Excavation work

Last week I was able to get an excavator in to dig out and properly slope the west side of my barn. Now the water should run south past the back of my barn and keep water from coming in when the snow melts and when it rains. It looks like a mess right now but hopefully I can get grass seeded this coming week if the weather cooperates.

Before when I had to keep pumping out.

Newest project - SLC sign

It has been too long since I last posted. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up over the next while. My latest project was designing a sign for our barn which I made yesterday. Getting ready to ship chicks at 1 AM so my busy schedule will continue on for a while!

 My fancy instruments. lol. Used a ruler and then the bowl on the curves to get a uniform, consistent arc.

Taped the template to the diamond shape and then cut it out with the ladybug cutter. I had it from scrapbooking and it came in very handy!

I was planning to use regular paint but seeing there were several cans of spray paint that came with the place I decided it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It was a tough decision between JD green and black. lol.

To seal off the sign I used three coats of clear weatherproof spray.

I'm pretty happy with how the sign turned out. Not professional by any means but it will work for the time being. :D

Barn Maintenance

Had to replace another section in the airline. It comes from the boiler shed in the background there and into the shop part of the barn.

 The faucet broke off a few days before I was going to place chicks a few cycles back. I didn't have the necessary fittings on hand to replace it at the time so I ended up just screwing an end cap in to stop the water.

Two fittings and a new faucet from the hardware store did the trick. :)

Straightening finned pipe. Not the most fun job I've ever tackled. It took me about 5 or 6 hours and by the time it was done my knees weren't thanking me. :P They are fairly flexible so I pushed them all back into place with a screwdriver. 

Before:

After:

And the lovely fogger hose. The braided hose at 84 PSI could not compete with the 200 PSI being run though it. :P 

  

Very awkward to work on the line. You are on a ladder with your head squished into the corner and then you drop the screwdriver into the bucket of water below that was catching the water flowing out when you cut the hose.

I always forget that the hose slides in like a breeze at the top and at the bottom not so. After many unkind thoughts, sore nails, and scraped fingers, I got it pushed into place and the clasps tightened. I picked up this hose from JD and it is good for 300 PSI and it can handle hot oil. So, with just cold water flowing through at 200 PSI I'm hoping this problem is fixed for good.

 This was the first time for a feedline cable to snap on me.  Thankfully the Co-op in town had the right size cable I need to fix the line.

Connecting the new piece of cable.

The cable went through the the opening into the box at the end. I had to unscrew the box off first and join the cable in there as well.

This Master Craft tool set has been one of the best investments!

Howdy!

Where does the time go? I've been planning to post more than just quotes and pictures but the past eight weeks have been packed full with travels, work, and trying to keep on top of problems which seemed to endlessly keep popping up throughout this chicken cycle.

 When the last batch of chickens were shipped and the barn cleaned, I headed back for Alberta again. I stayed overnight at our Davidson farm and enjoyed visiting with my awesome brother, Graham, and his family. :)

 Graham, Emily, and Abigail

 The next day I drove to Alberta to look after Dad and Mom's place and to fill in for Erin at the dairy (where I worked too before I moved up here) while they were on their Hawaii vacation. I worked five doubles and then mornings for the remaining three days. 3:45 AM always comes too early. :P :D It was fun to be around the cows again and their personalities. :)  Due to a snow storm moving in, I headed out a day earlier than planned.

My other brother and his family were recovering from the flu when I first came through so I visited with them on the way back. I didn't get any pictures though. :( They had just gotten a new ice maker which fascinated the kids and they were also excited since their dad had been teaching them different ways how to start a fire. I think they can probably start one better than me. lol! Jared is the bookworm and his greeting when you walk in the door is always excitedly jumping around asking you to read a book with him. Kaylea was walking this time. My nephews and nieces are growing up so fast. Maybe it seems even more so since I don't get to see them very often. I ended up staying an extra day since I had to sign something for our company at Viterra Monday morning. So, I had church with them, more reading, visiting, and great food. My sister-in-law, Sherra, is a great cook!

