"Girls" Beach Getaway...

Ahhhh...

Doesn't this look like a relaxing place to be?

Jenna and I just got back from a quick two-day getaway to the beach with our good friends.  The weather was perfect...but a little windy, as you can see from our pictures on the boardwalk Monday evening!

The farmers' wives and farmers' daughters had a very relaxing, enjoyable time away...and now it's back to work in the morning!

Fixing the House Roof...

Usually the things that I blog about are in the barn...fixing this...fixing that, but today it was time to get another project underway.  Our house has a slate roof just like the barn, and it was in need of some repair.  There were a few missing slates, missing snow catchers, and a couple of unused chimneys that did nothing but allow birds and bats into the attic.  I shudder whenever I see a bat in the house, and we've had  four of them in the house in the past week.

Early this morning, the Amish crew came to begin work on the roof.  They began by setting up all their ladders, and once they were set up, they took took down the first chimney top.  It was at the peak of the roof on the far left.  The bricks were removed and the hole was capped and covered with slate.  The guy told Jim that some bats flew out when they were working on it. We were still milking and feeding at the time, so I missed getting any pictures of the process.  The second chimney was at the peak to the right...

It amazes me how some people are so comfortable with heights.  You couldn't pay me enough to walk around up on that roof!

Near the bottom edge of the roof, you can see the row of snow catchers that they added.  This should help in the winter with all the heavy snow sliding off the roof in an avalanche...

Later in the afternoon, they worked on the north side of the house...

This man is repairing the remaining chimney...the only one that is functional in the house...

They are about finished with the house, and will need to come back and finish up some work on the barn roof on another day.

My hat's off to those who don't mind working in the hot sun on hot, humid days, and who don't mind working at those heights!

My only question now, is this...

"The bats that are now trapped in the attic...will they try to get outside by coming down through the house tonight?!"

Another New Barn Cleaner Chain...

Every so many years, it's necessary to order a new barn cleaner chain.  Time and manure take their toll, and the chain wears thin, slipping off the sprocket at the top of the elevator...usually on a Sunday morning of course!

A few weeks ago Jim ordered a new chain for the west side of the barn. (We replaced the one on the east side of the barn a few years ago)  He picked it up a few days ago. We're between 2nd and 3rd hay cuttings, so it was the perfect time to replace it.  After the cows were milked and fed this morning, the 3rd and 4th rows went out to the meadow for a few hours while Jim and his helpers replaced the chain.

First things first...there's always some discussion that needs to happen before the work starts. Harold has been ordering parts and helping with barn cleaner issues for years, and today he came again to supervise and lend a hand...

There's the new chain!  I asked Harold how much that box of chain probably weighed. He said it weighs 6.5 lbs. per foot, so if the chain is 148 ft long, that's close to 1000 lbs...

The first thing Jim did was to find the link that connected the two ends of the old chain together.  He removed it, and hooked the new chain to the old one...

Eric works away in the mornings, and our neighbor Daniel was helping this morning, so he got the honors of standing on the back of the pickup, keeping tension on the old chain as it came around the sprocket at the top of the elevator.  Harold helped by pulling the new chain out of the box and Jim made sure it was untangled, feeding it through the proper channel and into the barn...

My job was to run the barn cleaner switch.  A few feet at a time, the new chain was pulled around the barn...

...and there you have it...the new barn cleaner chain is in place...

Looking at these pictures will be the only time we see this chain clean, ever again...

They also had to replace the sprocket at the top of the elevator.  You start with the smallest size sprocket, and as the chain wears thin, you replace it with a larger one...

Here's the old chain.  It's moved tons of manure in it's life time!  I think Daniel might need to throw those jeans in the laundry, huh?

So there you have it...this was our project for this hot July day!  All in all, Jim said it went really smoothly. We like when that happens!

Update:  someone asked what we do with the old chain?  There's a place nearby that recycles such things, and Jim took it there this afternoon...hosed off, of course!

Lancaster County Summer...

Ok...it's really feeling like a Lancaster County summer now!

It sure is "close" out there today!  Have you ever heard that expression? "Close"...as in really, really, really, really humid.  The air is almost so thick you could cut it with a knife.  Well, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but I was sweating before I ever went outside the door this morning.

Murphy has the idea...

Find a place in the shade, and stay there as long as possible!  In her case, it's either in the back of the truck, or underneath it, depending on where the sun is situated.

But...I can't complain.  Really.  After the winter we had, I vowed to not whine about the heat.

I'm very thankful for the slight breeze that's coming in the window...for the ice cold coke in my hand...for the cucumbers that I'm about to turn into banana pickles...that second cutting hay is finished (!)...for the thunderstorms that are to come this afternoon and cool things off (hopefully!)...that the kids will return home this afternoon from their missions trip...

...and for the air conditioner in our bedroom window!