Life of a Farm Blog

As usual the chickehouses are absorbing 90% of my time. My friend John who was helping us a few days a week quit. That has meant even more time here for me. Finding help for these houses is going to be a real hurdle. Nobody wants to work weekends or holidays. Thing is the chickens don’t take days off. I’ve found lots of folks who would work for cash, but I don’t want to get into that trap. Lots of people here are “disabled” and receive SSI, but still work a job for cash. Entitlements are draining this country and robbing our economy of employees. Why work for $7 or $8 an hour when the government will give you that much so you can “live”. For years I have seen my neighbors live better than me because they manipulate the system. It’s tough to know you have to work everyday while your neighbor who is “disabled” is pulling his boat all over creation to fish. At any rate holding fast to my belief that hard work and determination will get you through most things we have decided to build the second set of houses. That’s a tough pill to swallow because now we are able to do all the work ourselves whereas with 2 sets we will be dependant upon someone for help. I have always felt that immigrants took work away from US citizens, but am beginning to see that there are indeed some jobs folks won’t do. I find this especially in the agricultural world.

The rest of my time has been taken up rolling hay for folks. I finally broke down and took the twine tie box off the 6000 and installed it in the 7010 cab. That is a huge relief. No more coming home covered in hay dust and sneezing my head off. I get to ride around in the air conditioning instead of burning up too. I really don’t mind the heat, but I certainly don’t mind the air either. In this part of the country there are lots of hills. I’m finding the turbo on the 7010 especially pleasing. When the engine gets a good load on it you here the turbo whistle and away she goes. I’ve gotten nothing but compliments on the performance of the 7010. Unlike when I bought the 6000 people here are a bit more familiar with the Mahindra brand.

Looks like most of the kidding is done. We ended up with 4 babies to bottle feed. 2 of them are from a set of quads. That’s the first time I remember a set of quads being born. I’ve seen a few sets of triplets, but never quads. We took 2 of them as soon as we knew they got colostrum. I made the mistake of leaving a set of triplets with their mother too long and one died. Overall this has been a good kidding season though. We ended up losing 2 of 23. 1 of those was stillborn. That leaves us 21 to add to our herd, eat, or sell. I know atleast 2 will go for us to eat. There is nothing better than goat and noodles. A neighbor stopped and wants a young billy when they are weaned for her grandson. I’d rather sell them like that than have to take them to a sale.

Finally got my oak logs sawed into inch lumber. Now I have to find time to go pick up the lumber. There is over 750 board feet. Then I will need to find time to replace the weathered boards on my corrall. I put poplar on to start and that was a mistake. Poplar just doesn’t hold up out in the weather. I never seem to catch up on the farm work, but I am fast realizing that I have to step away from time to time if for no other reason than to refocus.

Well surely there is something I should be doing that’s a little more productive so I’ll go for now. Be sure to check out the new pics we’e added to the site and check back often to follow us through yet another journey down the twisty turny road of life here on the farm!

Haven’t had much time to post lately, but Mattie wanted to share with everybody that we got our first set of spikes. Spikes are young males that are brought in to make sure the eggs are fertile. As with everything on the farm Mattie was right in the middle of it. It makes me really happy that she enjoys the farm. The spikes are kept in a pen in the middle of the houses until they mature enough to get out with the older males.

Garett also wanted to share that we’ve made some more additions to the farm lately. He has adopted a stray dog and named it Buddy. Seems to be a really good tempered animal and loves to run and play with the kids. Just goes to show you that it doesn’t take fancy things to make you happy.

In addition to the spikes and Buddy, we also aquired another horse. As usual I just couldn’t say no! A neighbor had her for sale and Madison had to have her. What we’ll do with her I have no idea. We could always ride her, but we have been discussing training her for a buggy. Yikes one more thing to buy.

We also wanted to mention our special visitor here on the farm a week or so ago. Rick “Demonmaster” Young came by and spent the night with us on his motorcycle tour. We felt priveliged to have Rick for the night and hope he finds the peace he deserves. For everyone that has the time you should follow his stories!

