WoW, that’s some egg!
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Tom, you’r right Kristijan sure has a get’r done attitude. I just wish I had a third of his energy. It seems like it takes me a long time to get things done now.
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Very nasty job when you have to reach into the cow and tie ropes on the calf’s legs.
Calf just a few seconds old .
Third calf I had to pull in the last week and half.
In a couple of months when JO and Kristijan are here we may see how good they are at lassoing legs in tight and slick places 
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Wayne you hit on one of the key reasons I picked Galloway cows over Angus. I pulled my fair share of calves growing up with Holsteins when we kept 120 head of milkers the Galloways have tiny calves only about 35 lbs but they grow like weeds. The breed might have some issues but calving isn’t one of them. I am so grateful that I have not had a single calving issue with the Galloways you just go out and find a calf in the morning.
I feel your pain I remember all to well using calving chains and also a come along to pull calves. The one thing worse then trying to hook up those chains is when you find a 5th foot and have to sort out which 4 legs go to which one of the twins. That is when you know it is going to be a long day.
Hopefully the worse of the calving season is over for you and the rest will just be a happy surprise in the morning rounds.
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Wayne, l have been cursed with narrow hands so guess who does the slimey work on our farm 
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That’s good, Kristijan. I can sit and watch then. I’m very good at it 
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Well, Winter is over, but we are supposed to get really close to a light freeze here tonight in the Sub-Tropics. I converted another barrel (#329) of junk wood and brush into charcoal this afternoon, with a bit of supervision from some of the cows and calves. Here are two photos:
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Ray are you storing all that charcoal in barrels??? ( that must get expensive) What are your plans for all this charcoal? TomC
Tom, I have been using sealed 55 gallon drums for sifted/sorted/screened and ground engine grade charcoal. Also found some really neat lockable plastic containers with screw-on lids that used to hold 100# of pool chemicals, that I now use to store engine grade charcoal, although wife has requisitioned half a dozen for chicken feed, dog food, and rainwater catchment on her small greenhouse. There are hundreds of bags of sifted/screened but not ground charcoal in the barn and several other buildings. Some is engine grade, and some is less than 1/4" and greater than 1/8". This small stuff is used in the garden and greenhouse, and recently I have been adding it to cement projects such as tiles, flower pots, etc. (Also use quite a bit of wood ash in these projects. Works well.)
I have five generators (more if you count the broken ones!) and multiple versions of Gary Gilmore’s Simple-Fire. Our two newest cars are all electric (2018 Tesla, 2011 Nissan Leaf), so my plan was to use charcoal to run generators to charge batteries. The batteries are about 100 kWh, and are now being charged with power from my home-brew PV system of 25 panels with grid-tied Micro-Inverters. If the power from the grid were to fail, I can charge the cars with the generators. Hopefully it stays up, and as long as I am tied to the grid, solar power charges my cars.
I also have a wood fired forge that I often use as a BBQ.
Rejected charcoal found during the sorting process is used in my outdoor TLUD charcoal making stoves (making even more high grade charcoal) which means we don’t have to use the electric stove in the house, leaving more power for the cars, and to sell to the grid at wholesale rates $0.055/kWh (most recently).
I also have a mini-mountain of raw charcoal in the yard, covered with screen to exclude dogs from burying bones, and cats from using it as a sandbox.
I enjoy making charcoal, and since it ties up carbon, this carbon is not ending up as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so that is another feel good reason to do it. Neighbors actually bring me limbs and branches to convert to charcoal, and I give them compost in return. So far, I have been unsuccessful in convincing anyone to actually make their own charcoal, although one neighbor lady did take a screening box to sift for char in another neighbor’s burn pile.
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Good job Ray on your report of what you are going. This really encourages me to do more with charcoal. Thanks
Bob
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Hay season coming up fast . Trying to get the roller in good working order.
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Wow I still have a ton of snow to melt. I won’t have hay until about the 4th of July. But it is good to see your getting your equipment ready I hope it warms up enough I can do the same before long right now I think I would break more things because of the cold wind than I would fix. Lol
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Syrup season is here! Between trying to build a sugar shack, Using the skid steer to move snow to my maple trees and tapping trees, I’ve been a bit busy.