 Monday afternoon I got back home here and it was time to start getting the barns ready for chicks again. During clean up we ran into problems with the big barn doors at the south end. Due to all the rain this year, the concrete pad heaved with the frost preventing the doors from being able to opened all the way. So, while I was away my neighbour was able to help a carpenter take the doors down, cut 3 1/2" off, fill them with insulation, and get them back up again. That would have been no small feat and it was good to come home to that project successfully completed.

Unfortunately, that issue turned out to be one of the many problems that continuously popped up throughout the rest of the chicken cycle. I started to fill feedlines and the bearing went out of one of the lines. My neighbour helped me the next morning replace the bearing. I had helped him change one at his place before and think I know how to do it now except that it would be very difficult to pull the auger flighting out and get a clamp in by myself. You do NOT want the flighting to slip into the feedline. If that happened...well, you just don't let that happen. lol!

 The chicks arrived a little later than usual around 1 PM. They were very active! I checked them around 3 and then again around 5. As soon as I stepped into the barn entry I could hear water running in the boiler room. I opened the door to find water spewing out all over the wall and floor from the hot loop pump. My neighbour came and looked at it and told me what to do until I was able to get a plumber come replace the seal. I stayed up most the night making sure it didn't get worse...not that I could have done anything if it had. haha. Usually listening to water running makes for a peaceful sleep. That works if you are by the ocean not when it is spewing out of a pump. It was still another day or so before the plumber could come but thankfully things held together then.

 My fancy waterproof wallpaper. I'm thinking about getting it patented. haha!

 This doesn't look like much water from the pic but trust me it was.

 The drain water from the boiler room comes up here at the other part barn entry/garage. Due to the all the water/rain issues we had this past spring we had a pump around which has probably been one of the greatest investments on this place. :) I set up the float again so I didn't have to constantly supervise the pump and keep plugging it in every 7 minutes or so, let it pump all the water out, and then unplug it again.

My neighbour helped make a few changes to the the boiler in the boiler shed separate from the barn. I was going to tighten one of the three doors on the boiler which should have been a fairly simple, quick job. However, I didn't realize that you had to hammer it in so my tap-tap didn't help. At least I know how to do it now. :P :D

Next was a battery issue with the Ridgeline truck. I've had issues with the battery a few times and it was at the point where I had to replace it with a new one. We had an extra battery (backup for the generator one) in the barn so I went to work. Pulling the battery out was a little more of an ordeal since I hadn't done it before. I finally got it out, the new battery in, the strap tightened and I go to connect the terminals to the posts to find out the new battery has the posts along the front of the battery instead of the back and there is practically no give to pull the terminals to the front. I ended up playing musical batteries pulling the battery out of the old Ford (the posts were in the "right" position) and putting it in the Ridgeline and the new battery in the Ford. At least by the end of the day I had two trucks running!

Then the boiler needed a new diaphragm. My neighbour helped me replace the old diaphragm with a new one. It is always a relief to me when a problem is corrected and the system working properly again.

Then the CBC Market Place did their "selective journalism" episode on the supermarket chicken and the industry in which the true facts were mostly irrelevant. That deserves a whole post of it's own. :P

 Had to get an electrician out because the motor overload on the bin auger wasn't working and some other work had to be done out there.

  And don't laugh, I got stuck for the second time in my driveway. :P If you go off to the left too much it is softer and with all the snow it makes for a perfect getting completely stuck experience. :P

 On a balmy -35*C morning, the lovely barn alarms wakes me at 4:15 AM. First I checked the boiler and all the temperatures were fine there so I check the barn computer and it is a low temperature alarm which has never gone off before. I spent the next three hours trying to get the temperature to rise and stablize(I switched the inlets to manual and closed them up partially which helped some but not enough) and then called my neighbour around 7 AM. We made an adjustment in the climate controls and solved that problem almost immediately.

