Gave up

Although I  admit I am very talented, the landscaping project is maybe too much for me or maybe I am getting lazy.  I called Tim and he has the time to come over and do the job now.   So he said he would start this week and he had a good idea about the stairs and tying in the natural stone at the bottom. We butted heads  when I said I did not want the natural stone level with the ground but he may be right.  I dont' think so though.  He talked me into not using the landscape timbers so I have to take them back to Home Depot, but I hadn't yet unloaded them from the car. If I had they would be staying here.  That's ok because I can get some more wood for the other set of shutters that I need to make.  whooo whoo.    So he "said" he was going to bring the backhoe over this week and start this for me.  I really caught him at the right time or he feels guilty about putting me off for a year. Either way I win.

This morning when I woke up before I got dressed, I started to sand my counter where tin cans have left rings on it.  They were really bothering me. Now I have to go get some cheesecloth and refinish the spots.  Of course there was a ring on every section so I can't try the beeswax finish anywhere until it dries for another month.  I might have Bill do a poly finish on the island he built for me.  I am waiting to hear from him and we can discuss when he comes over. Here is the island in it's unfinished state.  I still need to find some stools to go with it.

Today's Project

 Yesterday I bought some landscape timbers and some wood for shutters.  I cut and screwed the set of shutters this am and painted them and this afternoon I hung them.  That was tricky all by myself.

New Project

The goat got sick, I thought it was dead goat walking.  I dragged it into barn for the night and the dumb thing was fine in the am. Good thing too because it's not my goatie.

Worked Edge today and he needs some work on flanks.  Worked the walk up and I think it is a little better.  Not giving an inch on him.  When I say walk up you damn well better be walking up, at least moving.  Dually was a good  boy on sorting today. He did not give me a hard time at all.  I've been catching myself calling him Dare.   Miss baby Dare bear. A lot

 Ok now on to the new project.   I am going to do the front yard landscaping because it's such a cute house and I can't stand looking at it anymore.  I spent about 4 hrs today on the tractor and here are the results so far.

Here is the before picture.

Here is what it might look like when I am done.

cold and rainy today

mid 40's I think. I had to start the pellet stove back up or I would have been very chilly today. 
  I was feeling bad for the sheep that had to be out in the arena today so I dragged a big white tarp out there and hung it over the free standing pen  to give then someplace to go when it started to pour.  Not sure if they used it because I didn' t hang around. 

The baby goats who get cold fast were allowed in the barn today and I left the gates open so they could go out and graze at their leisure.  Tonight I put them in the barn and I dragged up a bale of hay from the stock trailer and gave them some hay to chew on.  After I locked them in , it started to pour but I was determined to get some more shelter up for the sheep for when I brought them into the barn yard for the night.  They have one calf hut but I think the 2 goats hog it.  So I pulled a 4by 8 sheet of heavy heavy plastic off the control pen and hung it from the barn to the calf hut to give them someplace else to go besides under the ladders hung on the side of the barn.  Hope they are smart enough to use it tonight because it is not nice out there.  I got soaked and so did the dogs. So we all came in and they are all in crates and I took a hot shower and now I am off to bed.  I got my pillow out of the trailer finally so maybe I can sleep better.

Today Edge wins the prize for Best Dog

I went out this morning with a dog because the baby kids were in the barn and I am trying to keep them separate from the older goats because they are too attached and dont' work well.So thinking it should be a quick job I ran out there in shorts and a  tshirt. 
First I took Dually out and ran the adults out into the arena and locked them out there.  I then came back and let the babies out of the barn. We took the babies into the control pen and out the other side to take them to the pasture on the side of the house.   Mosquitos are starting to find me.  Dually gets them to the gate and then one goes in and he goes in after it and the others run back to the control pen. This happens a number of times. IN the meantime I am swatting and dancing and waving my arms around and still trying to get him to do what he is supposed to do. They go around and around the pile of wood and finally I give up.

I put Dually back and get Edge out.  He goes in and takes them out of the control pen where they had all gone back to and brings them up to the gate where again they do not want to go in. He holds them and 4 go in and one stands in the doorway.  I tell him to get him and he reaches up and nips the little bugger who promptly turns and jumps into the pasture. The difference is that Edge bites and stands there while Dually bites makes them move and goes around and brings them right back to where I don't want them.   Finally I can close the gate and we can go back in the house away from the mosquitos.  Thank you Edgie. 

Edge

I put the 3 new panels in the control pen and 3 goats tonight.  I worked Edge first.  He did some really nice stuff.  He took flanks without body language and his stops were iffy. But his big problem was his walk up.  He does not want to walk straight in and sometimes he does not want to walk at all, but overall I was pleased with what he did.  I never did read Bob's book last week about the walk up.  Maybe tonight.

I went back to the PD to get my stuff input into the computer for my LTC and the computer was not working again.  I will have to try again on Monday which is not a good day for me. The officer today and I talked extensively about bears and he told me to shoot the bugger. Not sure that will happen but hopefully he won't hurt anything else.

There is a new ice cream place in STurbridge and they have sandwiches and soup. I had some homemade chicken soup  tonight and it was really good.  Much better than mine. 

Bear visit

The bear returned for sure night before last.  I was up and down all night which may have stopped him from doing some harm.  I smelled something odd in the middle of the night but then I decided I was imagining it and went back to sleep.  Turns out the bear was right outside my window between the barn and the house and he left or came in over the 4 ft gate attached to the house. The gate was open when I got up which is not all that odd since it latches so poorly but the top of the gate which is just wire was all bent over.   I called fish and wildlife but still not sure they are going to do anything.   There is not electric around that part of the yard.  Last night I put more aluminum foil and peanut butter on it on the wire around the sheep.  It was not even licked last night.  NOthing touched it which at least tells me the fence is doing its job.