Sometimes Leaning

 is

 the most important

part of a job.

Thank God and Andrew!!!

Who knew my thirty-two hundredth post (not counting the ones I've posted and then deleted) would be about a miracle.

Spring jobs we have not been able to finish have been calling our name.  Cleaning gutters and fixing roof leaks were two of those jobs.

The handy dandy Kubota tractor with bucket got them to the roof

 and the leak fixing began.

On to the other side of the house to clear some gutters that were giving us problems. Hubby told Andrew to stay down and operate the bucket but Andrew did not obey.  He climbed the bucket like a monkey after he delivered Hubby to the roof. He helped. 

The roof was wet because they were cleaning gutters with the water hose and other tools. Hubby hit a wet spot, his feet went out from under him and he began a slide to the edge of the house. Andrew, thinking on his feet, grabbed Hubby quickly by his shirt just as Hubby had reached the edge.  Then much like Bonnie does, Andrew backed up the incline of the roof with Hubby in tow.

The end of the house where Hubby would have fallen is higher than here.  

I'll not go into great detail about how a disabled 65-year-old man should not have been on the roof but then we would have to discuss how stubborn I am too.  We both do what we have to do.

Thanks to God and Andrew, Hubby is unhurt.  He is sore and was very rattled after Andrew pulled him to safety but safe nonetheless.  That is what counts. I'm upset I didn't get pictures of the whole thing!  I was standing at the bottom as if I could catch Hubby and break his fall.

Not Worth A Load of Seed Ticks

It was a cooler day this morning but I was feeling a little under the weather.  I guess I got too hot the day before.  So I decided to stay in or rather Hubby TOLD me to stay in and rest.  He took off on the tractor.

He has been busy planting food plots for wildlife this winter.  He also wanted to bush hog (mow) the pastured land so the new grass would have a good start before winter.

I did some paper work after my head stopped hurting and my stomach settled.  I called the internet server to fix my wireless extender that they messed up (a complete story by itself). When that was resolved I decided to take Hubby a cool drink.

The dogs and I headed out.  Lizzy riding shotgun with me in the Gator and the others running free.  We could not hear the tractor anywhere.  So I drove and they ran with a joy only dogs can show.

We traveled up and down hills stopping to listen now and then.

We stopped to cool and get a drink at every watering hole while listening and looking for the Tractor Man.

It was warmer than we thought

 and the water saved us all.

All this trouble to take Tractor Man a cold drink! (Persimmon on top of can) I went places I haven't driven following the mowed brush. I headed down one hill and decided, nope, no way, not going down there cause I have to drive out. Stopped at the next pond to let the dogs cool again. Walked down to look at the water and felt something crawling on me...seed ticks!!!!  Too tiny even for a macro lens!!!  I tried to wash them off, swept some away with a cedar branch and headed home. Still no tractor sound.  Stopped at the creek and by this time my imagination had seed ticks all over me!  Tried once more to wash them off.

Went to the house. Took a shower and heard the tractor pulling in.

Where had he been??  That hill that I would not drive down has a dry pond at the bottom. He was down there removing grass seed from his radiator grill with the tractor turned off.

Hubby's not worth the misery of seed ticks. He laughed but now his imagination is feeling the crawl! 

My Sister's House

Stands with a repaired roof today.  We were scheduled for repair but rain kinda moved up the schedule. This week the roof decided to leak and the sheet rock in the kitchen ceiling decided to fall. Fire department volunteers climbed onto the roof and laid a tarp to avoid further water damage.  Cleaned up, gosh, what a mess! Repaired.  On to other chores.

With all the work we have to do I am grateful for good help

and good equipment.

Hoping next week is not as exciting.

Gardening At The Shop

 Beverly always plants a little garden in the sandy soil at the shop.  She digs it by hand and nurses her seedlings to produce from nothing.

 Hubby does the bush hogging around the shop and some road work when needed.  This year he took the disc to her garden spot that is close enough to see customers when they pull in for shopping.

 He added some top soil and disc that in the mix.

The soil is a little richer so I hope her garden does well this year.  When there are no customers she tends her garden.  The customers seem to enjoy seeing her working.  One customer asked me, "Is that your sister I see folded up like a little Vietnamese lady pulling grass?"  Yep, that's my sister.

Blazing Trails Last Thursday

The orange is Hubby on the tractor

while I follow with cold drinks

The weather was summer warm Thursday.

You know it's dry when dogs can make a dust cloud.

I got into a small predicament.

Walked down to Hubby with a cold drink

 and bribed him to help me out.

He did and I left "while the getting was good".

We were unable to access this fence except by foot.

 Hubby worked so we can drive by and repair easier.

The drought is showing 

but some of the trees are changing colors too.

And that was one more day At The Farm.

Kubota To The Rescue!

I've learned through trial and error, work goes far better if you have the proper tools.  Most of the time we don't have the perfect tool for the job and we improvise.

Kubota is perfect for cleaning gutters.

and for lifting heavy loads while repairing roofs.

Andrew is the Kubota prince I guess.

Cleaning gutters can bring surprises to those doing ground work.

Zander, my grass clipper, got a refreshing surprise.

The Kubota King can fell dead trees with a smile and the bucket

and level ground with two wheels in the air.

What would we do without Kubota?

or the King?

