Life of a Farm Blog

I gotta say this has been a pretty cool Easter! Yeah the temps dropped down into the 20s here last night with a very thick frost. I bet there won’t be many flowers after this cold spell. The coolest thing about this Easter has been hanging out with the kids. We’ve been side by side since Friday morning. Saturday evening we took a trip down into the Big South Fork River and Recreation Area to the old coal mining town of Blue Heron. Since the temps were so cool we had the place all to ourselves. The kids climbed all over the the old mining equipment and railcars. I’m a big history buff and I hope that I will be able to teach the children about the heritage of this area. Sometimes I think I missed my calling not being a teacher. My grandmother, great uncle Norman, and several of my aunts and uncles were or are teachers. To me, my uncle Ralph has the coolest job of all. He is an Ag teacher at Perry County Central here in Ky.

The cold temps meant we had to take a few hours and cover our vegetables that are already out. It probably wouldn’t hurt what we have out, but just in case we took plastic from bad or leftover rolls I’ve brought home from kingsford and covered them. We’ve got an appointment for our pigs and beef to be slaughtered on April 23rd. I guess I need to go ahead and start shopping for another freezer.

Today we are going to a cookout at our neighbors, the Phillips’. Joe and Becky are foster parents and along the way have adopted 6 kids. Joe helps me a lot in the summer with the hay, fertilizer, and keeping everything going. Every year the Phillips’ raise a huge garden and several beef and hogs. They preserve a lot too. When my bunch starts complaining about working in the garden I just remind them that we aren’t growing nearly as much as the neighbors.

The storms that moved through the other night brought lots of straight line winds, lightning, and rain. One of our trees was blown down across the road. My summer goat shelter that I had made out of livestock panels and a tarp became a kite. Luckily the fence caught it before it could go far enough to do any damage. Some of the neighbors didn’t fare so well. I saw a couple of damaged roofs and one neighbor’s shed blown down.

The poultry house venture is still a nightmare. If I put the best bids I’ve gotten all together I’m going to be about $60,000 over projected costs. Add to that I have never seen work done by some of these contractors and I’m scared to death. If I used contractors that I know and trust I’m looking at closer to $80,000 over projection. Just the construction overrun would be enough to finance my dream of making this place into a pumpkin patch. I’ve been waiting on bids from 2 companies that will be for a “turn-key” project. If they add anything at all for bonding the job and sub contracting out any of the work I’ll be $100,000 over projection or roughly 15%. Throw in there the $20k it’s going to cost to have access by county road and we’re at $825,000 not $691,00. This deal is getting crazier by the day.

I’m ashamed to say I haven’t gotten around to servicing the 6000 or spreading the fertilizer I bought last week. I don’t know if it’s the cold or just wanting to hang out with the kids, but I just didn’t have the drive this week I usually have. Well I better go and get to doing something………Be sure to check out the pics I’ve added to the site.

This week has been one of the most jam packed weeks I can remember. Besides my regular work week I’ve managed to till several garden spots, work on my own garden, and get some fertilizer spread. On top of that I’ve stayed on the phone and in the woods with contractors going over what I would want in connection with the proposed poultry houses. I never realized how much was involved in these ventures. Between water quality plans and poultry house permits and excavators and builders and electricians I don’t know if I’m coming or going. I am ready to pull my hair out. I’m about ready to say the heck with it, it’s not worth it. I made myself promise I’d hang loose and get everything ready before I decided whether it was worth it or not. Right now it appears most bids will come in at least $10,000 over what was projected. That extra $50,000 is a lot of money.

Friday I had to take a trip to Owenton to my mom and dad’s other house to pick up our trailer and give my mom a lift back down here. It’s always depressing to see the farms for sale there. That part of the state relied heavily on agricultural, especially tobacco, and now it seems it’s dying. It bothers me bad because the people there are good, hard working people for the most part. They aren’t like the mostly government dependant people here. It kills me to see so many people here on government assistance.

When I went to pick up my mom I stopped by the local Mahindra dealer and picked up the stuff to service the 6000. It was right at $40 for 2 fuel filters and an oil filter. Today after work I went to pick up more fertilizer and stopped to get the oil for the servicing. I need another TV for my room at moms so I shopped around a little at kmart and WalMart. I was wanting some Craftsman ratcheting wrenches, but no way I’m giving the $100 per set they have at kmart.

