In case you forgot, I kinda did... Friend of mine had a breakthrough delta-variant infection... he got covid pneumonia and went to the hospital last Friday because he was having trouble breathing... Now he's being shipped off to the big city hospital because it's gotten worse

I think his heavy pot smoking probably didn't help in keeping the pneumonia at bay, but this is a relatively healthy 50 year old guy who's been vaccinated. Don't forget this shit is still out there.

On a lighter/different note I have decided to keep the house, and some sheep, which has thrown a wrench in the divorce proceedings... I can go into details if you want, but I'll just leave it at "the other party doesn't like this" I looked at the real estate market, and I trawled listings, and I realized that sure, I could sell the place for profit right now, but then I'd have to try to replace it. Both the rental and buyer markets are nutzo, so I'm gonna hang on to it.

As for the sheep, I'm going to forgo attempts at maintaining pure breed and registerable blood lines in the small flock I keep, but here's a reminder video of one of the reasons I've decided to continue having sheep in my life:

So, I've been sitting on this for a while, since the beginning of the year... Through a series of failures in communications on both our parts, mine exacerbated by my seasonal effective disorder/depression and her's by a culture of never talking about problems/avoiding conflict at all costs and being a people pleaser, no doubt "enhanced" by the last four years of living in this country, Mrs. BoostAddict and I seem, at this point, destined to separate. I convinced her we should go to couples counseling, but our previous long standing issues and a lot of built up grudges and resentment have lead to her declaring that she will not ever want to get back together. I bear at least half the blame, and I accept that... I still feel very cought off guard, as I was/am willing to try to work things out, but she's already made up her mind, and basically didn't say anything (in a way I could understand, as I said I am not blameless in this) until she was already done with it. What this means in practical terms in an end to the farm. Neither of us can do it on our own, and though she will no doubt try (I could rant about her killing herself for her work, but that is just glossing over some of our other issues with perceived levels of commitment and acceptance of "the reality" of various things). This will not be an easy or quick process, she has already moved out, but one way or another the sheep are going to be winding down. I do not want this to happen, but I also don't want to try to run things by myself, or deprive her of what she has always said (and I thought I was trying to support, but apparently in the wrong way) was her dream. The most likely outcome is that we will sell our property amd split the proceeds... As she cannot afford it on her own, and as much as I love this location, the house/land is too large and too expensive/much work for one person. Like I said, this will not be a quick and easy resolution, too many details to untangle and iron out, but she has already said she is "not planning to keep the sheep here this coming winter" what that means exactly is still not clear... Our communication has broken down to the point that just figuring out what is expected of me re: sheep and farm operations is a guessing game. I am continuing to make hay this summer, and spent the last week working 8-12 hours every day, plus regular chores to do so... I feel very lost and aimless... I have had a good spring, depression-wise, and this all feels very unfair, but I have to acknowledge that she felt things were unfair before now, and I can only feel the way I feel, not change the past. I've got friends and therapy, but you folks are my internet friends, and I know many of you have enjoyed sheeppost and ranked it highly on the list Oppo positives... So I thought you should be in on this, also it never hurts to have more conversations about what went wrong and how to avoid the same mistakes again... At least that's my feeling. I really do like the sheep, and this lifestyle in general, but it seems it will be coming to an end. /downer post out.

5:50am 2/25, two black lambs, a girl and a boy born to Border Leicester #113. The barn cam was recording, but i'm having trouble transferring the video for some reason... Here are stills:

The actual birth occured behind the hay feeder, so it's not visible, but the audio recording says 5:50:34 was first cry. All the ewe lambs (who are mostly pregnant, but are going to be first time mothers) swarmed over to see what was up.. Which is why I do want to try to get the video, it's funny. All the ears and heads swivel toward the lamb baas and then they all get up and run over to see...

Edit: added some actual lamb pics...

So, I don't remember if I told Oppo that we had whole sheep's milk this year, to feed bottle lambs and supplement lambs with inadequate mother-provided-milk as opposed to the usual powdered formula. This is great from a nutritional standpoint, but bad from a usage and storage point.

We bought ~1000lbs (about 120 gallons) of milk from a sheep dairy that had failed it's well inspection and could not sell the milk (or milk products) for human consumption. It came frozen in giant food-service dispenser bags that hold ~5 gallons.

They take roughly three days to thaw in this tray.