Good all around tools...the guys and the tractor.

Hubby!

 Chevrolet,

Kubota,

Kel Tec

Hubby, my hero, can leap fences with a single bound (on a good day), can fuel a tractor from a jug (if he parks the truck close), can give you a ride in his Chevrolet and wears a gun on his hip.  Yep, my kind of man!

Shush, don't tell him I took his picture.  God love him...he has to put up with me!!!!

Sometimes I Go Out

in the real world but not often.  This day we had errands to run.  We needed hydraulic fluid for the tractor (liquid gold) filters and oil for the tractor and the gator too.

Hubby has to keep his toys running well

and sparkly clean.

He dislikes pictures and tried to run me off with the water hose.

It didn't work.

Nephew Toni, Hubby and I decided it was a good day to visit Fred's Fish House.  We had enough for another meal.

I had frog legs and fish.

Saved the frog bones.

Toni said his mom and I were only people he knew

 that saved bones from their food.

I've some wonderfully creative ideas for my frog legs.

Worn Out...

 from trimming

Ki-Anne reluctantly returns to her work.

Tree Trimming and Other Death Defying Acts...

We have been trying to catch up before the summer heat kills us. You who have acreage or a farm know you never get caught up but you have to keep trying.

The Mulberry tree had some dead limbs that needed trimming. Solution...the ever handy bucket on the Kubota.  I have used this method for roof repair but running a chainsaw is something I really don't like to do especially fifteen feet off the ground while trying to hang onto a tree.

At first we have an operator that controlled the bucket while shouting instructions about being careful and even yelling, No, Pa-Pa now and then.

Then we have two monkeys in a tree and no one on the tractor. Gray hair getting thicker for me!

Oh, Good Lord!

Why don't they just get down?

Fire bug that I am here is my reward. While the monkeys were in the tree I clipped briers, bird poop plants and a general clearing of messes in one small spot.  Under this fire lies the lightning struck tree, trimmed briers, bushes and what ever I could find.  

I worked till almost dark while one by one the helpers left me to clear the mess.  I don't understand when the machine work is done the men seem to disappear leaving clean up for me.  I think there may be some short coming in my training method.

The clearing looks good and we shall move on to another spot.  One twig, one trim, on foot at a time.  That is what we must keep in mind or we would be completely overwhelmed with the tasks needing completion.

Sometimes You Just Get Lucky....

The tree fell not far from my car

Lucky to have a tractor hero available.

Hunting Rats With Tractors...

I'm sorry I missed the event, I hear it was quite dramatic and fun.  Any thing involving hunting vermin with large farm equipment has to be interesting to watch.

Hubby says, Ya know that brush pile...

I think, uh, which one?  We have a few.

Hubby says, You know the one I pushed up last summer to burn when it's wet...

Yes, I remember them all.

Any way with a detailed description, I finally pin point the right brush pile in my mind...and then I think, oh, no, not another tractor in the pond story!

Hubby continues, I was pushing the brush pile, tightening it up, and the dogs get after a rat.  The dogs are having no luck with the capture. Okay, now I envision him grading the whole hill side, scraping a hundred years of top soil up, trying to get a rat...on a tractor.  There is a reason I think this drastically...strange things happen a lot around here with my man and the tractor.

Hubbs tells me the rat runs out and climbs a tree.  Ki is on its tail all the way until it hits the tree.  Ki is many things but she is not a flying dog nor a tree climbing dog.  She trees it and won't stop barking.  Hubbs helps out by "tapping" the tree with the tractor bucket...the rat falls out.  My first concern is which tree did he "tap"?  Tap is a small word, but not when you're talking about a tractor.

I am assured, he did not harm the tree and it was JUST a small pine tree anyway...all trees are precious in my book.  So, I listen patiently, trying not to visibly cringe, trying not to picture the damage that pursuing a rat from a tractor could possibly cause.

At this point, the capture of the rat is not my main concern.  This the same man that drove a tractor into the pond, knocked the edge off the boat shed because he forgot he had the bucket up AND the man who ran over a lawn mower while chasing my horses on his Mule.  Oh, me of little faith!

The rat drops, the dogs pounce, the deed is done quickly.  The brush pile is still intact although about thirty feet from it's original position and the precious top soil is only slightly rutted.

The happy dogs proudly take turns carrying the rat around and admiring it.

I had to put my foot down when Ki-Anne wanted to add it to the pile of my slippers in her babies' bed.

...and God, please watch over my tractor man.  He needs all the help he can get.

Sometimes Farming Bites

Losing a valve stem slows things down a little.  Two days later and $155.10 lighter, the tractor rejoins the working equipment.

There is a dry ditch behind Marcy's that fills when it rains.  Hubby is widening, deepening and clearing some thorns from the main stream.

Bev is helping, supervising, then has to do all the hand work.  Can you imagine how long it would take to clear this ditch with a shovel?

The dirt is scooped for distribution into planting beds which will have to be done by hand.

The bed of the dry creek is deepened, waiting to be reshaped by the next rain.  The soil waits to be hauled where it is needed.  I know this isn't beautiful but three short years ago, this entire spot was filled with tornado twisted trees and debris.  It has come a long way toward being Marcy's beautiful back yard.

...and the hand work begins.

The most wonderful part is all this happened while I was at work!