Bj and I have come to an agreement on her renting the double-wide. That means I’ll be going back to my room at the log house. That will give the kids both parents pretty much all the time. That will free up a few hundred dollars a month too. That means I have to give up the TV I have here. It belongs to her, she just didn’t have room for it at the time. I’ll be getting another safety gift certificate soon, but looks like it’s already spent on a TV.

Tonight the forecast is for severe storms and a cold front to move in. Some stations are predicting a couple nights of below freezing temps. I have potatoes already coming out of the ground. I hope it doesn’t kill them. I think my cabbage, brocolli, cauliflower and lettuce will be okay, but I’ll cover them just in case. I guess this cold weather will keep the kids from going to the creek to wade like they have been at least a couple nights a week. They are thrilled to have “old blue” fixed so they can go to the creek.

Well lots to do so I better go for now……….Check back soon.

Another week has come and gone here on the farm. Madison has had me out digging flowers. Now that the truck is fixed and it’s warmer, we’ve been driving down to the creek a couple miles past the farm so the kids can skip rocks and that’s where Madison found her flowers. There are old home places along the banks of the creek and lots of them have flowers growing abundantly. The kids call it Lilly Valley. That means Dad gets the shovel those that we need at our house. Garett doesn’t get too into the flowers, so he browses around for other treasures or picks up trash. Kind of strange to pick up trash, but he does. He says people are littering and destroying the earth. Hard to argue with that. So usually we come home with flowers and trash. It’s good for the kids to get out in the woods.

It’s time for garden tilling to get busy. I tilled 3 on Friday afternoon. Don’t make a lot of money at it, but at least it helps buy fuel. At $2.60 a gallon I can use the help. I thought I would have some trouble starting the 6000 after running it out of fuel, but all I had to do was loosen the fuel prime pump and pump a few times and it took right off.

The kids and I volunteered for the museum in Stearns this weekend. The Stearns Coal & Lumber Company owned the local school building and had given the school district free rent since about 1925. A couple years ago the school board decided to restructure and close 3 of the older schools and build new and bigger schools. Problem is they closed the small schools that were achieving the higher test scores. I’m convinced schools are a business and it’s not about teachers or kids anymore. Things have certainly changed here since my grandmother taught for over 30 years. At any rate the Coal company didn’t want the building anymore since it’s in such bad shape so they donated it to the McCreary County Heritage Foundation. The museum is part of that foundation, so they got anything left in the building that they could use. We spent 2 days moving shelves, tables, books, and trophy cases that were all left behind to be thrown in the landfill. As they say- one man’s junk, another man’s treasure. In this case it’s one school’s junk, a museum’s treasure. I’m disgusted with the vandalism that has been done to the old schools here. Somebody has stolen almost all the copper wire and broken countless windows. It’s a shame we don’t have better law enforcement here. That and that people don’t have morals enough not to destroy others property. Hopefully the Heritage Foundation will do something with the building, but I have my doubts. It would take millions to renovate the place and I know they don’t have that kind of money.

I’ve spent countless hours on the phone and in the bush with contractors talking about and getting bids for the poultry houses. I have never felt so much pressure in my life. Farm Credit wants a general contractor to be hired to do it all. Problem is the total job bids are coming out way higher than the total of the individual bids. I could save probably $50,000 over the scope of the project by being my own general contractor. The excavation costs that the general contractors are throwing at me are over $15,000 more than the excavators bid. I see why it costs so much to build now. It’s not just a simple matter of hiring it done. You have to hire someone to hire it done and they want to inflate everything about 15%. In a project with a scope of $700,000 it can get out of hand quick. I can see where this whole deal could go sour very very quickly.

On a high note, I see there are going to be some changes to the UK basketball program. I can’t help but believe Tubby was told it was time to go. I just can’t see a guy leave the best job in college ball for Minnesota. I just hope we can lure either Bruce Pearl up from Tennessee or John Calipari from Memphis. I’d be happy if Pat Riley wanted to come back to his alma mater too.

Well tons to do so I’ll close for now………be sure to check out the pics I’m adding to the site.

