Our scale still isn't working... I haven't even gone looking for a new battery yet. I keep forgetting. Anyhow, I took Ollie to the vet today to get weighed for his October heart worm pill. I only had enough for the Sept 1 dose, since we knew by Oct 1 he'd be close to needing a bigger pill.
He's almost 6 months old now (we figure he was born the first week of April- ish) and he was 49.9 lbs. So its likely that by next Wednesday he'll gain another .1 lb and be ready for the bigger dose.
I looked back in my files to compare weights... Pixie at about 8 months (when we got her) was about 60 lbs.
I happen to have a copy of Buddy's paperwork from when he was neutered (from the Humane Society) and when he was neutered, he was 70 lbs. From the little bit of info we can piece together, we're pretty sure that Buddy was 8 - 10 months old when he was neutered.
Not that this gives us any real idea of how big he'll be when he's full grown, but I thought it was interesting anyhow. I imagine he'll be about Buddy's size when all is said and done. He's already taller than Pixie and is getting close to being as tall as Buddy.
Over the last two evenings, Shawn and I have put up the metal roofing on the goat shed. It's not quite done, we have to finish securing the edges and final details like that. Perhaps that will get done tonight, before the rain this weekend. Hope so!!
We've been taking Oliver out with us while working on the shed... he kept me company while painting earlier this week and then also hung out while we roofed. He's quite happy to be tied out near us while we work and chews sticks and chases bugs and stuff. He was a bit freaked out the first night I was on the roof. He was scared of me when I talked to him from up there, but he got over it. Oh the weird things we do.
I had a dentist appointment yesterday, for a cleaning and checkup and it went well... I do have to get my 2 fillings replaced very soon.. both of the teeth have stress fractures in them and I don't really want to wait and let them break. I have 2 appointments to get the fillings replaced in October, after Thanksgiving, so they just have to hold together until then.
Not much else new around here... working on the shed every evening doesn't leave us lots of time for fun or excitement... just the way we like it :)
--L
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Yet Another Shed Update
We're still busily working away on the shed. I got all the painting done that can be done... there will be more once more construction happens. I spent about 5 hours on Monday, 6 on Tuesday and another almost 3 hours today painting it.
Tonight we also started putting up the metal roofing. We bought a roll of roofing felt the other day and we are putting it between the OSB sheeting and the metal roofing. We got about half the roof done before we ran out of daylight. It goes up remarkably fast, WAY faster than shingles!!
Shawn cuts about 15 feet of roofing felt and then passes it up to me... I take the staple gun and fasten it down before it can blow away... then I trim the top edge of the roofing felt... then Shawn passes one end of the metal sheeting up to me and I pull and he pushes until its in place. Once its in about the right place then I start screwing it down with roofing screws that have neoprene washers on them. I put in about 4 rows of 4 screws per sheet and then we do it again. Its awesome :)
Hopefully tomorrow night we'll get the roof mostly finished up... there will be some fiddly stuff at the end, but nothing major and it can be done from the ladder which is nice.
Tomorrow is a big appointment day... Shawn and I are getting our eyes tested in the morning... then later in the day I have a dentist appointment, just for a cleaning and check up. Rogers cable is also supposed to drop by at some point to figure out why no one has been around to bury our cable. I've been bugging them for quite some time now and just getting the run around. Love that.
The Carp Fair is on this weekend... not sure if we'll go... will likely depend on the weather and what needs to be done on the shed. So far, they are saying rain for the weekend, but they've said that before and we've had nice days... can't trust the forecast... especially not this many days in advance.
I think that's it for now.
--L
Tonight we also started putting up the metal roofing. We bought a roll of roofing felt the other day and we are putting it between the OSB sheeting and the metal roofing. We got about half the roof done before we ran out of daylight. It goes up remarkably fast, WAY faster than shingles!!
Shawn cuts about 15 feet of roofing felt and then passes it up to me... I take the staple gun and fasten it down before it can blow away... then I trim the top edge of the roofing felt... then Shawn passes one end of the metal sheeting up to me and I pull and he pushes until its in place. Once its in about the right place then I start screwing it down with roofing screws that have neoprene washers on them. I put in about 4 rows of 4 screws per sheet and then we do it again. Its awesome :)
Hopefully tomorrow night we'll get the roof mostly finished up... there will be some fiddly stuff at the end, but nothing major and it can be done from the ladder which is nice.
Tomorrow is a big appointment day... Shawn and I are getting our eyes tested in the morning... then later in the day I have a dentist appointment, just for a cleaning and check up. Rogers cable is also supposed to drop by at some point to figure out why no one has been around to bury our cable. I've been bugging them for quite some time now and just getting the run around. Love that.
The Carp Fair is on this weekend... not sure if we'll go... will likely depend on the weather and what needs to be done on the shed. So far, they are saying rain for the weekend, but they've said that before and we've had nice days... can't trust the forecast... especially not this many days in advance.
I think that's it for now.
--L
Saturday, September 20, 2008
More Shed Construction
Shawn and I worked all day at the shed and got lots done. I posted a couple new pics to the FHH album for anyone that's interested.
