ONE DOWN AND ONE MORE TO GO...

I've been so preoccupied these last couple of weeks doing some much needed Fall cleaning around the farm. The place has been rundown and trees growing against the foundations and stuff just leaning against the buildings. I usually clean around the house in the Fall but that will have to wait for later.

I didn't take any photos as I work throughout the day  until it's time again to go feed the calves and then it a mad rush to get supper on and then it's too dark to work outside. The weather has been perfect to work outdoors this October so I have a lot to be thankful for. It's been perfect...

On Saturday after  lunch, I was in the office checking my emails when I heard a huge a big Kaboom... and the ground shook.  My first thought was, the silo has fallen.... I grabbed my camera and went out locking the door behind me and ran to the farm and this is what I saw as went through the hedge,  only one silo was standing. I knew that they were supposed to come down sometime this Fall but I didn't knew when. Just the day before I had cleaned that area inside the small entrance between the silos. It's the entrance to where the calf barn is. I had asked my husband if he had given any thoughts as to  how he was going to get those silos down. He told me that he had talked to a farmer who had taken several silos down. He never told me that he was doing it himself... the next day...

At this point I didn't know what I would find. Were there heifers hurt or dead as they are usually around the silos, were my calves OK as their barn is right beside the silos and worst, was there anybody hurt???

This is what I saw as soon as I came through the back hedge, only one silo standing. Our silos have long been a landmark for the airplanes that flies over. We live near the airport.

As I got closer, I saw a ladder that wasn't there when I left the farm this morning. It was leaning on the gate.

Then I saw the men standing and smiling and not looking worried and I saw the big New Holland tractor in the back and I knew that he had pulled the silo down. The silos are 60 feet high  and are huge. Anything could have gone wrong but thank goodness it didn't.  Needless to say, the flock of pigeons were quite dismayed that one of their favorite roosting place was no longer.

The top, the chute and the filling pipe all over the place

Tons and tons and tons of heavy cement pieces and heavy steel rods and twisted metal all over the place. The steel rods all have to be cut in manageable lengths to pull them from the rubble.

It's difficult to really see the monumental amount of cement blocks that has to be cleaned up before the other silo comes down.

The roof over the entrance where I enter the calf barn has partially come down. It was between the two silos.

The men admiring their handiwork.

This was a picture I took last year of the two abandoned silos.

And a closeup of how deteriorated the silos were. They were built in 1968 and were 45 years old.

I help my husband and son load up the heavy pieces into tractor buckets and we are almost finished cleaning the first silo. We are using two tractors with big buckets to make the job go faster. It's back breaking work and I'm getting a good work out. As soon as 4:00 o'clock comes it's time to feed the calves and clean up the barn etc.

More photos to come as the job continues...

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
We are still eating turkey, it's a good thing as I sure don't have time to cook these days.
JB