Things finally appear to be slowing down a bit in the chickenhouses so hopefully I’ll be able to take a little more time to post. We’re still planing to keep a diary for Farm and Ranch Living magazine in the next few months and Garett has made me promise to take him fishing too. Well as always tons to do so I better get at it! Be sure to check out all the new pics we’ve added!

It’s that time of year again already. Hay time! Unfortunately this is a rough time of year for Garett. He has allergies that really get him down. Between the hay and the pollen he’s pretty much attached to his nebulizer. Every 4-6 hours on bad days. It doesn’t seem to slow him down too much though. He has some trouble getting his breath, but he keeps pluggin along.

How have I made it this long without a cab tractor? I would not mind to drive the 7010 for days on end. I see how folks are able to farm such large acreages now. The cab and air makes it so much easier. I actually look forward to cutting hay this year. The 7010 does a great job with the disc mower too. The 6000 had some trouble with the 8 ft cut in tall thick grass. I’m really happy with the rake I bought last fall, although I’m going to have to replace the tires on the dolly. They’re dry rotted and only hold air for a day or so at a time. The Vermeer roller is still holding up great, but after riding in the cab of the 7010 I kicked myself for not having the dealer install the twine tie box on the 7010. I was not nearly as comfortable out in the sun on the 6000 rolling hay as I would have been in the cab on the 7010. I meant to install the box myself, but time got away from me. I thought I would find a good used square baler and not roll so much this year, but they seem to be as rare as hen’s teeth. Looks like new may be the way to go for me. I just hate buying something and having to work on it.

Everyone is getting in on the fun here. Hay has been cut on every farm around. Just like most years I’ve been hopping from field to field rolling up what couldn’t be done with slow or broken down square balers. Most folks here would rather have squares, but I don’t think anyone local has a square baler newer than the 80’s. That could be a good niche to get into. It will most likely take a year, or even 2 if we build another set, to get the chickenhouses lined out where I can get away a lot. After that I’m hoping to lease some of these run down farms and get the pastures in shape to cut and sell square bales from them.

Well, as always there is a ton to do and I’m not getting it done sitting here so I’ll close for now. Be sure to check out the pics I’ve added and check back soon!

We’ve been busy as beavers trying to keep everything caught up here on the farm. Seems something new is showing up every day. It’s kidding season for the goats so about every other day we are finding new baby goats. Madison is thrilled with the new babies. That’s the first place she goes when she gets off the school bus. She has to check on those babies. Of 14 mom’s we still have 10 to go so I suspect this ritual will continue for a couple more weeks.

Kaylee is thrilled with her new arrival too. I finally broke down and bought a truck. Not exactly what I wanted, but not the $30,000 I had expected to spend either. I ended up with another Chevrolet 6.5 turbo diesel. This one has a lot more power than the older blue one. Hopefully with a few power upgrades I can make it tow what I desire comfortably and keep it reliable. Doesn’t seem like I tow much any more anyway. First up I have to put a gooseeck hitch in it. Instead of trying to sell “old blue” I’ve been kicking around trading to an older GM muscle car, an ATV, or a combination stock/horse trailer.

It’s time for the 50 hour service on the 7010 so I’m hoping to make it to the Mahindra dealer this week to pick up the stuff to do it. While I’m there I’m going to see if he can get me tires for the dolly on the rake I bought last fall. Both of them are flat. They look really dry rotted so I figure it’s best to just replace them. I also have to pick up the box that operates the twine tie on my Vermeer roller. I don’t want to take the box off the 6000 in case I ever need to use it as a back up. While I’m there I’ll do my usual poking around. I’m in the market for a good square baler and I want to kick the tires on the smaller Mahindra’s I’m considering for cleanout at the chickenhouses.

 Well tons to do so I best get to it! Be sure to check out the pics I’ve added to the site! Thanks for reading and check back soon!