Yesterday I stuffed the second evaporator in the sugar shack and fired them both up to reduce 130 gallons of sap down. The big evaporator was stuck in ice and snow and I broke off 3 axles tugging it out with the skid steer.
I still have to put tin on half the roof and siding on half the building. The evaporators in this picture are protected from the elements to boil sap.
The insurance company gave me thumbs up putting two wood burners in this size building.
The cupola doors operate well with rope and pulleys. Now it’s time to finish the rest of the building.
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I always love seeing a suger shack they are just so cool looking and part of our cultural history around here. Sounds like you have a nice operation going. The season must be about over here we are starting to reach up into the 50s the last few days I expect the trees to bud anytime here.
Syrup has always been on my wish list but somehow I can’t convince myself i want to trudge through the deep snow to set taps. My hat is off to anyone who does it because I know how much work it is.
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Well our last snow finally went away in late-late Feburary.
Now a mad rush to get five diffrent places of new and replacement fencing runs; and three new gates in be for the warming ground and longer daily sun hours grass and weeds doubles the difficulties; drive different needs-must workings.
Then the garden to get in too.
I pick my different muscles and joints groups pains from day to day.
That is living true Rural. NO gym memberships needed!!
Still daily burning wood-for-heat. Just a wee bit less wood.
My plans for a 250cc dual-purpose motorcycle did not pan out.
Wifie objected strenuously. And her objections would have tumbled forward to the Neurologist Doc. Then from there onto the insurance and licensing departments.
So . . . . shut up; back-off, and keep my current vehicle drivers license capability.
Ha! I bought a new configuration 27.5+ (650b),1X, 11 speed hard tailed mountain bicycle instead. 2.8 inch/75mm wide lugged tires. Did great in the February snows. The new disc brakes work out in snow and wet much better than any wheel rim brakes I’ve ever used.
Every month now I budget equipment change out upgrades as I all terrains ride and can see an area for improvement.
ONE Change at a time. Thoroughly wrung out. “Look (try) Before You Leap”
Four different seats tried to get it best-for-me. Ha! Leather horse hide old-school keeps me pumping with the best results, and least sensitive area pain.
10 degree swept back “commuter” handle bars took away the palm-numbing and thumbs deadening from the true racing mountain biking straight bars.
My old been broken twice right thumb now very important to be able to flick-stab the levers on the 11 speed sequential shifter, up and down.
I’m too old and joints worn to every be a pretend mountain bike racer-man. Even back-in-the-day my Mercian road bike was long distance touring, setup; evolved from a racer configuration.
Next month I have scheduled to get a cable operated seat post dropped assembly.
Reduce the leg lift mounting swing-over.
Give a chance out in the rough to be able to foot-down stab for stability. Ahh . . . I’ve spill dumped a couple of times already. Embarrassing. Bent the front disc brake rotor.
Ha! Still working on the 7-9 % grade pavement roads hills to get up and out of our valley.
THIS bike, I finally have the gearing with the 30x46 front to rear. Ain’t got the wind yet to do it in one ride shot. Working on that.
So fellows for a SHTF bicycle possibility Net look up Adventure bicycles. This will show well to stick with 2X front chain rings, and a 9 speed rear gear cassets. The 11 & 12 speed rears cassets need very special unquice narrow flush rivet chains. (and are chainwear eaters!) Older standard of 26" wheels and tires. 29 and 27.5 inchers are the newer, rarer beasts. Cable operated disc brakes versus harder to maintain hydraulic fluid brakes.
Haveing a fun ball here all-in all. My last up-grade to made-in Germany, SKF Bluemels 75 U fenders and now I no longer butt muck/black streak; and have dry feet!
Regards
biking-fool now-again Steve Unruh
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I think I spoke too soon yesterday. We are right at freezing bouncing above and below all day and it has snowed all day here we got something like 2 inches of snow and some ice to top it off. I guess I was a little too quick to take my chains off the tractor yesterday as well.
