busy day

Started out unloading the corral panels from the stock trailer. I was supposed to have help but she bagged me and never bothered to call me and tell me she wasn't coming. If you tell somebody you are going to do something then damn well do it.

Next job was to remove the faucet from the barn since it has been leaking for days.  I shut the water off last night so I could empty the tank before this am.  I pulled off the faucet which was easy as pie and put on another one which was also easy. Found the plumbers tape and a brand new faucet that I had bought last year and didn't really need so it now has a red handle but it's cold water.

Then moved on to transferring cows to another area which meant  transferring the feeder, the stock tank and worst of all the hoses. They were going 100 ft or so , so that means multiple hoses that preferably do not leak.  I had to change a few out and if I did not have the golf cart to ride back and forth to the barn in I would be cripple and in bed right now.  Finally got the auto waterer set up , but I have a feeling there are minor leaks in the hoses so I may not use the auto waterers. 

Then I hitched up the stock trailer and went to tractor supply to exchange the bolts that I got for the kennel fencing. Turns out they are wrong again.  I then went to pick up my new registered Barbadoes sheep. 2 ewes and a ram. The owner switched out the ram I bought with a much better one because she really did not want him butchered and that is where he was headed.  She said in about 1 yr he will go for $400.  NICE

Unloaded them and they settled right in.  And then started working on the chicken coop again. Lots of thought go into this. 1 board up and 1 hr of thinking. LOL.  While I was working on my 1 board , I saw Posey go thru the fence in with the cows.  good thing she is still coming when I call her.  YIKES

chicken coop and dog kenel

So Barb came over and helped me move all the dog kennel fencing to the back where we put up a couple of panels in the dog yard and we also put 3 panels around where we are going to house the ducks and chickens.  I am trying to figure out how to enclose them without locking them into a closed up box.  I think I am going to do 2 ft plywood on the bottom followed by 4 hardware cloth on the top.  Still don't want to do the floor at all. I like the sand floor but I guess as soon as something digs under to get the chickens I will be regretting it.  Maybe I could partially cover the edges. Sounds like a lot of work down on my knees.  Yech

Tomorrow I pick up the cows but I have not put any water tanks out for them and I had to leave my feeder in Mass so I have no hay feeder or grain feeder for them.  I"ll think of something.

Journey to the vet(yet again)

Time to try and see what is wrong with him again.  She put him under to xray his nose, head, throat and heart. Everything was perfectly normal. She flushed his nose with saline and caught the flushing in the back of his throat on gauze and then took a sample to get it tested. Also did a complete blood panel (all normal).  IT took a lot of saline to get his nose cleaned out of thick heavy snot.  She thinks now he may not be making normal snot so I am supposed to thin his discharge with in influx of saline every morning. I don't think he is going to be cooperative.  Lots of treats in his future I think.

Also waiting for culture because she thinks maybe his cough is an infection . Not sure how that works , but I 'll give it a try.  If I know that is what he has to deal with for his life I can do it, but no one has convinced me of that yet. IF it's abnormal snot maybe chinese meds will help. 

Tried to move kennel panels by myself today and soon stopped. Too much work.

Looked at back of shed to figure out how I am going to make the chicken coop back there. AT first I was going to close it all in with plywood, but it looks like that would be  a mistake down here. Too hot so now I am going to go with primarily hardware cloth although I hate working with it.  Not sure if I am going to put any kind of a floor in. Really don't want to.

Made a tasty pork roast in the slow cooker today.  Most of the time I hate the way stuff tastes in it but this was good.  It's a keeper. I  over cooked it, but that was operator error.

All Moved to Fla

The house is Mass closed yesterday. Buyer pissed me off so I dont' want to talk about it.  Asshole.

So I am gradually getting the stock trailer unloaded of dog kennel fencing and boxes etc.  Some furniture too. I called a guy who worked for me last year and he is going to come over tomorrow am and help me move the dog kennel fence that I cant budge and hopefully the tv cabinet that I also cannot budge.  Once I get it emptied , I can start picking up STUFF.

For instance: I bought 5 cows yesterday and I need to go get them and get hay for them since the fields are pretty sparse. Even when they are growing they aren't very good.  And today I bought 10 call babies although now that they are unloaded, at least 3 do not look like call ducks. Time will tell. I also bought 2 laying hens and one presented me with an egg in the dog crate and the owner said she wasnt laying yet.  I guess she is. I put them in the dog kennel by the barn, and Timer and Kip harrassed the hell out of them so I had to put up my goat panels too so they can't get close enough to them.

Also stopped at a craft fair on the way home and bought myself a Christmas present. A butter dish. It's really pretty.

