Another Hay Day and a Frosty Fog

I know the blog posts have been sparse lately. It's winter and not a lot of interesting things are happening. It gets dark early and the weather doesn't cooperate. Yesterday we had a super exciting day. The cows got hay! Andy and Heather came over on Saturday and we put a bale out for her horses. I got two bales for us to put in the shed. We put one of those out for the cows when I got off work last night.

They were acting all pitiful next to the empty hay cradle.

Much  better.

This morning there was a frozen fog, it was about 28 degrees. I took a few pictures.

   

Shock Wire

We put an electrified tape across the feed pasture to keep the cows off the hillside. They found it right away and both of them zapped their noses on it.

First Hay Day

Heather has had hay out for the horses but it's the first for the sheep. They still have grazing but it's been getting cold with hard freezes. 

I brought over three bales. Two went in the barn.

The cows noticed the hay. They were not pleased.

I'll probably move the bales over to the side next to the wall.

I'll put them where the tractor is so I can get to the loft without climbing on the bales.

The trailer will have to stay outside until spring.

Llamas and horses

Speaking of the loft. I had this 3/4 inch sheet of plywood so I cut it into 3-1/2 inch strips. I'll fasten those to 2x4s and put them in next to the existing 2x4 stringers in the loft. It should make it considerably stronger.

There was a piece of milled plywood left over from when Andy worked at the cabinet shop. I clamped it on to use as a fence to guide the circular saw.

It worked. I did nine pieces, one for each stringer.

Remember Fun Bobby?

He's getting big. Ivy is hanging in there. She is now officially retired.

Fun Bobby's sister Peaches is looking good.

She'll make a good ewe.

We'll be blocking off the upper 3/4 of the feed pasture. The cows tear up the hillside so they will remain off of it. We're going to string a shock tape to keep them out.

I got started on the charger installation by pounding in the grounding rod.

The rod is 10' long. I was amazingly able to get it all the way in the ground without hitting any rocks.

Hay Day

 

Heather put hay out for the horses today. Andy came over to get it for her. We put the spear on the tractor and parked the box blade.

I moved the trailers around so we can store some hay inside.

The big flat trailer will need to stay outside for a while.

Moving day for the ewes. They're back in the feed pasture and William is in with them.

The small and medium flat trailers are in the side yard now.

I'll use this plywood to stiffen the new loft joists.

Saggy Loft

After I put some more lumber up in the loft in the equipment barn I noticed that the deck joists were sagging a little. It is quite a bit of weight so I'll need to beef them up some.

It's a good place to store lumber. There is new and salvaged pieces up there.

You can see the dip in the middle.

It isn't surprising. They are just 2x4s with 24" spacing.

I'll probably add some extra 2x4s between the existing ones. Maybe laminate some plywood to them to stiffen them up.

The front beam is the one Bill and I improved a few years back.

The light was cooperating for pictures. 

Horse on the hill.

Florida

I'm in Florida this week visiting Dad and Kathy and Bill. 

I fished for a while this morning. The weather was nice and a little cool. No fish though. 

Yesterday Kathy and I went to the ocean to collect shells and walk on the beach. 

On Monday I helped Bill put screws in a deck for a friend of his. 

They were thrilled to see me. Actually they were waving at Lisa on my phone. 

First Frost and a Walrus

There hasn't been much going on this week. Lisa has been out of town and the weather has been wet and cold. I still took some pictures on our walks so I can share those.

Wednesday morning it was 34 and frosty.

It's good weather if you're a sheep.

Llamas and rams don't mind it. They have frost on their backs.

I think the ewes and Dennis had frost on them too.

Friday it was warmer but foggy.

Poppy

Walrus

It was raining this morning. We took our morning walk at noon. The creeks were still full.