Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,273
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
Watched the video and it was really interesting. The lady has a very pleasant voice and she speaks very fondly of her younger brother, Pembroke. The amount of under clothes she had to wear as a small child must have been torture in the summer.

Found another 12' corral panel leaning up against the dog kennel today. It has been there for several months and this morning I realized that I needed to add it to the count - now 7 12' panels. And a double horse wash rack. I don't know why we have that - it must have been free from someone. We just tied our horses to the fence to hose them off. If DDIL1 doesn't want it, I wonder if we should bring it to Texas eventually and sell it there, or just sell it here for metal.

DS1 dug up the 14' cross arms we used as edging on the old horse path. Only one of the 6 had any rot on it. He also dug up several of the 5'+ horizontals we used to hold the decomposed granite on the mild slope. We got about 4 good ones and one partially rotted. We did get all the bolts from them - we had hammered them through the pre-drilled holes in the cross arms into the dirt to hold them in place. Some of them are abut 18" long while others are 12" long. We now have a large bucket of them, along with plenty of washers. We will just have to buy the nuts for them to be able to assemble shelters or other stuff with these cross arms - maybe underpinnings for a deck. We will use the viny deck planks for the surface. So much usable junk to haul to Texas. But since if we return to California, we won't be building anything we might as well use it in TX.

DS1 got mad at me for dragging the four 14' crossarms up off the hillside onto the flat in front. He caught me doing that after I had removed the bolts from the other crossarms on the horse path. I told him that I was not going to just lay down and wait for death - I AM IN MY PRIME, after all! I left him to pull up the crossarms on the horse path and raked the dirt off the top of the corral shelters laying on the ground on the field. It looks like we have 2 more good shelters with intact corrugated roofing material. :D =D We will have to buy and attach roofing to only 2 shelter frames. And I have the metal screws saved to do the attaching. Removed the cookbook pulldown shelf from under the cabinet and packed it. I rarely use it anymore but the kitchen in Texas is larger so I might start doing more recipe cooking. The location where it was in the current kitchen became a catchall so I couldn't pull it down anymore to use it. 12 more boxes are ready to go to Texas. Need to go into the connex and get more boxes to pack stuff. I think I will also pack more clothes to bring next time too. Having clothes in both places will make it easy to travel back and forth.

DS1 and I went through the ewes and lambs in the barn. We are missing a ewe lamb. Single ewe lamb born April 21, tagged, docked, vaxed May 2 just before we left for Texas. DS1 says he vaguely remembers a lamb dying. I don't but it is possible it happened either just before we left for Texas, or while we were there.

I found the Dutch oven I thought I packed for Texas and y great grandmother's aluminum roaster in the back of the cabinet here. I must have decided to wait to pack them, but the box with the placemats, knives, and cooking implements (spoons, spatulas, whisks, etc.) are still missing. I will have to unpack all the book boxes when we get back to Texas to see if they were packed with some books, or if they were mislabeled. In the meantime, I will pack them with our old kitchen silverware that was in the trailer, a wooden cutting board, and anything else. More cabinets to clean out and decide if we need that stuff in Texas. I am considering dividing up all my good linen tablecloths and napkins (from my grandmother) between my children. I love ironing linens. So relaxing! Might keep a couple tablecloths that fit my 54' diameter dining table. Not too many of them, that is a big table.

DH picked up the gas chainsaw from the shop where he had the do a checkup. The truck is back in the shop - apparently, they found the hose for the AC that they "didn't know where the mechanic put it when he quit". Just hope they can keep track of it long enough to put it back on our truck since Texas in July without AC will be unpleasant. :fl DH is talking seriously about buying DS2's Ford truck from him. I want to just borrow it for a while - until the value goes down a bit more! :gig He said we can use it to go to Texas so we might be hauling back 2 trailers again.

Our butcher has found the 3 lambs we took in a while back. He also has a steer for us. I don't remember asking for one but will check with DS3. Maybe he asked Kent for one. Otherwise, we will have to buy a 4th freezer. If we do, we will load one in the trailer, then fill it with meat and top it with dry ice for the trip back. Unload it, move it into the house, plug it in and put everything back in it. The problem with that is that without a backup generator if there is a power outage, we lose all that meat. Now that we have moved a lot of the stuff from the milk shed to Texas, we have room in the milk shed for another freezer. On the other hand, do we really want a 4th freezer? How many will we need in Texas for 3 people? Maybe DD1 has room in her freezer for some of our meat. One problem is that I bought meat on sale during the end of covid when it was a really good price and now DS2 keeps buying tri- tips and whole chickens to cook on his Trager and meat to make jerky. About half the meat in one huge freezer is his.
 