Earlier this week the temps got into the 80′s and we even sat outside after dark to take in the warm night air and listen to the frogs. Now temps are dropping toward the 40′s and they say we could see snow flurries tonight. Great, as if we all weren’t sick enough. I hope all the plants we’ve set out can take the cold. That’s the bad part of setting out your garden early. If you do get a freeze sometimes you lose what you’ve started. So far we’ve put out 2 kinds of potatoes, onions, peas, brocolli, cauliflower, and cabbage. We also started some seeds inside for tomatoes and peppers. My older brother Paul and his wife are planning to come visit a lot this summer and help in the garden. Previously they had tried to garden a little in Owenton where my mom and dad have a small place. Since mom’s going to be here we decided they should just come here and help in our garden instead of planting their own.

Garett has been helping me feed every evening I’m home. We made a deal that if he’d help me keep the goats from stealing the cows feed I’d jump on the trampoline with him. He gets his stick and stands by the door. When the goats try to come under the door he taps them on the head. He calls it whack-a-goat. I’m proud of the kids for helping with the farm like they do.

I’m embarrased to admit I ran the 6000 out of fuel tilling. I guess I just got caught up in the moment and never looked at the gauges. The fuel gauge plainly says empty. On a good note though I think I’ve finally got the truck fixed, and my dad fixed my pallet forks that I bent loading railroad ties. Check out the pics of his modifications. Anyone with the pin type quick-attach pallet forks should consider this. The truck took 2 fuel pumps. Seems the cab chassis models have a weird design that has the back tank pump fuel into the front tank and then the front tank supply the engine. Both of the pumps on mine were bad. The front one was working part of the time but not at good pressure. All this stalling and cranking ate up one of the batteries and the starter. So after 2 fuel pumps, a PMD, a battery, and a starter it has finally run for a significant length of time. Only one problem left. I bought an Advance auto parts starter and the nose on the starter is a little different than the original and it is causing the dust sheild to hit the flywheel under load. So I’ve got to take the starter back off and either shim it or re-engineer it. It will have to warm up before I do though.

I need to get fertilizer on the fields here and the 38 acres I have leased. Once I get the truck fixed right and can catch a rain coming I’m going to do that. Last year we put almost $1000 worth of lime and fertilizer on the 38 acres and got about 100 rolls first cutting and countless squares on the second cutting. There is so much more profit in squares I hope I can get the help to do more of them this year. I want to buy a new square baler, but I keep telling myself I can’t justify spending the money if I’m not going to be able to get help putting in the squares. I’d hate to have a new square baler and still end up having to roll. Just doesn’t seem like folks want to work anymore.

Farm Credit let us know yesterday that they were willing to do the loan on the chickenhouses for the equity in the farm. Makes me wonder if they weren’t bargaining all along just trying to keep themselves in a more secure position. Worst part is now I’m second guessing myself as to whether or not to go this route. It will destroy 2 of my dreams for this farm. One to have a pumpkin patch for the school children to visit and the other my plan to build a house at the most secluded spot on the farm someday. On the other hand it would mean that the farm could finally be profitable. That and I could finally get out of Kingsford Charcoal. The cancer rate surrounding employees at the plant over the last 20 years is alarming to say the least. Most folks don’t live to collect their pensions for very long. Although Clorox has taken steps to reduce the dust, it simply isn’t enough. I find it very interesting that companies are able to subject you to dust that has been shown to cause “occupational lung disease” and never suffer any penalties.

March is even more depressing for us Kentucky basketball fans! I’m sure some programs would be thrilled with a record and a #8 seed in the tournament like we have, but this is Kentucky. The winningest program in all of college basketball. What Rupp built here is slowly being torn apart. One can only hope that the changes that need to be made to keep UK competitive will be made. If the AD isn’t going to do it then he should go too. Actually I think he should go anyway. The only up side to this tournament year is Rick Pitino has Louisville playing like the 1996 Kentucky squad. That’s probably the only praise Ky will get all tournament and the praise is to a team from 10 years ago.

Well, keep checking back. The fun is only begining for the year here!

