Low-tread Tires Tie Up Progress

Thursday morning we had a third of an inch of rain, which cleared up by 9am. But the ground was left too wet to drive our hills (without ag times on either tractor or truck: it's the equivalent of road tires on a bike when we want to go mountain biking). We had left the chipper and tractor in the lower pasture; happily, our animals were okay on hay and water. Phil and I did spread the wood chips in the truck, though, just to do something outside.

Friday Phil went to a friend's house to look at how they've managed their woodlot. He had a great time. Before he left, I suggested we get in a good hour or so of chipping. With hesitation, he agreed, and we all headed down to the lower pasture. We just about finished the pile we had started (there are a few large trees that Phil will need to saw up, maybe? Or turn to firewood?) when Phil realized he needed to head out.

And then his hesitation was proved right, when the truck spun out on the level lower pasture. We hadn't even reached the hill, and we were stuck. (I admired the earth the truck tires churned up: so rich and black! I look forward to planting there one day, in the well manured land.) The six of us hiked up the hill, leaving both tractor and truck behind.

Happily, the ground froze overnight. Phil got up and headed right down for the tractor so he could bring hay to both cows and sheep (the six sheep took a month to finish one hay bale! They are a lot less expensive to keep than I realized! Only a quarter of what I expected). He moved the water wagon, too, but by the time that was done, the earth had thawed and he could not move the truck back upslope.

I think it's going to be a long spring with a lot of immobilized vehicles. We'll have to consider what to do about that.

The three older boys and Phil headed out for a Kid's Night Out with the church. They went ice skating, ate pizza (I sent some homemade along for the boys), and went across the way to get frozen yogurt. Abraham, surprisingly, loved it the most. "I went fast!" he said, eyes shining. Apparently they had something like two buckets stacked for children to use to balance, and Abraham availed himself well of that crutch. Isaiah had a blister and a good time. Jadon would rather stay home and read if the opportunity came again. (He chose not to use the crutch and had to gut it out. Ah, the trials of being nine.)

Joe stayed home with me. Since he had been acting very tired all day, I expected he would fall asleep early and I could get some work done. But no. With Mom as a captive reader, he was not about to doze off. So I read for almost four hours straight, until I would get up to check if maybe the boys were coming down the driveway.

I've never done that for Joe before, but he now has new book friends. Especially Lentil.