I thought I would post a current picture of Captain. He's getting pretty big! He'll be ready for a saddle soon.

Down on the farm

A lil Slice of Heaven

It has been awhile. Sorry bout that... there is just so much really important stuff to do all day every day. The blog is pretty low down on the totem pole. Since the last post here is some stuff that we've been working on:

1. Big barn remodel is complete, and it's sweet.
2. Cows are on the pasture rotation, and looking good.
3. Garden is in and growing like crazy.
4. Major fence building project will be done by the end of this week.
5. Hay fields are ready to be cut, just waiting for Mr. Sun to come and stay awhile...(y'know... make hay while the sun shines...)
6. Captain (our puppy) is about 50 lbs now, and he's a pretty smart little chap.
7. Baby calves are still coming, hope to be done by the end of the month.
8. Re-seeding with some new luscious grass mixes is underway.
9. The battle with the chicken-thieving raccoons is still on.
10. A bald Eagle killed our last duck, right in front of everyone!
11. We are installing a walk-in freezer on the farm.
12. We are working on some alternative fuel solutions for our diesel rigs, and making some serious headway...
13. We have two new bulls. They are South Devons, and look really promising. Their names are Floyd and Pretty Boy. (My dad named them.)

I will get some pics up when I get a chance.

Will work for food...

Here is our latest addition to the farm. He's cute, fuzzy and oh so sweet. Just look at those eyes...

Behold... the power of cute!

Hard to believe that he will be a bone crushing behemoth in a few months. Right now he's more like a little tiny, cuddly polar bear that just wants to snuggle all the time.

A hit with the women folk...

The girls loooooove him, and I think the feeling is mutual. They are all so happy together. It borders on the verge of absurdity. I'm getting a little jealous here...

He is a "Great Pyrenees." He is going to be huge, probably around 130 lbs or so. Our guard dog passed away some time ago, and we needed someone to fill the breach. It turns out that the Great Pyrenees are perfectly suited to our needs here on the farm. They are calm and gentle, but really protective of the animals as well as the children. Also we won't need to get the girls a pony now. We just need to get the dog a saddle. If you do a google search on the great pyrenees, you will see what I mean.

We still haven't figured out a name. I was thinking something like, Thor, or Porthos, or maybe Fezzik. Magnus has a nice ring to it. Lia came up with "Mack" on her own.

Here are some other names that Lia was pulling for: Wooly, Draco, Maugrim, Dragon King, Rex, Percy, Buddy, Guygo. (Lia is five)

Eden (our two year old) suggested "Roxy". (Roxy is grandma's miniature pinscher)

Barn update! We've been busy with all kinds of projects, so we've hardly gotten more than a day or two each week to work on the barn. The roof is now 75% finished, and we're working on the hard part now. What makes this roof difficult is that has hips. And we're using glulam beams for the hips, because we like to build strong (and we got them cheap!) We were having a hard time figuring out how to attach the beam where the two roofs converge. A special bracket had to be designed. I prefer to use autocad for architectural designs, but since I'm not a student anymore I don't have free access to it. The next best thing is google sketchup. It took me a little while to get it figured out, but in the end I was able to draw up exactly what we need, and here it is for your consideration.
I'll add some more pics at the end of the day to show how it actually turns out.

Born this morning...

Handsome, isn't he?

Today is my little brother's birthday. This one is for you, David! You get to pick a name for this little guy. We haven't weighed this calf yet, but he was born quite a bit bigger than the other calves. His silvery white coloring comes from the Charolais (pronounced... shar-lay) bull named "Buster" that we had about 20 years ago. Buster was big! He was almost six feet at the shoulder, and well over 2,500 lbs. Notwithstanding his exceedingly large stature he was an extremely gentle, and amiable specimen.

The hangout...

This is Whiskey Hollow. It is where the calves like to be. Rumor has it that my grandfather did a little bit of moonshining in this spot during the great depression. Now, it is just nursery for little bovines. The cedar trees offer nice cover from the elements, and they really dig the bedding that we put down. Sometimes they burrow in and all you can see is an ear or two sticking up out of the straw.

Truck Projects

Last spring we were in the market for a good work truck. So we bought this 1997 Dodge 2500. She's a beauty, isn't she?! Well, from the outside maybe not. But looks are often deceiving! It's what's under the hood that counts. The main reason that we decided on this truck was the engine. It has a 12 valve Diesel made by Cummins... and only 94k miles on it. As diesel engines go, that is just starting to get broken in. If you take care of her, she'll give you well over 500,000 miles!
:)
A few things we noticed when we got the truck were her faults and blemishes. Her paint is peeling. There are a few dents in the passenger side. The four-wheel-drive didn't even work. Well, you learn the most about equipment when you work on it, and we plan to learn everything there is to know about this truck. And then some.
So far, here's what I've done this week: I fixed the 4x4! It was as simple as replacing this little vacuum fitting:Our next project with this truck is a little more ambitious. We found an 8'x10' aluminum flatbed for a price that we couldn't refuse. Soon, we will be installing it on the truck. Later we'll also beat the dents out, and give it a good paint job!

