Loren W. came today and built a terrific hay feeder out of the 16 ft. goat/sheep welded panel I bought at Tractor Supply yesterday. He improved on the plan I had to make an angled pie shape feeder. With Dolly, my petting zoo rescue, watching intently (Dolly loves anything to do with food) Loren bent and rounded the panel up so it will hold more hay. He put secure sides on it and a brace on the top. The feeder holds three bales with no problem. The 4" squares are perfect for the little ones to pull hay out of while the big sheep eat from the top. Loren is coming back tomorrow to build another feeder out of the same panel. I'm thrilled that I have two sturdy, functional feeders out of one $45 panel fence panel. Loren is bringing over a grinder to smooth some of the rough edges on the feeder. I am thrilled on one hand and disgusted with myself for not making this happen a long time ago. When Loren finished with the feeder he set about splitting enough wood to get me through next week. Matt Redmond supervised the wood splitting and gave his Building Science Subject Matter Specialist Seal of Approval to the feeder. When I manage to get more panels home Loren is going to build several feeders around the barn and help me with some other projects. It is a great relief to me to know Loren is available for this kind of help. Matt is living in Syracuse during the week to avoid commuting three hours a day in dangerous weather conditions, and with travelling on weatherization business, well, I could use an extra pair of hands. Plans for tonight - The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep in New Hartford. I'm looking forward to this movie about Margaret Thatcher who I heard speak at the Virginia Military Institute when my Eric was a cadet there. She was a powerful woman who spoke for two hours, extemporaneously, about a variety of things from politics and the IRA to waging war in the Falklands. My St. Elizabeth College friend, Maria Biancheri, and I drove home from Lexington, Virginia, in a freakish blizzard which closed the highway and sent us limping along country roads all night to New Jersey. It was so much fun.
I remember making the drive in that blizzard in your Volvo... the first time I really appreciated a car's safety - that Volvo was a tank! We passed a number of cars that had spun out on the side of the road, including a nice red Corvette... Silly man!
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