This years Spring Trip was postponed for a few weeks so we could attend my nieces wedding.
It was also delayed due to an accident that I had that put my left foot into a cast for about six weeks.
I'm happy to announce that both the wedding and my foot healing were a success. My niece is now a married woman and my three metatarsals that were fractured have repaired. I have shed the crutches and the boot, and am walking almost normal once again.
So let's get to the improvements at the farm. I like to get one major task accomplished on each visit. When I had the security light installed on the power pole in the back (it's just like a street light) it created a huge dark area in the front of the house. So on this trip I had a smaller version of the street light installed on the front of the house. It is light sensitive and only comes on at night. It really improves the lighting around the front of the house. I still have the motion lights that come on in front of the garage and the right back side of the house near the kitchen bedroom, so I think we have everything covered now.
To add to the lighting around the farm, the neighbor across the street activated the security light that was on the pole across the street, so we now have a street light in front of the house on the road too.
Due to the booted foot I didn't accomplish all of the outdoor tasks that I had on my list, but I did get some done.
The siding on the back (kitchen) side of the house was peeling bad and in need of some repair. I scraped, nailed, and painted the siding. There were never any metal corner pieces installed, so I found some of those at the local building supply store and installed them. I think it will last another year. I'm planning on replacing the siding on this wall in the near future. I'm thinking about a vinyl siding that looks like the current wood siding but I'm not sure. I could start on this wall and work my way all around the house and garage until I'm done. We'll see what my research about vinyl siding turns up.
Note the chimney cap on the Arizona room wood stove chimney. I purchased that on my last trip, but it didn't arrive in time for me to install it. My brother put it on for me, and it looks as good as it works. We had a couple of birds get into the chimney and then the wood stove, and we didn't want that to happen again. In addition to that, the chimney is now protected from weather. Thanks bro.
Something knocked a hole in the wall above the attic entrance and when we opened up the door to service the heat pump, a huge nest with three blue eggs was found up against the door. The heat pump technician brought the nest down and I placed it in a location near the camp trailer. After he was finished servicing the unit in the attic, I covered the hole and sprayed in some foam insulation to permanently seal it up. I'm pretty sure it was the smaller black birds living around the property. They have light blue eggs and I've seen them hanging around that side of the house.
I used to hear a strange sound that I attributed to the heat pump unit just outside the kitchen bedroom, but after sealing up the hole, I didn't hear the noise again. I guess it was birds getting into the attic during the night, and possibly trying to rebuild the nest, or just hanging out.
Here are pictures of a few of the other minor projects I accomplished on this trip.
I cut the 3 foot tall grass in the chicken coop run. Looks like the coop will need a fresh coat of red paint on another trip. Note the remaining poles from the shed that was on the left of the chicken coop. I plan to put on a new roof and use it as a garden shed for the future garden in that area.
I didn't get any trail cam pictures on this trip. The grass behind the ditch was getting pretty tall so I didn't put the cam out. There were fresh trails, so I suspect something is still hanging around the area but I didn't actually seen any wild animals.
When I left in October last year, I set up the trail cam to take a picture everyday. I wanted to put them all together for a time lapse movie. The actual daily pictures weren't that interesting. There weren't many snow days and only the sky seemed to change.
What was interesting were the other photo's the camera took. I could set it to take a picture at the same time everyday, but I couldn't shut off the motion detection. So anything that set off the motion detector was captured. Since there is an infrared sensor, pictures were taken in daylight, or at night.
Here are some of the more interesting photos.
Mom during her weekly farm check. She looks cold, I hope she warmed up before she headed for home. Note the date and time stamp on the photo.
My brother, putting the trailer to bed after hunting season.
Infrared photo of an unknown person on the property.
Date and timestamp noted.
The neighborhood dogs seem to like this place to play, day and night.
October 2013
On this trip to the farm I had my usual list of things to accomplish. One thing I try to do on every trip is to improve or upgrade something. I also try to burn any downed tree limbs and things that I cut down during the trip. I checked the Umatilla County burn page daily and was beginning to get discouraged when the second week of my trip arrived and there hadn't been a burn day the entire time I'd been there. On Sunday I noticed the burn webpage hadn't been updated so I called the update number to see what was up. The gal who answered was very nice and said they get the air dispersion reports from the National Weather Service. When the NWS says there is poor air dispersion they designate that a non-burn day for the county. She also indicated that I should talk with the local fire department since I'm in that fire district. After talking with the local fire marshal, I learned that I could burn anytime in October and May. These are both open burn months for the fire district I'm in. All of the other months I have to follow the county burn decisions. So I got busy and picked a day to burn. I was able to get everything burned that I needed to burn and then some. I like to keep stuff off the ground. It makes it easier for the lawn service when they mow and it makes everything look sharper overall.
I finished up removing the rest of the aged fencing behind the ditch on this trip. I'm beginning to move into that area. It's the last area to maintain and I think I'll have that accomplished after my Spring trip 2014. I'll have the lawn service start mowing there next year. Here are a few pictures of that area as it is right now.
The dry wall tape above the wood stove in the Arizona room was peeling so I stripped that all off and replaced it with new fiberglass tape and some fresh mud. I need to put a final coat on and then paint the ceiling on my next visit.
I sealed the cracks in the exterior brick of the wood stove chimney and then fired up the stove the next evening. The stove worked like a charm and in no time the house was 5 degrees warmer. I only had a small fire so a 5 degree difference really makes the difference between feeling cold and being comfortable. I know grandpa liked this room and the wood stove. I plan to enjoy it as well.
I filled the den holes around the ditch when I arrived and there was no sign of the wildlife that was living there on my last visit. The little red fox either moved on, or got into some mischief and .... well you know. The neighbor's really didn't like him that much.
Spent some time getting the gas powered tools in running order and maintained for the winter months. I was having problems getting the bar/chain tightener on the chainsaw to work, but after some dilligence and some chain swapping, I got it to work again.
I washed all of the exterior windows like I usually do on my trips and knocked down the cobwebs. Boy were they thick on the outside of the house this time around.
The Black Widow Spiders were thick as well. I did set off a few bug bombs so hopefully that will knock the spider population down for awhile. I didn't see many bugs in the house though.
Here are a few more pictures from my Fall 2013 trip.
The park where Mom had purchased a fence picket for Becky was vandalized, burnt to the ground, and repaired. Here's a picture of the new fence picket that was installed and part of the new park equipment.
I want to cover the well head with a decorative outdoor wishing well sometime, but the igloo dog house will have to do for now :)
All in all it was another successful trip. I had many nice evenings with Mom, spent a little time with my brother and his wife, and as always, got a lot accomplished.
Until next time :)