Tag: rambles

Odds and Ends

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

I accidentally bought more hay. I say accidentally because there was a total miscommunication, no one’s fault, but somehow I thought I had said no to buying more than my usual hay (which I usually actually barter with my uncle for, a lot of things in farm country can be favor for favor if you are trustworthy) and my cousin, who’s slowly taking over for my uncle thought I would be willing to buy whatever didn’t sell. He couldn’t reach me at work so he called my dad, and I finally caught up to the situation and cut it off at half a truck load. So I have some bales to figure out storage for. Both of the guys thought that the other had checked in with me, so I couldn’t very well back out and make them unload it all. That just wouldn’t be fair. So I apologized to my bank account, wrote a check, and now I’m in the process of fixing some of my damaged tarps so I can fake some long-term covered hay storage. I guess, really, it’s probably a good problem to have, although it was an expensive, unplanned line item in the budget. 

The interesting thing about living on a farm is that you quickly realize that some seasons are generally more expensive than others. For us, summers always seem to hemorrhage money, no matter how hard I plan ahead. Case and point, unplanned couple hundred dollars for hay. I’ve had to put a couple extra hundred in bug maintenance this year and even more into the ever expanding collection of first aid supplies for humans and critters. I seriously need to just invest in Bandaid stock at this point (I’m not blaming anyone either, I’m the worst offender, I just think about doing something and I have a new injury). We also had a weird amount of equipment failures this year which cost in one way or another. 

In other news, we had a lovely, unexpected visit from some old friends. Some of our friends from our church when we lived in the Puget Sound also have family in this area and they come by to visit every so often. It’s absolutely lovely to see them. I used to teach their youngest in my 3s, 4s, and 5s class when I taught Sunday school and now she’s a senior in high school. I taught that Sunday school class when I was in high school. Time flies. I can’t believe she’s almost an adult, and speaking with her, she’s such a mature, intelligent, put together young lady. Way more prepared for college and beyond than I ever was.

We also had a bit of a weird experience this week relating to the canal. As I was going about my morning chores I noticed a really rotten smell. It seemed to linger but I didn’t really pay too much attention to it after I  made sure it wasn’t a wound on the girls or a small animal nearby needing help.I have honestly come face to face with skunks and possums, and while this didn’t smell like that, I still basically convinced myself that it was one of those things. It got progressively stronger and less fun to be around as I went about the morning but it somehow didn’t even occur to me to check the canal. When I walked back up to the house and smelled it on the porch as well, that’s when I thought enough of it to bring it up to my dad, who mentioned it might be something slowly floating its way down the canal. Unfortunately, it’s not the most uncommon thing to have wildlife occasionally fall in the water and become fatally trapped. We still didn’t really feel it was that big a deal until the ditch rider came by and had a proper freak out.  The Ditch rider drives along many times a day looking for issues within the canal, for context, and he had apparently seen something because he drove back and forth and made some phone calls. I got a little nervous watching this because we’ve all heard the stories about people falling in, or worse, and I really, really didn’t want it to be something like that. 

Luckily it wasn’t a human. However, it was a crime. Someone had dumped a poached deer into the canal to hide it, and it had gotten caught up in the weeds by my corral. They took the antlers and nothing else. Such a waste. I won’t go on one of my long rants again, but really, it’s so unnecessary and disheartening. 

Cool storm cloud? Anyone?

Like I said, there’s relief in knowing my fence line wasn’t a human crime scene, and I’m quite relieved I didn’t investigate and find it myself, but it’s quite sad to know people are still making selfish, unethical choices. 

I think I need to be paying more attention going forward though, especially to gross smells.

Until we chat again my friends. 

Two Steps Forward…

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Anyone else ever get to feeling, sometimes, like they are just forever reacting to things instead of actually accomplishing new tasks and making any actual progress? This has been the whole farm this summer, seems like I cannot for the life of me get ahead, I just keep reacting to issues as they arrive. It’s not the world’s greatest feeling.

Take, for example, this water trough. I’ve been having consistent issues with it, finally thought I had it fixed and now we are literally back to square one. Basically, after the hard winter the frost free had no pressure and when it did, my auto waterer wouldn’t turn off. Then we got the pressure back and the valve itself wore out. Got that fixed, and the auto waterer working, but by that point the trough had gotten bad enough from not being circulated enough that it needed more than just a spring clean. So I very carefully tried to work around the auto waterer, emptying the water slowly through the little release valve instead of just dumping the trough. Got it clean, filled it back up. Now the auto waterer leaks again and on top of that, the little seal has started leaking too. I have checked and tightened, looks like I’m going to probably have to seal it with an external product, probably something like flex tape (I’m not necessarily recommending that product, I don’t have much experience with it, but the couple times I used flex seal I was pretty impressed). Seems like I can’t quite get the water situation solved.