Well this week has been good and bad. We got part of the garden started. I took the 6000 over and tilled a couple of the spots we used on Wednesday morning. Then Thursday afternoon we set out cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce. I’m hoping we can get the potatoes and onions in the ground this week too. Think I’ll plant a row of peas too. It helps to get an early start. The bad part of this week was that I put the $400 piece on my truck that was supposed to fix it, but it didn’t. The thing ran perfect for almost 30 minutes and then I shut it off. While we were setting out the plants on Thursday BJ came to pick up the kids. She was talking about how she missed gardening so I said just jump in here and help. When we were done I said I’d plant potatoes if I had them. She volunteered to go get the potatoes in my truck since I had it fixed or so I thought. She got to the end of the road and it died on her and wouldn’t start back. Somehow it’s running itself out of fuel.

On top of the truck driving me silly, all the kids have had the flu for the past few days. Ended up missing a day of work to get them to doctors appointments. They’ve got this new medicine Tamiflu that I have to fight them to get them to take it. Evidently tastes really bad.

I sure got a good scare the other night. A neighbor called to tell me I needed to make sure the horses were all in. Seems someone’s horse was running the neighborhood. Thank goodness mine were all where they should’ve been. I wasn’t as lucky a couple years ago. The Domino’s pizza guy stopped to ask if I knew anyone with horses. I knew when I saw him it couldn’t be good, because I hadn’t ordered pizza. I told him I had 4, why? His reply was well there are 4 standing in the road down there. Nothing as fun as chasing animals in the middle of the night.

We heard back from Farm Credit on our chickenhouse loan application. They want a substantial down payment plus the lien on the whole farm. I don’t know that we want to do that. I hate the thought of losing everything if something goes bad. It would be different if it wasn’t family land. Another tough decision to make.

The front deck on the double-wide is done. It looks really good! I hope I can afford to get the back one started soon. On the front we went 10×17. On the back we plan on going 16×20. They’ll both have lots of room to sit and go in and out.

Saturday BJ brought the kids down to fly kites. She brought my nephew JT too. We’ve ceratinly got good places to fly kites. We had the whole field full of kids running around with their kites.

In the latest issue of Hobby Farms magazine I noticed that there is reference to the fact that Mahindra will be adding implements to their lineup. It said they are going to have cutters, tillers, box and scraper blades, landscape rakes, boom poles, bale forks and spears, and even a potato plow. I think there is more to come too, like disc harrows. It will be interesting to see how these do. I know I’m going to pick up a disc harrows in a few weeks and I hope Mahindra has one available by then.

Well lots to do, so I better get at it……….Be sure to check back soon for new posts and while you’re here check out the pics I’ve added.

All is well here on the farm. Everything is growing and I can see the grass starting to green as every day goes by. March seems to always be when you know you’ve made it through the winter. That’s good because I am down to only 4 rolls and about 40 square bales of hay. I wouldn’t want any of the animals to get hungry. I have increased the amount of grain I’m feeding and cut back on the hay. It’s almost time to start spreading fertilizer on the hay fields. I like to spread as early as the weather allows to take advantage of all the spring rains. Usually around Valentines Day, but it was just too cold for me this year. Now if it will dry up I can spread. Hopefully the old saying “If March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb” holds true.

We had lots of rain and high winds all day and night. I like the rain, it makes good reading weather. Mom got me a great book – Into The Wild. I highly recommend it. It will really make you think about life. I spent most of my off time inside going over all the literature I picked up at the NFMS. The kids got me a subscription to Farm & Ranch Living. I’m usually not much on things if they aren’t informative. However I like this magazine because of its diaries from folks like me and all the great pictures. Not to mention I love the historical stuff in it. How could you not enjoy something you’ve seen your kids save their nickels and dimes for though.

The children seem to be getting bigger before my very eyes. This shift I work has me away from them more than I anticipated. I’ve worked late a lot on Mondays and Tuesdays and only see them for a few minutes on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. That’s 4 days a week and I feel so bad on Saturday from being up all night that I know I’m hard to get along with. Garett seems to miss me more than the others. He made me promise I would watch Open Season with him tonight. We’re making plans to go to Finley’s Fun Center at least one Sunday a month too. They like to play all the games and get Dad out on roller skates. Last Sunday I was so tired all I wanted to do was sleep. I did let them drag me out to get them a hamburger and go to the book store. While we were out they wanted to drive around and look at how low the lake was. When it warms up we’re gonna go walk in the lake bed. It’s real interesting, things are uncovered that haven’t been seen in a very long time. I read in the newspaper that the river in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area here in the county is at levels not seen since impounding the lake.

