Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Honey-do husbandry

This is why we're NOT going anywhere this summer, never mind that I'm not taking my six-month pregnant wife what will almost certainly be a terribly uncomfortable and dangerous car trip for her on the roads in the evil lower 47 where car accidents and road rage shootings and Republicans happen all the time.

Anyone who wants to see us can bloody well come here.

(Expect to do some work while here. That's what I'll be doing.)

In order of priority:

1) Help wife keep up with doctor's visits and other preventative health measures
2) Maintain and prepare four vehicles for Maine's winter, emphasis on safety, including rust prevention for all four, two safety stickers, one timing chain, one (more) brake job and servicings and oil changes
3) Maintain aging stock of tools and equipment to achieve what follows with less hand labor. Includes
  • transmission job on Bolens tractor
  • new engine for wheeled weed whacker
  • annual service for 41 year old Kubota
4) Extend septic tank drain field by 300 square feet
5) Put siding on the extension and the back of the main house and paint said siding. The extension currently has none
6)Build 300 square foot deck, with safety fence suitable for toddler, and various bells and whistles. Aimee is particularly looking forward to this, and planning out the bells and whistles for me
7) Build new better-looking sheep fence around the deck
8) Put up two-three cords of firewood
9) Keep sixteen sheep, including six lambs, healthy and strong
10) Put up at least three hundred bales of good hay and enough oats and other feed to last winter
11) Towards end of summer: Cull said sheep by selling live or as meat, get down to five or six for the winter
12) Breed remaining sheep in the fall. Sell or cull ram thereafter
13) Grow garden, harvest, put up usual amounts of healthy, non-pesticide sprayed, no chemical-containing food for wife, baby and me. Shift priorities somewhat to foods suitable for toddlers: Apple sauce, carrots, etc
14) Maintain four and a half acres of woodlot and pasture.
  • Remove weeds weekly, don't let them get established and set seed
  • Clear dangerous snags and drops
  • Top off firewood pile
  • Fight sumac grove for (yet) another year -- the Thirty Years War
15) Clean out barn for winter, compost bedding, a three-day job made harder by no pigs this year
16) Tidy up dangerous piles of tools and parts in the shed, make safer for eventual toddler
17) Last of all: get house ready for onslaught of family visitors. That's why we built that spare room
 I think I have my work cut out for me, don't you?




1 comment:

  1. Wow...what a list. Already thinking and planning about winter. You do have your work cut out for you.........Try and enjoy the summer while you can. Here in RI we pretty much missed Spring and went right into summer.

    ReplyDelete

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