Weekend this n' that

The weather FINALLY stayed nice for a few days, and I was able to play more catch-up outside, YAY. I managed to get the tire changed on the JD, but of course I lost that silly little C clip that holds the wheel on. Next week I'll have to go to the dealer and get one if the neighbor doesn't have one in the stack 'o parts he has laying around. I still have to get a battery for it, but that has to wait too, as does a battery for the LowBoy. I'm in no real rush for either, I have far more important things to do than mow grass.

The weather finally managed to draw out the neighbor boys on their little 4-wheelers. I love watching them ride those things, they have this constant smile that you just can't resist.

Of course, their dad and his buddies had to give them a shot, which is hilarious since they're all pretty big guys. I had to sneak a shot of them, it's just too funny NOT to.

I walked over for a visit and asked about borrowing the wood chipper/shredder that belongs to his one buddy. He asks if I want to buy it, and I tell him I'm broke, so we work out a deal. He's trading me the chipper for making him a brooder for some turkey chicks. That works great for me since I have all kinds of lumber sitting in the garage that I wanted rid of. It's an older Sears/Craftsman model, but it still works great. It only has one small problem, which is just a bent bracket on the loading chute, but that's an easy fix that I'll attack some time this week.

Iwheeled it across the field, and started to see what it can do. It has adjustments on the blades to set it for either a heavy mulch, a fine almost sawdust, or anywhere in between. I set it at it's finest setting and ran part of the pile through it. Oh yea....this thing may be a bit old, but it still works like a charm.

The stuff on the top of this pile is REALLY fine, almost like sawdust. I ran more of the really old dead pine through it and managed to get 2 wheelbarrow loads in about 10 minutes. That first load went straight to the chicken coop. I still want to get more straw since I used the last of what we had on Friday, but like everything else, it has to wait. I found someone local who has straw at $3.50 a bale, which is HALF of what the garden center wants, and $2 less than the feed store. They have a minimum of 10 bales, so I'm going to check with my friend Tammie to see if they want to go in half on a load.

She stopped over here on Friday and brought us some tarragon and loveage for the herb garden, and Lisa gave her some aloe. She also brought over one of her doe rabbits to see if my buck would breed with her. Apparantly her buck needs to watch the same how-to video that I had to show mine, lol. She wasn't gone 3 minutes and he "got busy", hahaha. About 2 hours later, I'm still working outside and in pulls Tammie again, this time in the truck with a load of raspberry canes for us. Those silly plants just jumped right out of the ground and into the truck while they were all fishing at a local lake! Who knew raspberries could do that?? Next thing ya know I'll have alien pods growing in the flowerbeds....lol.

Yesterday I got a good start on tilling the garden, but I was about to run out of gas and it started to rain. Now the forecast calls for rain for the next 3 days, arrrgh. Ah well, I'll get it finished later in the week when the rain clears up, and we can hopefully start some planting next week.

The young birds are doing just fine in their new home outside. I have to get them a bigger feeder since they pick the tray feeder clean twice a day, but for now I'm just using a hanging bird feeder. It's funny to watch the hens when I feed the young birds, they jam their heads through the fencing to see what the young girls are getting. You just KNOW that the seed is always better on the other side of the fence, LOL.

Today I'm spending the day inside, doing house-hubby duties. I'll do the laundry, dishes, sweep, find something to make for dinner, and spend some time downstairs. I have to put away the rest of the fishing gear I found in the garage, and find a home for all the magazines and books that I brought down from upstairs. I'll look throught the usual job-seeking websites, and make a few calls just to check. I *may* have a line on a job, but I have to wait to hear since they are working nights for a week, and he's asleep during the day. If this one doesn't pan out, I'm going to leave the trade alltogether and find something new. We'll just have to see what happens.........