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,091
Reaction score
98,645
Points
873
Location
East Texas
Ouch! On the bruised leg! By the time y’all get to Texas, it should be healed up and ready to go to work! You have enough stuff accumulated that maybe you won’t have to buy much and that will save you a lot of money.
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,273
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
Leg is fine to walk on but laying down or in the recliner the leg sits on the massive bruises. Gives me more incentive to work instead of sitting or laying down! LOL

Every year we have to clear at least 200' from all structures or face a fine and if you ignore the notices it is a hefty fine. On our slope that has been rough even with the sheep, but we are particular about it since the fire danger is real. This year I noticed that the flock grazed closer to the house and barn first where in previous years they grazed the lower areas first. We often had to clear the areas closest to the house and barn ourselves to pass inspection. For the past year we have been turning the mamas out from the creep pen, selling the ram lambs, and keeping the ewe lambs in that pasture for an extra couple months before turning them in with the main flock. We noticed this encouraged the mamas to return to the areas nearest to the barn to graze in response to their lambs' cries. At any rate, the flock cleaned that area first, and have now moved further out to the far side of the field. The "creep pen" pasture has been grazed off for several months now, and the front breeding pasture is also cleared to the ground due to leaving the entire flock in that pen for the 2 weeks we were in Texas in May.

The Fire Department Inspector came up today and we passed our field inspection!
:weee

And didn't have to do any hillside clearing ourselves. We do have to trim the tree branches 2' up from the roof, and also clean off the dead palm fronds. DH used to put on his gaffs and climbing belt and climb up the palm tree to do that but now DS2 will do it. We also have some dead brush to haul away and a couple of broken mulberry tree limbs on the field to cut off. We have gotten a ton of multi-trunk mulberry trees springing up on the field where we used to just have creosote brush. The sheep appreciate the shade, but the large limbs and trunks seem to rot out fast and break. We knew about those things and will get them done. Good opportunity to try out our new battery chain saw! Might hire someone to haul off the brush this year. The city has taken away the free dump for brush and trimmings and the charge is $80/ton. This is a minimum charge so no matter how little you bring, you pay $80 a load. I wonder if we could get everything on the flatbed trailer, then tarp it down. The people getting shafted are the folks dumping smaller amounts in a pickup.

Remembered that DS1 used some horse corral panels to make the corral for Sage and Skittles when they came from DS3's. 2 more 24' corrals and another 12' gate plus a 12' gate across the doorway of the old hay shack. Counted the 10' Red River rodeo arena panels and we have 35+ in use currently which we will bring back when we move the sheep.

Final count (until I find more panels hiding around the property):
(7) 24', (6) 12', (5) 12' gates, (1) broken (?) gate panel, (37) 10' Red River rodeo panels, and some miscellaneous pipes, etc. The number of wired dog kennel panels we have are (5)12' panels, (3)10' panels, (1)10' gate panel, (2)12' gate panels. The we have an assortment of welded pipe panels with welded 2x4" heavy wire - (3)12' panels, (3) 6' panels, (2) 6' gate panels; (5-6) which I bought for 4-H hog pens after the disastrous Devil Pig episode. 42"x10' heavy duty gate panels, (10) 42"x10' heavy duty pipe panels, etc. We also have several pipe gate frames where the chain link was bent, destroyed, and removed. Those can be restrung with sheep and goat wire and used as temporary fence panels or hung as walk through gates. This does not include the lightweight Sydell 5' panels, Shaul gates and panels for the jugs, and some miscellaneous 5' panels. All of the latter we put together and take apart for jugs and sorting pens regularly. Before we move, or when we come back for visits, I will order some more Shaul gate panels since they are the best gates I have found. Easy to open and close with one hand from the top. Currently I have 2 10' panels with 2 gates and one 5' gate. I think I will order a couple more of the 10' double gates and a couple of the 5' single gates. They are not only good for jugs, but also make quick pens for sick or injured animals. (And for Anatolian puppies that may get eaten by coyotes when they are small). The short panels will be useful inside the barn and the taller panels can be installed with posts for longer runs. And another 11 8' steel "wrought iron" panels that I will taking down from around the old swimming pool area and bringing to put in around the front of the house. I will need more panels, and more posts unless I can get the existing posts out of the ground and knock the concrete off them. I am feeling better about the amount of $$ I will have to find for immediate fencing in Texas. Between the panels we have, the Electronetting, and a charger, we should be able to get by until spring when we can get the fence plan approved to put up the permanent wire fences. I am hoping that having the sheep and got cross fencing will also add value to the property. Most people still have cattle but with so many diversifying into sheep and goats, having the 15 acres fenced for rotational grazing, and 30 acres in hay should be a good mix. Particularly since adding a strand of hot wire to the sheep and goat fencing will allow you to run cattle (or goats) in the rotational pastures.