Too cute for her own good (tried to crop her swollen leg for those who don’t enjoy that sort of image)

Same seems to apply to the sprinklers and the misters in the barn, constant leaks and blockages and cracked hoses, and whatever else you can imagine can fail in a sprinkler or mister system. I almost lost a huge chunk of my pasture because one of my lines just wouldn’t stay cleared. Craziness. 

Kinda feels the same way with my sweet mares this year too. While every day is a wonderful chance to spend time with them, and I am really loving our time together, work or play, this year any time we attempt to accomplish anything the horse in question goes lame. Poor Ro has limped her way through the summer so far, effectively halting our work on lope transitions and bravery on trail rides. We’ve been trying more on the latter but it’s hard to be brave when uneven, rough footing is hurting you. So we have slowed down and tried to be a little more cautious about that. Nellie’s leg has been huge most of the summer due to the high temperatures and while the vet isn’t necessarily concerned, I’ve been warned to go very easy on that leg. It doesn’t seem to hurt her as much as it seems to annoy her when her range of motion is affected.

I’ve spent a lot of time and money this summer trying to aid these issues, but we kinda seem to be spinning our wheels a little. Like I said, it’s never time wasted, I love working with these sweethearts no matter what the pace is, but it’s funny how it seems to be the summer of setbacks. 

When you can’t hold your own head thoughtfully, have your mom do it

On other news, we have had a nice little potato crop. After a lovely roast potato dish the other day, we’ve had enough continue to grow  that we took some to my grandma as well. Potatoes are such a  lovely crop to grow, and something we eat a lot around here, so I definitely think more of the garden will be devoted to potatoes next year. 

As well as kohlrabi, because that’s also been a hoot and a half to grow. Super cute plant, very tasty payoff.

Unfortunately a decent amount of the garden got eaten by something, and what it didn’t eat it slept on and squashed, so I have been doing a little bit of research into container gardening in this part of the country. I did a little of it when I lived in Seattle and it was helpful for the critters there. It would also give me more potato space for next year. Win win. 

potatoes!

Anyways, I won’t catch up with farm chores by complaining so I better get back to it. Lots to do, especially the stuff that needs doing before the heat hits each day.

Until we chat again, my friends.

It’s Warm

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

It’s officially that time of the year where we have to be very careful not to melt. We don’t see highs below 100 or lows below 70 for the foreseeable future.

Honestly, I don’t mind it. I’d love it if it was a little easier to get outside in the mornings, work kinda makes that hard sometimes, but I really don’t mind the heat so much if I don’t have to drive anywhere. My car doesn’t have AC any longer so to drive anywhere is wholly unpleasant.

I definitely don’t like the fire conditions either, and we are deep, deep, deep in that part of the year. Last year it was so smoky and so much of the country was on fire, that I think everyone is a little more on edge than usual this year. The Willow Creek fire in Oregon from a few weeks ago burned close enough to be viewable from my back porch (we weren’t in any immediate danger as the Snake River was between us and the fire, if it had jumped the snake we probably would have had bigger issues, however it affected some in my community). I was really worried that was going to be indicative of the smoke watch but so far, we’ve been very blessed to stay mostly clear.

The sunrises have been amazing lately

But it was a very clear reminder to be vigilant about fire safety and to keep a very close eye on the brushland behind the house. Just in case.

There’s a notorious hill in my area called “Chicken Hill”. I don’t know if that’s its official name or just something locals call it, but it’s a bit notorious because of its proclivity for catching fire. It regularly seems to go up and despite this well known fact, people continue to camp, live, and launch fireworks up there all summer long. This is the first year since I moved here full time that the hill hasn’t burned yet, and to be honest, I’m suspiciously waiting. Last year the chief of police was the one to accidentally set it on fire, so no one’s immune. It also always seems to burn out of control for longer than expected, you would think the fire department would have a specific Chicken Hill response plan by now (I say this in jest, firefighting is seriously scary, hard work and I have nothing but major respect for the work they do, especially the chronically underfunded rural departments). Very often it’s the 4th of July that sends it up in flames. We’ve been lucky so far.

In other news, I tried a new recipe with the kohlrabi from the garden. I have never grown or cooked kohlrabi before so I was pretty dang excited. First of all, kohlrabi totally looks like an alien vegetable out in the garden, with its big old leaves and funky green bulb. Super cute but definitely a little off looking. Based on appearance alone I was worried it would be a more bitter veggie but boy was I wrong. It honestly tastes like sweeter broccoli. The skin is a little tough but even so, I could totally see myself eating a fresh kohlrabi straight from the garden like it’s an apple or something.

