Chapter 53...Baby Calves And Culverts

Off Grid...Chapter 53 Monday 3-16 Well today is another not so nice day. Mike and I have been looking at new and used trucks for months. We wanted to get a 4 door 4x4 but the costs are insane. We've decided to keep the jeep and just fix it up. We ordered a hard top for the Jeep in hopes that our ride will be quieter. We also made an appointment to take the jeep to the dealer to fix the Park. We haven't had park for months. Later we went over to Jimmy's to pay him for a gravel delivery about a month ago. On our way out of the property we noticed that one of the cows just gave birth. This is our first baby of the year. He/she was just born Mama cleaning him Isn't he/she adorable? This little guy is only about an hour old. We were so close to seeing the birth. I hope we can catch one of the other cows giving birth. That would be cool. Back on the road. After Jimmy's we went to town and got the oil changed on the jeep and that was our big outing, lol. Tuesday 3-17 It's a little cool out so we went into the bigger town and got 2 new front tires for the Jeep. While we were there Mike asked if they had an extra tire to use for cleaning out our culvert. The young man gave Mike a small tire. Wednesday 3-18 We are off to work on the front gate and the culvert. First we went down to the entrance gate. The cement is dry so Mike starts to tighten the barbed wire, but not so tight that it moves the pole. All the wires are snug. Our entrance gate is done. All we need now is a sign. No Trespassing. Next we go up to the barn to pick up some rebar for clearing the culvert. We have one 20 ft piece and one 10 ft piece. Since it is too long for the car I walk the rebar up to the culvert. This our plan of attack and hopefully it all works. First we will connect the 2 pieces of rebar together to make a 30 ft section. Then we will connect a string to one end of the rebar and push all 30 ft of rebar and string through the culvert. After we get that through we will attach a chain to the string and pull the rebar back out. Then we can attach one end of the chain to the tire and hopefully pull the tire through the culvert using the tractor. Sounds easy right? Mike attaching string to one end of the rebar. Next we start to push the first 20 feet of rebar through the culvert and all the muck. While I bang the rebar Mike twists it at the same time. I am using a rock to bang the rebar because we forgot the hammer. We get the first piece of rebar in. Yeah. Now we have to attach the second rebar to the first. Mike is clamping them together. We start banging and twisting again but the clamps keep slipping off. We have to pull the rebar back out of the culvert and go up to the building to find something that will work better. We come back down and wrap some rubber tape around the rebar and then Mike re clamps the bars together and duct tapes it. Hopefully this will keep it from slipping. We try again and this time I am using a real hammer, lol. It starts slipping again. This is not going to work. We drive to David's to pick up some U-bolts. These should work better than the clamps. We get back and pull the rebar back out of the muck. Mike connects the U bolts. They are both on. Finally we get the rebar through to the other side. Woo hoo. Now we have to get longer chain. That will have to be for tomorrow. On our way back to the house we see the cows. We walk up to look for the baby. Here is Mike trying to get the calf used to us. Today was a long and frustrating day but we got it done. Thursday 3-19 It is too cold out to work on the culvert. Friday 3-20 Happy Spring. Yeah it is finally here. It's sunny out but still cold so we went to town to pick up the chain and some rope. Saturday 3-21 Time to work again. Back down to the culvert this time with the tractor. Now we have 30 feet of rebar inside the culvert. We are going to attach the rope to the rebar, pull it back through the pipe, and take out the rebar. Here is Mike in the ditch attaching the rope. After we get the rebar out we attach the chain to the rope and pull that through. Trying to get the rebar out. We still have rope that we need to pull out before we get to the chain. We keep trying but the rope isn't strong enough. We keep snapping the rope so we add another piece. Finally we get the rebar out. We go to the other side and hook the chain to the tire. Now we are where we need to be. The tire is hooked up. All we have to do is use the tractor to pull the chain and the tire through the culvert. If we do this a few time we should be able to clear the culvert. Unfortunately the tractor doesn't have enough power. Now we have the tire stuck inside the culvert along with a 30 foot chain. