Hi I'm Mike, with winds last night up to 60 mph, sustained winds now at 40 gusting to
60, we've got alot more added on to the project list, thanks to the wind.
We've got to take a look at Erin's tunnel, make sure thats going to work ok for us and
not blow away, also we've got some fence in the horse pasture that's trying to blow away
on us and we are going to take a look at the manure in the fields with the wind comes a
little bit warmer temperatures......there goes my hat, dont step on that.
and we are going to try to do something about the manure out here as well, so stick around
its all coming up on the project list, on Our Wyoming Life.
With the cows now fed, I can shake all this hay off that blew all over me, it gets everywhere,
its like when you get a hair cut, drives me crazy,
Alright, this is the project list.
Every Tuesday, we tackle the list behind me and try to whittle it down, but truth be told,
it only seems to grow.
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Like I said the wind has been blowing, I had a totally different plan of attack for today
for the project list, but that changed when 60 mile per hour winds woke me up at 3am and
kept me up til now anyway.
When we get high winds both Erin and I start stressing about the high tunnel, when it comes
down to it, its only a layer of plastic layed over a metal frame and held on with little
clips called wiggle wire and high winds can do some damage.
We have lost plastic in the past, theres nothing like coming up in a wind storm and seeing
the whole high tunnel flapping in the wind.
Not a good thing.
So we are constantly trying to keep it together and race the wind, whos goal is to rip it
apart.
Couple things before we head out there, first off.
Wind isn’t very friendly to me trying to film.
We will see how it goes but I really have no idea how well its going to work.
I’m alone out here and tripods done do well in the wind.
Also my whole house is filled with people with horrible colds, including me, I’m all
medicated up right now but please excuse me if I cough
in your ear or something.
Alright, lets get back out there and head to the tunnel.
Before we get to the tunnel we will stop by and look at the cows water tank, last week
we tried a ranch hack that someone sent us as a way to keep water tanks from freezing
over too bad in freezing weather.
Unfortunately our freezing temps ended not to long after I threw the bottles in the tank
but I can tell you this.
They didn’t help me too much.
Maybe I need more bottles.
We did get a few comments that it did work for some people but I think the combination
of a metal tank with the size of it, it just got too cold.
I’ll add more bottles later and we will check it again after our temps drop down again.
Over at the high tunnel you can really see how the wind is shifting directions, by watching
the windmill swing around from west to the south.
These winds that shift like this can really do some damage to the high tunnel because
its constantly moving the plastic and any movement is bad when it comes to this stuff,
movement causes holes to form, holes turn into rips and rips turn into a 70 foot long
by 60 foot wide piece of plastic blowing into the air.
The only thing that holds the plastic on the high tunnel frame is a small piece of wire
that runs the entire border of it called wiggle wire, wiggle wire is worked into these channels
and that’s all there is to it.
The sides, which roll up are not attached at all but this rope, called anti billow rope
keeps the sides from blowing out.
What we are doing today is looking for anything that is going to cause a problem, any holes
or wiggle wire that might be coming loose.
Any holes can be taped back up with greenhouse tape and then monitored the rest of the day
as either Erin or I will check the tunnel every couple of hours.
The wind is not being friendly to our camera as well, but that ok, you get the jist, tape
the holes, cross your fingers and tell Erin that for now the tunnel is still here and
not in North Dakota.
Moving to our next problem caused by the wind, is a windbreak fence in the horse corrals,
that has ironically enough been broken by the wind.
This fence was put up before our time here on the ranch but it needs some work.
I’m going to add it to the project list to work on further, but for now we need to
get the whole thing standing back up and secured to the posts.
Looks like it was just nailed in before, now we are going to bolt it back in with lag bolt
which should hold it until the wind dies down and we can come back with a better plan.
The tin that was put on this fence is also a hazard as its blowing off, so for now we
will not allow the horses in here until we are done getting it all cleaned up.
Obviously this fence needs to be pushed back up into place so that we can bolt it back
to the posts.
The wind is still blowing against it, so we will have to work against that, so pushing
it up by hand is probably out of the question.
Sometimes you just have to use the tools you have at hand and this isn’t the first time
that I have had to use the gator to hold something up for me.
It makes a pretty good battering ram and a wedge but the problem here is that with the
low point of impact with the gator its not moving the top of the fence where we need
it to bolt it back together.
That’s ok though, when in doubt just get a bigger tool.
The bobcat should work nicely, we can use the bucket up high to push the fence back
into place.
Ok, if you work for osha, here is where you should probably close your eyes.
This next technique is probably not approved at all but when you work by yourself, you
sometimes do what you have to to get the job done.
Now sitting up in the bucket I can bolt this portion of the fence back into the post, first
drilling a small pilot hole for the lag bolt and then driving it in.
One more small section to reattach and we are good to go.
The tin still needs to be cleaned up and cut off the fence but that will wait until the
wind is not blowing so hard.
Tin edges can be very sharp and if the wind catches it, then it can be like a knife flying
right into you.
This project is not done but for now, its good enough.
Our next project and one that will hopefully get us out of the wind for a while is going
to be dragging some of the areas where we feed the cows everyday.
Cows poop and until they are litter box trained they will do it in the field.
With all this wind comes warm temperatures and even though the ground is still frozen
the manure is not and it’s a great time to get out and drag it to get it broken up
and spread out a bit.
To do this, we need to get the harrow.
Its over by Erins tunnel and I don’t want to drag it across the driveway so we will
pick it up with the bobcat.
We disconnect the bucket from the machine, leaving it behind and pick up the forks.
Then head over to pick up the harrow and take it to the other side of the ranch yard.
After attaching it to the gator with a chain, and picking up the camera, we head out to
spread some poop around.
This little harrow works really well for this, its light enough that it doesn’t bother
the soil or what left of any grass out here, and its easy enough for the gator to pull
without much trouble.
For me its like a break because I’m inside and my hat stays on.
Well, that was horrible, I can deal with the hot, I can deal with the cold.
But wind is one thing that makes me wish that I could just go inside and read a book or
something.
Plus having a cold doesn’t help at all.
The project list continues, we are adding a few things to it from today, including that
barn across the road that the wind has pretty much ripped the door off of, but I’m not
going to try to put up tin today.
I’ll spend the rest of my day driving around in circles knocking down poop, before it freezes
again and more snow moves in.
Come on back next Tuesday as we hit the list again, this Thursday at 7pm mountain time,
I invite you to join Erin and I for a live stream right here on YouTube.
Where we will be answering your questions and giving you a bit of a behind the scenes
look at our past couple of weeks here on the ranch.
And on Sunday of course, look for another video from us, although I have no idea what
its going to be about, maybe what works better, alka seltzer or Nyquil.
I don’t know.
If you haven’t make sure you subscribe for more from the ranch, and I’ll see you Thursday
Live right here.
Comment and we will be sure to get back to you.
Until then have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.