Fishing

On Tuesday Heidi and I went to the lake. The grass was not too bad. The fishing was very good. I tried trolling for walleyes with a spinner and leach and caught a nice sunfish. I turned around and caught another. So I put on a bobber and caught some more. Then I started to catch some bass. Some small ones, and then some pretty nice ones. It slowed down and I went back in and ate supper and went back out and caught a few more.

I forgot my camera so here is an after pic. After I cleaned them and after I got home. Wednesday I went out in the morning and caught a walleye and some more bass and a few sunnys. Caught some really nice bass. Wednesday afternoon went back out and started catching sunnys one right after the other. I think I caught about 40 in about an hour. I got tired and moved to a different spot. No fish there. So I got enough for 3 meals for me and Gramma. We are happy. But there is a sad note too. My sister in Georgia called and her husbands mother died. So they are coming up next week for the funeral. Be good to see them but sad too.

Sparkle home, New chicken adventure

Yesterday I took another load of hay to the Farmer Daughter's and picked up Sparkle. Thank you again FD for finding her. She doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects from her misadventures.

She went right to hunting mice in the barn. Good kitty. I know this isn't the barn, it's the deck. So what.

We also let the new chickens out for the first time yesterday. There were no fights so when I get back from the lake we'll do it again. You may recall an earlier post when we sexed the new chicks based on something we found online about their wing feathers. Apparently this does not work with French Black Copper Marans. It is beginning to look like we may have 5 roosters and 1 hen instead of the other way around. Bummer. Now I have to process more chickens and roosters don't have a lot of meat, they are all legs. I processed (Nice word isn't it) one of the FD's tom turkeys yesterday as he was starting to become very aggressive and was attacking her. Free range turkeys look a lot different from store bought ones when their feathers are removed. Can't wait to taste him. Gotta do some chores and go fishing. Bye.

Trauma on the farm

Yesterday Gramma and I took a load of hay to the Farmer Daughter. We had three bales in the horse trailer. When we started to unload those bales we discovered that Sparkle Kitty had climbed in the trailer before we left home.

She was a bit traumatized from the trip. So the FD got a kitty crate and we put Sparkle in there for the ride back home. We set her on the ground in the shade of the truck. It was hot. Well, Grampa forgot she was there and moved the truck and trailer. The trailer axel rolled over the crate and popped it open and the cat was gone. We searched and called and got Reba out to look for Sparkle, but we couldn't find her.  We knew she was scared, but we didn't know if she was hurt. Gramma and I went home sad and worried. I thought I might never see my kitty again. Now everyone knows I don't like cats, but this was Sparkle Kitty. Well the FD kept looking and about 8:30 last night she called to say she found Sparkle and she was fine. Grampa cried. Gramma cried. So today I'll drive over and get her. Darn cats. No wonder I don't like them.

The other fun thing was what Mick did at the FD's. A lot of the pigs are loose over there so there is a lot of piggy poo around. He thought it would be fun to roll in the fresh stuff and grind it into his hair and skin. So he became a lot browner than he used to be. We had Heidi's crate with us so he rode home in that. When we got home Gramma gave him a bath in the garage sink. Then Grampa gave him a bath in the garage sink. Then Grampa took him into the shower and gave him another bath. Then Grampa took him back into the shower and gave him a 4th bath. Now he smells better, finally. Yikes what a day.

Hay Done

Hay is done. Well except for getting the extra over to the Farmer Daughters.

This is how I get the hay to the shed. Last year I did it with the tractor one bale at a time. Next year I plan to make a hay wagon and should be able to move 10 or 12 bales at a time.

Here is the hay in the hay shed.

From the front.

Here's the load we're taking to the Farmer Daughters tomorrow. We also have some bales in the horse trailer and Gramma is going to pull that with her car. I was able to get 43 bales in the hay shed which is more than we should need for Aksel and Ingrid. I also put 26 in the big shed. So I need to get all the extra hay over to the FD's so I can have my shed back. Next year I'll get a couple of hay tarps to cover the extra cause I'm not putting hay in my shed anymore. Ever. I need to go fishing.

Baling Hay

This is the baler. It's old . Not as old as the haybine or the hayrake or the farmer, but old. The haybine and the rake are from the early 60's and the baler is from the early 70's and the farmer is from, well, earlier than that.

So you drive over the windrows you made with the rake and the hay goes in the front end and.......

comes out the back end as a bale.

Baled the West and South fields yesterday and did the East field today. Had some problems with the baler, but we got it done. Now we just have to get the hay in the shed and some to the Farmer Daughters. Last year we got 60 bales. This year we got 75. 8 from the new field, so we added 7 bales from what we got last year on the two fields. Guess we'll cut later next year too. I think I need to go to the lake.

Well I started to rake today. Raked everything I cut on Sunday.

This is the hay rake. It's old like the haybine and the farmer,but works pretty good. The farmer down the road has a rake that he can raise and lower with hydraulics instead of by hand and is equal to eight rakes like ours.

Before raking.

After raking.

Hopefully I can finish all the raking tomorrow. It will depend on how warm it gets and whether we get any wind. If I can rake tomorrow I can start baling on Thursday and finish on Friday. It's supposed to get into the 80's for the rest of the week and that will help along with no rain. Cross you fingers.

Started cutting hay this afternoon. Started on the new hayfield. The hay was tall and thick. The haybine and the farmer were old. Had to stop and unclog the haybine a few times and I had to cut one gear slower than I usually do because it was so thick. The hay from this field will go to The Farmer Daughter cause it still has alfalfa in it which is too rich for the Fjords.

I got both small fields cut this afternoon and a start on the big field. As soon as the dew dries tomorrow I'll get back on the big field. Should be a good yield as it's so late. I'll update again when I rake and when I bale. I just know you'all are so excited.