Yes we need the rain, but I’m glad for the respite. I re-did
get the door between the hen house, and the run, and used a slide bolt to keep
it up. I had to use washers for spacers (taken from some roofing screws). I
figured it wouldn’t stay up by itself, but since it was I thought well maybe.
Wrong. It blew down twice. I was supposed to get something at the Mercantile
when I got hay, but of course I forgot. I found a slide bolt in one of Rudy’s
little trays, and that did the trick. Then I got out some Thompson’s, and
coated the run door, the framing, and the first door going into the hen house.
That should do for the hen house until I buy some wood for the framing I want
to do around the tin. Yea for that.
So what else have I been up to? Riding maybe, no such luck.
Besides working on the hen house, I got the mower out, and have been mowing
taking advantage of the dry weather. The last two years have killed us just
when I was getting grass to grow. Then last year when the mower wasn’t working,
all my hard work trying to encourage grass, and not weeds to grow, really
messed things up. I was getting the weeds under control, now this year I have
tons of weeds again (mostly sunflowers). It’s not as bad as it could be, I
actually have patches of grass growing without weeds where before you couldn’t
find hardly any grass let alone whole patches of it.
The arena is a total loss. There are hardly even any weeds
growing. When Katie’s horses were here I had them in the arena for a while.
They ate what was growing in the arena down to the roots. That followed by
drought, and the arena is mostly just dirt. Oh well, I’ll just start putting
manure in it again to try to get some grass growing. Then too it’s still early,
and it may recover some yet this year. More than anything else I have anthills.
All of a sudden this year I have huge anthills popping up everywhere. Some of
them are killing my trees. I got rid of the one in Ser-Haat’s stall, but now
there are dozens more. I’m afraid I’m going to have to get some ant killer. I
don’t like doing that, but I’m afraid I’ll have no choice.
I also did some drainage repair. Lizzie, and Marina’s stalls
weren’t draining (again). I have to do this every year it seems. Of course if I
had a tractor it would be no problem. No I did it the old fashioned way with a
fork, and rake. I needed the exercise anyway. Then I had to build up the dirt
for the gate into the arena. I couldn’t get the mower in, so I dug up some dirt
around the rails, and threw it into the gate area. There’s a lot more work to
be done, but even if I did nothing but maintenance I wouldn’t get it all done.
I’m not willing to give up riding so I’ll do a bit (like stall cleaning or
mowing), and then ride a bit, or vice versa. The days are perfect. There’s a
nice breeze keeping things cool making it perfect for riding or working. I
really need to ride though. I haven’t been on a horse since the whole chicken
affaire. Star needs to be worked before she’s forgotten what I’ve taught her.
Not that I think she’ll forget, she just needs as much practice as possible if
I’m to get her solid under saddle before winter hits. I also need to get Stormy
started. I’m not sure about Ser-Haat. I don’t know if I can start him. Everyone
says I’m a great rider, but I’m not as confident about my abilities. We’ll see,
I’ve got a lot more to do before I attempt Ser-Haat. Hot as he is, he’s been so
good about letting me do things with him so long as I take it slow. Who knows I
may get brave, and attempt to start him myself foolish child that I am.
Woodcutting is also high on the to do list. After messing
with the hen house this morning I was going to go riding. I started out, and of
course it started sprinkling. Change of plans. It wasn’t raining hard, and
that’s really the best time to go out cutting wood. It’s hard work, and the
cool breeze, and light rain really feels good. I went to the tree in the back
of the property that blew down last winter. I still had the main trunks, and
some medium sized branches I could harvest. I already had the chain saw
batteries charged up in anticipation of just such an opportunity. I cleaned all
the branches off the main trunks, and cut one trunk into two pieces. I may have
gotten a bit stronger, but not that strong. By the time I finished, the gator
was pretty much full. I was going over to another old piece when it started
raining a bit more. I opted to take a break under a nice full tree. After a bit
Pena came over to join me. I guess she felt the same way. The boys have so much
fur they didn’t even know it was raining I’m sure. Bree went up to the house so
it was Pena, and I under the tree. The rain felt good, but that was no reason
to get sopping wet, besides these rains never last that long. When it cleared
up I looked at the tree trunk, and decided that my little chain saw just wasn’t
quite big enough, then too I wouldn’t have enough juice left in my battery to
finish the job. Back at the house I got all the wood cut into lengths except
for two logs. I also found a hitch hiker. I picked up one of the logs only to discover a baby lizard cling to it for dear life. We have two fat lizards in the garden so I figured they could use a little one to help keep them from over eating. Hopefully he will stick around. It was after 4:00 by then, and I was just a wee bit tired. I feed at 5:00 so that gave me a little time
to rest before having to feed. Once at the barn I noticed that Penny had pushed
the panels into Ser-Haat’s stall again. Good thing he’s a skinny little thing.
I pulled out the long chain threw it in the gator, and when I finished feeding
everyone, I wrapped the chain around the last panel, and pulled it straight
with the gator. Wouldn’t you know right there, there was actually some nice
green grass growing. Well now there’s nice green grass with some tire spin
marks interspersed.
I still want to ride, I still have mowing to do, and
then there are always stalls to do. Everyone needs grooming. They just all had
to sunbath in the mud. Ibn is the worst. He rolled, and squirmed until he was
completely covered in mud on both sides. Then everyone’s feet are all packed
with mud so they all need to be cleaned out. I love the rain being desert
raised, but it sure makes for a lot of work. The one good thing is Jeri is no
longer peeing in his stall (thank you Lord for that). I put in a layer of wood
pellets (which he tried to eat of course), and he just stopped. His stall is
nice, and dry the way it’s supposed to be. Now if I could get Lizzie to stop
peeing, and pooping in her stall, good luck with that. It’ll never happen!
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