Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[scottcaddy]

Tara, you say that the Man Porch is not added to your house yet? Where do you have the MP parked and or where is your house? If I am being a nosy busybody just ignore me and move on.
Thanks.
Scott

 

[CanuckBock]

Lmbo @ those cartoons

I had hoped you would...

Now the rows ARE BELTS...great big GREEN belts!

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Kinda kewl to see them this big now.

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Caragana rows in the New Orchard ​

Quote:

We take breaks from heaven, rest breaks to catch our breaths...always nice to go out, but even nicer to come home. Spending part of the day away, always makes you appreciate being home even more so, eh.

Tara, you say that the Man Porch is not added to your house yet? Where do you have the MP parked and or where is your house? If I am being a nosy busybody just ignore me and move on.
Thanks.
Scott

The future house is why the MP had to be portable...we don't like having to redo something that is already completed...so the porch will need to be re-located because the location of the house is going to be adjusted a bit. Turn the original location of where the house that is here now resides...turn the new location of the new house so our living room faces the forested portion of the property...the front doors will face out towards the parking building (step out and decide, which of Rick's vehicle will we run with today, eh?).

We have a house right now (not living bush, eh...though there are some here that have no power, no running water, yeh...totally hillbillly shacks, mountain persons for sure--there is a reason I say I live in the hillbilly hills

) but the house we live in now, she is pretty much worn out and used up. Was pretty much that way when we bought the place but we looked at it this way...the price reflected the condition of the house...and the fact that only half the garage roof was new (shingles we traded for metal roofing...asphalt shingles don't do hail well), the opposing side of the former garage roof, you did not see so well and that side (our kid showed us..."Mom, Dad...lookit this!" "Good boy!"), you could see daylight thru, the water-well house was painted on the three sides you could see (why would you paint a side you rarely looked at eh?), there were three Christmas trees tossed over a few yards from the house, and there were three trees in the yard that had been topped (nice, nice energetic persons that were selling eh?) to be those trees, on the side of the house, in bright blue paint (faded off now...) above the outside faucet was arrows showing which way was ON and which way was OFF (really...how many times had the tap been stripped or was this to stop flooding something cause you could not recall which way the tap turned??).

Got woke up several times at 3 a.m. to loud crash...more of the fake bricks falling off the back where the wood stove is. Rick and I wake up laughing..yeh, one less thing to have to take down!

I do laugh alot here...this blue spruce is off by my veg garden...now the past occupants, they never did top this one for a Christmas tree, but given they had already harvested three trees in the yard (so blows my mind...really, a tree permit is all you need, off to the wilderness down the road and you can have at any number of trees, but why do that when you can go out your back door and harvest one there??), there is no saying if we had not bought the place, what that Christmas could have meant for this tree...a hair cut perhaps??

See the blue spruce off in the background...use to be Christmas tree size...not no more's no way!​

One of the first things we did the year we bought our final chunk of land...see it parked in its own little space...safe, tidy, secure...awaiting to be used if ever needed...

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We purchased a vintage holiday trailer...we shall always, always have some place secure to call home...ALWAYS!

1972 Shasta holiday trailer​

Add in a vehicle to haul it.

Bought this for Rick's 49th...he's done her up real nice, new paint is just where he started...​

And I don't care what disaster might strike...we have a home for the dogs and humans; one on wheels, there in case we need one. I have a ton of crates here for evacuation of the birds...portable corrals and halters with leads for the four footed ruminants. We can be like a grand gypsy caravan with the trailers full of our dependents...if we have some natural disaster (or man made like forest fire!) come in and we have to move out for temporary like. We are prepared!

So when we bought Pear-A-Dice...the real cincher for the deal to buy the place was when the realtor finally got Rick to go inside...after the third visit there. At that time we had the gun registry up here in the Great White North in full swing. Rick took one look a the living room and could not help but exclaim..."There needs to be hammer laws against carpentry like this...!" The roof of the living room is this nice pine. Pretty much a ruin of good materials...you can see under the varnish, the pencil lines for the cuts...not sure if the pencil lines are the 90 degree or the cut but it is pretty bad looking all marked up before it was even put up, way back then and even more so now. We told the kid if he EVER gets a call from us...and he hears just muffled screams of "HELP!"...the living room roof has finally caved in on us in our easy chairs and he needs to get the recept saw out and come rescue us and the dogs. There is a real estate declaration...some sort of checklist the seller does up back then and signs as an agreement to the condition of the property and house being sold.

