Northern Nevada Spring

Overnight got ugly at 34 degrees at 5:30am and just about 32 degrees at 6:30am.  The good news is that we didn't quite get to freezing, I think.  So far no damage and the temp is going up this week so we should be out of the danger zone.  Of course, this is Nevada so no guarantees.

Lilacs blooming
Large fruited crabapple blooming
Climbing roses in the front of the house really taking off this year
Populars, willows, fruit trees all getting leaves
grapes just starting to leaf out

Pulled one of the rhubarb to give some to Linda.  I am transplanting it to the fruit tree area anyway.  It was deeper than I thought and it has massive roots sort of  like yams.

We got the gates hung for the veggie garden driveway.  Nice.  We got the short piece of fence up that keeps the dogs out of the veggie garden on the far side of the horse shed.

We long lined the little horse on Wednesday.  We did pretty good.  He didn't want to turn left so I bopped him on the right shoulder.  That worked to give him the idea and after the third time he was no problem at all.  He likes trotting and I can't wait to get him into the cart so he can get a more exercise.  Hubby also drove him around the yard.

Also, on Wednesday, Hubby got the south side of the veggie garden rototilled.   Next week he should do the new north side area.  We went down by the river and got some materials for the horse hitchin' posts.  We found several old cedar fence pieces and that will make a nice rustic looking hitching post and then we got some cottonwood branches so we could make the crosspieces.  Fun!

Linda says she'll help teach me to lunge him.

Way windy yesterday so after getting the gates done we quit and had a nice rest of the day off in the house.

Wire

The non-climb fence wire is going up.  One short panel and one long panel that was kind of complicated since it had to wrap around a corner and be fit onto where the shed is - DONE!  Yeah!!

We have one more short panel and some plywood to get up.

The little guy is coming home on Thursday.

We got the final short wire panel up and decided to call it a day.  Tomorrow we will get the plywood up and then we are looking good.

Three Days of Buying and Building

We agreed to buy this trailer for Wiseguy to ride home in.  It has a bit of rust but Hubby says it is quite serviceable.  We had to buy a wire adapter for it.  Don't ask how much it cost with 2 day shipping!

Hauling cement...

Opening cement bags....

And mixing cement was a large part of our three days of building.

We took time out to have Hubby meet the horse in person and look at the trailer.  Wiseguy was so cute.  He wanted to trot everywhere on his lead rope but walked when asked.  His trot is so slow that if I stride, he trots:)  Hubby really likes my little guy.

Hubby notched the corner posts for cross pieces using his one of his chainsaws.  He loved it.

The cross pieces are up and the X brace wires are on and twisted tight.  

The gate is up and you can see the top rails are going on.

More later.

Only One Day Off

Hubby is only getting one day off this week.  I love the overtime money but in the springtime it is rough since we have a lot to get done between now and May 1st.  We ran errands.  First, we went to Starbucks.  Then, Lowe's to pick up the gates we ordered.

The 14 foot gate stuck way out of the trailer so we put red flags on it.  We also picked up posts, 2x6's, an old work electrical box and a package of 9volt batteries.

I had a coupon for Burger King and I love those Whopper with Cheese burgers.  Haven't been in months since I only go if I make it to Fernley or Fallon.  Then, we tried to stop by the feed store in our town but it was gone.  Didn't actually surprise me since the new owner was quite the character.  Read:  Clearly drinks a lot.  We had to drive to Dayton.  Hay was outrageous at almost $18 a bale for alfalfa and grass hay.  Still, we were getting low on alfalfa so we bought 2 bales and, since I am bringing a little horse home pretty soon, we bought one bale of grass hay.  At least they were heavy bales of good quality hay.  Hubby dragged them off the truck and into the hay shed.

We drove the horse pen supplies around through the veggie garden and parked near the work area.  The new garden set up is making it easy to use a truck and trailer in the garden.  Obviously, once the veggies are planted, we are done doing that until late fall.  This will be nice for bringing in manure, if we get around to it this year.

We got the lynch pin of the horse fence in.  It is the corner post for the reinforced corner where we will be hanging the six foot gate.

We got the last rafter up and the back trim board.  We seem to be moving right along on this project and we need to be.  We have to be hauling that little horse to our house in about 2 weeks.

