Busy, Busy

Hello Friends!
It’s definitely not been very chill around here, but there’s not a whole ton of farm news.
We’ve been trying to rig up some hay covering, some of which you will see in an upcoming video, but it continues to be a thing, I think I am just going to have to bit the bullet and go spend a little money on the lumber I need, instead of just shimming together a bunch of pieces. I was hoping this would be a no spend project, but I’ve already had to buy a new tarp so that’s a long gone dream. Hoping in the next catch up I can tell you how we solved it. Eventually I am going to build a more permanent storage for hay but there’s a lot more planning and steps that need to go into that.
We also blew up a fuel line in the flatbed working on this, which was just such a fun little side quest. I’m pretty sure that truck really needed that new hose anyway, but the timing was comically wonderful and practically quite annoying. Again, that will be in the November video, since it happened after I had to post October’s.
We’ve had lots of house guests and visitors as of late, lots of family friends we haven’t seen in a long while, and it’s always lovely to have friends stay. It’s always a little awkward for me, because working from home means I sorta say “good morning!” and then turn into a hermit for ten hours, but everyone is pretty chill about it. I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again, the pandemic was awful, no good, very bad, BUT the change in understanding toward remote work was huge and very helpful. So… silver lining.

We had (or maybe still have? technically all of this is unconfirmed) a mountain lion hanging nearby for a bit. Luckily I did not see it, I only heard about it from neighbors, but I was super on edge for a while. Then, one day, I was sitting on the porch after a morning of chores, and I heard a rifle shot. That in itself is not unusual, although not common, you usually hear the occasional shotgun or small handgun, but not rifles. Anyways, that already sounded odd so I stood up to walk over to the pasture, when suddenly I heard the sound of panicking yelling and screaming and THREE more rapid rifle shots! This is insanely unusual because, for one, a neighbor would have to be exceedingly loud for us to actually hear them, and rifles are not usually panic-fired around here, because this isn’t a hunting spot and … and you shouldn’t panic-fire any weapon. It unsettled me so I shouted for Dad and rushed the dogs in the house, and the horses took off for the barn, but in the panic the bicyclists that had been randomly going by our house had fallen/dove off their bikes at the noise and so I was concerned they were hurt (they were fine). Dad came flying out and we sorta checked everything the best we could, and I explained what I had heard, and Dad said it sounded very much like someone probably had to put down the mountain lion, which would explain the rifle, the shouting, and the weirdness of how it all went down. We don’t get a lot of more aggressive wildlife beyond coyotes and wolves (thank goodness) so it would make sense that someone was a little caught off guard. Again, it’s unconfirmed, but honestly, I like that better than what I was initially imagining (not that I love a mountain lion getting potentially murdered, but ya know, I watch a lot of true crime).
Finally, we’ve just had so much fun family stuff happening. My cousin blew up his transmission and was using our shed to fix it. That in and of itself is not fun, but the fact that I got to see a lot of my cousins after work each day for a couple weeks was fun. Another of my cousins got engaged! They’re a lovely couple so we are so unbelievably happy for them. They are such a cute little family already, I’m excited they get their ceremony soon. Another family member got a promotion and one got a new job so we got to celebrate those things, and the big one: we had a bit of a surprise wedding (and it wasn’t the cousin who got engaged)! Got a call to meet them at the courthouse, they think they might have a celebration later on when life calms down, but they wanted to be Mr and Mrs now. It was a fun little weekday celebration.
So, ya know, now it’s probably more evident why I haven’t gotten a lot done since we last chatted. Just so much family stuff! I love it, but when I tell you I am so far behind it’s unreal. I hope this blog doesn’t disappear unexpectedly because I haven’t done a back up in a hot minute, I really need to clean the tack room, and, ya know, fix the fuel line, and the hay storage. Lots to do, lots to do, and work just needs more and more attention. This adulting thing is hard!
Until we chat again my friends!