We’re all very excited and proud of Kaylee! She made the high school cheerleading team. Quite an accomplishment for someone her age. She just skipped right over the middle school team and headed right for the high school team. I am so thankful to have such beautiful, happy, and healthy children!

Things are very busy here in the bluegrass. Chickens are at their peak right now so it takes almost all our time just gathering the 10-11,000 eggs we are getting every day. Most days it’s 5am to 7pm or maybe a little later. I’ve tried my best to keep labor to a minimum, but everyone is getting worn down. We are still kicking around building a second set and I’m looking for the right person or persons for it and to help here. So far it’s mostly my mom and I with a couple folks part time. My friend John and his mom both help out. Bj helps when she can, but lately it seems there is always something that needs to be done involving the children and she’s been attending to that. Garett’s class went to Pigeon Forge TN on a field trip. They took in a show at The Black Bear Jamboree. He wanted one of us to go so BJ went with him. Summer is coming and I know they dread coming to the chickenhouse every day.

We have made time to get out and do things with the horses a couple times a week. I’ve finally got Thumper, the colt born here on the farm almost 2 years ago, green broke and gelded. I think he will make a fine horse. I’ve been riding him a little bit and Madison tried him some too. Madison is quite the little cowgirl. She took her first ride outside the fence this week. We just rode around on the farm, but it was a huge deal to her. She can’t even reach the stirups, but she makes the horses do what she wants them to. Of course her horse is very broke. It’s a hand me down from me. Johnny horse has been here on the farm for about 5 years now. He had some fire in him when we first bought him, but it didn’t take long for him to figure out that wasn’t going to work with me. Garett and Kaylee don’t have much desire to do the horse things, but Madison and Katie do. Katie is now bugging me for her own horse. We’ll see how long she stays interested before we buy another one.

I finally broke down and hired someone to build a tack room in the barn. I figured it was do it now or I’d wait until someone stole my saddles. Must be a sign that things are tough because there is more burglary than ever here. I’ve been lucky not to have much stolen from me in the past. What did go missing I knew who took it and took appropriate action. Some of it I got back and those folks know never to show their face here again.

This weeks project is going to have to be bird proofing the chicken houses and the well house. Can’t have wild birds anywhere around these chickens. Their immunity is not that of a domestic chicken. Bj’s cousin Jason has agreed to help me some with it and keeping the place mowed. We’re still shopping for a truck. I geuss I’ll put off buying as long as I can. Just can’t stand to let go of the money it will take to buy what I want. I don’t know why $30,000 in debt scares me when we are in as deep as we are with the chickenhouses. Kaylee is keeping her eyes open though. She points out trucks she likes pretty regularly.

Well as always lots to do and little time to do it in………………………….So I better get busy. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out all the pics I’ve added to the site.

Finally got some time away from the chickenhouses this week. Cobb had it’s quarterly growers meeting and we attended. They smoked baby back ribs for dinner and had a feed nutritionist and veterinarian on hand. The vet put on a presentation on “how a chicken lays an egg” and the feed nutritionist did a presentation on “how feed grows chickens”. I learned a lot, even some stuff I’m not sure I need to know. As always there was lots of discussion about grain prices, the economy, and disease prevention too. The apparent recession and grain prices have everyone in this business afraid of tommorrow.

We got part of the garden started this week too. I hope the recent light frosts didn’t hurt the 3 tomatoe plants we set out. I know the potatoes, onions, brocolli, and cabbage will be fine. I would have covered the tomatoes had I known it was going to frost, but I never seem to have time to watch the weather so I didn’t know it was coming. I’ve been really impressed with the power and agility of the 7010. Seems like the more I use it the more I like it. The low low range makes tilling a breeze. With the 6000 I need to make two passes lots of times, but with the lower gears of the 7010 it only takes one. It does great with the 7ft brush hog too.

