two new tasks learned -** picture intense**

So it is Tuesday.. a day to learn yet another task ;) Sheldon had talked to Matt about helping me clean up and  bury the bale and text he would be over around 10. Time to get dressed and have hay pitched to horses. I took the 3 skinnies and put Ju in round pen and the girls outside to clean up.

 some are flexible enough to serve themselves

sandwich platter service

Matt text he was behind and could not get over till late afternoon.. seeing I was ready why not give it a shot.  OH MY.. more learning curves... it would have been allot easier with a manual but thank fully instant message pictures are the bomb. As is jacking around until you figure it out. Once I figured how to release the attachments I was off. The hand bombing of good hay worked out every muscle too. All round workout this farming! It seems if painting gets really slow I can hire myself out to rake hay and move dirt ;)

up to release fully down to lock ;)

and I am off

 the girls tidying the ditch

 the before pile

my first scoop and load

 progress

 this is the hay pile so best dig some more

 ok I think I got it

swap back to the forks... line up and lift and take to newly dug hole

 then hand pitch and pick out good stuff

 roll another big blob along as forks wont pick up

  keep going until all crappy is piled, then grab first bucket of dirt

 and dump

 continue till covered

 here are my good piles for the ponies

and of course one needs to groom both sides, not bad for a newbie I say and only 1 ok 2 crazy bucket too full or high bucks ;0)

I even managed to lift and move soft bales too and bury. By 1 I was done and back at the house. I found my two girls had put themselves back in their paddock, good girls. I let every one out to enjoy the fruits of my labor, now if they only don't dig the bale up ;) After the hike back to the house I put Julio out with them too and came in for a cold beer and snack. Yay me!

good girls back in their paddock but Switch loves the camera and people so cant stand still

Time for some crafting. With the old boards I got from a neighbor awhile back I plan to make a shadow box. I took the boards outside to sand in the sunshine (plus 20 beauty day) along with an old frame I will post soon. They are 6" boards and will be quite deep so need to rip in half. Well I know this w/e will be jam packed for the wood fellow with only 3 days home and one is Thanksgiving so how hard could it be.

Again, thanks to IM pictures and a quick phone call for a verbal manual, I cut this old board into just the right sizes for the sides on the fancy new miter saw. Tomorrow I will decide on the backing.

The horses were not overly thrilled with this oat bale and spent allot of the time in the shelter or house paddock scrounging for grass (makes it easy to green cream Bird's wounds). They did head back down for a bit so the dogs and I wandered down to try and retrieve the wrap that was still under. I did get what was there but am sure a larger piece I tucked under the hay as still attached was gone. I wandered the pasture to see if drug but no luck, hope it was in the pile and I was mistaken. Lola found a lovely fresh pile to paint herself but had to get a cold hose once back which I don't think she was pleased with ;)

 pooey!!

Shaina and Kaylin got back last night and tonight after her shift she is spending the night. I was working on the shadow box planing edges to be flush around 7:30 when a semi pulled in to the field. They may have picked a few bales as did not stay long, not sure till daylight but Lola was beside herself over this intrusion. I glued up the box, clamped, stacked cans on it and left to dry overnight closing up shop at 9. Blog had so much detail and pictures an hour later I am heading to read and wait for Shaina, night!

brighter day

Days always start brighter then the dark nights before. Today was one of those days. I was up early worried about bale combustion and sick horses so jumped in the shower and was off to town to do blood work by 9 dressed in actual clothes and some makeup! By nothing short of a small miracle, there was only 1 person in front of me at the lab!! And 2 girls were working so I was in and out in 15 minutes ;)

I stopped at our new Peavy Mart to look for a bale tester and sure enough they had 2 but $75 more than UFA, who knew they would be nearly $350! Best get just in case no one shows with one today. I treated myself to a hot pumpkin spice tea and tossed the trash at the dump and was back home by 10! So far so good.

I threw hay out for all the horses and feed for the skinny pen and opened the gate to water. Now time to check bales. A semi had pulled in and guy looked at one bale and left. Not sure who and what but these bales look great from the outside buddy. As I suited back up to meet him he drove out of the yard. I checked the bales which ranged from 37-45% moisture and 50-110 degrees. The 1st cut bales tested 14-22% and around 35 degrees.  The smoldering pile is now much cooler and just looks froze on inside. It looks like majority might be ok but I am just the tester ;)

moisture left temperature in Fahrenheit right

Time to get back to some enjoyable projects. I put the red frame back together with the newly secured cork and it looks great.

I assembled the rustic wood and yellow frame to be a unique photo hanger.

 And I touched up the white paint on the numbers that I sanded off and put 3 coats of sealer on it.

By now Prince Ali was awake and asked me to go test more bales. My furry cohorts and I were off. Oddly enough the one that were high temps this am were still hot but not as high but almost every bale tested 45% moisture. I think a deal is in the works to get all of them out of here for cattle feed ASAP. Back at the house I hauled out more bales for all the horses yet again and fed the skinnies while I hosed and treated Bird.

 

Tonight I am cooking my self a real meal.. with real meat ;) It was yummy. Followed up by a long soak in the tub while watching Netflix is a great way to end another busy day.

no smoking wanted!!

