Horsepoo - any day on a tractor is a good day.
I don't care where you live or what you do for a living, if you're a guy you'll never know true joy until you own a tractor.
vo·ca·tion
I don't care where you live or what you do for a living, if you're a guy you'll never know true joy until you own a tractor.
vo·ca·tion
noun: vocation;
a strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation.
Vocation n Vacation have more in common than you think.
If your vocation is the thing you enjoy doing.
Then your life is a vacation.
People tell me about there planned vacations.
I tellem I really don't go anywhere anymore.
Did that.
I have created the life I love.
I no longer feel a need to travel for happiness.
It's a Tractor thing, beside I got Billy n Po for diversion.
Vocation n Vacation have more in common than you think.
If your vocation is the thing you enjoy doing.
Then your life is a vacation.
People tell me about there planned vacations.
I tellem I really don't go anywhere anymore.
Did that.
I have created the life I love.
I no longer feel a need to travel for happiness.
It's a Tractor thing, beside I got Billy n Po for diversion.
Gotta go, time to fire up the tractor.
Horse Poo waits for no man.
Time to enjoy myself, after this brief note.
Writing here is my hobby.
Horse Poo is my vocation.
When I retreat/retire from this, farm work will be my full-time job.
We have 6 pastures n 17.5 horses.
Every spring I have the task of cleaning up all the winter buildup of horse manure.
Believe it or not I enjoy this task.
So far I've gotten 3 of the pens in shape.
It takes roughly 4 hrs per pen just to get the manure over the fence.
Then another 6+ hrs to get it down the hill for my building projects.
Being on the tractor that much really isn't hard.
I enjoy working with manure n dirt.
Although you do get tractor legs.
Tractor legs are how your legs set up a bit from sitting work n vibration.
You kinda get off n gotta walk around a bit so you don't look funny walking.
I've had a serious case of Tractor legs for over a week now.
Not complaining, actually it's kinda a brag.
I've been getting outside a bit after noon each day.
No problem at all with that.
I find great enjoyment in my landscaping projects that I use the horse poo for.
I could actually use 4 times as much poo as the horses give me.
Two of my projects are actually quite large.
Within the next week I plan to seed the new wild flower stands.
Last years trial plot was amazingly beautiful.
I plan to expand from 1 plot to at least 4.
On a sidenote I'm very please with the progress of the raspberries I planted last year.
I've already expanded the raspberries from 20 feet to 60 feet.
The type of bush I selected is perfect for my soil n light.
Future projects are fruit trees n grapevines.
I'll still have some veggies but my new direction is fruit.
As always it's money slowing my plans.
Thank God Horse Poo is Free n Plentiful.
Gotta go
It's Tractor Time.
Interesting thing just happened.
Got a twitter follow from KenneyMachinery @MachineryAH follows you
I bet they know what I mean when I talk about Tractor Legs.
Tractor Yup, A Fence Post, post
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| Poverty, Struggle, Life. Forgive me though. this is still my favorite picture ever. It represents so much. |
Did you know that an insurance company will void the insurance on a barn if your electric fencer is located inside it?
Well Shit add another job to the list of things I gotta do.
Every since the invention of electric fences for farms the fencer has been located in the barn to keep it out of the elements.
Our insurance "Farm Bureau" notified us that we had until the 17th of last month to get Old Sparky outa the barn.
The challenge, find a dry location near the fence with an outlet.
Sounds like a job for Redneckology, The Barrel Book .
Pictures will be required.
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| Access slot is on outlet but turns to access fencer |
Stone-crete, This basically is a country driveway that is not concrete or blacktop.
Dig 4 to 6 inches down, fill with bankrun (1 parts ea sand, clay, stones) top with crushed limestone, 1 inch per year for 3 yrs.
When life is good, all pasture entrances are composed this way also.
N that's where digging in stone-crete comes into play when running wire underground to connect various sections of fence together.
1st effort hooking up Old Sparky in its new location did not work.
It's a wiring/grounding issue.