Kohlrabi stir-fry

The recipe was super easy, fry some bacon. Then saute the kohlrabi, garlic, and green onions in the bacon fat. Wilt in your kohlrabi leaves (and some spinach if, like me, your leaves left a little to be desired in the bulk department) with a little stock, add your bacon bits back with some soy sauce, toss like mad, and serve. Salt and pepper to taste but remember this has bacon and soy sauce so… be careful about salting without tasting. It was such a tasty side, we served it with rice and pork medallions. I will be making that again.

I think this week our potatoes should be just about ready to go, they are starting to show signs of readiness, at least according to Google. A lot of how I garden involves a good old Google search, everything from bugs to harvests to produce storage. A modern farmer if you will.

Other than that it’s been pretty normal on the farm. I briefly headed up to the county fair (most of which was shot down due to heat) to support my little cousin who won grand champion in his 4H rabbit project. Super proud of him for working so hard. Ro has been basically on stall rest for everything from a pulled shoulder to stepping on a bee hive. She’s had a rough week or so. Poor Nellie still is struggling with that swollen leg of hers, which is somewhat normal for this time of year. It doesn’t hurt her as much as it just annoys her because it slows her mobility. But I give her time off, just in case, because learning should be a fun thing for her too, not stressful walking around on an uncomfortable leg.

One of Aaron’s prize-winning bunnies

Anyway, that’s all for us here I think. Stay safe and cool out there.

Until we chat again, my friends!

Makin’ and Takin’ Calls

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Well, we finally got the new Farrier out and he did a pretty good job. I was really worried because so many people in the horse world can grow callous and harsh and my girls so look forward to Farrier day that I really didn’t want to ruin that. But they needed trims and I just can’t get my trailer pulled together safely enough to haul up to our regular Farrier for now. He totally understood too and was such a sweetheart about the whole thing. I’m really hoping to keep him as my friend l even if for now I can’t keep him as my farrier.

The girls have sore feet now, which worries me, but it makes sense when you think about how long their hooves had grown in the time it took me to sort out this Farrier stuff, and how much trimming he really had to do. I worry though the soreness is due to the angles being potentially off, or nerves being accidentally hit, which are very unfun for the horse and also can cause longer standing issues if not addressed. I’m definitely keeping my eye on it, because if that’s the case I need to chat with the new Farrier and give him a chance to make it right at the next trim. But it could all be general soreness too, and I’m sure it’s that, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Nellie Looking for some cookies while I cleaned the feed I spilled

We’ve changed up the way on-call works at my company, and it’s become a bit of a thing now. Whereas it used to be much more casual, there’s a lot more structure, rules and consequences now. Makes it much more complicated. 

Used to be, you were expected to hang around if you put out new code. And that’s just the general etiquette. But a lot of people don’t follow through on that, or others will push your code out for you if they think it’s done enough, so, couple that with the volatility of an online real time system, and we have to have an on call system. Unfortunately we weren’t so much asked as told and weren’t so much rewarded for participating as punished for asking for grace while we worked it out. It was a bad launch for sure. And, it meant modifying a lot of my life because I had to make sure I had someone out with me when I worked the girls because we are supposed to have a 5-10 minute max response time and we are never supposed to be away from wifi. This also essentially houselocked me as in rural communities finding business wifi that’s shared is highly unusual. Needless to say, I’ve had to get creative. Luckily it’s only about a week a month. So hopefully we will get used to it. 

It made me super nervous this time with the Farrier because technically I am not supposed to make any appointments while on call (and my boss specifically called me and one other dev out because we have hobbies, like horses, that require some extra “teardown” and sometimes specialty appointments midday, so I knew I couldn’t ask someone to cover.) But the girls needed their feet done so I made the closest appointment I could, my on call week, and crossed my fingers. Luckily I also have a super supportive family who offered to jump in if I got a call. Luckily, we managed to sneak through with no issues. I actually got extremely lucky and only had 1 major and 1 minor incident, so I can’t complain too much at all. 

Whatcha doin’ down there, Mom?

It was also kinda funny, as I have a unique ringtone set up for our on call numbers, the animals on the farm learned pretty quickly what that means. The horses pretty much just stand down on whatever we were doing and wait for my dad to come get them untacked and cooled out (I make sure they are at a safe point, or I wait for someone to come grab them for me, they aren’t left alone saddled or tied or blazing hot or anything like that, and i’ve shown my dad exactly what to do in various situations to make sure they are cooled out enough) and the dogs all just make the pilgrimage to my office and lay there patiently until they’ve decided I’m not anxious anymore. It’s actually a cute little system they devised.

