Farm update

John and Mary have been doing a lot of bike riding on the farm lately.
I moved some horse pasture fencing to add a little more area and to give Morgan and Spirit access to their favorite Cedar tree, they like to hang out underneath it when it rains. I took some polytape and T posts and built a round pen for the horses. Yesterday I looked outside and the horses were both lying down in the pasture enjoying a morning nap in the sunshine, while John and Mary were playing a game which involved riding their bikes around inside the round pen.
The chickens continue to provide a good number of eggs.
We have seen a lot of deer lately on the farm, grazing in the fields.
I bush hogged an area under the power lines that had not been cut in at least 3 years.
Mary has been very busy lately preparing for her upcoming Nutcracker dance recital.

Thanksgiving, Pneumonia

Debby is recovering from pneumonia. We initially thought she had come down with the flu but the doctor said it was a bad case of pneumonia. Debby is taking a strong antibiotic and getting a lot of rest.

With Debby not feeling well we stayed home for Thanksgiving, just our family. We broke with tradition and ordered a Thanksgiving dinner takeout from Cracker Barrel, it was really excellent! Turkey, ham, gravy, dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes, carrots, biscuits, and a pumpkin struesel pie for dessert.

Cows in upper pasture

We rented out our upper 25 acre pasture to a local farmer. He was here last week checking/repairing the fence line, today he brought 21 beef cattle and put them in the pasture. No bulls, mostly heifers/cows and a few steers.

Fastest computer

The latest supercomputer ranking list is out and Oak Ridge National Lab's Jaguar computer is now the fastest computer in the world! Jaguar and most of the world's fastest computers run linux.
http://www.top500.org/

STAR party

We went to the party at STAR this evening and had a nice time. John is a volunteer at STAR and we have friends at STAR. They have a beautiful facility at STAR, I took some pictures of the shelters they have in the pastures because I need to build a horse shelter soon.
They had events in the arena, square dancing, games in the barn, bonfires and smores, dinner, hot chocolate, etc. Even an apple bobbing contest for horses!

Changed tractor engine oil

Last weekend I changed the tractor engine oil and filter with some help from John. The tractor now has 143 hours on it and has been running great. I've changed the oil twice before during the break-in period using recommended Kubota 10W-30 oil with API CI-4 plus service rating. Now I have switched over to Shell Rotella T synthetic 5W-40 engine oil with API CJ-4 service rating. My tractor takes 3 gallons of engine oil. It's relatively easy to change the oil on the tractor because there is a lot of clearance underneath (the oil can drain into a 5 gallon bucket) and the oil filter and filler are also easy to access. Our local convenience facility (trash dump) has a special container for used oil.

Good Puppy, good puppy!

We have way too many deer around our place so every once in a while we send Pup-Pup out to thin down the herd. OK, not really, but this morning he proudly trotted out of the woods and brought a fresh deer leg chew toy up to the house. He has done this a few times before. Don't try to take his chew toy from him if you value your hand!

Rodeo

On Saturday evening we went to see the Rough Stock Rodeo Finals at Roane State Community College near us in Harriman. Events included bucking bronco riding, calf roping, barrel racing, and bull riding. We saw a lot of people that we knew at the event and we had a good time. One attraction was called the Bandit, it involved two huge buffalo/bison, a truck and trailer, and a cowboy and his horse. The cowboy rode his horse up the back of the truck, then up on top of the trailer, then he stood up on top of the horses back. He then got back in the saddle, rode back down to ground level, and herded the two buffalo up the truck and on top of the trailer.

Country girl

Pics of our Tennessee girl next to the waterfall and creek near our mailbox and sitting on a fence.

Highway closed

Interstate 40 is a major highway that goes through TN. Recently a rock slide blocked I-40 near the TN-NC border. The highway is still closed and it is estimated to be closed for four more months. Really.

Horse watering

A while back we finished fencing some pasture and moved the horses to the new pasture while we let the front pasture recover. However we did not have a water source in the new pasture, so I ended up using the tractor to carry filled 70 gallon water troughs from our city water supply at the house out to the new pasture. Since our springs are flowing quite well I opened up and fenced in a lane which connects the new pasture to the spring water which flows into our wildlife pond. At first the horses went nuts, as they do every time they are given access to a new area, but they then settled down and enjoy their new territory and water supply. Best of all it's free, and we won't have to break up ice in the winter!

Droid anyone?

Today is the release day for the Droid:
http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/#/home

My birthday is coming up, so if you are at a loss trying to decide on the right present, well the Droid would likely be well received :)

So, the Droid is a Motorola phone, offered by Verizon, using the Google Android Linux based operating system. Several of my co-workers/friends have iPhones, but I'm not an Apple person. I'll probably stick with my existing phone for a while but will likely go to a linux phone in the future.

Frosty morning

It was 29 degrees at home this morning, I had to scrape the ice off the windshield of my car. Sun came out and it was a beautiful day.