I swear Todd n Larry each musta told me at least twice on various times in my life that you can not use a T-post for a ground rod.
So yup you guessed it I tried using a T-post again.
The reason I suppose I try doing this at least 3 times in 40 years is T-post are on hand, I've always got one handy.
On the other hand, a good ground rod you gotta go buy one, so I keep trying to use Handy ole T-posts.
Why won't T-posts work as ground rods?
1, T-posts are made of a junky kinda metal, not good steel.
2, T-posts are painted, which means that the steel such as it is does not actually touch the dirt as effectively as needed.
Upshot I gotta dig up the old ground rod to put in the new location or buy a new rod.
Either = a pain in my ass.
To my complete surprise I was able to pull the old 8ft ground rod out of the ground using vice grips, rope n the tractor.
I then hammered it back into the ground at the new location, almost 8ft in ground.
I left 3inches above ground to fasten wires to.
I also dug a 12ft long trench 6inches deep to bury an additional ground wire.
NEXT
Talk about the perfect 3 stooges moment.
Yesterday while working on the horse shed I got a 4x4 to the back of the head.
30 mile n hour winds will do that.
The cat has been killing birds in the rafters of the horse arena.
Good as far as it goes but she's not eating them.
Told her I heard it tastes like chicken, she's not buying.
My last post on twitter was on Saturday.
It read, 14 new followers on twitter today.
Well topped that with 200 new followers on twitter in last few days.
Problem was I couldn't see it.
My computer was on strike yesterday.
So I just went outside n worked on the new projects.
Project 1.
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| Old 24x24 barn. right side of pic. sorry only pic I could find. It's actually taller than it looks. It's sorta in a hole/very low area. |
Move old tin barn.
Actually tear it down n rebuild it smaller.
24x24 to 10 by 15 feet.
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| above 3 pics are rebuilt 10x15 horse shed |
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| Almost done. You might gather from the pic, I avoid the sun. |
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| This tin shed is one solid little puppy |
The following are pics of 3 horses shed is for.
clockwise Robin Hood aka Jimmy, Tenny n Bo.
At 65 when working outside in the heat I move so slow that I'm almost imperceptible.
Little Smoke n I call it Ninja pace, we figure if we move slow enough we can walk through anything unscathed.
Project 2.
Put a circle drive where the old tin barn was.
Which requires moving the fence.
So basically both projects are tied together.
The old gray tin barn is the last building from the 1980 n before.
Problem was when I was much younger I didn't realize I was putting it up in a wet mucky area.
The circle drive just gave me a good excuse to move it n rebuild it.
By reducing it from a poor barn of 24x24 to a horse shed of 10x15 I'm able to make it a farely nice building.
At 24x24 the building sucked to look at n truth be told it was a bit shaky.
It really was an eyesore.
I can report that the new horse shed is turning out real nice.
FYI, a horse shed is a smallish building in a pasture that horses go in to rest from heat or escape bad weather.
Horse sheds are open on 1 side that faces east.
Now for the cool stuff.
The original 24x24 building was approx 50 years old.
I got it used in about 1980 from a neighbor n I think it had 2 locations here.
That old tin building will be on it's 4th life when I finish the 10x15 horse shed.
That kind of thing tickles me.
I love proper recycling through reuse.
Get one more life out of something by seeing it different.
The best part is this.
Inside that old building were 6 pieces of telephone poles used as corners etc.
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| above 2 pics fence posts for circle drive that were once pole barn pole, before that telephone poles |
These poles started life after being trees 75 years ago as telephone poles.
Approx 50 years ago these poles became part of this building.
After 75 years of work n rot there still was 7.5ft of good usable pole left.
Those 75 year old telephone pole are probably on there 4th life now as really good fence posts for the circle drive.
My guess is that they will last at least another 25yrs as fence posts.
That's a century of life n use.