Anyways, I’m done complaining about work, unfortunately I don’t have much to share otherwise because I was a little chained to my desk and I haven’t quite worked out how far I can push the boundaries on this on-call thing. But hopefully it’ll get to be routine and won’t be such a thing always.

Until we chat again my friends.

Just Workin’

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

We had a very magical moment on the farm recently! Junebug had a solo ride with Ro! What a wonderful moment for all involved! June was so proud of herself, as she should be, because she had to be incredibly brave and she had to remember everything she had learned. She had to convince Ro that she was confident and capable enough to be in charge on her own. It’s hard to convince any horse of your skills when you’re just learning, but especially a mare. Especially a full sized mare when you’re just a bit of a thing riding in buddy stirrups. And especially when you’re a little nervous because your big cousin has always been there to catch you and now she’s half way across the arena (I’d have made tracks though, and I still had the lead rope in hand, just in case). Plus there’s just a lot of moving parts to riding and even when you have been riding for a long while, it can be easy to let the frustration bubble up if you miss a cue or can’t achieve what you hoped. Sometimes it feels almost like ballet or something, a constant practice towards unattainable perfection, something I still have to grapple with. Also, horses are living creatures with their own opinions and worldviews and sometimes you can do everything right and still “fail” because it’s a partnership that takes 200% (pretty sure there’s a star trek quote in there somewhere, oh well). Ro loves working with the little ones, and she takes it very seriously, but she will see exactly how far she can push an envelope, and June got a small taste of the stubbornness only a mare can produce. It’s the stuff of legends.

A rare mare share! The girls sharing one of the mineral licks!

I was told an old cowboy saying once “you can tell a gelding, you can ask a stallion, but you have to discuss it with a mare”. I think that fits Ro pretty well. She’s rarely truly naughty, but sometimes she would rather know “why” than just agree. June had to answer the “why do I have to listen to you instead of my mom” question a lot as well as the “what happens if I just refuse to walk on”. June handled it like a seasoned pro, and when both horse and rider got a little more serious than I liked, we hopped off to go practice other things.

I’ve had to laugh this week, as the most stereotypical, the-universe-said-no thing happened. So, I really should drain, clean and refill my stock tank. I like to do it in the summertime, when it’s hot enough that the inevitable, giant mess I make evaporates quickly. This year, since sometime in April, my auto waterer was leaking like a sieve and would flood out the corral if left on (a bad trait for an auto waterer, it has but one job). I’ve had to manually check and turn on the water several times a day, which is no big deal really, but planned on replacing it because I don’t want something to ever come up and leave the girls low on water, ya know? Anyways, I figured, since it floods out all the time anyway, I’d just leave the auto waterer on, let it flood out in the 100+ degree weather, it would cycle the water out, I could just suck it up and do the cleaning when the water was overflowing, and it would sorta save me having to manually drain and refill. I’m sure you see where this is going…. It stopped leaking. Works fine now. Has worked fine for days. I’m not complaining, they aren’t necessarily cheap to replace, but like, really? It’s just confusing. Oh well.

I also put up the pool noodles on the metal gates. It’s the tackiest looking thing, duct taping pool noodles to your fencing, but I prefer to not scorch my hand every time I wanna go through the gate. Plus with little ones I really need to up the safety factor around those things, because a burnt hand is annoying to me, but could be a whole day ruined for a little one. This year, instead of full sized noodles, the dollar tree was carrying slightly skinnier ones. I thought this was going to be a problem but it actually worked out better as the noodles had a stronger grasp on the fence making them easier to install. I had hoped to get green duct tape, but couldn’t find any easily accessible this year, so teal it is. Learn from my mistakes here, don’t zip tie them to the fence. Yes I’m sure the duct tape is going to melt and I’ll probably have to saw the pool noodles off at the end of summer, but I had to do that with the zip ties too, plus contend with the mares spinning the noodles and then cutting themselves on the little end bits, they weren’t as secure, and if you move them too much through day to day use, the zip ties will saw their way through the noodles all on their own. Trust me, find another solution. And then share it with me. 

Alright-y, well that’s the news of the farm, thanks for hanging out for another week. 

Until we chat again my friends

Squishing Ponies

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

In a happy turn, it looks like some of the garden that we thought was a goner is still with us! Some of our kohlrabi has come back, our potatoes are on their way, and maybe, just maybe the squash is holding its own. Pretty exciting considering the hard battle it had to fight. 

It was about 101 degrees when I went out for these photos…

We’ve had a lot of little things to fix and figure out on the farm lately. We have a sticky valve problem in the sprinklers system which means no matter what your intentions are, you are watering the backyard. It’s also a little hectic because the particular zone that wants to always be stuck open waters the garden path and the driveway, which basically means if you are trying to get down to the rest of the farm, ya know, maybe you want to go to the barn, you are going to get wet. Really really wet.

