Trailer Progress

Last night Randy painted the framework for the tack room wall...

...while I painted the floorboards for the living quarters and the tack room.

Added two more cross supports near the axles...

This morning got the boards installed in the living quarters...

And I got the new flooring installed. The whole area took me abouyt 15 minutes, except for the very last piece on the left which had to be cut to fit... this is the stuff we want to use in the house, thought we would try it in the trailer first and see how it installed and how it holds up... so far I am LOVING it!!!


Then I was off, with Lindsey in tow, to drop Hilary at work... get fuel and lunch... pick up my hens and some other stuff from a friend of mine out in Florence Junction who is moving to Florida... pick up a puppy for my friend Melanie, from our friend Toni in Queen Valley... swing by and pick up Lindsey's truck so she could get home and get to work on time, while I stopped for a drink and snack so I could get change... picked up new fly masks from Sandy's house... then to Lindsey's to offload some of the stuff I bought so there was room for Luna in the little trailer, stopping my Melanie's on the way home to drop the pup and pick up Melanie whose vehicle was left at our house on Thursday night for hopeful repairs (unfortunately it was not an easy fix so she had to take it home still broken)... and 8 hours later, back to working on the trailer!!!

In the meantime Randy finished welding the floor supports and got the big section of the tack room wall up:

Peter Pan at 5 Days

Took this picture day before yesterday - already nibbling on hay at 5 days old!!!

Turbo and Hemi are home...

Talk about your Chinese fire drill... I thought 4pm would be plenty early to leave to get to Tina's to get my hens then to David's for the zebu between 7-7:30... boy did I underestimate! Traffic wasn't to blame either, it was definitely me... even if we hadn't stopped for a bite to eat we wouldn't have made it on time, and as it was I had to call Tina and postpone, and we barely made it to David's before dark... and then we had to catch the little suckers... David HAD managed to get our 2 and the one he had in mind for Jean in a separate little pen, but even so, dang if we had an extra person with a camera we could WIN the funniest home videos... a 100 pound tiny zebu calf put Randy on the ground and trampled him! He is sore this morning and we can laugh about it but I was pretty scared when he hit the ground, his bad back does NOT need that... not to mention he is seriously allergic to alfalfa and was rolling around in the hay... thank God I carry Benadryl for him, caught it quick and he is ok this morning except a little sore (so no trailer work this morning but I am NOT saying a word!!!) Poor guy... his comment every time we talk about it is, "but I didn't let go of the rope!" and he didn't, in fact he was the key to catching all 3 of the little bulls. I'm thinking he should have a "Cowboy Up" T-shirt!!

Unfortunately it was too dark to take pictures so I don't have any of the rodeo, or of Jean's calf...

Got home about 11 last night and got the boys in a pen and went to bed. Went out this morning to feed with all the dogs following as usual, stuck my head around the hay barn to make sure the bulls were still in their pen... well they were for about 2 seconds, until a pack of wild vicious chihuahuas charged them barking, they went through the fence like it wasn't even there before the dogs even got 30 feet from them, and through the arena fence as well, whereupon they were chased by 3 horses and a pony which surprised and scared the heck out of me, it was now a GOOD thing that they could go through the fence like nothing... poor little guys! One did get trampled and ran to me so I grabbed him with one hand, waving the horses off with the other hand... the other bull bolted toward the front yard... amazingly, as bad as some of my dogs chase Randy's ram from time to time, they left the zebu be... called Hilary and she came running to shoo the horses away and shut the gate, and helped me get the bigger little guy into the garden (6-rail and wire fence so they can't go through that) and we went looking for the little one, he is nowhere to be found and I am panicking, thinking OMG if he jumped the perimeter fence we will NEVER catch him and how the hell am I going to tell David... we went so far as to go out the front gate and were searching the dust for cowprints when we heard a noise near the house, and discovered the little guy UNDER THE FRONT PORCH. Of course as we approached he took off and long story short it took us almost an hour but we did finally get him, so now both boys are safe in the "donkey garden". All this on my sore leg... not to mention all the other aches and pains from donkey wrestling yesterday morning and then calf wrestling last night! I feel like I have been run over by TWO trucks!

I never thought to ask, but I am guessing now that David does NOT have dogs... and I had already planned to introduce them one at a time like I did with the goat kids... best laid plans of mice and men {sigh}

So, I am going to let them calm down some but here are a few pictures of them safe in the donkey garden...

