Isn't Halloween in October?

Ever changing scenery.  That about sums up our farm.  Our days have been warm and in the late afternoons we get damp cooling breeze down from the hill.  This perfect combination makes for some really cool fog.  This is from the road looking up the hill.

The fog even obscures the farm house.  We could film such a cool movie from here.  I know there are a few of you who remember the black and white move "The Fog".  Whahhahhahah.

We can even provide the necessary cemetary.

We have really cool neighbors. They are quiet, never complain and make Halloween one of our very favorite holidays.  Here's looking forward to Halloween 2010. 

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Floors and Sheep

Oh it is so exciting to see these tired old floors blossom into something that makes us so proud. This is after only one coat of poly.

I had to work last night so Ted put an additional 2 coats of poly on the floors.  I can't wait to get home in the morning to see the results.

This chimney in our kitchen has needed painting for the longest.  You can see where the old drop ceiling was and the old kitchen was painted white.  We tore the wall down between two rooms and expanded the kitchen.  If the chimney was not painted we would have left it natural. However....

It needed help!

We took the wood stove chimney flu out and put it into the barn and painted, painted, painted.  We liked it so well that we decided to keep it white.

Here is Truffles.  He is feeling much better now.  We came into the pasture and he came running to us.  No fever. I gave him an additional injection of Penicillin just to be safe and sprayed his wound with the Blue Kote. He is such a sweet boy.

The wound was just behind his ear. It was difficult to take the picture, he wanted a treat.

Here is Echo with his beautiful twisting horns.  We are using him t breed our ewes this year.  Poor Truff has to sit this one out.  We don't want to pass on his horn genetics to our flock.  We are keeping him for a friend.  He is still part of the family.

Another busy time between working out and working on the farm.  We do have a John Deere Girl update.  It has been three weeks ago that they came to get her.  Evidently after working on her this long there is still a problem.  We want her fixed and working the way she should.  We will be getting a loner tractor tomorrow so we can get the wood split and put some more fence posts in.  Not having our tractor has set us back a bit. We finally got a good day of rain and the pasture has greened up a bit.  One more cut and we will be done for this year.  We have noticed a cooling of temps lately.  Nights are in the 40-50's and days in the 70-80's. I love this weather.  Hope that everyone is feeling cooler temps. 

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Another Day on the Farm

We have been living in our house for three years now. In that time so much has been accomplished.  The kitchen is just about completed.  We still have a few things to finish.  We have been sanding and replacing floors downstairs.  The landing upstairs has been neglected. It has been sitting there naked for the last three years.  I have painted the walls and in doing so have dropped paint on the floors.  Green and white.  Small droplets that have to be sanded away or they will show up under the stain.

After sanding for most of the day the job is complete.  We have southern yellow pine floors.  Sometime during the last 50 years the large pine floors have been covered over. After seeing the poor shape of the flooring under these boards downstairs we knew we had to keep them.

While Ted vacuumed all of the sanding dust up I tapped the baseboards to keep the stain and polyurethane from messing them up.

Now the fun begins.  We are staining the floors Provincial by Min Wax.  Word of wisdom. Always start in a corner. 

Looking good! Simple method. Stain on with a sponge and wipe off with rags. How hard can this be?

It is really looking good.  It surpasses my expectations.

It has to dry overnight, and tomorrow morning we will apply the first of three coats of Poly.  Oh I just can't wait.

We are doing the stairs after the landing is completed. 

During all of this we took a break to get and drink and let the dust settle.  It was a beautiful afternoon and the sheep were up in the field.  We noticed that Truffles was still laying down in the shelter.  He never spends the day in there.  We thought that maybe he was feeling poorly after the de-worming yesterday.  We took a walk to check on him and he was just laying there looking at us.  I gave him a B Complex shot, and a 5ml dose of Red Cell thinking that he would get a boost and feel better.  We looked him over closely.  Truffles has always had trouble with his horns growing poorly.  They do not have a good curl and would actually grow into his head and kill him if not trimmed.  Unlike other animals with antlers sheep have a blood supply inside the horn and they will bleed if you just cut them. Last fall we hauled Truffles to the vet to have the horn trimmed and learn how to do it ourselves. It was actually sawed off.  Truffles horn had grown after being on rich pasture all spring and summer.  His horn had grown into the skin and made a sore under it.  In this sore we found a load of maggots.  Totally grossed out and utterly upset we headed back into the house to ready our supplies.  I did think about taking pictures but my camera was upstairs with the floor work.  Thankfully we had purchased an OB saw like the one the vet used.  I gave Truffles a shot of Penicillin G, poured a bottle of hydrogen peroxide over the area and we secured his halter to a tree in his pasture to lessen his fear and hold him steady.  Ted took the ob saw handles in each hand and straddled Truffles back so he could saw fast and hard.  The metal cord cauterizes the blood vessel and prevents bleeding.  I had 2 4x4 gauze sponges liberally coated with blood stop, just in case,  and coban wrap at hand.  When the horn came off, no bleeding, we put the gauze and coban wrap on.  We cleaned the open area on the skin and applied Blue Kote.  This medicine is excellent and prevents infection and promotes healing.  The wonderful thing is, Truffles went immediately to the hay and began eating.  It must have been very painful and hurt when he ate.  Thank heavens he is happily grazing in the pasture.  We will check him again in the morning, give another antibiotic shot and spray the wound with Blue Kote again.  I know the maggots gross out many people but they are actually beneficial in cleaning up wounds.  Maggots only eat  putrid flesh and will leave a wound clean and healthy.  I have actually used sterile maggots in the hospital to clean up wounds. Can you imaging reading that order on the chart?  It has been an eventful day and we are exhausted both emotionally and physically.  I can honestly say that I didn't know if we could do it but we did.  I guess having no choice in the matter seals the deal.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm

