Happy Birthday!

Our son turned 15 Yay!  For his birthday celebration he wanted to have a few friends spend the night then have a bunch of friends come for the day and then have kayak races and run around the property with a February birthday often we have to be inside but I like his positive attitude.  Let’s try it!

We need to move the sheep and cattle into different areas.  The cattle we moved into a pasture with our neighbors horses to eat what the horses wouldn’t eat for just a couple days and somehow that turned into over a week with us not getting around to moving them.  One of the horses liked the fodder so much he chased the cows away from it. 

The morning of the sleep over, while I am making breakfast for all the boys, Birthday Boy informs me he made arrangements for the horse he is taking care of to get its feet trimmed.  Ok, so now while his friends are over we need to try to catch a horse that sometimes is an angel and you can put your arms around it and sometimes you can spend hours chasing it to catch it.  Great what fun!  While Darling Husband is eating his breakfast I remind him we need to move the sheep but think with all the kids here we can let them free range for the day.  Darling Husband says, “You are adding chaos onto chaos!”

We finish breakfast and go out to take care of the animals.  I walk up to get the fodder while Birthday Boy walks his FFA Lamb.  Then we let all the sheep loose and feed the cattle and try to catch Magic.  Magic doesn’t want to be caught.  Every once in a while one of Birthday Boy’s friends walks towards the sheep as if he will pet them but they run away from him.  We ask Stick Boy to keep an eye on the sheep.  After 30 minutes of almost getting a rope around Magic’s neck we ask Stick Boy where the sheep are “What Sheep MOM?”  So 8 of us start looking for the sheep, who had decided to go visit a neighbor.  We get them back on the property and they start eating happily.  Darling Husband turns to me “I told you this was a bad idea.  I thought I was clear I didn’t want the sheep out today”.  I said “You said I was adding chaos onto chaos.  I thought that was just our life.” 

We get back to the business of catching Magic with only 10 minutes until the Ferrier arrives.  Magic runs from me with hay in my hand.  Magic runs from Birthday Boy then stops and stands still.  Birthday Boy walks up and puts his arms around the horse’s neck, I walk over and we gently put a rope around his neck and then get the halter on.  Magic gets his hoofs trimmed and everything finishes up just as more boys arrive for the party. 

Mother Nature gave us a beautiful hot day!  The boys had kayak races, played bumper kayaks, jumped off the rope swing into the pond.  The sheep would wander over and check out the boys every once in a while and didn’t go visiting any neighbors.  Fillet that naughty steer found ways to get out 2 times.

All the boys were supposed to leave at 5:pm and I let them know any that stayed late would help us move the sheep fence.  At 5:20 we still had 3 boys so they helped move the sheep fence and set up the solar charger.  By 6: all the animals were where they belonged and fed.  We still need to move the cattle but tomorrow is another day.

It was a great day!  Happy Birthday to my son!

Installing the Aeration System

Sunday morning Darling Husband fixed the electricity going down to the pond and started hooking everything up to aerate the pond.  The aeration system pumps air into the bottom of the pond and circulates oxygen helping to break down toxins in the water and making a healthier environment for the fish and without so many toxins the hope is we will not have as much for the algae to feed off of.  Some old ponds will have such a bad problem with oxygen depletion that the pond will have the fish die because of lack of oxygen.  This happened to the pond right before we moved here and it is something we work to avoid every summer. 

The pump is plugged in down by the well we have that doesn’t work.  (it is on the to do list somewhere between 140 and 400 – should be happening soon) Then the air line goes down to the pond, 

 When it gets to our bridge it splits into 2 lines so it runs on each side of the island.  Then weighted air hose goes into the pond connecting the air pump to the diffusers and our goal was to put one diffuser at the deepest spots on both sides of the pond.  We didn’t buy enough weighted air hose so ended up using some air line we already had and still do not have the aeration diffusers as far out in the pond as we were hoping.  We will probably switch the air line to PVC pipe, still thinking on it.  Then we can use our existing air line to put the diffusers out further into the pond.  (That job is probably 75 on the list.)

