Winter is coming.

Due to my hectic work schedule we have decided to get ready for winter a little earlier than usual.  I tend to wait until the first hard freeze and then scramble to get every thing done.  I had to just call it quits on the barn roof.  I will hit it hard early next summer and see what I can do.   Jason came over and we got to work.  Annmarie had three requests, put the tools away in the barn for the roof, pull the irrigation pump out of the front creek and fix the electric fence on the back hillside and put it away.  I just wanted to get all the little things done so we could go fix some fence.  

There was a lot of stuff done.  The back yard maple tree got trimmed so it no longer touches the house.  The shrub by the back gate got trimmed so it doesn't attack you on your way to the wood shed.  The front creek water pump got pulled out and the dam removed from the creek.  I sawed down two volunteer trees that had sprouted over the summer and were growing where they should not.  We finished the stainless steel cutting table, shortened the legs and put in cross braces so it would not fall down again.  We did go up on the back hillside and repair four places in the electric fence and folded it all up and put it away in the woodshed.  I was going to put the solar charger unit in the wood shed also, but the instructions say to turn it off and place it in the sun so it can keep charging through the winter.  It ended up on the back porch of the old house so it can get some sun, who knew.  We cut a piece of 1 inch plywood to go under the plastic box on the trailer.  The bottom of the box was sagging due to the tie downs and chains inside.  I crawled up onto the barn roof and finished screwing down the temporary cover over the other cupola hole, then removed the safety ropes for the winter.   I snagged a couple of pieces of tin that we forgot about last week.  We drug the old grain cracker over to the chicken coop with the tractor.  We tried to sit it up, as the wind had blown it over, but it is too heavy so the tractor had to be used for it every time.  We made a ramp out of some old lumber and I pushed it into the old chicken coop with the tractor.  It is out of the weather now.  I am still not sure what we are going to do with it.   

We loaded all the tools up onto the trailer and drove around to the old house.  I put every tool back in its spot while Jason unloaded it.  We then threw all the scrap tin and wood onto the trailer.  We even threw the old wood pile next to the chicken coop, been there for 6 years onto the trailer.  On our way back to the barn we picked up three more scrap metal piles out of the barn lot and scrap wood.  We unloaded the good wood into the barn and the rest went onto another burn pile in the barn lot.  I really need to burn this winter, so here's to some snow or a really wet week.  We unloaded the scrap metal onto our scrap pile.  The scrap pile is getting big, Jason will be working on that in the next few months to make it go away.  I will have to plan a day to take the tires and plastic pipe and fence to the dump also. 

 We drug over three metal cow feeding panels to the other side of the barn lot fence with the tractor and set up a feeding area for the cows.  I think that they can turn their heads sideways and get through the slots with their horns.  Time will tell, and they won't be able to get away fast so I anticipate some cow nose scratching going on.  We emptied the spray out of the mule and parked it in the lamb shed.  We cleaned out the tack room, hung two different hangers inside, we repositioned the counters and got rid of one piece.  They are all lined up and ready for countertop.  We sprayed some more weeds before putting the mule away.  We parked the tractor inside the old lamb shed.  I even remembered to move the large cable from the front of the barn to the side so Annmarie can groom the horses at the front of the barn using the tie outs we installed.  It was a pretty productive day.  We never did get to that fencing.