Thursday, April 29, 2010

Fence Me In

With the beautiful warm weather we have ha this spring the grass in the pasture is growing like crazy and producing more than the cows could ever eat. After the hard winter we had this year our hay supply has been milked dry, and now that we have another group of cattle we are going to need even more hay for this next winter. So to help make sure we will have plenty of good thick hay to mow later this spring, we are gonna pull the cows off some of their pasture. To do this we needed to build a temporary fence to keep the cow off. How hard the fence is to build, depends on what type of fence you build. On this day we are just doing one strand of smooth electric wire fence, so it's nothing to hard, and since the ground was soo wet when we were building this fence, it makes driving the post even easier!
Ya start on one end with a brace post or something very solid to tie to.
Ya tie the two posts together to give stability to the fence when you go to tighten it.
After you have strung the wire out you must corner it off and tie it off.
In order to get it tighten the fence up you must use a fence stretcher and ratchet it to the tensions you need. If you bite your lip it makes this process a whole lot easier!
Ya gotta "jump" the current at the corners. If the wires share an insulator then this is no problem, but here we couldn't do that, so a simple wire works here. I was told by Caleb not to use this photo cause he used an ugly wire in this jump. But I don't listen very well...it's true, just ask my mother....anyways I didn't listen and used the picture anyways. Seriously ya'll don't care what the wire looks like.
 
Now that the wire is strung, it's time to drive some posts into the ground.
And there is no one more qualified to do this than my wonderful husband.

He makes this look fun and easy.

Ok, maybe not so fun.

Ok, maybe not so easy.

So he just makes this look like work.
 After you get the post pounded into the ground, and the driver thrown back onto the truck...
....clip an insulator onto the post....
...secure the wire in place....
 
....load up and head on to the next stop. 
After all that hard work ya might deserve a water break, just maybe, if you're lucky.

While on break I made Caleb take my picture.  
 Hold the button halfway down and focus...
...seriously I give up. Give me back my camera!
Finally a good picture, thank you very much!
I work too....I promise I do, but unless I make Caleb take my picture, ya'll don't get to see that.
He was havin' way too much fun...and it looks like he ate a smurf along the way. (by the way - Caleb has never seen a smurfs cartoon...how sad is that!)
With that being said, I'm shuttin' the gate and headin' home. Enough of this crazy work stuff!!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Where I've Been

I know it's been a while since I last wrote a post, I sorry. So, pretty much right after I posted my last story about Jasper, I left for a weekend in Branson, MO, with some wonderful ladies. I didn't get home till late on Sunday evening, Monday I had some Doctor appointments, so Tuesday was spent trying to catch up on house work (aka: laundry....it's never ending when your married to a farmer), and now that it's Wednesday I can finally catch up on my blogging.

So, like I said, I spent the weekend in Branson, MO. I went there with some great ladies from my church to attend a Women Of Joy Conference.  If you never been to a Women of Joy Conference, it's a real good time. They are designed to encourage women to make the most of their life in Christ. The speakers at the Branson location were:  
  • Kay Arthur - an amazing woman of God, who knows the bible like no other. Her knowledge of scripture is just amazing.
  • Candace Cameron Bure - AKA: DJ from Full House. She has such an amazing testimony of how God has worked through her life in Hollywood.
  • Anita Renfroe - Holy-moly this woman is hilarious. Wow it's been a long time since I laughed as hard as I did when she was up there on stage.  If any of you ever get the chance to see here I suggest you do and bring a change of underwear cause you'll wet your pants listening to her!!
  • Donna Gaines - This lady was some one I hadn't heard of before but man she was great to listen to speak.  She will be the next Beth Moore...she's that good!
So my suggestion is if any of you ever get the chance to see any of these  ladies speak then go for it cause, you won't be sorry!!!
Big Daddy Weav did our worship music and Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman put on a concert for us on Saturday night. And during our free time we went shopping....it doesn't get much better than that!

Here are some pictures for my weekend of fun in Branson. 

Here's one of the young ladies that went with us poising with Candace Cameron Bure
 
 

 The whole gang at lunch time. 
The girls wanted to take this home with us... would have been ok with that...it's getting closer to lake time! 
 Me with a couple of the ladies I went with. 

Ya never know what your gonna get when you take a couple of teenagers with you! 
The girls thought that the drummer from Big Daddy Weave was kinda cute and wanted their pic with him.
Right before we left we saw the rest of the band members of Big Daddy Weave so the girls posed with them for another shot.

If I had read the guy on the left's shirt then I wouldn't have bothered them for a picture...haha.
Here's the whole group. We had a marvelous time on our outing, but now I am back at home trying to get my life back to normal...what ever normal is.

Peace Out,

J

Friday, April 23, 2010

Jasper, Oh Jasper

It was a nice warm afternoon the other day when I was working in my garden. Both dogs were off their chains out playing and havin' a good ol' time runnin' around like ying-yangs. After a grueling time of trying to catch frogs in the pond (seriously these are dogs after my own heart) they decided it's time for a nap.

"I want to chase frogs and take a nap! Why can't I do that too?"

Cause you're a big girl now and you have to get your garden planted if you want to have anything to eat from it this summer.

"But I want to go catch frogs a take a nap! This isn't fair!!"

Suck it up buttercup, cause life aint fair!

Sorry, I got off subject. My mind and I kinda go at it every now and then.

So my little Jack Russell, Jasper, was in there next to the garden just completely wiped out. Since I don't usually get a chance to take pics of him like this I grabbed my camera and hoped he wouldn't wake up till I got a picture. So here's what I got of the funny little turd!
  "Oh, I'm gonna catch that bunny. I've almost got him...
....wait what was that? Did I hear some thing? Is some one taking my picture?
Oh it's you!
I'm sorry I didn't mean it. I love you. Please don't be mad at me.
Oh brother, I'm gonna get it now.
You want me to do what?
But I don't want to come over there.
OK fine...
I wasn't in your garden. Are you mad at me?
I'm here.
I'll never be bad again. Let's shake on that.
Oh come on, won't you please rub my belly?!?!
Did I hear a squirrel?

And just like that it was over.