Tea time, burning, building, training

Yesterday evening Mama had visitors at the farm. Their mission was a bit incongruous with the setting. They were there to look over Mama’s collection of tea pots with the intent of having “tea” with the ladies in the very near future. I suppose you can have a proper tea in any setting, but I would think of it being served in a more formal setting than at the farm. I am sure Mama and her friends can pull it off. I just found it humorous that our home and farm would host a proper tea. The O’Conner’s, our visitors, had a good time visiting and looking at the collection of tea pots as well as looking at the house. They are a large family who moved to the area recently. There was very little rental property available to them when they got to Decatur/Bridgeport, so they were forced to take a house that is much smaller than they needed. Seeing our big sprawling house and the land surrounding it reinforced to them how small their living quarters are at the moment. We will definitely have them back over one evening for a leisurely dinner and a walk around the property.

With the ground so dry and the constant winds lately it has been a bit dangerous to burn anything – even in the burn barrel. But I started a fire yesterday so we could get rid of the big opossum I had to shoot Sunday evening. I did not let the fire get too high, but I had to get it sufficiently hot and keep it burning long enough to get the job done. In addition to the opossum, I had to shoot another squirrel we trapped in the chicken coop. I am purposely not going to number the total of rats and their tree-dwelling cousins that have had to be dispatched because they found their way into the coop and began destroying everything they could get their teeth on, building nests in every corner and hording pounds of chicken food. The problem is that once they claim residence there, there is no way to run them off. It’s sad but necessary.

This evening I hope to take the time to put my roof panels back in place above the rollup door. I will have to insert a spacer to allow room for the door when it is opened and fully wound on the roller, but it should not be noticeable once the building trim is in place. I have some small welding projects to do on the fence but I will have to wait until the fire danger lessens before I go making large amounts of sparks. Saturday, we were very careful to keep the sparks minimized. I had a hose ready to dampen any smoldering in the dry grass or leaves in the areas we were welding or grinding. I had to use the hose only twice, but I was glad we had it ready.

There are enough parts left for me to build a small stretch of fence by the large gate I am installing on the south side of the paddock I am creating. It should be enough to make sure the gate and that patch of fence are structurally solid in case we ever have to open it up to cattle in the future. At a minimum, there will be cattle on one side of the fence and gate while the goats are enclosed in the paddock, so a little extra support will be welcome. I realized that mistake on the common fence I have with the cattle on the first paddock we enclosed for goats. I will eventually have to go back and rework that fence to stiffen it sufficiently to discourage the cows from mashing it down when they see something attractive on the other side – like a scrap of alfalfa Mama dropped on her way to throw the residue from the feeder in the goat barn over to the cows. Daisy knows no restraint.

Tomorrow I will be teaching all day. It is a mock training. That is, I am doing a full blown eight-hour class presentation as though it was an actual class setting, but my audience will be my training peers. I am as prepared as I will ever be and anxious to get through it. Thursday, Friday and Saturday Mama and I will be in training all day. The seminar is for Tax Liens/Deeds Training.

Both Mama and I are anxious to get the information we need to get started.