nimue (the cow) nim-eu-way

she is here on premises. i felt badly for her since we only had scorched earth and the labyrinth of partially split fire wood to offer her as pasture. she is mooing distance from her friends and calls to them. it is so sad. i went out and split wood to try to clear some trotting area. she'd come over and want me to pet her and if i walked anywhere she follow. it's kinda like having a big slow dog. i tried to split that twisted hickory out of her way--i got through about two wheel borrow loads and gave in. it is so trying to split because i have to hit it in exactly the same spot three or four times to get it to crack apart. then when i finally get it to crack it holds its self together with these twisted strands. any way i'm over half way through that trees wood then i get to go back to the white oak easy easy easy. if i set it up exactly right i can get that to split into four pieces with two strikes.

mike (tabitha's father) and i moved one of his bulls to a loaner breading herd. wow that is an adrenaline rush. they are so huge up close and have absolutely no fear. he is considered a mellow bull and mostly just wants to be left alone but man was that ever dangerous and exciting stuff.

we also went and got an old feeder to build nimue's milking shed around. it is huge and heavy 500 lbs plus. it'll be a cool divider between hay storage and milking area. a friend of mikes built it 30+ years ago in high school shop class out of rough cut oak timber. we plan a post and beam structure (cedar trees) as the vertical (posts) supports. there are several to choose from that are close to the intended shed location. i'll probably fell them tomorrow and drag them to their new home. tabitha is in charge of digging the holes for the posts. the farm we got the feeder from has an old barn falling down. tom, the fore mentioned feeder builder, told us we could pillage any of the wood and steel roofing. SCORE instant lumber and roof for the new shed. it's all old oak rough cut. i'll have to pre-drill all nail holes during assembly so it'll be slow going. but it will be strong. the barn still needs toppling but that should just take a couple of logging chains and a tractor. we have an old cast iron tub for the water troth (that is a little too white trash for me to stand for very long)

needless to say our pasture is enclosed--we completed it last week and felt very proud of ourselves. i have been working up that old, very dead, hickory out back for firewood. my lats (laticumus dorci) are getting wing-like and my stomach is in the best shape it has been in years. best of all my aim with that missouri splitter (maul) is deadly. of course i still have the random glancing blow but i could kill a fly sitting on the log with that thing.

the kids have runny noses but are so cool to be around. they accost me with screams and hugs every time i return home. trstan has been hanging out while i split quite a bit. he gets cold and goes into the house to warm by the fire. it is too cold for kassi to spend too much time outside not strapped to mama. tristan climbs around on fell trees and generally pleases me with excellent questions and exclamations. yestereve at dinner i scolded him for putting cabbage, that he didn't want to eat, from his fork onto my plate. he smugly and rightly said "daddy that's a bowl" ohhhh boy does he ever take after his mother. already a sharp whit at 3-1/2.

the chickens are really starting to lay eggs we get one a day and sometimes two. production should get up to ten or so a day by christmas--tabitha is my source here.
i need to affix the final laying box and attach the add-on roof.

the pasture next to our house needs repair next. that'll be much easier since we plan to mostly just prop-up the existing stuff and add as little as possible. there is green grass there right now that nimue could be eating instead of imported bales of hay.

always too much to do and too little time.