Weekend Plans

I am looking forward to this weekend.  Phyllis and Glenda gave me a panel for the round pen.  I am going to steal three others from various spots around my place, and get it put up.  I will also buy some concrete and put up the wood posts for the gate into the round pen.  I'll use the railroad ties to line the bottom of the whole thing.  If I'm going to have a round pen, I might as well do it right considering I own the place.  (I rented my last place, and I always went int everything with the mindset of being able to take it down.  I don't need to do that now and it's hard to get used to.)  It'll be nice to have a good round pen, I think.  The best part is it will be out of my way ... completely.  It will take up a corner of my property that I'm not really using.  I am going to ask my neighbor if he can look at those two sprinkler heads and tell me what I need to property cap them off at the ground so no one is tripping on them, and then I'll make the round pen as large as I can.  I started feeding my sheep grain from a bucket in my hand.  I'll start putting a dog behind them while I'm doing that.  I imagine they'll break pretty quick. 

My mailbox looks so good.

So does my fence now that those three slats aren't broken anymore.  :-)

Hopefully, I'll get rid of the rest of those weeds this weekend. 

In thinking about this round pen thing, the path to get out to the round pen is a mess.  I'm going to have quite a bit of work to get it safe for other people to get out there.  I mean, I know people know how to walk, and aren't going to trip on everything in front of them, but between the driveway and the round pen is the concrete foundation where the mobile home used to be, roots from all kinds of trees, stumps, glass, railroad ties (which will be used on the round pen), large rocks, etc.  This is the pasture that I don't have flood irrigation going to yet because I haven't dug the trenches yet.  Water gets shut off a week from today, so the water will be a Spring project.  So, in the meantime, I can spend whatever time I can getting it all cleaned up.  It'd be nice to make it so others can come over and start their puppies. 

More projects.  At least it keeps me busy.

More later.

Jodi

The Round Pen Dilemma

Do I build a round pen and turn my sheep into knee knockers so I can train Reese?  I think I'm going to.  I won't need the round pen long, and by the time I turn the sheep into knee-knockers, I'm going to hate them.  But ... after taking Reese and her sister over to someone else's tonight, I've decided it's what I need to do.  Reese's sister Majia, I've noticed, is more like Echo.  Started a little rough, but widened up pretty quick.  I got her going both directions and took her off.  Not before one of the sheep decided that she'd rather run into the fence than contend with the dog.  Ugh.  I hate that.  I think, though, that Majia's owners could start introducing her once or twice a month for short sessions and see how she does.


Put Reese on, and she's more goofy.  Tail up, not all that serious, liked to split one off and chase it.  I let her grab a bit of hair to see what she'd do, and she wasn't all that committed, although she came up with a bit of hair to floss with.  She needs more time to mature.  And I'm good with that.  It will give me time to get the round pen built, and my sheep knee-knocker ready.

So where to put the round pen.  I measured tonight, and I could do a 50' diameter round pen on the far NW corner of my property.  It won't be perfectly round, but there will be no corners, and it will be out of the way.  Best of all, the only thing I need for it is about 4 ranch panels.  So, about $100 and I've got it made, literally.   Maybe I'll grab a couple of bags of concrete and set wood posts for the entrance gate.  That's something that's always bugged me about my old round pen.  I had those big horse bow entry gates fibertaped to some T-posts (the fine workmanship of the drunken ex-husband), and it always wobbled (big shocker).  So, hopefully, I can do this right this time.

Then I'll need more puppies to work.  Anyone got any they want to send me?

J

Grass-less

Ok ... it got to me.  I can't believe I posted MORE photos of those three remaining ornamental grasses, instead of getting off my duff and getting out there and doing something about it.  So I did.

Here's the view from my deck now.  So much better.

And from the street:

Looks like a duplicate.  This one is added for my benefit.

Oh, I'm not anywhere near done with this front area.  You just can't see it from this angle.  But if I turn a bit to the right ...

And if I go stand by that mess and take photos down the fenceline both directions, you see this ...

... and this ...

