The day started with walking the dogs

After walking the dogs, I took a plastic pail and went out in the back pasture to find out why the cows were bellering (bawling).  It turns out that one heifer had been rounded up and sold on Saturday ... and two of them were calling to see if she was lost and would be coming back.  They both came and looked at me up close, twice, but I had no answers for them.

I picked the blackberries and arrived back home in time for breakfast.  The trashcan needed to go out this morning ... even if it was a holiday.  It didn't happen.  We rushed off to to help Pam move.  Made a couple of trips back and forth.  And then she asked us to take a chest over to her mother's place ... two towns over.  We got it there and then had to chat with Pam's mom for awhile.  Stopped for a burger on the way back.  Arrived home to find that the other trashcans had already been emptied and ours was still full sitting at the house.  Darn.

Had to adjust the length of one of the tank support angle-irons to get it to fit on top of the tab ... which is why it had originally been bolted to the bottom (unlike the other 3 which were on top).  Got it to fit.  Put the tanks back in and adjusted them.  It was 2:00 p.m. and I was exhausted from the heat.  Went and stayed in the house for awhile.  Them took the stuff I needed to work on the steps up to the shop and spent the rest of the afternoon watching Orange County Choppers (O.C.C. out of NY)

Blackberry Breakfast

 

My neighbor said to watch out for the cows and the rattlesnakes.

Saw plenty of cows, but the big black bull stayed under his tree.

Didn't see any rattlesnakes out in the briar patch ...

Lot's of stickers on the canes snatching at my skin 

as I reached in to pick berries. 

Yummy! 

Sunday Tasking

It's Sunday ... I had to substitute for the substitute for the Gospel Doctrine Instructor.  The substitute was out in Texas seeing her grandson.  It was my job to make sure the lesson didn't finish in 15 minutes or less ... because I didn't have enough paper and crayons to keep everybody busy until the end of class.  Sometime during the process, I remembered to not stay pinned behind the podium ... to walk around and interact more with the class.  I actually had 2 pictures from the library to put up, and chalk that I used to write on the board.  I tried to remember to wait and write more after people finished answering the question.  Rather than while they were talking.  I think the lesson turned out pretty good.

 

The puppies are getting bigger and more active.

We took a lovely 2 hour nap after lunch.

Now my wife is doing more indexing while I am pouring out very few of my thoughts and emotions on the web.   :)

Puppy Pile & Tank-echtomy

There they are ... taking up a lot more space in the box.

Notice eyes open and maneuvering on all fours.  

They climb in and out of the kennel.

Going to have to raise the height of the box walls.

Had to remove the tanks and supporting rails so that I could

sand and paint the frame.

The supporting rails had never been painted and need LOTS 

of sanding and paint.

My Putty Knife BROKE !

 

I obtained this putty knife when I worked at Sierra H.S. as a custodian.   I used it to scrape gum and other things off the floors.  Over the years, I have mostly used it to scrape with.  I have seldom had to "putty" anything.  Some 30 - 40 years later I was busy scraping a tar-tape off of the aluminum siding from the trailer ... when the blade went "Snap!" and broke off clean at the end of the handle. Darn.  

And I wasn't even done scraping yet.  

So, I eventually went to Lowe's and looked at all the different "putty knives" in the paint department.  There was even one with a skewed end ... like a lathe chisel.  I picked up all the flat-end ones, looked down and found stuff stuck to the concrete floor, and tried out each of the different putty knives at scraping the gunk up off the floor.  The one that worked best for me (happened to also be the most expensive) ... is the one I bought.  Now I can happily go back to scraping for many more years (I hope).  And this putty knife should out-live me.  

Note to children, do not fight over this ... it was only $7.