We didn't get the metal roofing up today, it was rather windy and the idea of hanging out on the roof with 12ft long pieces of sharp sheet metal in the wind didn't appeal to us... perhaps tomorrow. There was lots to work away on anyhow.
We finished up the roof trussing... we added another truss to each end with support boards so now the OSB sheeting is well supported and should be fine for snow load. It was kind of a fiddly job, cutting the supports and attaching them, but was not too bad.
Somewhere in the middle of this job, we heard Buddy barking in the house... his real serious watch dog bark so we went around the corner of the trees and saw a car in the driveway... it was the JW's again (they were just by last week and Shawn went out to talk to them, clearly he was WAY too nice to them since they came back this week)... anyhow, *I* was out this time and walked over to them (they were just leaving the front door and heading to the car) and asked "Can I help you?"
It was a young guy and a young woman and the young guy spoke and asked how I am and all that. I answered and then when I got closer and was SURE it was the JW's, I said "We are not interested. Take us off your list. If you ever come back here, I will call the police and have you removed!" and we walked back towards where we were working. Once I was there, I stood for a minute and watched them, then pulled out my cell phone and pretended to be making a call... they sure left quickly then!! Hopefully they got the message and won't return.
Then went took a break and had lunch (just bbq'd frozen burgers) and went to Home Depot, you know, cause there's nothing more fun than Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon... UNLESS your home depot also has half of its parking lot fenced off to be repaved. Just lovely. Friggen chaos.
At Home Depot, we bought some more lumber, a couple 12 ft long pieces and then some 1x4 for the trim work. We also bought 8 sheets of styrofoam (24 inch wide x 8 feet long) ... we ended up buying the white beaded styrofoam stuff, it ended up being cheaper per R value and will be fine for our project. We'll cut each sheet in half (so we have 16 - 4ft pieces) and then we'll have to trim them width wise also, since the sheets are 24 inches wide and our studs are on 24 inch centers. A bit of a pain and will be a bit messy, but luckily we have 6 acres for it to blow around on, so no big deal ;)
When we got home, we unloaded everything and started working again... mostly putting up trim boards. I think they look nice and really finish it off. Also cover some, let's say, imperfections ;)
We worked til about 5pm and then Shawn was tired so we cleaned up and called it a day. I was planning to make dinner, but then I decided I really wanted chinese food instead, so we went out and got a combo plate each for supper.
Now its about 8:20pm and I was planning to shower, but we're having a bit of a thunderstorm... quite a bit of lightning... I think I'll just wait a while til it blows over... I'm such a chicken :)
Hopefully tomorow the weather will cooperate and we'll get the metal roofing up... that would be nice to have done and in the past. Then all the rest of the work is not too high up... we can reach it from ladders which is handy. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I think that's it for now.
-- L
We didn't get the metal roofing up today, it was rather windy and the idea of hanging out on the roof with 12ft long pieces of sharp sheet metal in the wind didn't appeal to us... perhaps tomorrow. There was lots to work away on anyhow.
We finished up the roof trussing... we added another truss to each end with support boards so now the OSB sheeting is well supported and should be fine for snow load. It was kind of a fiddly job, cutting the supports and attaching them, but was not too bad.
Somewhere in the middle of this job, we heard Buddy barking in the house... his real serious watch dog bark so we went around the corner of the trees and saw a car in the driveway... it was the JW's again (they were just by last week and Shawn went out to talk to them, clearly he was WAY too nice to them since they came back this week)... anyhow, *I* was out this time and walked over to them (they were just leaving the front door and heading to the car) and asked "Can I help you?"
It was a young guy and a young woman and the young guy spoke and asked how I am and all that. I answered and then when I got closer and was SURE it was the JW's, I said "We are not interested. Take us off your list. If you ever come back here, I will call the police and have you removed!" and we walked back towards where we were working. Once I was there, I stood for a minute and watched them, then pulled out my cell phone and pretended to be making a call... they sure left quickly then!! Hopefully they got the message and won't return.
Then went took a break and had lunch (just bbq'd frozen burgers) and went to Home Depot, you know, cause there's nothing more fun than Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon... UNLESS your home depot also has half of its parking lot fenced off to be repaved. Just lovely. Friggen chaos.
At Home Depot, we bought some more lumber, a couple 12 ft long pieces and then some 1x4 for the trim work. We also bought 8 sheets of styrofoam (24 inch wide x 8 feet long) ... we ended up buying the white beaded styrofoam stuff, it ended up being cheaper per R value and will be fine for our project. We'll cut each sheet in half (so we have 16 - 4ft pieces) and then we'll have to trim them width wise also, since the sheets are 24 inches wide and our studs are on 24 inch centers. A bit of a pain and will be a bit messy, but luckily we have 6 acres for it to blow around on, so no big deal ;)
When we got home, we unloaded everything and started working again... mostly putting up trim boards. I think they look nice and really finish it off. Also cover some, let's say, imperfections ;)
We worked til about 5pm and then Shawn was tired so we cleaned up and called it a day. I was planning to make dinner, but then I decided I really wanted chinese food instead, so we went out and got a combo plate each for supper.