The grass we planted on the land we cleared last fall is begining to come up in places. I can’t wait to look over there and see a good stand of grass. Hopefully a few years from now that land will serve double duty as both a pasture and a hay field. My long term goals include running 20-30 head of beef cows and calves. On top of that I hope to fence in some of the woodland that butts up to pasture and run about 50-75 Boer goats. With the litter from the poultry houses I should really be able to make grass grow.

The lights in the chickenhouses are staying on until 10:30 at night now. The lights really make the houses glow from outside. All the more reason I have got to find the time to get those trees planted. I have come to the conclusion that I have to hire more help. I can’t be at two places at the same time. I can either be outside on the farm getting that stuff done or inside taking care of the chickenhouse needs. The question is should I hire someone for inside or outside. I could sure use a break from the daily grind inside. So most likely it will be for inside.

As always there is a ton of stuff to do and not much time to do it in so I’ll close for now……………………make sure to check out the pics I’ve added and thanks for reading!

Wow! What a crazy couple weeks. We have absolutely been covered in floor eggs. It seems like it may be easing up a little finally. You don’t know what a relief it is to see hens on the nest. After a couple weeks of walking the floor constantly picking up eggs maybe we are seeing some change. The majority of the floor eggs we are getting now seem to be the smaller “commercial eggs” instead of the “hatching eggs” we desire. That usually means a hen that has just started laying. We get a bonus based on hatching eggs sent to the hatchery. Our hatching eggs have to weigh atleast 52 grams. The thought behind walking the floor is the hen will find somewhere safer to lay her egg next time if she sees someone move it. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this will work and we’ll have very few eggs in the floor in just a couple more weeks. The chickenhouses are taking all my time now. The lights are on for 15 hours every day now. Soon it will be 16 hours a day and then finally 17 hours a day. That doesn’t leave much time for anything else.

We got the 7010 back from the dealer with it’s new tie rod mount installed. It appears they have redesigned the mount to be much sturdier. I’m just wondering if the other side shouldn’t be changed. I was glad to see it back! Just in time for this last little cold snap. It has been in the 40’s and raining for several days now. It’s much nicer to put out hay for the cows in that nasty weather when you’ve got the cab. I’m already spoiled by the heat. I don’t like the air conditioning as much as I like the heat. I must just be cold blooded. As soon as summer gets here I’ll probably spend just as much time on the 6000 as I do the 7010.

We finally got the land we cleared last fall run over a couple times with the disc and sewn with grass seed. Now let’s all keep our fingers crossed that it comes up and gets enough rain to grow this summer. I’m hoping this is the last cold snap. This morning there was a heavy frost on my windshield at 5 am. That would not have been good for a young stand of grass. Hopefully everyone had their plants covered here. I haven’t got anything to cover for the first time in years. If I can find the time that will change. I’m hoping for sunny weather to dry out the dirt so I can till a garden spot. Several people have come by wanting gardens tilled, I just have not had the time to do it. I’m chomping at the bit to get the tiller on the 7010 with it’s low low range. It should do a really nice job.

My uncle Ralph sent us several hundred white pine trees. Somehow I have got to find the time to get them planted. I want to use them as a buffer between the log house and the chickenhouse. Well as always I’m getting nothing done sitting here so I better go. Be sure to check out the pics I’ve added.

Things are looking up for the farm. It’s not nearly as crazy here. The chickens have kind of settled into a routine. All the equipment has cooperated since I last posted too. Eggs are starting to pick up. Yesterday we gathered about 600 from both houses. Still a far cry from the 12,000 that should come at about 30 weeks, but atleast we are getting some. Lots of the eggs are being layed on the slats or in the shavings right now since the chickens are young. Hopefully as they get older they will make their way to the nest. We have tenatively agreed to keep a diary for Farm and Ranch Living magazine in September so sometime after then you can look for us in the magazine.