Won’t be too much longer until the pigs will be ready to eat. Someone asked me a few days ago did I not feel bad about killing these animals. I tried to explain that I do the very best I can by them for the time they have here. I see to it that they aren’t hungry, thirsty, or unhappy and that they have a warm dry place to sleep. I think that’s a whole lot more than you can say for the animals that have been raised commercially. So I bet my hamburger had a happier life than their hamburger. Also there are some animals on the farm that don’t have to worry about life ending anytime soon if I have my way about it.

I got a call at work the other night from BJ. Her grandparents needed hay moved again and she used the 6000 to move it for them. I asked her why she didn’t just go ahead and not worry about calling. Her reply was she was calling out of respect, it wasn’t right just to do it without talking to me first. I kidded her that she sounded crazy and that scared me because she never respected me when we were married. She says that’s not true, but I think it is. I think Papaw Staley might have changed his mind about not ever needing 4wd. When I told him I was buying a 4wd tractor, he told me he’d never buy a 4wd because if it was that bad he’d hire a bulldozer to clean it up for him. With all the freeze and thaw this year I think he sees how handy 4wd is.

We’ve made the decision on the poultry houses. Drumroll please……We have applied for the loan to try it. A cool million in all. I don’t know if we’ll get the money, but we’re going to try it. We talked and talked about it and it finally came down to try it, but leave ourselves an out. By that I mean, leave ourselves a way to sell out without selling the whole place. We’ve found a distant ridge that is almost perfect for them. When we sold the timber the loggers flattened it and used it for a skid yard. It’s at the end of a county road so it won’t intefere with this part of the farm at all. I’m not overly enthusiastic about it, but my dad wants to partner up and do something when he retires for good. I want to be home on the farm with the kids evenings. Both my mom and BJ have pledged to help. I had made the decision not to do it if it was going to be in my back yard or front yard. The site played a huge role in the decision for me. I’ve talked to lots of people who both recommend it and don’t and from everything I can gather it’s good for me. I’m young, hence not taking too big a risk with health insurance, retirement, and just plain dying broke. I’m a hard worker and most of all I want to be here on the farm 7 days a week 24 hours a day. I think that’s the biggest asset of this whole venture. I have a burning desire to farm and make this place profitable so my children don’t have to work in a charcoal factory. Add that to the support I’m receiving from my folks and I honestly believe we can make this thing work.

The log house is absolutely amazing with the new windows. Replacement windows are worth every penny. We’re almost done with all the improvements to it. All that’s left is a little hemlock siding on it and the barn, and some finish work inside. We’ve spent just over $20,000, but I bet the place will appraise $60,000 higher. The best part is my mom is so happy with the house. I haven’t seen her happy since we lost my youngest brother. He’s buried here at Bethel Baptist Church and I know she is grateful to finally be close to him. It really bothered her being in Owen County and him being here.

Kenny (the contractor) is starting the front deck on the double-wide as I write. I’m sure the kids will be happy. Every morning when the bus comes they’ve been hopping out the front about 3 feet to the ground like paratroopers. Madison has the most trouble with it. For her it’s like jumping from above her head.

Well lots to do……Be sure to check out the pics I’ve added here……Hope to hear from you…..Check back soon!

Just back from the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky. It was a wonderful show. Too bad I couldn’t bring all that equipment home with me. I took lots of pics and posted them here. Anyone who enjoys this type of show should definitely make plans to attend. I believe they had one of everything. Tractors, Implements, Grain Bins, Sprayers, Feeders, Poultry Equipment. I checked out all the square balers and accumulator systems represented. I also found a great feeder for the goats. You can check it out at www.heltonplastics.com. Every tractor manufacturer I know of was represented. I took a few pictures of the Mahindra Tractors display. I took a shot of the 3 pt lift arms on the 7010. To me this is a selling point Mahindra is not advertising. The lift arms are different than on the TYM/Montana versions. Mahindra uses a lift arm which will allow much easier hookup and removal of the implements. Most things can be done from the tractors seat. If for some reason you needed to dismount, the remote lift arm controls on the rear of the tractor would be handy.

