Water --- or in its New England form ... ice .. a great deal of my existence has been dealing with one form of the other here on crazy acres we had a lovely system going where we filled a 4 foot long stock tank with water and we had a plastic bucket hanging on the wall as a dipper . because the source of water was 75 feet away at the other end the barn where it came out of the ground . now when there were only horse people maintaining the stalls which would be Janine and I---- that dipper hung on the wall ---- the problem started when we had new people who are wonderfully helpful but didn't realize you don't set the dipper on the ground ... because next time you dip you have all sorts of floaters in the stock tank .. Now in the winter there is a electric gizmo which prevents it from freezing ..And the 75 foot long hose is left lying on the ground after you drain it by putting one end in the arena and walking along putting the other one up over your head to properly drain it.... ----- you must never hang up a hose in the winter because even if you drained it you will get one little tiny block of ice at the bottom of the loop which means you have 75 foot of hose Which needs to spend the overnight in the kitchen . this reminds Me ---- when we lived in Lynnfield at the original crazy acres we had a good dozen horses and 7 neighborhood kids including my 2 who took care of them in the afternoon .I could say “ it's five o'clock time to feed “ and the small army would go into action--- some grain some hay and water--- these kids were not 10 years old yet but they pretty much did the whole thing themselves----- it's the water that got complicated . Janine being the youngest was assigned the on off at the faucet will the other six would empty bucket and leave the hose person to yell “on” --- to fill them. the problem being in spite of the underground gate valve which was supposed to be Frost free and miles of electric heating tape the very end of the faucet would occasionally become frozen and useless because of about a teaspoonful of ice .. .. it would only take about 1/4 of a Cup a warm water to loosen that faucet so they could get the horses watered .. the house was about 200 feet away .. so the quickest 1/4 Cup of warm fluid was usually available from one of the 7 girls in this feeding process . there were no boys who come equipped with a far more efficient nozzle but the girls were very inventive and once the water was running they could rinse it all down very nicely . Fast forward to Ipswich... the water supply is buried down 4 to 5 feet below the frost with a gate valve down there...under the heated feed room.... It drains the pipe down 4 feet every time you shut it off. but nothing is as efficient as those 7 kids ------ There is one thing that needs fixing... .. Since I now have mini donkeys and full size horses often in the same area I must change all the water bucket hooks to the lower position because if you have one horse and one mini donkey and you have one high bucket and one low bucket .I guarantee you the horse will drink out of the low bucket and the donkey would go thirsty .. so I really need to lower all those hooks til the mini donkey size before winter. --- which doesn't really solve the Turkey Department I don't know what I'm gonna do with the turkeys I don't know why they can't get along with the chickens we may have to try again . there are heated chicken waterers... which means electricity in the chicken coop... Next problem. Speaking of things frozen and all the oddball things around here then it takes to keep the place running ... there is one septic pipe coming out of the laundry building which is a little bit too close to the surface and not tipped enoughl it right at the back door to the building it occasionally freezes so that if it's particularly cold winter I have to put one wheel barrel full of good fresh manure right at that back door which has worked very nicely for 20 years and counting. it's just one of those details that's hard to explain to city folk who live in condos and all they have to do is call the Superintendent . there's no learning process there . Farm life is far more conducive to creativity then condo living . ----- Puppy running.... Must correct the process today... one person up in front of the march calls and clicks the can.. we then need another 3 or 4 people who must not call the pups---- to collect the straglers until they learn to follow.. canned food will help Dogs are followers, not leaders.. FYI if you're trying to catch a loose dog you will never catch it by chasing it but sometimes if you turn around and walk away it'll come with you .. that has worked many times in my career-------- the worst one being the Greyhound we were using in a commercial .. now greyhounds will chase anything that moves and unfortunately we were in the flight path of planes out of Logan airport and one decided to run the direction that the plane was going .that was a nerve wracking deal . My life has been very tough on my nerves . copying and pasting...............:) ---- Lilo finally adjusted to the pacific zone time change, which means fewer 4 am walks. courtney Re: Pixie and Lady Ripple You wanna see how far SDP goes? You not only give the recipients a whole new life of freedom and a friend that never leaves your side. You also bring new people together that live all over the world! Team Stacey and Pixie from NH and Team Sandy and Lady Ripple from TN making an effort to meet and have lunch together in Florida! Friends Forever! ----------------- acebook... there is a joke--- i forget the details but the punch line is..." there is no "F in acebook here! " |
