If at first you don't succeed, try try again! (also try not to bang your head against the wall too much)

Some quick updates:

G ordered a beautiful recurve bow!  Should be fun--not sure if I will be able to shoot it though, it has a 50 lb draw.  Seems like we are buying a lot of things lately.  But compared to SCUBA, photography, horses and bicycles, archery and wool spinning are incredibly cheap hobbies.

We wanted to try a treadle feeder in the chicken palace since the mice found out how to get into the hanging feeders.  Also we've never had this many house sparrows stealing food.  Disease transmission is our main concern (well mine anyway).

Didn't have time to build one, and it was on sale at the farm store.  It was worth a try.  The chickens were freaked out with the huge swing and 'thunk' of the treadle action.  I'm sure they would have learned how to use it eventually, but I gave it a week and things were only marginally improving.  

The mice found it the very first night, and chewed a hole in the lid. #$%!!!***.   What a waste.  So we will line it with metal sheeting and use it in the backyard next summer to protect from house sparrows, but it was a failure in the palace against mice.

I put a live trap in there one nice and caught about 15 in one go.  

Winston has some fancy new aluminum egg bar shoes, and seems to be feeling better already.  He came galloping in from the pasture AHEAD of Oakley the other night.

Hoping he can keep them on....I asked the farrier if he could fill the overhanging edges of the shoes with epoxy, as I'd seen on my neighbour's young horse who lost eight shoes this summer.  My thought was that it would lessen the tendency of that free edge to get caught on things (including Winston sidestepped and essential stepping on his own shoe)(have you ever tried walking in snowshoes that are too big for you? If so, you probably understand the problem) He did the epoxy, it looks awful since he didn't try to smooth it out or anything but we will see how it goes. it doesn't look any more awful than the duct tape repair job I did on his ripped bell boots. What can I say? I hate spending money if I don't have to.

My question to G when he got home was 'why am I doing the problem solving  and throwing ideas out there when it's not even my profession--isn't that what I'm supposed to be paying them for'??  G just laughed because it's something that happens to him all the time in his work.  My thoughts are that you will never know unless you ask, and you certainly will never know unless you try.  That can be applied to so many situations!  I get so tired of the usual 'that will never work'.  You'll never know if you don't TRY. Come up with ideas. Brainstorm.  Come up with 10 ideas. Maybe two or three are worth trying. Then maybe you'll find one solution or partial solution. I admire problem solvers and risk takers.

G and I have discussions like this all the time: "what if we did xyz with the blah blah? nope, that wouldn't work...then what if we changed that over there and did this instead? yep, let's try!"  It's not like we always come up with solutions.  Sometimes we have the same conversation over and over sometimes across weeks, until something clicks and we come up with the right answer.

He relies on me for my logistical skills, and I on him for his many technical skills.  We have crossover on these of course, but when he's trying to figure out something and comes to me for my thoughts and input, that's when I really feel like we're a team in this endeavour.

I modified the aviary netting set up.  It looks great, but due to where I had to place it (because of trees) there are gaps, and the guineas have found them.  There is also a bit of chaos in the palace since I have to put the feeders in a metal bin overnight to protect the food from mice, so in the morning mayhem of hungry chickens the guineas tend to get out-competed, and simply go outside instead of dealing with temperamental chickens.  Then since they are all worked up they fly out of the two foot gap, right over the electro-netting.  These problems are always multifaceted.  That's what makes this such a fun equation to solve.

But boy I was frustrated with them yesterday, when I had somewhere to be, and instead I was trying to herd them back to the palace.  I got them right to the door several times, but since I moved the netting for the new set up, and so G could have the front all clear to build their winter poly tunnel, I'd completely lost my 'chute'.  I really relied on that to funnel them in the people door.  So I have several things to address here.  Create a chute, try to cover the gap in the aviary netting where they fly out, and create an area where the guineas can eat without being overwhelmed by chickens.  Also, it's time to add some enrichment devices.  Just like ducks, they love looking in mirrors, so I will put some up. I will add branches for them to fly to, hang greens and suet feeders full of kale up there, and hopefully find some rotting logs to bring in for them to pick through.  I can put millet and dried mealworms in the gaps.  Surprisingly they never really went for live mealworms, but I may try again and start raising our own.  

We have a party to go to tomorrow night.  Then on Saturday I will be going to a gathering of fibre artists in Wisconsin, and then hopefully to a tack swap after that.  G has a short drive to Wisconsin to do as well--he won some items in a farm auction.  He bid on several tractors last week, some wood splitting equipment, but didn't win.  He's been trying to win me a lathe-something I've wanted to try my hand at for a long time.  He did win a grinder and something else that I can't recall....He's suddenly become very interested in blacksmithing, so will hopefully be setting up a forge and learning the craft!  I can't wait to try it.  

If you want something unusual and interesting to watch while you are making dinner tonight, have a look at this:

Well that's it for now.  It will be frosty tonight so I have to harvest the last baby dill and calendulas, and put up a few heat lamps for the banties.  Maybe I'll even catch the special needs guineas and bring them in the garage for the night.  It's boggling how it could be 19 degrees celsius just a few days ago, and tonight will be below freezing.  Maybe I will get lucky and the farm will be covered in hoar frost.  It's not something that happens many times a year unless the humidity is just right. I really want photos of such a beautiful event.

 I'm extra lucky already, because after G accidentally dropped a gallon mason jar on my camera and smashed the viewscreen  last week he bought me a new refurbished one, and it just arrived!! 

There's nothing like being with someone who believes in you, and gives so much encouragement and support when you are trying to follow your passions.