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and call someone for help. We will have to have Jimmy come with his backhoe and see if he can get the tire through. If not we will have to dig up the whole culvert. Mike and I really tried to get this job done and it just really stinks that we couldn't finish it. Lets just hope it doesn't rain before we can clear the culvert. On the brighter side the wild Turkeys have Spring Fever, lol. We watch the show every evening with the males fanning out their feathers. I guess it is part of their mating ritual. Sunday 3-22 It is beautiful out. Mike spent the day cleaning the building. It is a disaster again becasue it just becomes the store all for everything when we work. While Mike was doing that I aired out the house and cleaned. After dinner the cows came out in front of the house. Mike, Niki(on a leash this time), and I walked out to get the baby used to us. We try to spend a little time each day just getting close to the calf. That was our exciting week, lol. The best part for me was the baby calf. Lisa

Chapter 51...We Hit The Mailbox & Replacing Gates

Off Grid...Chapter 51 It is a great morning and I have a "real story" to tell. Woo hoo. Monday 3-2 We woke up to beautiful blue skies and 10 inches of snow on the ground. I can't believe that was only last week. First thing that morning Mike went up to clean off our solar panels. After that I went outside to clear a path for the "princess Niki". She will not go outside in the snow. We have to literally throw her outside and close the door. Pitiful. Next I went up top and took a couple of beautiful pictures. Here is one of all the snow and the blue skies. Another of the mountains. Later that day Nicole called and said the neighborhood lost power for a couple of hours. Mike and I are really in our own little world up here. We had no idea the power went out which for us is really awesome. Tuesday- It is sunny out and we are stranded. Wednesday- Still stranded. Thursday 3-6 Woo hoo. It's break out time. We are fearlessly, well Mike is, headed down our driveway and going to town. It's about time. We went bowling just for a little exercise, lol. We were terrible but we had fun. Next we went to Lowe's and while I was drooling over all the spring gardening supplies Mike bought stuff to make our air vent. After that groceries and home. Friday 3-7 It is a much warmer day. Mike started working on the fresh air vent for the Fireplace. He already installed the one on the inside of the house but it has taken awhile to come up with one for the outside. You can't just walk into a store and find these things. He decided to go with a thin dryer vent and he added some screen to it to keep any small "critters" out. Just checking to make sure the location is right. Drilling the first hole so he can get the jigsaw blade in. Using the jigsaw to cut the hole "to size". After he gets that hole cut and out Mike has to cut the insulation out. Putting the vent on. Now we just have to paint it. Here is the vent from the inside. Now we finally have a fresh air vent that works for the propane and the fireplace. Just in time for Spring when we won't need it, lol. Saturday 3-7 Oh what a beautiful day. I'm going to have to hold Mike back so he doesn't kill us today. This is the day we have been waiting for. Woo hoo. First we have to stop at David's, the Farm Supply, to pick up some supplies. We picked up a couple of poles. One for the mailbox that Mike ran into and one for the entrance gate. We also got some quick mix concrete and I got peat moss and coarse vermiculite for my garden. Yippee, it's almost time for gardening. I can't wait. When we got back home the front gate was open which means Howard is inside feeding the cows. We pulled in and Howard and his friend, Norman, were by the barn so we stopped and talked for awhile. Everyone is feeling good today because it is warm and sunny. Howard and Norman helped Mike and I get the vermiculite and pea moss into the barn. Who knew 1 bag of peat moss was so heavy? Howard was worried about us. He said he didn't see any tire tracks from the house all week. Mike said "I told you Lisa and I don't come out when it is cold" and he wasn't kidding, lol. Now when the warm weather breaks we will bust our butts. We are hoping the cows will have babies in April. I hope Mike and I can watch at least one of them giving birth. If that happens I will get pictures. I can't wait. Next Mike and I went up to the house to load up the trailer with tools and supplies to first go work on our mailbox. It's amazing how many tools are needed for such a small job. I took