We had the sheep out all day enjoying eating outside of the area that has the electric fence again.  They were much more adventurious than they had been the day before.  They ate between the pond and the house and they decided they love my lawn.  Those lovely sheep spent most of the day fertilizing and mowing my lawn.  UNTIL they became

 THE HUNTED

After a while the kittens decided that grasshoppers were easier prey and gave up their dreams of bringing down a sheep.  

Cleaning the Pond

Last May we rented an Excavator and had a friend use it to dredge out the pond.  We took out so much pond muck we had a dump truck work for 5 hours hauling what was taken out of the pond into one of the pasture areas.  At that point we had not decided to buy sheep or cattle so we didn't need the pasture.  The pond was beautiful for about 2 weeks then the moss started coming back.  In the middle of summer cat tails started popping up around all the shallow areas.  We had been looking into ways of controlling the algae and moss and ick problem.  We tried barley hay and saw no results.  We tried chemical and microbiological treatments still no or little results, dies seemed to slow the growth down but one of the times we put too much die in the pond and turned the pond a beautiful midnight blue we couldn't see the fish anymore and nether could the birds.  So after spending hundreds of dollars we decided to make the big purchase of an aeration system.  We WANTED a windmill aeration system, having a working windmill seems so romantic and ranch like.  But it is too expensive and we worried we might not get enough wind when the system is needed the most – hot still summer days.  We decided on an electric motor. 

This weekend we finally had all the supplies to put the aeration system in the pond.  We started Saturday with pulling out the moss, algae, and cat tails.  We started with trying to get the algae growth from the bottom of the pond using an old guardrail we have had around the property attaching chains to it and pulling it across the pond.  This plan was a huge success.  So much of a success we bent the guardrail in half and lost all the algae we had caught with it.  So we started pulling the algae by hand.  Thankfully Teen Boy had a board friend who came and help.  Thank goodness for this friend he is always happy to help.  The boys pulled 8 boatloads of algae out of the pond. 

  Darling Husband pulled cat tails out of all the edges of the pond we could reach.

  Since we were working outside all weekend we allowed the sheep to just wander and eat were they wanted to.  For most of the day they were content to eat in the areas we all ready had them penned in.  I guess they were comfortable there.  As the afternoon was ending they went into their pen and waited for us to close it up.  

Island

This morning I want to move the electric fence area.  So I have the incredibly bright idea and decide to put the sheep on the island in the middle of our pond.  I had a plan and didn’t tell my wonderful husband or kids what I was doing I was just going to do it.  That is probably my first mistake.  I go to the sheep enclosure and get my buddy Blackwell, put the halter on her and walk with her to the bridge (a long rickety section of metal scaffolding) and realize Blackwell is not going to cross the bridge on her own feet and she is too heavy for me to carry. 

 I tie her to the end of the bridge and go get my next sheep.  I put the halter on Dot and carry Marshmallow under my arm.  I don’t have enough hands to close the gate on the enclosure so I just push it closed with my foot.  Guess who caught up with me as I reached the bridge? Yes, the sheep that were supposed to stay in the enclosure.  My Wonderful Husband steps outside about this time and yells to me to see if I need help.  Thank You God!  While he comes down the hill, I carry Marshmallow across the bridge, then Dot.  Supportive Husband is standing next to Blackwell asking me what my plan is now.  

I said for you to carry Blackwell across the bridge – for some reason he didn’t think this was the best idea I ever had but he did it anyway.  Then we still have two sheep we need to catch, Maxwell we catch pretty easily and get her onto the island but Deer is still wandering around the pond wishing he was with his friends who are eating happily on the island.  She will not let us catch her.  

The sheep on the island are so happy that they stop answering Deer's bleats for company.  Deer ends up spending the day with our cow who can not escape her.