Saturday evening, Nov. 1st… Water is done and is it nice!!!

What a long day!!! Started this morning 6:15 and like clockwork, Herman pulled in at 7:45, ready to work. We worked at closing the ditches and installed the last hydrant at the ducks house. They are going to work great and make caring for the birds this winter a cinch! It used to take about 2 minutes to fill a watering jug like we use and now it takes about 10 seconds. Wow!! Since replacing the line to the house, I think our water pressure is better everywhere. The excavator went back at 11:00 and when everyone left……we turned the critters loose to roam. Within 20 minutes, we had to chase Timmy and Tina Faye home from across the street at Tony’s house. Timmy came right along with me as I gave him grief, but Vicki chased Tina all the way to the neighbors house down the road and I carried her home and locked her and Timmy up in the barn. If this becomes a problem on weekends when they are up, We’ll lock them in the chickens outside run.




Jeff talking to his dad & Herman by the bucket

Jeff's dad, Dick, Points at a place Herman needs to wash.....

This is one day's egg production. It's getting consistantly better every day!

Saturday, Nov. 1st… Finishing up the water lines for winter!!

Good morning all…. We are going to move dirt today…all day until the ditches are covered and the chickens and ducks can be let free to run again. Right now, they crawl all over the dirt piles and we’re afraid the ducks will take a tumble into the ditches. One hydrant still needs installed, leveled and filled around at the duck house, then we can test the water. After that we will close up all the ditches and mound the earth a little for settling during the months to come. Gotta go… it’s 7:40 and Herman will be here to run the excavator while I run the bucket. Later all…… have a real nice start to November!! The Turkey Month!!!!!

Our Friend, Herman............ What a guy... A pleasure to be around!

Friday Eve, Oct. 31st… Happy Halloween!!! Water is almost done!!!

After a long day…… we have a new one inch line coming from the well, into the house and a ¾” line going to both the new barn and the duck & chicken house. We still need to install the hydrant at the duck house and then backfill the ditches and get rid of any extra dirt and the big stones. There is a piece of concrete or flag stone that is six inches thick and as big as a dining room table that needs to be disposed of somewhere. Once the lines are done for this water addition outside, we can close down the garden hoses at the duck house and the garden pond by the potting shed until next spring. We should be done with everything tomorrow. Here’s today’s pictures……… Enjoy!!

Friday, Oct. 31st… Halloween and we’re off a runnin’… Dig, Dig, Dig!!!

At approx. 7:50 this morning Herm pulled into the driveway and shortly after him… Dick pulled in. In less than 2 minutes, they had the excavator up and running to warm up and were ready to rip. They are going to finish the lines from the well to the house and barns today, after which, we will have water in the new barn and right outside the duck house near the summer faucet line. We will then not have to carry any water in the winter, making winter care of the animals beautiful and much easier. We can still use the hoses for summer water filling and such, but we can drain and winterize them as soon as cold weather threatens and fall back to the freeze proof lines.
More Later…………….

Thursday Eve, Oct. 30th… Halloween tomorrow and we’re busy in a hole!!!

Good evening everybody!! It is nice to get inside the house tonight, because it’s pretty darned cold out there right now. The thermometer is showing 32 degrees and falling. I was backfilling the hole along the back side of the barn after setting the hydrant inside the barn, so the ditch wouldn’t keep caving in and in time, would collapse out from under the barn walls. Here are a few pictures of the effort to install the hydrant.

Tomorrow, we will have a pipe fitter for the rest of the pipe line in the ditch. We need to set the other hydrant where Dick started digging today….by the duck house. I’ll be glad when this one is done……… then Vick and I can relax for the winter. We’re ready after all the back breaking things we’ve done this year!!

Thought you might like to see Timmy since he is feeling better.

Thursday, Oct. 30th… Alpaca’s are ours and Water lines going in…

Well… things are happening…. Vick contacted and bought the two Alpacas we mentioned yesterday and we will get them in April or before. In the mean time, we will go over to her farm and spend time to get to know them and have them feel secure with us too.

Dick showed up with the excavator and is digging the water lines to the duck and chicken house for the first frost proof hydrant, digging to the new barn for the other hydrant and then replacing the stupid PVC pipe from the well, with the correct 1” flexible black nylon pipe that should have been used in the first place.

We also have the stable lights done and a panel receptacle for the end of the barn. We are doing this stuff gradually as we go on a daily basis so I don’t have a major time with carpal tunnel or whatever I have that rips my wrists, arms and ankles when I work on a ladder. Being an electrician all my life, It’s pretty hard to admit I can’t rip and tear like I used to…….. The old body is on strike half the time, even though the mind wants to continue to fly through the work like I always did…..then the mind starts to wonder why I don’t fire the body and find a new one!
Emmmmm, now that Sucks………

Wednesday Eve, Oct. 29th… Company gone… Alpaca checked out & wind break bought…. Cheap!!!

Hi Everyone and sorry for the delay in posting, but it would be very impolite to leave our company to blog and we spent the rest of the day at an appointment and solving the winterization of the ducks and chickens, so here we are now that it’s all done.


First, we bid good-bye to Scot and Doreen when they departed shortly before noon today. Their visit was with us was extremely pleasant for Vicki and I, as we really enjoyed their company and spending last evening with them. We had a lovely dinner at Paul’s in Coxsackie and then spent the rest of the evening chatting and laughing until bedtime. Today their plans were to travel to Locke which is north of Binghamton, NY, to visit a niece there for awhile and then head further north to visit another niece up there. We’re glad they chose to stop here and visit with us too.




This is Scot & Doreen, our friends from New Jersey....

After they left, we went down to see three Alpacas which are available for purchase and fell in love with them. We think we will take two of the three and allow her to hold them for us until spring. She will board them free for three months, then we would have to pay until April or so. They are so cute!!!!!



This is Iggy.... his real name is Iago. He is a brown & white Suri Alpaca guilding.





Here is another picture of Iggy before shearing........ He has a beautiful white face.




This fellow is Luciano and he is a Peruvian/Chiliean Mixed Huacaya. They call him Luke.

Vicki and I decided we would take Iggy and Luke and leave the lady keep them until spring, but we will make some regular trips throughout the winter to spend time with them at her farm, so they get to know us. That way when we bring them home in the spring, they will not be strange to us on top of changing homes.



This afternoon, we went to the JoAnne Fabric in Albany to take advantage of a 40% off sale to buy plastic table covering, measuring 16 gauge and 15 yards by 54” wide. We bought 30 yards of the stuff to winterize the chickens at both barns and the ducks. It will break the wind, while allowing us to use it as a window for light and viewing the chickens inside. In the spring, we can just roll it up and store it until next winter. (Vicki has some durned good ideas sometimes) Here are a few pictures of the snowy conditions around the area. We had no accumulation at our house, but in areas within five miles, there was up to 7 or 10 inches of snow.