Sunshine...after freezing temps last week

Wow... Summer is here for sure. Amazing how fast the weather can change from way down in the 20's this past week to up over 90 now. the farmers really got hit with the frost on their corn and bean fields. They aren't too sure what effect it had on the wheat yet. The corn just looks sad. Yellow and curling down on the tops. This is going to be a financial bite on quite a few farmers. Ouch!

Doesn't seem to have effect the alfalfa fields though. Folks are cutting and baling like crazy. They have to get it off the fields so second cutting can start to come on. Spring and summer for farmers is a mad rush from dawn to after dark. So many time I see tractors out in the fields with lights on at night working. Trying to tend crops to get the best out of them. I have a lot of respect for the folks that work farms. Family farming is a real challenge. It's a challenge to come out in the black rather than owing the bank everything. The profit margin can be really narrow. You know these are the people that fill our grocery stores all around the world. Farmers and Ranchers feed everyone. I'm not just talking about the farmers and ranchers in the USA. I mean Farmers and Ranchers around the world all deserve our thanks and respect.

Ok I'll get off my soap box. I've got to get out the door for evening kennel care anyway.

Life is a journey... enjoy the trip... Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs

RobbinsRunRanch: Living the Dream With Our Pomeranians

Up Early Full Day Ahead

Wow… June 9th already. 2007 is flying by. Frankly I would like to put it on hold for a while. Kind of stay in late spring. Before the summer heat. Savor it a bit. Dogs woke me up before dawn this morning. I’m pretty keyed into their barking and the different tones. Wakes me up almost immediately. I’m babysitting a friend’s kennel right now as well as my own. So I’ve been on extra alert. She had a family emergency to tend to .

I”ve started the great spring hair off program. Lol… a through brush out after all that winter coat has been loosened a bit. WOW. Can we say hair. Started working on some summer projects too.

Like I don’t have enough to do. Actually in the long run the summer projects I’ve started will make it much easier here in the winter. It’s a heavy snow fence to go up staggered across the north and west. Slow down those snow drifts a bit in the winter. Keep it from piling up so much around the kennels and the house. At least that’s the plan. It won’t stop it altogether but it should help quite a bit. I’m planning on using the snow fence as the large exercise area boundaries as well. Plus it will help to keep the coyotes farther back. Help out the fowl and cats a bit.

It will be a great work out as well. Today I’m seriously feeling the effects of that “great workout” tired and OUCH! It’ll get better. Always gets worse before it gets better. That’s the stage that knocks people out of their projects. Myself included, more than once. This past winter was a huge motivator as far as getting that snow fence up. I was struggling through hip deep snow for months. It was that deep because it drifted across into the kennels. Need something for it to pile up on farther out. We’ll still get drifts but shouldn’t be so much. Some of those drifts were over 12 feet tall. Beautiful to look at. But awful to work in.

I’m keeping cattle off my pasture this summer. That will help a bit too. The grass will still be on the pasture through the winter. Snow will catch and pile in the grass as well. That will benefit the pasture as well.

Whoa Nellie… looking at the entire ranch project is a bit overwhelming. One step at a time. Speaking of one step at a time. I’m shredding paper for puppy bedding. Then I need to get out the door and mow a couple of yards.

Puppies are soooo cute playing out in the yards…

Time’s a flying…
Life is a journey… enjoy the trip.. Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs

307-788-0202

May 12th... lost our water after a storm

Wow… I thought I was prepared to live out on this ranch… yeah right. What an awful panic feeling to be out of water. It seems a fuse blew on in the fusebox for the pump. Which by the way I thought was a breaker box. It’s going to be a breaker box. One good thing came out of it. I learned the name of a decent electrician. One of the long time farmer/ranchers recommended him.

They have no idea how much I appreciated that. Most of the time I’m on my own out here. It’s nice to know that I’m not completely alone when David is at work. Yes I value independence. But it’s really nice to have a bit of support. Usually I’m the support for others…. It’s nice to be able to reach out and have someone around. Even if it is around a mile between houses. Not all are that far apart.

Another Thunderstorm came through this afternoon. Dropped about 3 raindrops and blew on it’s way. Created a suction in the house and slammed one of the bedroom doors. CaBam! Truthfully it… with it being the storm scared me a bit. Scared the dogs a lot. Not having water is a serious problem. The dogs need water. I want a back up water supply… although I’m not sure how to go about getting it. I’ve felt kind of skuzzy all day. Achy and tired. Tough tookis… need to get it in gear and take care of the dogs and fowl…. As well as some office work. Load photos to Arfing News… and edit and load photos to Robbins Run Ranch: my main site… I’m reworking a lot of that site.

I am going to talk to this electrician about wiring the whelping house, fowl house, kennel light poles…with lights and outlets… and my other out building. Nothing real elaborate …

It will be really nice to have heat lamps and heated water in the outside dog runs… be soooo nice for my hairballs when the temps go down. I had wanted that the first year out here, but my being ill put everything on hold. I’m going to work with what I have before I build another building. Large building. Alarm bells were going off in my head. I do not want to be that heavily leveraged. I’m going to liquidate some debt before I take any more on. Maybe start boarding on a smaller scale… rework the buildings I have now… I want electricity to my greenhouse too… and to rework the quonset. Actually make use of what we have.

The electrician the neighbor recommended is only a few miles from here... he came over... found an issue with the pump control... also power fluctuating at the well. Soooooo... no water for tonight... he'll be back in the morning... Sunday Morning ... and Mother's day To boot...

Life is a journey... sometimes there are bumps in the road... Mary