Super fun things happened this week as well! My little cousin is coming out to ride again, and that always brings so much joy to the farm. 

We goofed a little in that we had planned on her riding after I got off work, and the universe planned on that being the first day to climb above 95 degrees. It was unfortunately very very warm, so rider, horse, and yours truly all melted a little. It was not supposed to do that according to the forecast. I broke a couple of my working horses rules to pull that one off, but since it’s not actually terribly difficult work for Ro at this stage we were able to fudge it a little. 

…so I am adding all of them regardless

But we had so much fun anyway. Lots of smiles and giggles and high fives. She’s a little taller now, so her cues are starting to be recognized. Ro still ignores them in favor of listening to me, but at least when I say “squish your pony and cluck” we are squishing actual pony, and not just saddle leather. When I help her make the cue with her leg, we can actually feel Ro react, moving gently away, and that was an aha moment for sure. Soon she’ll be able to do it all on her own.

(Squish the pony is a very silly alternative to telling someone to kick, because as my riders get older it’s easier to teach them to escalate their asking methods to meet the pony’s needs, than to deescalate. Squishing the pony requires a constant, firm but not sharp pressure, and when the pony responds, is a very fair, clean cue with a simple end.)

She’s also got a lot more confidence in herself and her actions, which made for a much more interactive ride. She was able to let go of the horn more and use her reins, and she was able to raise her little voice and ask Ro to whoa. She even asked me if I could mark her reins so she could remember where her hands go (little hands have to put down the reins a lot in order to do other things). I was super proud of her for advocating for herself.

I promised her that soon she would be getting her own official, certified riding helmet and a set of safe boots. She’s so so so excited. As she’s working with a new found confidence, I really want her to be safe while riding. Injuries are absolutely inevitable, if she’s lucky she’ll never have more than a bruised ego and some squished toes maybe, but more than likely she will have a fall or two, pull or strain a muscle, scrape a knee, hopefully nothing worse. But a correct helmet and boots will just be one step in the right direction for ensuring she walks away from a dust up with nothing but a good story. So, one Saturday soon, when I can get some time, we will be heading to the tack store, which is just incredibly dangerous for my wallet.

I am also spending some horse focused money on finally getting the trailer up to snuff. It’s been the project that just keeps getting pushed back but the problem now exists that if I want to keep my current farrier, I need to travel to his place for the foreseeable future. He no-showed our last appointment and has been having a generally hard time the last little while, so I don’t mind making his life easier, but it’s also another project I really didn’t need on my plate. It’ll be fine though, realistically it’s the kick in the tail I need, what if I have to trailer to the vet? Or pick up an unexpected animal? Or wanna go trail riding in my childhood happy place? It’s time to get the trailer functional and the girls retrained.

This was simply too cute to not share even though it has nothing to do with the post

There’s always something that needs doing on a farm anyway, might as well be a trailer restore.

Until we chat again my friends.

Tsch Tsch Tsch

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

What a week. I unfortunately got pretty sick again this week, but I think mostly due to the very long hours at work and the weather and pollen counts. It’s not been the most fun so I don’t have a huge amount to report. 

My dad and Christopher were able to get some of the sprinkler lines up and running in the pasture finally. It’s so late in the season, but the weather just hasn’t been cooperating lately. But there’s few things more “spring-like ” than watching the sprinklers run for the first time. I used to love watching the hand pulls and wheel lines start sputtering to life when I was younger, after an early morning helping my uncle with the irrigation. I remember sneaking around trying to get dressed quietly so I didn’t wake the whole house, how my uncle did it was beyond me, but I really wanted to help move pipe in the morning so little Amanda would get up at 3:30 or 4 am. Now I do it for work all the time and, to be honest, still not a morning person at all. I dunno, it never stuck. I can do it, but I’m not built for it.

But I love the sound of the sprinklers moving along. To clarify, impact head sprinklers are my favorite. They spin along on the impact of the little spring mechanism, making that trademark “tsch tsch tsch” noise that is the perfect background for a good book, or a good nap. The little arm swings in front of the water before moving away and that impact pushes the head around its spinning path. It’s a lovely rhythmic noise that screams spring to me because some of the earliest tasks when the weather warms involves getting them set up.

Unfortunately because we keep returning to the cold, late snow and freeze warnings, and nasty storms we have halted most of the spring chores. 

While I’ve been sick, I haven’t been able to ride much, as I start to cough and wheezing and it stresses out Ro. She mother hens me and while horsemanship is almost always good for the soul, it’s a little hard when neither horse is willing because mom sounds more like a velociraptor than a human. I’ve not had much of a voice at all.