I picked up a copy of the Lexington Herald Leader while I was away and read that the Army Corp of Engineers is now considering lowering Lake Cumberland another 30 ft. If that happens it will really inconvenience a huge amount of people in this area. It will also put the lake out of reach of the intake pipes and float for Kingsford. We’re able to cope with the 680 ft water level, but another 30 ft will put the water out of reach. While nosing around at the lake to take a few snapshots of the low water I realized I had never read the signs that tell of the history of the area. I did not realize that the author Harriette Simpson Arnow was from this area.

After being away 2 days I’m further behind on farm work so I better go…………….Thanks for reading and check back soon!

Well the cold is back and it brought an inch of snow with it. I’m ready for spring. I think everyone here is ready. Yesterday we took a tour of a commercial hen house. I posted some pics here. I was impressed with how little labor is involved in taking care of such a large amount of birds. Everything is automated. I was pleasantly surprised that there was virtually no smell. The birds seem happy and healthy too. Now the only decision left will be is this right for us and this farm. That and can we borrow such a large amount of money.

The children are all feeling bad today. Mattie has strep throat and I’m sure the others will have it too. My mom has gone back home with my dad for a doctors appointment. I’m planning to go to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville this weekend so I’ll drop by to visit with them in Owenton, Ky. I’m going to check out the Mahindra display at the show and quiz the folks about upcoming new products.

I got some interesting pics of the goats yesterday. I see them doing crazy things all the time. Sometimes I don’t see how they keep from hurting themselves or one another.

Kenny (the contractor) is starting on the windows in the log house this week. I guess it’s a good thing my mom went home. I can see it getting cold in the house as he takes out the windows to replace them. We took Kenny on the tour of the hen house with us. He believes we can build one a whole lot cheaper than the projected figures from Cobb.

Still haven’t figured out what exactly is wrong with my truck. It died on me here on the farm a couple nights ago. After cranking until the batteries were dead I finally went and got the 6000. I used the jumper cables to get it primed with the lift pump and then hooked a chain to it and pulled it until it finally started. I used it today to feed and it never once acted up. I guess it’s got a ghost. Sometimes it runs fine and then others it will just refuse to run.

We got a surprise this morning about 3 am. Daisy, the kids’ cocker spaniel had seven puppies. I talked to the ex wife about renting the double-wide. She was excited about the idea. We’ll have to discuss it more when we get the log house all finished.

Well lots to do so I better run………….Thanks for reading!

Finally some warmer weather here in Pine Knot. It has been much colder than normal lately. I’m not sure some of you would consider teens at night cold, but the average temp here is nowhere near that. That means us farmers aren’t really setup to handle it. Everyday this week I had to beat the ice out of the water trough for the pigs so I could give them fresh water. The chicken fountains were frozen too, so I had to lug them out to the water spicket and use running water to thaw them and then refill them on a daily basis. The pond where the goats and cows drink was frozen over too. So I had to walk to the pond and break the ice away so they could drink. Same thing at the other pond where the horses drink. I’m happy to report that the 6000 started with no problems in this cold snap. I’m relieved because I was sure I would have to replace the battery after letting it run dead. I put out more hay for all the animals and threw a square bale in to the pigs so they could bed in it. The cold sure leaves me wishing for a cab tractor like the 7010 cab. I’ve got goats that have to play king of the hay roll every time you set one out. The kids would stand at the window and watch them while drinking hot cocoa. They say goats are so silly.

We are set to tour a local commercial hen house Feb 13th. I heard from a friend that a local grower had lost a whole house of birds. Not quite sure how that will play out. I questioned the production manager about it and he assured me they were disposed of due to salmonella. He says it was not the growers fault. He claims I have nothing to worry about – the company has only cancelled one grower’s contract since they started here and that was after a year of warnings and gross negligence. The county agent here called me with a phone number of a friend of his who quit extension service to become a grower. He said this fella will tell me the truth about the business. He also assured me that no one who has gone into business with Cobb here in the county regrets it. We’ll see! I’m going to investigate all avenues of it before making a final decision.

