Keeping Busy June 2nd to June 11

 

Friday, June 2nd I got the 584 tractor hooked up to the trailer with the syrup arch on it, and I pulled it into the barn so it would not be in the yard anymore. In the kitchen at home, I labeled zip-lock bags with my different sunflower types and put paper towel in them. I put a few seeds in each bag and soaked the paper towel and then set them aside, so they would germinate. Unfortunately only 12 of my 64 seeds I planted came up, so I am germinating them above ground to see if the seeds are bad. I have 30 different types of seeds that I put in bags, so it will be cool to see all of them when they bloom in a few months. I filled up the water tank at the farm for the steers. We went on a long side by side ride around a few blocks. We saw 6 woodchucks, 8 deer, 11 rabbits, and 1 coon. I fed the steers with the cow 

Saturday, June 3rd dad and I put up the last 25 bales of hay which had been sitting on the hill side. Dad worked on putting together a stand for the arch so we can get it turned around. He used scrap steel from behind the shop which were some massive drill/auger shafts. He used the 784 to run the generator/welder which runs off the PTO. Dad backed the arch on the trailer out of the barn and then backed it into the barn so he could use the 584. Dad later went and got the livestock trailer and brought it to the farm. We got a path cleared from the small pen to the trailer and then we loaded Elly (cow 103) and her bull calf onto the trailer. We brought them down to the pasture where we let them out. That calf was running back and fourth all day enjoying the open space. I later pulled the elevator out of the barn mow and put it in the grass by the hay field. I closed up the barns because there was a chance of rain today which never ended up coming. We had a couple grad parties to go to, so we got a little break. 

Sunday, June 4th I woke up and the cow was bellering looking for her calf. Her calf being only 11 days old is still small. I used my drone to look for the little black spot in the tall grass. Once I found it, I went and walked out along the fence and looked for the calf in the tall grass around where I saw it. I had walked right past it once without seeing it because it was bedded down in the grass so well. I got it up and everything was just fine with it, so I moved out of the taller grass and the cow saw it and calmed right down. At the farm, I began to pitch all the poop out of the small pen. I made a heaping pile and used the loader to fork it up and put it on the compost pile. I had to get the other 3 forks on the loader to do this. It took me over an hour and half to get it all cleaned. I filled water tanks while I pitched poop at the farm. I later went back to the shack where dad had been all morning. He had taken all the fire brick out of the old arch and the insulation too. I helped him take down the chimney and stack and then we also took off the base of it on the arch in the shack too. We later had another grad party to go to, so we got another break. 

Monday, June 5th I used the 584 tractor and hooked up to the sap wagon with totes and filled them up with water at the house. Mel and I went and watered the trees along the crick that had been planted almost 2 months ago. We used the hoses hooked to the totes and just emptied the water onto the trees. I had bought some sunflowers and gerbera daisies this morning and arranged them in a big mason jar with some wild flowers from around the farm. I did this because one of the people I would bring flowers to passed away, so this was my way of bringing them their last jar of sunflowers. Mrs. Dryer was a really nice lady and when talking with her family today at the viewing, they all thought I did not exist. Mrs. Dryer would always call them when I would bring flowers and she would say the flower boy stopped by. They all thought she went and bought herself flowers every week, so that was kind of funny. Later tonight I planted a big majority of the sunflowers I had started in bags into the garden. Melanie helped me make lines with the string and stakes and making holes in the dirt to place the sprouts in. We covered them with dirt and then lightly watered them. I filled water tanks with 250 gallons of water tonight as well. 

Tuesday, June 6th dad trimmed up the tree branches on the maple tree at the farm which were low hanging and in the way. Mom cleaned more of the inside of the farm house. Mel and Paige went out to the edge of the field and put the burn barrel in the back of the side by side and put it on the junk pile. I filled the water tanks at the farm for the steers. Mel and Paige helped me again finish planting all the sprouted seeds. I also went around the house and dug up all the wild sunflowers that the birds had planted, so they wouldn't suffocate one another and fight over the ground. I transplanted them into the garden and then watered everything again. In total, I have 113 sunflower seeds/plants I have in my part of the garden. 14 of which were transplanted, 14 were started in the greenhouse, and the other 85 were the seeds in the bags. I know I will lose some because that's just the way it works. I still have room to plant a bunch more for the next group of sunflowers. 