On there is a question, simple enough..."Does the roof leak?" and it was checked in the box marked "NO!" which had Rick and I in fits of giggles over. NO??...yeh, nope because the body that fell THROUGH THE CEILING of the coat room off the living room and left the silhouette of the body (the dry wall now duct taped together--Red Green would be SO proud of that use) in the ceiling, well surely the body is still there blocking any leaks in the roof. Rick finally resheeted the roof there in green metal...was taking up too many pails of roofing tar to patch up the rolled roofing (another wonderful product that is NOT hail proof...), so it don't leak and if there was a body up thar...the squirrels that reside in the roof (bane of Fixins...squirrels in HER roof!) have long ago feasted on the remains...might be a few large leg bones perhaps when we get round to tearing it down?

You know Scott...in my adult life, there has not been a house that I have been in that did not somewhere have some shag carpet (red, lime green...orange was always my favourite...yes, vivid orange is a great carpet colour--hides dog puke so well!). I fondly recall one time a few years after we bought and I had answered the phone to some person selling carpet cleaning services...I politely told them that any money I had saved up for carpet was not for the cleaning but REPLACEMENT to lino (never have carpet past maybe throw <up?> rugs...). The house is a crap hole (and that is me phrasing it nicely) and we are quite fine with that. The house is the last of our plans here. I grew up in a show home I parents built. A house is not a home without love in it. My house no matter what shape it is in, is our HOME and a place we fall down in, have meals when not on the Man Porch, sleep and recharge from. Any nice nice house would have been destroyed with all the building projects we have had over the years. Covered in sawdust, straw, various animal excrements (yes, yes, the design of the new house has this door to the laundry, right next to a bathroom with a tub to dunk selves in before entering the real parts of the house), if the objective was nice home first, about now it would have been trashed and we would be starting over anyway.

So our plan was first to get the farmy buildings up (Rick put me first...I got all the buildings I could ever dream of to play in), get the trucks taken care of (ducks & trucks looked after), then the cabinet shop and then the house by which time we would be in the right shape to look after and keep nice nice. Having the cabinet shop in place means oh the lovely house we will be able to have with Rick making the sawdust!

By now for what we have spent on the farm buildings, we coulda paid cash and bought 3 or 4 houses, including the cabinet shop (my dog kennel and the hay/straw barn IS the size of his future cabinet shop--easy!), but so it goes. Not dead yet, eh?

With the economic down turn...for Rick and I, we are more solvent than we have ever been. Guess it pays to be cautious, not want it all at once...never extend yourself so far you lose what you already gained. Whatever happens and some are saying oil will stay low for maybe the next three years, take another five years to get working on back up...well eight years of not so nice times... We know none of us are immune but we are in pretty good standings (both of us can play play with our stuff) considering what some have done to themselves by going big and taking risks. Hope to drill two wells, get two parking buildings up and maybe finish off the perimeter around the Taj (not a big job, just Rick has to be here to nail the timbers for me). We got most the supplies we need for what we want done, see what the fall says we did complete.

Rick laughed at the real estate agent as they kept trying to get him to look inside the house we live in now. Meanwhile, my thoughts on a house are two fold; 1) has to have two toilets (one with a tub so I can soak aching bones in) AND, 2) have a double sink in the kitchen...that's it for the requirements...good to GO!

So while the realtor is trying to drag Rick into the house (against his will), I am out and about going around looking at the property, the established trees, taking soil samples, and having the water tested (biological and chemical). We were not first time home buyers and knew there was always hiccups to owning dirt...seen some places in BC contaminated with mercury, some with radon (2nd leading cause of lung cancer)...so I want my dirt good, I want my water good....see what kinda plantings were already growing...most bizarre places were planted...cherry trees in the shade of our large forest evergreen trees. There was even a small tiny (about the size of my garden shed!) greenhouse in the complete shade of the garage...no idea what would grow in the dark...mushrooms perhaps? Strange setups the people here had...I know they were not energetic...that was evident.

New Orchard on the right--fenced to keep deer out ​

Bizarre to plant trees that need sunshine in the shade of a forest, an established one too...so I moved the pincherries to our "New Orchard" and we get cherries now because the plants now get sunshine.

Nice relocated rows of cherries... ​

Evans Cherry, setting up fruit​

Beginning to ripen up...​

Pincherry - ripe for the picking!​

The very first year here, I planted shelterbelts of lilacs, white spruce, Siberian crabapple, European maples, and caragana.

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These were once a row of twigs...​

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Rows of stinky lilacs...woot

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I cannot believe the lilacs are above the front driveway fence now...