Since it turned cold, Kenny (the contractor who’s working on the house) moved inside and replaced the kitchen countertop. I’ve posted a few new photos, click here to take a look. He also started on the trim in the addition and did all the drywall and painted. My younger brother John Jr put down some nice hardwood floor in the added room. Everything is coming together nicely. We have ordered all new windows for the house. They are supposed to be in today. The last couple weeks we’ve spent in the double-wide leave me longing for the house and honestly kind of regreting choosing the double-wide over the house. Nothing wrong with this place it just doesn’t feel like home. At the log house I had basically an apartment in the loft. I felt comfortable there. Small enough I didn’t ever feel lonely, but big enough I never felt crowded. Plus the kids are spending more time at the house with my mom than they are here. They kept their rooms there and my loft room is empty. As crazy as it sounds I have considered asking my ex-wife if she would want to rent the double-wide. At least that way we could both be close to the kids all the time and I know she would take care of it. Kind of crazy to go back to living with your parents at 33, but hey whatever works!

Unfortunately my Chevy truck is on the fritz. The stupid thing will just die on you for no reason. It may go a mile or 30 miles then usually starts right back. I suspect it is the PMD (Pump Mounted Driver) on the injector pump. $389 new, wow that hurts! I’m seriously considering changing brands when I get it fixed. I have always been a GM guy, but I don’t think I will ever own another GM diesel truck. That kind of puts me in a bind though because I absolutely worship Trans Ams and I can’t see driving a Ford or Dodge truck and a completely opposite brand car. I’m sure Mustangs are fun to drive like TAs, but I like the T-tops and 6 speed tranny in the TA. Not to mention that thing still runs great at 187,000 miles.

We are in kind of a pickle at work. The dam (Wolf Creek Dam) that holds back the lake (Lake Cumberland) we get all our water from is leaking and the Corp of Engineers is lowering the water level below the intake pipes to reduce pressure on the dam. It has the whole community in an uproar because they depend on the lake for so much. Well it’s almost time to make the charcoal so I better go……….Stay safe!

If anyone is looking to relocate there is 22 acres and an old house for sale next door. Very nice land. The house is older and I’m sure in need of repair. The neighbors were my grandparents’ age and lived there as long as I can remember. He pastored the local church and she was a cook for the school system. They have both passed away now and the children have decided to sell. I’d love to have at least part of it, but no way I can swing the $200,000 asking price.

Saturday was warm so I took the kids on a walk to the cliffs on the back side of our pasture. The farm is dotted with rock shelters. One set is known as the horse cliffs. The story is that civil war soldiers from the south used the cliffs to hide their horses. It’s quite a little walk to get in to these, but the children love to visit them. The warm weather also brought out the folks to install the skirting on the new double-wide. According to the weather forecast this is the calm before the storm. We are expecting an inch of snow tonight and temps in the low teens by tomorrow night. I guess winter is finally here to stay.

I used the 6000 4WD to set out 2 rolls each to the horses and the cows and goats. As soon as the weather lets up again I’m going to drag the drive because the rock is settling in and showing some low spots. My neighbor Joe Phillips who helps me in the hay called to say he wanted to buy some more hay for the horses he has. I only had 5 rolls that were of horse quality so I let him have them. Mr. Wisham also called needing hay moved and to tell me he is out of hay and looking to buy more. I told him I’d let him have 4 rolls, but I had to keep the rest for my animals.

Progress continues with the house. We’ve ordered a new counter top for the kitchen. All that is lacking on the addition now is the flooring and some trim. We’ve got cabin grade hardwood flooring ordered too. We are leaning toward replacing all the windows so the house will be easier to heat. That will cut into our excavating budget a little but should really improve the house.

I spent a while Tuesday chatting with the local county extension agent. We talked alot about what I could do with the farm. He doesn’t paint a very pretty picture for agriculture. He said if I want to make enough money to ever stay on the farm, chickenhouses is the way to go. He agreed with me that the area could use it’s own pumpkin patch since the closest one is an hour or more away. According to the figures being shown locally the cattle market is heading for a train wreck. I guess we’ll hold off until spring on any excavation because we cannot have any ponds on the place if we build chickenhouses.

I’ll post some pics of the progress and of the land for sale here. Hope this finds all of you well….