We took some time off on Sunday to attend Bethel Baptist Church for Easter services. I hadn’t been to church in a while and I really enjoyed it. The kids got to hunt Easter eggs and go to “lil church”. They have a special kids church in the back. It’s great that emphasis is being put on the little ones and teaching on their level. Gives the adults a break too. You don’t have to worry with fidgeting children you can relax and enjoy the sermon. Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Not only the spring time weather and coloring eggs, but the real significance of the holiday. It seems to be less tainted than some of the other holidays. You can still say Happy Easter without offending anyone, I think. My brother Paul and his wife came to visit and eat dinner Sunday too. It was good to see him. It had been a while. I’m hoping since he got a new car he will come visit more often. Then maybe I can trick him into helping me out around the farm.

Monday morning BJ had a chiropractic appointment and I needed to get grass seed so I offered to drive her. I got up at regular time and did all the feeding as usual and then we spent the rest of the morning bouncing around Somerset. We stopped at Tractor Supply Company and amazingly I only spent $20. Maybe I should leave the kids behind more often. Who am I kidding I’m worse than they are about spending money on toys. My toys usually consist of tools and tractor stuff so they’re way more expensive. We stopped at Southern States Cooperative and picked up all the grass seed we’re going to need for the acreage we cleared last fall. We’re putting it in an orchard grass/clover mix. That way it should be good pasture for anything we want to put on it and should be high quality hay if we decide to use it for hay. Then we made our way up to Valley Farm Equipment to see Wes for a FEL hose for the 7010. We stopped and got a bite to eat, but as always we couldn’t agree where we wanted to eat so we ended up sitting in the truck with drive thru from Hardee’s and Burger King. Bj is big on Hardee’s ham and cheese sandwiches. I don’t particularly care for Hardee’s except at breakfast then it’s my favorite. I’m fond of the new BBQ Bacon Tendercrisp sandwich at Burger King.

Seems like a lot of people are following this presidential election closer than usual. I agree with a lot of the people who are saying this country is at crossroads. This next president has a lot of work to do. Myself I am still undecided. I am a registered Republican because almost all the local elections are decided at the primary and the majority of the candidates are Republican. I have strong ties to Democratic values and come from a long line of Democrats. It’s so much more difficult than Democrat or Republican though. As a farmer I see the need for immigration and migrant labor, but know companies abuse it. From a tax standpoint I’d be much better off to vote Republican. Democrats are much more friendly to labor unions and I have strong beliefs in rights to organize. I believe in our 2nd ammendment rights to own a gun as do Republicans. So I geuss I’ll follow this thing all the way to the end before I decide.

Yesterday was shaping up to be a good day. My dad came down and spent some time helping me trace down a short in a fan at the chickenhouse. That gave us an opportunity to talk and for him to see how much time I’m spending busting my backside here. I think we both came away from it with a better understanding of what we expect from each other. We’ve agreed on a salary that is a minimum I will receive plus a bonus if we get any egg bonus. The money for the grass seed came from the farm account too. We both want this farm to build some operating capital and to be self sufficient. We have talked about building a second set of these houses and bringing my older brother in to run them if he wants to.

I say yesterday was shaping up to be a good day because everything was clicking right along until we broke the tie rod mount on the 7010. My dad and I headed off to disc the 20 acres we cleared in the fall with discs on the 7010 and the 6000. I was getting all the rough and tight spots with the 6000 and the lift disc while he was doing the main part with the pull type disc on the 7010. I’d forgotten how much I like the 6000 and it’s sheer bulletproof simplicity. I noticed I hadn’t seen my dad in a while. Then I saw him walking toward me. I thought “this can’t be good”. He said we got trouble and I thought he had turned it over because a part of it is steep. Turned out that he had turned a tight left and the tie rod mount broke loose from the axle. It took him a few minutes to figure out what had happened. This will be the second trip to Valley Farm Equipment in less than a week. Earlier in the week I had to get a FEL hose replaced on the 7010.

Well as always lots to do here so I better get busy. We have set up a yahoo! mail account for those of you who wish to contact us in a less public way. Just send mail to musablog@yahoo.com and be sure to check out all the pics I’ve added to the site! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

Wow! That’s all I know to say. It’s been 7 days a week, 10-16 hours a day since the 28th. Seems something is always amiss. Every time I tell myself I’m going to take a little break today, something happens. This is the quietest it has been here at the farm in months. I’m hoping things are finally slowing down a little before the eggs start coming from daylight to dark. Still alot to do, but atleast now they are small things. Hopefully nothing else breaks!

