Springtime

The well pump gave up the ghost. I called customer service for Sure-Dri and they told me that it probably died of old age. Our choice is basically to replace it with something we know will be phased out shortly or go solar, in which case we are going to have to redesign the water system.

Spring is definitely upon us. Grass is definitely growing and the animals are choosing to eat more grass and less hay. I do not want to move them to the south pasture until the grass there is a little further along. For the present, I have been working on fences. Not much else can be done until the ground dries out a little more. We planned the gardens and staked the corners. If rain will hold off a little more, I plan on disking the plots this week. We now have a complete if not fleshed out Farm Plan. Hopefully this will keep us from making wasteful detours.

When the plan is finalized, we may post it but for now, a summary might help some people. We are continuing our pursuit of alternate energy sources. While this is still in the research stage, we are going to have to move on some of it right now. Certainly the pump, and probably the solar oven will top the list. Second, we are working on becoming more self sufficient. Of course, generating our own energy is part of this, but so is growing our own food. We are going to pursue building a house on the hill. This would give us a better site for both solar and wind energy. Obviously, this cannot be done immediately, thus there have to be both long term and short term goals.

At evening chores I watched the cattle play dominance games. George and Charlie squared off. George had his horn ridge just below Charlie’s, the points of his horns in Charlie’s forehead. Charlie’s horns did not connect with anything. George pushed Charlie back about three feet whereupon Charles quit and decided to go after William. Will stood up to him and Charlie pushed William back a few yards until he sat on his rump in the mud. James wanted no part in the games and came over and stood by me.

This morning I saw a scarlet Tanager.

Springtime

Oxen

I was running through the photo collection and found a few that have not been seen very often.