Sister visit, chickens and hail

This weekend my sister and her husband drove up from Georgia for his Mom's funeral. They stayed a couple nights with some friends and then on Tuesday they came up here to stay the night and visit. So we had a nice visit and went out to dinner last night. I think my sister enjoyed the animals and she wasn't attacked by Frank so things were good.

This morning they left for home with an overnight stay in Illinois. Not too long after they left we had a storm, so it's good they took off when they did.

We have been letting the Marans out in the morning without the other chickens so they can have some freedom without being harassed by Frank. Well they haven't ventured outside the barn, so yesterday I tried to lure them out with grain, but they wouldn't go past the doorway.

Then this morning they went out the backdoor into the paddock,so I got Gramma and my camera and we got some pics. Hope they come back.

This morning we had a pretty good storm and got hail here for the first time since we moved here. It was about the size of peas and cranberries and didn't last long, thank goodness.

Last night Jowly had her babies. She had 11 and 10 made it. She was in a stall in the barn, but decided she didn't like it so she let herself out and went to the big shed where we have been putting hay, and made a nest and had her babies. I think she is going to be a good mama this time. I took more pics but only 2 turned out. So check out the Farmer's Wife's blog and Sugarstone Farm for more and better pics.



We took the next to last load of hay to the Farmer Daughter's today and picked up a wagon running gear. I'll make a round bale hauler out of it and hopefully cut down my field to shed time in half.

It was interesting getting the thing strapped down and hauled home as it was wider than the fenders on our skidloader trailer, but we made it. Then the FD came over with her trailer and got the last load of hay. YAY. I get my shed back and therefore the garage too. We are happy.

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.