Well at least the sun is out today but it started cold, it actually hit -1 last night, good thing I covered my planters. I brought the red frame in now all dry along with the cork section and put it all together BUT it seemed the double adhesive was not a good product for the job. Time to take all apart again and try a weld bond glue and stack again to dry.

As I was getting all prepared to start hand painting white numbers on the barn board growth ruler I heard a semi pulling in. There needs to be a new rule, even though I am self employed I must be dressed, war paint applied and coffee breath brushed away by 10 each day ;) Scrambling to get out of my warm fluffy house coat (wait it is below 19 in here) and into some clothes quick I ran out to meet the guy. Seems he was told he could pick up the 50 bales today and Sheldon was home to load! Sorry he is not and no I do not load bales ;) He did take the tractor down to load while I gave Julio his food and the cats but was soon back. I had called and woke Sheldon who said he told the guy NEXT Monday. Maybe they will be back then, who knows. There seems to be a list I need to get on of the coming and goings of the agricultural portion of the ranch ;)

how bare the paddocks are getting ;(

Back to my hand painting then a quick lunch. Amanda text with an invitation to joint them on a city run and picked me up within half an hour. We stopped quick at a salon where I scored some new products ;) then spent an hour at Fabricland trying to pick out material for a tree skirt my good buddy Lori offered to quilt for me. The choices and amount to get as no pattern chosen were too overwhelming but once we did the line to have the material cut was 5 deep with one lady working so we left making another quick stop for more yarn for the crochet queen and we were off for home.

It was just before 6 so I quickly ran out to hose and treat Bird and feed the Ju man. I put them both back int he winter pasture and thought to save more pasture damage I would run them out a fresh oat bale. Sheldon had messaged instructions and said it would be easy. These would turn in to not very true words.

The day hit a high of 16, no wind and lovely so off to the skid steer I went. Getting the bale was easy, I even managed to get it tipped up and raised so I could see under to cross the bale laddened field. Things started to unravel at the gate when I must have been too top heavy and the front end nose dived dumping the bale then bucking back on its arse end then bouncing back forward. Luckily I have watched Sheldon do this and know it will not tip over. I tried repeatedly in the thick gravel to get loaded back but no luck instead I got in on a jaunty angle and pushed the gates open with it and then closed quick, just in case they wanted to venture out to all the other tasty looking bales.

 so far so good

 can see on way to paddocks even thru dirty window

 brought my trusty kitchen scissors

Instructions said cut wrap and roll out.. I brought scissors ;) As I began the daunting task of rolling it seemed gummy and not a smooth rolling as when I watched Sheldon so many times. Is that smoke I see? no must be dust, nope there is more and the hay is not dry and green but rather black with white spots or soggy looking. My efforts to roll only ended in a big smoldering pile with 7 horses, the 8th waiting his turn) trying to get food.

Oh My

Panic is now setting in, pictures texted and a phone call saying what the heck! load it up and get it out was the verbal instructions, are you kidding I struggled to roll the mushy pile to where it is and it is smoking! I hiked it at high speeds back to the house to grab 8 halters and back to compost bale. Pepper easily was caught then Switch and Bird but the rebels were not about to be forced to leave this but eventually Daisy gave in. Grabbing these 4 I marched across the field with Baby right behind bossing the ones I had. As I got close to the far paddock Hawk quickly caught up and all went in there.

 I managed to get Switch and Bird out the single not hot now wire (the charge was taken off for Colorado) and put them in the house paddock. Julio and KD decided things were happening and finally left the bale to come see where I had taken the rest. I divided them up then ran to the barn and tossed small square bales out in the paddocks. By now it was getting dark but the quad saved me some steps as I loaded temporary poles and more hot wire up and reinforced the far paddock gate (note to ranch hand, please install steel gate here after 6 years!)

I drove to the melting bale, grabbed rest of halters, closed up double gates good and went to check a few more bales in the field. It seems that about the 5 on north side are very similar silage smelling and warm :( but closer to the house where the wind blew they smell and feel like hay (fingers crossed) It turns out that I was indeed right when I alerted the baler and Sheldon to the greenness of the north side of the field. Being new to tractor driving and never done hay before, my newbie expressed concerns were overruled.

The seemingly quick bale roll out to treat the horses and take a load of the paddocks turned into a 2 hour+ adventure in bad bale hell. Do life lessons ever get less?? Back in my non furnace running house I chugged 2 cold beer, hoovered down 5 chicken wings, pulled on my fuzzy housecoat and made a few calls. I had to write this crazy night down so as I am at 11:30 the coyotes decided to go crazy just outside the tree line again. They have been fairly quiet since Elmer Fudd took the the one last week but 3 am this morning they were back carrying on too... grrrr.

nothing better to sooth my frazzled nerves the the very last toffee tart!

As I closed up my book at 12:30 Sheldon text he read the nitrate to nitrite conversion was 10 times as toxic so need to keep horses away found me pulling on my coveralls and hiking out to the paddock. All 5 were in the center paddock so I closed them in there securely overnight although they will not have water. Better safe than sorry is the motto. Back to reading till 2 to fall asleep again.