A little taste of spring.  The pie cherry tree is blooming.  The ground squirrels and birds generally get the cherries, if we get anything at all.  So far, no late frost in the picture.  I have bird netting but I'll have to do it up tight on the bottom to keep the ground squirrels from stealing from us this year.

Horse Paddock and Shelter Underway

First we adjusted the string lines using a tape measure.  Yesterday we just paced it out.

The final dimension heading north/south is 30 feet.

The final dimension heading east/west is 31 feet,

We gathered the tools and supplies.  Set up a hose for water.  Hubby dug the first post hole.  Really dry this year with no moisture after about a foot so we had to add water to the hole to moisten it up for digging.  Otherwise the sand runs out the bottom on each shovel full.

We got the corner post in place and then went off to  make sure we were getting the watering and other chores done.

We got two more posts in, went in for lunch and a nap and got back to work.  Finally, all four posts were in the ground snuggled by cement.  Final size of the horse shed?  7 feet by 7 feet - 6 feet tall in the back - 8 feet tall in the front.  Yeah seems kind of small but remember, it is a miniature horse and should be adequate. We picked up our tools, completed the afternoon chores.

Hubby took a few minutes to file the wire around the hand hole in the fencing.  His new chain set up is clearly visible.   We now have one handed gate opening and closing where we used to have to use two hands to wrap the chain all the way around the post and back into a slot on the gate.  Nice!!!

I'm dog tired and can't wait to cook dinner, finish the last load of laundry and sit on the couch to watch American Idol.  Oh yeah, they definitely sent the right girl home last week.  I thought she would keep doing those Disney-rama type songs and that would get really old fast.  She seemed like a nice person, though.  Could you believe that Germaine had warrants outstanding and had to get kicked off the show?  Geez!

A Productive Day

Rusty is telling that goat.  When the dogs are outside the fence the goats kind of play with him but when the gate opens the goats run up onto the goat toy and safety.  Goats are pretty smart.

Yesterday was incredibly productive.

We got a pine post in for a hose guard in the veggie garden.  We treated it with old motor oil so the termites wouldn't like the taste of it.  We have wetland termites around here.

We staked out the horse pen.  It will be 33 feet by 38 feet.  The shed will be 7 feet by 7 feet.  We are working out the final details on the fence so that I can get a materials list going.  Hubby will have to drive me to the home improvement store to pick up materials.  Maybe when we go pick up the gates we ordered.

Speaking of gates, we called over to the feed store and tried to get the last two gates we needed but they didn't have gates in the size we wanted [14 foot and 6 foot] that matched the four foot wide gates we already purchased.  They had a different brand that they claim is the same color but they seemed pricey so....I did what all great shoppers do .... I went online.  I found a match at a box store in the next town north of us.  It is about a 25 mile drive.  I had to order them to be delivered to the store.  The gates will be in about April 3rd so I want to have a materials list done so we can pick up fence posts and boards at the same time we get the gates.

We'll take the trailer to pick up our items.  The trailer has been a fantastic investment and we got such a good deal.  The neighbor, who is really good at building trailers, helped us build it at cost plus us a few hundred dollars in labor.  The trailer pulls really nicely and has helped us get wood for the fire, hay for the goats, take hunting gear for the annual hunting trip and helped us haul manure in for the garden.  You can't beat that.

Hubby repaired the old wheelbarrow which has been a pain in the behind for a long time.  The bearings keep popping out of the socket then you have to tip it over and pound the darn things back into the holes.  He took the wheel off, moved it forwards and put a couple of shims on it.  That also solved the other problem where the wheel would rub on the wheelbarrow when you had a load in it.  Yeah!!!!!

He repaired the large ax and then oiled the handles for the rakes and shovels and such.

We staged the fence posts to finish up cross fencing and gate areas and it looks like we have just enough.

I helped Hubby cement in another fence post.  This one is sort of  in front of the greenhouse and will have a four foot man gate on it to get into the driveway into the back area.  It will only open out since the greenhouse corner sort of blocks it but it allows for maximum backing in and protects the greenhouse from getting backed into.  The greenhouse windows are very expensive and they are hard to replace so I sure don't want a disaster like backing a trailer into it.

Hubby also moved the 4x4's for the horse shed to the area where we are building the shed.  He moved the roll of wire that was blocking the greenhouse door.



Just for fun, Hubby went ahead a worked on one of his chainsaws while I took a nap on the couch.