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Blows my mind but hey, time flies when you are having fun, eh! ​

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Rick and I mused to ourselves about the day the caragana would need trimming and we now have shrubs, actual tall trees, rows of shetlerbelts giving the birds and bees lots of coverage. It is amazing. The one topped tree, a spruce is HUGE...recovered fully and I know it does not shiver in its timbers because it figures the humans are going to top it again.

Shelterbelt - White spruce (planted as plugs) and caragana (planted as twigs).​

Wild Saskatoons flowering on our property...so we planted domesticated ones...natch!
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Row in 2012 flowering in the New Orchard​

Same row in August 2014 ​

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Producing nice fruit. nice fruit for...

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Fruit cup!​

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We looked seriously at one property in BC and ended up suing the real estate company for our deposit back with damages...we won of course! The well was suppose to be on our land and turned out it was on someone else's property (no agreement in writing; one of those "good" neighbour things), and the access pipe to the well, it crossed crown land, it crossed a power line, and an access road to a saw mill; all of which would have to have given us written permission for access to water...NOPE, no thanks, eh!

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Rick's built me several flower beds and I have filled them on up...

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Combined with what happens here naturally...

wild strawberries



wild roses ​

Silverbuffalo berry that was here already but needed some trimming...blossoms nice​

This Rowanberry was sent to us in the mail as a six inch tall plug...lookit now!​

Every spring forward now is a delight...apple blossoms in the New Orchard​

If one buys land and wants plants and trees, I suggest you get at it ASAP...before you can blink, the years, the decades go on by...

This area here...the New Orchard...

was a let go pasture before we started up on it...​

So while the house needs to be replaced, it has fully suited our purpose and we got what we paid for it and more...made it last! The house has more than contained us while we have fun on the land and build up buildings to compliment our hobbies here. I have lived in show homes and quite frankly, that don't do nothing for me. Our first house we did awesome buying (low) and selling it (high) and vamooshed with stuff meant to make our life here better. We got to live in a very nice house back then and now we know exactly what we want and don't want in one for future. If we run outta time, well golly, did we have fun er what! I don't think I minded. I do have all I need to fill a nice house, maybe have to have a big ol garage sale because we have so much in storage, but when the dust finally settles, it will be nicely set up and we can keep getting older and more decrepit. The very difficult tasks like land moving and shaping, fencing and such are completed and I remember a neighbour of ours never weeded his garden completely and kept getting more weed seeds blown in. Finally he got so old he could not pick weeds...I don't want to have regrets like he did that he never tidied his nest up before he got so old he could not do it even if he wanted. All in good time, and living life along the way too. If I walk out the door today and drop...well who cares if I needed a new house...Rick won't care and could even see him jump in the travel trailer and live in that with the dogs quite happily. He did that at one point in his life before I knew him and when he was liquidating his assets. That kind of nomadic life style is just a different path one can take or not.

One time Rick and I talked about converting a fishing boat to reside on full time and living up and down the WEsT Coast...there was a whole other life to consider--living small and not so LARGE...so many lives to choose from but I think this one is quite good, very amusing and entertaining, eh? I definately get to grow my own food in lots of varieties...and them stock dogs are sure happy having stock to inspect & supervise.

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Benefits of owing the DIRT...

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Now I am still betting that even on a fish boat...I'd manage container gardening (out on the POOP deck

). I did going to college and university, living in an apartment on my balcony...lettuce, tomatoes, carrots (not so big), radish and tons of flowers like Nasturtiums & roses...

So does that answer your busy body, nosy question well enough?

Looking up our tunes today, I remembered this one song--haunts Rick and I. We lost a friend to a brain tumour--was very sudden and thankfully quick, since if you gotta go, get it and and go. What was weird is he was not much of a country fan but he had just bought this record and now every time we hear this song, it makes us remember him--sends chills down our spines... He ran a grapple yarder and was one of Rick's go fer coffee cronies.

Highwayman - Nelson, Jennings, Kristofferson:
I was a highwayman. Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The ******** hung me in the spring of twenty-five
But I am still alive.

I was a sailor. I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide.
I sailed a schooner round the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still.

I was a dam builder across the river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around.
I'll always be around and around and around
And around and around and around

I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again.

So off I meander again...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[bamadude]

Thats still 1 big as* slingshot

 

[Amberjem]

 

[CanuckBock]

Thats still 1 big as* slingshot

Trébuchet...that should SO be our next build here...seeing as Canada is bilingual and all...Medieval siege engine with a French name!!

