The weather since we’ve been back has been amazingly warm. It’s nice that we’re having an early spring, but it cut snowmobiling season short, and I only got one short ride in. Emily rode with me for the first time ever! We went to Giants Ridge for lunch, cruised around Wynne Lake a little, and then rode home. That was it for me for the whole season, though it was a very nice ride.
As of today, the driveway is almost completely clear of snow, and large portions of the yard are too. Everything is really muddy and wet, but in another week or so I bet it’ll be nice and dry. Of course, as soon as that happens we’ll probably get two more feet of snow.
A couple weeks ago, Henry and I took my Dad’s truck to Virginia to have lunch and get a yard cart that was on sale. I’ve been wanting one since we moved here, and now we finally have one. Henry helped me put it together, and he really did help – he handled a socket wrench like a pro and together we got the axle bolted on to the cart body. My 4 wheeler doesn’t have a trailer hitch of any kind, so after much thought and a great suggestion from instructables.com, I made one out of muffler clamps and a steel l-shaped bracket. It was a bit of a tricky welding job, but I got it done and after some use it seems to be holding. Welding is hard. There are so many variables to figure out in order to get a good weld. With this project I winged it, and while it does seem to be holding, the welds are far from good. My problem was mostly getting sort of a hollow bead. Instead of having a nice smooth fill, it’s like there’s a groove in the bead, so it almost looks like two small beads. I think it may be due to using too much current, but it might have also been the angle at which I held the rod, and the motion I used.
My Mom stayed with us for a week and the kids had such a great time with her, as did we. She got to meet Brad, the goats, and the horses for the first time, and she stayed at the great B&B near our house. The weather was gorgeous so we even got to spend some time outside. She also provided babysitting duties so Emily and I took a super romantic trip to the dump. She even rode on the back of the four wheeler while Delia and Henry rode Sancho down the road. Sancho did great – especially since he hasn’t been saddled since last fall. We had some nice meals out, and she got to see Delia’s big ice skating show! Delia did great, by the way.
We got 6 big round bales from Dale. It was quite a chore to get them off the trailer. The other round bales we got rolled right off, but these were SUPER heavy. With his help, we finally got it done. They’re all scattered about and I’ll have to get my tractor running to move them around. Delia is having fun climbing and jumping on them. She calls it Haytown.
We had a bit of sadness too. Two of our chickens had apparently been sitting in some water late in the day, and ended up getting frozen to the ground. Hypothermia claimed them during the night and I found them in the morning, stuck to the ground. :( We had thought about getting chicks this year and then decided against it, but now we’re going to since we only have 4 layers left. I think we’re going to get six – two white leghorns, an easter egger or two, maybe a black australorp, and I’m not sure what else.