I e-mailed my horse driving trainer and she hasn't gotten back to me.  I wonder if she is dumping me as a client?

Re-configuring the Veggie Garden Headers and Then Some

I got the old header line out of the garden.  It is right where the south row of the new  silver buffalo berries is.  You can't see the hedge very well.  It's still young.  The new 3/4 inch line will run directly from the faucet just outside the green man gate, up the west side of the veggie garden to the center pathway.  Of course it all has to be configured with a filter, pressure regulator and two timers, one for the south side of the veggie garden and one for the north side of the veggie garden.  I have to order some supplies from Dripworks.

I dragged some long, long pieces of 3/4 inch tubing that I wasn't using from the back acreage and placed them on the left or west side of the garden.  They run about 60 or 70 feet to the center of the garden.  Twelve feet to the left of the white pipe is the new silver buffalo berry hedge that will protect the garden from the wind on the west side.  The brown rows on the left are strawberries.  They are moving although I am not positive where I am moving them to.  I have a couple of ideas.

I placed the tubing and found out I have enough used tubing to complete two 90 foot lines up the center of the garden.  One for the north side and one for the south side.  You can see my mountain of compost just inside the line for the north veggie garden section.   The new garden configuration is really nice.  There is plenty of room around the edges and up the center to maneuver a wagon, wheelbarrow or an ATV.   The center driveway is 16 feet wide.  The old Chevy truck will be able to drive in with loads of manure.  Exciting stuff.

The final garden size are two sections of about 90 feet by a little over 40 feet.  That means our rows will be 40 feet long.  Why not 50 feet?  I don't know.  This is just the way it worked out.  I think we were thinking that the flat tube would water more evenly at a shorter distance.

Flat tube will be next.  I found some that was left over from when we originally did the garden five years ago. We will definitely be seeing how far that goes before we buy more.  That stuff is expensive!  

I spent a lot of time today measuring and staking out this final garden configuration.  Then, I cleaned up the dog poop from a winter of pooping.  Yeah, if I lived in Seattle I wouldn't have this problem.  It would all melt away in the rain.  The dogs have five acres to poop on but they really like pooping on the strawberries.  As usual, I took the fencing down months ago and we just got the new fencing up a few days ago.  That always happens to me.  Hubby has a job to work and he also has to do the car repairs.  Throw in some overtime and yard stuff can get put off for quite awhile.  Fortunately, he really has tried hard to get his part done.  Fencing is one thing I just cannot accomplish. 

I took another stab at turning the compost pile and watered it some more. I moved one wagon load of compost from beyond the far side of the goat pen to the main pile. Then I watered the strawberries.   Back to forking some more compost. I cleaned out the goat shed but just left the straw in the pen.  I got them a nice thick bed of new straw. 

I picked up the hoses and such that have been laying around in the garden and brought a couple of slings of wood into the house.  Fed the dogs and cat and goats.  The goats ate their hay so fast, I threw them  a little extra.

I promised myself I wouldn't over do it today and I finally quit working for the day.  I did get a lot done but, it is spring and there is plenty more to do.  At least the veggie garden is starting to come together.  I can start planting peas on St. Patrick's Day according to local gardening lore.  That won't happen but maybe by next week I will be ready.

Really chilly today although over night temps have been well above freezing for several nights in a row the temperature just didn't go up much today.  Fortunately, I have a nice toasty fire going in the woodstove. 

It is snowing pretty good out here.  Maybe I better check the highway reports so that when Hubby calls I can let him know what is going on.  He should be off work in about 20 minutes. 

What I did on Wednesday

I moved the last grape vine that needed moving.  

I watered my mountain of compost.  The weather has been warmer and watering is getting easier since everything isn't frozen solid every morning.

I turned a bunch of the compost over the last three days so that it will be evenly moist and start cooking.

I have been digging roots out of the ground in the new horse area and the new garden area.  

I helped Hubby string up this 20 foot section of fencing on the south side of the veggie garden.

Hubby had to move the hinges on the goat pen gate to the left side because the new fencing was changing the way the closures were working.  This will be better anyway since it won't close by itself.  Imagine being a goat and arriving at your pen from dining, you have two dogs following you and you can't get in.  That sucks.

Here is the veggie garden man gate with some tasteful but reused green wire on the bottom.  That'll keep Little Penny Poo Poo out of the garden [and the compost pile!]

