We Painted the Lower Barn Roof

I shouldn't say "we", because Marty did it pretty much all by himself. He was looking for a project, so I suggested this, and the rest is a really good looking job. We also did the machine shed roof, because it really needed it, and for practice, as it was not nearly the challenge the lower barn roof was. Sarah bought us a pretty cool paint sprayer at Home Depot, and we found the paint in 20 liter pails at Dulux paints. Ryan gave us a gas powered pressure washer, and we borrowed Everett's hose, and pressured washed all the old paint and birdshit off first. Then a coat of primer and a coat of paint. Being very safety conscious, we tied Marty to the Gator while he was doing the top half of the roof.

We had tried to rent a thingy to lift Marty up, but that was a no go. Way too much money, and you needed a course and licence to operate the thing, so we made our own. A 110 liter barrel, a set of come alongs, and the old excavator.

Just got going good, and Workplace Health and Safety flew over.  Actually, it was a fellow taking aerial photographs. He came in the next day and offered to photoshop the finished job in. He might of had a deal if he'd offered to photoshop in green grass and all new tractors too. How about a new barn and an extra silo?

The excavator was fun, but you couldn't beat the good old ladder. We finally found a good use for that 40 foot ladder we bought back in '98.

Good job, Marty!

Happy Thanksgiving

We finished up the corn silage today. Best run ever. No breaks for rain, just straight ahead chopping corn. Crop was better than expected, except for one field that I don't know what the hell happened to it. But I knew it was awful, so I guess it was good as expected too. Four days of going back and forth. We had postponed Thanksgiving dinner until we we were done, as Sarah was away, and we were waiting for Grandma and Peter to arrive home from Montreal. So it seemed proper to have it when we could be thankful that this years crops had all been harvested. So after we all shared what we were thankful for, we ate a fabulous turkey dinner. Thank you Sarah, and thanks to everyone that were here. And here is the last load!

And here is the dude that trashed our corn behind Taylors. Thanks to Tommy for the pic.

 

I should set up one of these trail cams in the corn field. Yes, that's a dead chicken hung up there as incentive.

Aunt Joan

Chris called this morning with the sad news that his mom had passed away shortly before. So many memories, old and new went through my head all day as I chopped corn. One is of her sending me a picture of our cow named Joan. She took this on a visit here, not long after we had bought the farm. After learning we had a cow with the same name as her, she waited in the milking parlour with Sarah to take it's picture. Just as she snapped the picture, Joan the cow stuck her tongue up her nose. Joan the aunt was very impressed, and had been trying to do the same ever since. This was one of her memories we talked about when Grandma and I visited her in the hospital in Halifax just over a week ago. I'm happy that I saw her then, and talked with her again Wednesday night. Really glad that Grandma spoke with her yesterday. RIP Aunt Joan.

Billboard

Moove over Carrie, your parents are pictured on a billboard on the Rothesay Ave. exit  into Saint John. Just us and all the other NB egg producers. Excluding Tanya, TJ, and Stacy. Gilbert is there, but it was a timing issue last March. These pics were taken just 2 days before Sarah and I drove across Canada last year.

Here is a close up of the picture they used on the billboard. Gilbert is on far right.

And for those interested, a closer up of Sarah and I. Can you tell I'm excited to be pictured on a billboard?

Hands up to anyone else that has had their pic on a billboard...

Carrie

Thought I should change up the blog. Trust Carrie to have a picture for me. What do you suppose she is preparing for?