Got to go out and remove the clamps from the corral panels laying on the front field. I will try dragging them up afterwards. I used to be able to carry the 24' panels and out the corrals together by myself but my Prime is not what it was. :old I might be able to drag the panels up to the area we are using to store the panels to be loaded on the flatbed. Or at least part way. Will have to be sneaky so the boys don't see me and yell at me for doing it. How old do they think I am anyway? :mad:
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,273
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
Found two more 24' horse corral panels on the front field, and an 8' copper ground rod leaning against the toolshed. I really need to keep better track of where my DH and DSes put these things! Good thing the sheep have grazed the mustard down so we could find and remove these panels. Occasionally, the mustard grows so thick and high that you can't remove any fencing that has fallen down. Also found a roll of chain link in the "metal corral" (the space fence by corral panels where we toss all the junk metal that needs to go to the metal yard for sale. This is good chain link and will go to Texas to use along the bottom of any fences where predators try to dig in, or our LGDs try to dig out after predators.

Angel, accompanied by Ozel, were in full cry last night at the far end of the field. DS1 was worried about Ozel so let Rika out of the creep. Rika stayed on the driveway above the creep pen which surprised DS1. Rika s crafty. She knows that those sly coyotes will try to pull the dogs away from one side of the property so they can sneak in on the other. By pulling all the dogs to the far side of the field, they can dig under and grab another lamb from the creep. Rika foiled their dastardly plan by being too clever to run off and bark with the others. I told DS1 to put her back i the creep pen since Angel is big enough to take on a couple of coyotes by herself. He was worried that the coyotes might attack Ozel, but I told him that Oel was in no danger since Angel would take on the coyotes before they could get close to Ozel. Ozel is becoming a very good watcher and alarm sounder. She follows Angel when Angel is working and learns the ropes. This morning she was in the gully with Rika getting more training. I was particularly pleased just now when we went in the front field to remove the clamps from the corral panels and the sheep were all there grazing. They saw me and came forward a bit then Ozel mved toward them and they went around me - not really running but moving at a slow trot. Ozel started toward them, but I scolded her, and she stopped moving. They continued to the back field, she wanted to run towards them but again I stopped her with my voice and as soon as she looked at me, I called her and praised her. As I was removing the clamps, I kept an eye on Ozel and she started to move to the back pasture again. but I waited to see what she would do since the sheep were out of sight. She wandered over to a tree and lay flat out for a snooze. More praise for the good behavior. I take her with me anytime I go around the sheep to correct and praise proper behavior. She is seldom allowed out with the flock alone. She is coming along.
:love Still have to watch her though since she can break into puppy behavior at any time.
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,273
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
The new dishwasher arrived today and DS1 installed it. He put the insulation from the old one on the new one. The new one was not rated as highly in "quietness" which was not surprising seeing as how the insulation blanket it came with was about 1/2" thick compared to the 2" thick insulation on the old one. The old dishwasher was stainless stee all through which means it can go to the metal yard and be sold. Next week DS1 will gather all the metal we have been saving and take it to the salvage yard. Might not bring much, but it will be something and will get all the old metal junk off the property.

DS1 also went down and pulled all the corral panels up the hill with the truck. One had slid down into the fence and the wild cucumber vines had attached it to the fence. After tugging on it without success, DS1 tied it to the truck and finally broke it loose of the vines.