Now its about 8:20pm and I was planning to shower, but we're having a bit of a thunderstorm... quite a bit of lightning... I think I'll just wait a while til it blows over... I'm such a chicken :)
Hopefully tomorow the weather will cooperate and we'll get the metal roofing up... that would be nice to have done and in the past. Then all the rest of the work is not too high up... we can reach it from ladders which is handy. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I think that's it for now.
-- L
Friday, September 19, 2008
New Pics Added to the FHH Album AGAIN
I added some new pics today... a few pics of the heavy frost this morning... a couple of a shed on the property we'd never looked inside of before. There was a good size tree in the way (which we've been hacking bits off of to feed to goats for a while) and finally took it down far enough to open the door. Its in very rough shape and has a horrible lean to it, along with holes in the roof and an assortment of junk inside, nothing good.
I also updated the goat shed album as we finally got some wall siding up last night. We got one long wall done and the other long wall started. The other long wall will have its siding pieced to help reduce costs. I think it will look fine.
We're planning to insulate the shed and finish the inside with 2x something wood (2x8's maybe?) up to 5 feet. The finished solid part of the walls will be 5 feet with windows above that.
The window design we have in mind so far is (homemade) windows that hinge at the top and have a rod attached to them to open and close them. Kinda hard to describe, but the idea is that if the weather is foul, they can be shut and keep the worst of the weather out and then during nicer weather they can be opened to allow some breeze through. We'll see how it works out.
I'm not aiming for a warm shed, often warm also means wet, which is very bad for livestock. Dry and cold is generally ok, but wet... not good. I'm a freak about ventilation when it comes to horses... I think too many people seal them up too tight and then wonder why the air quality sucks and horses have allergies, heaves and get sick easily. This, in my mind, also applies to goats... it worked out ok last year with their little shelter, so we'll see.
We've also taken great care when designing this structure that if the ventilation plan doesn't work out that we can modify it without too many structural changes. Hopefully this will let us fix any mistakes we make :)
The heavy frost this morning was not really a welcome sight, even though its long since burned off. It was a little too reminiscent of last winter and I don't really feel like I've recovered from that yet. Plus I have many things I need to get done yet in the decent weather!!
I've also made Ollie's neutering appointment (Festival of Testicles) for October 7, about 2.5 weeks. He'll be 6 months old and I don't want to wait too long to have it done... its TIME :) Poor little guy.
When I called the vet to make the appointment, they ask you about all sorts of options... its not just "here, take my dog and neuter him"... its "do you want an ECG done to check for heart issues before the general anesthetic?" ... "do you want blood work done to check liver and kidney function?" (to make sure his body can recover from the effects of anesthetic)... "do you want conventional surgery or laser surgery?" (apparently the laser surgery is less painful to recover from, but can take longer to recover from).
Of course, with options come costs and risks.
- ECG costs an extra $25. If he had a heart issue that we didn't know about, the surgery could possibly kill him.
- The bloodwork costs an extra $65. If his liver and kidney function isn't up to par, the surgery could kill him.
- The laser surgery costs an extra $60 - 80 (its weight dependent) and makes the recovery more comfortable.
- While he's "under" they will also microchip him for an extra $65 (which I will definitely have done!) so that he doesn't have to feel the large needle that's used. If he wasn't going to be under anyhow, he'd just have to cope and have it done, but since he'll be "out", it'll make everyone's life easier since he won't be near so wiggly ;)
I haven't decided which options we'll do yet, they don't need to know until the day of surgery. I'm really leaning towards the conventional surgery though, even if its more painful... its the tried and true method that's been happening for a long time... and the possibility of a longer recovery doesn't seem good, even if there's less pain involved. Seems to me he'll just feel like running around like a dork sooner and have a better chance of hurting something. Pain isn't always a bad thing.
So that's about all going on around FHH these days. We hope to get a bunch more done on the goat shed this weekend, metal roofing up, wall siding finished... maybe start insulating and putting up the kickboards... we'll see :)
I also updated the goat shed album as we finally got some wall siding up last night. We got one long wall done and the other long wall started. The other long wall will have its siding pieced to help reduce costs. I think it will look fine.
We're planning to insulate the shed and finish the inside with 2x something wood (2x8's maybe?) up to 5 feet. The finished solid part of the walls will be 5 feet with windows above that.
The window design we have in mind so far is (homemade) windows that hinge at the top and have a rod attached to them to open and close them. Kinda hard to describe, but the idea is that if the weather is foul, they can be shut and keep the worst of the weather out and then during nicer weather they can be opened to allow some breeze through. We'll see how it works out.
I'm not aiming for a warm shed, often warm also means wet, which is very bad for livestock. Dry and cold is generally ok, but wet... not good. I'm a freak about ventilation when it comes to horses... I think too many people seal them up too tight and then wonder why the air quality sucks and horses have allergies, heaves and get sick easily. This, in my mind, also applies to goats... it worked out ok last year with their little shelter, so we'll see.
