Aug 5th to 7th - 100 Mile House

Aug 5th – Sun –100 Mile
I forgot to include our total mileage for the Alaska trip – 6477 miles. It is amazing that it is very close to the mileage for our 2008 Alaska trip.
Right after breakfast I went back to the painting on the chicken house as one section was still shaded. When Marg finished fixing a blade on the chop saw, she got the tractor and lifted me in the bucket to paint the high section of the wall. Then we repaired a section of the chicken house wall that had been backed into a while ago. Of course this was a project that grew past our original “estimate” and included moving a large, loaded shelf unit that was screwed to the wall for stability. Terry picked up the weed eater (that Marg was trying to start when she needed at the shop) and cleaned up a couple of areas. Marg had to leave just before noon for a birthday party.
After lunch, Terry took the weed eater into a corral as quite a bit of rain – and lots of “fertilizer” -has resulted in overgrown weeds. I had finished putting a second coat of stain on the section of the chicken house that I did this morning and was painting one of the fascia boards when he finished. I had to take the bucket of water that I used to clean windows and wipe him down as he had weed bits and other icky stuff from head-to-toe. Marg arrived back in time to help me finish the fascia board.

Aug 6th – Mon
Terry took out a couple of low stumps and sledge hammered some rocks that Marg hits with her riding lawn mower. She is keeping quite a large area mowed now and it looks really good so we want to make the job as easy as possible. I got to pick up the bits that Terry created!
I got a lift from Marg & the tractor again to paint a fascia board on a tall end of the chicken house. The ground slopes in this area so using a ladder is a pain. I painted a door molding while Marg put away the stuff that we had to move from the shelf yesterday. I finished in time to help her clean up the rest of the mess. Terry carted away junk and reminded us that it was “just a chicken house”.
In the afternoon, we all ended up in the shop. Dad was having trouble finding wood for the tables that he is making so Marg & I helped him before we worked on a sliding shelf for her computer desk. Terry made a shelf for the cupboard in our bedroom that has the Direct TV receiver and the dish controller. These units sit on the bottom of a large shelf which makes it awkward to use the rest of the shelf. I painted the shelf so we can install it tomorrow.
I was making dinner when Marg took an ATV for a checkout ride around the property. I heard her come back but she didn’t come into the house for a while. I went out to check and found her trying to isolate a lamb that her dog Sage had injured in an uncontrollable frenzy that we thought Sage was not doing any more. I went to help Marg and we got the lamb into a small pen. We came in for dinner and found the meat burning but still edible.
After dinner, Marg & I gathered up supplies and doctored the lamb. Sage pulled off wool on both flanks so we took an old long sleeved t-shirt to hold dressings on. Marg clipped wool from around the wounds, put ointment on them and covered them with large dressing pads. Then we opened the shirt down the front and pulled the sleeves over the back legs to hold the dressings in place. The shirt was a little large so we ended up with strips of the shirt running all over the lamb to hold everything in place. We put hay, water & grain in the pen and crossed our fingers.

Aug 7th – Tues
We had a downpour last night but just scattered clouds this morning. I had just mentioned to Marg how much the grass had dried out with a few days of hot weather.
Before we went into the house this morning, we installed the shelf that Terry made yesterday and replaced all the clothes. After breakfast, we looked after some business on the computer and I helped Marg’s friend Jane copy a document. Marg took Dad to the hearing aid specialist and Terry & I drove to town as well for a couple of errands. We met Marg & Dad, filled up some gas containers and then went to lunch at the Firehouse Café. Terry & Dad came back while Marg & I shopped at several stores and tried to get liability insurance for her new ATV.
Terry got ambitious when he got back and took the tractor & brush cutter to cut down overgrown thistles and weeds in a couple of corrals. This also involved moving sheep temporarily into a smaller corral. He also cut up a dead tree that had fallen from the neighbor’s field onto Marg’s fence. When Marg & I got back, we had to hang around the house waiting for the insurance lady to call – not! – so we did laundry and other chores.
Marg & I changed the dressings & “clothes” on the injured lamb that is eating, drinking water and looking really well. We used our experience from yesterday to design a more effective wound covering from another old, long sleeved t-shirt. By the time we finished cleaning up, the lamb was eating hay. I have to mention that lambs at this time are almost as large as their mothers.
After dinner, Marg picked strawberries and went to visit her friend Nicole. We watched TV, read and finished up the laundry.