I"ve been remiss

    I finally have decent wifi here in Fla. so that will allow me to post more hopefully.

The dogs keep coming in smelling like shit.  I thought it was something dead, but now I think it is shit they are either rolling in or more likely falling in.  I guess  I need to go out and clean up their yard, but that does not explain Kip coming in smelling bad.  It's not nice.

Tomorrow is my 2nd meeting with the LOWES people re: my new kitchen.  I have decided on cabinets and backsplash, sink, lighting , and faucets. I'm still undecided on countertop and flooring and island. They are very eager to do a LOT of stuff which I am putting the brakes on.

My trailer stinks since Stacey left last week. She had a dog get sick in there and it is obviously not cleaned up adequately. Problem is I can't see anything but I sure can smell it. Apparently a dog ate a bunch of dog food and puked a lot.

I picked up a bookcase at Carriage Trade today and left them my 2 bathroom mirrors that were so disturbing to me. HUGE.  I also picked up a really nice outside lounge chair to lie in the sun. Can't wait to use it.

Dogs are bored with no livestock to work. I will start looking when I get back from Mass. I have to go back and pick more stuff up, make sure house is ready to close and come back. Long trip and the car feels like it is doing a lot of vibrating.

catch up

I almost panicked tonight b ecause I though Journey ate the cap off a Iced tea bottle, but I finally found it. That's all he needs is major sugery.  BTW his nose seems to be doing really well. I just gave him the last antibiotic for an infection that popped up 2 weeks ago. You could smell something vile in his nose.  No smell anymore, but who knows where that came from .  Might have been an abcess breaking open although there was no discharge.  Anyway nose looks good and for the most part he can keep it clean and open himself. And on a high note, he seem to be learning how to open the doggie door without my help although he still does not understand he can come and go when he wants. He waits for me to call him in and let him out.  BUT he is definitely house broken. He scratches at the nearest door when he wants to go out\. Not ideal but better than the alternative.

I had surgery on my tear ducts on Thurs. It went pretty easily. In at 6:15 and home by 10:30. NO pain to speak of, but the tubes they put in are a little uncomfortable and I want to rub my eyes and I can't.  Tubes will be in for a month if I don't pull it out (by accident of course).I  put this surgery  off 4x  and finally decided I had to go thru with it. I hope if fixes my eyes. I hate them being wet all the time and not being able to see clearly.

My cows are really working very nicely this year.  They are small and the dog got them in line pretty quickly.  They did challenge at first , but Kip bit and Edge bit and they decided turning away was a smarter option.
I spend a great deal of my outside time killing gypsy moth caterpillars. THey  are so disgusting and there are so many of them. Today I got a spray in the mail and I can spray the peach tree and the shade trees I planted and hopefully save them.

I am doing 2 clinics here in Aug.  My first time doing a clinic. It will be fun. One is going to  be all  beginner Shelties and the other will be dif breeds and dif levels. I might try and schedule a clinic with Jean Barrett too in Sept. I haven't talked to her about it yet.

Trial and hOme

So on the way home from Fla I stopped at a friends house to work his stock and stayed there for 3 days on my way to the Berryville Fa ASCA trial. Great hospitality and lovely stock and property.  It was a beautiful area of VA although the hills are a bit much.  Part of the reason I live in FLA.   I hate hills.
 Working Aussies of Va. held the trial and the stock was all very fair and even.  I though I had my dog tuned up but I was so wrong.  Edge was completely out of control on must runs and so was Kip.  Although Kip could hold it together long enough to win a few  of his classes except not cows.  He did well on ducks and I think sheep although I really can't remember. He did get High Combined, He seemed pretty sound most of the weekend although I am still dealing with his lameness.

Home on Monday and it was so muddy in the driveway I could not get the trailer into pasture and turned around. I just dropped it in the middle of the driveway.
I have been working non stop since I got home, fixing gates,mulching,planting,mowing and spending lots of time getting tractor and lawn tractor to work.  All set now, mouse nests all cleaned out and motor cleaned out and all gassed up and got both started . Also had to charge batteries.

The freezer in the cellar got disconnected again this year, so I have to take more rotten meat to the  dump. I keep putting it off.  Cleaned the gutters, ripped out a board full of carpenter bee holes.  need to replace it with a painted board.  roof needs replacing, yay
All this in between a full schedule of lessons.  Today it was cold and rainy so I spent most of the day doing nothing but then I decided to call on some hay which of course means hooking up the trailer and going to get it. PiA.
And I am cleaning the house out ,,sorting something every day.  slow ly