Smartie's Bar & Grill #66

Bermuda is a good grass but it ain't so great in the winter. I have been planting Marshall ryegrass since early winter. I don't really know what the best grass is. Your local extension service should be able to tell you.

 

I built my shelters out of old pallets and once the fencing us up it is good for years. And they do reproduce...as many as three pregnancies in two years....and you always have to buy the chemicalsfor weed control. My biggest expense now that everything is set up is worm medicine. And I bought the microscope because I like that kind of stuff. I can google goat parasites and get pictures and see what the problem is. They aren't really that expensive. A large dog will cost more to feed than a few goats.

 

Do you have coyote problems. We have coyotes here, I have seen signs where they have been on our property.

 

We have coyote but so far not a problem. But they will kill a goat. I have friend that lost all of his goats because of them. It is something to consider. I use a 2 inch by 4 inch fencing and it keeps the babies in and the predetors out...so far. I do use a field fence on the pasture nearest the house and the babies go right through it and graze in the yard. Then they jump right back in.

 

A 22 rifle with a good scope, and a surveillance cam can eliminate that problem quickly. Pick off one or two and the rest will stay away. Coyotes are smart.

 

Good morning all you old goats. (New ones too).

Happy Fat Tuesday!!!

 

Mornin', SMW.

That picture, it made me flinch.

WEDGIE!!!!

 

I think Coyote like to wait until dark and then strike real quick.
Like a pack of wolves.However wolves are much smarter.They will use a
Female wolf to attract any male guard dogs.

 

Honey Boo Boo ?
Back in the day { around the Turn-of-the-Century } most children pics looked
just like that. It was hard to declare what sex.

 

Cmon now......just because I'm used doesn't mean I'm old.

 

An Old pair of really good quality shoes is still better than a brand new
pair of average quality shoes.
I remember when in 8th grade my Parents thought it was ok to wear
a pair of my Grandfathers very expensive leather loafers.My Grandfather
was rich and died when I was in 2nd grade.Word was he had small feet.
Nevertheless,those shoes were a style similar to a Hush Puppy but with
very expensive leather that was also a beautiful color brown.Like in an
Alfred Hitchcock movie.Hitchcock brown.
The other kids made fun of me because those shoes looked like no other
shoe on the market.I think they were from the late 40's.
But my 8th grade teacher { a very strict Nun } made a big deal about complimenting
me one day in front of the entire class about how Nice my shoes were.
It made me feel better but it also brought attention to my shoes.
I dint need any more attention focused on them shoes.
My 8th Grade teacher { a Nun } was the toughest Nun I ever had.
She was kinda big and very healthy.Also quite radical.Loved the New Mass
which dropped latin and allowed Folk Music instead of that Great Church Organ.
Such is Life.
No one gets out of life w/o at least one pair of shoes.Hopefully not a
pair that gathers no Moss.Getting attached to shoes is like buying ones
first toupee.It could lead to more toupees { plural }.
Before ya know it ... ya gots more toupee than hairs on yer head.

 

Thats me pulling up my big girl panties before our All Hands meeting this morning.

Wish me luck.

 

My Motorcycle buddy and his ethnic wife planted a grass called
Zoysia.They planted it in their front yard one year.Then their side yard the next.
It looks great in summer especially when other lawns are burning out due to
drought.But there is a huge drawback.Zoysia turns yellow in winter and doesn't
snap back to green till almost early summer.Or mid to late spring.
Making it basically a 6 month lawn.
Bermuda is a very nice grass and it's soft.I think Golf courses use it for
their greens.But Bentgrass is also a favorite because it can be mowed often
and low.Supposedly grass should not be mowed by cutting more than 1/3 rd
the length of the grass.So if the lawn stands 3 inches high just cut it down to
2 inches.But most people cut down to 1 inch.
I remember once when I was off to the big city to go shopping I was flabbergasted
to find my front lawn was butchered,when I got back from shopping.
The neighbor had his brother visiting and he cut their lawn that day.
He decided it would be nice to cut my lawn also.But cut he did not.
he did what my old man used to call scalp.he scalped my lawn.Like his
front yard.I went right over to that neighbor and bawl'd his ass out something good.
I made a jerk of myself.But I couldn't help myself.I kept thinking what My Old
Man would have done.