So, instead of riding, I’ve started organizing the tack space. It got a little rough over the winter because someone tried to help me clean up, without telling me, and sorta completely changed everything. But it’s slowly getting back in order and the family member meant no harm. 

I’ve labeled the boxes, so I can tell where most things are, my shelves are mostly back in order, I’ve hung up my halter hooks again and I put up my “whoa” sign on the wall. I haven’t cleaned since the last dust storm though because I was trying to not completely aggravate my cough (spoiler alert: I did though). Mostly sitting down jobs for me for now. 

Speaking of signs, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned in a previous post that we’ve had a new family hanging around that feels the need to sneakily feed my horses, so I bought some “please don’t feed” signs I need to put up (and some “my fence is hot” signs too, no leaning please, although you’d think the barbed wire would dissuade them). I’ve had horses I knew killed by well meaning families feeding recklessly over the fence, plus Nellie has a history of colic now, so it makes me nervous. Plus it’s just a super dangerous habit to teach your children, you don’t know if my horses are aggressive, maybe biters, and you don’t know if my fence is hot, which mine always is.

I’ve tried in the past to educate, and let them know that if they want to feed the horses they are always welcome to come knock and I’ll usually be able to take a quick break from work to come hang out and let your kiddos feed the girls, and most people are receptive or at least reluctantly understanding. Unfortunately this family mostly just got really upset with me. Hence the signs. I wanna be friends with my neighbors, but more importantly I don’t want humans or horses hurt and if they find that offensive, well, I’ve hit an age where it’s no longer important to me to be liked. You can be the sweetest peach…. etc, etc, ad nauseum.

Watson having a nervous cuddle during a storm

Problem is, for now, I haven’t really felt well enough to stand out in the winds and rains to put them all up…. So my porch is a no feeding zone. It’ll come in time.

Anyways, I think I need some more warm tea, so I’ll end this here.

Until we Chat again my friends 

The Nerdy Owl is a Know-It-Owl

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!
It’s very early in the morning. I’m awake because a hoot owl has taken to slowly circling the house and, unsurprisingly, hooting in the early morning hours.
Its supremely unsettling. I tend to wonder if it’s to upset the dogs, or if there’s vermin in the bushes around the house that he wants, but either way, being able to follow his path and knowing exactly when he’s outside your window…its unsettling.
This last fall, when I would be sitting at my desk later in the evening, I would often get the impression that I was being watched. My desk sits under the window, across the way from the window is some tall Arborvitae bushes and down a bit is a tree (possibly an Locust tree? Dunno) who’s branches reach out closer to the window. Well, the hoot owl learned that if he sat on top of the Arborvitae or in the outer tree branches, well, he could see right into my room. So several nights in a row I’d get an ominous feeling, start to hear the hooting, and I would look up from my desk just to make eye contact with him. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway) I started closing my blinds shortly after sunset, no matter what. Previously I’d just sorta waited until the next time I got up to stretch, but now its been made a priority all its own.
I’ve been told that seeing an owl peer through your window is good luck. It doesn’t particularly feel like good luck to have a large predatory bird staring at you while you work. Especially when you have a very small dog sleeping on your lap (admittedly, I don’t think the owl could see Watts under the blanket under the desk but still). So, I thought I’d look it up and see.

One of the owls in the parliament (I can’t tell you how difficult this shot was to get, but I respected the owls space and comfort and used a huge zoom)

(It’s at this point that I tell you my “research” consisted of a Google search, this was in no way thesis level work and you should probably double check what I’ve written before proudly declaring it at your next party/meeting/carpool.)
Looks like, based on the first three links of my Google search, that owls are associated with the night, death, and fear just about as often as they are associated with bravery and good omens. It also seems to be a fairly even split, on cursory look, amongst the Native American populations as it varies wildly by tribe.
In a more blanket “spiritual” sense a lot of religious and spiritual groups seem to see the owl as a sign of good fortune and wealth, and one looking in your window is meant to bring joy and comfort. But I could seem to parse exactly why they hold that belief.
Look, I don’t know if I felt comforted at all about an owl outside my window and I don’t think I believe in lucks and omens and signs. I do believe I will keep a better eye on my small beans as they go through their morning routines. Especially as this owl gets bolder and has started yelling when I turn on my light in the morning. In fact, he’s chewing me out as we speak. I’m meant to let the dogs out for their morning business in about an hour, I always stand out there with them anyway (I never let my beans out at any time of the day without supervision, as I don’t have a fence and they all grew up with a fenced yard, and even if that wasn’t the case, there’s just too many dangers for them to navigate on their own), but honestly, I’m kinda thinking we might push it back a bit. Watson is really owl dinner sized, and this owl has already buzzed family members, so it’s clear he has no regard for humans. Just yesterday he watched me take the boys out and softly hooted from a nearby tree. I have only ever seen this owl from a great distance in the daylight but I know he gets fairly close at night, under the cover of darkness. So I think outside time with the boys will be a two or more person job for the foreseeable future. Safety in numbers maybe, that way we can always have an eye out.

