Dwayne, the cow whisperer...

We went over to feed the calves across the road one evening. They had recently been put onto new pasture and had not yet gotten straight where they should show up for feeding. The sound of the pickup, banging the pans with the feed - were not having success. Neither of us seemed to have the whistle capacity that Jimmy does.

So, Dwayne headed down into the woods to see if he could find the cows, and soon enough, he returned with them!

https://youtu.be/TRTOlgZW0s0

Beautification in terms of axle covers and hub caps

When we purchased Miss Doozie, she had plastic chrome axle covers that were, uhm, challenging. They were difficult to get on so they would stay, but then they were also hard to get off! And, when they were on, we could not check the hub oil in the front and tag axles.

So, we had removed them and just went without any covers for a while. While at the farm, we decided to try to get the needed items ordered and installed.

For the front and tag axle, we wanted to have covers that would allow us access to the hub oil without having to remove a cap, so we looked for "hubdometer" covers. The front just needed a hub cap, but the duals and tag needed an axle cover.

front wheel

I should have taken a picture before we put the hubcaps on, but they are on the two front wheels, and we've put lug nut covers on also.

The duals look really spiffy with the domed axle cover, "beauty ring" around its base and behind the lug nuts (which keeps the domed cover on), and lug nut covers. We also have Crossfires on the duals to keep the pressure equal between the two tires, and to enable us to see the relative pressure with just a glance. Jimmy and Dwayne mounted the Crossfire indicator on the side of the axle cover and it looks really nice!

 For the tag axle, we don't yet have a happy story.

Sad tag axle with no cover ;-(

The front took a hub cap and the manufacturer made one with a hubdometer hole.

The duals don't need access for hub oil, so a two-piece axle cover (beauty ring + domed axle cover) was what we needed.

The two-piece axle cover with a hubdometer cap that the manufacturer had was short, for a front axle. They had a three-piece (beauty ring, stove-pipe looking thing, and dome cap) axle cover. So, we ordered the two-piece with hubdometer cap (made for a front axle) and the three piece, with the plan to replace the dome cap with the hubdometer cap.

Two problems:

• The dome caps both came dented (not too big a deal because we weren't planning to use them anyway, but we were hoping to try to sell them so wanted them in good shape).
• The "stove pipe" part was a lot longer than the length of the two-piece domed axle cover that we have on the dual - so it looked strange, and it would make it very difficult to check and fill the hub oil.

So, at this point, the manufacturer is supposed to be sending us a new set of the 3 piece axle covers (even though we only need the dome). Jimmy and Dwayne have taken the stove pipe to an automotive restoration and customization place and a fellow there is going to try to cut it down. We'll see if we can end up with a happy tag axle or not!

Beauty ring in the protective plastic

Three-piece axle cover with hubdometer cap on it - that's the stovepipe part that is too long.

I needed to take pictures of the domes to email to the company we purchased from so they could see how they were bent - it was challenging taking a picture of a shiny thing, but I got the idea of having them reflect the doors of Jimmy's shop where the dark vertical line would have an obvious kink in it.

from the inside

The other one wasn't bent as much, but it was still damaged.

So, this story will need to be continued when I know "the rest of the story"...

What's wrong with this picture?

Hmmm... something looks wrong here...

Regina weeding all by herself while the rest of us look on...

She was doing a VERY good job!!!

Beauty around Poplar Springs and Oak Grove Farm

The farms where Patti's brother/sister-in-law and nephew/niece-in-law live are, respectively, Poplar Springs and Oak Grove.

Oak Grove is where Patti and Jimmy grew up.

A view of Oak grove from across the field

Oak Grove from end of Soldier's Rest driveway

Kendra's market hours sign - Meats, Beef, Eggs, Produce, Flowers - Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 10am-5pm
Check out Kendra's website:
http://oakgrovefarm08.wix.com/products#!about-oak-grove/c14p0 

Oak Grove (there are a LOT of trees, but there is a porch on the house barely visible!)

Henry coming for feed

Henry watching the hay being unloaded and wishing that someone would bring him feed!!!

Alfalfa field empty after hay has been picked up

Beautiful driveway into Soldiers Rest

Bee hive near Poplar Springs house

Poplar Springs house

video: https://youtu.be/i3DBwRt6ufc

Bus Improvement - making room to get your foot on the brake

You would think that making it easy to get your foot on the brake would be a priority in a well-made bus. For whatever reason (aesthetics seems to be primary), Miss Doozie had a very tight access to get your foot on the brake due to a carpeted cover around the steering column.

During the process of removal, the drivers seat is out of the way - and you can see the carpeted cover around the steering column going into the floor. It isn't obvious from this shot, but in order to put your foot onto the brake pedal, you had to have it right up against that carpeted cover. If your foot was wide (as most men's feet are), braking was challenging to avoid not also hitting the accelerator with the outside of your right foot.

Now the carpeted cover has been removed, and there is more room to access the brake pedal. We still needed to do some work to make it look a little better and to close up some gaps, and replace some of the flooring, but we think this will be a lot more usable!

Delivery to Feed More

On Tuesday, Dwayne and Jimmy took kale and collards that church members had picked on Monday from the church's produce patch.

The greens nearly filled the back of the Envoy (with the back seats also down).

Ready to receive the donation of greens

A volunteer at Feed More, Jimmy getting the hand truck to bring the bags in.

The church donated 71 pounds of kale and 71 pounds of collards in those bags that were in the back of the Envoy. Jimmy said that one of the partner agencies was there and they eagerly received a lot of the fresh greens to use in their feeding site.

The greens that the church provides go into Feed More's distribution program:
https://feedmore.org/food-bank/food-bank-programs/distribution-program

Tilling the garden

With all the rain, the weeds had started to really sprout up in the garden, so Jimmy used his International Super A tractor to till it.

He had tilled most of the garden by the time I got out there, but this one strip was still to be tilled.

He can independently lower the disc blades that are under the middle of the tractor and the cultivator/coverer for the tire marks.

Here the cultivators are going down.

See how nice it is cultivating and leaving the row of vegetables?

At the end of the row, he can raise the disc blades first and then the cultivator part on the back.

Working on another row further down the garden.