Next week we will start loading the flatbed with the corral panels and shelter roofs. Then we will load the stock trailer. Last will be the black truck bed. I would like to bring back some more comfortable chairs or seating. Will have to see what we have in the connex. On the way home we will pick up another load of alfalfa in Arizona, this time 80 bales on the flatbed and whatever will fit in the stock trailer. We still have 200 bales paid for with our guy here, but I think we'll have to get 100 bales delivered before we leave in July. I will pick up a 50 lb. bag of salt in SS TSC to bring back as well and blend it with the minerals I have been using. I will be at the TSC numerous times in SS (Blue Bell runs to Walmart across the street ;)). Here it is a 40 minute drive to TSC.

Checked rams' hooves and they need to be trimmed again. They don't get enough wear in their pen. Hopefully in a several acre pasture they will keep them worn down more. We will trim them and give a selenium shot at the same time before putting the ram in with the ewes to be bred. I read that selenium deficiency in breeding rams reduces sperm health and motility. Hoping that vaxing with selenium before breeding will increase lamb vigor and viability. With attention to not overfeeding ewes the last month before lambing, hopefully will up the odds for successful lambing. Then have to sort out the sheep for each ram to breed, and the young stock that is too young to breed yet. I also have to mail in 7 registrations.

Tomorrow DGD1 will be here for the day. School is out and her mom still has to go to work to turn in grades or something. She will enjoy being here with the two-year-olds. They adore her. Annabel starts preschool so have to find the carseat in the shed so we can pick her up at 12:30. I forgot about a carseat until DH and DS1 reminded me. Pretty sure I fell over one down there when I was tidying up the shed the other day.
 

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,091
Reaction score
98,645
Points
873
Location
East Texas
A dishwasher isn’t a luxury, it’s a must!
Y’all keep finding corral panels, you can sure use them when you move!

Better be careful of too much Blue Bell, they must have a thousand different flavors. You don’t have to try them all!

How much selenium do you give in a shot?
 

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,198
Reaction score
38,752
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
Selenium and the BoSe (or MuSe) shots are not a vax.... just wanted to say that since a vet here said that to vaccinate is to give the body something to promote an immune response... create ANTI-bodies..... BoSe and MuSe are supplements of vit and minerals... to increase the levels positively, in the body. Just didn't want you to say something like a vax with selenium because that would be contra-indicated.

There are directions on the bottle, but it is often something like 1 cc per 50 or 100 lbs... for a lamb most would get like 1/4 to 1/2 cc.... You use a syringe like a diabetic uses... usually a 1 cc little syringe that is in tenths.... I think we used to give 1 or 2 cc's to baby calves with white muscle disease.. which was not truly a disease but a lack of necessary levels of Vit E and Selenium in their bodies, causing muscle "failure"....
 

Ridgetop

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 13, 2015
Messages
6,572
Reaction score
22,273
Points
693
Location
Shadow Hills, CA
Better be careful of too much Blue Bell, they must have a thousand different flavors. You don’t have to try them all!
YES I DO! :weee Except any flavors with banana. :sick Not overly fond of banana flavoring in stuff.

Selenium and the BoSe (or MuSe) shots are not a vax....
I know, it is just shorter to type vax instead of giving supplements IM or subQ. You are right though, if a newbie reads it they might get confused. Sorry.

Measured the flatbed today and it is only 20' long. :( The corral panels will hang over the end by 4' and have to have caution tape or red flags on them. It will make travel harder in truck stops and motels. The flatbed has holders for side walls using 2x4's. Might make some for transporting other stuff eventually. We have several sheets of new 3/4" plywood in the barn that we want to bring (at $40/60 per sheet not leaving it behind!). Mybe we can use some 2x4's to make side walls out of the whole sheets of plywood. That would make 4' x 16' raised sides for the trip. Then unscrew the 2x4s from the plywood in Texas and have both new plywood and lumber for projects.
OH NO! :ep DS1 just told me that he and DS2 have used most of the plywood for other projects! Is nothing sacred? Must my children take my personal building materials for their own projects? Even though those plywood sheets were sitting unused in the loft for the past 10 years? And it is possible that - overestimating the amount I had there - I may have suggested they use it for projects instead of buying more . . . . Never mind. 😣 Just checked, only half a sheet and a few miscellaneous pieces left. However, we have a lot of other stuff. I located 4 good pallets (not the ones DH, DS1, and DS2 said I couldn't have since they want to get their deposits back on them from Lowes when DS2 buys more blocks for his next retaining wall project.

