Only one month to go before Christmas! There is so much to do before then - I don't know where to start.
At least now I can say that I made the first move on preparations for a houseful of company. I arrived home from work today to see that the carpet cleaner had been here and done a fantastic job. I don't know how long it's been since the livingroom has been done and I just couldn't imagine letting people sit on it when the sofa space ran out. Heck, the idea of letting them walk on it without shoes on was giving me the creeps. I've been letting it go because the plan is to tear it out and put down hardwood flooring, but that isn't going to happen before the holidays so something had to be done.
So, tonight there is furniture piled high all over the house while the carpets dry and I'm trying to get other things done. I plan to have my Christmas cards and letters ready for the mail before next weekend - that should keep me busy for any spare minutes I might have. And, I must get out the Sears catalogues and see if I can shorten my shopping list any. We were in Winnipeg last weekend and did a bit of shopping, but the crowds were already crazy and I don't relish a repeat of the traffic (vehicle or human) so I hope to do as much as I can by catalogue or in my own home town. We country folks like our space.
We also like peace and quiet but at the moment that's hard to come by. Yesterday Glen, Jesse and our Katimavik billet, Mike, sorted the calves away from their mothers and penned them apart from each other to wean them. The three days after this is done tend to be the noisiest of the year. The calves bawl for their mothers and the mothers call back. Constantly. For at least three days. And nights.
It needs to be done though. By this time the cows are pregnant again - in effect they are supporting two calves and it starts to take a toll on their condition. As we head into the colder weather it's too much for them. It's not that the calves need the milk any more - Glen says that some of them were almost as big as last year's heifers. It was a good year with lots to eat out on pasture.
We will keep them all in the corrals for a week or so until we're sure that the stress of weaning hasn't caused any health problems and then the cows will go out on pasture again. The calves will stay in and be fed a high protien ration to keep them strong and growing. He has bought some field beans to crush with their chop to see how they like that. Legumes are very high in protien; it remains to be seen whether they'll like the taste or texture.
The snow we got a couple of weeks ago has almost all melted - something that I never expected would have happened this late in the year. This past week's temperatures have been very mild, but yesterday the mercury took a nose dive and the wind howled all night so we're back to thinking winter is here again. With that, and the fact that they're starting to play Christmas music on the radio, I think I better get going on the holiday preparations again .... as soon as the carpets dry up.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Sunday, November 13, 2005
It's a Kind Wind ....
It's a kind wind that blows east the past two days. We've been waiting for professional barn cleaners to come for over a month now and Glen finally decided he couldn't afford to wait any longer. Friday he rented an articulated loader/tractor and borrowed the neighbour's manure spreader and started the job himself. Of course, he wasn't even half done when the guy called to say he could make it Monday, but by that time, Glen will be finished.
Barn cleaning is a nasty but necessary job. The cattle are all our on paster doing the spring, summer and fall, but when winter hits, it's easier to feed and shelter them if they are kept close to the yard and are given a roof and windbreaks to protect them from the weather. Of course, this keeps them all in an enclosed space - and stuff starts to pile up. Between the bedding Glen puts down for them, and what they add to the mix, the "floor" of the corrals gets mighty thick by springtime. If it didn't get cleaned out every year, the cattle would soon be able to walk out over the fences, and have to duck to get into the barns.
Hence, the barn cleaning days in the fall. It's done in the fall because the manure is spread over crop ground as fertilizer and you can't do that until this year's crop is harvested. There are several barn cleaning outfits around, but as we've only recently got into cattle, we're not a long- standing customer. It leaves us pretty low on the list.
Oh well, the job is all but done now, and Glen says that renting the tractor wasn't any more expensive than hiring the job done. Glen did the loading, and Mick was home for the weekend so he did the hauling .... and thank goodness the wind was blowing east! It's hard to imagine - or describe - the smell that comes from stirring up several months off manure. Suffice it to say that you do not want the wind blowing that kind of perfume toward your house!
I wasn't needed out there (another THANK GOODNESS!) so I stayed inside and baked up a storm. Mitchell had been hinting that his room mate's mother sure sent a lot of goodies all the time so, with my reputation at stake, I sent him off this afternoon with pies, cinnamon buns and chocolate cookies. That ought to keep a couple of teen aged boys for a day, or maybe two, even.
Barn cleaning is a nasty but necessary job. The cattle are all our on paster doing the spring, summer and fall, but when winter hits, it's easier to feed and shelter them if they are kept close to the yard and are given a roof and windbreaks to protect them from the weather. Of course, this keeps them all in an enclosed space - and stuff starts to pile up. Between the bedding Glen puts down for them, and what they add to the mix, the "floor" of the corrals gets mighty thick by springtime. If it didn't get cleaned out every year, the cattle would soon be able to walk out over the fences, and have to duck to get into the barns.
Hence, the barn cleaning days in the fall. It's done in the fall because the manure is spread over crop ground as fertilizer and you can't do that until this year's crop is harvested. There are several barn cleaning outfits around, but as we've only recently got into cattle, we're not a long- standing customer. It leaves us pretty low on the list.
