Thursday, April 16, 2009

Something New and a Lot of Aggravation

This will have to be a short update (the crowd stands and roars in approval) as it is late and I've not yet made out my farrier list for tomorrow. Yesterday my new DR Power Grader was delivered. Yippee!! Trying to get my arena drug is like trying to force an Act of God to happen or something. The drag is huge and has to be pulled with a decent sized tractor. Well both tractors are always hooked up to something else. You can see where this is headed so anyway I finally decided to take matters into my own hands and order something I could use with the Kubota utility vehicle.

My Power Grader arrived yesterday and with great anticipation I opened my large box. Oh nooooooo!!!! Some assembly required. So my precious new Power Grader just sat there in its box on the driveway in front of the barn. However the men in my life do love me and Jason and my dad spent a couple of hours doing the "some assembly required" this afternoon. As Jason and I were discussing the assembly of my new toy we heard lots of moaning and looked over to see Asterik rolling . . . RIGHT by the fence. And of course he then flopped the wrong way, stuck his leg through the bottom board and broke it. This did not make Jason (or myself) happy since he already had one Power Grader to put together. Add one new fence board to the work list. Thankfully Asterik only had a couple of minor scratches.

I have to go on record and say I am not a fan of 4-board wood fence. Almost every injury I've ever had on this farm has been related to the wood fence. It cracks, splinters, rots, they break boards regularly, they like to chew on it, the cribbers love it, you have to paint it and repaint it . . . I could go on forever. I know it is pretty but in my opinion it just isn't the safest fence although people seem to have it in their heads that it is. We have a long cross fence of the no-climb wire mesh and I LOVE that fence.

Anyway, as Jason and my dad worked away at assembling the Power Grader I rode Bonnie and Lexi. Bonnie came home from the trainer yesterday and I am thrilled to have her back home. We've recently rotated pastures to let some of them rest and I have a couple of big, empty pastures right now. So I decided to ride out in the fields for a nice change. I love riding out in the fields but most of them are usually occupied. I had wonderful rides on both girls. Then as I was untacking Lexi I realized that my cell phone holder - along with my cell phone - was gone. I have one of those holders that attaches to your boot for riding since I usually have it in my pocket otherwise. Well, I guess it came off and took my phone with it. I tried for awhile to walk around the farm with Jason's phone calling my cell phone but to no avail. It could be anywhere on about sixty acres that I rode around in today.

I must admit I don't miss hearing it ring but now I have to add one more thing to my already lengthy to-do list, go to Verizon and replace my phone. UGH. UGH. UGH. So anybody reading this who has my cell phone number please don't bother to call it. Maybe I just won't replace it. I cringed every time it rang anyway - which seemed to be a lot lately!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Mine will be spent replacing fence boards (one of my least favorite things), dragging my arena with my Power Grader (looking forward to that!), and replacing my cell phone (Grrrrrr).

I took this today. L-R is Poco hiding behind the tree, Lexi, Bridget and Traveller
Jason and Dad contemplating their next step in assembly
Apparently they had a good debate about how to put on some part and finally they decided to consult the instructions. What a brilliant idea! The Don is watching my dad (bottom right) and I guess he was the supervisor today since I was occupied riding my girls and unavailable to fill the position.
Jason looking very focused on something


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree about the fence boards - we don't paint ours but otherwise we do the same work. I'd like to try the wide (board-simulating) electric tape someday - it looks very safe. I like diamond mesh for smaller areas for maximum security - we don't have any of that either due to cost. Sorry to hear about the cell phone - at least with the old land line phones we always knew where they were!

ZionFarm said...

Love your new power grader! Let us know how well it works.

Have a great weekend!

Sully said...

Oh How I love days like that (sarcasm). Hopefully today will be better. You do know your phone will show up as soon as you purchase a replacement?

LuLo Designs/Blue Eyed Tango said...

Well that's just horrible about your phone..... I'm with you though, I wouldn't miss it either! LOL! Yes, it sounds like you have taken matters into your own hands with the power grader.....you can do it whenever you want....after it's assembled of course! Wish I could do the same! We have a round pen that is under roof but it has tons of rocks! We live close to a lake and years ago it was part of the lake! I even found a 1900's dime the other day after the rains. I have to water down before I can work any of the horses too it's way too dusty....so by the time I pick up all the larger rocks and water by hose, an hour has passed. Lucky my horses know the routine so they just wait and move side to side as I do all of it and occasionally follow me around while sometimes helping me by picking up the hose in their mouth! LOL! You lucky girl!

MsFoxy said...

The place I have Foxy at has the big vinyl roll fencing (Centaur fencing or something like that? I call it elephant fencing, after the commercials). The horses basically bounce off of it, it looks like vinyl fencing and is much easier to install. Put up the posts, add the connectors and just roll it out (that might be out of order).

Looks nice, safe...horses can't eat it. If not put on correctly, the horses will push on it and stretch it. A strand of electric should fix that.

If I ever need to do some serious horse fencing, I will definitely go that route. Cheaper than wood fencing, easier to install and keep up....

Jason said...

Well, I got to pull husband duty yesterday afternoon so I went to Verizon to replace Melissa's phone. Of course, we had no upgrade available and we had no "insurance" either, so I paid the full replacement cost...$305 and some change. Grrrr...

I brought the new phone home just in time to see my lovely wife standing in the driveway with a sheepish grin on her face...and her old phone in her hand ! Double Grrrrr...

Additionally, I found two more broken fence boards along the driveway, so apparantly Asterik wasn't the only one who decided to roll in an inappropriate place. At least no one got stuck and it is a gorgeous day to go replace the boards.

The DR Power Grader works a treat on the horse ring, by the way !

Off to fix some fence !

Java's Mom said...

Not that you are about to replace all of your beautiful board fencing (which looks so pretty), we have Centaur fencing, and love it. Java is the reason why we have it, she has gotten hung up on fences before and even the occasional splinter can be a big pain... she even has one permanently in her neck, ew. Now, when Java rolls too close to the fence I don't have to hold my breath. Mr. Javas mom even cut down a small tree that fell on the fence and we did not have to do a repair, YEAH!!

Amy Bennett said...

I want to come & ride with you one day! I think Roxy would enjoy it?!?

With my guys I prefer wood fence....but 3 board. 4 board is too close to the ground & they get stuck under them. None of mine chew wood, but Dezi is notorious for running through anything that is not solid wood....he ran through no climb last year with a strand of barbed wore at the top. Crazy boy!

Awesome about your new grader!