Posted on August 26th, 2007 By scott at 3:34 pm (All, Michigan News, Saws, Two legs)
Storms came one after another this past week. On Thursday, my friend Bill mentioned quite a breeze visited his house (he lives north of Chicago). He asked if it made its way here.
Yeah, I think it did, Bill.
Click a photo to start the slideshow.
Posted on August 15th, 2006 By scott at 10:53 pm (All, Chickens, Four legs, Saws, Two legs)
I turned 40 this year. And, for my sins, I have moved the pig fencing and cleaned the chicken coop.
The pigs made a desert out of their original pasture. Which is good, really. I will be tilling this area — once the wallow dries up.
You want some happy pigs, you got ‘em. I moved the hog panels and the pig’s shelter is now the barn. Behind our barn a rain forest grows. We got smart and took a few before pics before the pigs made waste of this area, which also is just fine. We’d like to put a horse arena behind the barn, and we’ve learned that pigs do a fine job of chewing up the earth.
A few other things I’ve learned: mow the area around the fence. Cleaning a pig pen is bad, but having to fight high weeds and grasses makes it nearly impossible — yeah, flicking pig poop into your face will educate you.
My parents are visiting, and I want my father to help me build a better roost for the chickens. I didn’t want him to experience the full noxious chicken odors, so I cleaned the coop today. Move hog panels and clean the coop within three days is a lot for an old man.
Every muscle hurts.
Like most of the U.S., Michigan got really hot for almost two weeks. I stopped doing physical labor during this time. Hey, I don’t have insurance and stroking out seemed like a bad idea.
The sin of taking that time-off has been realized, and I have vowed to spend an hour (at a minimum) each day working around the farm on a project that makes me sweat. The urban and suburban types amongst us have Bally’s; I have 10 year-old goat manure to remove.
Besides the heat, a new venture has kept me indoors — BTC Technologies. I started this with the intention of getting small businesses, trades people and professionals to blog. Commercial warning: If you want a blog, a domain, email marketing, and someone to yell at it when it isn’t working right, call (269-671-5303) or write.
You may ask why start this kind of business. Well, when I search for certain services in the Richland, Michigan area, I get lists that resemble a phonebook. How can you tell who to trust from an ad? Word-of-mouth is key to small businesses, and I think blogs extend that word-of-mouth digitally. One Google search for restaurants in the Kalamazoo area netted me one site. Insane.
Commercial over.
So, the duck house, chicken coop and pig pen are ready for my parents’ inspection. I guess that just leaves the house — hope we have some extra vacuum bags because the Jack, Meg, Falco, George, C.C. and Martha fur tumble weeds are starting to meet me at eye-level.
Posted on August 11th, 2006 By ljrobinson at 6:18 pm (All, Four legs, Saws, Two legs)
Before I left for my annual Arizona vacation my little ducks were still downy soft and following us around the yard while we did our chores. I took this picture of Scott from an oddly placed picture window in our kitchen.
Here is the other thing that happened while I was gone (or maybe just after I got back)…
I think that we are in the market for a new pig shelter.
Posted on June 6th, 2006 By scott at 6:45 am (All, Four legs, Saws, Two legs)
I thought pigs were smart. Maybe not.
If they were really smart, they’d never trust anything I have built. My fear is two pigs will be sleeping under the shelter while the other two play king of the mountain, then the roof collapses, crushing my pigs.
Posted on June 5th, 2006 By scott at 1:08 pm (All, Four legs, Saws, Two legs)
Another weekend, more animal additions (four spring pigs), more DIY projects. I have built a pig house. It’s low to the ground, holds four pigs and cheap.
My carpentry skills waffle between criminally negligent and child-like. Laura had insisted I buy extra lumber and that almost wasn’t enough, which means the chickens get more perches.
I’m sure there is a gene that allows you to eye-ball and imagine things, and then you build it or plan it. I’m missing that gene (I’m also missing the math gene that allows me to do fractions).
We have not witnessed the pigs go into the structure. They have climbed up its sides — with me, on the other side of the fence, cringing with each cloven hoof-fall, and yelling: “I don’t make sturdy things.”
Click here for proper out-building construction.