Four Major Projects On the Go...Two Done:)

Our dream home!

Since the summer of 2008 we have been building our dream house!  We have had some hiccups on the way, but slowly and surely it is coming along!  That fall we had our second baby, a boy!  The next spring Jared broke his knee snowboarding and was off work for 5 months, during which time he actually got quite a bit of the finicky work done on our house!  

2010 has been a year of surprises for us.  We decided to get back into cattle with my step-dad this past spring and we were eventually working towards bringing them permanently to the Puzey farm.  Dick had helped us get some of David's poorer land seeded to hay, which produced amazingly this year, and when time permitted we would build a fence and corals on the home quarter to winter and calve the cows out.  However, things changed quite quickly when my step-dad passed away early this summer and sort of forced us to take action.  Dave wanted to partner with Jared in regards to the cattle and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do just that!  Since around August of this year the guys have been working steady getting things ready.  Sadly though, our house was to be put on hold!  Haying, building a fence and corals, and putting a water line in for the cattle took priority before freeze up, which in this country could be any day!  With Jared taking a week off work and Dave coming out between shift work and much needed sleep, they have been able to check two things off their list as of today!  

A very precarious situation!

They finished the water line, including all the necessary shut-offs, and back filling, as well Dave was able to finish baling! 

 

The whole family was in on helping!

Calum was so upset when he had to get off the tractor!  He kept saying, "A-broom, broom, Daddy, no!"  

Dave refilling his stock of baling twine!

Bailing at dusk on such a beautiful day!

Both of these tasks came with many challenges, a lot related to all the rain we have had!  The hay had been cut in good time, but was not able to dry or cure quick enough due to all the rain we have had.  The trench for the water line didn't take too much time to dig, but the saturated dirt would keep caving in, which led to many hours of re-digging, and Jared almost being buried!  The guys were able to rig up some supports to protect them from falling clay when they had to be down in the trench!  They are quite ingenious!  With this beautiful autumn weather this past week and a half, much was accomplished!  All that needs to be done now is the divider between the two corals, and the rest of the perimeter around the home quarter, just over half of the perimeter left.  The fencing actually goes quite quickly, I know they will be able to get that done before the ground freezes solid!  And on top of all this great news, David has all his swathing done as well, a few days of warm, windy weather and he will be combining!  My favorite time of year is autumn, especially when we are treated to such beautiful, yet still crisp, days!  I also feel like it is a perfect time of year to bring family together, I have really enjoyed watching Dave and Jared work together!  I look forward to the many adventures that lie ahead!  Feeding cows and calving will be exciting, and may even break up the long days of winter that are sure to come!