Moving the Monolithic Steps

As many of you constant blog readers will remember, there was a previous post of that was also titled “Moving the Monolithic Steps”. We moved them again today. Lisa wanted them in the upper pasture to use as a mounting block and we wanted them out of the horseport yard before we finished the fence.

Lisa and Paige rode down to the work site on the back of the truck.

First we had to break it loose from its previous final destination. It was still sitting on the same drag frame that was under it last time we moved it. We had to put back the eye bolts for the straps and re-secure the cross ties.

I got it turned around in the meadow and headed up the driveway. I had it hooked to the draw bar on the 3 point hitch so I could lift the front of the travois to keep it from digging in.

The tractor didn’t have trouble pulling it until I got to the loose gravel coming up the driveway, it kept losing traction. Even with the differential locked I thought I was going to have to abort. With Paige supervising all the way, the steps are now in the upper pasture.

Andy came by and dropped off the tiller and cut notches for the last two (for now) stretchers. He didn’t stick around for the fun part. Maybe he’s seen enough fencing for a while.

We finally got to use our fence un-roller /stretcher. It sure did get it tight and straight.

We got all the way to the gully. With what’s left on the roll and one more 20 rod roll we’ll be done. This pasture will be sheep-ready.

Tight fence.

One of the bantams started laying yesterday. Small chickens make small eggs. Go figure.

Shaker Village

We went to Shaker Village with Kathy and Bill yesterday. It’s a historic religious community settled in 1805.

Kathy walking in Shaker Village.

The horse wagon we rode on.

Waiting for the wagon ride to start. The young family with the child got off before the ride was over.

One of the interpreters taking a break.

The horses, Ivy and Blue.

Brother John, our interpreter for the ride.

We managed to get at least one bench picture.

Shaker cat.

We took the river boat ride on the Kentucky River.

We brought our own snacks and drinks.

Kathy and Bill had sandwiches.

High Bridge.

High Bridge.

Cute Chick

When one of the hens went broody we let her try and hatch some eggs. We gave her four, two broke, one hatched and one rotted. Hopefully they get the hang of it. We think the chick is a barred rock cross.

We shut the sheep and Louie out of the barn so we can clean it out. We put up a tarp for them to get under. They like it.

Bill and Kathy bought the rest of our posts and concrete for the driveway fence.

They helped put them in too.

Concrete in every hole.

Kathy was wearing Lisa’s stylish boots.

Berrymans in Kentucky

Bill and Kathy came to visit. They drove down from PA after visiting Bill’s family.

Bill and Kathy before getting their hands dirty.

Andy showed up with dirty hands so he cut the notches in the stretcher posts.

Bill engineering the installation of the next ten posts. He’s good at this sort of thing. It would have been nice to have him around when we were installing the other posts. I’m sure they would have lined up better.

Bill demonstrating the correct procedure for proper nonporous soil compaction at the base of vertical wooden post installations in temperate geological regions. 

Bill had a good idea for making sure the posts are aligned. It has something to do with the little yellow flag thingies. We dug the holes today. Tomorrow will set the posts and he’ll show us how the little yellow flag thingies work.

Andy cooling off in the shade.

Hay Fence

Andy and Heather came over to take down the hay fence. Mr. Reece had put it up to keep his cows out of the stacked hay. We didn’t need it anymore and were planning to use it on our driveway fence. We couldn’t use it because it is only 42 inches high and ours is 48 inches. Heather said she could use it for horses. All she has to do is hang it high, horses won’t go under it like sheep would.

Andy used the boom pole to pull the T posts. Heather can use them too, we’re doing all wood posts.

Lisa went over to help. I didn’t go because I was on-call and just got called. They were done pretty quick anyway. The weather was beautiful. The heat wave finally broke. It was in the low 80s today and is supposed to be in the low 60s tonight.

They came back up and Andy and Heather put the two big rabbits in the freezer. Sorry, no pictures of that event. We’ll have fresh rabbit to eat when Bill and Kathy come to visit next week.