Another Project Completed

Whew.  This project has been on my list for a year.  Last year I had used the old saltillo tile to top my little retaining wall, but I ran out of usable pieces and I had no way to cut the ones I had to fit the curves.  Oddly enough, it was difficult to find a place around here that sells saltillo tile.  I would have thought that it was a common thing sold in any tile store, but that's not the case.

Anyway, I finally found a store that sells it, so a few months ago I went and picked up enough to finish the wall.

I still didn't have a way to cut it, though and the wall is pretty curvy.

A few weeks ago, Tom found and bought a cheap tile saw.  I think he got it at his favorite man shop, Harbor Freight.  The weather was lovely on Friday, so Tom set up his...

Then he got out the shiny new tile saw.

And assembled it, attaching it to the work bench.  It looked like a cheapo little contraption.

In the meantime, I gathered up the other materials needed.

And here goes the first cut.  That white tray on the bottom is full of water, which wets the saw as it spins.  I think the designer wasn't thinking ahead because as the blade spins, drawing the water up onto it, it spews the water right out onto the person operating the saw.  Tom was covered with red clay spray by the time he got done, but I forgot to get a picture of it.  So, if you want to use one of these things, it might be a good idea to have some sort of work apron unless you don't mind get it all over your clothes.  Oh yeah, and wear goggles.

And here goes the first cut.

See how dirty the water is already?  Tom had to clean the tray after every few cuts.  That was kind of laborious, but it worked out OK with both of us working.  He stopped to clean the tray while I was marking the next tile to be cut.  Despite the cheap appearance of the saw, it worked great and took us less than an hour to get the whole wall, all along the front of the house, done.

And here's the same wall pictured above.  No more gaps!

It feels so good to cross that off my list and to know that this summer, I won't have a crop of weeds growing on the top of my wall.



Alternate Power

Tom just about has the generator hooked up.

   It's all integrated into the electrical system in the house, new box and everything.

The only thing left to do is have the propane line hooked up.  Tom has the line running out to the tank, but the gas company has to do the actual hook up.

Hazards of the Goat Ranch

Ouch.  This is my leg about five days after evil goat rammed me with her head for no reason whatsoever.

This is evil goat.

Remember her?  The Kiko that was being aggressive this past summer.  She calmed down for a while, so I decided to keep her.  Now I'm beginning to think she'd made a good roast.

See that evil eye and obstinate set of the mouth?

She is a classic example of "biting the hand that feeds her", only she rams instead of bites.  Thank goodness she only used the top of her head and not the tip of her horns.  I'd get rid of her now, except that she's pregnant and I want her kids in the spring.

I can't turn my back to her while I'm feeding the goats and when she gets too close, I bang her on the horns with my metal feed scoop.  That seems to deter her until she gets busy with her food.  It doesn't hurt her, but I think the noise of metal on horn startles her.

Dreary Days

It's been cold and dreary around here for weeks.

 We had a form of precipitation called graupel yesterday morning.  I'd never seen it or heard of it before, but it was basically tiny hail.  And, of course, all of the livestock water dishes are frozen over.

Eddie cat has found a cozy place to sleep on the back porch.  That's the air intake that connects the wood burning furnace to the house.  By the way, that furnace is wonderful.  It warms up the house very nicely and so far we've only been burning wood from trees that have fallen or died or have been trimmed.

Where Have I Been?

I haven't been posting much all through 2012 and not at all in the past month or so.  Those of you who know me personally know that my year has been kind of crazy and this past month the craziest.  Not only crazy, but horrible.

I'm not going to get into the gory details, but some of you may remember my post back in February of 2011 about my grandson, Liam's, first visit to our farm ( http://tilemosaics.blogspot.com/2011/02/farmer-liam.html ).  The fact of the matter is that his mother had just abandoned him and left him with his father, our son, who moved in with us a year ago so that I could help him with Liam while he worked.

Then, after two years, the mother came back onto the scene, deciding she wants some custody.

In a nutshell, that's it and that's what we've been dealing with since right before the holidays.  Because of the extreme distress, I simply have not felt like writing anything at all.  A sort of "writer's block", if you will.

But, I might have a few things to say in the coming days.

I ask for those of you who pray, to please do so in behalf of our sweet little guy.  Pray for all parties to put our selfish wants and needs aside and do what is best for only him and not for ourselves.  And pray for his peace, health, safety, and comfort.

Thanks to all of you out there in cyberland who are, inexplicably, interested in reading what I have to say.