Here is the almost finished new deck DS2 but with help from DS1. He did a good job on that and has the railings in. Just has to put more fill dirt and the pavers down. He hopes to get it finished by July 4th. He still has to finish the tree well to keep soil off the trunk. He plans to put solar lights on the tops of the fence posts. they are small lights, and he ordered them online. Not sure how much light they will give off, but they will look pretty at night for parties.
PXL_20230612_163713973.jpg

This is the slope that was there before. Very steep slope into sheep pen in front. Deck location is to the left. You can see how high the mustard gets on the other side of the fence. The sheep have mostly cleared it off on our side.
IMG_4497.jpg

Next picture:
This is slope from current patio to sheep pen and children's trampoline. Also, flat area is where old doughboy used to be with wooden deck. DS2 plans to remove the large power pole retaining wall and build a new concrete stacking block retaining wall for an extension of the patio down past the power poles. The "wrought iron" fencing panels are 5' tall by 8' wide panels from Lowes that I put in myself 14 years ago when DGS1 was starting to walk because he could get onto pool deck. I am going to take that fence apart and take it to Texas. The 8' panel ends fit into attachments that screw onto the posts. Super easy to construct. There are still live water lines from when I ran rain birds all around the front of the property planning to irrigate grass for horses. :lol::lol::lol::lol:We gave that up since the wind carried the rainbird spray away, and the first water shortage hit. I capped off the water feeds to the hillside keeping the sprinklers on the front small slope for the ground cover I have planted there. A few remnants are left on the cute although 30 years of large dogs pretty much destroyed those plantings and gophers took care of the rest. Gradually I cut off more water lines and now there are just the dead ended water lines. Some of them have water in them - which ones is a fun exercise in discovery!
IMG_5596.JPG

That area is quite a lot larger than the area he already did. I am not sure when he plans to build this next section of retaining wall, but I can close off the sheep and remove the fence panels any time. As to the black fencing, I have 880' feet of panels in that fence so have half the fencing I need to fence around the house in Texas. With a fence around the house, I can let Rika into that yard at night. I will probably wait until closer to the time we make our final move to remove the fence panels. They still have the same fencing available at Lowes, as well as gates and the hardware and I will have to buy more to finish the fence in TX. I might just fence the side and rear yards in Texas, although without any neighbors, having a fence around the house would give me time to get to my "defenses". We will need a double gate into the yard to get the mower in to do the grass.

DGD1 is playing When the Saint Go . . . on her portable keyboard. I printed it off the computer for her.
 

Bruce

Herd Master
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
17,435
Reaction score
45,775
Points
783
Location
NW Vermont
Finally got around to watching the 1880s video. I was surprised at the ornateness of a lot of the buildings given it was such a small place back then. Of course all those have been torn down, replaced with ugly flat walled structures. Must have been quite a change for that lady to see it go from a small town of 11,000 to the overburdened metropolis it became during her lifetime.

According to a Google search the Los Angeles population was
1870: 5,728
1880: 11,183
1890: 50,395
1900: 102,479
1910: 319,198
1920: 576,673
1930: 1,238,048

Quite the boom town. The recording was made in the 60's, population then was over 2.5 million.

There are still buildings in the downtowns here with the 1800's architecture, not every place tosses their history in the dumpster.

There are a lot of videos on that channel, I fear I may fall into an internet rabbit hole!!!
https://www.youtube.com/@Lifeinthe1800s/videos
 
Last edited:

farmerjan

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
10,198
Reaction score
38,752
Points
748
Location
Shenandoah Valley Virginia
@Ridgetop I always say I will just stick them or shoot them... that raises some eyebrows... or just pop 'em with a vitamin shot.

Bless you on that steep ground... I love the mountains and such, but never want to live in the kind of steep ground you have there. and as I get older, prefer to be able to have more "rolling ground" to deal with and be able to work around real steep ground like you have. WOW :ep :ep :ep
 
Top