Monday, November 9, 2009

What's Been Goin' On

I dreamed this morning that our two preggers goats,Sweet Pea and Guinness,and our not preggers Doodah all had babies.The strange part is in the dream they were all living under my bed! All my dreams,that I remember,are weird.If my dreams ever start to come true,boy,we are in trouble for sure!
So here is the update on what we worked on while Hubby was home.He and the Boy got all the t-post in for the new pasture,but not corner post or stretcher post.Hubby wants to use pipe for these and could not find any at a reasonable driving distance.


The sheep shack.

We are big and recycling.We will reuse as much as possible even if it doesn't look magazine pretty.The sheep shack is in the back so it is not noticeable from the road,Hubby built the frame.Then he use metal from a huge above ground pool wall to do the sides and roof.It is also on skids so it can be drug to another pasture when we move the sheep.
How did we get this huge roll of metal pool wall you may ask.I will tell you since Hubby is gone.If he was here reliving the story would give me the urge to hit him with a cast iron skillet!
Hubby and The Boy came home from church one Sunday,I did not go because I was not feeling good,to tell me some folks at church had offered us a huge above ground pool!All we had to do was take it apart!
Let me tell you,I was excited!I hate the heat here and a pool would have made it soo much more bearable.So ,we go on over to these nice folks house.When I get to the pool what do I see?It is buried half way in the ground!That means we have to dig it out before we take it apart.Hubby left that part out.Some of it had already been started though.Half way through Hubby mentions it has no liner,I though it had been taken out already and put aside but noooo.So a full,hot day later we get all this stuff home.I start asking when we gonna do the pool?That was a year and a half ago.I just gave up.So I started to look for other ways to use this huge pile of junk.I would hate to take that much junk to a landfill.Poor Hubby,he has a pack rat gene.He will take home all kinds of junk,especially free,useless junk and he never wants to throw anything away.When he is not home I get rid of stuff,he never misses it.Did I mention this is genetic,I think The Boy may also have pack rat stamped on his DNA!
So Hubby used the metal to so the wall and roof of the sheep shack and to wall in my turkey coop.The turkey coop he is not happy about.It would have looked much better if he would have turned the tin around so the nice side was on the out side.If he added some trim along the edges it wouldn't look so bad.But he was out of time to do anything more.

You can see it from the road and he says it looks junky,makes us look kind of trashy.I told him to look around, because it blends in just fine with everything else!It is not like Southern Living Magazine is beating on out door to do a photo shoot!Any way,he says he is going to build a new coop when he is home next time...right....I will believe it when I see it!
He and The Boy also got our little barn covered with tin,real tin not pool tin.

One day we are planning on building another bigger barn and this one will be for the goats.

This little barn is partially recycled too.The roof was on an old,dangerously unstable chicken coop when we move here.Hubby saved the roof because it was really well made and still useful.

Also he built some goat houses.

The goaties sleep securely in these at night.

We have too many coyotes here,they love to eat goats.

We put up almost everything at night because of this,goats,sheep,calves and poultry. We also have our own legendary evil creatures I have yet to see but everyone seems to know about.They are suppose to be from some sort of wolf-coyote-dog mixture.The story goes that years ago some one was raising wolves and either they escaped or the folks lost interest and let them go and they mixed with the local canine varieties.Now,like I said,I have never seen these fearsome beast.They have a fierce and monstrous reputation.Me, The Boy and my friend did hear something howling one night that defiantly wasn't a coyote.
Hubby also,finally, put latches on the gates so me and The Boy do not have to keep tying them shut with hay string every time we leave to make sure the dogs don't get out!I could have put on latches but the gates need repairing also.I have no ability to do any kind of carpentry!
What I hope to accomplish before Hubby gets back is fence for the turkey yard and new fence for the goat yard and some minor things on the sheep shack.Plus me and the Boy are woefully behind on our chicken processing.We have got to get that flock thinned down.I know this doesn't sound like a lot but if you add in the endless painting,animal care and school and garden and.....well you know life in general!I need a clone!A younger more energetic clone!

6 comments:

brokenteepee said...

and exactly what did we eat before we went to bed to have these dreams?
heh heh

Wow, very industrious boys there!

We put our animals up at night too. We have big cats, and wolves, and coyotes and bears. *sigh*

Texan said...

okay I am worn out totally from reading that post... I say you guys have managed to get a ton done while your DH was home!!

and good for ya'll recycling anything and everything you can! Southern Living is fine enough, but free is better!!

I have heard stories here about wild dog packs, our neighbor told us about them when we first moved here. We too have our goats in their fenced corral area with their little barn at night... some nights the coyotes are howling like 90 out in the back and I am so glad the goats are close to us and the house in their area!

The chickens we have learned the hard way,,, what doesn't want to kill and eat a chicken!! We have two now! We had 25 at one time! That pen has been reinforced, tied, fixed, locked, etc... ya chickens are tough to keep!

Someday would love to build a real barn a big barn for the goats!!
:O)........

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

I like to recycle and I like frugal so I'm with ya. I don't have the pack-rat gene but Mike sure has it. I have to throw stuff away when his back is turned. We lock everybody up at night too. Do the turkeys get out during the day? I want more Bourbon Red photo's, yours look very pretty. Franklin doesn't have the wide white band on his tail like he should.

Melodie said...

Pricilla,
I must have been something like chili!

Texan,
We had a hard time with poultry too,no matter what we did it seems the coons and possums would find a way at night to get them.They got most of my turkeys when they were little.Finally we have things secure!Fingers crossed!

Joanna,
I hope to get the turkey's fence built this week.I had planned on keeping them with the sheep but since we had to move them I have to get them a new area ready.They are just now big,not grown all the way quiet yet though.I know they need to be out,I like things to be able to forage and have freedom,but I have lost too many and want to make sure they stay safe first.Soon as they are out I will post some picts of them fluffed up.

Farmgirl Cyn said...

I love your mentality...use what you have before buying anything new! And I think the animals homes look just fine! We lock up our chickens every night just to keep out the coons and other riff raff. Can't be too careful!

Ruth Trowbridge said...

Awesome, you guys got it goin' on! peace