the jeep and trailer down and Mike followed with the tractor. I need to learn how to drive the tractor this year. Here is the mailbox we hit. First we started digging out around the bottom of the pole. Then we attached a chain to the pole and around the tractor to pull it out. We tried to pull it out but it isn't budging. I told Mike "I think we put concrete in this hole". We dug out more and wiggled some more. Finally we got it out and there was no concrete. It was buried from the road shale. Yeah, we got it out. Next we get out the chainsaw and Mike cuts down the new pole. We put the pole in the ground and I go down to the creek and get a bucket of water. Mike starts pouring in the concrete mix while I add the water. Here I am tamping down the concrete mix. And the new mailbox is finished. Next on our list is to work on the gate to the barn(at least one side). For years and years there has been a gate and a corral gate across the entrance to the barn. It is held there by lots of rope and a couple of chains. So anytime you have to get into the barn you have to climb over the gate. Mike and I are going to undo the 2 gates, get rid of any wood and debris, and install bolts so the gate can swing open. This is what it looked like originally. We got both gates down and now Mike is pulling out some wood. Twisting the first bolt in. We put the second bolt in and installed the gate. Now it swings open. I pounded a small piece of rebar into the ground to keep the gate form swinging too hard. Much better. After that we went up to the house for lunch and a break. Mike says "let's go, we can do another job". And this is how our life is when it is nice out. So down we go to the front gate. Remember way back we tried to install a new front gate and we hit rock? Well we just left it for a nicer day and that day is here. We took our new gate off the new pole. Then we took the old gate out. Next we took off the barbed wire that was on the old pole. We are going to take the old pole out of the ground using the tractor and install the "new" pole into the same hole. Here is the new pole in the old hole. Then we installed the bolts into that pole and hung the gate. Next I had to go out to the road to turn the jeep and trailer around. Mike was very impressed that I could back up the trailer. I said "I can back it up with the jeep but I can't back it up with the 4-wheeler". We loaded the old gate onto the trailer and I headed up to the barn with it. Sunday 3-8 What another great day. We have the door open and we are sitting at the kitchen table having our coffee and listening to the birds chirp. I can't wait to be sitting out on our deck and having coffee. Oh yeah, we have to build the deck first, lol. Time to work. This time we have to go and fix the fencing that attaches to the pole for the front gate. Yesterday we did a quick fix. This old fence goes from the gate pole down the hill, across the creek, and up the hillside. This is what the old fencing and wiring looks like. And. The old poles in the creek weren't even buried. They were being held up by the gobs of wire. We took it all out. Next Mike pounded in 2 T-posts, one on each side of the creek, in a straight line with the gate pole. Here I am "miss redneck in brown"(I mean no offense to anyone). Mike says "he owed me because I've taken bad shots of him for all of you to see, lol." I am putting in the eye bolts to hold the barbed wire. When you work with barbed wire you have to put on your worst clothes because you usually end up ripping them. The eyebolts are in the pole and the fencing is attached. We forgot to bring the barbed wire stretcher down. Back up to the house for a short break and to pick up the stretcher. Here is Mike with the stretcher on the pole and the wire pulled through it. The new fencing is tight and across the creek. Next we go up to the barn and get a pole. Mike cuts it down and we wedge it into the ground under the wire. This time we want to keep the cows "in". On our way back up to the house we unload the trailer into the burn pile. It's going to start growing really fast now. Back at the house Mike "finally" put on our 2nd screen door. We really only use the one door so we weren't worried about it. Now with the nice weather I want to keep the house open as much as we can. After dinner Mike, Niki, and I went for a walk. As we walked one of our easier sections we talked about clearing some big branches and some downed trees to make a nice walking path. Ah more work for our list. We love the outside work. I hope this next week is as good as this past week. It felt great to be back outside and working. I hope you all enjoyed our story.  Lisa