We've also taken great care when designing this structure that if the ventilation plan doesn't work out that we can modify it without too many structural changes. Hopefully this will let us fix any mistakes we make :)
The heavy frost this morning was not really a welcome sight, even though its long since burned off. It was a little too reminiscent of last winter and I don't really feel like I've recovered from that yet. Plus I have many things I need to get done yet in the decent weather!!
I've also made Ollie's neutering appointment (Festival of Testicles) for October 7, about 2.5 weeks. He'll be 6 months old and I don't want to wait too long to have it done... its TIME :) Poor little guy.
When I called the vet to make the appointment, they ask you about all sorts of options... its not just "here, take my dog and neuter him"... its "do you want an ECG done to check for heart issues before the general anesthetic?" ... "do you want blood work done to check liver and kidney function?" (to make sure his body can recover from the effects of anesthetic)... "do you want conventional surgery or laser surgery?" (apparently the laser surgery is less painful to recover from, but can take longer to recover from).
Of course, with options come costs and risks.
- ECG costs an extra $25. If he had a heart issue that we didn't know about, the surgery could possibly kill him.
- The bloodwork costs an extra $65. If his liver and kidney function isn't up to par, the surgery could kill him.
- The laser surgery costs an extra $60 - 80 (its weight dependent) and makes the recovery more comfortable.
- While he's "under" they will also microchip him for an extra $65 (which I will definitely have done!) so that he doesn't have to feel the large needle that's used. If he wasn't going to be under anyhow, he'd just have to cope and have it done, but since he'll be "out", it'll make everyone's life easier since he won't be near so wiggly ;)
I haven't decided which options we'll do yet, they don't need to know until the day of surgery. I'm really leaning towards the conventional surgery though, even if its more painful... its the tried and true method that's been happening for a long time... and the possibility of a longer recovery doesn't seem good, even if there's less pain involved. Seems to me he'll just feel like running around like a dork sooner and have a better chance of hurting something. Pain isn't always a bad thing.
So that's about all going on around FHH these days. We hope to get a bunch more done on the goat shed this weekend, metal roofing up, wall siding finished... maybe start insulating and putting up the kickboards... we'll see :)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Super Busy Day Here...
Our day started by having to finish up some details on the hay storage shed before our hay guy arrived with 50 bales. (I didn't know he was coming today until late last night.) We added the extra piece of OSB to the floor we wanted to, then dragged over 4 rubber mats and hosed them off and installed them. 4 mats doesn't cover the whole floor, but it covers the back half.
Then we quick ran inside and I made Egg McMuffins (are they still "Mc" if I make them?) and we inhaled those quickly. Then our hay guy showed up with 50 bales of hay... some of it this year's and some of it from 2 years ago... he's brought me some of it from 2 years ago before and its still lovely hay and the goats think its yummy.
We unloaded his truck onto 5 of our plastic skids, since the mats in the hay shed were still drying off. Plus he can't really get his truck too close to that building yet, between the stone dust pile and the ruts. Eventually we'll have someone in to clear away the grass and dig it down a bit and then put gravel down and make an extension to the driveway. I'd love if it happened this year, but I'm also pretty sure it won't. The stone dust pile does need to get moved though, I'm hoping to convince our snow removal guy to plow back there this year, even though its not a proper driveway. We'll see.
After our hay guy left, we moved all the hay to the building, using the lawn tractor and cart. That works pretty darn good! The shed is only about half full, I could put 100 bales in there if I wanted or needed to. 50 bales should be almost a year's worth, I would like another 25-30 bales though since my guys are bigger this year and will likely eat more this winter than last. We'll see if I can get it easily or not.
After the hay was put up and we admired our shed's usefulness, we then set to work putting up the roof sheeting on the goat shed.
4 of 6 sheets went up fairly easily (getting 3/4" OSB up 7 feet is no easy task!) and could be mostly fastened from the ladder. The last two sheets had to be positioned and fastened by someone ON the roof... ME. That went ok, its not THAT steep and we did screw a board to the edge to slow me down should I slip, which I did not :)
We were all done by 5pm and then we came in and I made shake and bake chicken legs and poo-tatoes with onion and celery in the oven... had a shower while it baked and then ate supper on the couch while watching Stargate Atlantis.
All good.
I've updated the goat shed album on FHH and I put up a couple pics of the hay in the hay shed.
Tomorrow we'll likely calculate and buy the siding for the goat shed... depending on the weather, we may even start putting it up. Our roofing steel doesn't come until Tuesday, so we're stalled on the roof for now... but still lots to do.
That's it for tonight.
-- L
Then we quick ran inside and I made Egg McMuffins (are they still "Mc" if I make them?) and we inhaled those quickly. Then our hay guy showed up with 50 bales of hay... some of it this year's and some of it from 2 years ago... he's brought me some of it from 2 years ago before and its still lovely hay and the goats think its yummy.
