Here I am again.
Woohoo.
Anyway, I thought I'd give an update as to how things are going down on the farm.
Hmm...so many updates, so little...desire. That's right. I am just not in the mood for the blog thing lately. I think, mainly, that it's because I spend a WHOLE LOT OF TIME on the computer at work and the last thing I want to do when I come home for the day is sit in front of the computer. There might also be the fact that my butt is starting to take on the shape of an office chair seat. Large. Flat. Tweedish pattern. And just plain unflattering. So there it is.
But, I know you are all wondering if I, along with my eccentric family, have fallen off the face of the earth so I will make the sacrifice to give you your fix.
Ahem.
Well, I think, the last project I had mentioned was the goat fence. That project - mercifully - is done. Not without minor glitches, mind you. Ok. Major glitches. See, here's the thing. We figured on fencing in this one particular patch on the property that ended up requiring a 400' perimeter fence. Easy enough. We went to Lowe's, bought the fence, carted it out into the parking lot where it promptly all rolled off the cart into the lane that the cars drive in, loaded the fence and, oh, about a bazillion fence stakes into the station wagon and drove it all home. The next day, hubby, daughter, daughter's friend and I all worked our various shaped butts off getting the fence installed. Finally the project was done and we were all so very proud of ourselves. We put the goat into her new environment and she propmtly squoze (word? not word? who knows?) her evil little head through one of the holes in the top part of the fence. And got it stuck there. Because she has theses blasted horns, she could squeeze her head through but could not pull it back out.
That sucked. Big time.
I might have even cried. If I didn't cry, I at least cried out. Bad words.
Anyway, back to Lowe's for fence with smaller holes which, coincidentally, is much stiffer and a big pain in one's odd shaped butt to put up. Carted that fence home. Took down the old fence and installed new.
Now the goat is secure. Secure in an Alcatraz kind of way. It's...it's...beautiful.
Next project. The Chicken Tractor.
What, exactly, is a chicken tractor? Well, it's a kind of mobile chicken coop and pen that runs on the distored ideas of misguided first time farmers. No, really, it is just a mobile chicken pen. My hubby came across this idea in Mother Earth News. It's cheap because you can just whip it together with all of the pipes and falling down buildings you already have on your property. And it's easy to make because it only takes about 89 days to figure out exactly how you are going to make this motly pile of building materials work together. I promise I will post pictures. As soon as we get it out of the garage.
As you can see, that project hasn't quite made it to the Thank God We're Done With That list.
Hmmm...what else.
Well, I accidentally poisoned myself.
No, really. I did.
And, as you might have guessed, there is an interesting story to go along with it.
I had to show a house in a certain town that shall remain nameless except when it crosses my lips in prayer that the entire area is swallowed into the fires of Hell. The house seemed nice enough. Until...
Until I got into my car and drove away. I made it about two blocks away and happened to look down. And can you imagine what I saw? Hmmm? Fleas. A whole lot of fleas leapfrogging in delight on my jeans.
Yes. EEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!
So I stopped at the nearest store and bought flea spray guaranteed to kill on contact. I didn't read the finer print because it's apparantly guaranteed to kill ALL LIVING THINGS on contact. I sparyed my legs, my car seats, the floor of my car, etc. And then I figured I better find a store where I could buy a flea bomb and bomb my car. It was on the way to store number 2 that I...began...to...not...feel...quite...right... A...bit...woozy...if...you...will...
But, in a day or so I was over it.
No visible harm done. It just takes me an extra 10 minutes to write my name and things like that.
Oh, what else...?
Oh.
Yes.
The...sigh...
Our eBay purchase.
Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so, consider this a good 4 or 5 lengthy and descriptive paragraphs.
um...
Yeah.
That would be a 5kW turbine on a 100' tower.
We're driving out to Illinois on Tuesday to pick it up.
I think that's all I want to discuss right now.
I think I need to go have a drink.
4 comments:
YESSSS! A new post!!!!!!
A CHICKEN TRACTOR! Tres cool! I forget where I first read about that, many years ago - it might have been in "The Backyard Farm and Homestead Handbook" from John Jeavons and the folks at Ecology Action. (Why do they make the titles of their books so long and complex? Damn aging hippies!)
Yeah, flea spray probably wasn't the way to go. You should have picked up four flea & tick collars from the pet store, written "LIVE STRONG" on them with a Sharpie, and put them on your wrists and ankles. Maybe get an extra-large one, slap it around your neck, and tell everyone it's a choker. You'll still get poisoned, but from the inside out - no inhaling of those nasty fumes.
Hey, while you're heading out to pick up one of thiose windmills, do you have enough room for TWO? That would be a perfect way to endear myself to my new neighbors!
You and yours have a standing invitation to the new house. Just let me know if you guys will ever be swinging around in the direction of Nanticoke. Hopefully by then I'll be able to say "It's the big house with the bright blue porch!"
Oh my God Anne. You crack me up! I can't wait to see the giant windmill. Your cousin is so jealous I see him turning green in the next room. And how brave of you to purchase from eBay - though I make my living selling (other peoples) goods and services online, I havenever actually puirchased anything form the online superstore. Kudos to you.
Glad to hear you are over the poisoning. How gross was that??!?! IEWWWWWWW doesn't even begin to describe it, ick. Are you going to write into the home description "Comes with built-in "pet" colony waiting for a caring owner"?
Soooooooo, something I was just wondering about...how many hours will the turbine have to run before you recoup the total cost/energy expenditure involved in getting the turbine? Remember to factor in time off from work, stress associated with an interstate drive, and wear-and-tear/depreciation on your vehicle as well as fuel, food, and other travel-associated costs, in addition to the cost of the turbine itself. You may subtract an "enjoyment factor", that is, the extent to which you perceived the drive and purchase as a vacation and/or adventure. You have one hour. Be sure to show all your work.
d.b.echo-
I promise I will fully address this math problem in the next post where I recount our little adventure of bringing it home.
nancy-
All I can say is BEWARE OF EBAY! Not because I've ever had any problems with it. It's actually quite the opposite. I have had such good luck with it that I've graduated to buying things like wind turbines and towers half way across the country.
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