Big Wheels Keep On Turnin.....

The surprise is over. I came home from Florida 2 weeks early and I didn't tell Bryan. He always tries to make me feel guilty for missing his birthday every year. Now he can't complain. I've been so busy since I've been back I'll probably forget his birthday. I'd never live that down.

I go from nothing to do in Florida to so much to do I don't know where to start. I've been cleaning out the barn; shoveling lots of chicken poop. I have to get ready for my new baby chicks that are coming in mid April. Then there is the yard and garden that needs started. Etc. etc. etc......

I have some tires that have just been sitting in the barn. With Brad's urging I have decided to try to sell them. I checked with a local tire dealer and apparently it will be worth my while to sell them. Since they have been in the barn the chickens have used them as a laying nest. I thought I'd better clean off the poop and straw before I put them on CraigsList.

In the process of getting the tires from the barn to the garage I invented a new game. It's called "Where will the damn tire go!" I rolled the first tire out of the barn and headed for the house. There is a little hill right outside the barn so the tire took to rolling a little faster. I thought: oh good, the tire will roll to the garage and I won't have to push it. No, not good. The hill is not smooth and neither is the ground so the tire took on a life of it's own. It's started rolling faster and faster and....there is a spot where the pasture fence is broken and the tire rolled right through there, into the pasture and disappeared (it's the pasture with all of the overgrown trees and brush). I stood there at the top of that little hill by the barn thinking: what the hell just happened??? I didn't run after it because I figure it would stop before it got to the fence. Remember Newton's laws of motion? "An object in motion will stay in motion unless an outside force acts upon it." By golly that is true! It took me 10 minutes to find that stupid tire; fighting overgrown thorny bushes the entire time. Once I found it I had to push it up hill through the thorny bushes and to the garage.

Three tires to go and I'm certainly not going to make that mistake again...or am I?
This time I pointed the tire more toward the garage thinking that if it got away from me it would be heading in the right direction. Wrong again. It started off in the same direction at a little different angle. This time I started chasing it. I pushed on the tire figuring it would fall over on it's side and therefore stop. All it did was wobble a little and keep on going. I pushed it 2 more times with the same effect. It was heading for the part of the fence that was not broken. Well, it wasn't broken, but it is now. The tire hit the fence with a loud CRACK! At least it stopped the tire.

Time for the third tire. By now I have figured out that I can't let the tire get any momentum at all by the hill. So, I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping it under control but it still starts to roll faster. I was bound and determined not to let this one get away, so as soon as it started to go faster I knocked it over. It still took me two tries to push it down. I got the forth tire to the garage uneventful.

Between shoveling poop and chasing tires I am exhausted. I did more today than I have in the last month. I was so tired this evening that I drove the car to the mailbox. I just couldn't bring myself to walk that far.

I should have no trouble sleeping tonight. I just hope I can get out of bed in the morning.

Wildlife Control

I've been doing a little wildlife management lately. A family of red squirrels decided my newly sided barn was the perfect place to hole up for the winter. I had other ideas. For a week or so I've been hearin a lot of scampering in the barn rafters and gnawing of wood. Tapping on the walls didn't seem to deter them. They kept on gnawing and scampering. The red squirrels are much more rodent like than the regular squirrels and probably more destructive. I put out a live trap and within 2 days I had my first capture. I put him in the back of my truck. I had to go to a house to pick up some items that I bought at auction. The house was on 20 some wooded acres so Bryan and I decided that we would just let him out there. He was happy to be free and scurried away. Two days later I had another squirrel. I figured I'd let him out at the same place so he could find his friend. It was evening and I decided to take Ellie with me for the ride. I had to put the squirrel in the car with me because my truck is broken. That was a big mistake. As soon as Ellie realized there was another animal in the car she went nuts! Ellie was growling and the squirrel was chattering and running back and forth in the cage. I thought for sure the squirrel was going to get out and be running around my car. I had a heck of a time trying to keep Ellie back while I tried to let the squirrel go. One day later I captured my third squirrel and again I took him to the same place to release him. I didn't take Ellie this time. I have the trap set again. We'll see what happens tonight.