A four way tie...

New Bull Calf

Last night was terribly stormy. I had a hard time sleeping, because the wind was so loud. I am pretty sure I heard a few trees blow over in the storm. When we went out to feed the cows this morning, I was surprised to see a new calf nursing off his mum under a cedar tree, but not that surprised because I thought the calves were going to start arriving two weeks ago.

As I was surveying the herd, I quickly noted that there were actually, 1...2...3...4... new calves!!! 3 bulls, and one heifer calf. Most of the other pictures didn't turn out due to the fog, but I will see if I can get some decent shots of the newest babies up.

Catch of the day

It really doesn't look like much, but this little bit of metal was today's "unreachable star". The tractor has been having some trouble with the forward and reverse function for the last few days. It was usable, but really not doing that good of a job. After a little bit of research, I learned that the problem lay within a certain cable buried deep within the heart of the orange beast. I will spare you the boring details and try to keep it simple here.

Here is abridged version:

1. Faulty cable is located in an impossibly tight location...
2. Must tear tractor completely apart to make repair...
3. After tractor is half torn apart... reassess situation
4. There is a possibility that I can squeeze my hand up into a very tight area to pull the cotter pin on the cable.
5. 2 hours, several scrapes and curses later... Success!!!

Here is how we did it.

1.) Strip Wire

2.) Separate single strand

3.) Find heavy gauge wire

4.) Splice it all together

5.) I didn't know the key to success could be so small

Yes... that tiny little thing in my hand is what we were after. It is called a cotter pin. I had to get that out, so that I could get the cable off. Tractor is now fixed. Woohoo!!!

All in a day's work

Today we worked on the "Big Barn". Yes that's what we really call it. We are making it even bigger. It was cold. The tallest poles we set were 24 feet tall. It was kind of scary. These poles are heavy, probably around 300 lbs each. When you are plumbing and bracing them up anything can happen. By "anything can happen," I mean you could end up looking like a fly on the business end of a fly crushing apparatus.

Tomorrow, we will set some of the rafter beams and purlins, at least that is the plan. Who knows what will really happen. The weather forecast says we have some freezing rain coming. Climbing around like a squirrel, 20 feet off the ground in an icy downpour sounds enchanting. I wouldn't mind snow, but I guess we'll just have to see what is coming our way.

Before

After

A well balanced meal...

If you are a wolf, or maybe a shark one could consider this meal to be balanced. I only had room on my plate for a few bites of potatoes and 7 green beans.

Note the weight on the package...

there are two steaks per pack...

So here's the deal... Sunday was my birthday, and I still needed to try out some of the steaks from our latest batch. We did some extra-special aging stuff (22 days dry aging), and I wanted to see how everything turned out. Naturally I grabbed the biggest package I could get my hot little hands on. The porterhouse is one of my all-time favorites because it is actually two really good steaks rolled into one. On the small side is the filet mignon, and the larger side is actually the NY strip. You really can't go wrong.

King Size!!!

The picture doesn't really do it justice. I could barely fit this thing in the frying pan. Just to give you an idea... 33+ ounces. The steak was 1-1/4" thick. I rubbed it down with olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked it medium rare. After cooking for about 8 minutes (2 min increments per side) on medium heat, I put the steak on a plate and covered it with tin-foil so that it could rest for about 10 min.

I don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back, but suffice it to say, this was everything that a good steak should be... rich, flavorful, tender, and juicy. Happy birthday to me!!!

Helper #2

This is Eden...(aka... Helper #2)

One of my favorite things on the farm is having the girls come out and work with me. They especially love to ride with me on the tractor. Usually when I ask my two girls "who wants to come help dad?" a mad dash ensues to get their "work clothes" on. This morning Lia (5 yrs) was still asleep from her late night, new year's eve party bender (...we watched James and the Giant Peach and drank hot pear cider). Eden, (2.5 yrs) was also up for the festivities last night, but she woke up at 6:00 a.m. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, because last night I told her she could help me feed the cows this morning. We really had a lot of fun together, even though it was about 10* Fahrenheit. By the end of the chores she was saying that she wanted "momma".

Magic in the air