Moving Air

Today was a surprise for me. We all piled into my neighbors truck to go to an auction. But the auction was very crowded and had low quality of goods offered. So we drove to the local hardware store to look for tools. We lucked out and found a lot of stuff on sale including air compressors. I have been wanting an air compressor for ages for rust removal and metal restoration. I look forward to using air tools and sandblasting stuff. The one I wanted was large luckily it did fit in my neighbors truck. He tied it down well and we drove the half hour home. Then he unloaded and moved it for us into our shop with his tractor. The last shot is of my neighbors tractor. He just put together an enclosed cab to his tractor. He will be warm and dry this winter. It is great having helpful neighbors out on the farm.

Moving the Wood

Since we mainly heat with a wood burning stove, having seasoned wood on hand is a priority for us in the Ozarks. Having the wood chopped, stacked, dry, mobile and handy is our goal. So this year my husband took wood palettes and made a wood holder to fit our tractor. The holder can hold several pounds of dry chopped wood. Next, the tractor can pick up the entire load and haul it to our house. There the wood remains dry, air can circulate and it is close to where we need it. No more falling wet wood piles around our shop and no more messy wood pile by the house. It is all chopped, stacked and mobile. We'll make a few more of these before winter sets in.

Pelleted Up

Now is the time to get ready for fall and winter in the Ozarks. Our days are in the 70's and the nights now in the 40's. Time for fishing out the sweaters and wool blankets and wood pellets for heating the house. We used about 30 bags last winter so we bought 100 bags this time. We hauled them home then transferred them to a palette onto our tractor to get them inside the garage. It took all day but we beat the rain and the cold front by taking turns unloading. Each bag weights 40 pounds. We got our workout for the day. Now on to the wood chopping.

Copper Blindsided

I almost had a very bad evening this Friday. I got out of the car by our garage and almost stepped on a 3ft copperhead while wearing sandals at dusk. I jumped back and told my husband to run over it with the car. He did but it still lived. So he got the gun and shot the copperhead 10 times until the head was gone. I do not like to kill snakes but this one is the bad kind to have around the garage and round bales. Plus my dog was around where the snake might have a nest.

I am so glad I noticed this venomous snake before it was too late. From now on I am wearing my hiking boots until the cool weather comes. You can see my husband has his on to show the snake's length in the photos.

Red Roof

Here is the new red metal roof added to our neighbors fixer upper. It was installed over the old roof to keep out the rain on this old farm house. This house is getting restored to be put up for rent. It is turning out to be very charming instead of the scary abandoned farmhouse it used to be.

Window and Door Elves

Our neighbor works so fast building his addition, we said it must be elves doing. We joke but the truth is he is doing it all himself. We did get to help put in his 6 inch wide doors, they were heavy, just ask the spiders. Now he can put in the insulation and drywall in air condition comfort.He can work on the decking he has planned for the addition. He will need the help of his deck elves soon.

Coco Blur

Coco be the name for our new kitten. She is named after a high end cutting horse mare from the stable. Coco is sweet and adores human contact. She talks all the time so there must be some Siamese in her from long ago. She has pink mouth from the antibiotics she is getting for her sneezing. She is very thin and needs fattening up before she can go outside. So for now she is an indoor beast. She had tapeworms so that also caused her weight loss, too. Now she no longer has worms nor fleas. Life is good for Coco on our farm.

Pellet Pickup

Around the Ozarks the old timers are predicting a long cold winter. We used up our wood pellets last winter and needed to stock up. The price went up for pellets this summer. We just now got to get our order of pellets before fall sets in. It was our first time picking up our order in our used farm truck. It worked out and we got it all home safe.