 The coal bridged for the first time in the bin causing another temperature alarm to go off. It has happened a couple more times but I've caught it pretty quick and it is an easy fix thankfully.

  Then I had the water tested and due to the results showing some bacteria, I was advised not to drink the water. I had been drinking it all along and hadn't experienced any adverse effects but for the time being I am buying my drinking water. It's a lot of fun lugging those big blue jugs around when you go grocery shopping. :P I know bacteria can be a serious issue but the testing is getting more thorough and I wonder if they end up detecting more when all along it was there to some degree but not harmful.

 Had an issue with raising the feedlines but it seems to have corrected itself. I did buy belts for both the water and feedlines as it doesn't hurt to have replacements on hand just in case.

My neck started killing me which prompted me to find a chiropractor. I slipped on the ice when back in Alberta and have been dealing with the effects since then and it was getting worse. A friend gave a recommendation to one in Canora so I went last week. He was awesome and isn't the type that wants you coming back three times a week the rest of your life. And his rates were reasonable too so I'm happy about that.

So, that pretty much sums up the past eight weeks! Yeah, it was discouraging at times but at least I gained some more experience and have improved the place which hopefully will help things run smoother. And, I think I've said it every time, but I can't believe it is already time to ship chickens again! They go Wednesday night so I need to do some baking for the chicken catchers (cookies and cinnabons!) and print out the schedule.

Have a great week! :D

June 8, Tuesday

Today was one of those days. First woke up to find out that the propane had run out. Had to start my morning without coffee…:P I was out of milk so had toast instead of cereal. Popped the toaster on and then plugged in the heater since it was a little cooler inside the camper. Half way through toasting the electrical outlets stop working. It has happened a few times before but I wasn’t sure which breaker it was so I just left it.

So then I head out to chore at the barn at 7 AM to find water at the north end with more seeping in due to the rain. (It has happened a couple times this cycle but not to this extent.) We’ve had 2 ½ “ over the past two days not to mention the endless rain we’ve had the past several weeks. The ground is completely saturated and land fairly flat here so the water has decided to reroute itself up through the barn. Spent the morning bucketing water out. Darryl’s dad and cousin come over (yay for great neighbours! : )) to see the situation and what they can do to help.

I try and use a wheelbarrow to bring some gravel over to find out the wheel needs to be replaced. Back to using a 5 gallon bucket (what would I do without them! :D) to bring in gravel to build a dam in the barn around the opening where the most water is filling in. Beavers are not well-liked in this area but it sure would have been handy to hire one. Haha.

Anyways, the water finally slows down a bit so I’m able to leave for a quick trip to town to pick up a sump pump and also am going to get my propane tanks filled. Find pretty much the last sump pump in town at the CO-OP. Phone calls asking about sump pumps were coming in while I was there due to many basements in the area being flooded. I get the necessary fittings and hose and head off to get my propane tanks filled. The two girls at the ESSO spend a while finding trying to find the engraved dates on both tanks. They inform me both are past expiration and cannot be filled. I think one probably could have been filled but they were more scared of the $10,000 fine than me. Haha. They are a taller tank so I’m not sure if I should pick up a smaller 20 LB tank as it might not fit. I call three different numbers back at our other farm and cannot get a hold of anyone so head home as I need to check the water situation again in the barn.

That brings us around to about 5 this evening. Yeah, it has been a full day. It is still raining, water is still seeping in, and more rain is in the forecast. Dad and Mom have decided to come over since they can’t get any more seeding done due to the weather. I’m going to wait to use the pump until Dad gets here as I’m not sure that the float will kick the pump in at the low level we need. The guy at the CO-OP said it would but I’m not counting on anything seeing how this day has gone. LOL! Dad looks at the pump after arriving to find out that it won’t work.

So this is just one of those days that makes you appreciate the days when every thing goes smoothly and as planned. Wouldn’t life be boring though if nothing out of the ordinary ever happened?! We’ll have some vivid and amusing memories of our beginnings in this new adventure. :D

That all said, I am looking forward to some uneventful days ahead! :)