This is the driveway where we are installing a large gate sometime soon.  We still have to make into town to buy the gate.  I put up the short tacky fencing to keep the dogs out temporarily.

This is when I take the whole of Thursday off trying to be rested up enough to clean someone's house and hope that the trainer really does cancel on me due to an exiting miniature horse event that is in town.  So far, I haven't heard from her.  I always end up thinking I should be getting more done.  Yeah, I need therapy.  How many ladies have gotten this much heavy duty yard work done this spring?

Fencing - It's a lot of work

First we put up a string line.  The goats were fascinated.

The string line is up.

Next, Hubby digs a deep hole.

Then, he makes sure the post is in the right spot.

Finally, we mix up light weight fence post concrete in the wheel barrow.  Using a level, we concrete the post into place.

I had to put down the camera and start helping.  I use the level while Hubby shovels the concrete in.    He has already completed the other side with the crossbar for strength.

So, here it is with the man gate for the garden already in place.  We have to put about 20 feet of welded wire up on the right side but first....we have to change the gate for the goats to a left hand hinge set up.  The gate needs to open to the opposite side with the new fence set up.

We will need to put a short piece of wire on the bottom of the gate to keep our short little dog out of the veggie garden.

The big cross piece is going to have a 14 foot gate and then Hubby also wants a 4 foot man gate over by the greenhouse.  That will equal an 18 foot hole to aim at when we are backing the utility trailer into the shed/veggie garden complex.

I'll have to get some photos of the greenhouse, shade cover and long shed and driveway areas.  I am pretty proud of myself.  It has taken several years to get it all done but it looks fantastic and is working pretty much the way I wanted it to work.

Crossing my fingers that this part of the yard will be fenced on our next days off.  We shall see.

A Morning at Home

I fed the goats and the dogs this morning.  The cat showed up late and he didn't get his canned catfood.  Don't worry.  He has a mountain of dry catfood on an old table inside a shed.  I cleaned the goat pen.  Got the wet straw out of the goat shed.  Cleaned the water trough and got those cute goats some clean water.  I decided to take the goats out and let them start eating weeds.  We have just the tiniest bit of green grass coming up and I am counting on those goats to keep the cheat grass and mustard down to a minimum.  Obie, the big goat, decided to take a couple of big chunks out of my nice pine tree on the way back to the pen.  I have got to get a piece of fencing around that tree before it is completely destroyed.

I then got the seed starting materials organized.  Well, maybe organized is a pretty strong word for this mess.  I found a lot of the trays and such that I need to get things moving.  I ordered coconut coir seed starting medium but it hasn't arrived yet.  About March 15th I need to get some seeds in the dirt.  I still have to straighten out the greenhouse and get some water in the reservoir inside the greenhouse.  That keeps the moisture level up and helps even out the daytime and nighttime temps.

Hubby got one of our nice new gates up.  We still have to put wire on the bottom since I don't want the dogs in this area.  I also want to be able to keep little Penny Poo Poo locked into the backyard.  The pots and seed starting stuff are behind the wooden shed.  The shed definitely has a forward lean to it.  The wind has been eating the sand out.  Maybe we will have to jack it up and see if we can straighten it out a bit.  The wood siding is looking really dry so I either need to sand and paint or get some Thomson's Waterseal on that thing.  Painting it white with green trim would look really good and go with our color theme but I really hate to add another project on to my list so we shall see.

Here is the second gate Hubby put up.  Looks fantastic.  We have to get some wire on the bottom of this gate as well.  Penny is definitely going to be able to go right through the bottom rungs. Hubby has the T-post in place for us to get another short piece of wire up on the right side.  Looks like Rusty the Red Dog snuck into the picture.  In the background you can see my giant pile of compost.  I am running a sprinkler on it today.  I can't keep it moist enough to actually want to break down into compost since it has been too cold to run much water.  We'll be spreading it into the garden pretty soon, ready or not, and letting finish composting in the dirt.  That actually ends up working out okay for us.  

You can see the goat pen gate on the right and the shade cover/hay shed/wood shed on the left.  You can't see the greenhouse in this photo.  It is forwards from the shade cover.  The veggie garden will be well protected from dogs and goats when the fencing is finished.  The far left side is going to have a 14 foot gate and a 4 foot man gate.  When both are opened up, we will have an 18 foot wide hole to aim at when we are backing a trailer in there.  Unfortunately, when we designed the greenhouse and veggie garden, we designed a jig jog from the driveway on the side of the house into the back area.  You try to plan ahead but sometimes you just don't quite get it right!