As we do not have an appropriate dispenser for these bags, we are transferring the milk to 6-gallon beer bottling buckets for storage in our basement fridge, and dispensing. As I know I have mentioned sheep milk has extremely high fat and protein content, and this is whole, raw milk. Unpasteurized and unhomogenized. It will separate to cream/fat and whey if left still in the bucket.

Each 5 gallons lasts about 3 days, taking the bucket out of the fridge to slosh it and stir it is a PITA, also we only access it every 6 hours, which is plenty of time for separation to have occurred, requiring extensive stirring to recombine the milk, and leading to the formation of unwanted fat globules... The solution is to stir it often... Like a bulk tank agitator....

So I made one.

An arduino nano, a DRV8825 stepper driver, a beefy NEMA 17 stepper, a 1amp 12v wall wart from an old router, a cheap plastic stirring paddle, a 3D-printed arm, a heavy-duty servo pushrod, and a bit of 2x4, some deck screws and ingenuity later and I have a device that stirs the milk for two minutes every half hour without any input from us!

Initial tests look promising. We'll see if it solves our milk separation issue long term over the next couple of days.

I realized I have not posted many lamb pictures lately, and that Oppo might appreciate some, so here's a few group shots.

Not every lamb is included in these shots... But it hopefully gives you a better idea of the lamb situation these days.

No house lambs yet, but we did have a small ewe give birth to two very large lambs that required assistance, as they were a very tight fit on exit. All lambs born so far are Border Leicesters, all are black, as our Border ram is dominant black genetically. Total so far: 3 ewes have given birth, 5 lambs - 2 sets twins, one single

We have at least two other ewes likely due in the next 12-24 hours.

Edit: update 2nd lamb from small ewe mentioned above seems not to have nursed well, and also his mom has been a little lax in licking him dry, so we brought him in to top him off and get him dry and warm.

He's quite skeptical about the whole process.

Pics and a short video, enjoy...

It's cold and blowing (10F and 20+mph wind) , so of course we have babies coming left and right.

These several day old lambs are snuggled up, 'cuz it's cold...

Sally loves her lamb... But I have to stay away, because she would rather hang out with me than her lamb, as much as she does seem to like him.

We've got two from an old notch-eared border ewe who does not seem to have any milk at the moment, so we are going to supplement them and hope she starts flowing in a little bit, that happens sometimes with older ewes...

We've got a first time border mother working on labor right now, she seems likely to be a single or else small twins... We'll know soon.

Old 102 with the blown tendon is taking care of her lambs, but she isn't quite producing enough milk, so we're beginning to supplement them too. She seems pretty OK, as far as ewes with major injuries go, but she's just falling behind the demand in milk production. On a cold night like tonight those babies need energy!

Will try to remember to get more pics when I go back out to check on the new mother's progress...

Super-goopy newbie from first time mom...

And then there were two!

Forgot pics of the twins from ol' notch-ear... We'll get them photographed yet!

what're you getting into?

Oh, for fuck snacks don't eat my wireless mouse dongle...

She ate some checks earlier (luckily they had already been deposited, and she just ate an insurance bill (already paid) that she pulled out of the recycling... WE HAVE HAY AND LAMB PELLETS IN THE HOUSE FOR HER TO EAT BUT SHE STILL CHEWS ON ALL THE WIRES AND EATS ALL THE IMPORTANT PAPERS. /sobs in shepherd

She pulled the Playstation controller charging stand off the entertainment center and when everything clattered all over the floor she wagged her tail and bounced happily and tossed her head and then trotted off to chew on something else while I cleaned it up and wiped the lamb spit off my controllers...

Then she crams herself into the tightest spot behind the end tables in the living room and pees about a 1/2 gallon...

@exage03040 I watched the whole thing. I don't think there was a single piece of music used in that video I don't own. Also, Picard's ready room with the Pink Floyd posters on the wall makes me long for that alternate version of TNG...

@musashi66 I mean, in all honesty that blue-grey-wood interior is pretty sweet.

@jminer Hyundai Elantra Touring

or Elantra GT?
I had a 2011 Touring. Reliable, spacious, better than average suspension, mine was a stick, but the auto was fine. The pre-DI Beta engines are very reliable. The later GTs are still very functional, again with better than average suspension, though they are lower...

Neither are particularly prone to rust and the Touring is downright easy to work on.

