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Showing posts from December, 2012

It's In The Bag

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Santa's not the only one packing a large bag of goodies around. Mind you if you pulled your gift from this bag you might be a bit disappointed. We've discovered that the used grain bags are perfect for hauling wood and dropping it where we need it. We have fires burning in a couple of locations besides the house. The old barn and the greenhouse. We process the wood that we stacked last fall at our basement with a wood splitter, load the bags and drop them where we need them. They have a cinch strap on the top that keeps the snow out. There's no refund for them so we're working on more ways to recycle them. Like a perfect cover for the back of the Jeep. Our Boar is back from college. who wouldn't go crazy for a face like this? The ladies are fascinated with him. OK, we'll sneak out a little later when the warden isn't looking... Been a bit under the weather lately so I haven't been progressing on the project front as much as I'

the Pigs Run Amok

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Before I even opened the door to the barn the hairs on the back of my neck were inexplicably standing on end.  And then I opened the door.  The pigs had managed to un ravel the chain on their pen and had run amok.  Trampling everything in sight.  That would be a pigs sight - anything they could reach.  Of course their blaming some one else as they were all in the pen looking out at me when I walked in. But they can't fool my finely attuned eye.  It was, after all, cemented to the floor with frozen pig crap.  Don't tell me the sheep dragged that in! And the sheep wouldn't devour a whole box of apples.. Thankfully most of my electrical hand tools and most of the power tools were out of reach. It has been a really nice time of winter.  Before the deep winter cold.  Fresh snow and hoar frost make for a beautiful setting.  The animals sure seem to like it! Starting to lose count of how many times I've had to plow out the place.  That's a good sign that winter

My Water Broke!

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A couple of times, actually.  Thankfully, the hydrant in the barn was frozen in the closed position.  After several false starts I hit upon the solution.  Connected a funnel to a piece of garden hose, inserted a chunk of quarter inch plastic tubing (to let the air out) and poured some Methyl Hydrate down the hose.  Raising the funnel above the hydrant and in about a minute, voila, handle unfroze and water flowing. Having no water in a barn helps put other problems in perspective.  The freeze up was caused by leaving a garden hose, with nozzle, attached to the spigot when turning off the water.  It just created a vacuum and wouldn't let the water drain like it was supposed to.  I was using the hose to fill the water tubs.  My new temporary solution is to use a two valve "Y" fitting so that I can shut off the connection to the hose and then open the other valve to let air down the hydrant so it will drain promptly.  Ah the things I learn.  Usually one freeze-up too l