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| above 3 pics are low area that needs buildup for circle drive. |
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| Dirt n crushed cement fill used for 2foot buildup under drive. will finnish with 4 inches of bank run. |
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| The circle driveway is now at phase 2. Base is completed. Now we wait till fall after ground settles to top with bankrun. Meantime we fill in the low area. In some spots I had to build up approx 3ft. |
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| This project from tearing down old barn, rebuilding n filling hole for circle drive took about 4weeks. |
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| pic is deceptive. back wall of hole is 4 to 5 feet deep. I will fill hole with horse manure over the next year. Horse manure is unlike any other type manure, it's like processed grass not yucky at all. very organic. |
As far as the low area where the old tin barn was that will now be a circle drive.
It's gonna take a lot of buildup to raise its level to that of the drive it becomes a part of.
Not a problem, that's what the tractor n I do.
Pulled out 3 more tree stumps yesterday, that makes 8 removed from circle drive area.
There is one more, not sure I can get that one?
It took the tractor n the truck to get last 3.
Dirt work has begun.
So far this project has an out of pocket cost of $120.00
Bonus pics. New Wild Flowers around the house have started Blooming.
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| very small fraction of coming blossoms. Now if I can just keep grandkids from picking them to give to there mom or grandma. |
At The beginning of last summer I planted the row to the left of Raspberries.
Here's the amazing thing, I planted root.
By late last summer I had berries.
I mowed after pics.
Shoulda done it other way round.
Set it up so I can mow each side of rows.
below 5/21/16
Row to right, 1 year old.
Pots to left, planted last fall.
new raspberry seedlings, just planted
next to house
new raspberry seedlings, just planted
beside building
row is 40 ft long
will update pics end of summer
I will update progress with pics mid to late summer.
below
Poo project, land reclamation.
I talk a lot about working on the tractor hauling horse poo.
Each spring I have to remove all the winter buildup.
Below are pics of where all that poo goes.
The darker crescent of ground at the back is all new.
This whole area starts at 5ft above the low area it covers.
That's it for this spring.
I'll pick it back up next spring.
From here I go back to the old project to the right.
Next project, grapes on south side of warehouse
Hay
Over 1,000 bales in 2 days.
Tractor Yup
Yesterday I cleaned out n repaired the gutters.
A job that woulda cost me over $200.00 had I paid to have it done.
But you see that's not how it works for mosta us.
Day before that we had to fight a major wasp/yellow jacket infestation south side of the house.
Block point of entry spray n hand kill with fly swatter.
That's how it really goes for most of us, again a job that woulda cost $250 plus.
Funny thing bout wasps n yellow jackets, I really don't get stung much.
Maybe once a month I get stung n I interact with wasps daily.
While we're on it I don't get bit by mosquito's as much as other people either.
It's like I told Susan before I got rid of some wasps on the trailer she wanted to use.
Forgive my language but I curse when approaching Wasps n Yellow Jackets.
Then turned n said "OK you little bastards Time To Die".
Out on the porch I musta hand killed at least 50 yellow jackets.
To the point that I sensed they were beginning to fear me.
It to me is all about attitude.
I've stood while being attacked Kama Kazi style by Wasps.
Reached up n grabbed nests with yellow jackets all over my hand.
I get stung when I'm not paying attention, not when I approach with purpose.
Kathy sucks up yellow jackets with the vacuum cleaner, works great.
Today she saw a yellow jacket carrying off it's dead.
The wasp yellow jacket infestation was 3 to 500, now a fraction of that.
On a similar note.
I noticed yesterday why I get stressed talkin to folks other than Kathy.
I talk with Kathy a natural way that's comfortable.
If I slip n do it with others, they get confused n I always have to explain.
That makes conversation with other folks Work.
I have to be careful n if I slip off the road, a mad effort to get back on it.
It honestly makes my stomach hurt.
The natural flow of my brain confuses everybody except Kathy.
Only a few of my post are as freeform as my brain would have it.
I think those posts are my best.
My Pez years were different.
The progression into my Pez years was about a decade, so my stump speech had time to perfect itself.
In a lot of ways like how I've had over a decade to prepare if they make the Pez Outlaw Movie, my thoughts have had time to percolate.