We unloaded his truck onto 5 of our plastic skids, since the mats in the hay shed were still drying off. Plus he can't really get his truck too close to that building yet, between the stone dust pile and the ruts. Eventually we'll have someone in to clear away the grass and dig it down a bit and then put gravel down and make an extension to the driveway. I'd love if it happened this year, but I'm also pretty sure it won't. The stone dust pile does need to get moved though, I'm hoping to convince our snow removal guy to plow back there this year, even though its not a proper driveway. We'll see.
After our hay guy left, we moved all the hay to the building, using the lawn tractor and cart. That works pretty darn good! The shed is only about half full, I could put 100 bales in there if I wanted or needed to. 50 bales should be almost a year's worth, I would like another 25-30 bales though since my guys are bigger this year and will likely eat more this winter than last. We'll see if I can get it easily or not.
After the hay was put up and we admired our shed's usefulness, we then set to work putting up the roof sheeting on the goat shed.
4 of 6 sheets went up fairly easily (getting 3/4" OSB up 7 feet is no easy task!) and could be mostly fastened from the ladder. The last two sheets had to be positioned and fastened by someone ON the roof... ME. That went ok, its not THAT steep and we did screw a board to the edge to slow me down should I slip, which I did not :)
We were all done by 5pm and then we came in and I made shake and bake chicken legs and poo-tatoes with onion and celery in the oven... had a shower while it baked and then ate supper on the couch while watching Stargate Atlantis.
All good.
I've updated the goat shed album on FHH and I put up a couple pics of the hay in the hay shed.
Tomorrow we'll likely calculate and buy the siding for the goat shed... depending on the weather, we may even start putting it up. Our roofing steel doesn't come until Tuesday, so we're stalled on the roof for now... but still lots to do.
That's it for tonight.
-- L
Friday, September 12, 2008
Something I KNOW I Did Forget...
The last two nights we've eaten our home grown poo-tatoes and they are delicious!! Apparently goat poop grows tasty taters :)
Roofing Decision... Finally
We finally made a roofing decision for the goat shed and got the supplies ordered this morning. We're going to sheet the roof with OSB and then install metal roofing over top like every other building on this property. Its not painted, just plain galvanized and should be delivered here on Tuesday.
We're sacrificing the extra light that the plastic would've given and added strength, probably a decent trade off, really. Price wise, it turns out that OSB plus metal is a tiny bit cheaper, but almost comparable to the plastic.
The siding dilemma continues, however ;) Since my initial pricing out of materials, our design changed a bit, so I need to reprice it out and see what the actual price differences are and then make a decision.
Its supposed to rain today and on and off all weekend... we'll see what actually happens though, often they SAY rain all day and then its not... or they say occasional showers and it rains all damned day. We may get the OSB roof sheeting up with weekend if we can find enough dry spells... then perhaps cover it with a tarp or two to help keep it a bit dry until the sheet metal goes up.
I can't remember if I actually posted that all the trusses are now up, but we put the end ones up Wednesday night.... we're good to go :)
--L
We're also going to install a light or two in the goat shed (and maybe the hay shed next to it) ... we're not running electricity over there though (at least not this year!)... I think we're going to give solar a try... you can buy a kit at Canadian Tire with the panel and everything in it for reasonable money. It should run a couple light bulbs for the short amount of time I want them in the late evening when feeding. Again, we're still researching and trying to figure out what's decent for decent money... so stay tuned ;)
We're sacrificing the extra light that the plastic would've given and added strength, probably a decent trade off, really. Price wise, it turns out that OSB plus metal is a tiny bit cheaper, but almost comparable to the plastic.
The siding dilemma continues, however ;) Since my initial pricing out of materials, our design changed a bit, so I need to reprice it out and see what the actual price differences are and then make a decision.
Its supposed to rain today and on and off all weekend... we'll see what actually happens though, often they SAY rain all day and then its not... or they say occasional showers and it rains all damned day. We may get the OSB roof sheeting up with weekend if we can find enough dry spells... then perhaps cover it with a tarp or two to help keep it a bit dry until the sheet metal goes up.
I can't remember if I actually posted that all the trusses are now up, but we put the end ones up Wednesday night.... we're good to go :)
--L
We're also going to install a light or two in the goat shed (and maybe the hay shed next to it) ... we're not running electricity over there though (at least not this year!)... I think we're going to give solar a try... you can buy a kit at Canadian Tire with the panel and everything in it for reasonable money. It should run a couple light bulbs for the short amount of time I want them in the late evening when feeding. Again, we're still researching and trying to figure out what's decent for decent money... so stay tuned ;)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Back To My "Roots"
Oh so very punny once you look at the pics! So this is what I found growing in my "garden" today... I have known for some time the potatoes were growing in my manure pile, but today I decided to actually check and see if there was anything under the soil/manure.
I found about 20 potatoes... only about 10 were worth keeping, the other half grew too close to the surface and were green, so I tossed them back in the pile for next year's crop.
I also found a gorgeous tomato plant growing there, with blossoms on it... of course, there won't be any tomatoes now, unless winter comes late and fall is more like the summer we didn't have... which while I can DREAM, I really do know better.
There were two pumpkin plants growing as well, one with flowers on it... but again, nothing will come of it at this late date.