It'd be so easy to burn it all ... if that VINYL fence wasn't there ... or was welded wire.  Reason # 6,459 to get ride of that ugly fence.

Jodi

Those things that just bug ya...

The mailbox.  The mailbox setup in front of this house was an eyesore.  Yes, "was." 

Why were there two?  Well, ya remember the mobile home I had to have removed before they would loan me the money for this house?  Well, apparently, it had its own address.  And it's caused lots of confusion for people coming to visit.  Not only that, the door to MY mailbox was missing a screw and the door would come off the hinge every time I opened it.  The "reflective" numbers weren't very reflective anymore.  So I took the whole thing apart.  I went to Home Depot and bought a new box and some new letters, and my wonderful neighbor came over to help me put the whole thing together.

Here it is now:

So, another project completed.  This is what I am tackling next, I think.  I hope.  I am SO sick of looking at them.  There were 7 of them, and now I'm down to just three.

Cleaned this area up over the weekend.  That used to be where that giant pile of sticks was.  (Gee, my English sure is good, ain't it?)

And something else that's bugging me.  The door to the storage building ... the hinge doesn't work well, the doorknob doesn't work at all, and this latch sucks, too.

So, not sure what I'm gonna do with that yet, but something.  Eventually.

Jodi

Coop d'Ville

Well, this morning I loaded Reese up in the cab of the truck, and off we went to Weiser.  I never really noticed ... Weiser is gorgeous! 

There was a great little chicken coop on Craigslist that I just had to have.  So ... I scraped together what I could for cash and came up with enough to buy it.  And here it is.  I can't wait to paint it and get it set up.  Isn't it adorable?

Here's the front where the door is.  (No, I haven't taken it out of my truck yet.  Waiting for some help to show up.)

Here's the back of it.

And these things are very special.  They're all over the inside, and several of them on the outside.  Good thing there's not a bee one in any of them.  They will be the first things removed from this.

And here are the happy travelers.  Just thought I'd take a shot in the daylight so you can see their gorgeous colors.

Here's Wilbur. 

Is he not the most adorable thing?

His tail is priceless.  They must have docked it ... and missed a bit.

Wilbur's co-owner, Glenda, came over to see him today.  She was wearing her very cool pig-farmin' hat!  I want one!

Awwww...

While we were up in Weiser, Reese and I swung by someone's house we know.  Any guesses?

And here are some random shots of my house and yard.  I had this backyard looking really nice at one point.  It needs a mowing really bad, and my mower is on the fritz.  I can't put the walking mowers right there because the dog kennel is just to the left.

Remember those three slats in the white fencing that were down?  Well, come to find out, it bugged my neighbor even more than it did me, because he came over today and fixed it.  Look!  Those three slats won't be falling down any time soon.

Here is an absolute eye-sore that is making me nuts.  I really need to take down all but one of these mailboxes and fix the one I leave.  All in good time, my dear.  All in good time.

 

Here's something kinda interesting.  Remember last year ... before I really moved into the house ... I took a bunch of photos of the property?  That was July / August.  Here's the photo of what the front pasture looked like then.

Here's what it looks like now, taken from the same angle.

 

You can certainly see where the water hits ... and where it doesn't.  But at least there's grass growing!

Jodi

Well wouldja look at that?

Nicole sent me pictures of Nitro (the male pup in Echo's litter)!  Here they are!

I can't wait to see him in person ... one of these days.

So ... Glenda came over last night.  She owns the other 1/2 of Wilbur.  She was at a fair in Oregon, and won a "guess the weight of the sow"!!  Well, she took her winnings and invested it in feed for Mr. Wilbur!  So now we have a bunch of feed for him and won't need anything any time soon.  We briefly talked about a better way to feed him, since I am not keen on the idea of getting in the pen when he is larger and more aggressive.  Well, Glenda solved the problem!

I introduce you to ... the SLOP SLIDE!

Here it is in use:

 

 

Oh, and look who showed up today.  I swear these girls laugh at me.

  

I love this stuff...

And here's my girl....

Good nite, all!

Jodi