@sovande @Mr-Ontop my brother used to have a pre-DI SR50... He put an 80cc kit on it, big carb, wide range variator, racing clutch, leovinci pipe, and some fancy remote-resivior, progressive sprung, preload adjustable shock from a UK scooter racing supplier on the back. That thing was just a ball of laughs. 0-60 in about 5.5~6 seconds and 73mph top speed. With good tires on it could take almost any corner on regular roads at flat-out top speed. You could feel the chassis flex, but the suspension and tires kept it on rails. Brakes were good from the factory, but he put EBC pads on it you could just stand it up on it's nose anytime you wanted. It's actually the only motorized two-wheel vehicle I ever stoppied intentionally more than once. So much fun. The DI engine ones are faster from the factory than the carb'ed models, but the hop up parts were so easy to get and install for the old engine. Sr50s are awesome.

@mr-ontop another "fun" thing about air guns: since the ATF doesn't technically consider them "Firearms" you can get them in full auto.

@mr-ontop inaccurate and unreliable, but this thing fits the "home defense" department otherwise... problem is PCP guns need expensive accessories, unless you already own high-pressure tank(s) and pump(s)... like if you ran a dive shop.

Hatsan makes lots of "Black Rifle" "Tacticool" looking air guns. Most of them are kinda crappy, and Hatsan (a Turkish company) is known for poor quality control.

The Galatian is probably one of their better ones, but it's a bit overpriced in my opinion.

They are one of the few manufacturers who make semi-auto guns that aren't just BB plinkers though.

I have the older version of the Seneca Eagle Claw, the Eujin Sumatra. The new gun is lighter, more modern looking, and has a fully shrouded barrel with integral silencer so it's much quieter, but the action and basics are identical to the old gun. It's reliable, powerful, accurate, and with the lever action can fire off follow-up shots quite quickly.

Again, PCP airguns are not a hobby for the shallow of pocket... hand pumps do work, but once you've filled from an electric high-pressure pump and/or a bulk tank you'll never go back... I mean I didn't... and good hand pump will run you $250~300 and give you a workout every time you fill the pressure bottle of the gun. A decent bulk tank and electric pump will run you >~$1000. There's always used... or if you live near a dive shop it might not be too inconvenient to buy a used SCUBA tank and have it filled at the shop...

All this is a long way of saying it might actually be cheaper to buy a good conventional gun and a silencer tax stamp.

@mr-ontop The Airforce Texan, Seneca Dragon Claw, Umarex Hammer and Hatsan Piledriver are all available in .50cal models.

The Texan and the Hammer can produce about 700lb/ft of muzzle energy, and the (notably unreliable) Piledriver can manage ~800lb/ft of muzzle energy. The (incredibly reliable and well-built) Dragon Claw can only puff out a "weak-sauce" ~300lb/ft muzzle energy.

For comparison 9mm Parabellum has about 400lb/ft muzzle energy, 10mm Auto has about 650, and .44 Magnum has about ~1000. This puts all of these guns in "hot handgun" power range.

5.56NATO/.223 Remington runs about 1300 and 7.62NATO/.308 Winchester cracks out around 2800lb/ft.

If it were my money, in a .50cal airgun I'd probably go for the Texan. It's big and weird, but well built and powerful.

though there are a number of guns in the .357 and .30 cal range that may have lower muzzle energy, but offer better ballistics for hunting at range. Things like the Benjamin Bulldog, or various fine Euro guns from Ataman, Daystate, and FX...

If money is "of less concern" there are a number of boutique builders in the Mountain States that specialize in custom air guns for big-game hunting, I have seen guns up to .68cal and 3000lb/ft muzzle energy.

@jawzx2 update: In case anyone is interested: still craps out at ~98% charge and refuses to go to 100%. Almost certainly a dodgy battery....

@dr-zoidberg said in And now, for the crippling reality of vehicle ownership.:

All but one bulb in the gauge cluster is burnt out.

This is absolutely normal on Tacomas of this vintage... do like I did and buy a set of rainbow-color LEDs to make the dash more interesting.

Condensation in passenger-side parking lens.

new lamps are cheap and easy to install.

Canopy glass does not latch on right side.
Canopy needs replacement key.
Canopy brake light wires all cut.
Canopy not water tight.

srsly, have never met a 5+ year old truck cap that didn't have at least two of these problems...

Clearcoat on roof non-existent.
Scratches, boops, bops everywhere, but looks okay from 15 feet away.

It's an old Toyota, what do you want?

@exage03040 I used to work at a ski resort that had a death related to a mechanic poking some of the shit on a lift drive rack... the block out area around the HV racks had a stencil in it that said something to the the effect of "Bob died here. Remember Bob. Don't be Bob."