Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Sat morning and getting ready to get things going. Eating some cottage cheese and making a list of a couple things to do when I go to work.
Down to 29 last night so back to more normal. Sun is out but tomorrow is showing a mixed bag coming in... rain mixing with ice and snow possible. Mostly due to our elevation here. First they were saying Sunday afternoon/eve and this morning they are saying maybe by noontime. Well, I will get in as many of the 5 cows I need as I can. Well, maybe 4 cows. Need to get the list and see what is what.

The door to the LR "dropped" a little, and on examination, the screws were pulling out of the wood into the door frame. I had screwed them in tighter awhile back. Well, last night they pulled out all the way. This is an interior door but it is a very solid, very heavy door. Can I get some of that wood filler stuff that I have seen and use it to fill the holes then rescrew the screws back into it? There is no way to change the placement of the hinges with them being cut into the frame. I will have to stop at Lowe's on my way to or from work this evening and see what I can find. I really do not like to do stuff like this.
Things like this really make me miss my mom.... she was the "carpenter" in the family more so than my father ever was... and she liked to figure out doing things when I was younger... I was glad to help but never liked the figuring out kind of stuff. That was fine because I was the animal person and she wasn't so much... Just makes me think about all the things she did and could do.

I just got out the list and there are 4 to come from the nurse cow pasture. DS said that he was going to be working with a couple guys to clean up down trees at several places on the fences and such... so, I will text him and let him know, who/what I get in up there and he can go get them later this afternoon. 3 had better be 6+ months preg or they get sold. 801, the nurse cow will either be preg or go back with a bull. Her 3 calves are 7+ months old and eating fine and she needs a break whether she is bred or not. I have no problem keeping her over and to get bred to calve next fall, if she is open now. That is one good thing about the bull being out so long... they are either well along preg or totally not preg.

Temps are warming up into the low 40's so I guess I will get out there and get going on a few things. Need to take some water out to the chickens, I dumped their waterer yesterday so it can get some fresh.

Need to get the bottles in the trays for testing this afternoon too.

 

[Mike CHS]

Fill the hole with toothpicks and it will hold better than any filler. You can dip some of the toothpicks in wood glue to make a better, more solid fit.

 

[SageHill]

Fill the hole with toothpicks and it will hold better than any filler. You can dip some of the toothpicks in wood glue to make a better, more solid fit.

EXACTLY my thoughts!

 

[farmerjan]

Thank you for the tip @Mike CHS .... I will try that this evening when I get home. I have wood glue that I used to put a stool leg back in the hole and try to keep it from coming out/getting loose and so far it is holding. I have a new box of toothpicks... That will be my first project tonight.

 

[Baymule]

Fill the hole with toothpicks and it will hold better than any filler. You can dip some of the toothpicks in wood glue to make a better, more solid fit.

That’s what I was thinking too!

Mike, the talented wood worker, has spoken! Y’all ought to see the pretty end tables he made!

 

[farmerjan]

Hey.... after 10 pm and it was a good afternoon....

Got all the stuff in the car for work, took out the meters so I could take the feed and go to the pasture and go straight to work rather than have to come back and trade for the other car... loaded the buckets of feed in the car. Went to the pasture and the cows were all laying around down in the field with the rest of the unrolled hay. They saw me and meandered their way to the catch pen and I had gotten the feed inside in the bunks and some outside. Then put more in the outside bunks and opened the gate partway. The older/bigger animals wanted "more feed" after eating some out of the outside bunks... so came around the gate and went into the pen. As soon as they were done there, they went into the barn and I managed to lock 3 of the ones I needed in the barn, and then reopened the gate and took a bucket and put more in the couple of feeders in the pen and and when the other one I needed went it... I shut the gate to the pen and then fed more out in the bunk feeders so everyone could get a little more. Then I opened the barn door and sorted off some of the heifers, kicked them out, then the one single cow went into the barn... shut the door and got the rest of the heifers out and then again opened the barn door and sorted out the heifers that were inside... and got them out in the pen... shut the barn door and 'shooed' out the rest of the heifers... put a sq bale of hay in the barn bunks for the 4 cows, and left the one door shut on one side; they could go out into the smaller pen and into the barn on the other side... and left all the gates to the outside field also hooked shut.
It went better than I thought it would.... Texted DS and said they were in and had hay and would be fine until he could get them and I was going to work.
Talked to him on my way home and he said, are there a couple of steers in there that were on one of the cows, and I said yes, they are on 801... the nurse cow... and he said oh... they had gone in the creep gate and were looking for their momma... and I said she needs a break... and they are pushing 7 months old... he said that's fine, I thought a couple of the cows looked like they had calves on them and I said yes, the calves are 7 months plus and it is time to wean them.... he said he just wanted to make sure that he didn't take the cows and not the calves... and I said they are all old enough to not need the cows. So he got them moved and took care of feeding the cow with the grafted calf and all that at the barn also.

