. We’ll get more concrete to set the rest later.

Lisa took her mother on a tour of the property. They rode all over the Mr. Reese side.

ATV Training

Lisa got to ride the four wheeler today.

I gave her the basics. Forward, reverse, brake. She’ll figure out the rest with experience.

I made her back it out.

There she goes!

I got a turn too.

Marianne had a go at it. She needed a little training too.

I told her to point it down the road and go.

She got turned around.

Barbara got to ride on the back. We told her she could try driving it. Now we need to get Anne on it. She was wearing a dress so she thought she was inappropriately attired.

Lisa’s ATV

We got the 4-wheeler out of the shop today. They cleaned the carb and drained all the old fuel out. While it was in there I had them do a full service job on it. Oil and gear lube change among other things. The mechanic said everything was fine and in great shape except for where the mice chewed on the wires. We knew about that and had fixed one wire. There were three others. They don’t see a lot of 11 year old bikes in there with only 122 hours on them.

A 2000 Honda Foreman 450ES. If she can’t live with the red she can always paint it.

It fits nicely behind the Kia in the garage.

476 miles and 122 hours. If you do the math, that’s an average speed of 3.88 mph, so I’m thinking Randy and Rena didn’t drive the hell out of it much. It even still has that new ATV smell.

I had to drive it around the property, of course. The weed is from the creek. No sweat getting through the creek, by the way. It is powerful and quiet, Lisa is going to have fun with it. I did get it up a little above 3.88 mph during my test drive.

then, thenceforward, and forever free

We weren’t forcing Lisa’s mother to do work. She did it on her own. She has been very helpful to have around this summer.

Painting the horseport wall. The truck makes a good scaffold.

Trimming the weeds around the willow tree. She did a lot of weed trimming. Thanks Barbara!

Filling the water tank. The animals drink a lot when it’s hot. It has been hot.

More weed trimming. This was a big job. I need to set that fence up so I can get the mower in there.

She was using the grass sheers and doing a great job with them.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

We had a cookout today for the 4th of July. Andy cooked boneless leg of lamb on the grill at our house. It was a fun afternoon.

Happy 4th of July!

Rachel being cool. She can’t help it, it’s her nature.

Heather got on Heidi today. Heidi was good, she didn’t mind it at all.

She was laying across her back to get her used to the weight. I think that was the reason. Heidi has never had someone up there. We were very proud of her and Heather.

Piper is back to normal. She was sick last week and we’ve been worried about her. Thanks to everyone for the good thoughts and prayers.

Lisa had to have a four wheeler so I finally relented and let her buy one (although I never would have bought a red one). I was trying to get it started today. It fires and has good compression but it won’t stay running. We’ll take it to the shop tomorrow. It’s a 2000 Honda Foreman 450.