Flat tires, dead batteries, beautiful weather and a mysterious knock on the door

[Windpower]

Spent a looong weekend at the farm

drove the JD out to the garden to till for the potatoes and onions

the bead broke on the front tire -- flat (inadequate preflight 

walk back to the shop carry the dang heavy floor jack back to the garden ---

oops forgot the ratchet --walk back to shop

oops grabbed the wrong size socket --- walk back to shop

oops, ground too soft get some 2X's for under the jack  -- walk back to shop

finally 30 minutes of fixing and 5 minutes of tilling and done

mow the hay field lawn with the brush hog (Charging the old Case battery -- it would not have been up to the task anyway)

The weather was very nice 70's to high 80's but breezy

Hear DW scream ---- found 2 deer tics crawling up her leg

Go into town get tic and flea killer and spread around the yard

Mow a trail out to the woods spook 2 big bucks, collect a pound of morelles -- cooked later with steaks

we decided to clean the loft in the grainery to use for dry storage during the contruction phase of the remodel on the house

we filled 4 large garbage bags with old grain, dust, cobwebs, dead birds and mouse crap (not that pleasant of a task)
but the end result was a very nice place....  we might even turn it into an 'apartment' later for guests 

oh and the mysterious knock at the door ....... pics to follow later

[ScottA]

Is this the part where everyone in the theater is suposed to yell, "Don't open the door!"?

[Windpower]

 


sort of .....

I was more that surprised

DW said "what's wrong" when she saw my reaction

[Windpower]

Here's the grainery



The stairs to the second story


all cleaned up

[Windpower]

Churnin dirt

DW says what took so long you have been at this for an hour 








Oh yeah

I kept hearing this plunk plunk plunk that sounded like someone was knocking on the back door

then it stopped

went on for probably several minutes

I finally went and looked and there he was pecking at his rival in the glass

[peternap]

Dinner Guest?

[Windpower]

I thought of that too, Peter

but then I figured by the time I loaded the 870 and tried to sneak up on him from around the house ....

and then of course I did not have a license ...

and then there would be the scalding,  plucking, gutting ....

better to just enjoy

[muldoon]

Neat pictures. That old barn sure cleaned up nice.  Hope you had a pleasant visit with ole Tom Gobbler. 

[Don_P]

I'd pressure wash and soak the granery in borate while it's cleaned out. That would help keep anyone living in there now from hopping onto wood you bring in for the house.

[peternap]

I'd pressure wash and soak the granery in borate while it's cleaned out. That would help keep anyone living in there now from hopping onto wood you bring in for the house.

Should help make it more fire resistant too.

[Ernest T. Bass]

Looks like you could go through a lot of tick killer. I think your wife's gonna have to get used to 'em..

Cool place!

[Native_NM]

That is a beautiful country.  Where are you located?  That green is a sight for those of us in central New Mexico.

[Windpower]

It is a bad year for tics in south west Wisconsin apparently -- at least we can knock them back a bit with chemicals

Not sure what the borate suggestion is for -- it is new to me

I was thinking of pressure washing the whole place while it is still summer -- time to get it all dried out

[Windpower]

This is the old pump house, an ancient 8 X 12 concrete structure that was used among other things to cool the milk cans in a 2' X 6 foot concrete tank that had well water running through it from the wind mill pump -- before modern refridgeration and before electric power was generally available -- I think the previous owner said they used it till the early 50's when they put in power and a new well

In its new life I am going to convert it to a 'power house' for  the batteries and the inverter

the water trough is just the size for the 8   Surrette batteries
and I can use the holes through which the water pipes went  in for venting the hydrogen from the bats.

I need to put in a new door and window -- I am thinking glass block  for the window with a vent at the top

[peternap]

It is a bad year for tics in south west Wisconsin apparently -- at least we can knock them back a bit with chemicals

Not sure what the borate suggestion is for -- it is new to me

I was thinking of pressure washing the whole place while it is still summer -- time to get it all dried out

Ticks are bad again here too Windpower. Even with DEET, I pull a dozen a day off of me.
Borate is a pretty good wood preservative and fire retardant. It will leech out of wood eventually but it's not toxic like salt treatment. For small jobs just mix up some Borax.

[Windpower]

thanks Peter

I'll but borate on the list

[peternap]

Love the pictures Windpower.
A lot of on this board have found our piece of heaven....looks like you found yours!

[Sassy]

Beautiful area!  Your mechanical problems sound like Glenn's - it seems he get's one thing fixed & then something else breaks  right now it's his rear end    of the Hino crane truck...   

We have a lot of tics here, too.  I usually get bit by at least one every year...  Glenn does, too.  The dogs always have several on them when I forget to put the Frontline on them. 

The pump house reminds me of my uncle's in Nebraska - as kids we used to like to go in there. seems like there were a few that got thrown in the tank - they never caught me    They had the cement tank - probably about the same size that they used to keep the milk & other things cool.  They also used to have fish in there...  guess they didn't drink that water.  Got to see all the old homesteads my dad's family had last Sept.  It was really neat - hadn't been back to Nebraska since I was 18 y/o w/my parents.  Wasn't really that interested in family history back then, so it was great talking to my cousins. 

[Windpower]

That is interesting about the fish, Sassy

Seems well water was a common way to cool things in the summer back then

Makes good sense -- I think I may try it out too

I have to pull the electric pump from the well and hook up the Chicago wind mill pump-- a fairly big project -- that well is about 250 feet deep

[rwanders]

 


Well water in southcentral Alaska comes out of the ground at about 38F year round---don't need ice for cold drink but, a cold shower is a really cold shower! Most areas water is super clean. Many public systems don't require chlorine treatment.

Anchorage and Valdez water is unbelievably good tasting---has to be in top 5 or 10% of water in US. It's always a shock when you go out of Alaska and taste public water elsewhere---some areas I wonder how people drink it at all---guess that explains bottled water market.