April 17, 2006 – Fence Repair

Neighbors Don and Phyllis came over today to check the fencelines after winter. They cruise around the pasture in this nifty ATV. Martin was lucky enough to get a ride for part of the trip.

We had just a few places to shore up along the farmstead.

Here’s a place where a corner post wrapped in woven wire cracked at ground level.

After I pulled all the fencing staples, Martin singlehandedly drove it down to the burn pile, dumped it, and pushed the empty cart up the hill!

Here’s the fix. Now, I know replacing a wooden post with a steel one is not generally good practice – Don did offer to come put a new wooden post in, but this entire fence needs to be reconfigured, but the steel post was an 8 footer, and it leans on a couple of feet of cement at the base, so I tried to cheat a little. By the end of the day, the cows were over.
In continuing signs of spring, the “automatic waterer” for the chicken coop was hooked up (a 55 gallon barrel of water outside, hosed into the coop), the fence between the shed and barn put up and the last of this round of R-board stub wall pieces cut and pushed up in the attic.

April 16, 2006 – Easter Hail

This morning was not great weather for an outdoor Easter egg hunt!

It was a brief downpour of pea-size hail, too early to damage crops and not big enough to damage anything else.

April 15, 2006 – Easter Weekend

Here’s a picture of Martin with his Nana showing off the lamb cake he helped make. Because he’s a boy, because he’s nearly five, he’s proudly pointing to a part of the lamb cake that usually isn’t decorated.

It was another 80 degree day with a high wind warning, so it was hard to keep down the straw I just put down on the garden. It was another batch of soap making and some protoypes for candle packaging crate creation.