Curled up together in the corner behind the foaling pen - leave it to cows to bed down in a pile of horse poop!

"little" Turbo

and Hemi

My taking picures made them get up, here is Hemi peeking out from the other side of the foaling pen

and Turbo exploring the garden

but he came looking for his pal

and Hemi was glad to see him!


These are the pictures we took when we first went to see them...

Turbo - I like that name and he should end up looking like his papa so he gets to be a "junior" ::)

and Hemi - he has a star which papa does not so he doesn't get to be a junior...


and this is "big" Turbo, their sire

Talk About Stupid!!!

And I KNOW better... with the zebu coming and the decision made to keep my friend Jean's little donkey jack Lucky for her for a while, she says he is lonely and depressed, not eating much although that's actually not such a bad thing as he is overweight from being on pasture... Anyway I needed to move some folks around here. I didn't want to ask for help as Randy was already started on the trailer repair and I didn't want to annoy him by interrupting him... divided Dillon's pen in half and put Wiley and Ozzie on the other side, thought I could handle doing it myself, thought since they were eating breakfast they would be concentrating on their food and not bother me... yeah right! I hadn't had my coffee yet {great excuse right} so my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders, and long story short they knocked the double divider down before I could get it secure and were fighting, all I could think of was to separate them before they hurt each other...

and WILEY BIT ME!





So instead of annoying Randy, I made him really angry by doing something so stupid and getting hurt ~ and dammit I DO know better...

So now I have my own personal example of why jacks do not make good pets :(

Not that things will change around here because they DO have a job as breeding jacks... but you can bet I will NOT be that stupid again!

It caught me by surprise and man did it hurt!


And yeah I am thanking God that Wiley has grass-eating teeth and not meat-eating teeth!!


Ok, this was my "punishment", to admit to all of you that I should have known better and asked for help... but hey if it saves someone else from a bite then it was worth the embarrassment. If my leg didn't hurt so bad I would be kicking myself, I really DO know better!!! And silly me in the back of my mind I am so grateful that it was not DILLON that got me because he is my favorite and that would have broke my heart!

Even on the injured list I helped with the trailer...
This weekend is the big push to get the trailer rolling again as we are supposed to leave Thursday morning for Mormon Lake...

I haven't posted any pictures of the small cleanup work as it wouldn't show much, but we have been grinding and sanding and painting all week... and now we are ready to start fitting and installing the new walls.

right rear section, inside and out




left rear section, inside and out




inside and outside of the bottom left front section



inside (Randy tapping into place) and outside of the top left front section




I feel a lot better now... but we still have the right front section including a door to build, and the dividing wall INSIDE the trailer, before we can put the floor back in.

The Conversion (Part 5)

So while we were waiting for the truck... a little progress on the flatbed part... the nasty wooden sides are gone!

You are now in the driver's seat ;)

...and looking out the passenger window...

Now it's ME in the driver's seat!!!

Randy had to fabricate a temporary "light bar" to hold the lights and the mudflaps until we get the bed on... looks so nice I wish we could keep it!

The hitch is now installed...

...and the plug!

When You Are In Need Of Therapy...

Just click here:

http://adailydoseofcute.blogspot.com/

WAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I GOT A RAISE!!!!!


Last fall I learned that the law firm I work for was splitting up, there was a strong possibility I would be losing my job by the end of the year... BUT I got hired on by the big firm that the one partner was going back to, which was taking over the lease. So I had guaranteed employment till the end of the lease, which was up in June. I got a letter to that effect, through May 31. Then it was discovered that the lease was up the END of June, not the beginning, and got written confirmation until June 30. No guarantees after that, but they said we would take it month-to-month... and they did negotiate a 3-month lease extension so I am comfortable about working through September 30... my direct supervisor keeps saying don't worry, but he is no longer the one in charge so yeah, I do worry... with Randy still out of work, I NEED this job. In fact I sent out 140 resumes last fall and I got NOTHING back... scary!!!

Today I got an e-mail from corporate that I got a raise! So WAHOO I am doing a happy dance, this bodes well for the continuation of the northwest branch office, of which I am the only staff!

THANK YOU GOD!!!

But please, continue to pray for me in this regard... I cannot totally relax until I get written confirmation that this office is NOT closing...