At least now I'm sure my manure pile is ready to be used and is not too hot :) I think all the rain we had this summer really brought it along.
Anyhow, we're going to have freshly dug potatoes for dinner tonight... yes, I'll scrub them well!! This is how gardening should be ;)
So considering we didn't plant or tend anything this year our property provided us with quite a few black raspberries (I'm guessing around 4 quarts and we didn't even pick all of them) and some potatoes. The goats also get credit for the potatoes... who says they don't earn their keep? :) haha
The grass growth is finally slowing down here, I did have to cut it today, but it wasn't near as bad as sometimes this summer and I don't think I cut it last week... at least not that I remember.
This also means less eating for the goats, but we have quite a bit still available for them, some of it just isn't quite as nice as it was mid summer. I have one whole area at the front of the property near the new goat shed that they ate off early in the season and then I cut it back to discourage the stuff they don't like from coming back that is nice, lush and tender and probably about 18 inches tall. I'm saving that area for when there's nothing else, but hopefully get them on it before it dies back... tricky business trying to have GOOD grass for as long as possible. :)
Goats (or at least MINE, since there seems to be a huge difference between what my goats think is awesome and what my sister's goats love! :) ) seem to be fussier than other plant eaters I've known, they like the grass and plants when its tall, weedy and if there's small trees and bushes in it, so much the better... the really rough "pasture". Of course, mine wouldn't turn down alfalfa either, but we don't have any and really that's awful rich for 2 little wethers.
As always, there are a few more dog pics in the album... some of them playing AGAIN.
That's it for now... time to go scrub spuds!
-- L
I found about 20 potatoes... only about 10 were worth keeping, the other half grew too close to the surface and were green, so I tossed them back in the pile for next year's crop.
I also found a gorgeous tomato plant growing there, with blossoms on it... of course, there won't be any tomatoes now, unless winter comes late and fall is more like the summer we didn't have... which while I can DREAM, I really do know better.
There were two pumpkin plants growing as well, one with flowers on it... but again, nothing will come of it at this late date.
At least now I'm sure my manure pile is ready to be used and is not too hot :) I think all the rain we had this summer really brought it along.
Anyhow, we're going to have freshly dug potatoes for dinner tonight... yes, I'll scrub them well!! This is how gardening should be ;)
So considering we didn't plant or tend anything this year our property provided us with quite a few black raspberries (I'm guessing around 4 quarts and we didn't even pick all of them) and some potatoes. The goats also get credit for the potatoes... who says they don't earn their keep? :) haha
The grass growth is finally slowing down here, I did have to cut it today, but it wasn't near as bad as sometimes this summer and I don't think I cut it last week... at least not that I remember.
This also means less eating for the goats, but we have quite a bit still available for them, some of it just isn't quite as nice as it was mid summer. I have one whole area at the front of the property near the new goat shed that they ate off early in the season and then I cut it back to discourage the stuff they don't like from coming back that is nice, lush and tender and probably about 18 inches tall. I'm saving that area for when there's nothing else, but hopefully get them on it before it dies back... tricky business trying to have GOOD grass for as long as possible. :)
Goats (or at least MINE, since there seems to be a huge difference between what my goats think is awesome and what my sister's goats love! :) ) seem to be fussier than other plant eaters I've known, they like the grass and plants when its tall, weedy and if there's small trees and bushes in it, so much the better... the really rough "pasture". Of course, mine wouldn't turn down alfalfa either, but we don't have any and really that's awful rich for 2 little wethers.
As always, there are a few more dog pics in the album... some of them playing AGAIN.
That's it for now... time to go scrub spuds!
-- L
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Shed Update
I posted some new pics today... I added to the goat shed album to show the progress. It's coming along pretty well so far, the walls are all up and 5 of 7 trusses are up. The remaining 2 trusses require additional cuts to accommodate the stud walls, so they weren't quite ready to be installed yet... if it doesn't rain tonight, perhaps we'll get those cut and put up.
(For anyone that missed the dimensions of the shed, its 8 ft wide by 12 ft long. The roof is 7 feet on the short side and 9 friggen feet on the tall side, cause clearly we're housing giraffes! The shed has 2 doors, at opposite ends, each door is 3 feet wide.)
I'm still undecided about a few things about the shed... like window ventilation, roofing and siding... nothing major ;)
For window ventilation, ideally I want large windows on each side that I can open and close as the weather changes... I also don't want my goats to be able to ram on the windows (they won't be made of glass, in any case!) so they have to go above 5 feet high. That means I can have windows on 3 sides that are about 18 inches tall, which seems good. On the tallest side, I could in theory have windows that are 3.5 feet tall. It's mostly figuring out the best and easiest method of making easy open / close windows that will seal out the worst of the rain and snow.
My idea for "windows" is just to sheet the outside up to 5 feet and then leave the space above open, covered in hardware cloth to keep birds and stuff out... then plywood "shutters" that would hinge open and fasten shut. The walls studs will obviously still be visible, but I don't think that's a problem in any way and is maybe even more useful than the normal framing out for a window thing you normally have to do.
