May 16th to 19th - 100 Mile House

May 16th – Wed – 100 Mile
Marg worked in the garden this morning while we kind of goofed off – OK, I listened for the end of cycle tones from the washer & dryer. After lunch Marg went to pick up her boat which was being repaired and Terry & I went to town to run errands – grocery store, pharmacy, liquor store, post office, library and service station to fill jerry cans with gas & diesel.
Terry got out the pressure washer that Marg just bought and started cleaning the deck so we can put on a coat of preservative. I made a batch of hamburger/macaroni for the guys for dinner & did some cleaning. When Marg returned with her boat, I helped her clean up her motor home.
I did the chores before Marg & I loaded our clubs and headed in to play golf with the ladies’ league. The weather was much warmer than last week but since we have a 5:30 shotgun start we definitely needed a jacket. I had a mediocre game and Marg struggled. The restaurant was still not open but when we paid we signed up for 2 slices of pizza which was served with salad & dessert for $6.

May 17th – Thurs
We are not feeding hay to the sheep any more so I did the chores before breakfast and threw in a load of laundry. Marg was getting ready to go camping & fishing and we helped her. She had a seat for her boat which had no pedestal so Terry found a length of pipe that was almost the right size. But it had to go on the outside of the seat and in the inside of the mount in the boat. Of course it didn’t fit either one exactly. We had to grind out the inside of the pipe and drill holes to make a slot for the seat end and then Terry used an old lathe to turn a length of birch wood into a “dowel” that would go inside the pipe and inside the mount in the boat. It ended up being a little too high so we will probably be working on it again.
We had lunch after Marg and her friend Toni left just after 1. Then Terry continued with the pressure washing on the deck and I went to the area we are cleaning up and picked up sticks. There was a large pile in a hollow that had been there for a few years so I threw it all over the fence and we will move it all with the tractor later. Of course it was not right beside the fence so I had to climb up some rocks for each armload. I also threw other larger limbs over the fence as it will be easier to pick them up there.
The cook had a break with leftovers to pop into the oven while she was enjoying a cool drink.

May 18th – Fri
We got up late and had kind of a lazy morning. I moved the sheep to a new pasture and for a change they did not all come running at once so I had to make a couple of trips opening & closing gates and calling the sheep. Yes, they do figure out that you are calling them. I normally would just have opened the new gate but Marg’s friend Rick is arriving today and needs to get his pop-up trailer out of the hay barn and that is where the sheep were.
Right after lunch we took Dad to have his regular blood test. There wasn’t a long wait so we waited for Dad and then went to the grocery store and the lumber store as Dad needed some screws for his birdhouses.
We picked up the big pile of branched that I threw over the fence and then picked up two more loads in the area that we are cleaning up. Terry cut down quite a few little scraggly trees that Marg said she would like to have removed and he also cut up longer limbs as the access for the tractor is tight and you can’t have long branches hanging over the edge of the platform.
We had finished work when Rick arrived about 4 and Terry helped him hook up to his trailer. I had emailed Rick to invite him to dinner tonight so he came back about 6.

May 19th – Sat
One of the late ewes lambed last night so it took me a while to get in from doing chores. I had to get mama & baby into a pen in the barn and feed the 2 ewes separately now. Marg had told me to push the ewe against a wall and milk her a bit to make sure both “faucets” were working and I even managed to do that. After breakfast, I was concerned that the lamb was not feeding so I found a small syringe, milked a few tablespoons into a dish and fed the baby. I repeated this process a couple more times during the day as the lamb would sometimes manage to grab a teat but not suck very long.
Terry got very ambitious and washed the truck and most of the 5th wheel. I helped Terry squeegee the 5th wheel and made a batch of antipasto. I was just finishing processing the second batch of jars when Al & Cecile came by for a visit. We had a nice long chat and showed them pictures of the balloon fiesta in Albuquerque.
Happy hour, chores, dinner, TV, reading & computer games were the familiar finish to the day.