Truck is repaired

 After smacking another deer (#4) and smashing the driver's side headlight on my way to work last week, the new headlight came yesterday. I got it put in this morning after I finished fixing Heather's truck headlights. Her adjusters had broken and the lights were crossed.

There wasn't much room to get the fasteners put in, but there was enough. Here's to hoping I don't hit any more of them!

Freezer is back to full

I got a call yesterday afternoon that the steer was done, so I went up this morning to pick it up. We got 8 flats out of Zeke to refill the freezer.

Escort being escorted

Heather's car blew up a little over a week ago. We got it back home yesterday with the help of Lisa and Jim's flatbed trailer. After it gets completely cleared out, we will find it a new home. Heather is looking at a replacement for it. We stopped to test drive it yesterday.

Window replacement

 After the very unexpected gift of a whole weekend off with no rain, Heather and I jumped at the opportunity to get her window swapped out. 

 After a couple of hours of digging, unscrewing,  prying and pulling staples out, we had the old window out and moved out of the way.

We had to make a trip to the hardware store and Lowes for a few supplies to make the opening slightly smaller to fit the new window. We were all finished and cleaned up before 4, so we are getting a little quicker with each one we do. With the new window out of the way, I also have a bit more room in the shed.

Happy Labor Day

 It's been a while, but I finally got back up to the lake for a little while today. It was busy, as expected.

 But if you look a little bit, you can usually find a quieter spot. The cove I usually go to had two huge houseboats anchored in it, so I moved on a little further to the north end of the lake.

There was a fair amount of boat traffic, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. There were still boats coming in as I was leaving. A beautiful day to be out on the water!

Burn pile didn't

 I went out early this morning to light the burn pile. We need to get it done before the horses come back in a couple weeks.

And this is about all that would burn. This is the scrap lumber I tossed on to help get it lit. I know the rain earlier in the week didn't help, as well as the heavy dew we got this morning, but I really did expect more than I got to burn. I guess we'll have to try again.

Made it to the lake today

 I finally made it back to the lake today. I launched from Longbow and followed a couple of pontoon boats part way out to the main lake. They both stopped about halfway at a flat beach area.

 It was remarkably smooth for most of the way out the channel towards the lake. It was overcast, but not really any wind.

 The lake was a bit more churned up from boat traffic, but still wasn't real bad. I ran the boat all the way to the north end and back.

I parked here for a little while and got wet. This cove has a nice sandy bottom .

New steps for the porch

 I had started the step replacement yesterday and finished it up today after work. The new ones are a lot more solid feeling than the old ones were.

Most of the reasons are visible here. The boards were getting a bit rough and warped.

Ugly, but it worked!

 The drive belt on the tractor broke just before I was finished mowing the back yard.

 The blades and motor still ran fine, so I popped the hydro drive into neutral and found another drive source to move it with

It wasn't very pretty, but with Heather's help, we finished mowing the yard. I'll pick up a new belt and get it changed before I start the pasture.

Finally lake time

 I finally made it up to the lake today. We've been having a lot of storms, but I got up before they started today.

 Being a holiday weekend, it was busy, but I did expect that. My north end cove was empty when I got to it. That surprised me, but I took advantage of it.

 The water was way warmer than I thought it would be, even considering the hot spell we have had. I was expecting mid 70's, but it was mid 80's. It felt great floating around in it for a couple hours.

The storms were closing in when I took off for the launch ramp, but I beat them back. I hit a few sprinkles on the way home, but most of it waited until after I had the boat put away. It was a nice day!

Tomatoes planted

I got the rest of the tomato plants picked up this morning and planted after I finished prepping the last two buckets. Nature took care of watering them today. We have a Beefsteak, an Oxheart, and two Romas. I hope they do well.

Stump hauling

 Heather took a couple of pictures last weekend while I was hauling the stumps out of the front yard and back to the burn pile.

They were big enough to limit the cart to one per trip, which made it fun to throw them up onto the pile.

Back to work and a new truck

 Finally got called back to work and got a new truck to drive when I got there this morning. It's a 2018 Mack Granite 10 speed.

It doesn't ride quite as nice as the Peterbilt did, but it is a nice truck, and comfortable to drive.

Getting ready for spring

Allen and I pulled the mower deck off before he went back and I got it cleaned up and painted today. The blades were also sharpened and the spindles greased, getting ready for mowing season.

Busy day at Cathryn and Brian's

 The pod was delivered yesterday afternoon, so we started unloading it yesterday. We got over half of it emptied yesterday. This morning, we got busy and finished it off.

 As soon as the pod was finished up, we started with building Cathryn's chicken tractors. Jim and Brian had picked up the supplies last weekend, so we emptied the trailer off and got started.

 We're making two of them and had the bottom framework finished up when we took a break for lunch.

 It took longer to get the back walls and braces in. Everything was figured out as we were going, and there is still one door left for Jim and Brian to build tomorrow.

Our raised vegetable garden has sprouted in spite of the snow last week and the week before.

a new pair

One of Lisa's contacts had a few bottle calves that they didn't have time to take care of, so we got two of them. The one on the left is a steer calf for future beef. The one on the right is a freemartin female, most likely for resale down the road. They will join Rocky and the others in the pasture a bit later, after they are weaned. They are both less than a week old.

Maple stumps removed

 I started the removal of the two maple stumps in the front yard this morning. The one closest to the driveway came out the easiest, which was unexpected.

 This one took a lot more work, even though it was the smaller stump.

 Maybe it was because it was also shorter, giving me less leverage to pull on it.

 With a hand winch and a truck for an anchor, it didn't really have a chance. I got it pulled out.

I raked the loose dirt back into the holes from both of the stumps. I want to let the root ball dry a little and see if I can get more of the dirt to come off before I haul them to the burn pile.

New bearings for the truck

 Yesterday while I was out with the truck, I heard a scraping sound coming from under the front of the truck. It sounded like a branch got caught up, but there was nothing under it when I looked. So, this morning, I pulled the rotors and bearings off to look there. I found a piece of metal inside the dust cap on the passenger side. The bearings were worn, too.

 So I went to the auto parts store and got 2 new sets, one for each front wheel. Here, the new inner bearing is installed along with the seal.

And the race is put in for the outer bearing, ready for the rest to be packed and put in. I found a bad lower ball joint while I was doing it, so it will have to go into the shop for that. I don't have the tools I would need to replace that.

Back to an older plan

 We have been drier for the last several days. This allowed the pasture to dry out some, enough to be able to use the 4 wheeler to put the hay out. Much quicker and easier that way!

We started this morning with a dusting of snow that made it a bit slicker than yesterday, but still not anywhere near as bad as it was last time.

New plan

 After getting the 4 wheeler buried last time we put hay out, we needed a new plan. Getting our neighbor to put it out with his large 4 wheel drive tractor is what we came up with.

Left some monster size ruts, but the hay got put out without any other issues. With the weather not helping, I'm glad this worked. This February is very close to the wettest on record. We are over 10" already this month.

Plan A results

 Plan A is a success, but with limitations. The last attempt ended up with the mower buried in the mud out in the middle of the pasture. We got it dug out and learned a lesson. The lesson was " do not attempt when pasture is a muddy mess". Jess and I got started early this morning because it was below freezing last night, but it is supposed to warm up nicely by afternoon and that temperature swing will make a lot of mud.

The tractor doesn't have much trouble when the ground is firmer. I drove it out, separated the trailer and dumped the roll, re-hooked the trailer and dropped the ring around it. Done.