Wednesday, June 7th dad worked on trimming up some more tree branches along the fence line where the new pasture is going to be. Mel and Dad worked on pressure washing off the peeling paint on the trim around the garage doors, so they can be repainted. Paige and I put a conibear out at the crick behind the farm where dad found some big holes. Me and Paige drove over to the back hay field and found a decent sized snapping turtle in the path, so we picked it up. It was crossing from the lake over to the crick. We checked the other holes at the hay field and they were not active, so we came back to the farm with the turtle. We showed dad and then we went and relocated him in the swamp. When we got back, me and my sisters went for a bike ride around the block which was over 5 1/4 miles trip. I made breakfast for dinner for everyone and then filled water tanks for the cows.

Thursday, June 8th I went to work early and got home at 12:30. I got my tractor started and backed out the hay wagon that was hooked to it and put it in the yard. I hooked up to the hay wagon in front of the broken square baler and pulled it out into the driveway. I unhooked the 766 from the round baler which meant unhooking the electronics, hydraulics, PTO shaft, and pulling the pin. I drove the 766 out into the driveway, and then I then went up to the house with the 584 and sap wagon and unhooked it by the tin barn. I went to hook up to the corn planter in the tin barn, but because the hitch was too low on the tractor, I was unable to jack down the planter all the way, so I had to go up to the farm on the mini bike and get a bottle jack. I got back and jacked up the planter and took the corn planter's jack off and then lowered the bottle jack until the planter was resting on the drawbar. I brought it up to the farm and then I had the girls help me move everything out of the way where the corn planter goes. After that was done, I backed the planter into the barn and had Mel watch the back to tell me when to stop. I jacked it up with the bottle jack, put the jack on it and then unhooked and set it down. I put a block under the right side because that tire tends to go flat, so that helps hold the planter up. I brought the baler up to the house using my baler and backed it into the tin barn. I unhooked it and then came up to the farm where I hooked up to the hay rake and I backed it up to the shop. I blew off all the dust and hay and dirt and then brought it up to the house and put it in front of the baler. I brought my tractor back up to the farm and then backed the 766 into the barn in front of the round baler and then I pushed the hay wagon I pulled out back into the barn and then put the other one in front of that. I pulled my tractor in sideways by the 766 and then put the 584 and 784 in the barn in front of the planter. Dad worked back in the woods behind the farm getting tree tops gathered up to be cut and used for firewood. All the tops came from when they logged off the woods a few years ago. The girls went around the trails in the woods and trimmed up branches with the nippers. I filled a water tank down at the pasture for the cows. There were chances of rain tonight and this weekend, but they are disappearing.

Friday, June 9th my sisters and I watered our garden and once we were done, our neighbor down the road, Mr. Foy, gave me a call asking for some help with his bus. He has an old bus that he stripped down and rebuilt into a motor home. It was a 1947 Flxible Clipper bus. He needed help getting a hitch on it, so I headed over with my sisters. It was a bit more difficult that the two of us thought, but thanks to my sisters they helped out and put bolts through while we held the hitch up under the bus. We went to Lowell for some stuff and then came home. We went on a side by side ride tonight and saw 6 coons along the way and many deer. 

Saturday, June 10th I went over to my neighbor's house, Jamie Poll, and started weed wacking along his electric pasture fence. I spent a while there cutting down the tall grass and thorn bushes that were along the fence. After 5 hours of that, I went over to our other neighbor's house, watered their garden. While I was watering the garden there, I stepped on a bumble bee, right on the ball of my foot. I'm not allergic, but my foot swelled up and got hard like a rock for a little bit. While I was away this morning, dad got the arch turned around on the trailer. He used straps to hold up one end with his stand he made, and then used the loader to lift the back side. While this thing was hanging in the air, he used the 584 to pull the trailer around and back it under it again. He got it set down and all was good. The arch when it was on the trailer was backwards because to get it off we have take it off the way it went on and that would put the firebox at the other end of the shack where it's not supposed to be. The trim around the garage doors at the farm were repainted white as well by Mel. 

Sunday, June 11th we got some rain for the first time in over a month, so it was slow day and a time to relax.