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!