As for roofing, I originally was thinking that we'd put up metal roofing sheets, like we have on every outbuilding here (and the house too!). I haven't ruled that idea out by any means yet. I am considering the possibility of polycarbonate panels though. They have the advantage that you get use, say mostly gray panels, but put a clear panel in the center for extra light. (Our shed does not have electricity or water). They seem easy enough to install, from looking at the website... and Home Depot sells them as well, so they are easy to obtain.
I'm not convinced yet, though, I still want to compare prices on the Sun Tuf versus tin sheeting. Stay tuned for the big decision ;)
As for siding, we originally started planning this shed using rough cut hemlock and doing the outside in board and batten... well that was WAY out of the budget, even though it would've been beautiful. There's quite a bit more framing required for board and batten as well, that helped push the costs up.
So my siding options at this point are:
-- 5/8" plywood, one side is finished to look like rough cut vertical planks, more attractive than other options, but a bit pricier, could paint or stain it.
-- 5/8" or 3/4" standard plywood, would require painting, could be sided over in the future
-- 3/4" OSB (particle board, wafer board), would require painting and would still probably not last for very long out in the rain and snow, but is CHEAP and could either be sided over or replaced with something else as $ permitted.
For a long time, I was leaning towards the faux plank plywood... then was leaning towards the cheapness of the OSB and now, just haven't decided :)
Our original design also called for an interior wall in the shed, sort of an airlock between the people door to the outside and the goats. Goats think its funny to try to escape when the door is open and are very good at it. If they ever get their noses between the gate and the frame, they can wiggle their way through if you're not paying very close attention.
After getting the exterior walls up, we looked around and decided we wouldn't build the interior wall, as we just didn't want it eating up that much of their lounging space. So for now, we'll manage without the air lock and just pay close attention at all times ;) haha
We do have a "phase 2" plan for the airlock... we'll build it externally to the current structure, a small "porch" type idea with a gate and a bit of a roof so that we can enter the building without being dripped on and stuff like that. But "phase 2" will likey have to wait until next spring, unless fall is long and kind to us.
Anyhow, now I'm pretty sure that you have more info about my shed than anyone ever wanted to know!!
I also took a few pics of the dogs at play the other day... they are constantly in motion outside, especially Pixie and Oliver ... its really difficult to take digital pics of them that turn out ok... I end up deleting lots of pics that either have no one in them (they took off before the camera caught them) or just have ear and tail tips in them. I posted a few of the reasonable ones.
(For anyone that missed the dimensions of the shed, its 8 ft wide by 12 ft long. The roof is 7 feet on the short side and 9 friggen feet on the tall side, cause clearly we're housing giraffes! The shed has 2 doors, at opposite ends, each door is 3 feet wide.)
I'm still undecided about a few things about the shed... like window ventilation, roofing and siding... nothing major ;)
For window ventilation, ideally I want large windows on each side that I can open and close as the weather changes... I also don't want my goats to be able to ram on the windows (they won't be made of glass, in any case!) so they have to go above 5 feet high. That means I can have windows on 3 sides that are about 18 inches tall, which seems good. On the tallest side, I could in theory have windows that are 3.5 feet tall. It's mostly figuring out the best and easiest method of making easy open / close windows that will seal out the worst of the rain and snow.
My idea for "windows" is just to sheet the outside up to 5 feet and then leave the space above open, covered in hardware cloth to keep birds and stuff out... then plywood "shutters" that would hinge open and fasten shut. The walls studs will obviously still be visible, but I don't think that's a problem in any way and is maybe even more useful than the normal framing out for a window thing you normally have to do.
As for roofing, I originally was thinking that we'd put up metal roofing sheets, like we have on every outbuilding here (and the house too!). I haven't ruled that idea out by any means yet. I am considering the possibility of polycarbonate panels though. They have the advantage that you get use, say mostly gray panels, but put a clear panel in the center for extra light. (Our shed does not have electricity or water). They seem easy enough to install, from looking at the website... and Home Depot sells them as well, so they are easy to obtain.
I'm not convinced yet, though, I still want to compare prices on the Sun Tuf versus tin sheeting. Stay tuned for the big decision ;)
As for siding, we originally started planning this shed using rough cut hemlock and doing the outside in board and batten... well that was WAY out of the budget, even though it would've been beautiful. There's quite a bit more framing required for board and batten as well, that helped push the costs up.
So my siding options at this point are:
-- 5/8" plywood, one side is finished to look like rough cut vertical planks, more attractive than other options, but a bit pricier, could paint or stain it.
-- 5/8" or 3/4" standard plywood, would require painting, could be sided over in the future
-- 3/4" OSB (particle board, wafer board), would require painting and would still probably not last for very long out in the rain and snow, but is CHEAP and could either be sided over or replaced with something else as $ permitted.
For a long time, I was leaning towards the faux plank plywood... then was leaning towards the cheapness of the OSB and now, just haven't decided :)
Our original design also called for an interior wall in the shed, sort of an airlock between the people door to the outside and the goats. Goats think its funny to try to escape when the door is open and are very good at it. If they ever get their noses between the gate and the frame, they can wiggle their way through if you're not paying very close attention.
