TRANSITIONS: SPRING TO SUMMER

As I sat down to write this entry, I realized it would be a very, very long entry. I broke it up into 6 parts.  This is part one, then part two, titled, Transitions: Beginnings and Endings, then part three titled, Transitions: The Big C, then part four titled, Transitions: The Rumble, part 5 titled, Transitions: Feathered Follies and finally part six titled, New Beginnings.  Intrigued yet?  Here we go with part one.

Spring has been, and usually is, very busy on the farm.  Our oats and wheat are cut, raked, baled and gone now.  But we did suffer some loss during this process.  My neighbor cut the oats and wheat and informed me killed a skunk in the process.  He just could not figure out why the skunk would not get out of the way?  Sadly, skunks think they are impervious to trouble because of their “stink ray sprayer.”  The buzzards were quick to go after the cut up remains. My husband put an end to the buzzards by burying the remains of the skunk.  

The other activity of spring is mowing, mowing, mowing and mowing. I believe the grass grows as I cut it!   Currently mowing the lawn every other day; at least it appears that way.  The weather conditions have been favorable for growth; heat, humidity and a touch of rain. The grass is now dorman

The weather has been most favorable for chiggers as well!  At this writing, I have chigger bites where the sun does NOT shine in the northern and southern region: Most miserable indeed, these little suckers!  In the six years we have lived here in Texas, I have never had bites in these places before.

I do use OFF spray, when I remember.  I usually remember that I forgot to spray when I get a bite!  I also have sulfur powder. It stinks, but very effective. I use one of my husband’s stretched out tube socks, fill it with sulfur powder, then use the sock as a powder puff and cover myself in sulfur.  Chiggers hate sulfur.

Besides being eaten by chiggers, spring is a busy time with mowing, haying, building and repairing.  It can get a bit congested outside with humans and animals all trying to get their spring work done! I keep running into hornets building their nests. I have been thumped on the head many times by them. My husband got stung already, square in the center of his back!  Naturally they build their nests under the eves of the house, the coop and carport. We just keep running into each other. We get rid of one nest and another nest pops up! 

We finally built a screened in porch setup for the cats!  I call it the cat lounge. They love it!   We built this off one of the bedrooms on the west side of the house.  Man what a difference in temperature this screened porch makes!  The bedrooms on the west side of the house are usually ovens in the summer and freezers in the winter.  This screened porch really takes the heat off of this one bedroom.

We bought an insulated storm door with a screen window and a built in pet door.  In order to use it, we removed the existing door and placed the storm door in its place.  It is great!  On cooler evenings, which are gone now until late fall, we opened the screened window on the door and got a nice breeze. 

We wired and installed a ceiling fan, with light, on the porch to keep the air moving.  We used chicken wire and fencing to keep the dogs from clawing through the screens.  The first layer of screen is so small it will keep out the smallest of bugs. The second layer of screen is Pet screen, which is next to impossible to claw through. This porch is tight!  We used foam insulation and spray foam on every nock and cranny.

 On the deck floor we put down house wrap, then OSB board, then more house wrap, then my husband milled cedar planks into tongue and groove flooring. We nailed the floor down and trimmed the whole thing out in cedar. We added perches at three levels for the cats to enjoy the view.  As you can see, we put on a tin roof, which actually reflects the heat off the room.  

My only stipulation in building this cat lounge(porch) is this: nothing gets in and nothing gets out.  You see if a snake gets in, I will shoot the house apart in an effort to kill it.  My husband knows I am not kidding.  Plus I do not want to wake up with a tarantula sitting on face.  The cat lounge is bug, pest and snake free! 

I did a little paint job on the door trims of the house.  When we moved in the trim was painted black. Why black? I can only guess they had some black paint they needed to use up.  I found this small can of paint in the discount bin. The color was not what the customer wanted. I thought, well for a dollar I can try it out. If I don’t like it, I am not out a wad of cash. I like it! It is bright and cheery. Plus I have enough to finish the trim on the remaining doors! 

   

Last spring we planted 10 fruit trees. We added a drip irrigation system for them.  Last summer our temperatures did not get below 106 degrees, beginning in May and ended in November.  We lost one apple tree from the heat.  We replaced that apple tree with two apple trees, added another pear and apricot tree.  We added additional drip irrigation to the new trees. If you are looking for a good drip system I recommend this company. Here is their website: http://www.dripdepot.com/drip-irrigation-kits

One of our peach trees, Harvest Best, gave us a great crop. In fact, we had to prop up the tree it was so heavy with fruit!  The peaches were so sweet!  I sent my parents some peaches, but what they received was peach pulp!!!  I will research and figure out how to ship peaches safely and whole, not pulp.  The other two peach trees, Red skin and Alberta, will be ripening up soon. I look forward to enjoying the fruit of our labor!  At this writing, all the peaches have been gleaned off all the peach trees! Doggone critters….No respect.

There has been a lot more death this spring than in the past.  That old buzzard death has been circling and taking its prey.  Our neighbor lost a three week calf.  No sign of illness, had not been sick, but the little baby just laid down and died.  My heart ached for the momma cow. The mother cow stood watch over her baby for two days. She would not let anyone near her baby. Finally, she knew her baby was dead and walked away. 

The little critters that came to our house for an evening meal have gone for now. Some I know have been killed, we buried them.   Others I believe are busy doing their baby thing. I am reminded of school days when we were taught that spring was considered the promise of new life, after the winter of death.  Death does not take a holiday in spring. I hope to see that promise of new life soon.