The Little Dragon Trebuchet
http://www.stormthecastle.com/trebuchet/how-to-build-a-trebuchet.htm:

Yes, flinging GRAPES (turkeys love grapes...and raisons...those are real turkey treats, eh!)...imagine the launching of water balloons...in the general direction of neighbours in close proximity...

Whoops, getting carried way...better stop now before I make myself liable for some dastardly deeds...or planting a seed in someone else's.

Quote:

I had a good walk (five hundred miles...its been a while, eh) down memory lane with Scott asking me about the Man Porch...remembered some of the places Rick and I looked at BEFORE we saw here...

The one realtor is a hoot and a half...he works part time at the dump...and well, if'n you work at the country dump, eventually everyone gets to know your name and what else you do (small towns do try to pry if you let them). But in the real estate biz...working at the local dump is a pretty good marketing tool for a realtor, eh. Anyway, he knows we wanted land so he takes us to this place, it is right on the flood plain of the river...not too tempting and less so when we view the "house!" It is a trailer, yeh, and for some reason not quite apparent to us...it is two halves of two different trailers melded up together! Someone has sliced two of them down the center lengthwise, and shored them up to make one pretty funky trailer...very bizarre. So we kinda humour it, and ask some inquisitive questions (like trailers can be hauled away, if the price is right, it is after all, the land we are investing in). So I ask, what kind of septic. Car body...OK, where is it located...OK, over there. And the well, shallow one, eh...OK and its location is where...over there. OK...so I look at the flow of the river, the lay of the land and it hits me like Ereka... If'n I need a drink of water, why bother wasting energy...just go over to the toilet bowl, dip my glass in that and have a swig...because by the looks of the location of the flow from the water well and the septic...yup, that is exactly what Rick, our kid and I would be doing...jest saving us a step er two.

Needless to say, that place never got an offer from us and never was going to be our vision of Home Sweet Home...another place we looked at briefly was an old gas station site. Nice enough central location with some land as commercial zoning but we simply did not like the prior purpose and if the tanks had been leaking, I doubt we could have managed the clean up costs since regulations are pretty strict and getting stricter all the time. A welding company bought the location and they did well on it...so well they just sold the biz for a nice tidy profit...good show on them.

Our goal for a mortgage payment, no laughing...was to make a payment that was cheaper than renting...renting a one bedroom apartment in town. We figured if we got in that economical down turn cycle...well there would never be a reason for us not to be able to afford the payment because not making the payments meant we would have to move out and pay MORE for a roof over our heads. And that is exactly what we did. By not having a big payment, it gave us lots of wiggle room to do things with. I guess we bin busy doing things because we had the money to do so. If we had bought the land and a proper house already done up, I am thinking there have been a few times in the past where times have gotten tough and we would not have been all that happy scratching like chooks to make ends meet. This way we got to build when we could afford to and sit tight when we should not be over extending ourselves. So far, it seems to have paid off nicely.

I remember our first house and it was very nice, but at least with where we are now, we bought in at a good time and since then, the property has tripled in value from what we bought it for. Nice enough but there is never a temptation to sell because unlike our first house, we are not moving completely out of the area. If you sell, you gotta buy back in and just because it has gone up, there is no sense in kidding yourself like the cost of a place to go to is going to be anything but at the same increase also. Problem is that alot of the work we have done here, holds no real value but should be done if we went some place else. I would want more trees and shrubs planted but then there is no 15+ years of growth on what I planted to enjoy right NOW...you have to let time go by for that and well, kinda really liking it to see the growth NOW! Not being impatient but more practical.

Here are a few photos of one of the three trees that was topped as a Christmas tree when we arrived.

I was ever so amused with Fixins' face... ​

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Here's the rest of the story on the white faced dog.

Why...perhaps Wabbit tracks...smells good / Hot headed red head...cooling off? Dunno the why...jest the how...
Even playing has not removed all the residue...

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So yeh, the tree looks no worse for wear (there is a cute little bird nest in the crook made where the original top was taken off...imagine how lovely that is...the scar is healed up and now provides the perfect foundation for new life) and certainly this tree is no size NOW to be topped again...unless it is a Christmas Tree intended for some place like the Parliament Buildings ... lol

I'm not old...I'm not old for a tree's age...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[perchie.girl]

the kids a couple of doors down here built a trebuchet

Kiknd of like this



They were flinging water baloons a good thousand feet.... and having a blast. The end of the block is a culdesac... and no houses

It just fit in the back of a pickup.

deb

 

[CanuckBock]

the kids a couple of doors down here built a trebuchet

WANT!​

Thanks for that...a vision is reality for some...it would go great with the Medieval theme...or some new sport like Punkin Chunkin...