Anyway, since it went so well getting them in, I left with time to spare, and stopped at the Goodwill store and picked up a couple of paperbacks... and got a nice western short sleeved shirt for testing/tractor time.. a little big so cool in the summer... and with the 2 snap pockets to be able to put note pads in for testing , or to carry things if I need it on the tractor, when raking hay etc. VERY VERY FEW shirts have 2 front pockets anymore except western snap shirts...

Need to go to bed. door is going to wait for tomorrow.

 

[farmerjan]

It is Sunday afternoon. Been a decent day today except for the weather. Talked to DS as he had originally said he was planning to go to get the cows around 9 after feeding a few places. Well, he got called into work at 5:30 this morning.... so he worked til the crew came in at 8 due to the possible sleet/freezing rain we MIGHT get... then he went and started feeding... and called about 10:30 and said what was I doing... I said,,,weeeellllll, I was waiting for him to call.... and he told me about getting called into work, and that he had looked at the weather and it wasn't supposed to start until late this afternoon, so how about noon or so? I said okay fine...
SO, I did the toothpick thing... and it worked like a charm !!!!!
.

THANK YOU @Mike CHS ..... I stuffed several pieces in, used some glue on some... and then screwed the screws in... I had taken the hammer and tapped the little pieces in and it was hard to screw them in by hand.... but they are tight and the door swings on the hinges again.....YAY...... I am MUCH APPRECIATIVE of the tip/help.

Met DS at the barn and we loaded a couple sq bales on my little truck and then took truck and trailer and my truck to pasture. Took my truck down the "road" to the catch pen he had set up, and put some hay in and they all came.... bull is walking real slow and it looks like he is stifled... he is one of the 2 oldest bulls and I am afraid this is his last time around... Hate that, as he is one of my favorites... but he will never be able to mount a cow again...hoping he got them bred before he got to hurting. DS made 2 trips and I stayed there in between just to make sure no one tried to get out of the catch pen. It started to sprinkle as he was unloading that group at the barn and within a half hour he was back for the rest. Got them to the barn, put the 2 sq bales in and fed one to the cow with the grafted calf, put the other one out with this group of cows since they have a roll out in the front lot... fed her grain, I did not take a bottle hoping he will keep working on her... he came up to me looking but was not pushy about it. DS then said he had to go back in tonight at 8 so I told him to get his butt home and get some sleep. He said he was going to go to his house... because why drive all the way down to hers 1/2 hour away when his house is 10 min from work..... but I am sure he wound up going to her house as he can't seem to spend 5 minutes away from her...

It has been cloudy and chilly/raw feeling all day. Temps never got above 34 here from a low of 26.. no sun...

So they are there ready to bring in the barn from the lot, tomorrow for the vet... If we do not get the 4-5 from across the driveway that were supposed to be calving and haven't yet... to recheck... they can get done the next time as we will have 2 more bigger groups to check in the next 2-3 weeks or so. We'll see how things go in the morning.

 

[Ridgetop]

Can I get some of that wood filler stuff that I have seen and use it to fill the holes then rescrew the screws back into it? There is no way to change the placement of the hinges with them being cut into the frame.

Also get longer screws. The door hinges are screwed into the casement BUT the casement should be backed by 2"x4" framing studs. Fill the screw holes with wood glue and toothpicks and et dry. Then use screws that are at least 1/2" longer than what pulled out. Some door hinges screws, particularly for interior doors (that are lighter than exterior doors) are only 1 1/4" long. You should be able to go to the hardware store and find screws that are 2" long in the same diameter. Since the casing is only 3/4" wide, a 2" -2 1/4" screw will go through the casement and bite into the 2" x 4" framing. I used to that at the apartment with doors that had kept pulling out. Tenants are notoriously hard on door and everything else in apartments! You can use long coarse thread drywall screws.

 

[Baymule]

I guess that bull has a one way ticket to auction. Kinda hard to let favorites go. But it comes down to sell him now and get a little money for him, or wait, he doesn’t breed the cows, but eats the same as he ever did. Or worse, he dies and you have to deal with that. I hope you can find a replacement that measures up to him.

 

[farmerjan]

Mon morning. We wound up getting a skiff of snow around 10-11 last night... I looked out and the ground was white and then this morning you can see where it was barely enough to cover the ground. Sun is out... it is right at freezing and is supposed to get into the low 40's so it will be gone. Didn't get much moisture out of it as it stayed more south and went mostly just east and not northeast as our storms are likely to do. I will bet @Mini Horses wound up getting a fair amount of moisture.

I am headed to the barn in a bit for the vet appt at noon. Got to get serious about getting some farms scheduled too.

Sun has just come over the hill and it is warming up to 41 already in about a half an hour since I sat down. WOW... going to enjoy it.