Nellie looking amazing.

We’ve had some other visitors around the farm too that have made the boys and I varying levels of nervous. There was a lone coyote around, maybe still is, dunno, that was getting a little bold and twice I ended up grabbing dogs and hauling them up on the porch and into the house with a quickness. I don’t know if he’s brave enough to try to steal or take on one of my dogs, but I don’t care to test it. I worry about Cordelia, the chickens, and the horses, but Cordelia spends most of her early mornings safely in the rafters of the equipment shed, the chickens are in the coop at night, and while the mares have run of the arena and corral at night, I am pretty sure my girls would win with a coyote, and I’d hear about it fast enough to get down there in help. Basically, I only worry my citified little canine pack because they don’t know any better and I get the distinct impression they would want to make friends.
We’ve also had a skunk hanging around. You can tell because of the way the farm often smells. Theres enough variety of critters around here that the skunk seems to regularly need to defend itself, or at least announce itself, and while I’ve not laid eyes on a skunk since my first year here (when one walked out from under my car and I called my boss to say I’d be late as I hauled to the house) I have absolutely no doubt this guy exists.
The deer have been more hit or miss but I know they’re around too. You can sometimes see their glowing green eyes in the grass and sometimes they still come down to watch me feed in the evenings. There are still tracks and droppings in my yard and evidence they’ve been snacking occasionally on my hay. So, they clearly don’t feel too threatened.
Well, the hoot owl seems to have chilled out, and I’m thinking it’s about time I started work for the day. Keep an eye out for critters on your morning walk, lemme know if you see anything cool!
Until we chat again my friends! 

Stormin’

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Goodness, if it hasn’t been stormy lately. And cold! Looks like winter time just won’t quite give up yet. Usually by May we’ve settled into a nice pattern of outdoor time after work and dinner on the porch, short sleeves and sunscreen. But this year it’s really felt lucky if we see more than two days of sunshine at a time, and it’s consistently cold. I’ve been wearing my big winter jacket out with the horses most days, in the middle of the day!

And today it’s been so muddy you can’t hardly do a thing without losing your boots. I’m equally excited and totally over the rain. It’s great because it usually means snow in the mountains, and we’ve been in perpetual drought for as long as I can remember, so a better snowpack is appreciated. But also, this land and the infrastructure we stuck on top of it aren’t built for this much rain. Roads have lots of standing water due to lackluster drainage, the ground is so waterlogged the new rain simply sits on top, and of course there’s the matter of what you are used to, and no one around here is used to driving in the rain. One thing I’m grateful for is that I learned to drive in the pacific northwest, so for better or worse, rain does not stress me out on the roads.

Did I pull off off on the side of the highway to take this photo right after those clouds produced some killer lightning? Yes I did. Did others join me? Yes, they did. Was it a poor safety choice? Yes, it was. Don’t be like me kids, make smart driving choices.

However, I don’t think I know anyone who would be comfortable driving or working in any of the major downpours we’ve had lately. It’s aggressive rain that sometimes turns into graupels. It’s wholly unpleasant to be around.

I’ve been looking into getting my girls rain sheets for that reason. It’s slowly getting warmer, although it really doesn’t feel like it some days, and I don’t want to necessarily put on their heavier duty winter jackets and overheat them (I honestly try to avoid blanketing at all and let them grow big fuzzy coats, because that’s the most breathable option during mild years), but I got to do something to prevent them getting absolutely waterlogged. They have a lovely indoor space and a covered run in space, but it can be a little loud in the rain and they prefer to be outside. Unfortunately a lot of places are perpetually sold out, because I am not the only one with soggy mares.

It’s also prompted me to mostly give up on getting the hay area covered this year. It’s not that I don’t want to, but since I’m not the only one struggling with the weather and such this year labor prices are through the roof, if you can even get someone to respond. Which, I understand, and certainly don’t want to undervalue someone, but I was recently told over the phone the job would be at least 10k, no matter the dimensions, because that’s simply the minimum the contractor would accept to come out and give it a go. To clarify, I’m just looking for a glorified lean to. If I’m dropping over 10k on something right now, I have other priorities.

I also maybe have a cousin who could help, he’s a contractor and a good one, but he’s been so busy he makes the rest of us look like we are standing still. 

Anyways, as much as I long to be outside, it’s been okay to have a little more indoor time, if only because I just can’t quite get this head cold beat this year. It comes and goes. It’s gotten very annoying.