I expected there to be problems initially with this new equipment, but I wasn’t sure really how much to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to come in and find the inlet machine had pulled itself off the wall. That was a real pain. Literally, I might add. Somehow I managed to mash the fire out of my finger putting it back up. The motor on these things is really strong. It pulled 6-4 inch lag bolts out of the wall. I told the service tech I was going to bolt it more securely this time and he was quick to discourage me from that. Seems another farm bolted it to the wall and it just pulled the wall in about 6 to 8 inches. Think I’ll settle for making sure I’ve got it adjusted properly and secured with the lag bolts again.

Feed spills have been another hurdle. I’ve had to duct tape, screw, and plain reassemble some of the feed systems. The chickens will peck anywhere they can see feed. That means if they see it below the slats they peck until they injure themselves even though there is no way they can reach it. In turn that means it all has to be cleaned up. We’ve either been taking a shop vac and sucking it up or I have literally crawled under the slats and used a dustpan as a shovel. Then we carry it out in 5 gallon buckets. Just yesterday the feeder came apart where the auger runs into it and spilled about 300 - 350 pounds. The contractor who installed the equipment (4 State Poultry) has not been back to fix the small things they were supposed to. Luckily the service tech came yesterday and I got him to help me put it all back together. He’s new at this too so we are learning together. I told him yesterday I feel like I’ve been thrown out of a boat in the middle of the ocean and now I have 2 choices, sink or swim.

I spent about 5 hours yesterday trying to get the drives in shape with the 7010. Temps got up into the 70s and it got hot in the cab so I tried out the air conditioning. I moved 52 tons of #3 gravels and smoothed them out as well as drug the rest of the drives. I just don’t like the bucket on it as good as the 6000 for this type work. Maybe it because it’s new and I just don’t want to get it all scratched up. My brother borrowed the 6000 2 weeks ago and I still haven’t gotten it back. I’ve lost my lease on 40 acres of hay field. The neighbor who I loaned my equipment to all last summer cut my throat on it. Lifes lessons, no good deed goes unpunished. I simply did not have time to roll his hay for him last year so I loaned him my equipment and in return he goes behind my back and undercuts me. He had the nerve to ask me would I roll it for him. What’s wrong with people? Oh well, let him get rich cutting hay!

The chickenhouse has put a real strain on time I get to spend with the kids. We did get away for a few hours Sunday to go shopping. Mattie picked out a new bicycle since she’s outgrown her old one. She is growing up on me. It’s hard to believe that she is riding a bicycle all by herself. Seems like just yesterday she was born. Garett is more into computers and games so he picked up a game for his Nintendo DS. Drawn to Life I believe was the name of it. He is becoming interested in art. Every time I turn around he’s doodling something. Kaylee got clothes and we got a new basketball goal and wiffle ball set to share. Kaylee is becoming less and less interested in the farm. She’d much rather live in a subdivision somewhere around all her friends. She says she is embarrased by old blue and wants me to get a truck that’s not a diesel. One of her friends moms is dating a guy who lets her drive around in his Hummer. Now the race is on in Kaylees mind to one up her friend. She has asked me a couple times in the past few weeks when I was going to buy a truck or if I was going to buy another Trans Am like I wanted. How do I make her understand life isn’t about things like cars and houses?