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Hey Steve,
Sounds like the 250cc… Lead to something better for ya, I used to spend lots of time on a bike… One of the most freeing feelings for sure.
Good on ya man.
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Hi All, Still get called out to play-with-wood energy.
Too rains wet and squish-squish, ground mushy today for fencing working.
A local older cousin called me over to sort out why his “new” compliance wood stove in his 2000 square foot Shop was not heating nearly as well as the old replaced out (now burnt out) non-compliance cast iron wood stove.
He’d even upgraded the old clogging 2-3 times a season 90 degree out-the-wall single walled chimney. Went best-practices to a straight up out-the-roof code approved double walled patent chimney system.
He figured the chimney change was now just heat/flow/pumping and insulating too much of his wood heat away.
Hmm. Some a bit, yeah.
But NO MORE chimney creosote clogging and occasional chimney light off fires now!
SAFETY FIRST. Something efficiency-manics always fail to observe.
Cousin Bill’s problem was mostly he sourced a close-to-walls mobile home compliant wood stove to replace his direct contact old cast iron beast.
The mobile home unit had side and back installed 1/2" air-gapped sheet metal full heat shield plates.
His old cast iron beast was four legs open bottom free standing.
The mobile home unit was an enclosed pedestal mounted.
The old cast iron beast he was getting into the shop area heat stove heat contributions from all four sides; bottom, and the top. Six sides heating.
His mobile home unit only significantly heat contributing from the top only.
In his shop he is far away from walls installed and with no children present.
Had him remove the sides and back sheet metal plate shields. Open up the bottom pedestal to just two U-support leg walls. Add a small under-stove blower fan.
He is happy, happy now. And uses less wood because of the better secondary air combustion low smoke emission more complete internal combustion.
Any visible chimney smoke is just unrealized, wasted away potential energy. Lost. Thrown away.
Ha! Then called over to a neighbor with the almost exact same stove change out situation in her old 1920’s farm house.
A mobile home approved “new” pedestal mounted wood stove replacing out an old non-emissions compliance four legged cast iron woodstove.
Different advice, only possible there due to safety.
Old, brick unlined chimney. People living occupied. With visiting grandchildren. A sleep-in, House.
Advised her to Sell/Trade off mobile home stove for a legged bigger new compliant stove with a glass front door. Go back to using (like I do) a big fireplace Keep-Distance child safe-ing self-standing screen.
Astonishingly, she actually did this.
Ha! Getting toward too much end of season floor build up of wood shed splinters, rough chips/strands, bark crumbles, and fine wood dusts now.
Doubled up grocery paper bags and made into a 10 pound fuel log of these wastes-debris and 2-3 hours of heating in my BULK-burn wood stove when placed over a glowing wood char bed.
Gee . . .
No grinder needed. No pelletizer needed. No in-stove electric pellet feed auger. No electric combustion pan forced air/forced draft blower. No electrical power supply and controllers for all of these. NO must-have electricity and motor blowers noises in my living room wanted or nneded.
Just made from trees, paper bags, a little elbow sweat, and stoop laboring. And 80% wood-to-room-heat efficiency. Simple.
I like simple. I like direct-DO solutions.
Steve unruh
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From way back sorry…
They did for residential use and it still is. Because of leakage and fire and asphyxiation ammonia eats through everything.
It is legal for commercial purposes now. I can’t remember if they banned it for commercial purposes as well and it was allowed again in like 2009. Cars won’t use it either because of the flammable nature of it. But it is the best refrigerant.
They had their own issue with explosion. 
I always wanted to build on too. But I backed off after reading about ammonia leakage and why they banned them in the first place… But Einstein fridges are awesome even if it was his grad student that actually did the work for it.
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Years ago I read about a boat motor that ran when exposed to sun light . they said it had steal wool in it that you poured ammonia on then opened a shield so the sun could get in and the motor would run until dark.This was happening when steamboats were being developed. At the time I diden’t pay much attention as I wasen’t into this stuff. Now I think it must have been some kind of a sterling engine or something It was used in smaller boats.Has anyone ever heard of this?