 

That's why in a pasture I like a combination of cool season and warm season grasses. You can sow the cool season grasses on top of the dormant warm season grasses and where I live you have pasture year round. Marshall is an annual but a season can bring in over 10,000 pounds of biomass dry weight per acre. It is also almost 22% protein. This cuts the feed bill to almost nothing. But I do have to buy the seed every year and they say it is going up. But a couple acres for 30 bucks isn't too bad. Zoysia seed is very expensive. Bermuda is kinda expensive but it is one and done. We have Bermuda and Centipede naturally....mixed with some Bahia. My lawn is just there I cut it when I have to. I have floeres in raised beds around the lawn and I hope it brings the eye to the flowers and not the lawn.

 

Think Timex Watch......takes a licking, but keeps on ticking.

 

Every year I swear I'm gonna get me a new Front lawn.The problem I
have is a lack of topsoil on a front lawn that resides on a slight hill.
I tried to fertilize in late fall and then another year in early spring.
Used one of those grass plug machines to thatch and plant in new
seeds.I bought a Sears Thatcher.Nothing works.Then one day I saw
a neighbor who had a dump truck in their driveway.And they had their front
yard landscaped.And was in the process of putting down that dump truck load
of Top soil.So I went and asked who was doing their yard and they gave me the name
of some guy.I called him and got him to look at my front yard and get his take.
I said what I wanted done.The entire lawn removed { landscape off all the old grass and
have loads of top soil put down }.Like what that neighbor had done.
So this Lawn guy LIED. He swore that neighbor did not have his old lawn removed.
And top soil put down.I said I saw it being done.He insisted that never happened.
And he proceeded to tell me what he does.That he'll plant new seeds { no need to
remove the old dead grass and weeds } or put down top soil.
And that after a few applications of new grass seeds it would take over the old
dead grass and Voila.I thought he talked like some retard.I worked an entire
summer { my freshman summer year from college } at a lawn cutting company.
We put in the occasional Shrub beds and new lawns.
I started yelling at this lawn guy.I was really close to running him off my property.
Years earlier I had a big city guy at a fancy landscape company come
out { made an appointment } and he took measurements and I agreed on
using him.He said it might take a few weeks.He never got back with me.That was about
12 years ago.
My Old man had a beautiful estate.60 acres with about 20 acres of cut lawn.
Had like 5 different lawn mowers.From a couple Buntons {used on golf courses }
to a couple John Deer { One had 4 wheel drive and you could cut a lawn going
backward up a slight hill. }To the latest Cub Cadet.It might have been the first
shaft drive model.He also had a John Deer Tractor { diesel } used to bush hog his
alfalfa in the fields.

 

Night scope?

 

Don't feel bad it is hard to find a good lawn service.

 

They also possess better senses.Like Hearing and smell.
Go Deer hunting and smell like Michael Moore and you won't
see a deer in that area ever again.
get the drift.Gadgets only work so-so.
Now ... If Annie Oakley was using that night scope to nab a few coyote,
then now ...yer talkin' turkey.

 

I think they too lazy is what.I had a new roof put on in September..The salesperson
was nice but he was a chunky young Kid.Was bragging all over the place
about how they get it done in half a day.Of course all he did was talk sales
and do a quick trip on top the roof to get an estimate and cell phone any damage.
Turns out the actual roofing crew was 4 Latinos { Mexican }.The worked almost
non-stop till lunch when they were all done cept the cleanup.
Of course they used those roofing guns.And the Roofing tiles were in segments
of like 3-4 tiles.Not individual tiles like years ago.But they stripped off the old roof
and put on a new one in like one morning.Plus they cleaned up.My last roof job
left roofing nails all over the back yard.And I intentionally warned them not to do that.
I was worried about my 2nd Husky getting nailed in the paws.
So I went around and spent over a half hour picking up roofing nails.That was like 20 years
ago.

 

OK ... I give.What's an " All Hands Meeting ". ?
And don't say you were working on a Deck Chair account for
the New Titanic Cruise lines brochure.

 

We're a ship, Foolie. A big ole sinking ship. LOL

 

How ya doin, cd? They still keeping you too busy???

 

I am Curious Yellow. Was it a - Ship of Fools - { 1965 } really good movie.
I am a 60's kinda guy.60's and 50's.
Even though I became a Hippie in the early 70's.

 

That begs the question: How much would Michael Moore pay to sleep with the goats?