This little batch of clouds produced some solid rain. Joe perpetually smells of wet dog.

I think I’m feeling a little worse for wear today because I spent yesterday absolutely soaked to the bone out working with the horses. It snowed briefly even, but we got it all done. Sweet girls both got their hooves trimmed up, it’s been quite the battle keeping their feet in good shape with all the wet and soggy conditions. Then Ro saw the chiropractor while Nellie got firmly acquainted with her first ever heavy winter blanket. Ro had a couple of ribs out of place but nothing major, and was a total rockstar. Nellie absolutely blew my mind with how quickly she realized that the scary straps were worth it because the blanket is nice and warm. I honestly think the bigger struggle will be getting her to take it off. She loves being warm and cozy. 

Are you guys having any crazy weather? I mean. I’d imagine so, given so much of the world is having crazy weather. How do you guys cope with excessive rains and winds? Have you had any snow this late in the season? Gotta say may snow is a first for me. 

Until we chat again, my friends!

Mail Call

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!
Joe got some fun mail today, and he’s incredibly excited about it. See, ever since he was a puppy Joe has loved toys, especially Kong safestix, but he’s hard on toys because he’s an aggressive chewer. I try really hard to make sure about the time the latest toy needs to be replaced, we have new Stix in the wings.
But I sometimes miss the mark and we have to remove the old toy before the new ones arrive. This exact phenomena is why Joe has gotten really used to the Chewy signature blue box (not sponsored, just the only place I can easily get a hold of his favorite Stix).
This crazy dog recognizes the box from the moment the driver pulls it out and waits not quite so patiently at the counter as I cut all the non-dog friendly packaging away. Then one by one (I usually order three or four, in some combination of medium and large sizes for my giant teddy bear of a dog) I hand them to him, and he goes about showing anyone nearby his new treasures. The only downside to this is, thanks to the size of the Stix, if you are standing nearby, you should wear kneepads because he has no concept that he is suddenly a wide load. 


After he’s taken his new Stix, one by one from the box, around the house to show everybody, and finally over to the living room (the most wide open space and thus the best for playing), I get a happy dog tackle hug. Without fail, he hugs and cuddled until I relent, and we are sitting on the floor while he chews, shows off, and inspect the new toys. Sometimes he will hand his Stix off to me or anyone else who’s joined us on the floor so we can play too. But pretty soon he’ll need it back for chewing purposes.
The rest of the work day I get more than my share of the steps in because anytime I sit down to work at my desk for more than 20 minutes, Joe comes in and begs for more play time, and who am I to say no. He loves his toys so much.
Scooby liked toys a little when he was younger, but he has always been more of a zoomies kinda dog, enjoying playing tag with us and other dogs over playing with toys, I think because his big brother, my childhood pupper Winchester, was the king of human vs dog tag matches.
Watson (and Sherlock, sweet little guy) were never as into toys, I think in large part because toys generally aren’t made for their size and if they are we would have to monitor so Joe didn’t eat them. Sherlock did enjoy the occasional rope toy, but his favorite thing was crawling up into the toy box and falling asleep. I have some cute video on my old SD of him quietly puzzling through how to crawl up into the bucket and promptly laying down (before looking up, seeing his mom filming, and diving for my lap). I’ll have to see if I can easily get to that SD.

Editing Amanda here: could not get into the box with the SD, it’s in the rafters of the shed and needs more hands than I have)


Weve had some crazy repairs to make on the flatbed, and we realized that, at some point in the future, were gonna have to tear apart that engine in the name of actual preventative maintenance.
Looks like whoever owned it before us had a penchant for breaking the heads off bolts and then completely ignoring the problem so that weather and leaks and such could get in there and make triply sure those bolts would never move again. It’s an effective technique that means that teardown for cleaning is a pretty lofty goal at the moment.

I really hope this video upload things works….. please, please, please, please, please!


We finally were able to find a small, reasonably priced generator for the farm. It’s not a whole home backup, which is still on my “wants” list for the property eventually, but it’s a lovely little portable generator that will pull double duties on farm chores as well as whenever we do have a power outage and need a little emergency power to run the pump or fridge temporarily.
Dad was quite excited because it means he now how power anywhere on the farm he needs it, which has been an ongoing issue for a while. The way our farm is laid out, all the outbuildings are congregated on one side, which is perfect about 90% of the time, but not great when you realize two thirds of the farm doesn’t have outlets so things like electric chainsaws and weedwhackers and things become a problem. Since we have lots of fence lines that collect scrub trees and tumbleweeds like they are Pokémon, a generator to run those things and keep the fire risk down is a must. Clean fence lines can function as a small-scale fire break.
That’s about it for now, lots of new “toys” on the farm this week.
Until we chat again my friends