When I do My thinking...

Last night while laying in bed wide awake... I kept brainstorming on what to do with my yard. (this is what I always do when I can't sleep HA!) Been thinking a lot about where to put the new clothesline, and my backyard is pretty much FULL! So... decided that when we get the pig butchered I am going to pull the pens out and relocate the 8x12 chicken house (now being used to house the pig). Where the pig is now, we never could do much with the area because of all the metal in the ground and rocks, but the pig has pretty much rooted all that up. There used to be a calf barn there and a dump pile for many years. It will take some work to get the ground level, but it will be worth it.   

We have 2 pens there - 1 is the pig pen and the other was my tomato garden last year.  I would still like to do some gardening in some of that area, but I think I want to make a flower garden back there.  I never get to have flowers because I used to always have chickens roaming all about.  I want to get some more chickens, but I don't want to let them free range.  Free ranging chickens is almost like having 10-15 puppies all the time.  They tear up the garden and eat the garden, tear up flowers, poop EVERYWHERE (mostly on the sidewalk and the front porch...) etc.  I want an ENCLOSED run so the chickens cannot get out.  I know that means more feed and such, but I am done trying to do the best thing for the chickens - I want to do the best for all of us.  We have another area in the barnyard where we used to have a BIG barn.  It blew away in 2009.  I am thinking about relocating the chicken house over there and making an enclosed run with cattle pannels covered in wire. greenhouse style.

Also while laying there... Decided that next week I am going to start taking down the farrowing pens along the numerous farrowing houses we have in the lots. We have quite a few hog panels that are not being used and I might possibly be able to sell them. It will take a lot of work because there is a lot of brush grown up around them, but since I now have a chainsaw... <insert evil laughter here> :D It will do me good to get out of the house.  I know it will be cooler, but I work better when it is cooler.  Gotta get me some leather gloves though - Chris took my last ones.

I tried to brainstorm on how to make a couple chicken tractors with the supplies I already have, but gave up when I got to the wheel parts.... I am not that handy. But we do have a lot of cage wire left from making rabbit cages, and I have some of that really tough plastic chicken wire, and some welded wire (horse fence).  I have leftover wood from the house as well...

and then I finally went to sleep. lol

We are selling 2 heifers today, fingers crossed that they bring well.  We filed our taxes on Tuesday but because I had school stuff we won't be getting our return until mid March! You know that saying, don't count your chickens before they hatch? Well we didn't listen.  We were planning on that money to pay some bills.  Oh well, I guess our heifers are like walking savings accounts, right? Still kinda sucks though because we could get 1 of the ones we wanted to sell caught, she went under a portable corral pannel and bent the bottom two bars up... and then we got back in the corral and she cleared the 6ft fence like a flying reindeer.  She is NOT going to make a good cow.  We ended up giving up because she took off like a bullet across the pasture... So the 2 we ended up taking were a couple of our best.

Later this afternoon we are going to go split wood.  I secretly LOVE to split wood.  It makes me feel so good to run the splitter, and I know I am really not doing anything but there is just something about being outdoors and working along side my husband.  And the kids playing in the field with the cattle all standing around us looking at us.

I just looked up and out my patio door I saw 3 red squirrels in the pasture... may have to talk hubby into going squirrel hunting this afternoon.  I have been wanting some more squirrel!!  I love the young ones fried, and the older ones with homemade noodles!