May 19th to 23rd - 100 Mile House

May 19th - Mon - 100 Mile House
We had moved the picnic table parts into the carport last night in case it rained (it did) so Terry hauled them all back to the deck and fastened the top and bench boards so I could put a coat of stain on them and touch up other spots while Marg & Dad planted potatoes in the garden.
I left my blog entries for too long so now I cannot remember what else we did today! I need cousin Pat’s journal to jog my memory as we did in Mexico.

May 20th - Tues - 100 Mile House
After breakfast & chores, Terry & I took Dad to town for routine blood work. Picked up a couple of prescriptions, some groceries and the new hub covers for the 5th wheel. Meanwhile, Marg went for a haircut and lunch with a friend.
Terry, Dad & I went out and fixed a temporary electric fence that was keeping the cows out of a field even though it had no charge after a few posts. When Marg came home, we all went troubleshooting the fence that Marg & I had worked on previously. We did end up finding the problem - the barbed wire fence belonging to the neighbor had hooked on a wire on the back of a post on the electric fence. No wonder the horse in the neighbor’s field spooked when he saw us at the fence - he probably got a mild shock.
I helped Marg in the greenhouse & garden before dinner then we all had to watch the finale of “Dancing with the Stars”. But first I hemmed three pairs of jeans for Marg.

May 21st - Wed - 100 Mile House
Marg left with a friend this morning for a week vacation so we get to look after the farm and Dad. We put the sheep out to pasture for the first time this year but will still lock them in for the night when they come home and bed down. I was outside with a friend of Marg’s when the sheep started coming in - only one problem, the majority were on the wrong side of the fence. I ran out to open a gate to let them in and they promptly went back out into the field that we put them into this morning. Will have to look for their exit point tomorrow.
Dad & I worked on a birdhouse made to a new pattern that he had jotted down when he saw one in a field. Took us a while as he didn’t remember whether measurements were inside or outside but we got it done. Terry worked on the 5th wheel front jacks that had been lugging and slipping. He had made an appointment to get it worked on here but they couldn’t do it for a week and wanted the rig for 2 days. So he took the motor apart - it looked OK - lubed and greased everything and several tests worked fine. He canceled the appointment and figured we could take it in somewhere down the road if necessary.
The sheep were not real happy coming back to the yard this evening as they couldn’t get to the area where they spent the winter. So I went out in the near dark and closed a gate allowing the cows to get to the water trough which allowed me to open another gate so the sheep could get to their familiar area. Oops, not enough sheep so I went for a walk in the field and the rest were holed up in a nearby barn. Just a little persuasion and everyone was tucked in for the night.
It rained again last night so we couldn’t get a second coat of stain on the tops of the picnic table. Then just as I was finishing the evening chores, it hailed. The ground was pretty much white.

May 22nd - Thurs - 100 Mile House
Just a few morning chores with the sheep out to pasture. Dad & I started some prep work for putting a metal roof on a sheep shed while Terry tried to beat a computer game. The shed had asphalt shingles so we had to add nailing strips and recycled metal roofing. Terry gets to do all the work on top of the roof while Dad & I run and fetch. We let Terry rest a bit with a lunch break and then had to make him quit at 4:30.
We set the gates correctly for the sheep to bed down and I locked them in at 10. Daisy, the guardian sheep dog, was not with the sheep and had not eaten her food but it was too dark to look for her.

May 23rd - Fri - 100 Mile House
At midnight last night I remembered that Marg had told me about some snares that she had set to try to catch coyotes that were getting through her fence into the sheep pastures and I immediately wondered if Daisy was caught in one. Terry had fallen asleep so I figured we would check in the morning. At 4:30 am, Terry & I were both wide awake thinking about Daisy. Terry checked the food dish and it was still full. So we threw on some clothes, got into the truck and drove down the road to check the snares. We saw Daisy lying in the field looking at us. So we came back to the house, got the ATV and went into the field. Daisy came to us as we got closer and I told Terry that there had to be a sheep somewhere for her not to come in. Sure enough , we found a dead lamb. It’s neck had been broken but it appeared as if Daisy had chased off the predator before it had a chance to tear up the lamb much. We brought the lamb & Daisy back to the house and went back to bed.
Back to roofing the sheep shed after breakfast. Lunch, a trip to the garbage dump and we finally finished the sheep shed including replacing a never-used bird house. Terry is back at the computer game and we are all medicating our aching backs.