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.

Working the Sheep

We got to try out the new sheep table today for the first time. We had a few glitches and thought of some things to differently next time, but we got them all wormed, vaccinated and hoof trimmed.

The head gate held them in

  Lisa trimmed hooves, gave shots and squirted worming medicine down their throats.

I assisted in the handling.

This was toward the beginning of the eleven sheep. We were still relatively clean. There was some pee, poo and blood involved later. Okay, a lot of pee, poo and blood.

The table was a success!

Daffy didn’t seem to care for it much. I had the head gate a little tight on her. She calmed down when I loosened it a notch.

Louie was watching over us but he didn’t get a turn on the table. He was interested in the bucket of grain we were shaking. Most of them followed the bucket up the ramp and stuck their heads through the gate to get at it. We just clamped them in and they were ready. There were a couple we had to drive in but we got them all.

Bunny Porn

Heather brought the New Zealand buck over to breed with Rosie and Kate. We should have empty cages by the time this breeding have weaned.

Rosie went first. After a rest for the buck, Kate had a go.

We’re filling the ditch along the back of the house with gravel and a drainage pipe. We should have thought of it sooner, it’s great.

Another new rabbit hutch.

The lambs are doing well. They’re getting big.

Lulu too!

Darrell The Second

We got another rooster since the first Darrell got eaten by an eagle. He is a Langsham, and appears to be a pretty good specimen according to the breed standard. Most importantly, the hens seem to like him.