The wind is supposed to come up later today and it is supposed to be warm.  Tomorrow is supposed to go much colder.  This is why we never get any fruit on our fruit trees.  Warm, cold, warm, cold.  Oh well.

Since the wind isn't blowing yet, I decided to take the hedge trimmer out for a spin.  I whacked and sliced and trimmed for quite some time.  Sadly, I am not done yet but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  I still have to rake and gather it all into piles for burning when we get a day that isn't windy.  I might need two days.  That's a lot of dead grass and brush out there.

Noon- Time to eat lunch, take a break, maybe get a little nap in and start all over again!

A Really Big Chainsaw

Hubby has two helpers - Rusty the Red Dog and 

Little Penny Poo Poo 

This is Hubby's new pride and joy.  It is a really big chainsaw.  He is cleaning it up.  He traded one of the neighbors for it. Hubby had a big block Chevy intake manifold and the neighbor had this saw Hubby was eye balling so one day they swapped.  Junk for junk :)   Actually, they both think they got a good deal.

Hubby now has three saws.  All Husquevarna which he seems to have taken a shine to.  He has been ordering all kinds of bits and pieces to put on the saws.  A fuel line here and an air filter there.  He said something about pistons rings and a piston borer not too long ago.  I tried to look fascinated.

What else to do on the day off?  I burned a little brush.  I cut it down yesterday and raked it into piles.  Always risky since, if the wind comes up, all that hard work of raking is for naught.  I checked the weather forecast before raking yesterday.  Fortunately, it all worked out fine.

The dogs, and the cat,were a little behind on shots.  We do the animal shots ourselves since we save a bunch of money doing it that way.  I don't like needles at all.  Hubby doesn't mind poking the animals so I hold them and he pokes them.  We will have to give the goats their shots when we get to the feed store in a few weeks.

The cat, the dogs and the goats got wormed last week.  Penny likes to eat bunnies and so does the cat.  The rabbits have tapeworms and that means the other animals can get tapeworms from eating the bunnies.  I don't even know if the goats have worms.  You are supposed to worm them every so often, just  as a precaution, I guess.

Hubby has gone over to the neighbor's house.  They are probably telling bad jokes and Hubby is telling him all about how he got that saw running.  All in all, a nice relaxing day off.

I can't help but be impatient that we aren't getting the fencing done.  The new reason is because he wants to make sure the four foot gates we are buying will really fit in a four foot hole.  I told him that they specifically said they do fit in a four foot hole including hardware.  Oh, well, maybe we will get this moving next week.  I am searching for a driving pony and I need to get this done!

Valentine's Day

So, what does a fellow do for his wife on Valentine's Day when he lives in the middle of nowhere?  Why, he traditionally stops at the Smith's Food and Drug store on his way home from work.  He buys a sweet card, gets a dozen roses and buys various chocolates and throws in some Red Vines for good measure.

He is a good worker who has managed to keep his little family fed.  He works on our cars and trucks to save us lots of money.  He builds fence and he trims goat feet.  He cuts wood to keep us warm in the winter.  He is rarely critical and tends to notice when the house looks clean.  He seems to manage to focus on what I have gotten done rather than what I haven't gotten done.

He thinks I am the most stunning creature that ever walked the planet.  I adore being adored!

Tonight we are going to cook up a big T-bone steak, a small lobster tail and some asparagus with butter, salt and pepper.  A very satisfying and romantic meal.  We cook better than most of the restaurants in the area and we eat great at less than half the price of going out.  Of course, we do have to do dishes but, hey, at least we have a dishwasher:)

I told him I was going to write about him on my blog today.  So, there you have it.  My ode to my handsome Hubby whom I love with all my heart.

Fencing

Hubby made progress on our fencing project today while I was gone.  Wonderful!  This is a project I would desperately like to finish.  We have several gates to build or buy and about 200 feet of wire to put up to finish this project up.  Maybe 400 if we refence the veggie garden area with something nicer than scraps.

I am going to try to include photos with my posts now that I have the new CoolPix camera.  I got a deal on it at Costco.  The old camera died during our hunting trip.