I geuss the chickenhouses have put a strain on the entire family. My dad and I are partners in this. We had not uttered an ill word toward one another in 15-20 years until this, but we sure have now.  He has chosen the book keeper against my wishes and now they can’t agree on what salary I should receive. Just happens to be my brothers wife. I didn’t know that book keepers set salaries, but in this case I geuss they do. My hands are tied because the contract is in both our names and the money goes directly into a checking account that requires 2 signatures. I’m working for free as of now and have been since November. I’ve exhausted my 401k and savings and can’t hold out much longer. If they can’t agree on something soon I’ll have to find a real job and let the chips fall where they may. I’m really discouraged because this was supposed to be my way to stay home on the farm and it may turn out to be my way off the farm. I have asked both of them to sign a check to get grass seed for the land we had cleared and as of yet neither have been willing to. I’m used to taking money out of my pocket to do these things with and now I have to ask permission from someone else before I can spend the money I am rightfully earning.

Well need to be working on those little things so I’ll go! Be sure to check out all the pics I’ve added and check back soon!

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Well folks it’s official, we are chicken farmers. We got our first delivery of birds from Cobb yesterday. 7032 females and 610 males. More are coming today. I already have mixed emotions about this venture. I am a little bit intimidated by the complexity of the equipment. Absolutely everything is automatic. There is very little work involved. Basically the only manual labor will be walking the floors, picking the eggs up from the tables, and disposing of the dead. I feel for the birds. While they are loose in the houses and have quite a bit of room to move around freely, it just isn’t natural. They have shavings to scratch through, but no dirt. I’m used to chickens scratching for bugs and other critters. I geuss I’ll just get used to it. The birds really do seem content. I was glad that 4 State Poultry finally came through for us. When I started this project their rep, Vance Gates, convinced me to use them. In the end it was him who finally got this whole thing running. My hats off to him! Without his help we would not have birds today. I sincerely hope that 4 state knows what an asset he is to their operation! While I’m saying thanks to people, I need to recognize what an important part of this whole deal BJ has been too. Our relationship has been odd, strained, and downright bad a lot of this time, but she has always put her best foot forward to help me! I hope she knows she is appreciated!

Still no calf from the cow we bought that was obviously very pregnant. There has been so much to do at the chickenhouse I have barely had time to eat and sleep. Madison and Garett came running when the first truck of birds showed up. I made them stay outside because of the dust from the shavings. They were very excited though and can’t wait to get inside with the birds. It has been good to be close to the kids. It’s a relief just knowing that I am a stones throw away from them most all the time. My dad came and stayed with us the 2 nights prior to getting birds so he could help get everything ready. It was good to have him around and he was a big help too. He constatly amazes me with his knowledge of things electrical and mechanical, not to mention about life in general.

I was glad to get the 7010 back in action. Just a day or so after I last posted I got a package from both KMW and Mahindra. I now have the entire O ring kit for the loader valve as well as an extra load check plug and the internals. I’ve found the best way not to need a part is to have it on hand. You never need the parts you have. Turns out the 7010 was my transportation to the chickenhouse a couple days this week. Okay, I could’ve walked since it’s only a few hundred yards through the feild, but it’s just easier to drive. We got our first and probably only real snow of the year. It was only a couple inches, but underneath it was a layer of ice. I sent my truck home with our friend Kenny so I knew he would be able to make it back here to finish up the construction and plumbing of the wellhouse. Old Blue (my truck) isn’t doing too well these days. I’m seriously considering trading. Only thing is I’m not sure what I want if I trade. I’ve always been a GM guy, but this 6.5 litre turbo deisel has really turned me against GM. I’m really fond of the Cummins engine in the Dodges, but want an automatic transmission. Dodge automatics don’t have a great reputation. GM has the Allison automatic transmission which is awesome. I geuss the Fords are okay. My younger brother is a Ford technician. I just have always had GMs and can’t bring myself to go the Ford route. I hear Mahindra is bringing a truck to the US in a year or so maybe I can make “old blue” last until I get a peek at them.

BJ and the older girls have brought me into the technical age. They have convinced me that the farm needs a my space page. So with their help we’ll be adding to it all the time. We’re also going to try to set up our own website when we get time. I think it’s neat to have so many ways to share everything with the world. The internet is a great thing!

As always there is a whole pile of things to do and I don’t seem to be getting them done so I better get up from here and do something. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the pics we have added!