Goodbye 2012

As in the past I make a list of things I want done in the coming year. My original list for this farm has only ONE thing crossed off on it. I will continue to make the list so I have documented the fact that anything I plan is not done, but we certainly did get lots done this year.

The MAJOR ITEM was we got a PUPPY! I needed that like a hole in the head, but coincidentally on his first birthday, December 1, he seems to have straightened himself out. I might not have needed him, but he needed us. One of these days he's going to be a fantastic dog, it is just not today.

We did manage to FINALLY get Irene spayed. Her personality has not changed one single bit, even though she was going on two years old when it was done. She didn't hold it against us or act mad in any way. She's a great cat, a Tiger.

The BIG TICKET item this year was the future pasture rehabilitation. Coming back from corn is a huge undertaking. Corn is brutal on its environment. We used 6 and a half TONS of Lime, bags and bags of fertilizer, bought an antique spreader, and had the Orchard Grass Mix drilled into the field. It looks good, even with snow on it. In my fantasies that pasture is fenced in. Next year that will be the big ticket item. I am estimating that will cost about $10,000 to fence. And that is with us doing all the labor. Ouch.

When that is fenced in, and the fencing is tied into the dry pasture, everything will come together. We can 'rest' the pasture the boys now are in, grow some decent Orchard Grass there, and rotate between the two. And cut back on hay consumption.

I also want to get new glasses.

We'll see how many of the things I want done and things that come up actually get done instead in 2013.

Happy New Year!