Oh well, the job is all but done now, and Glen says that renting the tractor wasn't any more expensive than hiring the job done. Glen did the loading, and Mick was home for the weekend so he did the hauling .... and thank goodness the wind was blowing east! It's hard to imagine - or describe - the smell that comes from stirring up several months off manure. Suffice it to say that you do not want the wind blowing that kind of perfume toward your house!
I wasn't needed out there (another THANK GOODNESS!) so I stayed inside and baked up a storm. Mitchell had been hinting that his room mate's mother sure sent a lot of goodies all the time so, with my reputation at stake, I sent him off this afternoon with pies, cinnamon buns and chocolate cookies. That ought to keep a couple of teen aged boys for a day, or maybe two, even.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
It's a Pretty World Out There
It's always a quandry what to do on my Saturday off. There's never any shortage of things to do, I just have to decide which of the zillion things that need doing are going to get done this time around.
My original plan for today was to head down to Estevan (about a hundred miles away) to an auction sale of flooring materials. We have made the decision that the 23 year old carpet has to go and that we're going to replace it with hardwood, but nothing further has been done. As we live approximately 100 to 150 miles from any kind of major retailer, shopping for this kind of purchase isn't that easy. We may well buy from the local lumber yard, but before I spend that kind of money I want to see lots of samples of what there is out there for choices; something a small local business has a hard time providing.
The first look out the windows this morning kind of stalled my plans for travelling - the fog was so thick I couldn't see beyond the garden which is only about 50 metres from the house. Not very good driving conditions. I decided to check on the Internet if this company was liable to have another sale anytime soon - if they are they don't have any mention of it up yet. But, by this time, the sun had broken through the clouds and it was dazzling outside .... maybe I would go after all.
Then again, maybe I wouldn't .... it only made sense to take the truck, just in case there was a fantastic deal on the 350 square feet of flooring we will need for this job, but when I went to get the truck I found it full of fencing equipment and hooked on to a feed mix mill. This time I gave up on the trip. By the time I had everything ready to go the sale would be over. Glen just called to say that the roads were extremely slippery so I guess I made the right decision.
He has been busy this past week working on oil lease sites so the fall work around here has stalled out. He and Jesse did manage to get the calves all vaccinated and the herd all ear tagged, and then moved out on the last of the ungrazed stubble last Monday. That was a big job off his list of things to do, but the barns and corrals need to be cleaned out before the cattle are in for the winter. We're hoping that the cleaners can come this week. The ground isn't frozen yet, but it won't be long now.
So, here I sit with my morning cup of coffee - laundry on the go, a pot of home made soup brewing, and a batch of cookies started. If we're not going to get this flooring down in time for Christmas I better see what I can do about getting some carpets cleaned. The plans for this year's gathering are bigger than most and I think we're going to have quite the houseful between the 23rd and New Year's Day. The carpet better be clean because people will be sitting on it!
My original plan for today was to head down to Estevan (about a hundred miles away) to an auction sale of flooring materials. We have made the decision that the 23 year old carpet has to go and that we're going to replace it with hardwood, but nothing further has been done. As we live approximately 100 to 150 miles from any kind of major retailer, shopping for this kind of purchase isn't that easy. We may well buy from the local lumber yard, but before I spend that kind of money I want to see lots of samples of what there is out there for choices; something a small local business has a hard time providing.
The first look out the windows this morning kind of stalled my plans for travelling - the fog was so thick I couldn't see beyond the garden which is only about 50 metres from the house. Not very good driving conditions. I decided to check on the Internet if this company was liable to have another sale anytime soon - if they are they don't have any mention of it up yet. But, by this time, the sun had broken through the clouds and it was dazzling outside .... maybe I would go after all.
Then again, maybe I wouldn't .... it only made sense to take the truck, just in case there was a fantastic deal on the 350 square feet of flooring we will need for this job, but when I went to get the truck I found it full of fencing equipment and hooked on to a feed mix mill. This time I gave up on the trip. By the time I had everything ready to go the sale would be over. Glen just called to say that the roads were extremely slippery so I guess I made the right decision.
He has been busy this past week working on oil lease sites so the fall work around here has stalled out. He and Jesse did manage to get the calves all vaccinated and the herd all ear tagged, and then moved out on the last of the ungrazed stubble last Monday. That was a big job off his list of things to do, but the barns and corrals need to be cleaned out before the cattle are in for the winter. We're hoping that the cleaners can come this week. The ground isn't frozen yet, but it won't be long now.
So, here I sit with my morning cup of coffee - laundry on the go, a pot of home made soup brewing, and a batch of cookies started. If we're not going to get this flooring down in time for Christmas I better see what I can do about getting some carpets cleaned. The plans for this year's gathering are bigger than most and I think we're going to have quite the houseful between the 23rd and New Year's Day. The carpet better be clean because people will be sitting on it!
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