After getting the exterior walls up, we looked around and decided we wouldn't build the interior wall, as we just didn't want it eating up that much of their lounging space. So for now, we'll manage without the air lock and just pay close attention at all times ;) haha
We do have a "phase 2" plan for the airlock... we'll build it externally to the current structure, a small "porch" type idea with a gate and a bit of a roof so that we can enter the building without being dripped on and stuff like that. But "phase 2" will likey have to wait until next spring, unless fall is long and kind to us.
Anyhow, now I'm pretty sure that you have more info about my shed than anyone ever wanted to know!!
I also took a few pics of the dogs at play the other day... they are constantly in motion outside, especially Pixie and Oliver ... its really difficult to take digital pics of them that turn out ok... I end up deleting lots of pics that either have no one in them (they took off before the camera caught them) or just have ear and tail tips in them. I posted a few of the reasonable ones.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Not Much New Around Here
Been a while since a real update... we've been busy, as usual and I just haven't made time to make updates. How's that for an excuse? :)
We're working on getting our goat shed built before the weather changes too dramatically... so far we have:
-- Rented a sod cutter and cleared away the sod in an area about 10ft x 16 ft
-- Installed a 4x4 pressure treat foundation frame, complete with half lap joints at the corners (Thanks Shawn!) then lag bolted together. We also drove 8 pieces of 2 foot long rebar through the pressure treat frame to help anchor the whole structure (2 on each side)
-- We then filled the frame with stone dust from our pile and rented a compactor to compact it down. We also watered it and now its hard like cement!
-- We dragged 4 rubber mats onto the foundation and cut them to fit inside the 4x4 frame so they won't be able to move.
-- We have 2 walls framed in 2x4's and the wood cut to frame the other two walls (maybe tonight if the rain holds off).
The finished shed will be 8ft by 12ft and one wall will be 7ft tall and the opposite wall is 9ft tall and then the roof will be a single slope (like a lean to type roof). Its probably unreasonably tall but there are a couple reasons for it,one being Shawn is freakishly tall and another we can add large windows for ventilation and still have them above "goat level" so they don't mess with them or get too much of a draft. As with everything around here, its an experiment and maybe will work out or maybe not, but you know we have to try it anyhow! :)
I've got a few pics of the shed's progress that I'll post later today.
Oliver is growing... he's pretty much as tall as Pixie now, but of course much lankier! I still haven't gone looking for batteries for our scale, so no weight update... I'm guessing he must be around 50 lbs now, though.
Not much else is new... we could use a bit of rain, after all the bitching and whining about too much rain this summer! Things are dry here and its going to be harder to find suitable grass for my goats to eat I think...the stuff that's still available is way at the back, far side of the property and is an area that's dry right now, but can get kinda swampy if it rains. I should've had them over there the last while when its been dry, but who knew it was going to be dry this long? I've already started feeding more hay to help supplement the available grass. It may rain tonight and tomorrow and that would be fine by me.
That's it for now!
--L
We're working on getting our goat shed built before the weather changes too dramatically... so far we have:
-- Rented a sod cutter and cleared away the sod in an area about 10ft x 16 ft
-- Installed a 4x4 pressure treat foundation frame, complete with half lap joints at the corners (Thanks Shawn!) then lag bolted together. We also drove 8 pieces of 2 foot long rebar through the pressure treat frame to help anchor the whole structure (2 on each side)
-- We then filled the frame with stone dust from our pile and rented a compactor to compact it down. We also watered it and now its hard like cement!
-- We dragged 4 rubber mats onto the foundation and cut them to fit inside the 4x4 frame so they won't be able to move.
-- We have 2 walls framed in 2x4's and the wood cut to frame the other two walls (maybe tonight if the rain holds off).
The finished shed will be 8ft by 12ft and one wall will be 7ft tall and the opposite wall is 9ft tall and then the roof will be a single slope (like a lean to type roof). Its probably unreasonably tall but there are a couple reasons for it,one being Shawn is freakishly tall and another we can add large windows for ventilation and still have them above "goat level" so they don't mess with them or get too much of a draft. As with everything around here, its an experiment and maybe will work out or maybe not, but you know we have to try it anyhow! :)
I've got a few pics of the shed's progress that I'll post later today.
Oliver is growing... he's pretty much as tall as Pixie now, but of course much lankier! I still haven't gone looking for batteries for our scale, so no weight update... I'm guessing he must be around 50 lbs now, though.
Not much else is new... we could use a bit of rain, after all the bitching and whining about too much rain this summer! Things are dry here and its going to be harder to find suitable grass for my goats to eat I think...the stuff that's still available is way at the back, far side of the property and is an area that's dry right now, but can get kinda swampy if it rains. I should've had them over there the last while when its been dry, but who knew it was going to be dry this long? I've already started feeding more hay to help supplement the available grass. It may rain tonight and tomorrow and that would be fine by me.
That's it for now!
--L
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