This water tank (a portion from an old container compartment off a big truck)...is another hillbilly delight...

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One of the first spring fever projects Rick did. He cleaned and painted it, fixed the plumbing, put skids under it, put a hubcap on as a lid to keep the squirrels from drowning themselves in it...and we perched it on top of our limerock pile, gravity feed for watering plants (new shelterbelts to get established) with nice warm water. Nice BIG supply for fire fighting if'n we need to.

This is the pile where it use to sit perched on ​

So one of the neighbours swings by and in passing, mentions our BOMB shelter... Rick and I both look at each other..."Bomb shelter?? Where?" and the dufus points at the water tank. Yeh, it sits on top of a grey pile of rock and people can't figure it out (why are they looking way in here anyways...mind yer own biz, eh?!)...so they dream up the most daft concept ever. BOMB shelter...OK? Who we worrying about being bombed by...the Russians, the Japanese, the Chinese...like we are such a HUGE threat here out in the middle of no where...yes, bomb shelter...a must have when you live in the woods, eh!

What I really really wanna do...and why I mentioned the water TANK...is get one of those styrafoam wig holders, a head and spray it grey, put it on the top under the flip up top, er hatch...then place a piece of PVC pipe (same colour, grey painted) as the gun barrel outta the one front of the tank and make it, well a TANK...armoured fighting vehicle...

So we got our slingshot as the welcome mat out at one gate...the Trébuchet at the other entrance...and the tank use to be located by the New Orchard and nothing with the tractor to put her back... So we're ready...ready, set, aim & fire away!

Hilarious really... worrisome but hilarious!

Tara

 

[scottcaddy]

The Little Dragon Trebuchet
http://www.stormthecastle.com/trebuchet/how-to-build-a-trebuchet.htm:

This twelve inch model is suppose to take two hours to build...might come in handy dandy. I have visions of having one heck of a good time...

​

Yes, flinging GRAPES (turkeys love grapes...and raisons...those are real turkey treats, eh!)...imagine the launching of water balloons...in the general direction of neighbours in close proximity...

Whoops, getting carried way...better stop now before I make myself liable for some dastardly deeds...or planting a seed in someone else's.

Tara, You do manage to post some of the most wonderfully time wasting links I have ever come across!

Thanks much!!
Scott (who's plotting size wanted against DW finding out plan)

 

[CanuckBock]

Tara, You do manage to post some of the most wonderfully time wasting links I have ever come across!

Thanks much!!
Scott (who's plotting size wanted against DW finding out plan)

All part of the master plan...getting the message out that we need to arm ourselves...hee hee... armed and dangerous...mostly to ourselves tho!

So like pass the Q-tip (nfi)

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Reminds me of my Gran (the one that kept illegal chooks in her backyard...Bad Gran...BAD!), she said, "Never stick anything bigger than yer elbow in your ear!"...Go GRAN!

And jest in case we forget what age we are suppose to be...here's some incentive...

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A few thoughts on friendship (especially if Scott gets caught before he finishes the project...be stealthy and keep her under wraps, eh)...

If you get caught with the supplies fer the Trébuchet...say it's for the clothesline you been meaning to "honey-do..."

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One for all us old timers on here...

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Oh yeh and a special one jest for Bama (is someone going to help me here...I don't know how to do those "shout outs" to members on BYC...I know I have received some and the "@" is used...any one wanna teach an old bow wow a new trick pretty please??).

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<<Why I need to be the one that owns a TANK....or the tank look-a-like...

>>​

I think this line of Booted Bantam chickens is one to keep going forward with...predator aware...

Blending​

And last one is for a little incentive on why we should EAT more EGGS ...

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Now that we have all enjoyed a rather stress free few moments...away we all can go again!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Lacy Blues]

The Little Dragon Trebuchet
http://www.stormthecastle.com/trebuchet/how-to-build-a-trebuchet.htm:

This twelve inch model is suppose to take two hours to build...might come in handy dandy. I have visions of having one heck of a good time...

​

Yes, flinging GRAPES (turkeys love grapes...and raisons...those are real turkey treats, eh!)...imagine the launching of water balloons...in the general direction of neighbours in close proximity...

Whoops, getting carried way...better stop now before I make myself liable for some dastardly deeds...or planting a seed in someone else's.

Tara, You do manage to post some of the most wonderfully time wasting links I have ever come across!

Thanks much!!
Scott (who's plotting size wanted against DW finding out plan)