At this writing, spring has transitioned, officially, into summer. We are already feeling the heat of 100 plus degrees and the heat index days of 103+ degrees. The humidity is in the 80’s which makes it most unbearable at times.  Our pond is drying up, again.  We need some rain. We are told this summer will be milder than last summer.  Sure hope this is true.  The heat takes it toll on human, animal and plant life alike. We lost some big trees to the heat of last summer.  Heat or not, our projects and work must continue. 

We need to repair some fence lines.  Build a filter system for the duck pools. Create some shade by the duck pools for the ducks.  Finally get insulated walls up on the coop.

We need to move our roof 18 inches out.  It seems when this house was built they did not attach the laundry room and kitchen to the rest of the house!  Water is leaking in when it rains, so damage is being done.  Since this is a tornado area, it would be best to get the house completely attached as one structure.  Who knows, we might get to take a ride like Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz, (hope not). I do not look forward to this project in 100 plus temperatures.

In fencing, the best fencing to keep animals in and critters out is twist wire fencing and not welded wire.  Why?  Welded wire is so easy to break apart, not the twist wire. Welded wire fencing is cheaper than twist wire fencing. We have had this fence for 5 years, without any of our 7 dogs escaping, until Sarah, our LAST rescue, came along. 

 Sarah, ‘the wonder dog,’ (a wonder she is not dead!) is two and a half years old.  She has created a new game. She calls it “don’t fence me in.”  We have a dog enclosure that covers the majority of our back yard, side yard and part of the front yard. We have over 1000 ft. of welded wire fencing.  She has found all the weaknesses in the fence. She has broken out over 6 times (now 12). Each time we think we have the problem fixed, but oops there she goes again!  I can whistle for her to come, which she does. She gets a treat for coming when I call.  My husband was so frustrated with her, that he did not give a treat, but punishment. She won’t come when he calls.  He is fixing that issue. 

Sarah is an intelligent dog. Highly intelligent, but dumber than a box of rocks, in the common sense arena!  Last year she was bitten by three, yes three, copper head snakes in less than 3 months!  She knows she is not to be outside the fenced area unless she is with us.  Each time she is caught, she puts her ears flat to her head, as if to say, “I know I am not supposed to go out, but I couldn’t help it!”  It is a game for her now. We fix the fence thinking we got her now; she escapes, laughs and says, “Look what I can do.” She can get out but she cannot get back in.  When she has done something she knows she should not do, she lays her ears flat on her head. She keeps this up her ears will stay in that position permanently. The law here is clear; the dogs must be tied up or fenced in.

I finally figured out the weakness, actually Sarah showed me, with the fence. I bought more fence clips to attach to the fence and the t-posts at the top of the fence.  I added these to the t-posts hoping I fixed the problem. But tomorrow will tell if I have or not.  If not, we will turn the dog enclosure into a maximum security lock down fence system, with turrets poised salt pellet guns to pepper her behind, along with lights and siren.  We will add the angle caps that run a piece of angle iron up and into the yard. They are at a 45 degree angle. Then on top of that, we will run barbwire and fencing. I would use Constantine wire, but I fear she would get tangled and cut up in it trying to get out and so would I trying to rescue her. So we will use fencing. This SHOULD keep the girl in. I will get back to you on that after it is done. 

 At this posting, the score is Sarah 11 me 0.  I worked on the fence for the last 6 days; thinking I got it fixed! Next morning, Sarah is out. She worked on the welded wire at the bottom of the gate. The gate is a cattle gate with fencing attached. We will change it out to a chain link gate. She managed to shred the welded wire under the gate. She shimmied out under it. I fixed it yesterday. I had to kneel down to fix it, and yes, I am covered in chigger bites and some are where the sun does not shine in the south!  This morning she escaped out of one area I thought I repaired before. I have fixed it again, this time I have 6 foot panels covering the weak area.  We will now replace the fence with twist wire fencing!!!!

I called Sarah to come this morning, after her escape, but she just looked at me, turned, with her ears flat against her head and went off down to the pond.  I went into the house grabbed the 20 gauge, thinking about peppering her behind, stepped out onto the porch and fired off a round in the air. She came running; good move on her part.  

One thing is true about farming, there is always work to be done, whether it be the animals, fences, the fields or house you can never say you are bored! 

PS: Score; Sarah 12 me 0

She got out again in a new spot.  My husband will be home tomorrow. We will fix the fence. For now, Sarah and I will be leash walking....
Sarah is NOT happy with our new arrangement. I go out with them and stay out until they are done with their business then everyone comes in. She understands and uses the word NO, quite frequently with me. My husband laughs.  She will grrrrr at me while shaking her head NO. I tell her to knock off the attitude.  She likes a lot of attention. I am not giving her as much as she desires.  Wherever I walk she walks with her head in my hand. I scratch her as we walk.

Something new to me; hog rings/pig rings.  They are exactly what you think they are. however, there is more than one use for hog rings. I thought of another use while attaching the fence and barbwire together with hog rings or pig rings.

 These come in different sizes. This I believe is the small size.

This is the pair of pliers you use to attach the hog rings.

The hog ring or pig ring fits into the groove of these pliers. Then you insert this into the pig's nose and clamp......now you cannot tell me the pig does not feel the clamping of this ring! You have to put a little muscle into clamping these closed.

I was thinking; imagine this was the only way to get something pierced. Do you think you would see as many piercings on a person via this method? Of course, I am talking about no numbing medicine. Take the piercing like a pig or hog! As the saying goes, no pain no gain! Just a wondering thought of my mind.

Ready for part 2???