Wasps, Gutters, Poo Removal, Poo Landscaping, Creative Building, Squash, Pumpkins, Raspberries n moving dirt with the tractor.
These are a few of my daily projects etc, that pacify the tedium of the wait.
The other is that of an observer in politics.
Right, Left, Conservative, Progressive, Independent, Libertarian, Socialist n now it seems Alt-Right.
Who knew, so many to choose from.
I've had my heart broken twice in Politics, McGovern n Romney.
In a lot of ways I just no longer care.
I have a candidate I will vote for but I am completely comfortable accepting the will of the voters come election day.
I will not give my heart to a Presidential candidate ever again.
A recent comment that made me smile.
You dug that hole with your tractor?
Yup.
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I gotta tell ya bout somthin I'm noticing.
I'm gettin real lazy bout finnishing words.
Kathy say's it's speaking in shorthand?
I'm also noticing that my verbal inflection points are gettin kinda odd.
I just write if off to age n not giving a shit anymore.
Not trying so hard to sound good to folks anymore.
Trophy Husband
Yes I'm a trophy husband, a kept man.
Take a look at my blog image.
Can you blame Kathy?
I'm Kinda HOT!
Here at the Asylum, I'm considered a 10.
Spy Kid
One of my granddaughters is now a Spy.
You ever notice how you can't find that Spy Camera when you need it.
Deviations
2 Tylenol Please
Wanna hear something interesting?
Twice as many, 2x Slovakian's view Notes From The Asylum as Americans.
twitter impressions/view for last 28 days exceeds 100,000
For The Record
It is not "If it leads, it bleeds".
It's "If it bleeds, it leads".
El Diablo update
My Cub Cadet/El Diablo lawn tractor is starting to wear out after 5 1/2yrs.
It's predicessor a Scott lasted twice as long.
The Scott never saw indoors n looked like shit, but continued to mow.
El Diablo has never seen a night outside yet is starting to look as bad as the Scott at twice it's age.
I mow 4hrs per week.
Wurlitzer Vacuum Cleaner
Yeah, Yeah, there wasn't one.
In my mind though there was.
Peabody n Sherman Movie
Yup, I watched it.
Proves that I'll watch anything about time-travel.
Try, Try Again
They say in politics, if you change campaign managers 3 times your doomed.
Does that count for blog titles also?
If so this blog post is toast.
I can't find a good title for this one to save my soul.
Usually the title comes first n the post flows from it.
this one, Wah Wah.
original Content
Do not give death one second of life.
Death will take it's own.
Tell people what I know to be true?
Maybe if I look busy I can get out of it.
Time is going by at an alarming pace n time is running out.
I avoid at all cost thinking about Bills n Hollywood Pez Outlaw.
Can willpower make Pez Outlaw what I want him to be?
The absurdity of the question tickles me.
Why Pez Outlaw, What led to him?
Pez Outlaw was the light that showed me the way out of the darkness.
The only limits are the limits of imagination.
Pez Outlaw could be bigger than my years in Pez.
The jury is still out.
So why do I keep going?
Like a Drive Time DJ, pushing the boundaries.
Angry White Males is the latest label for the frustration.
Everybody gets a trophy.
I'm a very reluctant Charlie Brown once again.
How lucky am I to just be considered?
Do I get a happy ending?
13.5 rules, 51% sane.
The Asylum has been a blessing.
You must speak up to be heard.
Life washes over silence.
Crazy is an abstract art form.
Cross the line n you're there forever.
If it hadn't been for?
Maybe Today, some good news.
I get wore out from all the secrecy.
Truth, HELL, I don't even know what that is.
On behalf of the staff n management of Notes From The Asylum.
Thank you.
Well anyway, That's Today.
side note.
Kathy just canceled my cell phone.
She said she was paying $30.00 a month for a phone that I never turned on or carried.
I told her she shouldna told me n waited to see how long before I even noticed.
Betcha it woulda be over a year.
After Pez Outlaw, I intend to retire.
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| new profile pic captures my essence |
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