While the rest of the country is powdered in snow, we are in the prime time of our wonderful climate here in Arizona. We have been taking advantage of the comfortable temperatures to do our outdoor projects. I have set the timer to remind me not to linger on this quick update, for I have more projects that I want to get to before my chauffering duties are required.
We have been trying to drill through the soil for fence posts since before Christmas. The soil is so hard using the auger bit on the tractor, we could only penetrate the surface between 4-10". We would fill the holes with water after drilling and scooping out any remaining loose dirt. The water would soak overnight and we would return for another mere skimming of the hole innards and repeat the process. Donald started looking into replacing the digging teeth on the auger. We started considering that we may need an auger that would dig through rock, but the expense was not something we were ready to commit to yet. Donald took some bent concrete form rods and snipped the tips and welded them onto the auger's teeth, creating a rather nasty looking weapon. It reminds me of a weapon or torture implement of days gone by. We tested it and we made progress. He welded more on and made some more progress. It is still slow going, but we have now drilled all of the holes for the southern end of the arena. It is only 11 holes and the remaining 50 or so feel overwhelming as a whole. I will categorize the process by sides of the arena to feel like there is hope.
By happenstance, we ran into a fellow that did some dirt moving for us years ago. We had wanted to ask his opinion on sources of good bedding sand and AB (for the parking area and under the hay barn). It was nice to run into him because he is a nice guy, but we really wanted his expert opinion on the quarries here locally. We will need to haul in sand for the arena once we get the surface leveled and fencing up. We decided not to do the drainage runs in the arena as we did with the round pen. We can always use the round pen if rains have flooded the arena.
The chicken and turkey processing sessions have concluded for the time being. The breeding set of Freedom Rangers are just starting to lay. The Bourbon Red turkeys will get some nesting boxes in the near future as they typically start laying in February.
We have done a lot of cleaning and clearing around the property. Erin has taken on "decorating" the chicken yard. She has color coordinated the feed bins with fancy labeling. She will be labeling the stalls of the poultry barn with hotel names, and installing a homemade black board with the feed requirements for the different birds. I really appreciate an accomplice in adding a little accent around the ranch. We have had fun the last couple weeks working together.
I will be repainting the trail course poles today. Any unprotected wood around here is vulnerable to the termites. This weekend we should be ready to concrete some posts on the south end of the arena. Yea!