Gettin Things Done

We have been taking advantage of the summer months to their fullest.  Our days are crammed with activities.  No rest for now. That can come in the winter months when we are toasty inside.  Warm weather is now!  Work is now!  After a summer shower we noticed a small sliver of water on the chimney in the kitchen.  After a quick, panicked  trip to the attic we noticed that we could see daylight next to the chimney.  Off to Home Depot to pick up a couple tubes of roof caulking and sealer.  Okay, now up the ladder.  Not me, Ted. I don't do heights well at all.  I found this out a few years back when we climbed a nice big boulder in Gloucester, Massachusetts and I had to be rescued by Ted. I don't do ladders. He on the other hand is comfortable on the roof.  Thank goodness.  Caulk away man. I'm right down here, I got your back...er ladder.

We have our bales of hay in order.  One more haying at the end of this month and we will be set.  That is if these goofs will quit playing chase on top of the bales.  Get off of there this minute. Ted, you are not setting a good example for the girls. Ya got a love em.

Our guniea hens began setting on their nest a few weeks ago. Of course they didn't lay the eggs in the coop where it is safe, clean, dry with food and water readily available.  They had to lay their clutch between two stacks of wood, outside in the open. Here fox, raccoon, hawk, want a free meal. 

They did hatch out a total of 16 keets.  We caught them and put them into the brooder where they would

be safe and not get lost.  Guineas will walk off and forget they have young.  Little keets scattered in the grass. 

Inside we have been working on the floors sanding and getting them ready for stain and poly.  It is dusty work removing many layers of old varnish and stain. 

This is a big improvement and we are still working.

We started sanding and realized that there was too much damage from an old leaky tub.  Scary but we pulled up the old floor planks. Unbelievable amount of nails later and a good vacuum.

New flooring down and ready for a good sanding to blend with the old.  The big poster board covers a hole.  We had the water pipes in the bathroom moved to an interior wall.  They were on the north facing exterior wall and would freeze in the winter.  Not a good idea. We will frame in the area and have an access door for the pipes.  Right now it's poster board. Real fancy don't ya think?

We found an antique grate that closely matches our big grate.  Years past they had coal heat in the basement and the big grate above allowed the heat to rise and warm the upper floors.  It was important to us to keep this in the new flooring.

We found a local craftsman to re work our staircase.  All of the spindles were there and the handrails are mahogany.  He is working on stripping and repainting the spindles and posts white.  Making any needed repairs and re installing them. I can't wait. We even found the support post in the barn.  Just take care going downstairs. 

The pups are even tired.

The spiders are busy again this year.

We have found our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Working hard and enjoying the time.  There is a certain amount of satisfaction received when you can look at a job well done.  Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Summertime=Bangor State Fair 2010

No summer would be complete without a visit to the Bangor State Fair.  Last year we completely missed the agricultural exhibits.  Evidently the fair grounds goes way back. This year we visited the farm animals.  A whole barn was designated for farm animals.

Look who we visited. Sadie and Shirley Curly.  A few weeks before the fair we had a visit from Brenda. She manages the exhibits for the Bangor 4H.  She wanted to have both Shirley and Sadie come and stay for the duration of the fair.  The girls thought is was a good idea.  The other goats thought it would be nice to have time away from the pushy girls.  We took carrot treats.  After we fed the girls we saw the sign that said, "don't feed the animals".  I hope that didn't pertain to parents of the animals. They were happy to see us. They said so, LOUDLY.

The girls had their own story to tell.

We know they are special and evidently the judges thought so too.  Word of advise. Don't put anything that could possibly thought edible within the reach of a goat.  I think they liked their ribbon too.

Talk about babies. Wow! This sow is such a good mom. Look, dalmatian piglets.

This little guy is pocket size. I want pigs.

This lady had a calf that kept hiding. I guess he had enough attention.

Turkeys

geese

A milk cow.  This could be very confusing to small children.

No visit to the fair would be complete without a trip to the  rides

the midway for a few games

and fair food. Need I say more?

This lady is a celebrity of sorts in Maine.  She is The Marden's Lady. Otherwise known as the comedian Birdie Googins.  It was a pleasure meeting her.  Her comedy routine is a hoot.

Another year complete.  We have been working hard on the farm both indoors and out.  The weather has been beautiful with warm days and cool nights. We could use some of the rain that our friends in Tennessee are getting slammed with.  Sending hopes and prayers for everyones safety.

Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.

Hey..Wait a Darn Tootin Minute!

Just wait a minute.  Where are you taking my Deere?  She belongs here. This is her home.  She was just a little deere when we bought her.  Oh tearful day. 

Be careful with her. She is afraid of heights.

 Please mister, make sure all of her tires are secure and she doesn't fall off....

                                                Take care deere girl.  We love you.

 Sniff...sniff...sniff......

 Deere girl has had a strange rumbling in her rear end.  She is going to Hammond Tractor in Fairfield, Maine to get a check up and a fixin.  I can't say it doesn't make me sad to see her go.  I have grown attached and she has proven just how hard it would be without her.  No fences, no snow removal, no mowing, no wood splitting, no...no..no...I want my Deere Girl back. Can you say "thank heavens for a warranty"? Whew.......... tractor health insurance.
Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm.