Some of you may remember reading about the total destruction of our chicken coop (my wife wrote about it also). That was a time when the weather got the best of me. I am sorry to say that good ol' Mr. Iowa Weather is at it again and is trying to pitch a shutout. The destruction of our first coop was point number one. Now I will recount the next three points that Mr. Iowa Weather has scored on me lately...- Point #2: A couple of weeks ago I had to drive the church van out here because I had no vehicle in town. It was no big deal really and since the ground was frozen solid I decided to park in by the pig pen in the grass so that it wasn't in the way. Well, when it came time to load pigs I needed to move it ... there was only one problem with that idea. The temperatures had decided to come up and the frost had decided to leave the ground. That all lead to the big blue van being stuck in the mud ... and it is still there!
- Point #3: 'Ol Mother Southwind (not to be confused with 'Ol Mother Westwind or the Merry Little Breezes) has decided to rear her ugly head again. So far the newly built chicken coop is still standing, I built this one lower to the ground, but I did end up having to screw down the top in hopes of keeping it connected to the structure. The biggest thing the winds have done this time is spread our stuff ALL over creation. What fun!
- Point #4: Did I mention that it was muddy and that the big blue church van is stuck. Well, you can now add our big green Expedition and the really old stock trailer to the "stuck in the mud" list. The worst part ... there are three new Dexters living in the back of the trailer at the moment (more on them tomorrow ... hopefully). It was getting dark so I didn't have too much time to assess the situation, but from the looks of it she may be stuck until I can get some help. For the time being I took lots of hay and water to them and made that old trailer as comfortable as possible. On the bright side, they have a spot out of the wind.
**By the way, that isn't my tractor picture above. I just found it on the web and thought it fit the topic ... although I kind of wish my tractor was "stuck" like that one instead of being "stuck" the way it is :(
5 comments:
Ugg. You've reminded me again about the bad side of spring. We're not facing that much mud yet but it's not far off. Yeah! Good luck getting all your vehicles out soon!
We've had some "mini-Springs", but that just meant some melting. The frost hasn't left the ground. In about another month I will be wishing I put more gravel on the driveway.
Keep on trucking
I'm not really sure how to score this one, so maybe you guys can help. When I woke up this morning the new chicken coop was flipped over, but nothing was broken and the chickens were out wandering around.
My thinking is that it is a point for me because the coop wasn't hurt and I didn't have to let the chickens out today because they were already out!
I see that you have learned not to park on unpacked ground even if it contains grass. Lesson learned? Hahaha! I know I'll still get suck AGAIN if I still live in country! Come spring (or very wet season), park on established packed driveway. At least if it get stuck anyway, you have better ground to jerk them out and not get stuck also. I recall at one former residence that I park right beside the road but still in drive way... the only firm place in mud season (on top of culvert)! That was drained wetland. Same thing when there's lots of snow as I don't have anything to move snow beside own muscles. I'd encourage you to think more on where you'd want main routes on your place and consistently use these without going all over place to help pack dirt to reduce risk of digging out mud. That will also help to know where to dump extra gravel and/or rocks. My folks sometimes gather loose rocks from field and dump them in bothersome mud pits on main artery (driveway). Right now I'm NOT excited about driving on grass here.... knowing there's mud hiding beneath and van weights much much more than us humans and animals.
How about using metal fence post pounded in ground and tie coop to it? That should help hold it down better. I said "better", not windproof. You are improving! That coop didn't fall apart!!
This is now maple season.... and no maple for me to tap- waaaaah!
I'd rather have your troubles today than ours. . . We lost our barn to straight line winds. The Dexter mommas and their calves luckily escaped unscathed.
Keep your chin up!
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